Sunday, 13 November 2011

NME NOTES - Front and Double Page Spreads!

We managed to get an interview with a few people from NME Magazine and we asked them what advice they could give us in making a music magazine. Here a few brief things i'll be needing to remember...

Red = Front Page issues
Blue = Double Page Spread
Purple = Images etc that can be applied for both

Black and White – Can represent things as being old, vintage or from the archives – an ICONIC image. If it’s not any of the above, it’s probably best to just drain most of the colour out of an image so it’s NEAR Black and White.
Concepts Drawn à Photo Shoot arranged and followed through à around 300 pictures taken à Whittled down to around 10 à Ten photos set up as a front page in a rough copy à 10 front pages compared and 3 or 4 are picked as the best à 1 Front page picked the day before release.
Big Heads and Eye Contact are important for attracting the audience’s attention as it makes them feel like they’re being watched, it draws attention and makes the overall feel of the image more personal.
AUDIENCE IS KEY! If the image used doesn’t fit their requirements or tastes, then it’s not going to shift any copies!
Important issues for the front page! Average won’t attract attention! It has to be up to date information that people need to know!
Logos must be simple. Stick to simple, bold formats and primary colours.
Change is good, it keeps things fresh, but don’t use too many fonts on each page, it looks messy.

Everything must link! Text format and images must follow the same kind of colour scheme or shape.
Quotes are good to break up solid blocks of text, making it easier to read. Nobody likes humungous chunks of solid reading.
Little splashes of colour in text makes it more visually interesting and easier to read.

For images of the band, a concept needs to be thought of – look at the story you’re trying to tell or the way you want to represent them and take ideas from that. When pitching it to the artist, you need to pull in the artist with this concept as much as you would use it to draw in the audience
Stay away from mainly black front covers!
Things will change, so keep an open mind.
Continuity is key – keep things simple and it’ll be more attractive to look at and buy.

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