THE BRIEF - CREATE A MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

The magazine industry is one of the best industries in publishing, if not the best! 'Hello!’, ‘OK!‘, ‘Vogue’, ‘Kerrang’, ‘CoroCoro’, ‘Heat’, ‘GQ (Gentleman Quarterly)’, ‘Empire’ are all famous magazines; most of which you've seen, or heard, before!

There are Many sectors in the magazine world; each have their own market leader:

• Women’s Monthly - Glamour
• Women’s Weekly - Take A Break
• Men’s Lifestyle - Shortlist
• Teenagers Magazine - Sugar
• Music Magazine - The Fly
• T.V/Soaps Listing - TV Choice
• Home Interest - Ideal Home

 

PLANNING

Using all this information, it was now upto me. 'Twas time to get creative!!!

FIRST AND FOREMOST - What on Earth will I make a magazine on? There are so many sectors to choose! And, because I want to be a MARKET LEADER, I have to be Original! There's no point in copying someone else, cause that would make my magazine a replica. 'I'd rather lose being myself, than draw being someone else!' #OriginalQuote

So, obviously, it would have to be something I am interested in, something I have a lot of knowledge in! After hours of thinking, I decided to do a MUSIC Mag! I know what you're thinking about; 'How's that original?'. Well; This is not a typical music magazine, infact this is a magazine I doubt that has been already created. QUIRKY MUSIC!

'Pray Tell us what that means Shahel!' I hear you cry! Well, it's all in the catagory of Music Comedies; IE: Skits, Parodies, and original Comedic songs. This was aimed at those between the ages of 15 and 22, that enjoys experimenting when they're bored, and have an extremely good sense of humour. Stereo-typically, they're of a working class background, living off Student income and either searching for a job, or recieving low-pay. In a nutshell, a typical reader for this magazine is someone who is energetic, optimistic, and has an immense sense of humour.

THE TITLE

They say that the title is half the magazine. Ok, maybe they don't; but the title is still really important. I tend to think so hard on a title, it HAZ to be perfect! The first time you see the name it sticks in your head. What appealed to me the most was MusicaMoustache. This name is quite frankly, original; and quirky, which is what the magazine entails. Also, it contains the word, Musica, which is Spanish for Music, showing what the magazine is about, the word Moustache is there, because some moustaches are quirky, subliminally giving off, MusicQuirky, in other words, quirky music, the genre! #BOOM

Now that I have a TITLE, I need to have a LOGO!

 

This is what I chose because it gives off the quirky effect, with such a quirky colour combination.

The font is free flowing and bubbly, this gives off another quirky aspect

It’s got great contrast with yellow and purple, two colours that are pretty opposite, yet they go so well together.

Photography

What else intrigues customers? If you were smart enough you'd realise it's photography, cause this is under the sub-heading; 'Photography'. So, again, the photgraphy has to be 'Perfect'! What we need is Models, Props, and a Scene!

First - The Models

I wanted someone who's big in this business. And I know two, current, famous comedy music groups:

The Lonely Islands:

• Formed by Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, & Jorma Taccone
• Based in New York City, originally from Berkeley, California
• Their most famous singles include; Jizz In My Pants, Like A Boss (Feat. Seth Rogen), I Just Had S*x (Feat. Akon), and YOLO (Feat. Adam Levine)
• Featured in Hot Rod, The Watch, and Awesometown,
• Awesometown was rejected by Fox, MTV and Comedy Central.

Personally; they were the first comedic music group I heard and I instantly loved them. If you haven't heard of them befor, I'd strongly advise you to listen to them; they're absolutely hilarious!

WARNING! Most of their songs contain Profanity

 

The Midnight Beasts:

• Formed by Stefan Abingdon, Andrew 'Drew' Wakely, & Ashley Horne.
• Based in London
• They brokethrough with their parody of Ke$ha's TiK ToK
• Their most famous singles are; Lez Be Friends, TiK ToK parody, House Party, Wands
• They have written, and star in a Sit-Com, simply name 'The Midnight Beast' - I wonder why? They arecurrently recording their second season to be released in 2014 on E4
• They've released 10 songs through their Sit-Com, one of which was Begging (From their first episode) Peak 2 in the UK Indie Charts.

Personally; I first saw their parody of TiK ToK and immediately died of laughter. Ever since I've LOVED them! And they just never get old! I HUGELY advise you to also listen to them, they're top quality!

WARNING! Most of their songs contain Profanity

 

So I had to choose between these two GREAT comedic Music Groups! In the end I decided to use The Lonely Islands because they were my sell line

 

What I decided I wanted was a typical '80's/90's' look; this means nothing is in the scene but a nice, furry, soft sofa. The models would be in turtlenecks pulling a typical '80's/90's' pose:

 

 

^ From Left to Right; Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone

 

All The Other Business For Le Cover

We're so close to the end of this, Tedious journey! Just a few bits and bobs left!

Sell Lines! I need some writing on the cover to make people WANT to buy this magazine, buy MusicaMoustache. I decided my main story would be: The Lonely Islands' NEW Album Release Date Revealed! I chose this because it will intrigue customers to buy it because one of THE biggest names in this industry, reveal more! And for Sub-Stories, I decided to have The Midnight Beasts Reveal Season 2 Is En Route!!

Now that the content is covered, I need to set a price! When thinking of price I need to take in account my audience, and since it's for people between 15 and 22 - these people would still be in education, the price would HAVE to be affordable for them. I ended up deciding to sell at the price of £0.69 This would be affordable for them, yet providing me money. Also I decided to sell this magazine Monthly because then EACH magazine would entail great stories. And FINALLY What's left is another spark of creativity.. THE SLOGAN! I went with, Music For Shits And Giggles, I chose it because it really generalizes the magazine, in a snappy manner.

 

 

THE COVER

NUMERO UNO:

 

I like this cover. It's creative, creative and quirky. HOWEVER the masthead is too big, which leads me to..

 

COVER THE SECOND:

It's masthead was made smaller, alowing room for another feature, 'And Stories About:' Where I list famous comedy musicians that are included in this feature of the Magazine. But this STILL feels like a poster which led me to a lot of tweaking about

The Final Third:  

 

 #BOOM

 

The masthead was again made smaller, and more square because it looked much better this way and it was still dominating too much. I enlargened the main picture in order to show the main point, I removed it's background so it looked more free-flowing. The 'And stories about:' Bit is still there however I scattered it around theedge so it wasn't to compact in one part and empty on the other. The main sell line was madelower so it wasn't in the way of the pic. The sub-story about the Midnight Beasts was made smaller, as I felt it was dominating too much; just as the masthead was. I then added another sub-story, featuring yours truly :P Also a KEY feature I missed out, somehow, was the price and barcode! How I managed to miss that befuddles me! But should you come accross a barcode better than mines, I must see!
 

ALL IN ALL

'Tis been a tedious journey we've been through. Consisting immense FOCUS, immense CREATIVITY, and immense AWESOMENESS! Not forgetting the HUGE amount of WATER INTAKE, and TYPING, and ENERGY! So be grateful you've been able to look into my awesome thought proccess! Before we conclude, let's see if I have met my aims!

The Magazine's name! I wanted something unique and quirky! That also sums up the concept of the magazine. I went with MUSICAMOUSTACHE. How does this asscosciate? Well, firstly, the concept is Quirky Music. Is this percieved through the title? I believe so! I mean it says Musica, Spanish for Music, and Moustaches can be extremely quirky!
Slogan. I wanted a Catchy slogan, which Explains the concept. I went with, Music For Shits And Giggles. Pretty self-explanatory I'd say..
My Colour scheme Is Bright and Quirky! My magazine's sole purpose is to be Quirky and Unique! This captures it greatly! I doubt Purple and yellow have been combined a lot before! This would attract the target audience too! Because the colours are bright and contrasting, the 15-22 year old criteria is filled.
One more thing left for branding, ZE LOGO. A huge purple M is the 'Base' in which the brand's name is written within in yellow. There's a black moustache and a black musical note, relating to the brands name. On the top is the slogan sitting pretty in purple. This is a creative yet attractive logo, in which will attract costumers because it is unique.
Ok, I lied, there's one more thing left for branding. The PRICE! Since my target audience is people who are currently; either, in education, on low pay, or jobless; I needed my price to be low so they'd not struggle to buy it. I went for just £0.69, this shouldn't be such a huge problem, since it's £0.69 per month!
Photography! I wanted a mockery of a 80's/90's look. I think I have managed to percieved that. There sits, accross the page, Lonely Islands with blue turtlenecks and white chinos, on a whtie, fluffy couch. 'It's so fluffy I wanna die!'. Which gives of a clean, relaxed enviroment. They also pull off a 'Classic 80's/90's pose', which adds on the 'mockery' vibe.
What helps sell magazines? Sell-lines!!! I mean it is in the name.. I chose 7! Well, there's one MAIN Story, and two Sub-stories, then there's 4 extra bits and bobs to 'complete' the mag, just to attract the customer that bit more. I'm extremely pleased with these.

Generally I believe this is a UNIQUE and ORIGINAL and just plain, AWESOME!! It's got comedy, stories, and music, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!?
'Tis been Shahel Ahmed, Thank you, and goodnight! (Or morning depends on when you're reading this...)