Flat Plans

The stages of my magazine
flat planning!

When we found out the assignment we would have to undertake for our coursework, all that time ago, we were told to think about the layout of music magazines and to record initial ideas. I was one of the minority which actually designed ideas for this magazine in my spare time (okay, so maybe I had a bit too much spare time on my hands) and then created a flat plan for the front cover, which can be seen below. Recently we were asked to create flat plans for our music magazines for both the front cover as well as the contents. Since my first original layout and planned ideas, I have obviously put a lot more thought into it and gained some valuable feedback to influence decisions. I thought it would be interesting to blog the development since my initial planning and show how I am planning to go forth on the creation of both my magazines front cover as well as the contents.

The memories of excitement of finally starting media coursework whilst making this flat plan (how wrong my excitement was)! In all honesty, this was what my initial idea for the front cover was, be it slightly basic, however I thought I should blog it as it will show how my ideas advanced. As you can see the title design has change massively and there are many differences from my current work, however there are some similarities. The artists name "Mote Control" I decided to alter slightly but keep it as "Mote Kontrol". I have also incorporated the list of artists which I was going to use but reduced the size to allow for more coverlines. Finally, I am planning on using the circular almost sticker like graphic to advertise a competition in my magazines front cover. It is clear planning has influenced my work.

Colour! Well, not a lot, but it at least shows what colour scheme I was thinking of using. Green was the main colour as it goes well with black and white, colours I was hoping to base my magazine around before researching and finding out the vast majority of music magazines have never featured a black background on their front covers. This dented my ideas somewhat, however was made slightly irrelevant when I changed the style of my music magazine soon after. As you can see the pose of the person was to hold a record at eyeline however, when changing my front cover idea, I decided against this and am instead hoping to use the pictures I have taken of this pose in my contents page.

Well, this is a bit different. This is what I am planning on using to create my front cover. As you can see I took parts of my original flat plan such as the list of artists on the right hand side of the page. I also have kept the name and sticker graphic. The model has changed to being a scientist, in a lab coat, with the Dre.Beats round his neck to keep the tie with music and to keep the persona relevant. 


The contents page which was peer assessed (see Peer Assessment post) was not what I had wanted to continue using. It was created more out of lack of time than for my preference of design. I decided I would create a detailed flat plan for a contents page for my magazine. As you can see, it is fairly simple, ensuring I have vast amounts of detail which is clearly displayed in a simple layout. There is a main photo dominating the page for which I am undecided over as of this point. I have also inserted a "find your favourite artist" list. This is commonly seen in music magazines and will fit in well with the three column layout I am proposing. There will be two columns for the stories, this being that it is a weekly publication instead of a monthly, meaning a lower number of stories and fewer pages. I have also decided to put a QR Code in the bottom left hand corner, this, once again, is commonly seen in modern music magazines and would fit well into the space left by the columns in the contents page. I am finally going to insert a subscription sticker over my secondary picture, being one of the pictures I took when planning for my old layout, placing it next to an album cover which I will create to put into the middle column in the contents.