Amy Varley EPQ

(finished designing 30th October 2020) Overall Design: The general design idea for the magazine was a mainly black and white theme, with pictures used to add colour. This colour scheme allowed me to create a cohesive design, whilst making each page unique in layout. By creating a mix of more simple article pages and slightly busier filler pages, I hope to have created a magazine that is easy to read whilst also challenging myself to learn new techniques. The filler pages were designed with the simple shapes of the other pages in mind, whilst also being functional to give meaning to the project as a whole. For example, I couldn't find a timetable for the music venue that fit the style of my project, so I created my own in the colour scheme and layout that fits my magazine much more. Spread #1: Streaming Sites The first double-page spread in my magazine is dedicated to my article about the streaming side of the music industry. I originally planned for the focus of the design to be th

 For my images, I have chosen to use a website called Unsplash . This is a website I learned about through my sister, who is a current graphic design student. It provides a vast array of copyright-free images that I can use in my publication. The searching process is very simple and the images are all different, whilst staying within my chosen area. The copyright-free aspect of all of my images is very important as, if this was an actual publication, I would need to get permission for images if I wanted to use the image in the magazine. Using this website, I'm using images that the artist/photographer has uploaded themselves, giving permission for anyone to use them. Cover Image: I chose this image because I wanted an artistic cover that would be adaptable for different issues if my magazine was a monthly publication. The image behind the white text could be changed each month. The image I have currently links to the issue as a whole because of its cultural references. In the magaz

Form: My magazine will be produced in a zine-style, mirroring many local music publications. I chose to create this style of magazine because of its smaller size and less content. I will not be producing a large amount of articles for my project, as this may be too time consuming, but the three articles I aim to produce will allow me to develop design skills with different spreads and outline the major components of a music magazine. This format will also allow me to print the final product easier and cheaper, as a full A4 magazine would be quite expensive. The overall style of my magazine that I currently had in-mind suits the zine style extremely well, allowing me to highlight key components of the publication, whilst undertaking a manageable workload alongside my school work, working towards a realistic finish date for the project as a whole. Audience: I have decided to direct my magazine's design towards a more alternative audience. This is the type of music I listen to on a re

 In recent times, the music industry has suffered greatly because of the coronavirus pandemic. I have chosen to produce my magazine as if it was being published before the pandemic occurred. With my current writing style, I have not included any reference to this and I believe that, if I was to include the pandemic's impact on the industry, this would have to become the focus of my magazine in order for the correct amount of detail to be added and to cover the necessary information.  This is why I have chosen to create a pre-COVID magazine. I wanted to focus on the issues that face the music industry on a consistent basis and, whilst I understand that the impact of coronavirus on music as a whole has been massive, I could not maintain both of the topics equally with the detail I would have liked to include. I have continued the original path of my magazine; to focus on the changes of the industry as it was before the pandemic, allowing me to provide the level of detail I feel is ne

 During the month of September, I completed my research and filled out the information in my source evaluation document. This ran a few days into October, because of a week of mock exams during school hours. This has not heavily impacted on my plans for October, however, as I only had a couple of sources left to evaluate, which were completed very easily once exams were finished. Each source has been evaluated in regards to it's reliability, considering it's author, the date it was written and any contextual factors that may influence the credibility of the article as a source. I have also written a summary of information from each source, allowing me to easily access the facts and figures necessary for writing an informative article. The final column of my evaluation table described how I was going to use these sources in my articles. I detailed the context they would be useful in and the type of information I felt would be best portrayed using the data from each article. This