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.::. City University Lonon: 'The Middle 8'
Published December 2008

”The Middle 8” is a fictional music magazine targeted at both male and female readers between the age group 16 to 30. The magazine is primarily focused on pop music, with a special emphasis on new and upcoming artists and bands as well as those already well established in the industry, and contains specific artist- and band-related interviews, articles and features, as well as topic-specific articles and features, reviews and specials. All of the magazine’s content is based on material from the music website Popjustice, which seeks to celebrate commercial music using humour, user interaction and contacts within the music industry. Not all of the material published on the site is appropriate for the magazine, as it first and foremost is written for the web, and secondly it is either too lengthy or includes use of pictures, videos and hyperlinks that would not fit in a printed magazine. However, the magazine, with its front page, two-page spread and additional following page showcases some of the material that fits in the publication I had in mind.

The design principles of the magazine are quite straightforward: Sleek, simple and stylish were three words I had in mind when planning the design of the magazine. The layout is based on that of many magazines, such as fashion magazines. The font choices specifically signify this, with the main text, headlines, captions and standfirsts all based on different variations of the font Futura. I chose this sans font as it is simple and easy on the eye, yet also sleek and stylish. Additionally, there were different versions of it available, such as light, medium and heavy variations, and I carefully selected between these when building the layout. I used colour for variation, but in hand with the design principles of the magazine I kept the colour choices to a minimum in order not to overdo things.

The assignment in question displays the front page and 3 pages of the magazine itself. The main story is a feature on the new Lily Allen album '"It's Not Me, It's You" spawning a two-page spread, and the fourth page is a Q&A interview with rapper Ne-Yo.

Click on the picture below to read the magazine full-sized (.pdf format, opens in new window):



Mark: TBC

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