Photo thoughts

Black and white

Colour 

Colour photos appear to have been taken with pale filters which add another layer of sophistication to the image. 

Poses 

The faces of people in these photos normally feature thoughtful looks, half smiles, or eye contact. The poses are tame; natural looking, and the artists do not look like they're 'overacting' for a shot. The images are bold without being 'in your face', so they are subtly eye-catching and more intriguing or thought-provoking than 'loud' with bright colours or any complicated features.

Covers

  

Indication of magazine features

Moodboard

Genre Research

My chosen genre

The genre I have chosen for my music magazine is indie, including variations of indie music, such as 'indie rock' and other 'alternative' music. I have chosen this genre as it is one of my favourites and I admire not only the sounds of songs in this genre, but other factors such as the fashion and the images the artists project of themselves because it is often unusual and creative.

'Indie' is short for 'independent', which relates to the idea of diverting away from mainstream culture; being unique or anti-conformist. Indie music originates from bands that made their music independently as they could not gain financial support to have a major record label.

These days, being indie is more focused on being different or standing out. The irony of this is that 'being indie' has become a mainstream concept. 

Many audiences have been influenced by indie culture for the rebellious nature of the genre appeals to individuals. 

The bands that have inspired me to chose this genre have been labelled indie/alternative by Wikipedia. 

Fashion

Indie clothing is basically 'not what everyone else is wearing', though in reality the clothes are mass produced and the wearer will not be the only one wearing them. 

Typical pieces of clothing associated with being indie are waistcoats, band t-shirts, ties, and clothing that appears to be vintage. 

Converse and plimsolls are popular indie footwear choices.

Here is Passion Pit sporting the latest in 'indie clothing': a knitted jumper, a cardigan, a checked shirt, and not one but two pairs of 'hipster' glasses. Indie. 

Wikipedia categorises Passion Pit as indietronica, synthpop, alternative dance, indie pop, house.

This is The xx who are unlike most mainstream artists when it comes to how they dress. While a lot of artists will wear 'random' clothes every time they perform, The xx always wear black, which sets them apart from other artists.

Wikipedia categorises The xx as indie pop, dream pop. 

Album covers

The album art of indie bands is often colourful, arty, and unusual, making it interesting to look at. It is 'quirky' compared to mainstream album covers, standing out due to the sheer abnormality that piques the interest of individuals.

GROUPLOVE: Alternative rock, indie pop, indietronica, alternative dance.

Young the Giant: Alternative rock, indie rock.

Music videos

Indie music videos generally consist of anything out-of-the-ordinary that people will not have seen before.

Playlist of 20 indie songs that inspired me to chose this genre

Covers I like

I love the designs of all of these magazines. They are all very attractive in their own ways. 
The bright colours some of them feature draw your attention to them straight away, which makes you want to read the magazine, despite not knowing what it is about. 
The Little White Lies cover appeals to me due to its unusual design; it is not a typical cover, making it more noticeable, and the way the masthead, date, issue number and barcode have been displayed is very creative and amusing. I also admire the text-image cohesion used here- The text says "Inside Llewyn Davis" and an image of Llewyn is displayed under a layer of paper that is being ripped off, revealing him and making it seem as though the layer with the text is the outside, so Llewyn is on the inside.
Arty covers are also eye-catching as they offer viewers something original, which is fascinating.
I like the fonts used on each of these covers. Each font is appropriate to the genre and style of the magazine and they are all distinctive. 
I like the text on the cover of Huck magazine, it looks handwritten, which gives it a personal touch and feels like it is creating a relationship between the artists featured on the cover, and the reader. This synthetic personalisation would invite the reader to continue reading the magazine.
I like how one of the covers does not look much like a magazine cover at all, it instead appears to be an envelope. This gives it an edge. It holds no resemblance to what people expect a magazine cover to look like, making its impact magnetic as people want to buy the conspicuous magazine.
The final cover showing a close-up, black and white photograph of Nelson Mandela is very striking. It is only an the image with the text "Nelson Mandela 1918-2013", yet it is obvious what the issue will be about. The image is bold and provocative, while the text is simple and minimalist, without being meaningless. 

Examples of other texts