Drafting and Planning: QR Code

Another piece of feedback I received was to add a QR code to offer my audience a deal when they subscribe to the online version of my magazine (outre.com). This will allow me to reach a wider audience, by offering 6 months’ half price I will hopefully encourage readers to buy the magazine for the perks.

Drafting and Planning: Table of Contents Improvements

On my feedback, it was suggested that I should change the cluster of album covers to something else as it looked unprofessional and slightly messy. Another suggestion was to add more content to my magazine, as monthly magazines tend to have 100+ pages. To do this, instead of changing all the page numbers, I decided to add more articles, to match album reviews, I added live reviews, where I will write about artist’s concerts, I also added an exposure tab, where new artists are featured to get their names out in the industry. This allows my magazine to look more full and more value for money.

Drafting and Planning: Differences Between First and Final Draft

(Left: First Draft, Right: Final Draft) after receiving feedback on my first draft, I made some draftic improvements to my cover and conents page. One of the improvements to my cover was changing my secondary cover lines, in my first draft my secondary cover lines stuck out like a sore thumb, they didn’t fit my magazine’s style, this made it look unprofesional. Another big change was my main cover line, after completeing my new secondary cover lines, my main cover line didn’t stand out and shout at the reader to grab their attention., to beat this, I changed the fonts and colours of the font’s background. A third big change was my skyline, in my first draft, my skyline was minimal and boring, in my fonal draft, I made the background match my masthead, and included two layers of text, one white and one black.

On my contents page, I updated my mini-cover (located above my table of contents) to be the same as my updated cover. Also on my table of contents, I changed the colour of the numbers on the right hand side of the table. I also filled the blank space below my image. To fill space, I made a second DPS just as a filler, I also filled the space with album covers that I made (each of which are mentioned in the “Album Reviews” tab).

(Left: First Draft, Right: Final Draft)  not much changed on my PS between my fist and final draft. I replaced the call out “Pre-Order…” with my pull quote as it looked unprofesional. I also received the feedback that there wasn’t enough content on my DPS, so I increased the length of my article.

Drafting and Planning: Magazine Final Draft

Drafting and Planning: More Article Improvements

The following is more improvements on my *article* to try and fill more space on my DPS. (Improvements in red)

Second Passing is back! Fans of the British Alt-Rock Band Second Passing took to twitter to welcome back the band after an almost 2-year hiatus following the revelation that the lead singer, Rachel Basset, was struggling with an addiction to cocaine.

Second Passing is a Birmingham-based Alternative rock band formed by lead singer, Rachael Basset. Second Passing started out in Rachael’s garage playing for their parents. They received a big break back in 2012 after a representative of Lab Records Limited spotted them playing a gig in a local pub – something that kick started their career. Fast forward 6 months and Second Passing had released their first album “Thoughts of a Full Moon” which sold over 55,000 copies, both physical and digital, launching them into the spotlight of the alternative music scene. Hopeless Records picked Second Passing up in January of 2013. In the summer of 2014 Second Passing were invited to join Neck Deep on Warped Tour. Also in 2014 they released their second, self-titled, album under Hopeless Records which came top 100 of the year.

In the year building up to the announcement of the hiatus, there was speculation about Rachael going through a rough time as she failed to show up to a string of meet and greets on warped tour 2014. On the day, Second Passing’s management tweeted: “Due to unforeseen reasons, Rachael will be unable to attend the meet and greet scheduled at the Hopeless Records tent tomorrow at 2pm… thankfully, the rest of the band will be attending and look forward to meeting everyone who comes!” At the event the band were said to look stressed and “occupied” despite engaging with the awaiting crowd.

In March 2015, Second Passing’s management announced the band’s hiatus to “Focus on the wellbeing of the band members and to take a break from the spotlight of the industry”. It was revealed that the lead singer, Rachel Basset had been admitted into a rehab centre to recover from a cocaine addiction. On her personal twitter the day of the announcement, he stated “yes, the rumours are true I am being admitted to rehab for cocaine I would like to thank Second Passing for being with me through my recovery” followed by a tweet on Second Passing’s account saying “We are proud of Rachel for taking this step towards getting better, we ask that you all support him during this difficult time”.

Now, almost 2 years later, and with a fully recovered Rachel, Second Passing are back. On her personal Twitter, Rachel said “I would like to thank everyone who helped me during my time of need. I would also like to thank the wonderful staff at the centre I was treated at. I met some amazing people with some amazing stories. Hopefully, this will encourage anyone who is struggling to get help, you’re not alone!”

Rachael received treatment for her addiction at the London Freedom Recovery Centre, which has had many positive reviews for being the best in the country. Their treatment plans include group activities, as well as individual counselling to get to the bottom of each patients individual needs.

Speaking of her recovery she said “it’s left me feeling revitalised and motivated to begin making music again, I’m looking forward to seeing your reaction to the new tunes”

Second Passing are currently working on their third album. It has been rumoured that the profits from the sale of the album will be going to charities like those that helped Rachel during her difficult time. 

Drafting and Planning: Contents Page Improvements

My contents page had a large blank space below the secondary image which made it feel empty, to reduce this effect, I created some album covers to position cascading down the area. Each of the album covers relate to one of the albums listed in the “album reviews” section. Furthermore, I have created a second DPS to position there this DPS is one of the articles that can be found in “features”.

Drafting and Planning: Anchorage Text Style Change

On my first draft cover my anchorage text under my cover line did not stand out above the secondary cover lines. This was due to me having the same design for my main cover line as my secondary cover lines. This made it blend into the rest of the page and the readers’ attention is drawn away from it. To combat this, I made my anchorage text bigger and used black as a bold “look at me” statement