Planning Task 7: Website Homepage and Linked Page

The header for my homepage will be one of the first thing the visitor to the website will see so the font of the masthead will be in the same font that is on the magazine's front cover. This creates consistency and familiarity throughout my music magazine branding. The positioning of the masthead in the middle of header, in larger font, makes it very visible and makes it clear to the visitor what magazine website they are on. The simplicity of the header allows it to be navigable to visitors which would increase their enjoyment on the website because they aren't being confused or frustrated into not finding what they want to see.

In terms of the linked pages on the website and the content on them, I have decided to feature articles that are included in the contents pages on each of the magazine editions. This further elevates my magazine because it makes all the work cohesive. The articles will be based on the headings 'Turning Old into New / How to recycle and upcycle your old CDs' and 'Feminism in Music'. I can use old CDs that I have at home to create a picture for the first article and I can use a photo I took from a previous concert to attach to the second article. This also shows a range of content from my magazine to interest a wide range of readers; those interested in DIY and those who are interested in the music industry. 

For the audio visual element, I will make a video interviewing the artist, Emily Campbell, who is the man featuring artist on the second edition. I will market this as an exclusive with the artist before her UK tour; there will be a unique code at the end of the video that, when entered into her website, puts the visitor into a draw/competition for two free tickets. I will make an animation to superimpose onto the video that shows the code and website, as well as her name at the start of the video. This adds another element to my coursework that elevates it further and makes it more sophisticated. The video will be set in a bedroom which I will present as Emily's childhood bedroom where she wrote all her early music from; the topic of the video will be an interview focusing on how Emily grew her career and music and where she comes from, before shifting the focus of the talking to her upcoming tour. An example of a script for the interview is:

Emily: Hi, my name is Emily Campbell and I am a singer/songwriter from London. 

Interviewer: Hi Emily, so where are we today for this interview?

E: We are in my childhood bedroom right now, this is where I wrote most of my early songs and where I first fell in love with music. 

I: And how did you fall in love with music and decide that this is what you want to pursue?

E: Well, I was in primary school when I heard about guitar lessons being offered to us from an external company. That night, I went home and begged my parents to let me try and pay for the lessons. I really liked my teacher and I picked up the basics of guitar pretty quickly and I just got better and better on the guitar, then in secondary school I learnt how to play the piano for music GCSE. That’s why my songs have a mixture of both guitar and piano in them.

I: So that explains the initial attraction to playing instruments, but how did you discover you could sing?

E: I used to sing along to songs in the car and on the radio and my parents always said I had a good voice but I never believed them. Then I watched some Youtube videos of people playing instruments and singing at the same time so I gave it a try, recorded myself, watched it back and thought to myself, ‘maybe my voice isn’t so bad after all’. I just kept practising after that and then my songs started getting noticed and it’s been a whirlwind ever since.

I: For those watching that don’t know, how did you get noticed for your music?

E: Easy, Tiktok. I just posted a video one day of me singing my original song and it blew up. Next thing I know is that I have agents calling me left, right and centre and all my songs on Spotify have hundreds of thousands of streams. I think it was purely luck on my part that my video was the one that went viral over thousands of other artists.

I: So you signed for a label and agent… What's next?

E: I am so excited to announce that I will be going on tour in the UK and in Europe over the summer. Tour dates and venues will be announced tomorrow.

I: Sounds wonderful! How do you feel about that? Must be such a whirlwind of emotions. 

E: Oh yes, I am really looking forward to travelling and meeting all the people who love my music as much as me but sometimes I wake up and I still can’t believe that this is my life now. 

I: And finally, how can people find out the important information on the concerts and where to buy tickets?

E: All the information will be on my website emilycampbell.com/2025tours and the tickets will be available on Ticketmaster. But if people go to my website and enter the unique code EMILY2025 then they are automatically entered into a competition for two free tickets and a chance to meet me at any show that they want. 

I: Amazing, what a great idea. Emily, thank you for your time and letting us into your home and good luck on your tour next summer.