Contents Page

Features Page

Front Page Cover Flatplan

Research for my Slogan

I have researched slogans for music magazines in order to decide on a slogan for my music magazine. I have noticed that these slogans are all featured on the cover of the music magazine either above or below the masthead and sometimes as a skyline. Most of these slogans are in black and white so it doesn't draw too much attention away from the masthead, as that needs the most attention on a music magazine cover. All of these slogans are catchy in many different ways; from the use of repetition, alliteration and the shortness of them. Personal terms such as 'your' in 'Blender's slogan 'YOUR MUSIC BUDDY' make the magazine seem personal and like it was made for you. Hyperboles have been used in some of these slogans for example 'THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MUSIC' - the word ultimate exaggerates the slogan and makes the magazine look very appealing. Sometimes exclamations have been used to make the magazine seem more exciting. In most of the slogans words relating to music have been used to give an indication of the ideology of the magazine and what it may have to offer. Sometimes when names of the magazine name is made up of letters, what they stand for is featured in the slogan for example with 'NME' and 'AP'.

From this research I have created my slogan, which will be featured in the skyline of my cover spread.

I have used an exclamation to make the magazine appear more excited to read, a hyperbole to exaggerate the good content of the magazine through the word 'best' and I have used capital letters in a sans serif typeface which I noticed all the other slogans had in common, therefore making this successful. I have also used just black and white as this was also popular among the other slogans. I have used the name of my magazine to gain a true brand identity through the name.

Analysis of Forms and Conventions of a Music Magazine Cover

Photography for Cover Page

More Contents Page Photography

Live Music Event Photography

Photography For Contents Page

Focus Group Feedback for Features Page

After my features page pitch to the target audience, I asked  them to feedback to see what is successful in my features page from a scale of 1-5.
 5 = I like it a lot
1 = It doesn't work
With feedback on my style and layout the majority gave a 5, so this has been successful as my audience has favoured this. So when making improvements I need to keep the layout and styling features of the same style so that my features page continues to please and attract my audience.
With using the forms and conventions of a  features page my range of feedback ratings was from 3-5, to improve this I think i shall add more pull quotes, a summary of the article and a page lead, so that my features page follows conventions of a features page even more so.
My accurate language style and mode of address also gained between 3-5, but the majority, 5. It was also commented that my target audience comes through formally, which is what I was aiming for, so that the magazine can cater for all classes. I could improve the mode of address and language style by making the text feel more personal by adding a page lead to introduce the artist and the article in a manner to the reader feels more comfortable and at home. I will also do this by adding an artist signature and more pull quotes so that the reader can feel they know the artist so my magazine can establish a loyal readership. I can improve the language style by adding more exclamations to make the article seem more upbeat and exciting, so the reader will be more interested to read on.
I asked the audience to rate my use of camera angles and shot distances, these gained mostly a score of 5 and i feel the look a positioning of the images have been successful so i will make no further improvements with artwork.
I gained mostly a score of 4 for the category asking to judge the variety of fonts and text size. In the pull quotes I am going to add to amend my features page, I will include more of a variety of text sizes but no more different typefaces, as i feel that this will make the page lose its style which was praised by the focus group and add visual clutter, giving a very busy look to the page, which is not the brand identity style of the magazine.
The use of mise-en-scene gained all scores of 5 and one 4, I feel this was successful as I used props such as the guitar and stool and decided what the artist would be wearing to add to the style of the music, which came across obvious to the focus group that it was acoustic. When working on the computer making my features page, the lighting looked good, but printed out, the main image looks very dark against the black background, so I think i shall improve this by adjusting the brightness of the image so it appears more striking.

Features Page Pitch to an Audience

Features page pitch to an audience

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Features Page Planning

Contents Page Flatplan

Contents page flatplan

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Photo Shoot Pictures for Features Page

Flatplan for Features Page

Creating the Masthead for my Music Magazine

Creating the Masthead for my Music Magazine on Prezi

Analysis of Music Magazine Features Page

Features Page Analysis and Mode of Address on Prezi

More Features Page Analysis on Prezi

Music Magazine Survey Results

I produced this survey to get an understanding of what presentational features would best suit the target audience when creating my media product. I used 'SurveyMonkey' to create my survey; this enabled me to design suitable questions and then collect the information needed by sharing the survey on the social networking site 'Facebook'. This was a good way in which to collect information as my target audience are  the majority age group that would be using this site and that filled in this survey.
Here are the results of the survey:

From question 1, I can gain that if the typography in my masthead is in capital letters, it is best suited that the typeface is in sans serif and if the typography is in lowercase, then the typeface should be in serif.  From question 2, the majority of people surveyed said that on the front cover of this music magazine, the art should be posed and that on the double page spread the art should be spontaneous.
The most popular design for a double page spread layout asked in question 3, was for images to be on one page of the spread, and the copy to be on the other.
On the front page of my music magazine, from my results in question 4, a female solo artist should be featured, as the survey shows over 50% thought that this would be best to be positioned on the cover.
Question 5 was fairly even in results, but the majority concluded that the overall style of the magazine should be spaced out and modern, with a clean cut and smart finish.
Question 6 was a text box question, so a table was unable to be made using the results, I asked which colours could be suggested for a music magazine, in order to establish a set of house colours. The suggestions given included, blue, green, pink, yellow, black, red, purple, white and silver. The most popular colours chosen were red, black, and blue. From research i have found red and black are often used as house colours on music magazines, so are therefore successful. But to establish an individual brand identity, perhaps blue could be included within the house colours.
I will take all of these results into consideration when planning and creating my magazine.

Reader Profile

I have looked at a series of music magazine reader profiles. From this I have gained the knowledge that music magazines in the industry know their audience inside out. I looked at the reader profiles for the music magazines ‘NME’ and ‘UNCUT’. They have included information such as the percentage of the readers that are male and female, the average reader age, average income, percentage of readers that are married/living with a partner, how much the audience spend on music a year – in different forms, what technology readers have access to, what the reader relies on the magazine for, whether the readers have a passion for music, films etc.

Target Audience Questionnaire Evaluation

To aid my research, I developed a questionnaire to give to the target audience to gain a sense of what i need to think about when creating my music magazine. In the questionnaire, I asked the question 'Do you currently buy any music magazines?', 20% said yes, 50% said no and 30% said sometimes.The fact that 50% said no, enforces the fact that there is not anything in the market of music magazines that specifically caters for the needs of the audience I am targeting my product at - 15-25 year olds of both genders. The fact that some people said sometimes also enhances the point that there isn't quite anything in newsagents from music magazines which particularly 'grabs' this target market to gain a loyal readership but their is a great interest in music from this audience.
I asked which current magazine this target audience would be most likely to buy, 70% stated that they would buy 'Q' magazine and the rest would opt for 'Kerrang!', no-one selected the music magazines 'Top of the Pops', 'NME' or MOJO - this shows that these types of magazines gain little interest from this target market as they are for older or younger readers. The fact that 'Q' gained a high percentage of interest shows that the style, presentation and contents within this magazine appeal to this audience. 'Q' uses bold colours, neat presentation and caters all genres, these details I can consider, when creating my music magazine.
When asking which music genre would be preferred to feature in a music magazine, the target audience responded with 40% thinking a music magazine should cover all genres, and 30% in favour of a pop genre featuring in a new magazine. Taking this into consideration, I believe my music magazine would be a success focusing on a variety of genres, but having a particular speciality in the pop genre.
When asking what would be preferred in the contents of a music magazine, 50% thought interviews with artists were successful and interesting to read in a magazine.
I asked if it was better for popular artists, unsigned artists or both, to feature in a music magazine, 70% said both should feature and 30% said just popular artists should. As nobody selected just unsigned bands to be part of a news magazine, it is wise not to follow this up. I will follow the majority of the target audience and feature both.
I questioned what price would be best to sell my media product at, 70% thought £1.50 -2.50 was a suitable price in which to buy a magazine. Money is an issue with this age group as the majority are still in education, without income, so would not have enough money to afford luxuries such as magazines, especially in this economic climate, and i think the issue of money is a big reason as to why 50% stated that they do not buy magazines.
When asking if a music magazine should be produced weekly, monthly, every fortnight or every season, 80% thought a music magazine would be better if it was produced monthly.
60% of the target audience mostly listen to music by the use of an iPod and not by CD or another form of listening to music. I then went on to ask when the person last bought a CD and the majority -70%, had bought a CD over a year ago. This gives the impression that CD's are now unfashionable and out of date with this target audience, and downloading on the Internet has now taken over, so perhaps album reviews are not the best to feature in a music magazine for this target audience, as they are more interested in buying singles rather than whole albums.
I asked how often music is bought/downloaded by the target audience, 60% download music every fortnight, this enhances the fact that young people within the target audience have a very keen interest in music and therefore a music magazine aimed at them is likely to be a success. I then asked where the music gained is from, and if it is paid for. Most responded by stating that they do not pay for music that they gain, and use illegal downloading sites such as 'Limewire'. This also links with the money issue, that young people cannot afford to buy music, therefore a new music magazine needs to be affordable.
In conclusion, from my questionnaire, i have discovered that my music magazine should include both unsigned and popular artists, artist interviews, a variety of genres but with a focus on pop and an affordable price - between £1.50-2.50. I have also gained that my music magazine would be best produced monthly, to suit the audience and have a similar style to 'Q' in the contents, but a new, fresh brand identity.

Preliminary Task - Contents Page

Preliminary Task Evaluation

I chose to aim my school magazine at a specific niche audience of sixth formers, in a girls' school. I chose purple as a house colour as it has connotations of being feminine and therefore fits with the target audience. I decided to team the purple with black and white, to break down the quirky impact the purple gives. In the mise-en-scene, I decided to have the school as a background on the cover page to represent the class of the school and i chose to dress the model featured in the medium close up, in the house colours to tie in with the house colours and brand identity of the magazine. The shot of the student is using direct address, which draws the eye to the cover of the magazine, attracting the audience.

My target audience of sixth formers will not have time to read lots of writing, so I decided to make the tone of the magazine short and snappy, using minimal amount of text so that the audience would be more inclined to read. On my contents page i decided to position the contents around the image of a clock to make it seem more appealing to read, also the spread out effect makes the copy look more visually pleasing and gives the illusion that there is less text, so makes it more readable. On the cover page, I used cover lines to interest the audience as to what might be featured inside the magazine. Next time i would add more cover lines to interest the demographic more; I had difficulty adding cover lines effectively, as with the particular photograph I had featured on the front cover, not many colours would stand out against the background, which is very necessary for cover lines to jump out and grasp the audiences attention.

On my contents page, I decided to have the main art, as a clock as this has connotations of school, time and organisation so therefore links very well to what the magazine is meant to represent. I also thought this would be very effective as I could use the clock numbers as page references. Caused by a lack of professional software at hand at the time, i had to crop the image of the clock using Serif pageplus, which was very time consuming, because of the circular shape. Maybe for my real task for photo manipulation, I should use a programme such as Photoshop. To add more definition to the black, white and red colours in the artwork of the clock and piano, I edited the photos by boosting the contrast, so that the black, white and red would really contrast and stand out from eachother, giving a clean-cut look. Next time, when taking photographs I need to think and plan out more on the lighting, as on the cover with the image of the books, there is a noticeable glare of light as well as a reflection from the sun on the medium close up of a student.

I feel that my images were very appropriate, they all had a link to school life and fitted in with the theme of the magazine very well.

Preliminary Task - School Magazine Cover

Preliminary Task - Typography Experiments for Masthead

I have decided on the name 'Clique' for my school magazine, it has connotations of school life and is a short catchy name which I feel would be a success.

To design my masthead I researched the Rules of Typography.

Paul Fenton’s 10 Rules of Typography

1.       Use no more than 3 typefaces in a document

2.       Always place headlines at the top of the page and in larger font

3.       Only use size 10pt or 8pt for body copy

4.       A typeface that is not legible is not truly a typeface

5.       Use ‘kerning’ which ensures there is equal amounts of white space between each character

6.       Use ‘stressing’ discreetly within a text (underline, italic, bold)

7.       Only use capitals for whole text body – not individual words

8.       Ensure all letters are aligned on a baseline

9.       Use ‘flush-left-, ragged-right’ type alignment ( all type sits on left hand margin)

10.   Do not make lines too short or too long

But I also learnt that these rules can be broken!

      Below I have experimented by sketching possible typefaces I could use for my school magazine masthead. I have followed all of the typography rules, except number 8 where i have broken this rule on my sketch of the multicoloured masthead in which the letters do no align on the baseline to add a quirky effect. I have decided the most successful masthead drawn below is the own featured in red. It has a classy 'business' look, which is well suited for a school magazine.

I have found a similar font on Serif PagePlus and added a drop shadow and border in my chosen house colour to establish a brand identity.

Preliminary Task - Analysis of Past School/College Magazines

This magazine is for a college, from the artwork, you can gain the impression that this college is very artistic from the use of colours etc, and also that this college may be for religious students, as the building featured looks much like a church and the doves flying around the building shown have a religious connotations of peace and freedom. You can also get the idea that this college is religious from the name of the college featured in the masthead 'Bethlehem College', as Bethlehem also has religious connotations, as well as the church style building and the doves.
The house colours of this magazine cover are mainly yellow, black and pink, but with hints of blue, green and white, there may be many colours used, but the cover is not cluttered, due to just one piece of art and lack of text.
The masthead is shown at the bottom of the page; this allows the artwork to draw the eye, as it is at the top of the page. The masthead is in serif, which gives a more artistic look to the cover, which links with the painted artwork featured on the cover. The masthead is in yellow, which has connotations of hope which also links with the religious theme and stands out on the black background, so it is very visible to see, and stands out. The 'classy' look of this cover suggests that the readers are perhaps more mature and upper class and perhaps even go to this college privately.

This school magazine shows many images of typical school life. You can gain the impression that this school is very involved in activities and sports, and perhaps specialises in this.
The house colours are blue and white, the blue is used as it is the colour of the uniform at this particular school and adds a smart aspect to the cover, and the white is used to break up all of the different colours from the many images used.
The masthead is at the top of the cover in a traditional magazine style, and is the first thing you see, it is in sans serif, which gives a smart, to the point appearance. The magazine has been called 'Contact';  this relates to school as you have contact with many people with your school, your classmates, teachers, the community etc. It is also a very short, to the point, memorable name for the magazine.
No cover lines are used on this school magazine cover as the images are acting as the lure and give an indication to the contents.

Kerrang! Brand Identity Analysis

The house colours used in Kerrang! are usually, if not always, red, black and grey. Red has connotations of blood, passion and death. Black and Grey have connotations of death, depression and darkness; all of these link to the music featuring in the magazine in which the house colours continue.

The masthead is in sans serif. This gives an impression of ‘loudness’ which relates to the music, as does the fact the masthead is cracked which suggests destruction. The masthead is so well known as the magazines brand identity, it can be covered slightly by the main art. This appears in every issue.

All the main images used in Kerrang! are in direct address and are often taken as a low angle shot, so you feel slightly threatened as the band/ artist is looking down on you this contributes to the angry feel their music gives off.

But the judgements the public make of this may cause a moral panic among older people because of this threatening image.

All of the typographies used are the same, allowing the images to stand out more.

Kerrang! represents the interests of the people interested in the music featuring in this magazine; the audience being aged 15-25 of both genders.

The accuracy of this magazine can be trusted as the magazine always talks in a serious manner, delivering information.

The artists present in this magazine are only musicians in the area of rock, you would not find any other kind of artist in this magazine as if you suddenly change the brand identity of who is present in the magazine, the target market will be lost as they are buying the magazine as they take interest in this type of music.

Top of the Pops Brand Identity Analysis

The house colours of Top of the Pops in this edition are bright pink, deep purple and white. The pink and purple have connotation of being feminine and fairly quirky. The colours clash, which is quite dramatic, but this is broken down by the white space which has connotations of young and pureness, which reflects on the audience of young girls. Top of the Pops usually contains pink as a house colour, as shown in the images of previous covers, and this theme continues throughout the magazine.

The masthead is in sans serif. This makes it more casual and appeal to the younger audience. The masthead also includes a logo which is part of the brand identity, making it noticeable in newsagents. It also contributes to the ‘young feel’ of the magazine.

The tagline ‘More gossip! More scandal! More you!’ is a ‘puff’ and uses repetition of the word ‘More’ which gives the impression the magazine has a lot to offer. This tagline appears in every edition of the magazine and is a part of the brand identity

In this issue the main art on the cover is an image of a popular artist, Justin Bieber, this would largely attract the target audience of young girls aged 7- 14. A main image of a recent ‘heartthrob’ or a popular female artist girls can look up to is usually placed on the cover. This is usually is in direct address and is part of the brand identity. Images of popular artists and also actors’ young girls will be interested in e.g. stars from ‘High School Musical’; ‘Camp Rock’ etc, are used in Top of the Pops. The typography used on the cover of the Top of the Pops is usually a mixture of sans serif and serif; this gives a twist and adds an individual and young aspect to the magazine.

The magazine represents the interests of young girls – role model artists, young male ‘heartthrob’ artists and actors and beauty tips.

Top of the Pops always offers free gifts; stickers, nail varnish etc, this is part of the brand identity and it attracts the target audience as young girls will be more intrigued to buy a magazine with a free product as it is not at their interest is not just to buy a magazine purely with the want of gaining information.

You can make the judgement that the information in Top of the Pops can be trusted but, the magazine doesn’t take itself too seriously, using terms such as ‘omg!’, this is because the target audience are not looking for a serious magazine, as to them it would be boring. Others can make the judgement that this magazine is young and cheesy, from the immature newsflashes and bright colours.

The magazine tells us the institution that made it was the ‘BBC’, this is displayed in the corner of the cover and is on every issue.

Why is Creating a Brand Identity so Important?

A brand identity is what makes the magazine different from similar products in the media. When making any type of magazine it is important that a strong brand identity is formed.
This is so the magazine has something individual to offer, so that it is recognisable to the audience and reassures them of what the magazine offers - you can't randomly change their brand identity as they would lose their loyal readers as brand identity is set out to please the target audience of the magazine.
It is also important to create a brand identity so the magazine keeps a solid reputation for what it sets out to achieve and the expectations of the magazine. Brand recognition needs to remain constant so that the selling point of the magazine remains consistent.
You can create a brand identity through house colours that fit the certain stereotype of the target audience. For example for a magazine aimed at women, you could include house colours of pink, as this colour would appeal to that target audience and associates with them. You can also create a brand identity through images, typography, language etc.
I will now research further into brand identity by looking at how brand identity has been established in different music magazines.

Media Institutions - Q magazine

I have researched into the media institution of Q magazine.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Q magazine

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Analysis of Music Magazine Cover: Forms and Conventions

Introduction to Blog

I have created this blog to present the research i will carry out for my AS coursework. I will be designing the front page, double page spread and contents pages of a music magazine.