My Music Magazine - Cover Draft 4

For this draft, there have been no large changes, however I decided that the makeup my model had was not dark enough to fit the rock genre. I have added darker, bolder and larger eyeliner using Photoshop and also smudged it slightly under her eyes to make them stand out more, and draw attention to the moody, slight angered expression on the models face, which I feel add to the rock genre context.

My Music Magazine - Cover Draft 3

After reviewing my cover draft, I was very unhappy with the way that it looked. It was very boring and basic and although my audience would have preferred a clearer cover, I felt that it was much too plain. I removed the box around my second article to allow there to be more free movement, and also changed the look of the puff advertising the Bring Me The Horizon article. I already prefer the look of this cover. I have added a bar code and a price and also my background image. The colour of the image background was black, which meant that I had to change the font colours for my articles in order for them to be readable. Where the text was black, it is now white so that it can stand out.

My Music Magazine - Contents Page Draft 1

I have again tried to stick to my plan as much as possible for my contents page. I like the contrast of the red and white in the banner at the top of my page, and also how the red text and the black headings are used to make more information stand out. I have included a gold coloured puff on my contents page advertising free downloads and also started to include the descriptions for my articles throughout my magazine. I need to add my images, which I will do once my photo shoot has taken place.

I have used simple black lines and the original white of the page to create borders and boxes to include my information in, and I think that using the white space to my advantage to separate my boxes out is an effective use and makes the white space purposeful instead of wasteful.

I think I may change the colour of the border lines as the black of the sub-headings and the lines makes the colours block together and lessens the effect of the colour scheme, and so I will experiment with different shades of grey for my headings.

My Music Magazine - Cover Draft 2

This is my second draft of my music magazine, I have added more features from my plan to my front cover, which has allowed me to see the basic outline that I would like to build on. I feel like my plan may have been too simple, and although my audience said they would prefer a plain cover, that the basic shapes and thick lines I currently have added to my cover are too basic and need changing or altering slightly until I am happy with them. I have used the same font throughout to create a house style, and the same colours for detailing.

My Music Magazine - Cover Draft 1

This is the first draft of my music magazine, I am trying to stick to my plan as far as possible, and with slight changes and the addition of the logo of Bring Me The Horizon, I feel that I have achieved this.

DPS - Draft and Photoshoot Plan

Contents Page - Draft and Photoshoot Plan

Front Cover - Draft and Photoshoot Plan

Target Audience Research Analysis

I created a powerpoint to showcase my Target Audience Research so that the results from each question were far more clear and easy to understand, and also because the powerpoint software made it easier to add coloured graphs and charts to allow my research to be presented nicely.

Analysis of Target Audience Research from emilybritcliffe

How My Research Has Changed My Initial Ideas

How this research has changed my initial ideas:

• From this research, most of my initial ideas for my magazine have been backed up and confirmed that this would be most appealing to my target audience, for example, I stated that I would prefer darker clothing and makeup, whilst still keeping a modern edge to my costume, and my audience suggested more up to date looks and darker options as the most popular choices.
• For my colour scheme I wanted to use black and white, with lighter coloured accents to add to the importance of certain features, my audience again confirmed my ideas by making Black and White and Dark the most popular colour choices, and Red, Blue and Gold the other most popular specific colours to include, so I will make these the colours for my accented areas.
• I did not ask any questions about the type of shot that my audience would prefer, however I plan to create another questionnaire more specific to the cover of my magazine, and this will be where I ask about the pose and type of shot the audience would prefer.
• Again in the questionnaire for my cover, I will ask about the filter for the cover shot, however I still agree with my updated initial ideas that a coloured image on the cover would be a better, more attractive option, and I perhaps may use a black and white image for the centre of my double page spread article.
• In my survey, my audience confirmed an interview would perhaps be the best option for the content of my DPS, and I would like to centre the content of my interview around the life outside of music, like stated in my ideas. Some questions could be about how the artist got into music for example and the types of previous artist they aspire to be like, and who their music inspirations would be.
• After my target audience research, I definitely am planning to include a free download of music, and I would prefer it to be a link or code for the music to be downloaded from the internet rather than a physical copy.
• My target audience confirmed that they also have no real preference to the gender of the artist on my cover. I would prefer to have a singular model on my cover rather than a band, and I think the model will be female, as I know more female friends who would suit the style I am picturing for my cover, and would be more available for a photoshoot.
• This research has again confirmed that a clearer front cover would be the best option for my magazine as I said in my updated ideas. Therefore this will be the style that I am aiming for with my magazine.

How Research Has Influenced My Planning and Creativity

Front Covers:

This cover has allowed me to see that I would definitely like to use a black and white theme to my cover, and that adding a small amount of colour allows the effect to come across classy but also very effectively. In my updated ideas, I thought that a black and white image may work effectively to get across the vintage theme of the magazine, however after looking at this cover, I think that understated colours are just as, if not more effective in having a lasting impression that works well with the genre.

This cover has allowed me to see how the contrast of dark makeup and clothes can create a rock magazine image, and how the circular puff can be used to highlight an article on the cover that is completely different to the main article. I would like to use this idea to create an article for my front cover that may be more about lifestyle or fashion or an article around a musician’s life, rather than solely focused on music.

From this cover, I love the difference of the graffiti on the background as opposed to the usual plain studio shots on Q's covers. The fact that the image breaks the medium close up convention by having a posed full body shot is also appealing.

This magazine cover has told me that a black and white image could be useful in representing the vintage era, and that when advertising anything on the front cover, the best way to do so is to use brightly coloured puffs and banners.

This cover has allowed me to see that I would definitely like to use a black and white theme to my cover, and that adding a small amount of colour allows the effect to come across classy but also very effectively. In my updated ideas, I thought that a black and white image may work effectively to get across the vintage theme of the magazine, however after looking at this cover, I think that understated colours are just as, if not more effective in having a lasting impression that works well with the genre.

Contents Pages:

Analysing another contents page in this style has cemented in my mind the idea that I do not want to use this type of layout and that I would much rather have my images and articles and page numbers in separate organised groups like the Q magazine from the last post. I much prefer the orderly layout and I think it makes it easier to see which image matches, which article, and I will endeavour to use elements of that in my magazine. However from this contents page, I like the fact that the font on all of the numbers was the same, for the images and list of contents, and for me I like how that ties the images and text together.

This contents page has shown me that it is again effective to break convention. The use of one singular image draws your attention to it, and makes the feature article very obvious. The black and white with red additions makes the puffs more noticeable and effective and that is something I may try for my magazine.

This contents page has shown me that it is again effective to break convention. The use of one singular image draws your attention to it, and makes the feature article very obvious. The black and white with red additions makes the puffs more noticeable and effective and that is something I may try for my magazine.

This research has shown me some of the conventions of a rock magazine that I would like to incorporate into my magazine, and some that I would prefer to break in my magazine, for example, again the images being placed separate to the articles. I would prefer to use a layout similar to the Q contents page I have previously analysed, pairing the page numbers and the summary of the article with the images being used on the contents page and create a list of he other articles that do not have images.

Each time I analyse a contents page set up in this format and layout, it reinforces the fact that I would like to break the conventional vintage rock magazine layout and bring something to a more modern audience. I also like the use of the red to indicate something important as it is eye catching and also holds a symbolic sign of importance.

Institutions Research:

This research has shown me that there is no magazine for this company aimed at my target audience or of my genre. This could be a good company to approach to produce my magazine, as they do not have anything like my magazine. Their main target audience seems to be younger and more towards the lifestyle genre and so to approach them with a music magazine could be profitable for their company.
This is only the opening pages of the double page spread; however, I think as the start of an article, this is very effective. There is not a large amount of text on the page as the image and title take up the most amount of space; even then, in the space left there is only a short paragraph. This allows readers to take in the image and the title, and for those who know of Buck Owens’ music, the title being his song title too, and then to read the lure and possibly the first paragraph to then decide if they want to carry on. This would be especially effective if the customer was going to be reading a page or two in the shop before buying the magazine as it would allow their attention to be grabbed by this double page spread and to buy it, maybe listen to some of Owens’ music. I would like to recreate something similar to this as I love how the image is the main focus of the page, and how the star has been styled to match Dyer’s theory.

Guardian Media may be a company worth considering as they currently do not have any music magazines in their production, however they also mainly produce news and lifestyle magazines, and therefore may not be interested in the production of a music magazine.

I do not think that Bauer Industries would be the right company to produce my magazine, as they already own Kerrang!, Mojo and Q, all of which cover a wide range of bases in the music industry. Mojo is a magazine that I will be analysing many times, as will Kerrang! due to the fact that the two magazines together create a vintage rock genre, and therefore Bauer as a company have the vintage rock genre of music already in publication. Bauer is such a large company that there would be no need for them to produce another magazine in a genre they already have a niche in, as it would not be feasible enough for them to make a profit.

Double Page Spreads:

The large image is very conventional of a usual double page spread and allows me to see the difference between sticking to convention and breaking it. It has shown me that the best places to break convention would be more in the cover and contents pages rather than on the double page spread. It has also shown me it is best to stay simple with the colour and complexity of the layout and to make it look effective, before focusing on the content of the article. One feature I did like about this very much was the unconventional title, using a pull quote as the title really works well with the theme of this piece of writing and adds well to the mystery and connotations behind the image.

This double page spread has really allowed me to see how colours and clothing styles and image colours, like the sepia used in this article, can create a stereotypical image that may not be the one wanted by the band, or one that the audience would agree with. In my magazine, I would like to try and break down some stereotypes, and this has allowed me to see how a stereotype is not a simple thing to work around, because no matter how careful you are, there is always a chance you could include something very stereotypical that may be the exact opposite of the image you are wanting to create, and that stereotypes have to be considered in planning.

Front Cover Analysis 6 - Research

Black Sabbath would be a band that I would consider featuring in my magazine, they are an older band that still could be interesting to a younger audience and to fans of bands with similar styles. This cover is mostly black and white, again something I would like to emulate in my magazine, and also includes bright reds to draw attention to important points.

The masthead is placed directly above the image and uses about a quarter of the page itself, this is a consistent house style throughout all of Classic Rock's magazines, along with their sell-line underneath that, reading "HIGH VOLTAGE ROCK'N'ROLL". Classic Rock have created this house style throughout their publishing years and this allows for the magazine to be easily recogniseable on the shelf. The large font makes the name of the magazine easy to read and the dark colours will allow it to stand out more in between the usual pinks, blues, yellows and girlier colours of kids magazines and the stereotypical pastels or bright colours of other magazines, for example this edition of Top of the Pops.

There is a red puff used on the cover, this is a brighter colour used than the rest of the page all together and therefore draws the eye of the reader. It is used to advertise an article in the magazine and is a clever marketing strategy as it allows more than just the Black Sabbath interview to be the main focus of the cover. The puff is advertising more interviews on the inside of the magazine, and uses large named bands like The Rolling Stones, Metallica and Fleetwood Mac to try and attract a larger fan base to their magazine from existing band fan bases. The white text on the red background allows the subject to be clear and read easily.

The other red feature on the front cover is right at the bottom centre of the page, in block capitals it says "THE FINAL INTERVIEW?" and then underneath in white lists a few points that will have been discussed in the interview. This is again eye catching and will draw in the reader with the bright colour, then when the question is read it will encourage them to want to read the possible last interview and find out more. The word "bloody" is also used, to some people this will be seen as bad language, and may be off-putting, or may remind them of bands like Black Sabbath which are slightly taboo, similar to the use of the bad language. To other people, the word bloody and the use of the red font may connect and link symbolically to danger, which is something else that could remind them of Black Sabbath, Metallica, The Rolling Stones etc. all of whom have been featured on the cover in different ways.

All along the cover, there are gold coloured additions and borders for the texts, this all creates synergy across the cover as the colours and patterns are similar to that of the jacket of one of the band members. The other two members of the band are dressed in plain clothing, this would allow the audience to recognise the lead singer more as he stands out, and also allows the themed cover to continue without other colours being added to ruin the effect.

This image also allows the additions place on the cover like the puff to stand out more on their plain, darker background. The lead singer is wearing a cross necklace, this is an indexical sign linking to religion and therefore suggests that the band may have something to say relating to religion and how it may have influenced them or been a part of their life in an influential way.

The other addition to the cover that describes an article is this gold puff. The colour is the same as the rest of the elements on the cover which adds to the synergy and also the white colour is easily read on top of the black background.

How this research has influenced my ideas and creativity:

This cover has allowed me to see that I would definitely like to use a black and white theme to my cover, and that adding a small amount of colour allows the effect to come across classy but also very effectively. In my updated ideas, I thought that a black and white image may work effectively to get across the vintage theme of the magazine, however after looking at this cover, I think that understated colours are just as, if not more effective in having a lasting impression that works well with the genre.

Updated Initial Ideas

After researching more magazines, I have changed some of the initial ideas that I thought I wanted for my magazine.

Here is a link to my first thoughts: Initial Ideas

• I would still like to include the conventional ideas of a rock magazine, for example the black clothing, leather and dark makeup as I think that they are synonymous of the rock genre and personally I like the look of this style of clothing anyway, however, as my magazine is a vintage rock genre, I think that I would like to make the makeup softer, and the clothing more casual, whilst still keeping a modern theme, so a leather jacket, ripped jeans and boots maybe would be something to build on.
• For my colour scheme, I would still like to include black and white shades, however making my magazine more grayscale or monochrome would be something I would like to do, and only using brighter colours like the reds and yellows often seen in rock magazines to highlight important articles or things that are going to greatly interest my readers.
• Initially I thought that the conventional medium close up would be the approach I would take to my cover image, however after looking at magazines like the Coldplay Q cover (Coldplay) and the Vintage Rock Elvis cover (Elvis), I think that having my model pose differently, i.e. a full body image or one looking away from the camera, could be more effective.
• I had an idea to make my cover image a black and white photo, as that would go well with the theme of vintage, however as I want to make my colour scheme with shades of black and white, I think having a black and white image could make the cover seem boring and dull. When taking my photographs I will still experiment into seeing if a black and white image would work well, and perhaps ask my target audience if they prefer the black and white or the colour.
• I still think that including a prop like a microphone or a guitar could be effective, however, I think they would only work well if my model was looking away from camera and focusing more towards the instrument than the image being taken.
• I would definitely prefer to have my double page spread focusing on life outside of music as I feel that those are more intimate and interesting to read. In a music magazine I would prefer to learn more about an artist's background and their future plans and what they do outside of the music, as that is something that can only be found really in magazine and books that have been written from interviews, however the music an artist creates can be found all over the internet and in stores.
• I would still like to include a free download in my magazine as I feel that an audience would be more inclined to pay for a magazine if they know they are receiving something back, and a download code for a 3 or 4 song EP or a voucher for free shipping on clothes or money off an order would be appreciated for the price of a magazine.
• I now have no preference to the gender of the model on my cover, however in my target audience research I will include a question to see the preference of my audience on the gender of the cover model. Based on the highest preference I will base my cover images from there.
• Most magazine backgrounds are staged shots in a studio or a setting designed for the shoot, I would like to stick to this convention, however I am still not sure whether or not the background will be entirely plain.
• In my initial ideas, I thought that I would include a large amount of articles n my front cover to attract attention, after researching more and more magazine covers, I am still unsure if this will be the case. In terms of marketing, this would be the best idea as it can attract a wider audience, however personally I prefer covers that have a clearer cover. Based on my target audience research I will decide later if I plan to use more articles and features on my cover or not.

Institutions Research #4 - DC Thomson & Co.

Research Questions for theTarget Audience

Target Audience Research Questions:

What is your gender? ______________________________

What is your age? ______________________________

1. Would you rather buy a magazine once a month or weekly?

2. Would you prefer a male or female artist on the front cover?

3. Would you rather pay less for a lower quality magazine with simpler articles or more for a higher quality and more in depth articles?

4. What type of articles would you prefer to see?

- lifestyle/human interest    - album reviews

            - where are they now?         - concert tour dates

            - interviews                            - concert reviews

            - expose                                  - fashion/clothing

            - free downloads                   - voucher codes

5. What would you like to see in a feature article?

6. What is your opinion on bad language in articles?

7. What costume/makeup would you prefer to see?

8. Do you like a busy front cover or one that focuses on a few feature articles?

9. What articles would you prefer to see based on your gender and preferences?

10. What sexuality would you like to see represented and would there be any you would find offensive if they were included?

11.  Do you go to concerts/gigs?

12. Do you download music online or prefer physical copies?

13. What colours would appeal to you?

14. What do you like to see on magazine covers?

15. Do adverts in magazines annoy you or do you like to see them, if so, what types do you prefer?

16.  Is there any type of article you would find offensive?

17.  Does a particular artist/band make you want to buy a magazine?

18. Would a free music download or a free CD inspire you to buy a magazine?

19. Would a money-off voucher for clothing or accessories make you want to buy a magazine? For example, website voucher codes or in store voucher codes for band merchandise, t-shirts, jumpers, wristbands or other items.

20. Do you shop online or in store more?