Moodboard

What I Have Learnt from my Questionaire and Magazine Target Information

I have learnt a lot from my questionnaire I conducted. There are a variety of different things that I have found out and ideas I am willing to incorporate into my music magazine.

After finding out the results of the questionnaire, I have decided  to make a magazine based on the genre of rock. With the questionnaire results concluding that 30% of the people questioned preferred rock and an additional 30% preferred indie; I decided to choose the rock genre as I feel that have more ideas that I would like to use that would be suited to a rock genre magazine. This genre was backed up when 30% of people questioned preferred Q magazine and an additional 30% preferred Kerrang! Magazine.

I have also decided to make my magazine a monthly issue with a RRP of £3.50. I have chosen this price because the most popular price range from my questionnaire was the £3-£4 price bracket.

When I asked people in the questionnaire "what masthead you would prefer as a music magazine" 40% of people questioned said that they preferred the masthead "Helter Skelter" and 30% said they preferred the masthead "Turntable". I have chosen to approve of public opinion and call my magazine "Helter Skelter".

What I've learn't and ideas for my future magazine

After analysing and researching magazines for the last month, my knowledge of the magazine industry and the music industry have improved dramatically. After conducting research into magazine covers, contents pages and articles; I have a much clearer idea of what I want and need to incorporate into my music magazine. After analysing three front covers of various magazines I have understood that I would need to have a specific colour scheme (of three colours)  that was congruent throughout the magazine to make it look appealing to my target audience. I have also learn't that many main images on magazine covers have plain chromatic colours in the background.

After analysing three contents pages from magazines I have also understood that I would need to have a background that is the complete opposite colour from the main body text; and for the headings and important information is highlighted in a different colour from the body text and background. I have also learn't that all contents pages have a main image that dominates at least half of the page itself.

After analysing three articles I have understood that I would need to have an image that takes up at least one page of the two page article spread. I have also learn't that there would also be a colour scheme that is similar to the the contents and cover pages. I have also learnt that the most popular way of writing a two page article is to conduct a interview with the artist or the band.

Questionnaire Analysis

Music Magazine: Article Analysis

The following articles that I have researched about, I hope to use many of their ideas to incorporate in my future music magazine.

This is a two page spread from the magazine 'Q'. It is a two page spread interview on two artists (Xavier de Rosney and Gaspard Auge) from the group Justice. The first side of the two page spread is dominated by a picture of the two, around a record player. This shows the reader what the artists look like and what type of music they like. There is also a caption in the middle of the picture that says "I loved that Snoop Dogg was wanted for murder". This shows the reader what is likely to be said in the interview and what opinions the artist (Xavier de Rosney) has. On the second page of the spread, it consists of the interview. The main colour scheme of this side of the spread is red, black and white. White is used as a background colour, black is used as the main body text and red is used to highlight the important information of the article e.g. headings and other titles. The interview is split up into paragraphs to show the change in question/topic and to make it easier and more appealing for people to look at. At the bottom of the second page, it shows the so called Justice's 'Musical Routemap', that outlines the groups first albums they have bought and what music they enjoy. 

This is an two page article from the magazine 'NME' and it is an article on the rock group The Vaccines. Similarly to the previous article, The whole of the first page of the spread (and one third of the second) is dominated by a picture of the band with all their instruments. This shows the reader how many people there are in the band and what instruments they play. Unlike the previous article, the main image has been edited to look quite old and dirty. This shows what type of band they are (e.g. metal, rock). The second page consists of the interview with the band. Similarly to the 'Q' the main colour scheme is white and black used as the background and body font respectively. The only change is that the colour red has been changed to blue from red, and is also used to highlight headings and important information. Similarly to Q magazine the page is split into paragraphs to show a change in topic and make it easier for people to read.

My final magazine that I have used for analysis, is an article from 'MOJO' magazine. It is a countdown of 'The 50 Greatest Neil Young Songs'. Unlike the previous two magazines, the main image of this magazine is on the right-hand side of the double page spread. It shows him holding a guitar and singing. This is there to show what type of musician Neil Young is and what instruments he plays. Unlike the previous two magazine articles, the colour scheme is almost the complete opposite with black being the main background colour and white being used as main body font. Similarly to the other magazine articles, the main information being highlighted in a different colour (gold) to stand out. As this article is the complete opposite of the other articles this would suggest it is apart of a special edition of the magazine. On the first page of the article there is a quote from the artist (Neil Young) that cover almost the top half of the page, that says "Be There, Be There Now, Be In It" This is used to show what is said in the article to show what Neil Young has said. 

Music Magazine: Contents Page Analysis

Music Magazine: Front Cover Research

 The following magazines I have chosen are magazines that I have read and analysed, and I hope to incorporate some ideas from these magazines into my magazine in the future.

 The first magazine I have chosen to analyse is 'Q' magazine. 'Q' magazine, is a magazine sold throughout the UK and is owned by the Bauer Media Group. Q magazine is catered towards a 17- 30 year old target audience. Much of Q magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists. The cover of this issue shows Matt Bellamy from the band Muse smashing the masthead of the magazine with his guitar. The pull quote of the story is "I bought 50 tins of beans & an axe ...". This would suggest that the story line of this article would not be suitable for younger readers. The subsidiary image is of The Beatles, above it the sell line of "200 things you didn't know about The Beatles.This sell line would be used to try and make Beatles' fans or rock fans in general buy the magazine. There are 3 colours that predominantly feature on the front of this magazine; grey, red and white.

The second magazine cover I have analysed is the October 2010 edition of 'MOJO' magazine. MOJO magazine is also owned by Bauer Media Group and is consequently a sister magazine of Q magazine. Unlike Q magazine, MOJO is catered towards a 30-60 year target audience. Similarly to Q, MOJO magazine is also devoted to interviews with popular artists. The cover of this edition of MOJO shows Paul McCartney in the foreground of the magazine and the other members of The Beatles in the background. The main sell line of the magazine is "Paul McCartney: How I Survived The Beatles". Similarly to Q, this type of pull quote is used to try and persuade fans or people in general to buy the magazine.  There are two subsidiary images on this editon of MOJO, unlike Q. They depict Bob Marley and Brian Wilson respectively. Unlike Q, There is a pug on this edition, offering buyers a "free CD" this is more likely to persuade customers to buy the magazine. The three predominantly used colours for this editon of MOJO is; black; white and red.

The final magazine I have analysed is the 'Rolling Stone' magazine. Rolling Stone magazine is a magazine that is published every two weeks, and is sold around the globe. Rolling Stone magazine is a magazine that focuses on politics and popular culture. The Rolling Stone is catered for a 20-60 year old target audience. This cover of Rolling Stone, depicts the rapper Jay-Z dressed quite smartly, this is an ironic outfit for a rapper, as the common stereotypical depiction of a rapper would be very informal. The splash and pull quote of this edition is "Jay-Z: Addicted To The Game". This would suggest that the magazine is not intended for readers under the age of 12. Unlike the previous two magazine covers, this edition of rolling stone magazine has no subsidiary images; hence making the main (only) image more prominent. On this edition of Rolling Stone, the three main colours used are red, white and black.

Final InDesign Magazine Cover

This is my final version of  my magazine cover. I have included a background onto my magazine magazine cover and I have also changed to colour of my font in most areas to make the words stand out more. I have also included captions for the main and subsidary image to make the magazine look like a more authentic magazine. I have also reinsated the original footer, back on the my magazine. I have also changed the font on all of my text (except my mast head) to make my magazine look more tidy. I have also moved my main picture ahead of my mast head (in terms of layers) to make it look like other popular magazines I have studied.

Second InDesign Magazine Draft

This is my second draft of my school magazine. Although it hasnt changed much from the first draft, I have changed the subsidary image in the magazine. I have also removed the footer of the magazine because at that moment in time I had second thoughts about what sell line I could use. My next aim is to have an almost complete version of my magazine cover. I also want to include a colour background and complete the captions of my main and subsidary image

First InDesign Draft of Magazine Cover

This is my initial first draft of my school magazine. I have experimented by using a variety of different tools and layouts. I have changed my initial main story and picture of the magazine to make it look more appealing.
I've kept the stories the same on the header and the footer of the page and on the splash of the magazine as of my first drawn draft. I have used PhotoShop on AdobeBridge to remove the background of my main image and I have also used AdobeBridge to port my subsidiary image. By sending my main image to the back (by using layers) all of my other images/splash etc. Have been send to the front making it look more like an appropriate magazine cover.

School Magazine Cover - First Draft Overview

This is the first draft of my school magazine, its quite a rough draft but I feel it reflects my ideas that I want to incorporate into my final product.

 This is my masthead that I would like to incorporate into my magazine. The name of my magazine that I intend to use is 'KHXL'. The masthead letters would be in red with a yellow outline. I've chosen these colours after researching and analyzing other magazines I have read. It will be eye catching and simple to incorporate in my magazine.

This is an enlargement of my main picture from my magazine. It depicts a student who has been interviewed for the magazine. I used the idea of this in my magazine because I want the magazine to be appropriate and interesting for students to read. I also used the pull quote "We were just the best... AT MATHS!". This gives the reader an insight into the article in the magazine and potentially get students to buy the magazine.

I also incorporated some sell-lines in my magazine. The first one says "Toby Howell's Movie Article" which would be used to tell the reader what type of stories/articles are inside the magazine. The other one says "Mr. Jenkins: Sport is Valuable" this would tell the reader who/what are the articles are about.