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