There are many key conventions of a music magazine which are needed to draw the reader in and give your magazine the edge over others. One of the most important is the masthead, which will distinguish the magazine from competitors. The font or colours used will make it easily recognisable and give the magazine its identity. The picture is another important feature, as there is usually one main picture of the band or artist, which most of the time is a mid close up. This is explained using the main headline which will be the largest text on the page. There could be various other cover lines symbolising other things featured inside, along with other small pictures. Some magazines choose to position a banner or strapline at the top or bottom of the page, this could give a list of what is included inside, or be used to advertise something, making it unique and differ from other magazines on the shelf. Lexis used is also very important as you don’t want too much information but you need to make sure buyers will want to read your magazine more than others. Typical words used are ‘Exclusive’ and ‘free’ as this is the kind of thing readers want to see to make sure they are getting the most out of what is out there. It also makes it unique and appears that no other magazine can match it.
My music magazine uses many of these typical conventions. By observing various other magazines I decided the most popular, and most efficient place to position the masthead was at the top of the page. I found examples such as ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘MixMag’ have the masthead in the centre, whereas others including ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ have theirs in the top corner. These are all in their own specific font and colour to make the magazine recognisable. I chose my font and made it original by using contrasting colours to make it stand out, which I think gives the magazine its own identity. For the main picture, I used a long shot so I could fit the whole of the model on the cover. I decided to do this opposed to a mid shot to show the whole of the model. For this I gave my model an indie boy look and stance to fit in with the theme of my magazine.
I chose a different font for the main headline on the magazine, as I liked the effect it had on ‘NME’. Similar to ‘NME’ I positioned the cover lines to the left of the picture. I decided to use a black and white picture as I wanted the front cover to have a colour scheme of grey, with a contrasting colour of lime green to stand out, which is used to highlight text in the masthead. I also liked the idea of keeping it quite simple so it’s not too crammed and it’s easy to identify the main features of the magazine without being surrounded by unwanted information or pointless pictures. I included one other picture on the magazine, which I explained using a circular text box, like the magazine above.
This is the finished front cover of my magazine, which has been kept quite simple. ‘NME’ was the main influence for my ideas, as I used their specific key ingredients which give the magazine its look.
For the contents page, I found lots of different layout designs could be effective, whether it had one main picture or various smaller ones. I think the text to picture ratio is important, as you have to consider your reader may not want to be swamped with information, and you can say more with a picture. This is also more appealing than plain text. I decided to again keep it simple by using a minimal amount of text to give the impression that the contents are continued on the next page. I used small pictures which I positioned at an angle down the side of the page.
This is the effect I went for, excluding the background picture. I like the way smaller, bordered pictures are used, as these are more interesting to look at and immediately show the reader what and who is featured inside. I also found the contents particularly effective using one colour for subheadings so each part of the magazine is easy to find. I included a letter from the editor in my contents page to make it more personal and make it clear that the editor values the reader’s opinions. The cover line font used on the front cover is repeated, being personal to this magazine, and again I’ve used a bright colour to make certain things stand out. One thing I have pushed the boundaries on is the amount of space I have used for the ‘contents’ text. I think this is acceptable as its part of the design and is original, as it starts quite far down the page, which isn’t typical of other magazines. The way I have edited the pictures is also effective, as I have highlighted the red and green in the middle picture to bring it out more, as these are the colours I have used for certain text.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I have represented teenagers in my music magazine, and it is mostly aimed at indie music fans as these are the type of bands featured in the magazine. The main headline is talking about an ‘exclusive’ interview with an upcoming artist. He is 21 years old and acts as a role model for readers, as he was previously a normal student like the majority of readers will be. Hearing about his success, readers may aspire to be like him for when they reach that age. The image I used on the front cover also indicates the fashion of someone into indie music, which will appeal to the reader if they want to follow trends. My magazine could also attract readers who are from the same area as the artist, as they could have more of an interest for someone who grew up in the same lifestyle as them as this would make it more realistic for them. As he is from Newcastle I used phrases such as ‘dead excited’ to symbolise his dialect and make it more believable.
Being a teenage audience, they may be put off by too much text as this could seem daunting and most people might ‘not be bothered’. This is why I chose to keep the front cover and contents page quite simple, and rely on the colour and pictures to draw the reader in. I think this is best because teenagers tend to follow trends and go for the best looking magazine as opposed to the ones
that include the most information.
This picture features celebrities that are talked about a lot in the media at the moment, and whether people love them or hate them, they will want to find out why they are included in the magazine and what they’re favourite artists are saying about them. Teenagers are more likely to conform to what other people think, so the opinions of people they admire, such as a particular band, will influence and interest them.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Institutions such as ‘Bauer media’ already publish various music magazines such as ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Q’, which are similar to the one I produced.
They are all focussed on similar bands are artists of the same genre.
Specific features of my magazine are similar to these, such as:
- Free posters like ‘Kerrang!’
- Use of language to attract the reader’s attention and make it stand out ‘exclusive’ like in ‘Q’.
- Attractive and original fonts to make the magazine unique like ‘NME’.
- It also includes well known artists that are popular at this time.
‘Bauer’ may want to distribute my magazine as it features similar unique selling points that make their magazines so successful. However, it also offers something different as the target audience is slightly younger and it’s aimed primarily at teenagers. It is original as I didn’t follow any colour schemes from existing magazines, and used a different font that would make it stand out on the shelf. As well as including well known artists, there are also a wider selection of upcoming ones who the target audience can relate to and will hopefully show an interest in.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
I have decided to aim my magazine at 15-18 year olds who enjoy indie music; however it could also appeal to anyone who is interested in new upcoming artists in the indie music industry. It will appeal to both males and females, as it's quite a popular music genre. As the readers are fairly young the price will be quite reasonable, this applies to the average student who may only have a part time or weekend job, and therefore not want to spend too much money. The magazine will include information and interviews with upcoming artists who are trying to make it in the music business, so the audience will be able to relate or aspire to them as they are a similar age and will live the same kind of lifestyle as students. They could perhaps give advice to other people who want to achieve the same kind of thing. The readers will also be able to find out information about their favourite bands and upcoming events where they can get a chance to go and see them.
How did you attract/address your audience?
The front cover was essential to attracting my audience. I used relevant photos, such as a good looking model the audience could relate to and/or aspire to, and pictures from a gig of a popular band that would interest the audience. I also used bright colours for the masthead which gave the magazine its brand identity. One of the main techniques I used is the language of the cover lines. I used the word ‘exclusive’ which is extremely effective in drawing readers in as it makes the magazine stand out from others, and gives the impression that you couldn’t find this information anywhere else. The background colour of grey, with white text, is quite simple and may attract more boys than girls to the magazine, but the use of bright green makes it stand out and works well as a contrast on the dark grey.
I think the use of this picture was particularly effective as it shows everyone having a good time.
I didn’t include too many cover lines as I didn’t want the audience to be put off, as if there is too much going on I think this could seem daunting to the reader. I also wanted to keep it quite professional and grown up, as making it too personal to specific people could put some people off if they aren’t interested in a particular feature. I kept the chattiness for the contents page where I wrote a letter from the editor which is engaging with the reader. In the cover line, i featured theword 'FREE' which will immediately attract attention and gain the interest of readers.
I also included a strap line at the bottom of the front cover which told the audience they could win tickets to ‘V Festival’ inside. This is another unique selling point which gives it that edge over other magazines. ‘V Festival’ is also popular as it features big bands from this genre of music and is a very well known event to the music world.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
After completing my media product, I have gained a better understanding of various technologies such as Publisher, Gimp and Picasa. Gimp helped me the most with my product, as this is what I used to crop the majority of my photo’s and text. It took me a while to get the hang of using all the tools available but after that I found it an easy and precise way to edit things efficiently. I also found Picasa the best programme to use for editing the brightness and contrast of photos. I also found the tool, which removes red eye very helpful.
Like in my preliminary task I used dafont for the text on my front cover and contents page. This was easy to find the type of font I was looking for, as I narrowed my search down to look for distorted fonts.
I am also more comfortable using the blog, as the preliminary task gave me time to try it out and get used to it.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since my preliminary task, I think the main progression I have made is making the most of the technologies available, such as image manipulation programmes like ‘Gimp’ and ‘Picasa’. I think I used these effectively to produce more professional pictures than the ones used in my preliminary task, as I didn’t do much work on these.
Another thing which has improved is the way I managed my time, as in the preliminary task I took too much time researching which made the final design look quite rushed as I didn’t spend enough time on it. In the final task I made sure I produced a number of drafts for each design, and spent a lot of time tweaking them to get the effect I wanted.
I also spent more time researching the target audience and making sure my magazine was specific to what they want from a magazine. For this I made in depth textual analyses of three different magazines to find all the different conventions and how they reach out to they target market. I also wrote a treatment to identify the specific target audience I was aiming for.
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