Final Products - First Attempt

Google Mock Up Ideas

Colour Scheme Ideas, Name Ideas and Feature Story Ideas

Colour Schemes Looking at these magazine front covers, I notice the use of primary colours is quite common. This is probably due to the way in which they stand out, and how bold they are, as well as how they contrast the background. The majority of front covers have white backgrounds, though some are coloured - through observing the Rocksound front cover, I can see that the background colouring has to be light, otherwise you'd be unable to read the text very well. Based on my survey results, and the information I have required through secondary research, I have decided for the main colour of my magazine to be a dark red, which will then be complimented by black and white. I think this will work well, as it is simplistic and bold, and the colour won't draw attention away from the focal point of the cover (the artist). Name Ideas Clash Screech  Wild  Crash  Craze  Psycho Beserk Ecstatic Wrecked Absurd Manic The Scene I decided to base my names around insanity, as rock music is often described as quite crazy, and can be associated individuals who are famous because of the way in which they seem slightly insane. The other names that I came up with are all heavily onomatopoeic based, meaning that when said aloud, they mirror noises that can be made by instruments when they're played. I decided to go with the name, 'Clash' as it's quite short thus it's easily memorable, and it reminds me of the sound made by the symbols on a drum kit. I think that drums are often associated with rock music, hence when my audience read the title, they will be able to detect the fact that the genre is rock. Feature Stories Having looked at a few magazines such as Kerrang and Rocksound, I can see that common stories seem to revolve around tours, or new artists releasing their first album. 'Exclusive Interviews' are also popular, and so when coming up with my feature stories, I decided to include some of these typical stories. Brother's Grim Discuss Their New Album A Day in the Life of Black Door T: 'If I ran the world.." Lost in Wonderland - Tour Exclusive Wonderfully Twisted : Breaking the Mould Punctured Hearts : Learning the Ropes I would also include a section on fashion, and a competition, as these are common features in magazines.

Costume Designs

I have chosen to try and recreate outfits such as these for my shoot, as the colours are all quite dark and 'grungey'. The use of current trends would possibly make my product appeal to my target audience of adolescents, as they would be able to relate to artists wearing clothes such as these. Also the outfits wouldn't clash too heavily with my colour scheme, making it easier to place text and such on my front cover, contents page, and double page spread.

Contents Page House Styles

I chose to observe Kerrang's contents page, as it is a rock magazine, which is the genre I have chosen to focus on for my project. Looking at this collection of contents pages, I can see that headings tend to be in bold to emphasise their importance, and make them stand out to the reader. They are also highlighted by a coloured background. The headline story has been allocated the largest image to show readers that it is considered the most important, and probably took the most effort to put together. Underneath the main stories, there are small overviews of what the stories are about, or quotes pulled from the interview. These may be used in order to grasp the audience's interest, and encourage them to look at those stories first. Images are also used in order to give the reader an indication of what kind of mood the article is written in. In each contents page there is a subscription advertisement, which may be placed strategically in order to persuade the audience members to purchase numerous copies of the magazine in advance. An editor's note is also included, perhaps with the intention of making audiences feel as though they were included in the making of the final product. 

December Deadline Plan

9th December - Original Photography
9th-11th December - Placing Photos on Front Cover
18th December - Front Cover

Style/Iconography of My Product

Fonts from 'http://www.1001fonts.com/' that may be suitable for my products are: 

Battle Breath +1 

Corner Dark +2

White Funky Rabbit

Seven Deadly Sins

Dharma Bum

This mood board shows album work from existing rock bands, and all of the covers I have chosen have quite a simple element to them (other than the FOB 'Infinity on High), and the majority of the covers have an element of abstract to them. The front covers also seem to be quite simple, with red appearing as a reoccurring theme colour. As some of the covers are quite abstract, I think it would make sense that there's a sort of theme to my magazine, Perhaps madness, or an Alice in Wonderland theme might work well as it's a well known story, and there are many different spins you can put on it. 

Social Class & Demographic of My Product

I plan to aim my magazine at adolescents aged 14-18, thus their social class will probably be working class, as it's unlikely that they will have a high paying job due to minimum wage. Taking this into consideration, and considering the prices of other magazines, (such as Q, which is £3.90, Rock Sound, which is £3.99, and Kerrang, which is £2.20), I have decided to price my magazine at £3.30, as it's in the middle of average prices. Using my survey, I have gathered that vouchers and CD's would be popular gifts to include in my magazine, so I believe that gifts that would allow my audience to save money, would be the ones with highest popularity. A chance to win free concert tickets may be an enticing plug, and my headlines would probably center around success stories, in order to motivate students.

My Reader Profile

Reader Profile Research

Researching Reader Profiles  Reader Profile-A document which describes a specific member of a target audience. -Show an existing reader profile and break down each area and state why it is important for a magazine to understand their audience and profile their readers. For e.g. what type of audience does it attract? Gender ratio? Age or reader? Social class bracket? Where they distribute? What makes it desirable/ the audiences want to consume it? -State what you think your reader will want -What is the purpose of a reader profile?

-How will a reader profile help sell your product?

Demographic Information

Hard Information – Information which is unquestionable, such as age, gender and income, 

Psychographic Information

Information that is subjective to opinion and can change on a daily basis.

What music genre do you like?

What bands and artists do you like?

How much do you spend on music concerts per year?

What’s your favourite brand?

How do you consume music?

How often do you listen to music?

What do you use to listen to music? 

What is a Reader Profile?

A reader profile is a source of primary research which consists of many pieces of information put together. It often informs individuals of the type of consumers that purchase certain magazines.

NME Reader Profile

It is important for magazine companies to make reader profiles as it allows them to identify what sort of advertisements, and stories should be contained in their magazine.

Genre Research

Summary of Conventions

Conventions Analysis Double Page Spread

L - The language used in this double page spread, seems to have words associated with the rock genre ('wild child', 'outrageous'). By using this semantic field, the article may make those reading it feel as though there's quite a dark vibe to Taylor Momsen, and perhaps that she defies stereotypes of female rock artists. The way that certain words are highlighted emphasizes their importance, thus words like 'mistakes' may be used to make the reader curious as to what mistakes Momsen has made in her life.
R - The way in which this double page spread is pretended plays on conventions, as women are often associated with pink, so pink text is used on a black background. The black is used to give the article a dark, rocky mood, whereas the pink contrasts this as it isn't often associated with rock. The article is about a female artist, which possibly suggests that there are an increasing amount of female artists in the rock genre, or perhaps it could suggest that female artists are becoming more popular. 

Conventions Analysis Contents Page

L - The headings of articles are quite brief. This may be done to intrigue the reader, or allow them to get straight to the point. The Editor's Note at the top of the page uses direct in order to make reader's feel more involved in the magazine, and to give them an insight into what the creator's of the magazine were feeling when they published the magazine. Perhaps by including an Editor's Note, readers will also be able to feel as though they have more of a connection with the creator's of the magazine, because it shows that someone has been there, putting the work in to create what they're about to read.
R - Once again, there are few female artists presented on the contents page, suggesting that this article is based heavily on male artists. This could imply to readers that the rock industry is dominated by male artists, and that female artists perhaps aren't as well known for creating popular music. 

Conventions Analysis Front Cover and Brief

Main Brief : To design a front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original. A minimum of four pictures must be used. 

LIIAR Analysis

L- Some of the language used in this cover has a certain degree of urgency to it, such as the statement, ‘ROCK HAS TO CHANGE...OR IT WILL DIE’, or the verb ‘EXPOSED’. Perhaps this is done to intrigue the reader, and encourage them to purchase the magazine. Other elements that the language provides could be comedy, such as the puns ‘HERE COME THE WHITE VEIL BRIDES’, used to describe an article on weddings, or ‘NECK DEEP WRESTLE FOR THEIR FUTURE’, accompanied by an image of two men wrestling. This may make the magazine seem less formal, thus it may appeal to a higher percentage of the market. Also using the direct address ‘you’ and ‘yours’, makes the magazine seem more personal, meaning it might appeal to potential customers more, as they may believe that the magazine is aimed at them.

I- Ideologies of this magazine could be that promoting a selection of artists is important, and that there are different areas of rock music which appeal to different audiences, hence the variation that is selected. It might be implied that the magazine promotes music to be fun, as the cover sports quite bright colours such as red and blue, and the main image shows the artists having a party.

I- Bauer Media is a UK based company that publish a range of magazines, focusing on a variation of topics such as gossip, music, equestrian life, sports, and gardening. They also manage a range of radio companies that focus on different genres of music (e.g: rock, pop, western). The brand also manages successful TV channels that are dedicated to different genres of music, and gossip.

A- The majority of the readers of Kerrang are male, (statistics show that 59.1% of readership is male), and most of the readers are aged between 15-34 (91.7%).

R- On the cover of this magazine there is no female image, perhaps showing that the rock genre is heavily dominated by males. The way in which the band are presented implies that they are having fun, thus suggesting rock is often quite energetic.