Music Magazine Evaluation

Kayleigh Holley

The skyline is important to draw the audience in. Normally there will be news of a competition of giveaways to interest people. The word massive is used to draw attention and to excite people and the word download is highlighted to appeal to the target audience as it is a huge rock event.

The word free is good incentive to make people want to buy as its adding value to what you’ve spent.

The masthead is under the skyline in bold writing so it will stand out. The black text colour stands out well on the white background. However Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro singer) is covering up some of the masthead making it not as good as it could be. However we can argue that the target audience know the magazine well enough for the editor to get away with covering part of it up.

The main story is linked with the image (white heading/white hoody). Its in a big font to show its importance within the issue (as it being the main article) It is important for the heading of the main story to be bigger than other to show that it’s the main feature.

Cheryl’s seductive pose is the main attraction of the magazine as it is highlighted through her bright lipstick, the colour being a worldwide sign of passion. The rain effect here emphasises a type of ‘sauciness’ towards her expression.

The text of ROCKS has a big contribution toward the magazines appeal of the magazine. Through this word we see an addition of appeal in contrast with the central image.

The skyline uses a special selling line which is ‘The UK’s Biggest Music Magazine’. This is important to persuade people to buy it as new buyers may not know just by looking at it how good it is but this selling line gives them the push to make the purchase.

The masthead is in front of Cheryl as a way to contrast the theme colour of the overall colour scheme of this particular issue. Using the same positioning and colouring for the masthead for every issue helps it to stand out every time without fail.

Sell line are successful in contributing to magazine sales as it makes the reader feel like they are getting there moneys worth.

The masthead goes across the whole age in a bold font. Like the Kerrang front cover the image overlays the masthead, however the magazine is known well enough for the editor to get away with it.

Central image goes against normal conventions of a medium close up and uses a mid-shot. However it works perfectly to fit in all 3 singers. The background helps to make the image stand out. Despite The two male singers wearing black, the female is wearing white.

Cover lines containing sub headings are short and snappy and are in red and white to stand out and appeal to the reader.

The puff is advertising a free gift which may attract people and make them feel they are getting there moneys worth.

The image of the weeks issue creates a link between the front cover and the contents page showing is that Metallica are likely to be the main feature. Next to it is a short paragraph from the editor of the magazine which creates a person touch and though in formal can make readers feel more obliged to buy in the future.

All text is the same on the page and only 3 colours are used (yellow, black, white) creating a nice simple house style.

The main image used is the main article magazine image. The image is a large enough size to draw attention to it but not to divert all attention for the other images with there sub headings.

The yellow on the black background helps the masthead of contents stand out. Yellow is the main colour on the contents page and it helps make the headings stand out and draw attention.

Quote from a band member may draw a reader in if they are a fan of the quoter.

The logo and name of the magazine has been put into the corner of the page as it was on the front cover creating a house style for the magazine.

The article for James Blunt is placed second despite it being the main picture shows him and nothing else. It seems odd to have a largely dominant picture of him and yet he is placed second on contents.

There are separate sections on the contents page for features, the Lennon issue and for stories that feature every month.

The word contents makes it clear what page the reader is on. Also by almost merging 232Contens NOV05, the page gains a sort of industrial look which is supported by the faint sepia background and fairly plain colour scheme.

The picture of James Blunt takes up the majority of the page. However as its on the left part of he picture has been cut off by the text leaving a flat edge. The page layout could have been planned better .

The red arrow on the bottom right of the page helps to show to turn over the page and seems a bit pointless and the space could have been better used.

The NME magazine is set up like a newspaper with the main headline at the top of the page and different new columns and articles.

The main focus of the issue is oasis and their recent tour as they are what all of the pictures are of and there is a headline that states that oasis have kicked of their world tour.

Down the right hand side of the page is a few sub headings and underneath the heading states more info about the article at hand,

At the bottom right corner of the page is a caption that shows the reader where to find the gig guide. As it is in red it stand out and despite only being in a small portion of the page it stands out.

The band index is a great feature as it means that fans of particular bands can find where there is a story of that band with in the issue quickly and easily.

The font is large and eye catching to draw the reader to that part of the page to make the reader want to read on and it keeps with the red black and white colour scheme. The added text in

the white box stands out through the white background. It is section of through red sub headings and looks very effective and again follows the scheme of the magazine.

The main text is in white and starts with a large M which is good as it suits the above title and looks good. Its laid out in column form making it easily readable.

The world exclusive is to attract the reader towards the content. It stands out as it has a red background with white text which is also very catching

This spread uses more images and is more suitable for the target audience.

The black and white text is abstract and eye catching and stands out in comparison to Lily Allen's shirt

The call out quote is used to give the reader an insight into the straight talking interview and read to find out more about it.

The writer who wrote the article have put there name in red as well as Lily Allen’s to make them both stand out.

Photographers names

The capital letter used to start the opening is clear and is common in magazine articles

The overview of the interview suggests that this interview will be honest and interesting too and captures the reader’s interest

Date is feature in corners of both pages

Lily Allen is posing with a neutral expression on her face to show she is serious about what she has said

It’s obvious to the reader that this image is of some importance to the reader due to the size of the image as it takes up half of the spread. I also like how this image has been edited, this is called greyscale and it adds class and gives it a vintage feel.

Usually the drop capitals only feature in the first letter of the first paragraph. Though some people may think it works but I personally think it looks shabby.

On this page there is no title but there is the artist name. Lady is written in lower case whilst Gaga is in upper case making it bold and to stand out to the reader.

The large L is good because it takes up the whole page. This is good as it links to the singer and the colour makes it stand out and links to the magazines house colour.

Audience for your media product?

Would you rather see boys or girls on the front?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

boys girls mixture

What would you like to pay?

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1

2

3

4

5

6

£1-£1.50 £1.50-£2 £2-£2.50 £2.50-£3 £3-£3.50 £3.50-£4

How many images would you like to see on front cover?

0

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

0 to 2 3 to 5 6 to 8 9+

Do you like short chunks of information or long stories?

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1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

Short chunk Lenghty Equal

Where do you like to listen to music?

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1

2

3

4

5

6

7

clubs gigs festivals at home none of theabove

Where do you get your music from?

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2

4

6

8

10

12

iTunes Music Shops Illegal Downloads

Would a free gift persuade you to buy a magazine?

0123456789

yes no depends

Describe your style

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

up to date withlatest trends

individual anddifferent

Rocky (with useof band merch)

simplistic other

By looking at my results I can see that my target audience are 16 year old girls who are either working class or middle class. They like sophisticated colours. However for my magazine I will use bright colours which was the second highest voted as it will help It stand out from other magazines. Though most of my target audience prefer to see a band of mixed genre’s, in the time I have to complete the product and make it look good it will be easier to use one person representing a singer. Most of my target audience like Indie music therefore the person I use for my cover must be indie to represent the genre the magazine will focus on. She/he will probably have a unique dress sense and listen to bands such as Mumford and Sons and Bastille and singers such as Ben Howard or Lana Del Rey. Music is very important to my target audience and they see it as a way of life so this will have to show in the final product. They like equal amounts of text and pictures. My main story will be an interview and will be written in short chunks but will be a lengthy story. Though music important to my audience most of them have to result to illegally downloading music and therefore if I do something free or a promotion on the cover it may persuade them more to buy it.

Demographics and psychographics-A demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe

a demographic grouping or a market segment. This typically involves age bands, social

class bands and gender. The reason for this is that not everybody is the same because

we have differences and so putting people into small groups helps companies appeal to

everyone. E.g. a Barbie doll will be aimed at young girls. The demographic profile of my

magazine is aimed at working/middle class girls aged around 16.

-A psychographic profile is the use of demographics to study and measure attitudes,

values, lifestyles, and opinions, as for marketing purposes. Psychographic profiles

Include socially conscious (follow golden rule), belongers (fit in not stand out), emulators

(ambitious), achievers (leaders) and integrators (fully matured). The psychographic

profiling of my magazine is aimed at belongers and some emulators

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and

why?

The company that may distribute my media product would be IPC Media. IPC media are a subsidiary of Time Inc. and is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the uk with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies of their products annually.

My mood board

Contact Sheet

Magazine Drafts

Magazine Final

I used an already made magazine as inspiration for my own. I liked how it was simple it was. The picture is direct which gives it an informal and personal touch and will speak to the reader. Also the colour scheme goes against the norm house colour of most music magazine. There is also limited information on the front and therefore can leave the reader intrigued.

On my magazine I went against the norm of house colours for a music magazine as well as sticking to it. When looking at music magazines such as Q, NME and Kerrang! You will see that the colour scheme nearly always uses red and white. I have used red and white on mine but have defied the norm and have used a plain navy background. Not only does this help to make the info on the front stand out but it may also stand out from other music magazines as it is different.

A way in which I developed the idea was by using a selling line just under the masthead saying ‘The best British magazine for all you indie and rock fans!’ This may ensure the reader to think that this magazine will be good and worth their money.

I have included a competition notice on the front for tickets to Latitude. Latitude is a festival renowned for showing some of indie fans favourite bands such as foals, maccabees and modest mouse. Using this festival attracts the audience that I want because they would be interested in this type of performance.

I could have improved my front cover by using a skyline and better editing my main image.

For my contents page I developed and changed the style of the kerrang contents page. Centre left of the kerrang contents age is filled with photos relating to their sub headings. I have done this top centre but developed the idea by changing the layout of the pictures to try and make it look more interesting and bordered to pictures in order to try and make them stand out a bit more. On the kerrang contents page is has stories listed down the right hand side. Though I listed my ideas, to make it stand out I put the list (written in white) and put it in front of a black coloured block, therefore all attention wont be diverted away. I’ve also put a subscription offer bottom right. Like this listed storied I used white text but put it in a red box. In a way I’d want this to stand out more as it offers details of subscriptions at a good price and this is important for increasing sales of my product.

In my also featured I made up some bands as wells as stating there are gig reviews (shown that audience is fond of in the research) and stories on well known indie bands (Mumford and Sons). I tried to make my featured stories relate to my audience research as much as possible.

I used the same conventions of a Q double page spread for my own double page spread. I used the same format for the layout of the magazine. I liked how the Q double page spread used up a whole half for the image as it looked good and drew me in and therefore I done the same. However as my readers wanted a mix of short chunks of info and lengthy, I broke my story up into clear sections rather than spacing all of it close together as to me that would be off putting and I wouldn’t want to read it and I feel my target audience would feel the same. The one thing I didn’t add was the large lettering which is used to relate to the artist as I felt it was unnecessary. I developed the idea by using pull quotes.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this

product?

Since the preliminary task I have learnt how to properly construct a magazine through Photoshop. For my school magazine I used Microsoft word so the change over to using Photoshop was big. Having never used Photoshop before I had to learn a lot about the programme in a short amount of time. The main thing I had to learn was to cut around the images. For my school magazine the picture was taken in front of a plain background and therefore it wasn’t urgent to edit it whereas the picture for my music magazine was taken in front of a brick wall which wouldn’t have been appropriate.

I also learnt how to add special effects on text and images in order to create effects such as shadows etc.

When creating the different parts to the front cover I learnt how to properly organize all the different elements with the use of the sidebar.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents the young teenager group who enjoy indie or alternative/rock music. I used my market research properly and wrote an article about a young artist who came from nothing and who used there hard life to become the person they were in my double page spread. Stereotypically people who like Indie music are more intellectual therefore writing about my artist ‘Isla’ and getting to read about her hardships and what she’s been through to make it big would interest them.

I also used young models as in the age range was16 because I wanted the magazine to have a young fresh look to it. I also used some famous well known artist in order to attract the reader as it they can see they will be reading about bands they’ve come to know and love and new bands that they will hopefully come to love in the coming years of their career.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to

the full product?

• Firstly I learnt how to take pictures properly by using focus or zoom to create a certain image. I then downloaded them and exported them to Photoshop. Before hand with my school magazine I had to import my pictures onto word and change them there. This has improved my magazine as I can change something on the image without having to take a different picture.

• Secondly I learnt about the importance of consistency. With my school magazine I was mix matching colour all other the place. Seeing my music magazine in which I used a consistent house style of navy, red and white, I can see it looks a lot better and if I were to see them side by side in a store, I would definitely go for the ‘better looking’ one.

• Thirdly I have learnt some useful practical skills formatting a magazine e.g. using the 3 columns and positioning certain content in certain places e.g. barcode in bottom left. I used this format and I put the main image in the centre third and placed my other stories around that image.

• Lastly I have learnt that anything in the media can be influential on people so you have to try and have a positive spin on anything if needed.