Time Management

5 Oct:  Intro to task
           Initial Ideas
           Research chosen genre - Front Cover

12 Oct: Research chosen genre - contents and double spread
            Develop Pitch

19 Oct: Pitch
            Audience feedback
            Style sheet
            Planning and Production

2 Nov: Designing front cover

9 Nov: Designing front cover

16 Nov: Designing contents page

23 Nov: Designing double page spread

30 Nov: Develop design work in responce to the audience feedback

7 Dec: Finalise magazine design

14 Dec: Evalutaion Preparation

4 Jan: Evaluation

11 Jan: Evalutaion

Music Magazine Pitch - Target Audience Feedback

1.  From the name ideas list which ones do you like the most? Why? Are there any that particularly stand out as being good or bad?

The target audience had similar views on the names suggested. The majority said that they disliked Top Charts and Pop Station. They said that they thought they were 'too generic' as they had no personality.  Updates was the most popular choice on the list as it was said to be 'formal yet in sync with current society'. I agree with what the target audience said, I think that Updates can connote a lot of ideas, for example in the genre of music magazine it could connote the ideas of updates of celeb news, or updates on top charts and more.  I also agree that Updates is a very current term that will relate and connect with the target groups age.

2.  Do you think that the contents suggested reflect the genre of my magazine?  Is there anything else that could be added, or removed to reflect the genre better?

My target audience all approved of the current contents and said that all of them reflected the genre.  There was no confusion of the genre from the ideas that were suggested.
Some ideas that were suggested for the magazine were: 1. a reader participation section, maybe photo contest or reviews by readers of recent pop events, song or other pop related material. 2. A section to promote lesser known artists that aren't currently featured in the mainstream media.

3.  Do you think that there is a gap in the market for my proposed magazine? Will it be too similar to current magazines currently available?

The proposed idea for the magazine was welcomed by the target audience. They said that they had never encountered a more serious and 'grown up' magazine in the pop genre. Nobody said that it would be too similar to the current magazines on the market.

4.  For the contents that are being presented how much would you be willing to pay for this magazine?

The average price for the magazine was at £2.50. 

5.  What colours do you think would best suit this magazine? Why? Give a maximum of 3.

Yellow was a popular choice from the people asked.  They also said that the colours should be bold but not too bright.  A pastel shade would work better for the magazine so that is separated from the typical pre-teen pop magazine that uses the bold blocks of bright colour.

Music Magazine Pitch – Target Audience Questions

1.  From the name ideas list which ones do you like the most? Why? Are there any that particularly stand out as being good or bad?

2.  Do you think that the contents suggested reflect the genre of my magazine?  Is there anything else that could be added, or removed to reflect the genre better? 

3.  Do you think that there is a gap in the market for my proposed magazine? Will it be too similar to current magazines currently available?

4.  For the contents that are being presented how much would you be willing to pay for this magazine?

5.  What colours do you think would best suit this magazine? Why? Give a maximum of 3.

1. 
   
   
   

Target Audience Profile

The age range of my target audience is between 18 -25 and will be predominantly female. She would dress fashionably, so would be up to date with current trends and styles. She would enjoy keeping up to date on what celebrities are wearing at the moment.

The music she would listen to would be mainly pop music, listening to a mixture of artists and groups. Examples of whom she would listen to include: Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Justin Beiber, One Direction etc.  Radio stations that would be regularly listened to would be pop music stations that play charts such as Radio 1.

TV shows that they would watch would include: Hollyoaks, The Big Bang Theory, Friends, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and also various music channels such as MTV, 4Music and VIVA. 

She would have a strong presence on social media especially Twitter, Instagram, snapchat and Facebook with some use of Youtube and tumblr.   Hobbies include shopping, listening to music, watching reality TV shows, keeping up with gossip and meeting friends.

The age group of my target audience will be either in university or in a full time job so some will have more disposable income for magazines than others so they would like a magazine full of information so that it worth the money.

Music Magazine Pitch

Time Management

5 Oct:  Intro to task
           Initial Ideas
           Research chosen genre - Front Cover

12 Oct: Research chosen genre - contents and double spread
            Develop Pitch

19 Oct: Pitch
            Audience feedback
            Style sheet
            Planning and Production

2 Nov: Designing front cover

9 Nov: Designing front cover

16 Nov: Designing contents page

23 Nov: Designing double page spread

30 Nov: Develop design work in responce to the audience feedback

7 Dec: Finalise magazine design

14 Dec: Evalutaion Preparation

4 Jan: Evaluation

11 Jan: Evalutaion

Initial Ideas

My initial ideas for a magazine are:

• A pop magazine for a older target audience as current pop magazines are aimed at age ranges between 10-16 and others are classic pop not current.  It would appeal to anyone that is interested in pop music but does not enjoy the young and pre teen elements that a lot of pop magazines have.
• A magazine that covers the weeks top charts so has quite a broad range of genres. As it is difficult to find a magazine that primarily focuses on the weeks top hits.  It could potentially have a very large target group as it would include a lot of genres and current trends and favourites of the general public.

Time Management

5 Oct:  Intro to task
           Initial Ideas
           Research chosen genre - Front Cover

12 Oct: Research chosen genre - contents and double spread
            Develop Pitch

19 Oct: Pitch
            Audience feedback
            Style sheet
            Planning and Production

2 Nov: Designing front cover

9 Nov: Designing front cover

16 Nov: Designing contents page

23 Nov: Designing double page spread

30 Nov: Develop design work in responce to the audience feedback

7 Dec: Finalise magazine design

14 Dec: Evalutaion Preparation

4 Jan: Evaluation

11 Jan: Evalutaion

Key Conventions of a Double Page Spread

Headline

The headline of the article typically covers around half of the first page. It is centered and at the top as it is the first place the reader’s eyes will look.  Its style is always large and bold, nearly always using capital letters. The colours are always bright and blocks. Some times symbols or images are used in the text of the headline.  The headline often uses just two fonts. One for the main text, that looks very easy to read; and a second for extra information, which is smaller and not always as clear a font. All of these features help to bring the headline out of the page and catch the reader’s attention.

By-Line

Typically taking up about a third of the first page the by-line fits at the bottom of the first page, clearly centred. The text follows the headline in style, however at a much smaller scale.  A house style is kept for the pages using the same fonts and colours. In the text some words are selected to stand out more than others, these are the key points of the article that the editor thinks will catch the reader’s attention.  They are highlighted with a different colour that contrasts from the other text colour so that they can be as bold as possible.

This section gives a brief summary of what is to come next in the article.  This gives the reader an idea of what is next and can entice the reader to read something they wouldn’t normally read and stops them skipping over. The summary uses language techniques and punctuation to help emphasise how interesting the article is.  For example the articles use a lot of commas for lists and ellipses for emphasise.

The by-line also shows the date and writer of the article, as well as giving the reader a summary of  the article

Central Image

The image is always linked to the article of the double page spread.  This normally ends up being an image of the music artist or band that the double page spread is about.  The image normally shows the group/artist performing from a recent event or tour; this always links to an aspect of the article later on. The image always covers at least the entirety first page and often clips onto the second page. The background colour of the image usually merges over to be the background of areas that have no image. Bleeds were clearly used as the images always cover the entire page with no white borders.

Quotes

The double page spread has a few quotes taken from the following interview of the article.  This, like the by-line, gives a little preview of the article but gives it a more personal feel, as they know that is a quote from someone.  Quotes are very clear to spot from over features of the double page spread.  They are recognisable from the quotation marks, name afterwards and the differing font and size compared to the article.  Some quotes are on the central image in corners, but some are imbedded into the article.  They are always larger that the normal text and show in a different style font.  They help to break up the article so that it is easier to read and flows well.

Page Numbers

The double page spread always has the numbers in the bottom outmost corners. Following the rest of the magazines style for page numbers.

Articles

All article seemed to have an average of 2/3 columns of text.  The articles were split into short paragraphs, with clear headings to separate them all.  The headings were often questions as the article was a question and answer format.  The headings were differentiated by change in colour and scale of the font, sometimes the font its self changed.  Normally the first paragraph of the article uses a drop cap, which is bold and stands out very clearly.

Analysis of a Double Page Spread - Billboard

Analysis of a Double Page Spread - Top of the Pops

Analysis of a Contents Page - Q

Analysis of a Contents Page - Billboard

Analysis of a Cover Page - Billboard

Analysis of a Cover Page - We Love Pop

UK Magazine Market Place Genre Research

Conclusions:
The UK market place for magazines in largely dominated by the pop and rock genre, this is likely as rock and pop are the most popular music genres. it is a very crowded and broad market for pop and rock.  Some genres of music are not represented in the market place.  This is likely to be because they are not as popular so do not have a large enough target market for the magazine to be worth producing.
Covers usually included images of mainstream artists, and those that are the most popular.  A lot of magazines cover sub-genres and do not just focus specifically on one genre.  They generally have a main genre they follow but sub genres are also bought into it.

Action Plan

5 Oct:  Intro to task
           Initial Ideas
           Research chosen genre - Front Cover

12 Oct: Research chosen genre - contents and double spread
            Develop Pitch

19 Oct: Pitch
            Audience feedback
            Style sheet
            Planning and Production

2 Nov: Designing front cover

9 Nov: Designing front cover

16 Nov: Designing contents page

23 Nov: Designing double page spread

30 Nov: Develop design work in responce to the audience feedback

7 Dec: Finalise magazine design

14 Dec: Evalutaion Preparation

4 Jan: Evaluation

11 Jan: Evalutaion

FINAL DEADLINE: FRIDAY 29 JANUARY

Main Coursework Task Brief

Create the front page, contents, and double page spread of a new music magazine.

All images and text MUST be original (produced by me), with a minimyn of 4 images.

Student Magazine Evaluation

In what ways does your student magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before creating my magazine I researched and analysed current student magazines available. From doing this I recognised what the main conventions of a student magazine were, I showed these in my research from previous blog posts.  While designing and creating my magazine I took these conventions and tried to incorporate as many as possible.  I made sure that I definitely used the main and key conventions such as the masthead, splash, cover lines, central image and articles trailed.  My magazine does not challenge the conventions of real media products.  It follows the guidelines in a style that suits the theme and target audience.  I made sure that I followed the form of real products and made sure that all of the text was bold and used sans serif fonts.  I made sure that my colours were clear and did not merge.  I made sure to keep this throughout my project in my brand identity and house style.  The fonts, heading and colours were kept consistent throughout.  My mode of address was informal but not overly friendly to the audience, which I also saw in media products I researched.  I also followed the guidelines of using a medium close up shot for the central image which doubled as the background of the magazine that observed being down multiple times.

How does your student magazine represent particular social groups?

I created my magazine for the target group of college students, typically ranging in ages 16-18 however it could still appeal to older students.  My magazine could be seen a representation of a typical teen from the cover image.  It shows a teen male with a skateboard and dressed in the typical clothes one would associate with a skater.  This could be seen as a stereotype of male teens however the splash anchors the image.  It suggests that skateboarders may have a stereotype but it is not representing all college students.  My masthead could also be seen as quite a typical word for the target audience ‘Updated’. I used this as it described the magazine and was a simple word that is a huge aspect of lives of the target group.  All of the aspects created were intended to appeal to the majority of 16-18 year olds.  Some of this may include certain stereotypes, but not negative ones, just ones that relate to real students in the target group.

What kind of media institution might distribute your student magazine and why?

The magazine could potentially be distributed by Ludlow College, however this could be used for marketing reasons instead of being made for the students.  The magazine instead could be produced by the students them selves and create the funds for printing and distributing through advertisements that appeal to the target group and by selling the magazine.  Apart from it being just a local college magazine it could be distributed to any college with some adaptation of certain aspects.

Who would be the audience for your student magazine?

My magazines audience is the college age range, typically 16-18 years old.  It is not a gender specific magazine however some issues or articles may appeal more to some than others.  The target audience would be interested in media such as films, music and games with some TV interest; along with advice for student life inside and outside of education. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

I used my cover page to primarily attract the target audience.  I made sure to make the masthead especially bold so that it would be easily spotted by any potential reader of the magazine.  I made the masthead bold by using a large stroke around the bold, capitalised text.  I kept all of the background surrounding the text black so that there was nothing in the masthead that would distract such as the central image. I used quite a bright image for the cover to stand out.  The background has a very bright white in the sky and the green on the skateboard it bright and stands out on its plain black background.

Along with this for my cover lines, splash and articles trailed I made sure to keep a very consistent house style.  I used the green from the skateboard for the background of the subtitles and all of the text had a black stroke on the white middle.  This caused it to stand out from the image and become bold and eye catching instead of merging into the background and becoming insignificant to the magazine.

            I addressed my audience in an informal way using words like ‘you’ and ‘our’.  I did this so that the magazine did not sound too formal, that the target audience would not appreciate.  However, I was also made sure that I was not too patronising to the group as I did not want to push readers away.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the student magazine?

Throughout this project I used Blogger.  This was the first experience I have had with any blogging site.  I found it quite easy to use and quickly picked up how to post, edit and update to my blog.

            For the creation of the magazine its self I used InDesign along with some Photoshop for image manipulation and creating some features.  I had had a lot of previous experience with Photoshop and had no problems with manipulating my images or creating the peeling price sticker effect.   I also had experience with InDesign as well as similar programs such as QuarkXPress.  I understood the basic principles of creating the magazine.  I refined my techniques and learnt some new skills with the program.  InDesign was very easy to use to create a smooth layout and consistent house style. Overall I was very happy with the software that I used and feel confident in using both.