Ideas.

Idea One

This is my first initial idea. To convey the rock image a stereotype generated is that in this 'rock & roll' lifestyle they may have a few run-ins with the law so this is what my big image is based on. The big image would be of the artist's 'mugshot' dressed in rock clothing holding a mugshot sign that would have her name and rock band's name on it. Coverlines would frame this image and above the big image would be the masthead 'Rock On'.

Idea Two.

The masthead for this idea reads 'RockNation'. The name is straightforward as it lets you know who this magazine is addressing (people who like rock and the nation).
The layout is split into two with a line symbolising this which if constructed would be the separation of a block colour i.e. red and the background of the big image. The coverlines will run down the left hand side below the masthead.

Idea Three.

Opting for a shorter name of magazine the masthead, positioned at the top left corner, reads 'R&R'. This stands for rock and roll but it could be misinterpreted and remind people of the other genre R&B. The big image is centered with remaining coverlines placed underneath. In this design idea I include a freebie that would be available once you have bought the magazine.

Drafts

These are some rough drafts of how my magazine will look. Next i will upload the actual content e.g. the actual coverlines and competitions.

Graphs

Here are graphs showing the results of my questionnaire...

Question 1 - How old are you?

To get a better idea of who and what age group my magazine would be targeting I asked this question. It seems as I asked more people my age, 16 was the most common age. The pie chart also shows that the two other groups got the same results ( 17 & other). In fact the 'other' age group are made up of young adults ranging from 20 -24. To include all these age groups I decided to target the age group of 16 - 25 year olds. I did this as that way I will be ultimately targeting teenagers and young adults who I think are the age group that will actually purchase a music magazine.

Question 2 - What gender are you? 

I asked this question to know what gender my magazine would cater for. Out of the 15 people I asked, 11 were female and 4 male.

Question 3 - Which music genres are you most interested in? (Tick two)

 

I asked this question to find out what music genre my magazine will be focused on. Both the genres Rock and Hiphop got equal numbers with 7 people most interested but since the casting vote is with me, being the creator, I decided to do a magazine focused on the genre of rock. This is because I think my creativity will better in this genre. 

Question 4 - What colour scheme do you prefer?

I asked this question to see what type of colour scheme will most attract my audience. The majority wanted a bright and bold colour scheme and I agree with this. In order to engage my audience my magazine needs to stand out and bright and bold colours will do this.

  

Question 5 - Do you enjoy competitions in a magazine? 

 

I asked this question to see what would attract this audience. Unanimously the response were all yes and I agree that a magazine should include competitions to add interest for the audience.

 Question 6 - How often would you want this magazine?

I asked this question to find out what the audience thought about when this magazine should be coming out. The results were that the magazine should come out every month. 

Question 7 - What is your chosen price?  

I asked this question as I was intrigued in what the audience's preferred choice. I found the results very interesting as people were willing to spend the most expensive price out of this categories. At  the end of the day I do think that £2 is small fee for a magazine that would be coming out each month. That's why I decided to go in between of £2 and £2.50 to make £2.35. 

Question 8 - Would humour attract you as an audience?
Again as expected this was an unanimous result with all 15 people saying that humour would attract them. 

Question 9 - How long do you prefer for this magazine to be? (pages)

I asked this question to see how long the audience thought was appropriate and preferred. The result was that the majority  thought that medium (20-25 pages) was the amount of pages that the music magazine should have. However I think that the magazine should contain more pages as there will be a lot of features included in a magazine and usually, as seen in professional magazines there are more pages than 20 or 25.

Question 10 - Do you think subscription should be included?

When I asked this question I was surprised that a number of them, especially out of the older people that I asked, already have subscriptions to various music magazines. The pie chart shows that 12 out of 15 people think that I should subscription should be included and I agree.

Audience Research

In order to gain perspective I made a questionnaire to determine who my audience is for my music magazine...

Questions…


1. How old are you?

16 [ ] 17 [ ] 18 [ ] 19 [ ]

2. What gender are you?

Male [ ] Female [ ]

3. Which music genres are you most interested in? (Tick two)

[ ] UK Music [ ] Rap/Hiphop

[ ] R&B [ ] Soul/Jazz

[ ] Pop [ ] House

[ ] Other [ ] Rock/Indie


4. What colour scheme do you prefer?

[ ] bright & bold [ ] dull & boring


5. Do you enjoy competitions in a magazine?

[ ] Yes [ ] No

6. How often would you want this magazine?

[ ] Weekly [ ] Fortnightly

[ ] Monthly
7. What is your chosen price?

[ ] £1 [ ] £1.50 [ ] £2 [ ] £2.50
8. Would humour attract you as an audience?

[ ] Yes [ ] No

9. How long do you prefer for this magazine to be? (pages)

[ ] Quite small (10 – 15) [ ] Medium (20 -25) [ ] Big (30-35)

10. Do you think subscription should be included?

[ ] Yes [ ] No

Profiling The Audience

T     The magazine that I intend to produce is focused on the music genre, rock. In order to get an idea of this genre, I researched and reviewed the website and magazine of NME which is renowned worldwide for its rock music news and features. From the research, I have been able to identify that this magazine seems more targeted at males aged probably from 16-25. This is shown through the content and language used throughout. With words such as "hottest" and even swearwords being used it indicates that the magazine is aimed at a more young audience as it is speaking "their language", relating to them on some level. After researching NME, I decided to try focus on who my music magazine would target so I made a moodboard expressing my ideas. Since NME had targeted the male audience I decided to explore the female aspect of Rock as I intend to produce a magazine for teenage female "rockers". In my moodboard I included 3 well-known young faces of this genre and how they embrace rock.Taylor Momsen - bottom left, Hayley Williams - bottom right and Avril Lavigne - top right corner. I think that this moodboard shows the female rocker and how its about more of the fun aspect. Each have their own unique style and show rebellion in their look which if I decide to do the genre of rock is what I will try convey in my magazine. The colour scheme ranges from pink to black but as this is a stereotype of female (pink) I would steer from that and go for more dangerous colours like red and black.

 I intend to create a music magazine aiming at a female young audience aging similar to NME so aged at 16-25. I will try to appeal to my audience by including content that is fun and getting models to convey the rebellious side. Also I will use a colour scheme that seems dangerous so colours like red, black and white. I will make the language more youthful in order for the magazine to be relatable to the audience.

Textual Analysis of a Music Magazine.

 

The music magazine cover I chose to analyse is a cover that has come from the magazine 'Rolling Stones'. The magazine 'Rolling Stones' usually caters to an audience that enjoy pop music but now it covers music in general with their content ranging from folk music to Hip Hop as seen in the coverlines.

The front cover consists of a medium long shot taken from low angle with the main masthead positioned (with a thick shadow) right behind the internationally known pop/rock artist - Avril Lavigne. The choice of costume connotes a rebellious attitude which fits into the teenage rock stereotype though Avril's facial expression and makeup challenge the image the costume creates. The minimum use of makeup and the piercing blue eyes makes her appear innocent which also adds emphasis to the teenage stereotype that they may appear innocent but could also be troublemakers. Also the anchorage used supports this that this particular artist is rebellious and possibly the opposite of the 'Pop' princess innocent act - "hunt with the Britney Slayer".

The coverlines frame the image positioned on either side of the image and from the choice of topics we see that this magazine explores different genres of music : pop rock, hiphop, soul and folk music, to politics with a special report on the Iraq war. Also the choice of topics are diverse catering to all audiences maybe of different ages aiming at the younger years that enjoy music from Avril Lavigne and the comedy of Ali G and also the older ages that know the music of Ben Harper and also want a more intellectual political read tackling an important issue as war and since there is a box surrounding it it shows that it is separate from the more less trivial issues.

Following the usual format of a magazine, it includes the date and issue number located in the top right corner under the main masthead but it does not have a barcode.

The colour scheme used is red, black, white and blue which could connote patriotism expressing the American flag addressing the whole nation of America.

Overall I think that this magazine would be aimed at people that love music but of a mature age (16 - 29) as there are topics that are aimed at older audiences e.g. wars or sex.

MAIN TASK

For my next task I will be creating a front page , contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine.