Q7.   LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

After looking back at my preliminary task and comparing it with my final outcome of this task, I feel I have improved my skills a lot when working with technology and computer programs such as "InDesign". As well as that, I think I have established a better understanding and learning more about media institutions and what is expected from the media in the area of publishing. 

My final outcome of my music magazine has been a much greater success compared to my preliminary task. Overall, the design of each front covers is really different, and you can see that I have learnt a lot between the course of creating each magazine. When I finished my college magazine, I wasn't very happy with the outcome and I knew that I could of done a lot better. 

Therefore, when it came to starting my music magazine to aim to do the best I could do, I researched about many different types of magazine, different genres, styles and designs. I thought this would give me more ideas and inspiration to help me think about what I wanted my outcome this time to look like. I completed a skills audit tick list, to display to me what skills I have learnt and what I need to improve on. I decided that I needed to improve my skills in design, as I thought my college magazine lacked interest and a striking format. I didn't look proffesional at all. So then, when I designed my music magazine I tried to make sure I included different style fonts, sizes and colours but being careful making sure the page doesn't end up looking to busy, messy and tacky. I kept the same idea with both of the magazines though, by only using one portrait image on the front cover as a main photograph. However, I for my music magazine I centred the image instead of shifting it to one side. I also made sure I took a better quality photograph, and made it relate to my genre and topic more than my college photograph did. I learnt about grabbing the readers attention and what is usually eye catchy to them, so I asked my model to look directly at the camera hoping that my target audience would be able to relate better to my magazine and become intrigued with a connection of interest. 

I am happy with my outcome of my music magazine, however, I would of liked to learn even more skills and especially how to use the time period I had to the best I could, not wasting any of it and making it sure I had done everything I needed to at the right time and chronologically if I could of managed it. Maybe one day I would like to develop my skills even further and make better product to the best of my ability in the future. 

Q6.  WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

After working on my magazine I have realised how different sources of technology and computer programs are used to design and create a magazine. When reading a magazine you don't think about what stages as well as how many, the magazine has been through to actually be on the shop shelf. Well I certainly don't.

I think I made the right choice choosing a computer program called "InDesign" on an apple mac, to design my magazine. I really struggled at first and still throughout the process of making the magazine I came across barriers that would frustrate me and stop me from doing my work. However, after overcoming them and moving on I began to realise from the mistakes and obstacles, I actually learnt more and gained many more skills and knowledge about the program its self and how to use it to the best of my ability most of the time if not to its full potential.

 I think if I was to design my magazine on a different program such as "Microsoft Publisher" or "Microsoft Word" then the outcome of my magazine would be at a much lower level and not to the best I could of done if I had the right tools. InDesign allows you to do so much more then another program would. Just to get your font how you want it, it enables you to stretch it to the right height, maximise and minimise the size and boldness of it, as well as making the width between each letter a different distance and even each word to a different length and width from one another. Where as, on a different program it will only allow you to change the font size its self and go no further. In addition, not only does InDesign allow you to insert an image from your files but it permits you to fit the content to the frame, fit the content to the frame proportionally along with many more options. 

As well as all that, InDesign provides many more tools for you to do so much more, and develop a product to a very high standard, higher then most programs would enable you. Programs such as InDesign and ones just the same advantage the publishing sector and media institutions ever so much. The importance of them is huge, without programs like these media would not be the same and there would certainly not be as much consumption, business and revenue. 

Q5.  HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

When designing my magazine I thought about how I would attract my audience and make my magazine stand out if it was on a shelf along with loads more. 

Firstly, when it came to the appearance of the magazine, I thought about different font styles, sizes, colours and boldness and I also thought about what image and colour scheme to use along with the layout and everything else. I decided for my front page to be striking and eye catchy I used a white background with a bold straight forward image bang in the middle. But I then used a big, bold, black font to write my masthead in, I thought this would be simple but eye catchy. However, to make the page look more interesting and not so boring I added a few different cover lines, tag lines and puffs and plugs. However, I was careful not to overcrowd the page. Furthermore, for my individual pieces of text I used a range of red black and white font, I changed the sizes of each piece of text and made a couple of pieces a different font overall. After I had done this, I decided that the page looked very flat and not as interesting as I hoped. Therefore, I clicked on a couple of the text boxes and added drop shadows, this developed the whole page as it made it look more bold and appealing instead of tiresome and tedious.

Lastly, when it came to making my magazine interesting from the context and not just the layout and the way it looked, I brainstormed a few different cover lines and tag lines that I could introduce on my front page. I picked a couple that I thought would not only look the best on the page but also grab the audiences attention, and make the magazine sound more interesting to read. A couple of lines I chose were things that featured inside the magazine and were the main story's and topics of the particular magazine issue, such as; Top 10 Festival Tips, Exclusive interview with Lois Wilkinson, Win TWO free bestival tickets, along with a few others. I thought these lines out of the many I mind-mapped would attract my audience the most.

Q4.   WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

I set a target for my main audience to be a younger generation of a wide varied age group from 15-35, and unisex. But it could just be anyone into the genre of music and keen to know more about the content featured within the magazine issues. 

I thought that my ideal audience for my magazine, would be someone that has a passion for music and likes to know about the latest updates on artists. Also, someone that enjoys going to music events, such as Warehouse projects, live gigs, festivals ect. Because my magazine "ATMOSPHERE" keeps you updated with the latest upcoming, hottest events around. The edition that I have designed is a Festival Edition. It provides the humorous and exciting festival gossip, It tells you about what to do and what NOT to do at a festival, it gives you 10 top tips on how to survive at a festival along with loads more, including a chance to win a free pair of hunter wellies as well as two free bestival tickets. So it certainly would be a big bonus if the readers of my magazine are interested in Festivals. 

In addition, I think my ideal audience for this magazine would certainly have to consume other media devices and products. Such as, iPod's, CD's/record players, computers/laptops and so on. Mostly devices that enable them to listen to music and research about artists and keep updates with the latest news in the music world.

I would imagine this audience to be quite a lively person in general, with a good vibe and relaxed at the same time. Also, they may play an instrument themselves along the lines of the drums or a guitar and so on. They may even be into singing and have many hobbies too.  On the other hand, I would think a person who is a lot more quite and knowledgeable would be into reading books and sitting down and playing games such as chess. And they may also play instruments but i would think more along the lines of a violin or a harp, therefore they would most probably be into more classical, formal music rather than R&B/HIP HOP.  As well as that, I would imagine them to be a very family associated person. 

Q3.  WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

I have researched a lot about IPC publisher in the past, and found that they cover many different magazines varying from "Yachting World" and "Golf Monthly" to "marie claire" and "Woman&Home". They reach to benefit the majority of people, publishing a range of products suitable for all different interests and hobbies. Interestingly, they currently engage with a massive 26 million adults in the UK alone. That's two thirds of UK women, and over 40% of UK men. 

Furthermore, I think my media product (music magazine) has loads to offer and is suitable for a wider audience then most other products along the same line. Therefore, I believe my magazine will be perfect for IPC to publish, even thought they publish NME which has inspired me greatly, I think they need to cover more music within the wide range of media products, as they publish many hobbies and out dooring events, as well as many home and women magazines. IPC may look to publish other music magazine that target one particular minority group of people, for example "Top Of The Pops"- targeted at young girls and teenage fans of popular bands and solo singers such as; One Direction, The Wanted, Cher Lloyd  Justin Beiber, Girls Aloud and so on. However, I completely disagree, I believe that IPC will benefit a great deal more from publishing a magazine like mine. Suited for the majority group of people, and personalities. It makes sense that if a wider audience is targeted and are happy with the product being produced and published, it will lead to a huge increase in consumption and therefore a larger increase in business and revenue for the company overall.

Q.2 HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

I designed my music magazine to target a wider, more varied audience. The younger generation of people aged from about 15-35, or anyone interested in the music genre and content of my magazine.

 I used a selection of photographs that I have taken to represent the content that will be displayed within my magazine, and to make my magazine more appealing, striking and eye catching overall. I chose my front page image (a portrait image of an artist featured in my magazine) because the artist portrays a sense of music genre in my magazine through her casual choice of clothing, and fashion sense. As well as that, her body posture and casual slouched pose fits the genre of music well.

I asked my artist to hold a guitar, the use of this prop reminds my audience, and even people just taking a quick glimpse of the magazine that it is in fact a music based magazine, therefore they will become intrigued, acquire interest and buy the magazine.

I asked my artist to look directly at the camera when I shot the photograph, I hoped that this would allow my readers and audience to engage more with the magazine and take a deeper interest because of the direct eye contact. 

Furthermore, I designed my magazine aiming it at a social group of any class that is interested in the music and wants to know more about what is featured inside. However, I thought more consumption would come from lower/middle class people, without stereotyping I would not think of an upper class, wealthy person reading an informal, gossip involved magazine just like this. I would imagine them to read something more formal and classy. For example a magazine such as; "Classical Music". 

I have been mostly inspired by research I have done about other magazines, and I have established many different techniques on how to design and create a good magazine. But, I would like to further and develop my skills one day using the same technology and ICT programs to produce work to a better standard.

Q1.  IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR PRODUCT DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Firstly, when it came to choosing what genre music magazine I wanted to design I didn't have a clue. But then I thought about a few different music magazines I have read in the past, and I also asked my friends for help as they read music magazines often. I've read a couple of issues of NME, Top Of The Pops, XXL and Vibe along with a couple more. But my favourites from them all has to be NME and Vibe, the magazines overall intrigue me a lot more then the others due to their wide range of music genre and interesting content in which they display. They are both ever so similar and share many similarities. One of which they both have a wider target audience, to suit millions of peoples likes and dislikes as well as their individual personalities. Furthermore  I think the design and overall appearance of each magazine can vary but is always very attractive and appealing, although some front covers are more striking than others, and some people may say the can come across as dull dreary and dry. 

Therefore, after researching more about different music magazines and what they have to offer I decided to follow the tracks of NME and Vibe when producing and developing my own magazine, however, slightly changing bits to make it my own style and portray diverse features within the content, yet along the same lines.

Double page spread, final outcome

   

Contents Page, Final Outcome

Front cover, final outcome

Further photos

After placing a couple of my photographs on my magazine from my previous two photo shoots I decided I wanted something a bit different to vary the photographs displayed throughout my magazine. Therefore, I thought about what else i was going to feature within the content of my magazine and I thought the main focus of this particular issue was about Festivals and upcoming music events. So, I then thought about how I could use my photography skills and knowledge to develop my magazine by adding some funky festival like photos. Finally, I came up with the idea, painting with light. I asked a couple of friends to do a shoot for me in a photography studio, i asked them to wave torches about with coloured cellophane in different patters and i hoped this would create funky style photos. The final outcome of the photos were successful and I hope that I can use them in my magazine somewhere, maybe on the double page spread or contents page. I thought these photos relate very well to festivals as they portray a great vibe and crazy atmosphere with wild, unusual and exciting lights and patterns as does a festival.

                                                                               

Final stages..
Finally, I thought about what I was missing and what I needed to add to make my magazine look better and to the best developed standard I could manage. I printed my previous page and asked my teacher to analyse it, thinking I would then have some feedback to help push me and learn exactly what I needed to do in my final stages. I moved all my text boxes to a margin to make the page look neater and more presentable over all. Also, I thought it looked slightly blank and need a couple of block colours to the page. Therefore, I added a rectangle pink filled box at the bottom of the page, displaying white writing of a few artists names that will be featured within the magazine. As well as that, I added a smaller rectangle box at the top of the page to show the date of the issue and the speciality of the particular magazine issue(FESTIVAL EDITION).

Annotated Front Cover 
I asked my teacher to annotate my work as i thought it would help me develop my cover and make progress with the magazine design over all.
My teacher wrote what i needed to do, she added a date, separate boxes with text in at the bottom of the page. Also to build the text up and make it bolder, using affects such as drop shadows. I am going to take on these ideas and hopefully my final outcome of my magazine will be better developed and more striking.

Second stages..

To develop my front cover I wrote out all my chosen cover lines and tag lines that I wanted to display on it, and i changed them to different font sizes, colours and font style itself. I did this as I thought it would make my magazine cover look more striking, interesting and bold.
I also made my masthead bigger by stretching it out and making the boldness bigger.
As well as that, I developed my skills using In design by exploring different affects I could use. I highlighted objects and different pieces of text that I wanted to stand out, I then used a drop shadow on them to separate them from the rest of the text boxes and make the page more eye catchy and less boring over all. 

MAGAZINE FRONT COVER DEVELOPMENT

First stages..

To make my music magazine I'm going to use a program called In-Design. In my first stage of creating my front cover for my magazine, I placed my chosen image to fit in the frame proportionally and not pixilate or become unfocused. 

I then wrote my chosen masthead "ATMOSPHERE" at the top of the page, and fitted it, stretched it and made it to the size I want.  This was my outcome for my first stages of development.                                                                 

 Final image choices

After taking my photo shoots, I have decided what main images I would like to use on my pages. For my front cover I have decided to use this image. I really like the direct eye contact between the musician and the camera,  I think it will make my magazine be more eye catchy and appealing to my target audience. The casual pose and body posture, reflects the very informal style of music which I hope to portray as the content of my magazine.
As well as that, the clothing choice, suits the music genre very well. The beanie hat, gold chain, casual clothes, gold hoop earings ect. I asked my musician to hold a guitar and a couple of records to reinforce and remind the audience it is a music based magazine.
I hope this image along with the others that I choose for my other pages, will help me develop and create a good music magazine, that people would choose to buy.

Photo shoot 2             

After taking my first photo shoot, I decided I wanted my magazine to display a different series and style of photographs as well as a few portrait images. As I liked the high key lighting for my first photo shoot, I kept the same setting but some images I made my focused object the whole image such as the music notes and piano. I thought about the main instrument my artist played (a guitar), so I focused on arranging a guitar at different angles and placed it next to different props such as the retro speaker. I also photographed a piano, retro speaker and music books to acquire a better varied set of photos. I then used my camera techniques, to create, develop and portray the photographs in a more interesting way. I used a deep depth of field to focus on particular parts of my props making the rest of the image blurred. I think this worked very well and I really like the outcome of the photographs. I think by using techniques like this it creates a more interesting set of photographs with a different vibe, instead of having a series of images all the same angle and prop. I think if I select a couple of my favourite photographs from each shoot, photographs that I think are most suited to my magazine genre, then my magazine will hopefully look a lot more proffesional, well presented and catch the eyes of my target audience.    

      

        

 

Photo shoot

 I set up a photo shoot and photographed my musician, in a number of different postures, poses and positions with different props within the frame. Such as a guitar, a speaker and a few records. I thought this would improve my images and develop them to help fit the genre of music my magazine is focused on. I used a high key lighting background so my musician and the props would stand out more, and hopefully be more eye catchy towards my audience. I had my musician wear clothing that was suitable for the music genre, such as a beanie hat, gold chain and casual clothing. I think this worked well and I hope the photos will look good on my magazine, and help create the style I am trying to produce. I think some of the photos will not work well for my magazine as they were not as successful because of different elements within the photograph and composition that went wrong. I would like to produce another photo shoot, changing what I photograph to create a different series of photos, then I can compare and have more to choose from for my magazine images. In my next photo shoot I may photograph instruments, based in the same high key lighting setting but practising different photography skills such as depth of field and composition to help me reach a better standard of work and make my magazine more interesting and professional looking.

Contents page analysis and proposal

I have researched many different styles and designs for contents pages within music magazines to help inspire me and give me ideas about how I might like mine to look. I've chosen this NME                                                                      contents page, as It appealed to me and I think it's more interesting than most others I have seen. Even though most contents pages are usually fairly plain, and simple which works well as it isn't meant to be the most hectic page, this particular one is quite busy and it works just as well if not better, especially to suit the variety of music genres within the magazine. I am keen about the different boxes on the left hand side, (Features/News/Live/Radar), I think I may do something like this in the same style on my page as it compliments the magazine and its style. I also really like the fact that there is more than one image on the page because it makes the page look more interesting and not overloaded with text. In addition, the "subscribe today" box at the bottom of the page really grabs my attention, as the font is a completely different colour to the whole page so it stands out a lot. As well as all of that, the different coloured boxes, fonts, font sizes and font style itself makes the page very interesting and appealing. When I make my own contents page I will include more then two photographs that I have taken and place some of my text over the top of one image. Also, I want to include a "FREE ADD" box, so it will tempt the audience to buy the magazine as they see it as a freebie  even though they are buying the magazine. This will lead to an increase in consumption and an even bigger increase in revenue. 

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Front cover analysis and proposal

After looking at different music magazines and how each genre of music is portrayed and reflected through the style and design of the magazine itself, I chose this particular cover out and decided I want to make mine in the same style if I can. I like the idea of the plain block colour background, therefore, the masthead, image,  cover-lines, taglines, and puffs and plugs are seen more prominent and appeal to the audience more.
I think this magazine design is very well suited to the genre of music it focuses on. The main image, a portrait photograph of Eminem, makes it clear to the target audience (people whom interested in rap music) what the content of this magazine will include. However, if people were only recently fans of the genre of music, they may notice the magazine and the content from what the image actually is. Straight away you can tell the magazine isn't going to include information, gossip and the latest updates about classical or country music for example, due to the image being a fairly musculus, tattooed man wearing bling and a vest top. As well as that, the posture and body language convey a sense of negativity and 
domination. Also, the serious facial expression, and direct eye contact with the camera, reinforces the power the figure seems to display. The colour scheme used, of red black appeals to the audience and fits the genre of music. The connotations of the colours, exhibit hard, seriousness and can sometimes be seen as intimidating and offensive to people. eg. - elderly people. I like the big bold masthead, on the page as it grabs the audiences attention and is very forward. The use of different colour, size font and font itself, is affective as it highlights different context pieces on their importance and how the editor of the magazine may want them to be read and seen as. As well as that, it makes the magazine more appealing and less boring. If all the font was the same, the magazine would not be so alluring and engaging, therefore there would be a massive increase in consumption and revenue for the business. 

Flat Plans- Music magazine

I drew some rough ideas of what i might like my front page for my music magazine to look like. I thought of having my masthead down the side of the page, as it may look authentic and different to other magazines, but  I then decided it would not look strong enough and my magazine would be more eye catchy with a bold title dominating the page. I thought of having some tag lines and puffs and plugs within boxes on the page to stand out and highlight important pieces of text that i want my reader to see, the rest of the text will probably just be placed on the page without a box. However, to make the page come more alive i may put back drops on individual pieces of text, as well as changing the size, colour and font itself. After looking at different stlye music magazines, and how the layout, format and design was displayed it gave me inspiration on how to present mine and what i would like mine to look like.

College Magazine Analysis..

I think that my college magazine cover turned out not to the best of my ability how I hoped, but it wasn't as bad as it could of been. I think that the main thing that lowered the standard of it was the main image, which was also the background. The image was slightly pixilated and the focus of it wasn't as good as it should of been. But I think the image itself, was good to use on my front page, as it was simple and relevant. (A student) I wanted an image like that for my front cover so that I could display and use cover lines, puffs and plugs without making the cover look to over crowded and messy. I used a composition rule, (the rule of thirds) which is a photography technique, making the main focus of the image not dead on in the centre but towards a side of the page. This also made it easier for me to place and fit in cover lines, to help grab my readers attention. 

I think my cover lines overall and the layout of them were not too bad. Maybe I could of come up with a few well worded phrases, better then the ones I had, but the ones I chose worked okay on my page. I like the layout of my page it didn't look really boring to read but it also didn't look over crowded and hectic. I used cover lines that I thought would grab the audiences attention and continue to intrigue them. Phrases such as; "your chance to win two free bestival tickets" To develop this particular cover line and make it even more eye catchy I highlighted the word "win" and changed the size, colour and boldness of the font. 

I think after mind mapping different mastheads, I chose one to suit the magazine and fit my target audience well. "Strictly Social". I liked this title for my magazine as I think the alliteration adds affect and makes the magazine that little bit more interesting. I changed the font of the two different words in the title but tried to keep the same shade of red throughout all my font on the page, accompanied with black and white font. I chose to use black and white font as well as red because it looked better as the background image is black and white. Therefore, I used black font on the white sections of the image and white font on the black sections of the image.

Next time, when it comes to making my music magazine, I think I will spend more time focusing on the image in the background, making sure it's in focus and looks right with my colour scheme and font choices. I hope that when I make my music  magazine, the outcome looks a little more proffesional, and at a better standard. 

Final cover design

After reading the notes no my last cover design, i decided to only change small things about my magazine. I changed the size and boldness of some of the text on the cover. I made a margin on the left edge of my magazine cover, I hoped this would make the outcome look neater, and i think it has. I also changed how much I varied, the colour of my font. I changed most of it to the same red shade. In each piece of text, and text box i highlighted individual words to be a different boldness, colour and size to the rest of the sentence. 

Front Cover draft and development

I designed this front cover, and used different colours and fonts, but when I saw the final outcome, i decided it didn't look good and didn't work. My lecturer made notes on my cover to help me improve it and give me ideas on how i should develop it to a better standard.

College magazine, mind mapped ideas

I created this mind map as i thought it would help me see more clearly what i would like to use on the front cover of my magazine, and how i should produce the final piece. I thought of different cover lines, fonts, images, mastheads, colour schemes and ideas of when i should publish my magazine. This mind map will help me see all my ideas planned out, make it easier for me to see what i like and dislike, And continue to give me a clearer idea on what routes to choose for my final outcome.

 

Skills Audit

Developed Ideas

I have mind mapped a few ideas to help me see clearly how i want the outcome of my mind map to be like. Overall, i've decided i want my magazine to be focused on festivals, and which different festivals are right for different people. For example, Bestival and Reading is usually aimed at young adults ranging from an average age of 17-30 as the festival is more hectic and chaotic in a sense.

Where as, IOW festival is a bit more relaxed and family orientated, also for younger people not around the age of 18 and 21. Because that age range usually favour to more eventful and mental atmospheres. Hopefully, by including a content aimed at a varied, wider target audience, there will be more buyers and consumers of the magazine as it isn't just focused on one minority group of people. And more people will be interested as it covers not just different ages, but different styles too. 

I have also mind mapped a couple of cover lines, colour schemes, images, publishing and pricing ideas too. Hopefully this will allow me to express all my ideas for my magazine, and see exactly how i want it to be.

PROPOSAL 
After looking at all different magazine types and genres I have decided to develop my research further into more then one different genre. I am hoping this will help me improve my project by combining different types, and showing the contrast between a couple of different genres. I also think it will make it easier for me, as I will have more to talk about. Therefore, to make this a success, I will have to come up with a front cover design that will grab the attention of each different audience group I am targeting. I also need to ensure my masthead suits the magazine overall.

For most of my research i will browse the internet, and study different music-magazine websites, to help me with ideas of my own and give me a better outcome. I may also look at different magazines in the shops and see what my friends might have. If my friends do have any magazines and show a interest for one or a couple of genres in particular, I will interview them and ask them about why they like that sort of music. Hopefully, this should help me relate to my target audience at a greater extent as I will know more about the music itself.

For the content of my magazine i would like to include some facts and story's about festivals, also what people would need to take and what they should be advised not to take. As well as that, stories and top gossip from festivals. I may even show offers, deals and things to excite the reader and persuade them to go to festivals. To make it more realistic and exciting to read I will include images that i have taken from festivals iv'e previously been to, along with pictures of things associated with festivals. I'm going to research upcoming music events and write about them accompanied with images. I'm going to include the latest hits, song raves and the artists most talked about in present. Also, interviews of what people think about each different genre of music, talk about their likes and dislikes and get them to sum up what makes a good music magazine. I am going to target the audience of younger viewers from the average age of 14-17. I think this will  benefit me and make it easier for me to produce my magazine as i will have a better idea of what my age group are more likely to be interested in and what they will like more than other things. For example 14 year old girls would probably favour towards young boy bands such as; one direction, the wanted, Justin beiber and others. Therefore it would be easy to include quizzes, free posters and adds about the particular bands. However, because I  want to target a wider varied target audience I will need to include things that age and gender suited. And i must ensure I do not include things that I think might put off my audience and manipulate them into thinking the magazine is not suited or enjoyable for them.

 

Research
This music and entertainment magazine, 'VIBE' produced by Quincy Jones,  is based on the genre of R&B and hip hop music, featuring artists, actors and other entertainers within this style. Vibe is now issued every other month, with double covers and a larger online presence. The magazines target is predominantly young urban followers of hip hop.
The layout of the magazine is mostly the same as most other magazines. It doesn't have a unique style to it. However the larger, bolder font used in the masthead stands out clearly off the page.  The mixture of  cover lines, puffs and plugs and pull quotes stand out too as the font changes in size as well as colour throughout.
The colour scheme on the front cover is very suitable for the style and genre of the magazine, and the message and content in which it portrays. The colour red, shows a semiotic as it shows danger. The combination of black, red and grey together defines a hard look which fits in well with the genre. As well as that, the fact that the same font is kept throughout the
magazine, shows organisation and it doesn't look messy or hard to read. Even though the font changes in size, boldness and colour, it makes the magazine more eye catchy and interesting to read. Also the choice of image, is well suited to grab the audience's attention.The large image of Eminem (a rap artist) a muscly, tattooed man with flashy accessories like the watch and necklace, represents this style of music as most rappers and artists within the particular genre have a style the same as this.

Billboard is an international news magazine devoted to the music industry. It is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognised music charts. It updates and tracks the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis. Because the wide, varied content it then has a majority target audience and doesn't concentrate on one particular age band, or a minority group of people with a individual interest or style.
The main images changes each issue to a different artist from a different genre and usually who is most talked about at the present time. The masthead ' Billboard' is always placed at the top of the page and some times it is accompanied with a small piece of writing above or around it. The main image usually covers the title slightly, but  not always. The artist featured on the front cover, is always presented with their name in averagely bold writing across the page somewhere. This suggests to the reader that the particular artists may be talked about more inside the magazine persuading someone to read it as they may think the latest gossip is included. The colour scheme changes all the time for the magazine, as the image does too. This particular cover is presented with bright colours to flow in with Rihanna's hair and lipstick colour, this gives off a very vibrant look but the background colour is a slightly dull, darker colour combined with mostly white font to stand out. This makes the cover very eye catchy. The cover lines and tag lines are written in mostly the same font but change slightly with size, boldness, italic and colour.  The layout of the magazine is unique and looks interesting to read.

Top of the pops is a monthly publication, published by BBC magazines. It features chart information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice, quizzes, song lyrics and posters, It is a supplementary magazine for the Tv show 'Top of the Pops'. The magazine was launched in February 1995 and is famous for giving the girl band; ' The Spice Girls', their nicknames. Top of the Pops is based around the same genre as Billboard however they target a different audience. It was originally marketed as the missing link between Smash Hits and NME, but its format was gradually changed, with less music content and a demographic shift to young girls. It is still in publication despite the cancellation of the TV show. The magazine has had several editors over the years of its publication. 
The front cover shows images of young male artists that young girls side to and take a keen interest too. Such as; one direction, the wanted, Justin Beiber, JLS and a couple others. It also presents glamorous young female artists that young girls become a fan over and inspire to be like. Such as, Cher Lloyd, Cheryl Cole, Katy Perry, Tulisa and many more. Each different cover always uses a colour scheme that includes pink, purple and girly colours in general. This is to grab the attention of their target audience, which is young girls into music and celebrities. A main image of a glamorous celebrity,(Cher Lloyd) is used on this particular front cover, accompanied with various smaller images of young male artists seen as good looking and perfect in the eyes of young girls. This is to entice the readers and make them buy the magazine. As well as that, tag lines, pull quotes and puffs and plugs are used to grab the readers attention and make it more eye catchy, also to reveal a little bit about whats on offer inside and the interesting content that they can get hold of. Adding things in like the free posters in the magazine will persuade most young girls, interested in the artists, to buy the magazine as they think of it as a free thing that they love. Features like these will also persuade the consumer to carry on reading the following issues as there is always a different bit of gossip to read about. 

Circus was a american magazine devoted to rock music. It was published from 1966-2006. The editory of the magazine included some of the biggest names in rock journalism. The magazine shifted to heavy metal acts in the early 1980's and then to glam metal in the mid to late 1980's. However, grunge then arrived and the magazine lost focus and sales dropped. Circus is a completely different style compared to the previous magazines I have looked at and analysed. 
The masthead is written in text that looks 3D, this is to stand off the page and look eye catchy. The layout is slightly different to most other magazines, as the main images is to the right of the page instead of dead on centre. Its also overlapped with a smaller image in a box, this makes it more interesting to show what content is within the magazine. The main colour scheme is yellow, but it is accompanied with a couple over of other colours such as blue white purple red and black. All text starting from the left side of the page, starts on the same set invisible guideline, which makes the page look more organised overall. The picture of the artist fits the genre well, not only because the artist performs in the particular style of music, but his general appearance shows punk and rock.- The fact he has his body on show, tight Gothic like clothing, a necklace(bling), the long, messy hair and a body posture and facial expression that doesn't show elegance. This magazine, is targeted at the middle age-older generation(mainly men) that show an interest towards rock music. 


This magazine with the title 'Music' is dedicated to classical music and updates you with musical events, occasions, photo shoots, interviews and loads more.
The magazine is targeted at an audience of people who are interested and favour towards this particular genre of music. For perhaps any age but not to the younger generations.
The layout of the front cover is tidy and safisticated.
The font is fancy and not scruffy, however it does change to different font sizes and boldness throughout the page when it comes to each cover-line, and pull quotes. The box on the bottom right hand corner, with the smaller image shows an inside story and what's on offer. The main image fits the safisticated look, as the girl has a tidy look to her, with a plain black dress, natural hair and make up too. The violin is a calming posh instrument, so it conveys the right image for the genre, where as if it was a girl with an excessive  amount of make up. messy hair and a drum kit in front of her, the overall image would not work for this magazine and it would portray a setting to be on the front of a rock magazine instead.

Planning my research.. 

The music magazine market is so wide and there are many different genres i could choose to study and develop. So, to start my research i am going to cover a few different genres, hopefully that will give me a clearer idea on what route to choose. I have certain genres and areas of music that i prefer and some that i do not favour towards as much. However, in my research i may look at a couple that i do not like, such as rock, classical and folk music. I can then write about these particular genres and explain my likes and dislikes.
By researching more then one genre of music, i am hoping it will then help me develop my ideas of what to present within my magazine. I can then focus on the final genre of my choice and concentrate carefully about the content of my magazine to ensure that it benefits and interests my target audience. I have a few ideas of what i might like to include with in my magazine, and how to make it more interesting to read. So as well as just including the latest music gossip and hits, i might include information about festivals and music events to intrigue my audience.

Proposal

My target audience is the students of the college, all ages from the first years throughout to the second years. I will include story's about the college, and gossip within. As well as that, i may include information about festivals and things to do in the summer, then i will aim to publish the magazine during the summer time. I hope that this will intrigue my audience, and keep them interested so that they will read the following issues. I have mind-mapped a couple of ideas for cover lines to display on my front cover. Hopefully these will grab the readers attention, and entice them to read the magazine. ,y ideas for cover lines will be things such as; "win £50 worth of college shop vouchers", "is college causing you stress?", "college gossip and more". I hope that cover lines such as these will relate to the age group and encourage them to read on. 

I came up with a few ideas for my masthead, but the one i decided on is "strictly social", i think this will excite readers more than other titles that i thought of. The other mastheads i thought of included "college gossip", "life at south downs", "college survival guide". I thought these may not of grabbed the attention of the particular audience i am aiming for as they may find it boring and tedious because of the word "college". This occurred to me when i thought that i most probably wouldn't of picked up a magazine that says "college", i also asked a handful of people and they agreed. 

I want the design of my front cover to be simple but interesting. I've decided that i will use "ayuthaya", a bold font slightly italic but easy to read. I did consider other fancy fonts, as in; black chancery,

 bank-gothic, futura, geeza-pro and more. I may use the same font throughout the front cover but change the size and boldness of each piece of writing. However, when i come to my contents page and double page spread, i  may play around with different fonts and use a selection but being careful not to vary too much as it might look messy and unorganised. 

On the front cover i will  use a selection of different tag lines, puffs and plugs. I hope that this will make my magazine more eye catching and appealing. I will use tag lines to advertise competitions, upcoming events, shows and college occasions. Also, to attract people by writing things about gossip and chat within the college. 

I considered publishing the magazine at different seasons within the year, and at different occasions, such as christmas, summer, and spring. But finally, i came to the decision of publishing during the summer sometime in may or june. This means that i can include articles to do with festivals and summer events, which are relevant and familiar to the majority group of students. I may include a page about summer fashion trends. Also how to balance the social life within the academic year. This may lead to ideas of catchy tag lines.

I will use tag lines that are straight forward, and simple to the point. Maybe even blunt in a way, hopefuilly this will grab the readers attention and excite them about the content of my magazine. My ideas for tag lines are things such as;  "festival caos", "top ten festival musts", "festival dedication", "summer madness", "never to be bored" These tag lines along with a few others are to advertise the festival content within my magazine, hopefully the mild use of the hyperbole and the particular lexical choices will excite and encourage the reader.

It took me a while to choose a main picture for my front cover, i mindmapped a few ideas and thought of using things such as; a teacher and student, a student alone, a piece of college equipment, a cafe or a scene from a summer event. But i finally came to a desicion of using a pupil, as the main image accompanied by a variety of smaller images that i have taken in the past at festivals and during the summer. I may browse on the interenet for more pictures to vary my selection. On the content page i may use a image to the right of the page and have the text on the left side, with a title abouve.
I will include a variety of images on my double page spread, some in puffs and plugs and maybe some just as a background on the page.