Contents Page SECOND DRAFT

Contents Page DRAFT

Magazine Cover DRAFT

Contents Page plan

 

The background of the contents page will be black as it will contrast well with the use of bright colours i.e. yellow and pink, and the black and white images that I will be using. The image will have a removed background which will make it much more prominent and appealing and create an attractive balance between the images and the text.

The title will be in the same font as the masthead on the front cover to convey consistency, however not all of the text is in the same font which gives the magazine a sense of variety. Text will either be in white or pink - page numbers, however, because they are very important information to the reader, must be in white as they will stand out more against black.

Stories that will be featured on the contents page will include the ones displayed on the front cover: '21 Unseen Albums That Will Blow You Away', 'The Tormented life of Louise Lavender' and 'For one night only: The Unknown'. Secondary features will be included as well like tour dates, reviews, interviews, tributes etc.

Colour Connotations

 

Analysis of Music Magazine names

 

 

Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands. Indeed, the logo is very eye-catching as the red and white contrast well together. The font of the masthead is very simplistic, however it shows maturity and effectiveness with the flick of the 'Q'.

 

 

Its name was chosen as a reminder of the magic at the core of music and as a demonstration of respect to Delta blues mythology. "Mojo" is also a word that relates to middle-aged people as it was a common phrase used in the 1980s. Usually, the colour of the masthead is white or black, which extends the target audience as these are quite neutral colours, meaning that the magazine is aimed at both females and males.

 

 

Kerrang! is named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on a distorted electric guitar. The dramatic font style gives it a broken glass effect which could suggest rebellion. The use of the exclamation mark also helps to give it a more dramatic feel and makes the title seem 'louder' like rock music.

 

 

 

Originally, Billboard was named Billboard Advertising as it was created as a trade publication for bill posters by William Donaldson and James Hennegan in 1894 - this makes it one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. Unlike other magazines, the masthead isn't incorporated into the house style and therefore stays the same for each issue, allowing the magazine to be easily identified without any confusion. 'b', 'o', 'a', and 'd' are filled in with a variety of different colours which gives the masthead flexibility with each magazine issue. The variety in colour is also a denotation of Billboard as a magazine as it covers a huge range of entertainment.

 

 

 

 

NME stands for New Musical Express. The masthead is usually positioned on the top left hand corner of the magazine which makes it more recognisable to the reader. The use of an 'Impact' font without any embellishments, and bold and capital letters, creates the impression of strength within the institution of NME. Furthermore, the fact that the masthead of New Musical Express only incorporates the abbreviation of the words suggests the high stature of NME in the music magazine business, as they can be identified by just their abbreviation.

Artist Profile

Name: Louise Lavender

 Age: 17

 

From: Borehamwood, Hertfordshire

 

Lives: Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire

 

Hobbies: Pole-dancing, playing Resident Evil, drawing, ceramics

 

Inspiration: Disturbed

 

 

 

 

Louise is only seventeen years old and is already very talented; she can draw, pole-dance, do ceramics, and, of course, play guitar. Some people even say she's the next Slash! When Louise has free time, she's studying for her A-Levels. She takes Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. Her secret is that she wants to become a Geneticist. Well. If her music career doesn't work out...

I talk to Louise Lavender about night life, stereotypes and the truth behind rock music.

Edited Photos

To edit my photos, I'm going to be using BeFunky photo editor which can be found online: https://www.befunky.com/create/. I have also used the iPhone app, Photo Lab.



Black and White

For me, I find that the black and white effect give the photos a sense of nostalgia. It produces the idea that this artist is on tour and yearns for home, hence the 'far away' facial expressions in some of the photographs. Also, the use of monochrome represents the rock genre perfectly, as it suggests that it history

In the style of 'The Scream'

 

 

 

 

Unedited Photos

 Here is a selection of my favourite photos from the photo shoot my friends and I did over half-term. They are yet to be edited, but already they perfectly portray the rock genre.

 

Classic Pop magazine

 

Function
The magazine's function is to keep the genre of classic pop music from the 80s alive. The advertisements, unlike other magazines, aren't distracting as they fit in with the genre, therefore they are most likely useful to the reader.

Format

The colour scheme of the magazine is blue and yellow which are complementary colours therefore it is appealing to the readers eye and stands out to potential buyers. The colour yellow is attention grabbing and in contrast with blue, which has a soothing affect, the combination is pleasing to the eye.

 

Frame

The magazine has a consistent frame, the margins are generally the same size but vary in the more main articles. It consists of the normal conventions of a magazine. There is quite a lot of white space which is effective as it balances out the colours and images.

Formula

The magazine gives the reader plenty of album suggestions and concert dates which is useful for avid music consumers. There are lots of interviews with artists which allows the reader to look into the life of their favourite artists.

 
Target Audience

The target audience for the magazine consists mainly of middle aged people from the 80s who remember the music from that time. Also, it is targeted at younger 80s music fans; this younger generation would come under the penumbra effect. It is a mainly male orientated magazine. The demographic for the magazine would be ABC1 as the price is £6 - only employed people would want to pay this price.

 
Ideology

Although the magazine is mainly based on 80s music, the magazine isn't completely rooted in the past as it includes artists like Sophie Ellis-Bextor - this means that younger people might be more inclined to buy it. When looking at the magazine, I genuinely thought it was a copy from the 80s. However, when I started to read an article about David Bowie, it named him a 'late star', which brought me back to reality.

Mode of Address
Overall, the retro effect to the magazine gives the reader a sense of 'being in the past', it is as if the reader is reading a magazine from the 80s. Most of the images are made to look dated and passé.

Design
The masthead is bold and attention grabbing, it is easy to recognise.

 

Exploration of Colour schemes

NRS Readership

 

How is this data useful to you in creating a music magazine?

These estimates are useful when creating a music magazine because they give the publisher an idea on who the target audience is. However, it is not entirely reliable as it doesn't have very clear age groups, unlike the advertising packs that we have looked at -  for example, we have '15-34' and we have '35+'. In my opinion, I think there should be an age group for every ten years e.g. 16-25, 26-35, 36-45. This makes it easier for the publisher to consider what the target audience actually wants.

 

What more would you like to know?

I would like to know more about the reasoning behind why males buy more magazines than females. As a female, I find it very puzzling as music is what I live for. I feel like magazines can be quite sexist. I would also like to know more about the specific ideas that publishing companies put into their magazines when thinking about their target audience. What I can't understand is why Mojo magazine has the least buyers - it's the best magazine on that list! A CD is included with the magazine, surely that should attract lots of music fans. Maybe, the problem is that the magazine is too expensive?



Action Plan for my Music Magazine

• Organise talent - a time, place and location. I will blog the vision I have for the photo-shoot. It will be based at Wicksteed Park and The Yards in Kettering. I need to think about background, costuming and facial expressions of the models.

• I will not create my magazine on Microsoft Word which I did for my Preliminary Task - maybe on Publisher, or an editing program online?

• I want my magazine to look unique and creative - however, I want it to appear consistent and professional. It mustn't look 'basic'.

• I will locate a music magazine online that I'm inspired by, and I'll use that as a frame during practice.

• My magazine will be colourful and decorated, but in a way that makes it recognisable as a Rock/Indie rock magazine.

• Visit font websites and select fonts right for my genre. Visit dafont.co.uk. This will ensure that my magazine has variety.

• The photos will be of a variety - I won't include images from just one photo-shoot.

• I need to consider what I'm going to title my magazine - will it be a one-worded masthead? Will it be a reference to Indie Rock Music? Will it be of a sentimental meaning to myself?

My Ideal Reader

Pictured above is a sketch of what I would imagine my ideal reader to look like; preferably with brightly coloured hair, a plaid shirt on top of a plain or band t-shirt. They would also wear black skinny jeans or 'mom' jeans (pictured) with a pair of Doc Martens, Converse or Vans. They may even accessorise their outfit with dark makeup, chokers and chunky grunge-style rings.

If I had to describe my ideal reader using five words, I would say that he or she would be assertive, eccentric, quarrelsome, edgy, and mysterious. I decided on 'quarrelsome' because my ideal reader will be very stubborn and they will know about music, and therefore they will be very argumentative about the subject. This brings in the quality of assertiveness.

 My ideal reader's motto would be "Some people believe in God, I believe in music. Some people pray, I turn up the radio." This is taken from what a fan said in 30 Seconds To Mars' music video for Closer To The Edge.

 On Friday nights, my ideal reader would possibly go to gigs to watch really obscure bands play live or would stay in with their friends and listen to really old school bands like Nirvana and Pixies, and have really deep conversations about the lyrics in songs. They would question whether or not Blink-182's Adam's Song is a reply to Nirvana's Come As You Are.

 

Their favourite record would be Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chilli Peppers after their mum introduced it to them, and their favourite album would be Doolittle by Pixies as it reminds them of road trips with their aunt. However, occasionally, to jazz up their life a bit, they'll love a bit of Amy Winehouse and listen to Valerie.

The reason why my ideal reader would buy my magazine is because it involves the rock/indie rock genre - it will include reviews of bands, 'Top 10' lists and will suggest new and upcoming bands. It may even include exclusive posters or a CD.

My ABC1 demographic would be C2DE. My target audience is aimed at people between the age of 16-25, therefore this demographic is affective as it involves people who are unemployed (students) and semi-skilled workers.

The Penumbra Effect

Penumbra is formed from the Latin word paene which means "almost" + umbra which means "shadow".

Therefore, the Penumbra Effect describes "peripheral or indeterminate groups" that are not included in the Target Audience.

Throughout the Decades

1930s

 

 

1940s

1950s

 1960s

 

In the 1960s, we begin to see a sense of individuality to each magazine cover. On the left, we have a striking image of a young Barbara Streisand which conveys perfectly the fashion of the 1960s. It is a very minimalistic design, which we usually expect to be quite modern. On the right, we have a Rolling Stone magazine cover which features John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the nude.

 

 

1970s

In the 1970s, punk rock music developed in the US. UK, and Australia which is portrayed on the magazine cover on the left. On the right, we see an issue of Time magazine - this is a typical magazine of the 1970s as it conveys the androgynous hippie look and use of bright bold colours. There is a sense of hypnosis to the cover which suggests that it was influenced by the psychedelic culture, which emerged in the late 1960s.

    1980s

 

On the right, Annie Lennox of Eurythmics is featured.  In the 1980s, apparel and makeup tended to be very bright and vivid in appearance hence Annie's brightly coloured hair and the block colours used on the magazine cover. Also, on the front cover of Interview magazine, Cyndi Lauper is featured. She was one of the most influential artists of the 1980s. Her song "Time After Time" has been covered by over 100 artists and was ranked at #22 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years and at #19 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s. Lauper' individuality and distinctive idiosyncratic appearance  is expressed in this front cover as there are a lot of pastel colours. The image used of Cyndi as well is made to look like an illustration which suggests that Cyndi was thought very highly of by many people in this decade.

 

1990s

 

Again, here we see the recurring idea that Rolling Stone have appeared to have grown accustomed to: to use nudity to sell their magazines. They have featured the funk rock band Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Sassy magazine conveys the popularity of grunge (in both fashion and music) as it features Kurt Cobain, the frontman of the 1990s grunge band, Nirvana. Each of these artists were very prominent in the 1990s.

 

 

 

 

2000s

 



The Noughties saw the increased popularity of Hip Hop music as it merged with mainstream pop. Drake - who is featured on the cover of Vibe - initially gained recognition as an actor on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation in the early 2000s. Also,  Hip-hop fashion generally was the most popular among young people of both sexes during this decade.

 

2010s

 

It is clear that this decade doesn't have a distinctive magazine style. We see throwbacks, recurring patterns and a classic black and white image. Again, Rolling Stone have included an image of a naked person on their front cover. With Wired, it's very minimalistic and there's a use of bold and bright colours which is a throwback to the 1960s and 1980s. Also, with Interview, there is again a sense of individuality, because it features an image of Katy Perry unlike any way we've seen her before. It's classic, but also has a modern twist to it because of the use of pink.