Forms and Conventions

Addressing my Audience

I aimed my magazine at a serious music listener, therefore I kept the overall magazine to a minimum. Minimal colours, fonts and layout compliment the pictures and text without being distracting. I also think that my reader would be quite a minimal person in themselves as a person (for instance their clothing) , preferring a sleeker, more basic look to a magazine. I chose to use red, black and white for my colour scheme. Black and white are basic colours that are used by almost all magazines, and I decided to add a pop of colour so that the magazine wasn’t entirely monochrome. The lack of colouring throughout makes the main elements stand out to the reader. The use of opposite colours creates a sense of drama and importance, and the use of such a dark red creates regality and sophistication, making the magazine feel more upmarket and expensive. I used four different fonts, which is usually the maximum used so as not to create clutter and make it look unprofessional, and the ones that I used are all plain and easy to read. I direct mode of address that the model gives creates a link to the reader, making them feel as if she is looking at you.

Completed Double Page Spread

Institutions

After researching many publishing companies, I decided that the company that I would like to produce and distribute my magazine would be Bauer. Bauer publishes Q, Kerrang! and MOJO, which are all purely music based magazines like mine and these three are three of the biggest selling publications in the UK. A large company publishing my magazine means that it is more likely to reach a wider target audience, as distributers such as WHSmiths and supermarket chains would be more likely to sell it as Bauer is a trustworthy and popular name. There are benefits of independent publishing, for example Clash magazine. Clash is the only magazine published by Clash Magazine Ltd, and is surprisingly more successful than NME which is published by media giant IPC, but this is only one magazine that may have just gotten lucky, and I would not want to take the risk of my magazine failing due to not enough revenue. 

Making it a free magazine was also an option, but relying on advertising revenue is risky as companies may not buy into it as it's not reaching a wide enough audience, so to the companies it would just be a waste of money. 

Digital distribution of my magazine would be madeavailable, as the rise in different technology platforms continues to rise, and within recent years sales of print editions of magazines have fallen dramatically. For instance, NME's digital edition consumers rose by 6.3% last year, whilst it's print sales were down a whopping 23%. Other publications that have had print sales decrease is Kerrang!, down 13% year on year, and Metal Hammer, down 11.3% year on year. This information shows that it is important to convert to other media platforms as many of the failing print magazines have, and many of them have sister companies such as Kerrang! Radio, Kerrang! TV and The NME Awards. There are emerging many new ways to bring in revenue, from advertisers to awards. 

Skills Development

These two pictures are my first attempt at creating a college magazine, and my music magazine final product.

My college magazine was created when I had minimal editing skills, therefore it looks extremely basic and amateur. The cover photo is blurry and was taken in very bad lighting, as I used a basic digital camera and the models were shot in a natural environment, therefore the lighting was not positioned or aimed at any particular areas. No proper consideration was taken regarding equipment, location, lighting and costume, therefore the picture is low quality, blurry and badly shot, and no image editing was made. 

I used only one font throughout the entire cover, making it look boring and plain, and the coverline texts are only positioned in the bottom left corner of the magazine, leaving a lot of space and making the cover look odd and not in proportion. There are also not enough coverlines. 

After creating the college magazine my editing skills improved considerably, as demonstrated when creating my music magazine. 

My cover photo was shot in a studio with a professional photography camera, resulting in a much sharper, clearer shot of the model. Studio lighting was also used, therefore I could aim the lights wherever I wanted, to emphasise different parts of the shot and give an overall professional look to the picture. A lot of thought and consideration went into the costume, background and props that I used in the shot. I chose for these elements to all be black so as not to retract the attention away from the models face and keep her as the main focal point. The positioning of the model was also considered, and I chose to shoot her in an artsy, professional looking way, to add to the sophistication of my magazine. I kept the magazine quite minimalist, by creating a colour scheme (a convention often used by magazines to enforce a brand identity) of red, white and black, and by using a selection of only four fonts (as is the maximum amount conventionally used by popular magazines) so as not to make it appear too cluttered and busy. My magazine is aimed at a serious music listener, therefore the primary reason for them buying the magazine would be to read about music, so I tried to keep everything basic and to the point. As my college magazine contained very little text, I added quite a few coverlines and dispersed them equally over the front cover. I followed popular conventions and kept most of the text to the left side, as this is usually the part of the magazine that is visible to the consumer when placed on a shelf to be sold. 

I believe that my music magazine contains enough text without looking amateur and cluttered, and strikes the right balance of minimalistic without looking completely bare. 

Before and After Products

Technologies that I used

I used a camera and a tripod to take all of the pictures that are featured in my magazine, and I used Photoshop to edit them. I have used Photoshop before so I was comfortable using this platform. I used some platforms that I have never used before, which were Flipsnack and Prezi. Overall I did not enjoy using these as I found them complicated and hard to get to grips with at the start when I first began using them, but I like the overall idea as a way of uniquely presenting work.

Target Audience

Representation of my Readership

My target audience is young adults of both genders between the ages of about 15/16 to early twenties. My magazine is purely about music, so it would be aimed towards a serious music listener. My magazine is quite minimal throughout. I chose simple basic colours so as not to take the reader’s attention away from the pictures and text. There’s nothing too distracting, for instance no bright neon colours, as I have aimed this magazine towards and older, sophisticated audience. I believe I have followed the conventions of this genre of magazine, keeping the layout and colours minimal so that the important parts like pictures and text dominate. I also kept the models outfit and props minimal for the same reason. I think the look of my magazine is quite pleasing to the eye, as the colours all complement each other, the layout is very simple and it’s not too busy. I used the same 4 fonts throughout the magazine so as not to make it look too cluttered and complicated.

Completed Contents Page

Completed Front Cover

Contents Page, Double Page Spread and Front Cover Drafts

Advertisers, Colours, Fonts and Target Audience Mood Boards

Contact Sheets

Location, Props/Costume and Model

Location I chose to shoot my model in a studio as it has a simple background therefore all the attention would be upon the model and her props. This also gives a professional look to my photographs. Props/Costume I used an amp and a bass guitar as props as I chose to represent my model as the bassist for a band. Her clothing matches the colour of the backdrop and the props; therefore the most eye-catching part of the photographs is her face. I particularly like the picture I used in the double page spread as her face and hands are extremely prominent against the black. Model I used one model throughout, as she is the main cover line of the magazine and then later on the interviewee.

Initial Ideas Statement

The kind of magazine I am going to create is a popular culture magazine, predominantly focusing on music. I am going to cover current affairs, and my target audience is teenagers from about 15/16 to late twenties. I feel it would appeal to this age range as current affairs, celebrity news and new music.

Rolling Stone Magazine Case Study

Music Magazine Questionnaire

Q Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Guitar World Front Cover Analysis

Construction Schedule

October - Started creating the magazine project
November - Took photographs, edited the photos and began incorporating them into the magazine
December - Began creating front cover
January - Began creating contents page and feature article
February - Finished the magazine

Overview of the Magazine Industry