Target Audience For My Music Magazine

The target audience for my classic pop/rock music magazine will be young people (from the age of 16-25) who take an interest in retro artists or bands. Due to the nature of the magazine, my target audience will be that of a niche audience, rather than a wide target audience that would be envisioned for chart music magazines such as 'Q'. However, i feel that aiming my magazine at a niche audience could work to my advantage due to the fact that the bands/artists featured would not appear in many currently available music magazines (apart from MOJO) and so i would be offering something unique to the market. For instance, bands such as 'Queen' or 'The Beatles' would not be found in current music magazines e.g. 'NME', 'Q', or 'Kerrang!', so people may be more interested in a new magazine that features the work of more classic artists.
In my opinion, i do not feel that classic pop/rock artists are celebrated even nearly enough in the current music world. This is the reason as to why i have chosen to create a music magazine entirely centered around these forgotten stars- in order to bring them back into the public eye, and in some sense to educate people about the music of past decades.
In order to make my magazine appeal to my target audience, i will have to consider many factors such as colour schemes, font and layout of the front cover. In terms of colour schemes, i have chosen to diffuse the main photograph using a filter so as to create a retro-feel to the cover, but then produce a quirky masthead in contrasting colours to grab the attention of potential readers when on a shop shelf. It is important to still make use of bright colours on my magazine due to the fact that i have a young target audience, but i would also like to base the images used both on the cover and inside my magazine on retro pin-ups (e.g. black+white photographs, use of vintage props such as 1940s/50s chrome standing microphones).
The layout of the front cover will not include countless coverlines and puffs/plugs as i feel that this can be quite intimidating. Instead, my cover will feature one main coverline (focused around the cover model) and only a maximum of four other coverlines. This is due to the fact that i want my magazine to focus solely on the readers' appreciation of the music itself rather than rely on lots of puffs and plugs to sell itself to a wider audience.
To ensure that interest in my magazine is maintained, i may include a free album or single in every other issue (every two months). In some cases, people buy magazines purely for the free gifts, and so if a new reader bought the magazine for the CD, they may find that they enjoy classic pop and rock music and could potentially become a regular reader.  The freebie will obviously be centered around the band or artist that is featuring on the cover at the time, and so will allow the reader to get a feel of their music as they read about them.
For such a specific niche audience, i will have to concentrate on very carefully selecting a main band or artist to feature on the front cover- one that will be easily recognisable so that people are instantaneously intrigued and therefore want to purchase the magazine to read more. An example would be 'The Beatles' to feature as the main photograph and coverline as they are an iconic band that are widely appreciated. I could then add coverlines about other artists that were maybe not quite as famous as 'The Beatles' were, almost to act as a supplement to the main feature.  



     

Research And Planning For Music Magazine- Annotated Mojo Cover

This front cover of Mojo music magazine has made good use of the masthead and tag line of "The Music Machine"; allowing it to fill almost a third of the front page. This allows the masthead to instantly grab the attention of the reader when it is on the shelf- the title of the magazine is the very first thing that you see.
Also, the colour scheme of the entire front cover has been desaturated with a filter; giving it a 'vintage' quality which is seemingly very appropriate for the subject of the magazine (it focuses on music from past decades rather than the present). This desaturation also allows the magazine to become unique from other music magazines being sold, and so stands out as being 'different' from the run-of-the-mill music chart magazines- therefore intriguing a wider audience.
Very little text features on the front cover due to the fact that it is largely centered around the main coverline and photograph of "The Smiths". This shows that the magazine is not trying too hard to grab the attention of an extremely diverse audience with puffs and plugs littering the cover; it is instead focusing on a niche audience that are guaranteed to pick up the magazine if they see the feature band or artist.
There is a distinct colour scheme of pink and white when it comes to the text on the front cover, which allows the audience to distinguish coverlines easily. The pink and white also contrasts well with the filtered background photograph- allowing the reader to pick out key information from the coverlines.
Extra features on the front cover include a barcode, but the layout is generally kept quite simple which gives an almost stylish feel to the magazine as a whole.
One main font is used on the front cover for both the masthead and the coverlines so as ensure an air of consistency across the page. This is done to establish an ordered layout and makes it easier for the reader to take in.
For my music magazine, i would like to take inspiration from this Mojo cover due to the fact that i would like to create a stylised magazine, intended for a niche audience- one that focuses on music from different decades rather than the up-to-date chart music that is seen in the vast majority of music magazines available.

Research And Planning For Music Magazine

To begin, i will carry out five research tasks in order to establish my ideas for my music magazine, including the target audience and the product itself. These research tasks include:

• An annotated example of a music magazine front cover 
• A prezi detailing the conventions of music magazines
• Web-based research into my intended target audience and the genre of music magazine that i want to create
• A questionnaire aimed at a potential target reader detailing what they would like to see included in my magazine
• A written report about my target audience, specifying their needs and wants in terms of a music magazine

I will also create a proposal and flat-plans for my magazine front cover and contents page. 

Student Magazine Front Cover And Contents Page

Flatplans For Student Magazine Front Cover And Contents Page

Preliminary Task:Brief.. Proposal

My magazine will be aimed at a target audience of students that attend Southdowns College. Therefore, the age of my audience will rage from a minimum of 16 to a maximum of 18 years. Due to this, the magazine will have to be tapered to suit teenagers and their interests.

The magazine will be about general college life, and how to manage things such as workload, as well as music and fashion columns. Also, I feel that it is important to include FAQ’s for students that are new to the college, as it can be quite a daunting experience at first. It could be useful to have information about bus timetables and events that are happening throughout each month in college, as this would help students to organise themselves, and get involved within the college community. Another element that I feel is important within a college magazine is information on University fees and other financial issues (e.g. the price of driving lessons, and a list of shops that give student discount) that will directly affect most students. Finally, a ‘job page’ at the back of the magazine would prove extremely beneficial to students, as it is becoming increasingly difficult for teenagers to find jobs. Therefore, a page that shows a variety of jobs available in the area would be a very worthwhile aspect of the magazine.  The student magazine will be released at the beginning of every month.

 Some of my ideas for cover lines include the latest news on University fees and ‘cheap ways to learn how to drive’. This would grab the attention of students as money is a great issue for most 16-18 year olds, and they will jump at the chance of special deals or discount- especially on something as crucial as driving lessons. Additional cover lines that could be used are focused upon monthly events within college (e.g. a fashion show put on by students) and special deals for students in shops (e.g. 25% off in New Look- buy your winter wardrobe for less!).

I have decided upon the title of “ Student Life” as I feel it is simple but self-explanatory, and sufficiently conveys the soul focus of the magazine. I was also thinking of titles such as “Students Of Southdowns” and “ The Student Mag” but felt that they were not quite as catchy and diverse as “Student Life”.

Fonts that I intend to use are :

Papyrus bold (maybe for the masthead)

Courier (for the text within the magazine)

In reference to the tag lines that will be included on the front cover, or attached to the masthead, I was thinking of “Student Life-…live college”. This would give an air of reassurance and support to the magazine, and would make the reader (students) feel as if they had a guide to college life.

In terms of the time of year that the magazine will be published, i feel it would be useful to have a monthly issue rather than just one issue released every term. This is due to the fact that students would be more inclined to read a short magazine rather than a huge booklet with every piece of information possible included within it. My magazine will only include information that is relevant and necessary to students throughout each month, so as to avoid ‘information overload’.

Images that I intend to include on the front page are focused around the students themselves. For example, I plan to have a photograph (edited using Photoshop) of either one or two students, looking very happy to be in college. This will send out a positive message to students that read the magazine- especially those who have only just joined Southdowns College and are maybe still a little tentative about the ways of college life.

The dimensions of the cover will be A4 due to the fact that this is of a reasonable size, and would easily be able to fit in most students’ bags (if the magazine was too large, then students would be less inclined to pick it up as they would have to carry it around in their hand rather than in their bag).

On the contents page, I will use the ‘Southdowns colours’ (blue and green) so as to follow the theme of the college logo (which will also feature on the cover). The masthead will be in a darker colour than the background – maybe a dark blue- so as to make it stand out and grab the attention of the reader.  Images included on the front page (apart from the main photograph) will be a barcode and the Southdowns logo, as these will enable the magazine to look more official. 

Here, we chose to locate our models on a spiralling staircase so as to give the photograph more of a dynamic. Also, we took the photo from above, making it a high-angle shot.

 Here, me and Saskia decided to make use of a white background so as to make the model stand out. We chose to position the model in the middle of the photograph so that the focus point would become his eyes. This is a mid-shot, and is taken straight-on.

This photograph was a high angle shot. Its was also a close up shot, which makes the facial features stand out more and makes the point of focus the top section of the face.

Essay- "To What Extent Should Magazines Be Held Responsible For The Social Ramifications Of The Representations They Offer?"

Focusing upon magazines with a target audience of teenage girls, it is evident that the girls that read these magazines have the topics of boys and make-up almost forced upon them. Because of this, it could be said that teenage girls are growing up too fast, and feel as if they have to conform to the stereotypes seen in the magazines that they buy. The fact that the celebrities on the glossy covers of these teen mags are airbrushed to perfection does not give out a positive incentive to young girls as it suggests that everyone should have flawless skin and super-toned bodies (which in reality, of course, is not the case).

Another issue to address is the way in which boys are portrayed within these magazines. Advice is frequently given out and advertised on the covers of teen girl magazines concerning how to 'deal with' boys. This does not send out a good message due to the fact that it implies that boys cause problems, which could affect attitudes and communication between teenagers of both genders.
Although teen magazines do claim to answer crucial questions for teenage girls, they do present problems when they mention somewhat 'sexually explicit' content. Bearing in mind that these magazines are aimed at a target audience of girls aged from about 12-16, some of the content could be deemed as inappropriate.
For instance, on the cover of Sugar, one coverline reads "Sweet Sixteen Shock 'They groped my friends and stole my presents'" which could prove to be all too graphic for a twelve year old. Such subject matters are not in any way suitable for teen magazines as they can take away the innocence that teenage girls should have the right to hold onto before they enter the adult world.
Arguably the biggest issue with the social ramifications that teenage magazines portray is the fact that they are completely focused upon the exterior appearance of girls. This encouragement to worry about image is almost overwhelming when you look at the cover of a copy of perhaps Bliss or Sugar. Coverlines such as "Your hair but better- products for every problem" and "Body loving bikinis" present a very clear message that image is everything.

More and more stories are emerging in the headlines of newspapers and on TV concerning the young age at which girls are now subjected to the world of beauty e.g. Toddlers and Tiaras. Although this TV show addresses a much younger age group than that of the magazines, it does demonstrate potential results of sexualizing girls at a young age through pressure to conform to fashion and beauty trends.
In conclusion, I feel that teen magazine companies should consider limiting the amount of mildly explicit stories and beauty guidelines included within the copies, and should have all stories thoroughly reviewed before deciding to put them in the magazine. Furthermore, instead of these controversial features, more music and film reviews would be of interest to teenagers, and would not lead to any feelings of inadequacy. Therefore, if teenage magazines adjusted these elements, they would be far more appropriate and enjoyable for the target age group.  

Research For Essay "To What Extent Should Magazines Be Held Responsible For The Social Ramifications Of The Representations They Offer?"

 Research...

 All of these magazines aimed at teenage girls have large, bold mastheads. This is to grab the attention of teenagers when on supermarket or newsagent shelves. Also, many of them make use of a feminine colour scheme in both their mastheads and coverlines. Magazines such as 'Cosmo Girl', 'More', and 'Sugar' make use of the colour pink so as to appeal to their target audience of teenage girls.

A lot of the coverlines on these magazines are focused upon boys and beauty/fashion advice. This is due to the fact that teenage girls are perceived to prioritise these subjects over things like 'real life stories' which are found in older women's gossip magazines.

Another key feature of teenage girls' magazines is that they feature a celebrity model on the front cover.This celebrity is selected according to the fact that they are seen as an idol in the eyes of teenagers. For instance, Taylor Swift features on the cover of 'Cosmo Girl' as she is seen as an influential figure in the face of modern music, and is also somewhat of a style icon for young girls.

Puffs and plugs are used on most teen magazines due to the fact that teenagers are more likely to spend their money on magazines if they know they are going to get something out of their purchase. An example of this is on 'Teen Vogue' where it states the reader can "Win A Free Room Makeover" which will instantly make the reader consider buying the magazine.

In addition, the main coverlines are presented in brightly coloured text and are in an enlarged and bolder font than any of the other coverlines e.g. "SUNNY STYLE!", "Tulisa- I FEEL LIKE EVERYONE'S JUDGING ME".  This is so as to highlight the main feature of the magazine and to catch the eye of the reader.

IPC Media Case Study

The history of the company...

• it was formed in 1963, and IPC magazines was formed 5 years later.
• eight IPC titles that are still thriving today were launched in the late 1800s: Country Life, Horse & Hound, Shooting Times, Yachting World, Amateur Gardening, Cycling Weekly, Amateur Photographer and The Railway Magazine.
• The first of IPC's four traditional women's weeklies, Woman's Weekly, launched in November 1911.
• Homes & Gardens was one of the first magazines to be published after the First World War.
• Woman and Home came on the market in 1926.
• Woman's Own was launched in 1932, and Woman follwed 5 years later in 1937.
• NME was launched in 1952.
• TV Times was originally published by the ITV companies, but was aquired by IPC in 1989 in the run-up to the deregulation of the TV listings market.
• England's 1966 World Cup victory led to a new football weekly magazine being released in 1969 named Shoot!
• IPC was at the forefront of the pre-recorded video market with the formation of the IPC video division in 1976.
• IPC announced the formation of European Magazines Ltd., a joint venture company with Groupe Marie Claire to launch the UK edition of the international title in 1988.
• What's On TV came onto the market in 1961, and became the UK's best selling magazine.
• Loaded was launched in 1994, and Now in 1996.
•  IPC Magazines was renamed IPC Media in 2000.
• Pick Me Up was introduced in January 2005.
• In February 2007 IPC Connect launched Look – the UK’s first glossy high street fashion and celebrity style weekly magazine. In a joint venture with Groupe Marie Claire, and backed by an £18m investment, Look was IPC’s biggest ever launch.
• In January 2010, IPC Media restructured around three key audience groups: men, mass-market women and up-market women.

IPC's current portfolio of titles:

• 25 Beautiful Homes
• Amateur Photographer
• Beautiful Kitchens
• Chat- Its Fate
• Country Homes And Interiors
• Cycle Sport
• Cycling Weekly
• Essentials
• Eventing
• GoodToKnow
• Homes & Gardens
• Horse & Hound
• IBI
• InStyle
• Look
• Motor Boat & Yachting
• Mountain Bike Rider
• NME
• Nuts
• Practical Boat Owner
• Shooting Gazette
• ShootingUK
• Sporting Gun
• SuperYacht Business
• The Field
• TV and Satellite Week
• TV Times
• VolksWorld
• What Digital Camera
• Woman
• Woman's Own
• World Soccer
• Yachting World

Magazines and target audiences that IPC Media have been associated with over the years include:

• Music magazines e.g. NME- aimed at young people (generally speaking). 
• Fashion magazines e.g. Marie Claire, Look, InStyle- aimed at women from the age of about 15-30.
• Sports magazines e.g. World Soccer- aimed at men from the age of about 18-30.
• Women's magazines e.g. Now, Woman, Woman's Own- aimed at more middle aged women (maybe with an average age of 30).
• 'Lads mags' e.g. Nuts- aimed at young males. 
• Lifestyle magazines e.g. Beautiful Kitchens- aimed at home owners.
• TV magazines e.g. TV Times- aimed at a large audience, but mostly home owners as they would be the ones paying for the TV license within the house. 

IPC would be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine as it has been very successful in the publishing of NME (which has had a circulation of 48, 459 this year) and so would know how to execute the publishing of a brand new music magazine on the market. 

If IPC were to publish a new music magazine, they would be likely to focus upon rock music due to the fact that they have had previous experience in this field with NME, and would therefore have more knowledge about this genre of music as opposed to (for example) classical. Also, they do not sell any other music magazines and so they have only had experience in producing NME; indicating that they would not be inclined to publish any other form of music magazine. 

Alternative publishers such as Bauer may be appropriate due to the fact that they have published lots of different music magazines, with diverse genres and target audiences. Therefore, they would be more inclined to produce a new magazine with any required genre rather than one that is purely focused upon rock music (which would be expected of NME). 

500 Word Analysis Of Vogue Front Cover

The magazine Vogue is aimed at a target audience of young women  (perhaps 18-30 year olds) who take a keen interest in fashion. However, it could be said that Vogue appeals to a wider audience as it solely depends on the extent of an individual’s interest in the world of fashion rather than their age, and also what stories are being covered in each issue. For instance, in this particular issue, the main feature is focused upon Emma Watson and her “Life After Harry Potter” which would naturally attract a slightly younger audience than, say, a story on Kate Winslet. To further enhance the variety of the magazine’s audience, this copy also includes a feature on “Reversing The Body’s Signs Of Aging” which would appeal to a somewhat older reader.

The fact that the price of a copy of Vogue is £4.10 (which is relatively expensive compared to something like Look or More) implies a certain class of people are likely to read it, as some may not be able to afford to pay out £4.10 on a magazine.  This defines the target audience a little more, as although the coverlines may appeal to a wide audience, the price may restrict the purchase of Vogue to a reader of a slightly higher class.

The cover of this issue of Vogue has attempted to appeal to a target audience of young women through the colour scheme of pinks and deep plum shades which are seen as ‘girly’ colours. Furthermore, popular music artists’ names are featured in some of the coverlines e.g. “J.LO, Beyoncé, Rihanna” which will instantly draw the attention of young women as they are familiar with these celebrities and take an interest in stories involving them.

On this cover, many conventions of cover design are evident.  The most key one, however, is the masthead which is, in itself, the most iconic element of the magazine. The lettering of “VOGUE” stretches right across the three thirds of the front cover, and immediately grabs the reader’s  attention due to the recognisable text and the bold colouring. Also, although it may not be seen as a plug in the direct sense of the word, the coverline reading “Reversing The Body’s Signs Of Aging” and phrases such as “must have” draw the reader in and allows the reader to believe that they will be getting something out of the magazine aside from the physical content. 

Other conventions of cover design that can be seen on the cover of Vogue include: the dateline (situated to the right-hand-side underneath the masthead), the main coverline (“Emma Watson, Life After Harry Potter”),  and capitalised and enlarged font so as to draw the eye to each individual coverline.

Finally, even though they cannot be seen on this particular image, a barcode and the price would exist on the front cover of Vogue in real life- usually with the barcode in the bottom hand corner and the price located in the top left hand corner next to the masthead.

Vogue Cover

Task2, Part1- Magazine Glossary

• Masthead- recognizable symbol or title of the magazine e.g. VOGUE. 
• Puff/Plug- a catch that is situated on the cover of the magazine so as to persuade you to buy it e.g. "free gym membership with every copy". 
• Coverlines- every piece of writing on the front cover, excepting the masthead. 
• Font- the type/style of text that is used. 
• Left Third- the left-most third of the front page that sometimes contains the masthead and coverlines.
• Centre Third- the middle third of the front page which, depending on the type of magazine, may contain the main model or coverline.  
• Right Third- the right third, when talking in terms of music magazines, typically contains the main model. 
• Barcode-usually situated in the bottom hand corner (either left or right)
• Dateline- the date is usually situated just above or to the side of the masthead.
• Image-typically, the front cover of a magazine will feature just one main image (usually of a celebrity featuring in one of the main stories).
• Price- most commonly found beneath the masthead. 
• Main Coverline- the coverline highlighting the main story.            
• Numbers- used to draw the eye to advertisements or cover lines. 
• Colour Scheme- used to imply a certain target audience e.g. pick for a women's magazine and blue  for a men's magazine. 
• Emboldened text- used to draw the readers eye to the front cover when it is, for example, sitting on a supermarket shelf.                                                     

How I Think Blogger Will Be Useful For My Coursework

I think blogger will prove useful to me when doing my coursework due to the act that it will provide me with a quick and easy way of displaying my work and receiving feedback on it without having to print out every piece. In addition, i feel that Blogger is a somewhat more advanced way of displaying work, so also shows more skill than simply handwriting or printing out coursework.
Blogger allows you to make changes to your posts even once you have created them, and so, in this respect, it is far more convenient when making changes or improving coursework based on feedback. Furthermore, the ability to view all of you previous posts on Blogger is extremely useful as it will enable me to visualize what the final piece of work will look like when each element comes together.

Things You Can Do With Blogger

• You can customise your own blog in order to make it unique to you.
• It is easy and free to publish your voice to your blog, meaning that you can post videos onto your blog.
• You are able to change fonts, bold or italicise your text, adjust text colour and alignment so as to make each blog completely your own.
• You can easily add photos and videos to your blog. 
• With Blogger, you can earn money just by posting high quality original content on your favourite topics. 
• It is easy for readers to leave comments or useful feedback on your posts.
• Readers can choose to subscribe to your blog's feeds.
• Blogger is currently available in 41 languages.
• You can post to your blog via your mobile phone.