Music magazine research

• Here are magazine covers by NME (New Musical Express), NME is a popular music publication in the UK and has been published weekly since March 1952, NME started as a music paper but gradually moved towards a magazine format in the 1980's. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart in the 14 November, 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music paper. Today NME.COM has 5 million users per month. In 2002 NME started publishing  series of themed magazines reprinting vintage articles, interviews and reviews from the NME archives. The NME special editions were called 'NME Originals', with some featuring articles from other music titles owned by IPC; who produces NME. Typical content of a NME magazine would be, music articles; articles on artists, interviews, reviews, offers, information on tours and gigs, photos, posters. The target audience for NME magazine are the younger generation; which is  65% male, 50% between the ages of 16-24, 23% within the ages of 25-34 and 79% ABC1. It is people who are interested in alternative and rock music. Sales of NME magazine has fallen 14.3% to 29,020 in the first half of 2011, showing that it is not as popular as it was in previous years and they are loosing money, NME have various types of media like the internet, radio etc, this means many people are choosing to not read the magazine and instead get the news using their other options, NME.com has over 5 million users per month, compared to nearly 30,000 for the magazine, it is a big difference and a massive fall for the magazine.

 This shows the different types of media NME produce.

Here is an interview with Florence and the Machine from her NME cover shoot.

This is Florence and The Machine at Glastonbury 2010 performing Dog Days Are Over.

Here are some magazine covers by Kerrang!, which is a UK based music magazine devoted to rock musicpublished by Bauer Media group. It was first published on June 6th 1981, as a one-off suplement in the Sounds newspaper, Kerrang! is named are the onomatopoeic word that comes from the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar. Kerrang! was initially devoted to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British  music newspaper. Since 1993. the magazine have been holding an annual awards cermony called Kerrang! Awards to mark the most successful music bands in the interests of their readers. The event is always presented by major music celebrities, with many others who are outside the industry attending the event.The target audience is 16-25 year olds and specific towards rock music and heavy metal fans. However in recent years, the age of the audience has dropped and it is more 14-17 year olds who tend to buy and read it due to its featured bands being more poppy. (Elliot Minor, We Are The Ocean, 30 Seconds To Mars etc). Kerrang!'s circulation figures rose 4.5% to 44,013, this is due to popularity and being globally known as the worlds best selling music magazine.

Here is a Kerrang! podcast with 30 Seconds to Mars

Here is 30 Seconds to Mars performing Closer to the Edge at Reading Festival 2011.

Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the UK. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs, which at the time were a new technology. Q was first published in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing.  In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called Cue; 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. Q magazines typical content is an extensive reviews section; which features new releases, reissues, music compilations, film and live concert reviews. Q also includes a list of 8 albums which they feel is the best new releases over the last 3 months. Q's current editor is Paul Rees who is the former editor of the UK edition of Kerrang!. Q is produced by Bauer Consumer Media. The target audience for Q magazine are the older generation such as people in their 30's and 40's who are looking for a different mode of address, more sophisticated and just want to know more about the music instead of gossip. Although the founders state that they want to appeal to all the older generation, it seems that Q magazine doesn't appeal to many woman of that age. Q's circulation figures fell by 6.9% this year, this could be because of the range of media Q uses to attract their audience, such as the TV channel and radio.

Here is an interview with Cheryl Cole and Q magazine

Here is Cheryl Cole performing Fight For This Live live at The X factor in 2009.

My magazine cover

Here is my magazine front cover, I am pleased with the outcome and I think it looks very professional and eye catching, and something I personally would want to read. I think this will attract the target audience which is obviously college students and I feel I have learnt a lot in the process of making this, I have learnt many new Photshop and InDesign skills, how to use a Mac and about the covnetions of a magazine.

Tagline for my front cover

I have decided to use this tagline on my front cover:

College life made easier...

I decided to use this because it adds the cover an extra something to make you want to pick it up, I chose the font 'Snell roundhand' because it looks very sophisticated so it doesn't look like a boring magazine, the font is blue to go with the college colours and I think this makes the reader feel better about reading the magazine as you know it will make college life easier.

Cover lines for my front cover

Here are the two cover lines I decided to use for my front cover:

Media Trip to... Hollywood!

and

Inset Day on Friday!

I chose these for my cover lines as I had already thought of them before hand and I thought they were fitting for my cover. I used the font called 'Celticmd' because it stands out and you can tell they're important information. I used green with a blue outline because they are the college colours so are suitable for my magazine but you can't really see the outline, I am pleased with this outcome and I think they make my magazine look edgy and professional. 

I was going to have the cover line 'More buses now available to get to college' but I decided to use it in a puff/plug instead as I think it makes the cover look more interesting and stand out and don't think it would attract the audience as well if it was a cover line.

This is my puff/plug, in the cover the writing is in the circle, I used green and blue again for the colours and the font is 'Lucida Calligraphy', I used this so it is different and simple so doesn't take attention away from the main cover lines.

I have used a light blue background for my front cover so the green and dark blue parts stand out more and because blue is a college colour, this makes the whole magazine stand out on a shelf and is a good asset.

I put the issue number and the date of release next to the barcode and price as that information are all relevant but shouldn't stand out that much except for the price so they should be together. I put the price as 20p as I think the magazine is worth some money but it is only a college magazine so shouldn't cost too much, and students with some spare change can easily buy it, the price is in yellow so it stands out more.

Masthead for my front cover

Here is the mast head I have chosen for my front cover:

LifeinCollege

I decided to use the font called 'Communication Digital' for my masthead, I think the font looks very modern and eye catching and I think makes a simple title like mine come to life. I used a dark blue colour for the main colour and a yellow colour on the outside but you cant see that here, blue is one of the colleges colours and also is a stereotypical boy colour and yellow makes it look more edgy and unique so I like this masthead.

Here is a masthead I was going to use:

LifeinCollege

I decided to not use this font as I thought it wasn't eye catching enough for a masthead and I thought the colour was too bright which is why I used a dark blue in my final masthead.

Photography for Magazine cover

I decided to use the photo of the boy reading the book for my magazine cover, I cropped him out the original photo and put him on a new image again, I did this because before, the cropping wasn't very good as it was just a draft, but now I wanted to crop the boy really well and I think I did an okay job.

First I opened the image up in Photoshop and cropped around the boy and the book using the magnetic lasso tool, I then copy and pasted it onto a new image so it was a white background, I then used the rubber tool to cover the bits I didn't crop very well. I then used the spot healing brush tool to cover the blemishes on the boys face. I then used the eyedropper tool to get the colour of the parts of the image I cropped too much of and made gaps to cover up the gaps, I then used the brush tool to do this. I then applied a diffuse glow filter to my image to make it look a bit more edgy. I think the hardest part to crop in my photo was the boys hair as it is curly and looks a bit messy and theres bits I cant get to because of the curls but I think it still professional and this is the first time I have done a proper cropped out photo with filters and the works and I am pleased with the outcome and hopefully it will look well with the rest of my magazine cover.

Here is the original version of my image.

Here is the edited version of my image.

Preliminary Task- Draft of magazine cover

This is my draft of my magazine cover. I took a photo at home of a boy smiling and reading a book with my digital camera, then I put the image on Photoshop and cropped around him with a magnetic lasso tool which took me a while to get the hang of, I then saved the cropped version as a JPEG and then placed it on InDesign and filled the image to the frame proportionally. I then created a title for my magazine and changed the colour and the colour surrounding the text to blue and yellow, blue because it is part of the college logo, and yellow as it is a bright color and will attract the readers eye, I changed the font to an eye catching an edgy font called 'Junior and Stinky' and it makes the cover look professional. I now know when I make the final version of my magazine cover, what type of picture and layout I will use, I may decide to use this image in my final product; I made the boy pose with a book so he looks like he's enjoying college life which is what I want on a cover of a college magazine.

Preliminary Task- Initial Ideas

My initial ideas for my magazine and front cover are:

I am going to have a image of a boy or girl covering most of the front cover, this is because images seem to attract peoples eyes more than text so a large image will be good for my magazine.

I am going to have information  about trips and important news such as when there is inset days and news about courses in my magazine as I feel this will attract more students to read the magazine as they will want to know this information.

I am going to have a bold and fairly big masthead on my front cover with an eye catching font to attract the target audience which is Southdowns College students so my magazine will catch their eye.

I am going to have a column on how to improve the magazine and college so the students will feel involved and I can help make the magazine and college the best it can be.

I am most likely going to have a tagline on my magazine cover so it makes the magazine look more sophisticated and interesting.

I am going to use professional and interesting fonts for my magazine to make the text look more interesting for the reader.

I am going to include news about travel in my magazine as I know this is an issue for many students and they would like to know there may be some improvement.

I am going to include a barcode on my magazine cover so students know that it is not a cheap free magazine and that it is worth the money.

I may include some quizzes and puzzles in my magazine so students have something to do on a break if they're bored, and this will encourage them to buy the magazine more often knowing that there is something to do in it other than read.

I may include text on the front cover explaining how good Southdowns College is or something along those lines, to make the reader feel they are at the right college and in a nice environment.

Preliminary Task- Proposal and Flat plan

Here is my proposal for my College magazine:

Who are you aiming your magazine at specifically? (there needs to be a clear sense that you are targeting a specific audience). I am aiming my magazine at college students as the magazine is going to be a college magazine, it will be for people at Southdowns College and not any other college so I can advertise offers and news within the college and keep it specific. My target audience will be both men and women, basically for every  student at Southdowns College.

What will your magazine be about? (what might the typical content be?). My magazine will be a general college magazine and the typical content in my magazine will be information that people in the college need to know, and extras. There will be information about trips; this is because college students would love to hear about good trips, clubs; this is because when students have spare time they would might like to join a club and plus they look good on applications for Universities,travel; this is because lots of students have trouble with travel including myself, so people would like to know that things can be improved or are improving, a column on how to improve the magazine and the college; this is because it will make the students feel involved and important and then I would know how to make the magazine the best it could be  and help to improve the college, news about courses, staffs emails and information on when there are days off; this is because this news is pretty much essential in a college magazine and it would definitely make students want to read it as the news is important, directions on how to get around the college; this is because for people who are new to the college they would find it difficult  to find there way round so this would really help,college sports news; this is so everyone can keep updated and support their college, quizzes and puzzles; this is because it will give students something to do when they are on a break and bored, and finally music reviews; this is because more people can relate to the magazine if it has bands and artists they like included within the magazine and more people will want to read it.

What are your ideas for cover lines? An idea for a cover line is advertising a new trip like “Media trip to Hollywood!”, I decided to come up with this idea as if it was me; being a college student, seeing that cover line I would definitely want to find out more information, most students would want to go on a good trip so having it as a cover line will attract a lot of readers. I was also thinking of advertising when there was a day off maybe saying “Inset day Friday!”, I decided to come up with this idea as it is information every college student needs to know and information they would want to know so they would be more likely to pick up the magazine.

What title have you decided on and why? (you could also include examples of titles you have rejected and explain why). The title I have decided on for my magazine is “LifeinCollege”, I chose this name because you know what the magazine is going to be about, it's not too long that you don't have the effort to read it, and the fact there is no gaps between the words give the name an edge and makes it look more interesting than just “Life in College”. I did have some other ideas, “Cnews!”, “College Life” and “The College Mag”, I decided to not go with any of these ideas as I felt they were a bit plain and didn't suit the contents in my magazine as much as my chosen name.

What fonts do you want to use? (you could include examples and if you have got as far as thinking of ideas for the design of the masthead you could include these too). I want to use the fonts from the mac computers so I don't know any of the names, but I want to use a big and bold and professional font for the masthead and I want to use a soft font which is sophisticated with a bit of edge for the text to make the text more inviting to read. I want to use Serif fonts and sans serif fonts as I prefer to use them and it gives me more variety.

What are your ideas for taglines? (if you want to use one)?. I have one idea for a tagline, “College life made easier” I think this is quite a good tagline as it makes students feel reassured and  will make them want to read the magazine. I think taglines are good to add a last minute message to make the target audience want to read the magazine which is why I decided to use one. I had another idea for a tagline “Everything you need to know about College life”, I felt this was too long so that is why I chose the tagline “College life made easier”.

When in the year will it be published? (cover can reflect season changed or events, consider the academic year). My magazine will be published in September to welcome the new academic year, I think this is the best time to publish a college magazine especially for the new students just starting at college, they will need a guide to help them and that is why I have chosen to publish it as soon as they start college.

What kind of image do you expect to put on the front cover and how will you go about getting the image?. I am going to put an image of a college boy reading a book, I am going to take the image myself using my digital camera, I am going to use a plain background so the image is not confusing, and I have decided to use a boy as I am able to to take a picture of a boy easier than a girl, and I personally feel boys are going to want to read it more if there is a boy on the front cover as would girls, but if it was the other way round I don't think it would have the same effect.

How frequently would it be published? My magazine would be published every week so the latest information is always at hand, and so students would trust the magazine as it is frequently published.

What are the dimensions of the cover (magazines are now available in different size formats)? My magazine would be in A5 so that it can fit in students bags, and if it is a slow news week, it will still look busy as the magazine isn't that big in size. Students are more likely to pick up something that they can put in their bag and read when they're on a break instead of something that is a burden to carry.

What images/colour would you use on the contents page? I would use colours that go with the college and college logo, so in my case it is green, blue and white, this is so students will know it is a Southdowns College magazine. I would use images that suit the layout of the magazine and suit the text, for example, “Today is Comic Relief”, so I would use red colours and images to do with Comic Relief.                                      

Here is my flat plan:

IPC Media Research

Today I researched into one of the 9 biggest publishing houses called IPC Media, I recorded my information into word and then copy and pasted that onto InDesign.

I made this research page a double page and then made 4 columns and put my text into the columns to look professional, I then created a title and changed the font and colour and surrounding colour of the title and put a colour on the background of the title so the title stands out. I then found an image of a magazine front cover on the internet and placed a circle on my page and placed the image in the circle and filled the frame proportionally.

What types of magazine and target audiences has IPC been associated with over the years? Some of the magazines that IPC has been associated with are Country life, What's on TV, Rugby World, Nuts and NME. Being associated with these magazines shows that the target audiences are both men and women, typical men would read magazines like Nuts and Rugby World and typical women would read magazines like What's on TV and Country Life, where as NME is for both men and women.

Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine? IPC would be appropriate for publishing a new magazine because there target audience is both men and women so they can include all types of music to attract the target audience. They publish magazines from Sports magazine to Fashion and home design to gossip therefore attracting a wide audience so IPC is the best for publishing new material.

What sorts of genres of music/types of magazines might they be likely to publish? The type of music magazine IPC would be most likely to publish could vary between rock and RnB. This is because NME is leaning towards rock and men and attracting a specific audience, whereas gossip magazines like Now and Look magazines are leaning towards RnB lovers and women and targeting that specific audience as they are gossip magazines and they have information on celebrities such as Rihanna and Beyonce therefore IPC can publish various genres of music magazines.

Why might alternative publishers like Bauer be appropriate?  Bauer would be appropriate for publishing new music magazines because Bauer is well known for the wide variety of radio channels and young modern magazines therefore targeting at a younger audience. They show different types of media that are aimed at the younger generation therefore Bauer will be able to attract the younger audience and get the new material known quickly. They can publish many new material and with the younger generation being how they are the magazines will become popular quick.

This is my IPC media research:

Experimenting with Photoshop and cropping and title

I added a title onto my page in InDesign by creating a text box and changing the font and size, I then went onto swatches and changed the colour of the title and the colour outside the title, I then experimented with adding shadows to my title.

Experimenting with Photoshop and cropping

Here is an InDesign page I have created with photos I have cropped in Photoshop and placed into InDesign in various shapes, I think this will help to make my work more realistic.

To create this I took some photos of the college and put the memory card into the Mac and saved them onto my account, I then uploaded one onto Photoshop and cropped it to how I liked it and then saved it, I then went onto InDesign and created a square to upload the photo onto and then did so, I then had to fit the photo to the square so nothing was missing, I repeated this method, each time changing the shape of the photo, like a rectangle or circle, I then exported the file in InDesign so it was saved as a JPEG so I could upload it onto my blog, learning this skill will help me a lot in creating itneresting and more realitic work.

Essay and research

This genre of magazines which is teenage girls seems to have some clear conventions:

The colours stand out and compliment each other and seem to be girly colours like pink, there is a reduced palette so the colours almost become the signature colours for that issue.

The body language seems to be inviting and friendly. The model is stereotypically a girl who looks her best and is the biggest thing on the cover, the facial expression conveys an emotion that is nice and happy and don't tend to be sad.

The model can give a direct message so the eyes are following you all the time which is a good effect and helps connect with the audience. 

The models are wearing informal, casual clothes and the magazine is promoting fashion and clothes which will attract a lot of girls, the fashion is affordable not ridiculous making it more relatable to the audience and giving the magazine a good repuatation.

There is an interesting story or intriguing story on the front cover to attract the audience e.g. from Cosmo Girl “I saved my drunk friends life”, this is a positive story and will make the audience want to read it.

There is a good and clever use of language, e.g. from Cosmo Girl “Fashion Freebies” which is alliteration, there is rhythm e.g. from Seventeen magazine “Fashion tips and beauty tricks” and from Bliss “Passion for Fashion”; this makes the magazine look and feel professional when the audience reads it.

The font is quite casual and the colour is normally a girly colour to match everything else and attracts a female audience and use slang to relate to the audience.

The tone of the magazine is fun and carefree, but does have some serious elements which is a good mix in creating an effective and successful magazine.

The magazine normally has something to do with relationships and school so more teenage girls can relate to the magazine.

Here are the magazine covers I looked at to help with my research:

Essay- To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

Magazine covers can give out plenty of different messages, it depends on who we are and how we interpret it, if you are a teenage girl reading a magazine like Cosmo Girl, you are going to feel pretty down about yourself seeing a beautiful girl on the front cover and it might make girls think they need to look that good, the girl is always skinny or slim which can promote the wrong message that people should be that size and lead to unnecessary dieting and a unhealthy life style. That brings me onto my next point, there never seems to be anything about healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle, they seem to focus on dieting and staying slim which is irresponsible as people are going to think they have to diet to fit in, it is going to make boys expect girls to be slim and wont settle for anything else which is so wrong.

Magazines can promote fashion and make girls and boys think they have to buy clothes like that and if they don't then they are going to look cheep which is not true, not many teenage magazines promote high fashion clothing which is good but magazines like Vogue do, but that is what you expect from that type of magazine. Although it will make people think they need to have those clothes, it might inspire people who are unemployed to get a job and earn the money which I think is actually a good message to give out for people to work especially teenagers who need to have some experience.

Another social ramification of magazines is that they give out the message that you need to have a boyfriend or girlfriend to be happy which is not the case and that can lead to people just being in a relationship to fit in. Also magazines never seem to say much about or for gay people unless it is a gay magazine which can single them out and make them feel insecure when they shouldn't

Although teenage girl magazines can help girls through things and entertain them, they can also drive them into the wrong direction, there are many bad hints of sex and trying to make yourself look better for boys, which I think is bad considering the average age for magazines like Cosmo Girl and Bliss is around 14-15 so magazines can be held responsible for under-age sex and teenage pregnancies. 

Magazines can also make boys look very bad or a necessity, some magazines say you don't need a man or women in your life, and some put pages and pages about how to look better for them which you should not need to do and show photos of them with they're top off which can be a bit much for some magazines and makes them look like a piece of meat which is wrong.

Magazines can include celebrities stories about how they were misfits or bullied or things like that which can give teenagers hope if they are in that situation that not everything is going to be as bad as life at school and maybe one day they can become famous and I like that message.

Magazines can not be held completely responsible for some of the things we do but they do play a important part and I think they should really think about they're audience and what are they are putting into peoples heads, I would like to see more about healthy lifestyles and less on sex if I'm honest, this is for both girl and boy magazines but mainly girl magazines. 

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/4990907/Teen-magazines-are-sexualising-readers-says-watchdog.html

www.associatedcontent.com/article/30544/popular_teen_magazines_and_their_possible.html

Experimenting in Photoshop

Today I learnt how to use some aspects of Photoshop, I learnt how to crop in a photo, use various edits and rotate an image. I also went on InDesign and put the photo on a page and put the photo behind a title and change the color of the title to suit me, learning these new skills will help a lot in the future with my Media coursework.

Here is the photo I edited in Photoshop using a filter, the top image is on InDesign with the title on it.

Magazine cover

This is the magazine cover I tried to post previously but it didn't work.

The conventions of a magazine cover

Masthead- the title or name of a magazine.

Sans serif font- a simple straightforward font without any serifs on it.

E.g. Sans serif font

Serif font- font with extras.     E.g. Serif font

Headline font- fonts used for the headline.

Body font- fonts used for the text and writing.

Body text- text, which is used in the mail text on the page other than the headlines.

Cover lines- lines of text on the cover.

Puff/plug- something on the cover, which entices the audience to buy the

Magazine, it’s something extra.

Pull quote- a quote, which has been pulled out of an interview to make something extra of it.

Dateline- so the audience knows they’re buying the latest magazine.

Barcode- so the shopkeeper can scan the magazine.

Price- the amount the magazine is being sold at.

Layout- the layout of the magazine makes you want to buy that magazine over another one as it appeals to you the most, factors include colour and style and the way it is set out is important to appeal to the target audience.

Direct address- the person on the front cover looking directly at you.

E.g.                                                                        

Main image- the main image on the front cover normally of a celebrity and is the normally the biggest thing on the cover.

My first page

Today I created my first page using InDesign which I have never used before, I took photographs of the college and placed them onto my page by inserting the memory card into the Mac and found out how to insert photos and make them into shapes such as a triangle or circle. I also learnt how to create a text and change the font, size and color and how to make it overlap an image. I also learnt how to change my page into a Jpeg so I can put it onto my blog. I think InDesign will be very helpful in the future and will make my work look professional and I am looking forward to seeign progress.

Things you can do with Blogger and how it will be useful

Things I can do with Blogger-

-Blogger is free and easy to use and not as hard as creating your own website.

-With Blogger you can write and record what you like and when you like.

-You can choose out of a variety of templates to make your blog look professional and right for you.

-You can post text, photos and videos to your blog.

-You can change the font of your text and the color of your text.

- You can change the layout of your blog to suit your style.

- You can choose an available URL so it is your own website and easier to get to.

- People can click 'Follow This Blog' so they can keep up to date with your posts and they can also add their image and profile to your blog.

- Readers can leave comments on your blog posts so you can have useful feedback on your posts.

- You can post on your mobile as well so you don't have to be on a computer.

How I think Blogger will be useful for my coursework-

-It will be useful as I can record everything I've done so I don't forget anything.

-I can post as much as I like so I'm not restricted.

-I will know what things I need to do or edit for my coursework.

-I can look at other blogs to help or inspire me on my work.

-I can use it on my phone so if I haven't got a computer available I can still use it.

-I can use other peoples feedback to help make my work be the best it can be.