How my research has informed my planning

How my research has informed planning –

Ideas for colour schemes:

Pink and yellow – Connotes femininity as they are very young colours, if I used these colours within my music magazine they would have to be muted, maybe even pastel colours. Strong bright colours such as this may not suit my target audience of young adults between the ages of 17-20 because they are stereotypically seen as childish colours.

Black, white and Red – Not a very unique choice of colours as they are used within existing Real Media Artefacts such as NME and Q. Although it attracts the right audience and genre, my music magazine would have a hard time competing and standing out against other existing music magazines.  

Purple and Blue – Could still be seen as youthful colours, especially purple as it is quite a feminine colour and could fail to attract male readers. These colours could target my target audience of young adults if they were used in subtle ways with other muted colours such as Grey and Cream.

Grey and Black – Plain colours such as this will be used within my music magazine as a base. However, I will need to make my music magazine stand out in order to grab my readers attention, it’s therefore important that I include the use of strong colours as well as Grey, white and black.

After assessing which colours will work best to suit my target audience and Indie/Alternative Genre of music I have chosen to use a range of pastel colours within my music magazine, as well as muted colours such as Grey, white and black. This way I will include bold colours which catch my audience’s attention whilst making my magazine look modern with the muted colours, suggesting a more sophisticated feel to the magazine.

Ideas for the use of Text within my magazine:

Language is an important factor as I need to ensure that my magazine is targeting the correct audience. In my magazine I need to avoid using any abbreviations such as “LOL” as these would attract a younger teenage audience. I therefore need to ensure that the language used is quite formal, but still entertaining so that young adults enjoy reading it.

Cover lines include an important role in attracting the reader to the magazine; it is a good idea to include pull quotes from my double page spread as a cover line on the front. As I learnt when researching Real Media Artefacts that this is commonly used to attract readers by making the page stand out.

On the contents page my use of language will be less formal as I will be using lots of pull quotes and short sentences to explain the different features in the magazine. I need to make sure my language is clear and to the point for this, as I will not have a lot of space to include long sentences. It’s also important that the language is entertaining; as the contents page will determine whether or not my audience will go on to read more of the magazine. To make the page more interesting I could include a new pull quote from the double page spread, as this  

For my double page spread my questionnaire results showed that including an interview from a new or up and coming artist would be the best way to attract my target audience of young adults. The language that will be used within my double page spread can be more formal although it is important that I include some humour within the interview in order to keep the reader entertained.

Ideas for the overall House style:

It’s important to keep the same colour scheme running throughout the entire magazine, as this continuity allows the magazine to look more professional to the reader. As well as keeping colours the same, text also needs to be repeated in certain ways as this makes the pages look neater and easier to read for the audience. It is important to always use a larger font for titles, sub-titles, headlines of pages and even having the first letters in capitals when there is a large amount of text as this draws the reader in and shows them where to start reading. It’s important to keep all of these things in mind, in order to make the reading experience as easy and enjoyable as possible for my target audience.

Ideas for Images:

The front cover must include a medium close up of the up and coming artist to clearly promote both him and the magazine. In existing Real Media Artefacts some front covers include more than one image in order to show features that are inside the magazine. I have found that the use of more than one image can look messy and unprofessional, as well as being typically found in magazines targeted at a younger audience. Therefore, for my target audience of young adults between the ages of 17-20 it may be best to have just one image on the front cover looking clear and simple as this suggests a cooler and more sophisticated style.

On the contents page several different images can be used in order to give the reader a real feel for what features in the magazine. This will also break up the text on the contents page and make the page more interesting and eye catching for the reader. It’s important that I include images from all different parts of the magazine in order to show more of a variety and make the page stand out, as it’s important that the contents page does not appear boring to the reader.

I have a good idea of what my double page spread should consist of from researching Real Media Artefacts. The main image that features on a double page spread usually bleeds through onto both pages, this is so that the readers eye travels across the page. The image used can also go behind text in order to guide the reader to the text. These features are commonly used and look professional within a double page spread, I therefore think my double page spread would look effective with this style. 

Straker

This is really good work Olivia, Keep it up. Lots of really useful detail.

Product Placement

I have learnt what makes music magazines successful from analysing Real Media Artefacts  and I have gained a better understanding of my target audience from my questionnaire results. I now know the codes and conventions for music magazines, although this may vary depending on the genre of the music magazine there are many factors that will stay the same in all magazines. For example how the magazine is set out, as most magazines will include the same visual style and layout on their front cover, as a bold title and stand out image is important to grab the readers attention. As well as this all magazine will stick to a house style, normally changing each issue in order to make the magazine look new and more interesting. The contents page also has codes and conventions, as contents pages almost always include rows as this breaks the text up and make the page look clearer. Double page spreads have typical codes and conventions of: including a large image that often bleeds through onto both pages, as this ensures that the readers eyes move across the pages. As well as including the name of the artist featured in a bold title, or by using play on words that relate to the artist. I have also learnt from my research that images play an important role in magazines, as they draw the reader in and make the page more interesting, photographs are therefore seen as a key part of selling the magazine. The main image on the front cover tends to normally be a medium close up, for example a photograph of an artist from the shoulders up, as this shows the artists expression, without being too close up and unflattering. This is something that I have found in my research, I therefore think it would be a good idea for me to take a medium to close up image when I take photographs for my front cover, as it helps to promote the artist clearly.
I also found many other important features of a magazine by Analyzing real media artifacts such as: Maintaining the house style – as magazines tend to keep to a certain colour scheme, this usually suits the style of the name of the magazine.
The font for the name of the magazine is also important as it is used as a logo throughout the magazine, appearing on pages such as the contents helping to promote the product. The font that is used for articles and on the contents page is also important, as it is usually in the same font and size throughout, making it more consistent and easy to read.
The images used in the magazine always suit the genre, as the characters in the image wear clothes that are stereotypical to that genre, so it’s important that the overall style of the image suits the magazine.
Most magazines have a specific target audience, for example Kerrang is aimed for teenagers that enjoy rock music. Overall, I found in my research that younger teenagers tend to be the most common genre that buys music magazines, so lots of music magazines target them. I have decided from this that it would be a good idea to target older teenagers/young adults for my music magazine, as not many existing music magazines focus on this generation, as there is a niche market for this. My main competitors for this audience would be music magazines such as MOJO or NME, as these two magazines are more detailed and tend to use formal language, this suggests that they are usually read by a more educated  and older audience.
The genre of my music magazine can be quite flexible as there was not a clear preference from my questionnaire, generally people preferred the idea of an indie or drum and base magazine. Overall, I like the idea of a magazine that includes drum and base as this genre is not normally common in music magazines and I think people would be interested in buying it, however I plan to include other genres of music such as Indie as this will give me a wider target audience.

What I have learnt from my research and critical studies:I will aim my music magazine at young adults both male and female between the ages of 17-20, the results from my questionnaire show that young adults between the ages of 17-18 are my strongest audience, however this seemed too narrow an audience so I have chosen to widen this by targeting slightly older people as well.
· Including a consistent house style is important as it makes the magazine stand out and look more unique, attracting the audience.
· Colour and font also play an important role, as the right colour attracts the right audience. The font colour needs to be easy and clear to read, as well as the font type. This also needs to be consistent throughout the magazine to create a house style.
· I need to link the choice of colours in my music magazine to the genre.
· The codes and conventions of a music magazine suggests that the image on the front cover of the music magazine is normally a medium close up, as this clearly shows expression, without being too close up.
· My images need to be of decent quality, as bad quality photos will not attract my audience to purchase the magazine.
· My target audience for my magazine will be young adults of both genders.
· I learnt from my music magazine questionnaire that the most popular genre of music is indie or drum and base. I have therefore chosen to include a mix of both genres and have a wider target audience.
· Use of columns in a double page spread are key, as it makes the page look clearer and easier to read. Columns are a common code and convention of double page spreads as they stop the page from looking cluttered.
· I need to include new, up and coming artists in my music magazine, as this is what I learnt my audience would like to see from my questionnaire.
· Interviews from artists are a common thing to find in music magazines, and my audience seem to be interested in this concept so it’s important that I include an interview.
· The language that I use needs to suit my target audience of young adults, so I plan on including some slag words which are typically used by teenagers. However, it's important I do not use too many slag words as this will make my music magazine appear childish and result in targeting a younger audience.
· People would like to get freebees from my music magazine, such as free downloads so it's important I advertise this on my front cover. 

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on NME double page spread

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on Mojo double page spread

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on NME contents page

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on Q contents page

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on Mojo contents page

Real Media Artefacts - Q Beyonce front cover analysis

Real Media Artefacts - Front cover analysis of Rolling Stone magazine

Real Media Artefacts - Front cover analysis

Miss D

Olivia,
By the 20th February, you need to have done another front cover analysis and also contents and double page analysis. In addition, you need your questionnaire and the results and product placement(where you would sell your product and distribute it)

Questionnaire Results

Overall, I asked 30 people to answer my questionnaire. This meant that I had an even amount of male and females to complete my magazine, giving me a wider target audience. My results throughout this questionnaire are therefore more reliable for both genders.

Most of the people I asked where between the age of 17-18, I think this is an appropriate age for me to target my magazine at as I am of that age, I therefore may find it easier to know what my target audience will want to find in a magazine, as I can relate to them.

Due to the fact I only asked people I know at school to answer my questionnaire, my results for this question were not as varied as they could be. However, this has allowed me to get a clear set of genres which could all work together in a music magazine.

Overall, most of the people I asked seemed to be prepared to buy a music magazine monthly instead of weekly. A monthly music magazine would therefore be more successful to my target audience. Benefits of this would be that there would be more material to put into the magazine monthly, as well as the price being higher as people are more likely to pay more for a magazine that comes out less often.

Online magazine's seem to be quite popular so I am going to keep this in mind when creating my magazine, as it gives my target audience easy access to the magazine, allowing it to become more popular. As well as this, I will also ensure that my magazine can be purchased in stores such as supermarkets, as stores such as these are also a popular choice.

I found out from my questionnaire that people tend to buy music magazines as a way of finding out about new music, as well as finding out about concerts and gigs. I will include both these features in my magazine, it is also important that I feature them on the front cover of my magazine so that my target audience are more inclined to buy the product.

The price of a music magazine must be appropriate, as an unreasonable price would result in my target audience losing interest in the product. The results of this question told me that  most people preferred the idea of buying a magazine that was £3.00 or less. This seems like an appropriate price as it is a similar price to music magazines that are already being sold today, which proves that

NME was the most popular music magazine bought by my target audience, it's therefore important that I analyse pages of Nme to understand the codes and conventions found within the magazine. So I can get a better understanding of what features my target audience want to see within my music magazine.

Most people tend to read music magazines at home, while they are relaxing as the magazine is a source of entertainment. I have learnt from my magazine that it is not popular to read at work or school. This gives me a clearer idea of what my target audience are like, allowing me to render my product in order to get the most appropriate style. As reading the magazine at home suggests they will be relaxing, this suggests that my audience will like a calm colour scheme, as a bright and in your face house style will not go well with the relaxing atmosphere.

The idea of seeing a new artist on the front cover of a music magazine appealed to a lot of people answering my questionnaire, it's therefore important that I include this as the main focus on my front cover in order to attract my target audience.

Most people seemed more inclined to buy a drum and bass or indie music magazine. I find this interesting as there are not many existing drum and bass music magazines and I could possibly use this for my genre, as there is a niche market.

The image on the front cover is seen as one of the most important things, so I therefore need to make sure that the photograph that I take and use for my cover is an appropriate image that clearly shows the artist from the shoulders up, as this shows expression on his face and clearly promotes him to the audience.

Images seem to be the most popular thing on a front cover, however many people agreed that it is a good idea to keep it equal as the text on the front cover is important and informative when it comes to telling the audience what they are going to find in the magazine. Therefore, I think it is important that I keep an equal mix of text and images on my front cover, without making the page look too busy as this could put people off.

People seem very keen on the idea of being informed about up and coming artists by a music magazine, so I think it is very important that I include new artists in my music magazine. This also gives the idea that my music magazine is up to date with the latest news and artists, making my target audience more likely to buy the product. It's important that I mention a new artist on my front cover, as this makes the magazine seem as though it has fresh news.

Interviews with artists are a typical code and convention found in music magazines, as it allows the reader to get a better understanding of the artist and what they are like, helping to promote them. I will therefore include this on my double page speard, as a way of promoting the new artist featured in my magazine.  I think the idea of giving away free downloads is interesting, as I have not seen it done before in music magazines so I may use this idea.

The idea of interviews from well known artists was a very popular choice as not one of the 30 people who answered my questionnaire turned down this idea, so I should definitely make sure I include an interview in my magazine.

Overall, there was not much difference when it came to which way people prefer to read their music magazine, online was slightly more successful but not by much. It's therefore important that I ensure my magazine is sold both in stores and online. In order to promote my product as much as possible.

from Mrs S

Good first posting. Pretty detailed analysis. Well done.