Draft Designs

These are the first designs for my magazine cover 

These are designs for possable contents pages.

These are the designs for the double page spread

Font and Colour Scheme Analyse

For my music magazine I will have to choose a font for the masthead and a colour scheme to stick to on each page.

I researched differant fonts for my title and selected a few I thought would work well on the front of the cover. I am looking for bold and eyecatching title that will be eaily recoginsed as the brand identity. I narrowed down the chioces to two fonts I particularry liked. These are the 3rd up from the bottomw and the 6th down from the top. I feel these two are bold and attractive and work well with my music magazine.

In conlclusion I decided to use the Ko City font. I feel this suits the music genre  of the magazine well as the writing fades out at the edges like sound waves so is associated with the music genre. I felt the font looked better in lowercase lettering as it made a more interesting effect and made it more attractive however the uppercase lettering is clearer to read I feel it would not look as good on the cover of the magzine

As for the colour scheme I have decided I should keep it simple and use darker colours for the background as this seems to work well in other magzines. I want to keep the colours appealing to both genders as not to limit the market the magazine will attract. Bellow I tried combining a variety of differant colours keeping to the simly theme of 3 or 4 colours. I feel they would all create effective covers however I particuarlly like the whie,black,yellow and blue colour scheme as it works well on other magazines such as kerrang and is attractive and effective. So I intend to use this colour scheme in my own cover page.



Treatment Sheet

The Magazine : Unplugged!

Target Readership: Unplugged! is aimed at readers between the ages of 15 - 18 but the magazine may also appeal to younger and older readers that are interesting in the genre of music. The genre of music I am going to aim the magazine at is Alternative/Rock as this seems a successful market to enter as the readers for these magazines are increasing  as seen in my 'readership research'. It will be aimed at a high school and college audience. This means the magazine needs to be affordable although many people this age hold down part time jobs so I estimate the price at £2.95 which is affordable but allows the magazine to make a profit. Unplugged! readers need to be interested in the genre of music and want to read about differant bands that will come up in the magazine. They want to be outgoing as there will be advertisments for festivals and concerts that could be won. Unplugged! is the magazin college students pay attention to and read up on there favourate bands or discover new bands.

Form and Style: Unplugged! is a A4 full colour magazine which contains band infomation, concerts, festivals, reviews, news, events and competitions. Covers of the magazine use images of bands featured within the issue and models used in the magazine are of people roughly the same age as the targetted audience.  Coverlines on the cover show the magazine to be exciting and dynamtic advertising what is in the issue dealing with which bands can be seen in the magazine and competetions featured within the pages. The graphics used are bold and vibrant. The cover will have a busy theme to show the magazine is worth the money although the occasional cover will be simple to advertise one thing inparticular such as big bands. The magazine will selll at £2.95 which is affordable for teenage audiences as the majority of them hold down part time jobs and the magazine will only be released every fortnight.

Themes and Typical features: Unplugged! will have regualr features of a typical music magzine. Every issue will include interviews and articles on bands and competitions that could be entered. There will be a strong focas on equally presenting new and upcoming bands with the more famous bands. It will have a strong reader influence and will be based upon what the target audience wants from the magazine and will review the latest music that is popular among the target audience. Unplugged! will also featured local bands that are starting up in differnt areas so that people within the area will be more interested to see there friends featured within the magazine.Artciles about events and concerts willl feature every few issues to keep interest in the magazine.The writers will use language familuar to students and will have an informal tone in some articles.

Potential advertisers: A range of bands and shops will advertise in the magazine each issue. Particullary those with a link with the music genre of the magzine and affordable to the audince such as HMV music stores.

Editorial Team: The editorial team for Unplugged! will be made up of experienced writers and esigners that are interested in music. The team will be made up of men and women from the ages 22, as it gives younger people a better chance to get into the industry and influence the magazine however readers are also asked to contribute there ideas. The aim of the team is to create attractive, fresh ideas to the target audience whilst also having reliable experince

Readership Figures

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The Top 9 Film and Music Magazines
	Title	Publisher	Jan-Jun 2010	Prd/prd change	Yr/yr change
1	Empire	Bauer Media	179,064	-7.8%	-7.7%
2	Mojo	Bauer Media	91,678	-6.9%	-6.2%
3	Q	Bauer Media	89,450	-5.7%	-10.7%
4	Total Film	Future	76,088	-6.1%	-10.5%
5	Uncut	IPC	74,067	-1.9%	-3.2%
6	Classic Rock	Future	70,323	-1.3%	0.0%
7	Metal Hammer	Future	44,034	5.4%	-4.3%
8	Kerrang!	Bauer Media	44,013	7.0%	1.8%
9	New Musical Express	IPC	33,875	-12.0%	-17.3%

I researched readership figures on Music and Film magazines using http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1022008/MAGAZINE-ABCs-Kerrang-high-note-music-film/ to collect information on which magazine were the best selling so that I can decide what articles sell best and which layouts are most attractive by the amount of people reading the magazine. This gives a rough idea on which music magazines are most popular. I find it interestering that the majority of magazines drop readers expect for Kerrang! and Metal Hammer which gains readers. This could indicate to a higher need for alternative and metal magazines as these are the two that have increased. Empire magazine has the highest amount of readers however it is more a film magazine so is not as relevant to my enquiry. Q magazine has the 3rd largest amount of readers although the drop in readers can be explained by its wide variety of music as the next issue may have contained a differant genre of music that didn't attract the readers as well. 

In conclusion I would want to create a magazine that could sustain viewers so make it focused on one genre. The genre that would be most suitable would be Metal or Alternive/Punk as these are the genres that have increased in viewers over the last year so therefore there is becmoning a higher demand for them.

Textual Analyse: Double Page Spread

Kerrang creates an attractive and interesting double page spread on its atrists. This article is on my chemical romance and includes alot of information to make the reader want to buy and read the article.

Titles.

The magazine chooses to put the title across the two pages. It uses a quote form the band "Were Being The Best MCR We Can Be" for the title. This draws the reader into the interview with the band and the information on the page. The title is the biggest and brightest text on the page to draw the reader in. It is also all in uppercase lettering to make it easier to read and more attractive.

Layout.
The layout for the double page spread is busy but effective. The first page is taken u by one main picture of the lead singer. There are more pictures across the bottom of the second page and the majority of the double spread is taken up by these images. They are also all in black and white which makes the page look smarter. The text is positioned under the title and above the images on the second page. There is only a small amount of text which is more attractive to a younger audience that don't want to read a much. There is also an extra piece of information at the top left corner advertising the interview as a World Exclusive which makes the pages sound more important and interesting. On the left of the page they give a "Low Down" on the new tracks by My Chemical Romance as well.

Colours.

This two page spread has a simple colours scheme using mainly blacks, reds and whites. The images on the pages are also all in black and white. this keeps with the dark colour scheme and makes the magazine look smarter and more professional.  It also allows the black background to blend into the biggest picture so it matched well among the picture. The text on the page are different colours.the main title is red and white, with the most important information being in white so that it is contrast to the background ad stands out more. The main article is in white text against the background so it can be easily read. However the lowdown is positioned on a white strip with black and red writing which keeps to the colour scheme but creates an effective and attractive piece. The title of the "Lowdown" is against a red background so stands out most against that section. It is a simple colour scheme but effective

Conclusion

I think the double page spread is effective and works well. It uses a simple colour scheme but this makes it easier to read and looks more professional. The use of images works well too as it attracts the reader in and makes the pages look more attractive and cuts down on the amount of text that is there which will not be appealing to young people if there is allot of text on the page. Overall I think this page is successful and I would like to use a similar design in my own work

Textual Analyse: Contents Page

Q Magazine creates an attractive and simple contents page that advertises what is in the magazine  successfully.

Titles.

The magazine chooses to have one main title "Q Contents" in this title is incorporates the brand identity at the top left hand corner which makes it the first information on the page to be read and is easily recognisable as Q magazine. the contents part of the title is against a black banner which advertises the issues date and website address creating a neat and organised piece of information. The smaller titles, "Features" and "Every Month", are against a red background with white upper case text. This makes it easy to read and makes the text stand out on the page as more important. The last title, "Q Review" also incorporates the band identity and is in the same design as the main title although the text is slightly smaller so the "Q Contents" is the most dominant on the page.

Layout.
The layout for the contents page is simple but effective. It uses one main image on the right side of the text that advertises one of the main stories and artists in the magazine.It takes up the majority of the page and creates an attractive design. There is also a smaller image under the review that advertises the article of Nick Cave taking up the same amount of room as the writing next to it. The main contents information is set down the left side of the page in a collum. The red titles used makes this part of the text stand out more and look more important. The page numbers are also in red or gold which makes them stand out against the other black text. The colours used  on the page are simple with a plain white background that makes the text easier to read. The titles and important information are in red so they stand out more the other text is all in black. and the main titles use a black strip with white text. The only other colours used on the page is the the blue background features in the review

Editorial.
Q magazine has no editorial features on the contents page which is unusual for a magazine as it usually features a word from the editor on the magazine and the issue created. Hoverer i think the page works well without it.

Conclusion

In conclusion this page is successful at telling the reader what is inside the magazine and the images used helps attract the students to look further into the magazine as it advertises the artists further. I think the simple layout is effective and makes the text easier to read although attractive.



Kerrang Magazine creates a busy and effective contents page that advertises what is in the magazine  successfully.

Titles.

The magazine chooses to have one main title; "Contents". It uses a back background with yellow writing to make the title stand out even more. It is also the biggest text on the page  so is the most eyecatching. The title "This Week" on the left side use the opposite colours to the main title using a yellow background with black text however the smaller titles underneath this use the same as the title. All the title apart from the main one are i uppercase lettering so it is easier to read and more attractive

Layout.
The layout for the contents page is busy. The majority of room on the page is taken up by images. These images advertise differant artists and articles, this works well in attracting the reader more as it will make them want to purchase the magazine or the artist in the features. The biggest image on the page shosws the main article fetured in the magazine. the pictures help the readers directly find the page there looking for.The pages and articles numbers are positioned on the right of the page above the magazine advertisment. The advertisement is on a red background with images so stands out more to attract readers to subscribe to the magzine.The page is a plain colour simualr to Q. The whole page is taken up with images or text to give the reader all the information they need.

Editorial.
Kerrang has the editorial at the top left of the page. This is where its most likley to be read as generally people read from left to right so it will be the first thing read on the page. It takes up a small amount of room but it the biggest block of text on that page so is the most noticable. It also includes an image of the magazine coover along with the extract from the editor.

Conclusion
In conclusion this page is successful at telling the reader what is inside the magazine. It uses alot of images to attract the reader and help to find pages easier. It also encourages people to buy the magazine as the images are all of the features in the issue of the magazine.I think the busy layout is suucesful for the younger audince and genre of the magazine.

Overall Conclusion
After looking at the both Qand Kerrangs contents pages I have decided they both have strong pionts. I like the simple layout that Q has used as it creates a neat and proffesional look however I like Kerrangs idea of using images to find the main stories faster. In my own magazine I would like to use this idea but with less images and keep the simple layout that is seen in Q.

Textual Analyse : Cover Page

Kerrang Magazine has been designed to attract the younger audience who like rock music, they do this by including images of bands on the cover page to attract and interest the audience.

Masthead.

The masthead in this cover is at the top of the page.It takes up the whole width of the page and stands out against its black background. It is the biggest text on the cover page so stands out more in comparison to the other text. It is also the brand identity and is recognisable as the logo of Kerrang! The font itself is cracked into pieces which matched  the onomatopoeia of the word Kerrang and gives us the impression that the music in the magazine is ear shattering.

Banners.

The magazine has two banners. One featured at the top  which advertises the Kerrang relentless energy tour and which bands are featured in the tour and the one at the bottom which advertises the bands that are featured within the magazine. This gives the reader an extra reason to buy the magazine by attracting the reader with bands and tours that might draw them in to read the magazine further. The banners themselves are presented in different colours. The top banner uses yellow font to make the text stand out more whereas the bottom banner uses a blue background to draw the attention of the reader as well as the PLUS! in capital letters and yellow, larger font. This makes  them stand out more on the page so they will be read and attract the reader.

Coverlines

There is one main cover line and four smaller ones. The main cover story is The Lost Prophets. this advertises the main story within this issue of the magazine. The band name stands out the most and is dominant of all the other cover stories as it the main information. The font imitates the font of the title so keeps the theme of the magazine text and this also draws more attention to the text. The band is the biggest and most attractive text as it is the thing that will attract readers most to buy the magazine if they like the band. The other cover lines featured on the magazine are in allot smaller fonts and different colours keeping to the colour scheme of yellow and blue fonts. This makes them stand out against the background image and makes the page look more attractive. They advertise things such as prizes and other bands that are also in the magazine this will also attract the reader to buy the magazine.

Background: Images and Colour

The magazine uses a busy design with one main image as the background. The image is of the band in the main cover story, The Lost Prophets. This is used to attract the reader more into the main story and attract people interested in the band. Other pictures are features in the bottom left hand corner of the magazine that advertise other band featured in the magazine that people may be interested to read about. It keeps to the simple colours scheme; using blue, white and yellow text and boxes to make the writing on the cover stand out more against the black in the background image. This makes the cover look more neat and attractive to the reader. I think the covers images are interesting photographs that look organised and professional on the cover. I like the way the colours and background image are used to together although they are quiet cold colours on the magazine.

Conclusion

 

In conclusion i feel this magazine is exciting and interesting. The colours and the images are used well to create an attractive cover page. The cover is busy so I think this works well as it gives the reader allot of reasons to buy the magazine and makes it more eye catching. I think this magazine cover is successfull in attracting a young audience.

Q Magazine has been designed to attract an older audience that have the money to spend on a more expensive magazine. It features a variety of music of all different genres so would appeal to a wider audience than Kerrang

Masthead.

The masthead in this cover is at the top left of the page. It is the biggest font on the page and easily recognisable as the band identity. It is the only text on the page with a read background behind it so it stands out more than the other text on the cover page. Like Kerrang the letter is shattered into pieces which is rare for the Q brand identity to be changed on the cover. It incorporates the image as it seems the man is smashing the Q this tells the reader that this issue of Q includes more heavy metal/rock bands than usual.

Banners.

The magazine has one banner at the top of the page. this advertises the popularity of the magazine making it sound good as it is 'The Uk's Biggest Music Magazine' This attracts the reader to the magazine and gives them an extra reason to buy the magazine as it makes it sound you are getting more moneys worth if its the Uk's biggest music magazine. The banner's text is all upper case letters in a white and smart font so it is easy to read and stand out on the page against the black banner strip.

In conclusion I think the magazine is successful in attracting an older audience. It creates a professional and simple look with the use of images and text however keeps attractive overall design. Although it is a simple design in comparison to Kerrang it works well with this magazine and is still eye catching and will attract readers to buy the magazine.

Coverlines

There are five cover stories featured on the front cover. The main one advertising the featured article on MUSE. Similar to Kerrang the band name stands put on the cover so to attract the readers that may
be interested in that band. the font is also in white so that its in contrast the the background image and easily readable.  The other three cover lines on the left side of the page are also in white however some information of the cover stories are in red. They all take up the same about of space and finish and start in the same place, this makes the cover lines look neat and organised among the cover page and gives a professional look. The cover line on the right side of the page is presented in white, grey and red which makes the information stand out more. It also features a smaller image next to the cover line to advertise The Beatles.

Background: Images and Colour

The magazine has a simple design. Q always uses a very simple background with simple colour schemes. The background image in this picture is the main singer from muse. He take up the centre of the page with the text surrounding him which makes the magazine look expensive and professional. The image uses dark colours and the text on the cover is white, grey and red which creates a simple but effective colour scheme. In comparison to Kerrang magazine covers it is a very simple and professional layout as the text is all aligned and neatly positioned among the page whereas Kerrnag has text randomly arranged among the page. The cover is overall attractive and the text colours stand out against the dark background and makes it easier to read.

Conclusion
In conclusion I think the magazine is successfull in creating a cover that attracts an older audience. It creates a simple and professional look with the use of a simple layout with one main image and text. Although it has a simple design in comparison to Kerrang it is still eye catching and will attarct the reader of the magazine.

XXL magazine is simular to Q as it has been designed to attract an older audience that have money to spend on more expensive magazines. However it features mainly Rap and Hip-Hop

Masthead.

The masthead in this cover is at the top of the page. It is the only text used on  the page with a red background which makes it stand out even more. The white text is in uppercase and is also the biggest text on the page however the masthead is hidden behind the image which makes it hard to read the whole thing. This is a normal feature of the magazine as many of the image overlap the title. This makes it harder to recognise the brand identity.

Banners.

The magazine uses no banners which is unusual for a magazine. It usually gives the reader an extra reason to buy the magazine however this magazine chooses not to use it.

Coverlines

There is one main cover story on this magazine and two smaller ones. This is alot less than Q and Kerrang use to attract the audience. the main cover story has the artist name in big taking up the whole page. This makes the most important infomation of this article stand out more and the viewer is more likley to buy the magazine if it has an artist that they like in it. It also includes the names of the people in the group on the cover which is unusual for the cover page as it is usual featured inside the magazine in the article. The smaller coverlines also advertise other artists that are featured in the magazine this makes advertises the artist in the magazine and may also attract the reader to buy the magazine to read about them. However the text advertising these arist are small and not very eyecatching within the design.

Background: Images and Colour

The magazine uses an even simpler design than Q. It has a white backgorund with the image overlapping the brand identity. It only uses one main image and has no other images to advertise artists which is seen i both Kerrang and Q. The smaller cover lines are postioned around the image and the only text over the image is the main cover line advertising the artist. Ths makes the image the central and most dominat feature on the page. The coloursused are also simple colours. It uses the red to make the masthead stand out more and the names of the artists in the group however the other colours used for the text are all darker colours such as black and grey or white keeping a simple colour scheme thoughout the cover page.

Conclusion
In conclusion I think this magazine is not as succesfull as Q or Kerrang as the brand idetity is hidden and is the way the reader recognises the magazine. It also has a very simple layout that makes it look proffesionl and smart but does not advertise many articles within the magazine so give the reader no extra reason to buy the magazin apart from the artist advertised on the cover.

Overall Conclusion
After looking at three differant cover pages I have a better idea of how to design my own magazine cover. I most prefer the busy design used for Kerrnag as it is eyecatching and looks more affordable for teenagers which is the audience my magazine is aimed at. I also like the busy layout it uses as it gives the reader extra reasons to buy the magazine as it looks to have alott of articles in it however out ofthe three has the least pages. I also like the more subtle design used in Q as it looks more prffesional and clearer to read. In conclusion I am going to create a magazine that is influenced by both Q and Kerrang and use aspects from each.

Audince Quetionaire

Please fill in the following questions to provide research into music magazines that are popular and what type of magazine people are looking for:

1. Do You Currently Buy Any Music Magaazie If So Which?

• No
• Kerrang!
• Q Magazine
• Clash
• Jazzwise
• Froots
• MoJo
• NME
• The Wire
• Other - Please state what magazine

2. What Genre Of Music Magazine Are You Most Likley To Buy?

• Heavy Metal
• Alternative
• Pop
• Rock
• Classical
• Folk
• Rap
• R&B
• Other - Please state

3. How Much Would You Spend On A Music Magazine?

•  £0.50
• £1.00
• £1.50
• £2.00
• £2.50
• £3.00
• £4.75

4. How Often Would You Purphase A Music Magazine?

• Weekly
• Every Two Weeks
• Monthly
• Every Other Month
• Yearly

5. What Sort Of Information Would You Like To See In The Magazine?

• Arist & Album Reviews
• Interiews With Artists
• Music  Quiz
• Competitions
• Posters Of Arists/Bands
• The Magazines top 20 albums
• Information About Tours
• Ask Questions To Artists
• Information About Music Festivals
• Whats Coming Up? Up and Coming Artist and Music
• Behind The Scenes Of Music Videos
• Day In The Life Of An Artists

6. What Would You Like The Magazine To Look Like?

• Lots Of Differant Photos and Text To Display What Is In The Magazine
• One Simple Image For An Effective Proffesional Look
• Images Of Arist or Bands On The Cover

What Would Be A Suitable Name For A Music Magazine?

What Would Be A Suitable Name For A Music Magazine?
	Shattter
	Drop
	Crash
	Melody
	Strain
	Unplugged
	All Ears
	EavesDrop
	Attention!
	Hearken
pollcode.com free polls

Magazine Comparison

Name: Kerrang
Price: £2.10
Pages: 70 Pages
Sections: 9 sections
Page: 2-6 per section
Advertising: The advertising in this magazine looks affordable for teenagers which enforces the target audience of  the magazine.  They advertise CD's such as Fall Out Boy: Infinity High and places like HMV which sells affordable music and movies
Article Types:

Name: Q
Price: £3.99
Pages: 146 Pages
Sections: 18 sections
Page: 1-4 pages per section
Advertising: The advertising in this magazine looks very expensive so is for an older audince that can afford more expensive luxuries such as the new Audi cars. The layout of the adverts are also spread over two pages and are very eyecatching and professional looking. It also advertises smaller products such as the Emprie TV Magazine although it is only advertised over 1 page it also looks expensive costing £3.99 for the magazine of TV schedule.
Article Types:

Name: XXL
Price: £3.95
Pages: 146 Pages
Sections: 10 sections
Page: 1-10 pages per section
Advertising: The advertising in this magazine also looks very expensive so is simular to Q and caters for the same aged audience. It also advertises cars such as Nissa although it is only over 1 page it looks professional and for people that have alot of money. However it advertises cloths which Q does not do although the clothing ranges are all brands that are made to look exciting and interesting aswell as expensive.
Article Types:

Action Plan

This is how I plan to use the time to create a magazine using the majority of time on the creation of the magazine although the research is also important and takes up alot of time:

3rd January 2011

• Action plan and breif
• Magazine comparison
• Audience and Questionaire

10th and 17th January 2011

• Textual Analyse - 3 front cover pages, 2 contents and 1 double page spread

24th January 2011

• Internet research on readership figures
• Treatment sheet
• Font and colour analyse

31st January 2011

• Photo Shoot
• Page layouts
• Drafting

7th, 14th and 18th Febuary 2011

• Drafting
• Final pages and feedback

7th March 2011

• Evaluation

Music Magazine

Now I am starting the creation of a Music Magazine blog  :)