Research

Before I began planning my magazine I had to research existing texts to give me an idea of what my magazine should look like. I had to do research for all of the pages I was going to create. For all of my research i made sure i was looking at things that were close to my genre which is R&B and Rock as these are the types of music I'm interested in so i thought that I would enjoy the project more if i were to do it on something that appeals to my own tastes, they were also the two most popular genres on my questionnaire which meant that I would have been doing this genre anyway.

I managed to find four front covers close to my genre which were of Chris Brown, The Jonas Brothers, R.Keely and Amy Winehouse out of them all I would have to say that Chris Brown is the artist closest to my genre as his music is mostly R&B whereas The Jonas Brothers have a slighty Pop sense to theirs.

The Jonas Brothers - Rock/Pop

The cover consists of an image of the Jonas Brothers, they are the newest band and its three members just happen to be brothers themselves (hence the band’s name), they have appealed to fans of all ages although in my opinion the age may be varied but the band would appeal to girls more than boys. There is one large image of the brothers and numerous smaller images which suggest that this magazine is all or mostly about this new band as if it were about any other topic then there would be images or cover lines giving this information.

The magazine is titled “people” which implies that this magazine is aimed at everyone contradicting what I said about the band appealing more to girls as a magazine for everyone is just as likely to be purchased by a male as a female.

This magazine cover is very colourful, it is all light blue with part of the band’s name, “Jonas”, covered in yellow, this colour could be trying to attract the females as yellow is a nice bright and girly colour, the fact that the second part of the name “Brothers” is in white suggests the magazine is trying to appeal to males as well as white is a nice neutral colour, the publisher would have done this to try and complement both genders and therefore open the magazine to everyone.

The font used on the cover of the magazine doesn’t have any unique qualities although the band’s name has been enlarged which would catch people’s attention easier than if the writing was smaller. I believe this was done so that the name stood out and therefore would be easily noticed by passers-by and retail customers as the enlarged name would immediately tell them the topic of the magazine which would help them decide whether they should or shouldn’t buy it.

The cover lines of this magazine reveal that the magazine is solely based on this band. It also tells us that this is a collector’s edition which would bring in vigorous collectors. However, the cover lines reveal little about the content of information as they only mention that the magazine consists of many images of the band, this suggests that this magazine may be aimed at females as they would be more likely to purchase the magazine for the images whereas boys don’t tend to do this. It also suggests that the magazine is aimed at younger fans as young girls are more likely to have posters and pictures on the walls of their rooms as when you get older the features of your room change with your maturity and personality.

From the image above it is slightly difficult to see the price although I believe it is in the top right hand corner but I can’t see it completely. The date and price of this magazine could determine when people buy it as if it comes out during the week then younger children won’t be able to purchase it until they get home from school and the price is always something that people are concerned with as if it were expensive then it may not sell as many copies as the publisher was hoping for.

Chris Brown - R&B

The image on this cover is of Chris Brown, the cover of this magazine will appeal more to teenage girls with regards to the image but the style of the magazine suggests that it is something that is perhaps intentionally aimed at boys. The image of this magazine would make it appeal to anyone who is a fan of Chris Brown as although it is only the image on the cover and many not necessarily contain anything to do with him it is always the image and the cover that first catches a person’s attention.

The magazine is called “Vibe” but it is half hidden by the image of Chris Brown which suggests that the publisher is trying to exploit the image more and that the image matters more than the title. This is partly true as a person won’t buy a magazine based solely on its name it is more likely the image or the cover lines which catches the buyer’s attention and persuades the purchase.

This magazine cover is rather dull when it comes to colour which makes me wonder why this was done as dull colour are eye-catching and don’t catch people’s attention easily. I believe that the cover is a dark colour as the image is brighter. Chris Brown is wearing a bright red t-shirt on the cover of this magazine and the darker background might have been done to try and make it stand out even more which could again suggest that the publisher is trying to exploit the image as the t-shirts colour would draw people’s attention to the image and who the image is of.

Similarly this magazine’s font isn’t unique either although the title is larger and in white making it stand out against the dark background. Also, a question, “is that Chris Brown?” is larger than any of the other cover lines which makes me wonder if Chris Brown has only been included on this cover as a means of selling it. Another reason could be that as Brown’s on the cover they have increased the size of the cover line to show that there is information on this artist in this magazine which could attract fans to buy it.

As said above the cover line containing information on Chris Brown is larger which I believe was only done because he was on the cover. There are numerous other cover lines on this magazine which instantly tells me that this magazine include articles and information on other artists which will help this magazine appeal to more people as it will attract not only Chris Brown fans but also fans of the artists the articles mention.

From the image I have managed to find that this magazine if from October 2008 which is exactly 1 year ago as it is now October 2008, the fact that this magazine is a year old suggests that the peak sale would have passed a while ago and, no doubt, the magazine will no longer be on the shelves. Magazines a funny items as they are normally only on sale for a week once they have been published as the next week a newer version comes out. In my opinion this will be because news is always changing and updating especially in the world of celebrities therefore publishers will want to keep feeding fans new information which will keep them hooked on the magazine making them buy each new edition.

R.Kelley - R&B

The cover contains a large image fo R Kelly on the cover of the magazine. In my opinion this magazine, from the cover, will appeal more to boys as the colours are duller and the image seems more serious which (for some reason) I have decided would appeal more to boys, perhaps teenagers.

From the coverlines I have noticed that most of the stories are focused around male artists which could again appeal the magazine more to boys but this could also be what appeals it to girls too as some male artists appeal to both genders and this could be the first thing that turns the target audience around.

The name of this magazine is 'Vibe' which is a powerful word as it is an instinct and many people rely heavily on their instincts to make decisions. The fact that the magazine is named this suggests that it is emphasising how important it is to do what you think is right as at the bottom of the page there is a coverline which reads "The genius king of R&B has yet to go to trial. Is he Inncoent? Guilty? or guilty of rich, black and famous" which suggests a crime of some sort whether as sarcasm or the truth isn't known until the magazine is opened, and as many crimes are committed by opportunity and not premeditated the presence of instincts and good or bad 'vibes' is what tells us when something is wrong.

The colour scheme for this magazine emphasises that the magazine is for both grils and boys and the grey background and red writing shows the boyish side of things and the yellow adss more colour to the magazine and, in my opinion, it is more likely that a girl will like the yellow and the boy would like the red and the grey. However, the fact the cover contains more grey and red suggests that the target audience for this magazine was initially boys.

Amy Winehoue - Rock/Pop

The cover of this magazine is different to the others above as it contains more of a neutral colour scheme. I believe this is because of the image of Amy Winehouse used on the cover as the music she does doesn't apply to one paticular gender it is mixed and can appeal to both.

From the image alone you can see that she has numerous tattoos visible on her arms and the way she is posing is partly intimidating as the tattoos could represent trouble or violence as, sterotypically, certain tattoos can show that someone has been in trouble or is dangerous therefore it could give someone the idea that the magazine contains stories on crime or victims of crime.

The colours used, red and blue, are rather neutral colours as both genders like these colours therefore the magazine could, potentially, appeal to both gendres which is something publishers aim for, they try to make their magazines appeal to as many people as possible in order to see as many copies as possible.

The barcode for this magazine is very small and hidden away in the bottom left hand corner. I believe this was done in order ot be able to include as much informationas possible on the cover to make it more visible and eye-catching as with the neutral colours it may not be noticed as easily. From the image above I am unable to dtermin the price of this magazine although there is some writing in the top right hand corner as well which is where the price may have been palced so the customer knows it instantly and therefore knows instantly if they will be able to purchase the magazine, it may also contain the issue and date which magazines do so customers know which version of the magazine they are thinking of purchasing, it also tells customers it an issue is a new one or older one.

Contents Pages

John Lennon - Classic Rock

Although the genre of John Lennon's music is 'classic' rock it was a contents page closetst to my genre I could find.

From my first glance I instantly say that this page is very dull and dark because of the chosen colour scheme. The black background is very dark and the wiritng has been colourd white in for the audience to be able to read it. To the right hand side of this page some images have been included, these images are in colour and some contain bright colours such as yellow which slightly balances the dark and light senses of this page.

In my opinion the image on this page have been added randomly and may not have any significant meaning to the acutal page as there is a picture of a bum which, in my opinion, holds no repsentation to the music industry.

A line has been drawn down the centre of the page, on the left there are the main stories within the magazine and to the right, next to the images are smaller stories. I believe this was done in order to separate the more important stories from the less important ones as not only have they been separated but the stories to the right have also had the size decreased emphasisng the fact that they aren't as important.

Also, on the left hand side of this line, the main 'catchy' stories are in larger writing and beneath each one is a smaller sized sentence summarising the stories contents. This is conventiaonl to a magazine as every amagzien I have seen had included a small summary beneath the stories title. I have done this in my magazine as I believe it would make my magazine more conventional to a real one.

Unknown

Unfortunately this contents page is from an unkown magazine which makes it slightly harder to say if it is suited to my genre as I don't know if the magazine it is from is suited to my genre. As this is the case I am going to make a judgement on what I can see instead of what magazine it came from.

This contents page is similar to the John Lennon one above through the dark colour scheme as both of these contents pages contain black backgrounds. Also, another similarity between these two pages are that both have white writing except this contents page also has writing in different colours. The story names and page numbers are in white but the stories are split into differetn sections such as jazz and classic which suggests that this page comes from a magazine which doesn't focus on one genre but has adapted itself to discuss many different genres. This, in a way, makes this magazine suited to my genre as it discusses a variety of them meaning it may also discuss R&B and Rock.

The sections the stories are split into have been given a coloured sub-heading doing this will allow the reader to knwo which stories focus around which music genre so they can easily find the genre they wish to read about.

Once thing I am determined to change on my contents page is the background colour as I want mine to be lighter so I plan to colour the background white, the opposite to the contents above as this was one of the suggestions made in some feedback I was given as I was told it would make the magazine more conventional to a real magazine.

Austin Independent - Approx Rock

This contents page is unusual as it has been created using a variety of colours not just sticking to certain ones.

The main image to this page is on the left hand side and is of guitars. The image seems to have been given a cioloured effect in order to make it stand out more which I believe it has done. The use of so many colours has made it eye-catching and easy to see.

The title of this page is 'contents' although the title of the magazine has also been included and is in larger, more visisble writing. The magazine's name is written in pink and on a black background it is the first thing you notice. Below this title is the image mentioned above. This fits in as I believe this image is the image used on the magazine's front cover or it is similar as the way the title has been positioned suggests that it wasn't made specifically for the contents page but already existed.

The actual information included on the contents page has been palced separately on the right hand side of the page, on this section of the page the background colour has changed and is now white which empahsises the fact that the information is completely separate to the image. The fact that this has been done makes me think that the publisher was trying to show that the information on this page does not relate to the image.

Also, alhough the image is small I believe that on the whte section of the contents page in the top left hand corner is an image of a face. This seems to have been changed slightly in colour context as the image seems almost green. My own opinion is that this image could be the magazine editer or publisher as some magazines include this in their magzazines along with a message to the audience which is something I tried to do but as you can see from the image below this did no seem to work and resulted in the removal of this section and a final contents page (right) which seemed to closer to a real magazine.

Drummer - Rock

This contents page is unique in it's own way. Unlike the page above there are four colours the magazine has used which suggests that this is the magazine's house style. These colours are red, white, black and grey.

The main image on this page has been kept smaller than in magazine's I have seen, this could be because beside the image is where the information has been positioned. Also there is more information placed at the bottom fo this page in a red box which is labelled regulars showng that these are the stories included in most issues whereas the information above is all about this week or months new and esclusive stories.

Although there is one medium sized image there are also two smaller images beneath it, next to the regulars information, in my opinion this is too music to hav on one page as everything seems too close together as if as much as possible has been squeezed onto one page. This feeling is also given at the top of the page as there are further images and i believe that a magazine can ruin its appeal if there is too much on one page as it can be overwhelming.

At the top of the page is the magazines title ' Drummer' and the medium image suits this as it is of a man on the drums showing that this image may be part of the house style as it is suited to the magazines title and genre which is rock. As there is a large image of a man on the drums there is also a smaller image of drums next to the title which again suggests that the image is related to the house style of the magazine.

In the top left hand corner of the page is another red box which contains the words '01/07 contents' which shows the reader that this is the contents page but also the date of which this issue of the magazine was issued. Many, if not most, magazines do this in order to alert the audience to the date of the magazine so that they know whether they are buying the latest version or older one, this date could potentially make or break a purchase as many people want the newer versions of items which is why the date is an important item.

Double Page Spread

Kaiser Chiefs

This double page spread is unique in it's own right as it is the first article I have seen that has positioned and image across the two pages and placed the article over the top. I have to admit that this idea has worked really well for this article, it may be because the band the article is focused on has five members which has allowed at least two members to be on each page which meant that the image did not look as though it had been squeezed into the space given.

The article is also a lot smaller than I would have thought double page spread articles to be. the way it is spread out seems this way but if you look at the writing and think if it had all been on one page it would have filled the page. I believe that it is the layout of the article that makes the amount of writing appear deceptive to the naked eye.

I have also noticed that the article only contains one large quotation which is on the right hand page and also a sub-heading on the left hand page which is also larger giving the reader and idea of what the article is about before they begin to read. The large quotation is a convention all magazines have in at least one story of the magazine and it gives the audience an idea of what the stories focus is like i.e. an insight into their personality.

As the image takes up two pages the name of the band has also been positioned across the two pages. I believe this was done in an attempt to make sure that all of the readers knew that all five people in the image were in fact part of the band as there are a larger number of people and as this is the case some of the members have had to walk behind the others which could suggest that they are a member of the public or random stranger and not part of the band but with this large and easily noticeable name, 'Kaiser Chiefs' across the middle of the image makes it just as easy to know who is a member of the band.

Guitar - Rock

When researchign eisintg texts I tried to find as many as possible that followed the specification i.e. a doubl epage spread and this one seemed to be right although it isn't about a specific artist it is about instruments which is still on the music side of things meaning that this double page spread still followed the criteria for the texts we had to research.

This double page spread is very simple, it has the title across the top, one large image and a box which may contain a larger quote on one side of the page. The only thing i can really say about this article is that it talks in depth as the story covers both sides of the page whereas my article only covered one side of A4 and a large image covered the other side.

it was the large image that told me immediately that this article was about music which is a good qulaity tot have in a story as it grabs your eye.

My impressions from this magazine article is that the magazine itself not just the article is very plain as if this wasn't the case th article woul match the actual magazine, this is called house style and can give someone an idea from the whole magazine from looking at one section of it.

Overall the details of this article are simple and in my opinion extremely boring as people want to read an article that is different and unique and from my first impressions of this article the magazine if very boring and anything but unique.

Questionnaires

I also had to use primary research in order to learn the kinds of things my target adience wanted included in the magazine as people are only going to read a magazine that appeals to their tastes. I acquired this information using questionnaires (example below, it is the questionnaire i used to calculate the results) and asking people from my target audience to fill in these questionnaires so that I can get their opinions. By doing these questionnaires it helped me select my magazines title, colour scheme and genre which are three of the main things to consider when creating something like a magazine as you have to make sure your design is going to appeal to the right target audience.

From the questionnaires I also found out whether i was doing my magazine would be about a band or a solo artist and I am personally glad that more of my respondents preferred solo artists as I already had an idea in mind of who I was going to put on the front cover. I also asked different people from different age categories so I can have a rough idea of the favourite music genres in each age group in order to try and make my magazine appeal to as many people as possible, although I am aiming my magazine paticularly at teenagers.