Interview

I interviewed 2 Sixth Form boys with questions featured in my questionnaire as part of my audience research. Below is the video of said interview.

Audience Analysis

I gave a total of 25 Sixth Formers my questionnaire to fill in. I have the results for the multiple choice answer questions below in the form of pie-charts





Male or Female Results
MALE = 14
FEMALE = 11


How much you would pay results
UNDER £3 = 15
£3 TO £5 = 3
£5 TO £7 = 5
£7+ = 2


How many magazines do you purchase a year results:
LESS THAN 4 A YEAR = 4
4 TO 7 A YEAR = 6
7 TO 10 A YEAR = 4
10 TO 12 A YEAR = 8
13+ A YEAR = 1



Do you regularly attend gigs results
YES = 23
NO = 2




What is your preferred genre results
ROCK = 8
INDIE = 7
POP = 2
GOTH/METAL = 6
RAP = 2





How many gigs do you attend a year results
LESS THAN 3 A YEAR = 3
4 TO 7 A YEAR = 10
8 TO 12 A YEAR = 7
13+ A YEAR = 5

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

1. What is your gender?

� Male
� Female

2. How many magazines would you say you purchase a year?
򟴾 Less than 3
� 4 – 7
� 8 -12
� 13 +

3. How much would you pay for a magazine?
� Under £3
� £3 - £5
� £5 - £7
� £7 +

4. What stands out most for you in a front cover?
(please write in the box below)










5. What parts of a magazine interest you the most?
� Front Cover
� Interviews
� Quizzes
� The newest news
� The pictures
� Other
If other please state in detail your preference in the box below








6. What is your preferred genre?
� Rock
� Indie
� Pop
� Goth/Metal
� Rap

7. Do you regularly attend gigs?
� Yes
� No

8. If so, please tick how often you go to gigs
� Less than 4 a year
� 4 – 7 a year
� 7 – 10 a year
� 10 – 12 a year
� 13+ a year

5x Double Page Spread Analysis

Double-Page Spreads

I couldn't upload the Kerrang Double Page Spread




1. Kerrang Green Day Double Page Spread

The most dominating thing in this double-page spread is the band name. It’s big red messy writing against a black background. This gives it a more sinister look, with a very simplistic colour scheme of red, black and white. Along with the scribbled coloured-in holes of some letters to make it look messy and hand-written, it gives the page an uglier, punkish feel.

It has a small introduction quickly summing up who the band are, why they are being written about and a rough idea of what the following columns will be based on. It makes use of sans serif font to emphasise that the band and the theme of the article are anything but fancy or posh. The article content is far from posh, so it is used appropriately.

The photos to the left of the spread are all in a black and white filter apart from the bottom left hand corner one which is red and black. This doesn’t stray from the colour scheme that I’ve mentioned and gives them an older look to them for the article which is about the history of lead singer of Green Day.

The article starts with a huge capital I, accompanying the black background to make it look like a big, threatening letter. This is adding to the nastiness that is being portrayed through colour schemes adding to the massive letter.

It has quite a blocky style, with the first page on the left being very image dominant, other than that it is a very aesthetically pleasing double-page spread.

2. Mixmag Double Page Spread

I like what the magazine has done with the photograph on this double page spread – highlighting the band member who the article is about and fading the images of the other band members. The serious expressions give the impression they are a serious band and this is serious topic. I think this instantly draws the reader in and you can see straight away what the article will be about. I also like how the article itself is positioned on the far right, and continues onto the following pages, and I like the use of arrows (chevrons) at the beginning. This double page spread also includes a pull quote from the article, and it has been highlighted in black with white writing. The magazine’s questions have been highlighted in bold to make it easier to determine which are the questions and which are the artist’s answers. The standfirst has been positioned underneath the title.

3. Q Double Page Spread

I really like how this double page spread has taken the main colour from the photo, being green, and used it in the heading at the top of the page. I think this is a pleasing and simple effect. I like that the magazine has chosen to use a photo of the artist laughing, I think this shows that they are relaxed and friendly and that the interview will be the same. I like how the article fits neatly onto the page, I think it looks well presented and pulled together. The title and standfirst are centred whereas the column is split neatly into 3 sections on the page. I also like how they’ve used a drop cap at the beginning of the article. The standfirst on this page is underneath the title. A pull quote has been used at the bottom right hand corner of the photograph

4. NME Double Page Spread

I like how this double page spread has split the two pages in half, with one side showing just the photograph, and the other showing the writing. I like how simple it is, using just a few colours (black gold and white) and a font that’s not too fussy. The standfirst stands out by being in a different colour to the rest of the text. I like the simple and natural picture used, and I like that it has been taken outside rather than in a studio. The concrete pillars behind them give the reader an idea of the band’s image (serious rock music). The image looks as though it has been thought out as it shows a good composition, (two band members standing back to back and the other two framing them) it shows a symmetry and is quite pleasing to the eye. I think the title on this double page spread looks insignificant to the rest of the article and in comparison to the image.

5. Atmosphere Double Page Spread

At stand first the first image you come across is the double page poster style image of dizzee rascal, maintaining the serious bad boy image presented on the cover, these images also give the impression that he hasn’t let the fame go to his head as the settings used aren’t glamorous locations, rather they are street locations which link with the Hip’Hop style of Dizzee’s music. This double page spread is mainly image lead and only contains one page of writing. The article is presented in two straight columns, which is quite bland considering what the double paged image of the dominant article of Dizzee Rascal. This also contributes to the stylish tidy house style of the magazine. The main headline ‘Dizzee Heights’ also uses a direct quote ‘ for me there's no grime without drum and bass’ the text used resembles that of spotlights, which then links to ‘Dizzee heights’, as in he as come so far he doesn’t realise how high he has gotten in the music industry, and that he is still ‘down to earth’ which the readers will relate to. A black and white effect has been added to the double page image. However, here it is used to emphasise the green headline and to make Dizzee look more serious and ‘bad’. The green continues in the images on the forth page with the colours of Dizzee’s hat and shirt. I think that Dizzee would be happy with this article as it shows that he is still appreciative of Drum and Bass and other music genres and that he hasn’t let the stardom go to his head. Which is the image he portrays.

Contents Pages

1. Q Contents Page
2. Q contents has included two images but they have used a different way of presenting them. They have split the picture under where they feature, THE COURTEENERS is under the features heading because the page number is written in bold red and the picture of NICK CAVE is under the heading Q REVIEW and its been made into a contents of it’s own as it had the picture and then is had a load of pages a page number separate to the others, they have also included a small sub title saying ‘The world’s biggest and best music guide’ this makes Q’s contents really neat and easy for readers to navigate there interests as they can look under the headings a find what they want to go straight to and read of it helps them to pinpoint what the interview, review, story etc comes under. Q magazine haven’t gone for the usual layout of other magazines which have pages set out under many different headings, Q have stuck to just two; every month and features which makes this very simple for reader’s. Features are what’s on offer in that months issue and under every month are regular articles and pages which obviously appear each month and it’s separated so readers can easily find them because some readers who buy this regularly might have a favourite page and because it’s under Every Months heading then it’s easily navigated. Q magazine features a special each issue which draws in readers interest because Q magazine has a different ‘special’ each time other examples are that Q has had a section on the contents page with a box round it like the one on this issue, they have had ‘the Lennon issue’, and ‘100 greatest albums ever’ and this seems to be a regular thing in which they feature an extra for readers to look forward to each week. This link is an example that I’ve found

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/35/67483401_87cebc49b8.jpg?v=0

This contents comes across as being very organised and this fits with the house style of the magazine which is contempory because this is a very British indie magazine. The colour scheme is red, white and black which is also used for the logo.

Kerrang Contents Page

2. My overall impression is that it the layout and design is very cluttered, bold and loud. This is done purposely as it attracts their target market of rock music as a clean cut contents page would look out of place in the magazine. In the left hand corner there is a red box highlighting to the reader that they can get “K Delivered to their door” underneath this there is a number for readers to subscribe to this offer. The reason why they have used such a bright red is to attract readers to read and sign up to their exciting new offer.How are words used in the contents?As the contents is mainly imaged based there are few words, however they are used in clear, bold, block capitals to emphasise the angriness of the magazine as the target market is the genre of rock music. Also in a smaller font there is the issue number and cover date, this is to remind the reader what issue this is even though its been published on the front cover. Pose, style hair, make up There are a number of different images on the contents page, each display the image of rockers, this is connoted through the angry, threatening poses and the rebellious tattoos.On the right hand side of the page there is a long column that highlights the main features included in this week’s issue. The features are numbered which correspond to the number of the picture this is effective as it gives the reader a taste of what is to to come without giving to much away forcing the reader to read on. Small subheadings are used and these are shown in a bright yellow font, this is to show their importance by using subheadings and dividing the magazine up they have made it much easier for the reader to find exactly what they are looking for. This is an important convention for a contents page. Readers do not want to be wasting valuable reading time on finding out what page a specific article is on. Therefore by dividing it all up they are getting rid of the risk of confusion and time wasting. The images are dominant on this contents page, this is positive as it give the reader a lot to look at and take in whilst looking attractive and not dull by just having all text, however it can also look a little bit over done and messy. DesignLike many magazines, on the right hand corner there is a quick note from the Editor. This is alongside a picture of the front cover. In this short note the editor is talking about why Biffy Clyro (the main people on the cover) is included in this issue of the magazine. The type of language used is chatty and informal. “We Heart Biffy Clyro” they are using taboo words. This is effective as it relates to the target audience and offers a more personal approach to the reader as they feel they can connect and relate to how the editor is writing. It’s considered conventional if at the end the editor signs the note as it builds a friendship between the reader and editor. At the top of the page is a black box with a contrasting bold yellow font so as to make the page more noticeable to the reader and evidently shows them what the page is about. The colour scheme of this page is yellow, black and white. The yellow and black work in reverse of each other which makes the page look more artistic.

3. NME Contents Page

The title at the top of the magazine says ‘contents’ so the audience immediately recognise what the page tells them. The writing is in capital white letters against a dark background, there’s no mistaking what the page is about. The list of contents is displayed on the right hand side of the magazine, which are ‘News’, ‘Radar’, ‘Reviews’, ‘Live!’ and ‘Feature’. Its unusual for other magazine contents pages to do this, they only usually have ‘Regulars’ and ‘Features’. They then advertise a deal on the magazine where if you subscribe and pay less than the standard charge. On the left hand side is a letter from the editor with a kind of camouflaged lettering for the title ‘Touring Special’ in bold, like the list of contents and the masthead. The picture at the top reinforces the writing below it.

4. MixMag Contents Page

Mixmag have used a double page spread contents page. The contents is mainly picture led. Very image dominant. The pictures used are portraying a kind of youth scene, with only younger people shown on the contents pages, generally having a good time. The white writing against the black background gives the magazine a kind of cool underground style. The images are on the outer sides of the magazine rather than to the centre of the page. This is good as it is the first thing the eye sees when a person is looking through the magazine, so makes the magazine more appealing to its audience. The images themselves reinforce the theme of clubbing that this magazine creates. The list of contents include ‘VIP’, ‘features’, ‘fashion’, ‘tunes’, ‘tech, ‘Don’t stay in!’ and ‘Regulars’. The VIP line on the contents makes the magazine sound even more cooler as they have special access to something other people can’t get.

5 Spin Contents Page

I think this contents page has also kept with the magazine’s house style. I like how the image used covers the whole page and the writing is written over it. The photo itself is good because it shows the artist’s image as being fun and whimsical (holding a ukulele above her head as if to hit someone in front of her – the use of a pink ukulele and the smile on the artist’s face makes it seem less threatening). I also like how they’ve written a bit about the features under their titles and made things easy to find, such as the main article is highlighted in a box. They’ve also used a pull quote from the main article at the top of the page.

5X Front Cover Analysis

1. NME Vampire Weekend
   
   The first thing that is noticeable about this front cover is the title in middle of the page. It’s huge and space consuming. Every other band that’s mentioned is in a more inferior position with a more inferior font-size. It will immediately relate to any fans of Vampire Weekend immediately. The band members even fill most of the page. This suggests that the band themselves are the most important implement of this months issue. It doesn’t matter what the magazine is, the important thing is that they have information about Vampire Weekend. This isn’t very good to draw in people other than fans though.

The colour scheme of the photo and band members wearing sunglasses is very loud, bright and happy. This helps the magazine stand out because it is a much “happier”, pleasant sort of colour scheme, which acts on the brain, determining that the magazine and articles are happy. It’s also good because bright colours draw in younger minds.

They are pulling jokey faces to make the front cover seem even more light-hearted and friendly. It gives the band a friendly and likable persona.

All of the fonts are serif in this front cover, giving it a more trendy and youthful look about it. This will additionally draw in people that are young as well as Vampire Weekend fans.

2. NME 10 Year Anniversary Edition

Unlike any conventional cover the title is placed in the top left cover of the cover, which is known be NME’s trademark.
As the name has been abbreviated as it is only three letters, if it was placed in the middle the space around it would look too bare. So by placing it in a corner it still stands out, yet has that sense of belonging.
Contrasting with the monochrome colour scheme, they have still kept the title in red, but have incorporated bits of the colour scheme by outlining it in white, which subtly ties it all in together.
The font is also in a serif font which keeps the magazine youthful as it looks more laid back and carefree, which the readers will be looking for as a magazine is for entertainment purposes.
As it is a special issue, celebrating 10 years of NME as a magazine, the main image isn’t a usual NME photo shoot like image, but a montage of inspirational artists and bands, combined to make one image. This has then been changed to black and white and enhanced, to tie it all in together.
Which I think works well, as they have selected the most influential artists of the decade and created a distinctive, edgy front cover image.

Overall all the features on the front cover is kept minimal and there is a sense of order and structure.
The colour scheme is mainly monochrome with the occasional splash of red, used in some fonts.
The red brings a sense of British-ness to the magazine and as it is a special issue, all the images are in black and white as it is a celebration of music and if all the individual images were in separate colours, some may come across as more superior than others.
The layout of the cover is also successful as from the masthead your eye line follows along to the right and down to the middle where the cover lines are, creating a continuous focal point.

3. Kerrang HIM

Black and white are the main colours used, I personally do not find them attractive but those are colours their readers like and enjoy. It adds to a gothic/rock sort of overtone that makes the image in the middle and the magazines on a whole seem dark. Every part of the magazine front cover is written in Serif font apart from the HIM part. They seem to have personalised the cover to match their logo of gothic font and give off a further implication of darkness and Goth-like traits. This suits the magazine quite well considering the genre.

The Hammer Guns N Roses Front Cover

It’s very cluttered and packed with things everywhere. It looks disorganised and crazy which suits the music genre. Layout of Magazine It has a skyline, with a well-known bands featured in it. Also has an amp on the front cover which shows what kind of music is it, it’s to be played loud so you’d need an amp. The third left has only got a few of the most important things in it because they will have an established fan base who will pick it up as soon as they see the name. Fonts and typography The ‘Metal Hammer’ title is almost smashed which is fitting with the music genre. There’s lots of reds and blacks which suit the feel of the music in the magazine

There is more writing than photos on this front cover, not very image dominant. This makes it obvious that this magazine adopts quite a blocky style. One of the photos overlaps the title which makes it seem like he’s interrupting and this and his pose shows his attitude and gives an idea of the music he makes. The photos are quite dark, two are almost just black and white which again is typical of this music genre. This magazine has a different colour scheme to the NME as there are a lot of black and dark colours, this is to meet the expectations of the reader. This magazine is aimed at the original fans of metal and rock music, it has an older demographic. This magazines unique selling point is “the horror.” It is different, dark and almost scary and it’s also one of the original magazines for metal music.

5. Rolling Stone Britney Front Cover

This main feature is an image of Britney is very natural and she looks really pretty and she also looks very happy, this makes a magazine really interesting when there is a celebrity that looks natural and the image doesn’t seem like its been over edited. She isn’t wearing brightly coloured clothes so they haven’t made it overly stand out. They have used neutral colours for the colour scheme and this magazine comes across as a contempory magazine and it is very different from the NME covers I analysed. Her position is also natural and it seems as if she’s laughing at something. This magazines house style is based around the fact it’s a American music, politics and popular culture magazine. This magazine deals with mainly music and solo artists or bands but it also includes popular issues arising around the time this magazine gets published and it also deals with a lot of film stars. The title is two words written in full compared to NME which are the initials of the actually name. The font of this title is very simple and again in neutral colours, they’ve gone for a bold title, which stands out on the background behind it. The style and font changes on the words Rolling Stone as they tend to make the title fit with the colour schemes on the features for that magazine. This magazine also has no line above it with more info unlike NME which says that the magazine people would rather make there own decisions about this magazine. Rolling stone magazine I have also noticed have mixed certain issues which will target all audiences not just people who want to know about music an example is the title ‘A Sci-Fi Beyonce’ this isn’t a usual title you would see about Beyonce as she is an R’n’B superstar. This magazines target readership is aiming at all different types of people and I think that they are wanting to educated people about the music business and stars etc but I also think that it’s a way of keeping people up to date with more serious issue like political press etc and other popular issues within the country of America. This magazine hasn’t used a direct pull quote but they have added almost an answer to something, as if someone as asked something about Britney and so they answered yes she can! Then there’s Britney Returns underneath and this simple line is the selling line for the main feature in it’s self, because people are going to want to read about Britney’s return as before she had a bad reputation. All the features of this magazine are set out on the left third of the magazine because this magazine isn’t magazine you would find in small corner newsagents as it isn’t a usual gossip mag etc and so everything being on the left third will make the magazine get noticed when stacked on a shelf in a large book/magazine shop because magazines are stacked across not down. Also it’s eye catching that they have added THE HOT ISSUE highlighted in red and written in capitols as if this is a must read issue especially when it’s based around Britney and the popular Twilight film. Another thing is that I really like how they’ve shown the shadow behind Britney making this photo even more realistic.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

For my preliminary task I have made a front page and a contents page for a hypothetical school magazine. To help me with this I analysed other magazine covers and contents pages, one of which called Fusion.

I took certain conventions from it and ignored others because it had certain things appealing about it for a school magazine and others that weren’t. For instance, the front cover of my school magazine mimics the choice of image that Fusion made where there’s a big picture of someone’s face with a filter on it to make it look outstanding and eye-catching. I also tried hard to make it so that the text would stand out the exact amount I wanted it to, enough to be seen but not draw attention away from the main picture. I don’t think Fusion did a good job at this because in certain parts of the front cover there would be text in the way of the picture in very bright colours. I remedied this by giving the text I want people to see when they first glance a brighter colour, and the text that’s less important dark red text which can be read, but doesn’t draw attention away where attention is due.

The main target for this task was school kids, be it teen or toddler. I made the front cover picture the picture of a fictional rapper to appeal to a younger generation and I added a sympathetic agony uncle to attract girls, because agony aunt/uncle sections in magazines are quite popular throughout the female genre. As far as class is concerned I tried to make it look more middle class for my pictures, with the exception of the rapper picture. Making the magazine seem more “posh” gives a school a better look, so it could attract people to take part in extra curricular activities. The better and more “posh” the magazine makes the school look the higher parents and other adults would think of the school at hand. That is how I target children, parents, teachers and individual genders.

The type of school that would distribute my magazine would be ones that want to advertise extra curricular activities in order to encourage their students, possibly a school that specialises in one particular extra curricular activity such as an acting academy or a football training school etc. I aimed the magazine to appeal to around 12-18 year olds as well, the age where people are less juvenile and would take in the content. That is what I would market my magazine to.

I would use the chance to get into the magazine itself as a marketing ploy to get people to buy my magazine. For example, in the contents and front page it states that there are things for people to participate in such as sports, writing in to the resident agony uncle, competitions etc. People would buy the magazine just to see if they had won anything or had been mentioned at all in the magazine. This would definitely get some people buying, along with the people who would buy the magazine for the content as well as to enter competitions and have their photo taken and featured in an article would get a respectable amount of people wanting to buy.

From my experiences so far I have learnt the complexities of taking the perfect picture, the art of photo manipulation in PhotoShop e.g. clone stamping people’s blemishes out of pictures, how to avoid bouncing light beams in pictures by choosing whether a flash or an artificial light is best suitable and many other useful tools. My experiences in this preliminary task have taught many lessons that I shall attribute into everything I do when it comes to my official coursework.

My Hand Drawn Designs

Here are my hand drawn designs

Final School Magazine Designs

Here are my final designs

My School Magazine Final Designs