Magazine Publishers

Location/ Props/ Costumes

For my magazine I will need to take many photographs to use on the front cover, contents page and feature article. I am going to use my friend as my model for these photos, she will be pretending to be the singer of a female fronted pop rock/ pop punk band. I will take the photographs in a studio to create a more serious look that will be needed for my magazine, I think that taking the photographs in a studio is the better option as there will be no distractions from the person who I have chosen to photograph, they will be the main focus. I won’t need any props or costumes for my photos as I want the person to be the main focus. The main image for my front cover will be a portrait style photograph really attract the reader’s attention. For the contents page I will include some smaller images and then for the feature article I will then take a variety of different images and choose the most suitable.

Draft 1 - Feature Article

Draft 1 - Contents Page

Draft 1 - Front Cover

Moodboard Analysis

Fonts

For this particular moodboard I experimented using a wide variety of fonts, typing out words that are associated with my magazine. Certain fonts stand out more than others because they are very bold and look as though they will suit the style of my magazine, however there are others that do not look like they will suit the style and genre of my magazine as they are not bold enough, look too childish or just generally don’t look as though they would be included on a magazine of the style of my choice.

Colours

This moodboard includes the four colours that I will use on my magazine and the various different shades that each colour can be found in. the colours that I have chosen to use are white, black, red and blue. White and black can only be found in one shade therefore I will only use those shades whereas red and blue can come in various different shades, both light and dark. Personally I prefer the darker shades of these colours and I think they will suit the genre and style of my magazine well, however I will have ensure that the shades aren’t too dark so they can still be seen if places on a black background. These colours are also quite sophisticated and aren’t too childish so will suit my target audience.

Planning Moodboards: Colours

Planning Moodboards: Fonts

Original Ideas Statement

The magazine I have to chosen to create is a music magazine with the genres pop punk/ pop rock/ alternative. The magazine will be specifically about music and those particular genres. The target audience for my magazine is teenagers/ late teens, both male and female. I have chosen to produce a magazine of this style because I listen to a lot music that comes under those genres and read a lot of magazines with pop punk/ rock genres/styles, therefore I know a bit about what is found these types of magazines and the genres of music themselves. Choosing a magazine of this style means that I have to include artists/ bands that fit under these genres and style my magazine around things that people from my target audience would like and enjoy.

Questionnaire Results Analysis

Questionnaire Results Analysis

My questionnaire was completed by a wide variety of people, with similar music tastes and interests. This will hopefully allow me to produce a product that they will all like.

The first question was simply ‘do you read any music magazines?’ the majority of people who answered my questionnaire said that they do read music magazines, this means that there will be people who will want to read my magazine.

Question 2 asked what genre/s of music people listen to. The results from this questionnaire were all fairly similar and the most popular genres of music were: pop punk, pop rock and rock. These genres are also what I am going to base my music magazine around, therefore this means that there will be people interested in reading about that particular style of music.

One of the questions in my questionnaire asked what colours people are most drawn to when they look at a magazine cover. The most popular colours were: white, red, black and blue. This gives me an accurate idea as to what colours I should then use for my magazine.

The majority of people who answered my questionnaire said that they would like a magazine to be published monthly, this shows me that the magazine I create should be published monthly (if it was going to be sold).

Question 5 asked the audience how much they would be willing to pay for a magazine. The answer that received the highest score was £2, this tells me that that is the price I should sell my magazine for.

One of the questions I asked was ‘would including a free cd encourage you to buy a music magazine?’ The answer for this question was a unanimous yes. I think this is a nice feature to include with a music magazine.

Looking at question 7 the features that are most popular in music magazines are: competitions, tour dates, new albums and features on certain bands/ artists. This tells me exactly what I should include in my magazine to attract the most readers.

Question 8 asked the audience whether they download or buy the physical copy of a magazine. The majority of people buy the physical copy however, there were quite a few people who download magazines, this means that I will include an app on which you can download my magazine on.

The answers for question 9 show me that the majority of people do not look out for advertising in magazines however it is needed so that companies can get their products out and persuade people to buy them.

The final question on my questionnaire shows me that the main image on my front cover should be of just one band/ artist. 

Questionnaire Results

Moodboard Analysis

Moodboard Analysis

Target Audience

The product that I have chosen to make will be a pop punk/pop rock/ rock/ alternative music magazine, I have chosen to base my product around these genres, as they are what I enjoy listening to and know a fair bit about as I read these types of magazines.

On this Moodboard I have chosen many bands that fit into these genres and other products that I believe people who like that sort of music would also like. The bands that feature on my moodboard all link together by the fact that their audience/ fans are all roughly the same. These are the type of bands that I will base my product around and will include that particular style of music in my magazine.

The products I included on my moodboard are those that I think the audience of my magazine would use, this includes items such as phones, computers and certain social media websites e.g. Twitter and Instagram. I have also included items such as clothing brands and shoes. The target audience for my product is teenagers/ late teens, both male and female.

Advertisers

The products I have chosen to advertise in my magazine are those I believe my target audience would want to know more about/ possibly buy. I have included clothing brands that I think my target audience would buy/ wear clothes from. I also included certain bands that have new albums out and I think would advertise/ promote them or their up and coming tours in my magazine. There are camera brands, music shops, phone companies and social media brands also featured, as that is what my target audience like. One part of my moodboard features festivals, concerts/ concert venues and train companies, I have chosen to include these on here because many people from my target audience will attend concerts at these venues and will need transport to get to them so the train company may include offers etc.

Advertisers Moodboard

Target audience moodboard

Preliminary task contents page

Preliminary task front cover

College Magazine Analysis

student magazine questionnaire results

Student Magazine Questionnaire Results

The first question that was asked on my questionnaire was ‘do you read the student magazine?’ looking at the results from this questionnaire I can see that 90% of the people that answered said that they do not read a student magazine. This means that the product would most likely not work, however I am going to use the results from the following questions in this questionnaire to see if I can make a product with content that people will want to read.

The next question asked what three colours would attract you to a magazine cover; the top five colours from this list were red, black, white, blue and green. When making my front cover for the magazine I will take on board this information to come up with a suitable colour scheme that incorporates around three/ four of these colours. This is important to do so as these are the main colours that people said they would like to see on the cover.

Another question asked was ‘when would you like the magazine to be published’, the majority of people said that they would like the magazine to be published monthly, this means that there will be around 10 issues made each year. However ‘termly’ got the same percentage as monthly so this question wasn’t entirely conclusive.

A question that also didn’t have a very clear answer was how much should we charge for the college magazine. The answers weren’t very clear as most people either said they would pay nothing or 50p. When I make the magazine I think I will charge 50p, as there will be ‘freebies’ inside.

The subjects that have been decided as the content for the magazine are: music, food, fashion, revision advice and competitions. These were chosen by the people who answered the questionnaire, so including these in the magazine would hopefully mean that more people would buy the magazine.

An incentive that was extremely popular was including free vouchers/ offers in the magazine, 95% of people said that they would be interested if these were in the magazine.

70% of people said that they would like to see either a student or a piece of students work feature on the front cover, this could include art, photography or graphics students.

Magazine Industry Information

Music magazine analysis