Front Page Draft Feedback

Above is my first draft of my Music Magazine,below are the comments that were made on my magazine and what the rest of the class thought of as a whole.

Summary of comments;

• Needs a larger title 
• Bit too much space, i.e. too much background not enough text
• Need to reduce the feather on the main image so it is not as blurry.
• Make everything bigger basically.

What I plan to do with these critisisms;

I plan to enlargen the title to emphasis it more and appeal higher to the reader; it will lure them in. I am going to reduce the amount of space on my front cover by including more coverlines and text. As for the image I am going to reduce the feathering of the pixels so that it does not create as big of a blurring effect on the picture.

Doing these adjustments to the photo should help increase the target audience's opinions on the idea. From research I have found that all front pages for every music magazine have a great front page picture; there is no blur evident.  

Front Page Construction 

  

Coverlines I will use: 

'Leigh Peterson bursts onto the indie scene'

'Exclusive interview with Metronomy'

'Behind the scenes with Luke Black on his upcoming UK tour' 
'Win a Fender Newporter!' 
'Refrain's top 20 albums of all time!'
'Best indie artist of all time?' 

My front cover construction before class feedback

More PowerPoint presentations from Kane

Above is the construction of my Front cover; it is everything up until the class feedback on my current progress.

These are the videos I have made to show how I made my Front Cover

Title Research

This is the survey I handed out to members of my class. This will help me choose the most effective and appealing title for my magazine. As evident above 'REFRAIN' was chosen the most so is obviously more liked from within the classroom; it best suits the 'indie scenester' target audience that I am looking for.

After completing my first survey with the few people that were in my class; I decided my evidence was not reliable; I then went out and surveyed 25, regular magazine-readers from the 'indie scenester' tribe and got them to choose the title they preferred the most. The evidence of this survey is above, as evident you can see that 'REFRAIN' still gained the highest 'like factor' from all of the 8 different titles available. As this is the case, the title I am going to use on my magazine is 'REFRAIN.'

Indie Music Magazine Analysis

General

The 'Indie' music magazine is produced by its own company; Indie Music Mag. It is a music magazine, but also a fashion and style magazine. Both of these topics are highly associated with the 'indie scenester' tribe. The target audience is specifically for people in the 'indie scenester' tribe; the slogan is "for the individuals". The adverts inside are also tailored to best appeal to the target audience. Evidently the manifestation of the model on the front cover is an 'indie scenester' this appearance is only evident within this tribe; this would lure the reader right into the rest of the magazine. The photographer of the magazine would have dressed the subject appropriately to best suit the target audience. The ideal reader to this magazine according to uktribes website "The look – skinny jeans, Converse, stripes and Americana T-shirts – shifted for a while when nu-rave came on the scene, but has come full circle as the genre became too mainstream, reflecting the fickleness and speed of quick changing trends in music having an impact on fashion". 


The magazine is published weekly and costs £4.89 in the UK. It is distributed all over the world so it gives different pricing depending on what currency your country uses. The magazines weekly circulation in the UK is 8,422.Unfortunately, unless you are a paying subscriber you cannot access the data on the National Readership Survey's website, and due to the low scale of the magazine there is no data readily available.

The weekly revenue from the circulation of the magazine is £41,183.58 approximately, monthly this amounts to £164,734.32 and yearly £1,976,811.84. This tells us that the magazine is low key in regards to rival magazines for example 'NME' and 'Q'; they do not have as many magazines in circulation so therefore make less money.

The cover

The title is called INDIE because that is the genre and the target audience for the magazine; the title itself connotes all these things. It is a perfect title for this particular target audience, the possible buyer of the magazine knows exactly what genre it is, purely by looking at the masthead and the headline. The masthead of the magazine is very bold and outgoing; it requisites to the reader immediately. It is easy to read and fits in with the unified 'house style' very effectively.


The main image is as expected, very individual. The average person usually doesn't see someone like the model on the front cover everyday. The facial expression is antagonized, the photographer for the magazine has clearly instructed the model to pose like this in order to fit into the stereotypes associated with an 'indie scenester'. The subject is looking collinear into the camera, this formally address the reader and lures them into turning the page. The only part of the body other than the face showing is her hand, her hand is pressed tightly against her face and suggests a catechism feel about it.  Her clothing is very individual, someone wearing this is very rife. All these reach out to the stereotype because they are very indie and unusual in a way, idiosyncratic even.

There is barely anything promoted by the cover lines on the magazine, the only thing that is said is 'Don't don't you want me'; this could act well for the magazine though. By the use of minimum content being displayed, it entices the reader to get engrossed and read deeper into the magazine. No other images are displayed on the front cover, this is so the subject is completely consolidated and the reader is immediately focussing on her. It is quite a colourful magazine; although this is only through the picture used. The fonts on the front cover are either white or yellow, no other colour is used. The model's clothing and make up gives the magazine its colourful edge. The font is san-serif because it is more  informal, this helps create a rapport with the reader, rather than give them facts and figures. There are no graphics evident on the front cover of this magazine. The only language feature evident on the cover is the question to the reader 'Don't don't you want me', apart from this, there is no other text on the front cover of this magazine. The cover talks to the reader through the use of the question.

This cover doesn't look very similar to any other magazines that I have researched. It is a very devoid
front cover, there isn't really anything on it. This all goes towards the unique selling point (USP). the other unique selling point is the model herself, she is very peculiarly dressed and her make up is somewhat intrinsic, this helps differentiate between different magazines. This magazine also offers fashion, style and music; instead of just music. This will bring along a wider range of people and will encourage more people to purchase the magazine.


Inside
There are 64 pages within this magazine; an optimum amount for 'indie scenesters' as proven by my other research. Within these 64 pages there are 9 advertisements evident. These advertisments are all specifically tailored for the 'indie' stereotypes. There are 5 advertisments that are non musical or fashion related, one of these advertisments is a  health product - spot cover up; this would appeal higher to the younger, teenaged readers of the magazine. Just by looking at the advertorials of a magazine you can assume a target audience, the target audience judging on the advertisments in this magazine is for younger listeners of indie music or younger indie dressers.   


The magazine achieves a unified house style by keeping a congruent language throughout. It is written informally to create a contingency with the audience and keep them reading on further into the magazine. The use of drop down quotes and pull out quotes to create a consociation between the reader and the magazine. The colour schemes stay interminable throughout the magazine to keep a unified house style these also coincide with the graphical elements throughout the magazine. The house style is appropriate to the target audience because it is informal; just like an 'indie scenester' and it further proves this while studying the formality of the magazine. It assumes that the target audience prefer an informal bond with the magazine in contrast to a formal one.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

 

Example of an Indie Song

This is a great example of a song that an 'Indie Scenester' would like to listen too. It is a very popular song from within the genre and the band are very big at the moment themselves. From watching this music video you can study the band and the clothes they are wearing etc. Also just by listening to it you can gain a stronger feel on the 'Indie Scenester' tribe.

Bands like this would be evident within an indie magazine because they fulfill the target audience's expectations. The music video would not be evident in the magazine although it may be available through a hyperlink on an internet based magazine.

Colouring Of My Magazine Research

While researching and investigating into existing music magazine covers I have noticed that they all use roughly the same colouring for the formatting of the magazine and also the fonts; Red, White and Black - Kerrang! Also likes to use yellow. These colours are especially evident in the 'indie scenester' type of magazine that I have been enquiring. To the left is an example of a Kerrang! magazine using all these colours together in a successful manner.

This is proving to me that when designing my front cover, I should use these colours; especially white. They seem to appeal best to the 'indie scenesters' tribe so it would be a wise move to include them on my magazine. Also, these colours are clean and can look formal. Obviously when taking my photos i'll have to avoid wearing clothing with these colours on so they do not overlap and then become hard to read.

These are various other different editions of magazines that clearly use the red, white and yellow colour schemes. This are all different brands of magazine too, 'Vibe' 'NME' 'Q' and also 'Kerrang!'; The colouring is very popular in the 'Indie Scenester' target audience. This colour scheme is very popular because it stands out to the reader; these ablaze but adept colours attract the reader but also provide a formal outlook as well. These colours also collaborate with the background images the majority of the time, they do not ensconce within the clothing colours etc. 





 

Font Research

Currently, the font that appeals best to my target audience is probably Accidental Presidency. It is neat, tidy and quite formal, even though I will be writing my double page spread informally to create a rapport with the reader, I want my font to look formal. Most of the fonts above would probably be sufficient but I believe that the Accidental Presidency has the most character. Also, I believe that using san serif makes the magazine look more professional and formal. A serif font can look tacky and take away the 'professional' look to my magazine. Accidental Presidency is a great san serif font to use because it is formal and easy to read.

Survey On what Font to use

Current Music Magazines Fonts

As shown above are very popular music magazines that are still being published. They all appear to be using red, white and yellow in their logos, except the Billboard logo which uses a blue inside the 'A' this all though is its unique selling point (UPS). Each of them are using either red, white and yellow, either all three, two or just using one of them colours on there own. These are all very successful magazines so it would be worth while using these colours in the logo of my music magazine.

Photo Shoot Film Strip

These are all my intial photo's I took for my Front Cover, Contents and Double Page Spread. I took these all against a white background because my research has shown that a clear, white background is most effective for front cover pictures especially. Although, I do not have access to a fully equipped photoshoot studio like the big brand music magazine companies like NME and Q I have tried to effectively use the equipment I do have.

The Photo Shoot

The Photo Shoot

For the shots I made sure that I had a clear white background, the only white background I had access to was a wall, I also used a big worksite light to fully light up the subject and eliminate the shadows. The extra light and the flash of my camera dramatically improved the quality of pictures and also allows me to work with my pictures on photoshop more.

The camera I used for my media shoot was a Canon 550D, I had changed the lens from my usual 18-55mm lens to my 28-105mm lens, I did this because it allowed me to zoom more and also it lets in more light so I could adjust the aperture to suit best.

I used a fairly basic tripod for steadying my camera; this was because I had no access to a tripod of  a higher standard. The tripod I used was a hama star 61, although it may not be the best tripod on the market; it still effectively steadied my camera while taking the shots.

Also, to film the photoshoot I used A GoPro HD Hero, I used this because it has a very wide angle lens pre-built onto it. It has a 170 degree angle of view; this allowed me to fit me and the subject into the video, although the camera doesn't have too good aperture so the filming was bad in the low level light conditions I had at the time.








 The video light I used was a 500W portable halogen light it couldn't be plugged into the mains electricty to start with so I had to plug it into a transformer. I used this video light to effectively brighten up and enhance the subject. It also gave my camera more details to pick up when taking the shot.

 This is my actual camera and tripod set-up to the left, I haven't included the work site light because it ruined the  picture I was taking with my other camera - the brightness was blinding my camera, you couldn't see the set up very well.

Kerrang
Music Magazine Analysis

 General

Kerrang! is produced by a company called Bauer Media Group. The target audience I found on the bauer media groups website is; 'Our spectrum of readers. From the younger teenage readers who are more open to different genres of rock music - from EMO to Thrash etc, to the readers who respect Kerrang!' The magazine averagely costs about £2.20,it is also published weekly

Kerrang!'s weekly circulation is 42,077. Unfortunately unless you are a paying subscriber you cannot access the data on the National Readership Survey's website, although this is what The Guardian had to say about the Kerrang! website; 'Kerrang! may have lost focus in recent years, but the fact that it continues to thrive after three decades is cause for celebration' If all magazines in circulation were each purchased by one person then the weekly revenue would be £92,569.40, monthly this is £370,277.06

The Cover

The title is called that because it is onomatopoeic of the high pitched 'screech' that comes out from a guitar when strummed incorrectly or highly. This illustrates and works well with the target audience for the magazine.

All three subjects (Muse) all seem to be smiling and have a happy expression. They are all looking directly at the camera and the person on the far left is pointing at the camera; they are all similarly dressed - in a leather jacket each. This creates a rapport with the reader which is ideal for the specified target audience. They are juxtaposed to the right of the magazine; this allows the editor of the magazine to fill the left side of magazine with editorials. These editorials are put in place to beguile the readers of the magazine into reading further in.

Although, another 7 images appear on the cover of this edition. They are here to concede to the reader what is inside of the magazine without them even turning a page. The magazine states there are 5 posters inside, 'your ultimate rock hero revealed' , also different competitions that could be won.The colours of fonts are either black, white, red or yellow. Their is one unchanged font on the cover of this magazine; this helps to achieve a unified 'house style'. The cover talks to the reader by addressing it as if the reader was its friend. The magazine is written informally to create a rapport and a relationship with the reader, writing informally helps this happen because its as a friend would speak. The cover of this Kerrang! magazine is unlike any other music magazine, it offers a more rugged feel about it, there is barely any space left on the cover once the text and images are placed on. The unique selling point (USP) of this magazine is the dishevelled feel about it.  The cover is very trashy and messy, but this portrays the target audience bests likes.

Inside

On the inside of the magazine there are 63 pages,18 of these pages are advertorials, the advertisements include; Album releases, live concerts, music festivals, subscription deals and health care products. You can tell a lot about the target audience of a magazine by the adverts; these adverts are clearly assigned to appeal best to the readers of the magazine. Judging by the adverts that are contained within this magazine they are tailored to people who listen to rock music.

The artical topics inside the magazine include;

Rock Music News
Live Reviews
Posters
Featured Articles
Album Releases and Reviews
Gig Guide
The Ultimate Rockstar Test

There are 7 double page spreads inside this edition of the Kerrang! magazine which talk about a variety of topics varying from interviews with bands, to the line ups of upcoming concerts. Kerrang! achieves a unified house style in all of its magazines by keeping the fonts and the colour changes to a  minimum; there are only a few font changes and three main font colours - red, white and yellow. The language throughout the magazine is informal and the colour schemes remain similar - black, red, white and yellow. All graphical elements are very similar too, each drop down quote is formatted the same and images on a page are usually circled. The house style is appropriate to the target audience because it is very messy, which is stereotypically implied about the listeners of rock etc. it is appropriate because it helps back up and strengthen the stereotype.

 Current Indie Music Magazines

These are current magazines to which fit the 'indie' steriotype. The people in the 'indie scenester' tribe would most probably buy magazines like this and follow the specific music genres that are discussed inside the magazine. I will have to try and make a unified house style in correspondance with the rest of the magazines above, this will help develop my understanding of the target audience and what the target audience desire.

Personally, I prefer the Q magazine to all the rest. It is neat and tidy and very formal. The rest of the magazine follows on this same unified house style. I do not believe that a messy magazine will best suit my target audience, even the Kerrang! magazine clearly is liked by the 'indie scenesters' I've researched that they would rather read a magazine like Q with a neat and formal approach, as apposed to a trashy one.

Typical Indie Bands/ Musicians

General Research On My Selected Target Audience

Indie music is very big at the moment it has grown progressively over the last couple of years, and now it is starting to make its way into the 'mainstream' charts.

The website 'uktribes' had this to say about the typical Indie Scenester;

Typical Indie Scenester

'The Indie Scenester still likes to be ahead of the game when it comes to discovering new music. They still can’t quite shake off the skinny jeans though.'

 

 

I chose to use indie as my genre for my magazine because it is a big scene at the moment. I found this information out through studying the youth market on uktribes website. They are also keen on purchasing magazines as shown on the figure on the right. This type of youth market has one of the highest media consumptions for magazines than any of the other 'types' of youth.


Below is the comparison between the 'chavs' magazine consumption and the 'indie scenesters'






It would not be worth while trying to find the music genre for the steriotypical 'chav' because they barely ever puchase magazines; they have a light media consumption of magazines as shown above.

The 'indie' look  according to uktribes '– skinny jeans, Converse, stripes and Americana T-shirts – shifted for a while when nu-rave came on the scene, but has come full circle as the genre became too mainstream, reflecting the fickleness and speed of quick changing trends in music having an impact on fashion. Currently labels such as American Apparel, Topshop/Topman and Uniqlo are high street staples, with House of Holland appealing to more affluent members of the Indie Scenester crowd. '

The word 'indie' arouse from individual, 'indie scenesters' see themselves as individuals and don't follow the crowd when making there media related choices. Surprisingly enough there are a lot of individuals in the UK; all of which believe they are unlike any one else, this is a good reason to base my magazine on this type of genre. When an indie scenester finds out about a new band or new music, they like to brag about it, therefore getting my magazine out there.

An Interview with an 'Indie Scenester'

What is your name?

Leigh Peterson

Favourite band or artist?

Probably Metronomy or Bombay Bicycle Club, I like their smooth acoustic guitar sounds and their calm voices.

How many music magazines do you purchase or read? If any?

I try to purchase one every fortnight, it helps me keep up with the latest music info and tour dates etc.

Most read magazine? If any?

The music magazine that most appeals to be for content and formatting is Q, I do occasionally buy an NME magazine though.

Where do you shop?

I shop predominately at Topshop and Urban Outfitters; I like their unique style of clothing. If not I try charity shops or at Camden. 

An Interview with an 'Indie Scenester' 

What is your name?

Luke Black

Favourite band or artist?

I quite like Mikill Payne, he is a rapper who likes to tell subliminal messages behind his raps. I enjoy the meaning and thought behind his lyrics.

How many music magazines do you purchase or read? If any?

I rarely purchase a magazine as such, I like to purchase the magazines online, it gives a better user interface and easier access to the information.

Most read magazine? If any?

I like to read the NME magazine online, it is superbly laid out and easy to read.

Where do you shop?

I like to shop at Topman or H&M, although there is an online website called dopechef where I like to buy some of my clothing.

An avatar representation of an 'Indie Scenester'

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=7162003&height=133&width=100