Ideas For My Own Music Magazine

-          Genre

-          Examples of artists to be featured

-          Target audience (demographics: age, gender)

-          Reader profile (see the K! example in the media pack) You will need to take your own picture of the typical reader

-          Contents

I want my genre to be alternative. This is reflective of my own musical taste and gives my magazine a personal edge. 

Some examples of artists I would feature: Bastilles, Jake Bugg, The Wombats, Twin Atlantic, Lana Del Rey, Marina and the Diamonds, Birdy.

My target audience is 16-24. i have chosen a wider target audience range as it helps me to be able to go 'all out' on certain aspects.

The typical reader of my magazine, will be a non-conforming young adult. They must have strong individualism and feel the need to stand out- if they are marginalized in society for doing this, the magazine acts as an escape to them. They are opinionated and have strong post-modern views, which are magnified in the magazine. Artists and bands used in the magazine are representative of the angst and uncaring attitude of the teenage audience. However, the magazine is more feminine and women are more likely to read the magazine due to the celebrity gossip element the magazine has.

The contents page will be similar to NME, in that there is a balance of text and photos, and that it has the messy but organised feel to it, perhaps through an obvious house colour scheme/typography.

I generally want to keep readers on their toes. 

Hense the title: Edge Of Your Seat 

Scrap that: UNCENSORED

Analyzing A Music Magazine Contents Page

This is a contents page from the BBC's TOTP magazine. The layout of the magazine is fairly busy and colourful- much like the mind of a teenage girl. This contents page features a mini version of the front cover with arrows and page numbers that directly relate to each story. This could be used to show a 'what you see is what you get' attitude, as there are a lot of featured articles, or could be used as a way to help the reader interact with the magazine more easily.
The general house colour scheme is pink and purple, stereotypically suited to a young female target audience. The colour yellow has also been used as a highlighter for certain parts of the magazine. This acts as a way of drawing the readers attention to those articles, as well as relating to them. By this, I mean that the typical teenage girl is more than likely to doodle on magazines, and highlight parts she likes.

The balance of pictures to text is outweighed by text, however, the pictures are bolder and brighter. The photograph of One Direction, is typical of a female orientated magazine, as girls lust and long for these gorgeous boys to walk into their lives. The celebrity endorsement grabs the readers attention- and creates a way of escapism, through living and understand the lives of celebrities, vicariously through the magazine.

Despite the fairly messy layout, all articles featured in the contents page are grouped into subheadings, again creating ease for the reader when navigating through the magazine.This also gives the impression, that there is a need to be ordered and disciplined despite the hectic lifestyles of teenage girls.
The title of the contents page matches that of the front cover, perhaps showing it to be the 'house font'. The title font is very similar to handwriting, again reinforcing the idea of a teenage girl doodling in class.

The language used in the magazine is cheeky, and tries to be 'down with the kids', through using relatable language. I don't think there are swear words in the magazine, however, words such as 'Phroar' or 'PHEW' are used as colloquial, onomatopoeia, perhaps seen as a buzz word for teenage girls. the use of the word 'we' on subheadings also creates a good reader/writer tenor, and also implies they have similar interests- the magazine in this way acts as a friend to the reader, and helps create a sense of identity.

Contents Page Final

Title Page Final

Final piece for 'The Big Idea' school magazine.

Mock Contents Page

This is a mock-up for my contents page:

 

 

Mock Title Page

This is a mock up for my title page. I haven't yet decided on a colour/font scheme, but I will try to by tomorrow.

The centre shot of a student is from the internet, and I intend to photograph a student myself for my final cover.

Draft Title Page

In my magazine I want to address issues that I am interested in myself as a student.

Focus points should include:

• CV/University applications
• Anti-Bullying (campaign)
• Health issues
• Gap years/travelling

Here is a mock up cover for my magazine, currently titled 'The Big Idea':

I would like my contents page to share a similar scheme, as well as using the same font style aswell as similar colours- despite this mock-up being in black and white.

Analysis of Bliss Magazine

This is a cover for an issue of Bliss magazine, before and after analysis:

 

 

 

 

                  Before                                                                                               After

Contents Page

Contents pages give a brief list of what's inside the magazine.

Below is a contents page from the Lewisham College magazine.

Feature of a contents page:

• Must contain articles featured on cover
• The contents page also features a masthead in the same or very similar font to the cover page
• Should include photos with captions
• Article titles and their page numbers
• Promotional offer links/logos of companies

I also think that it is necessary to layout the contents page neatly, to create an impression of tidiness within the school. Articles may also be organised into catorgories with separate sub-headings to give a good impression of the school.

Preliminary Homework - Analysis of a School Magazine

This is my analysis of the Ridgewater College magazine:

Practise Analysis

To practise analysing magazine covers for the preliminary task, I also analised a prospectus cover and nursary magazine.

 

 

 

The nursary magazine cover is made using bright pink and blue colours and contains a centre shot montage of a baby looking curious.

 

 

 

 

The prospectus cover is very tidy, in comparison to the nursary cover, and gives a strong impression of students at the school being recognisably smart.

Preliminary Exercise & Main Task

Preliminary Exercise & Main Task

Preliminary Exercise:

Our preliminary exercise is to use DTP and an image manipulation program and produce the front page of a new school or college magazine that features a photograph of a student in medium close up as well as some appropriately laid out text and a masthead. We should also include a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate our grasp of the program.

Initial Ideas:

My initial ideas for the preliminary exercise is a magazine for my school, Caroline Chisholm. My school is open to nursery children, primary and secondary school students, as well as sixth formers. This gives me a range of students which I could base my magazine target audience on.

                                                     

Main Task:

Our main task is to create a front page, contents page and a double page spread of a new music magazine - if this task is done in a group each individual member has to produce their own edition of the magazine following the same style. Maximum of 4 members in a group.



Initial Ideas:

I listen to music everyday, so this task excites me. I may try to base my layout on artists I like, such as Marina and the Diamonds, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga and Birdy. These female artists are rather eccentric in their music styles and mannerisms, and I think it will be interesting to work around them in my own unique way. I also like Indie-Bands such as The Wombats, Vampire Weekend, Foxes and Arcade Fire. These bands have a quirky sense about them, which would be fun to interpret.