Questionnaire

Questionnaire
1. Would you like to see another music magazine that focus’ on different types of music such as classical and pop music on the market?
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2. Do you prefer to see colour or plain text on the front cover of a magazine?
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3. Do you think the text used reflects the genre of the magazine?
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4. Does the style of text appeal to you?
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5. How much would you be willing to pay for a good music magazine?
20p-99p £1-£1.99 £2-£2.99 £3-3.99 £4-£4.99 £5+
6. What really draws your attention to a magazine?
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7. Do you think that competitions and free gifts help persuade you to buy a magazine?
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8. Would a picture of a celebrity help persuade you to buy a magazine?
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9. Is it easy to see that the magazine is about music just from the front cover?
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Preliminary task- front cover

Preliminary task
For my preliminary task I have decided to make a college magazine. The magazine is going to be based on what is going on around the college in that particular week.
For this edition I am going to be giving information on two girls who attended the college and have just released a hit single that has got number one in the charts. The magazine will include an interview with them and also a photo shoot of the girls.
Im am going to base it on my own school and use the colour scheme blue, black and white, which is the colour scheme of my school.


On the front cover I am going to have a picture of a student who has become famous through recording music and will advertise how we have an interview with her.
Then I will create the contents page, still sticking to the original colour scheme of Blue, white and black.
The magazine will look young and fresh but not as stylish as my main magazine because it only aimed at students from school to let them know what’s going on.

Magazine cover
This is a print screen of my preliminary magazine front cover called ‘SG magazine’, which I have created for students at St Georges school.

For the production of my magazine, I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 for the editing of images. I made use of a variety of tools such as, magnetic tool, marquee tool, magic wand and type tool.

From looking at the magazine, I can see that there are several ways in which it could be improved. For example, the main image looks quite normal and plain, in which I could airbrush the image to make it look more appealing.

Moreover, I think that the colours used on my magazine are not very bold, therefore does not make the front cover stand out at all; this could easily be improved by using bold colours so that it would appeal to the target audience more. I could add more of a variety of text styles to make the cover look more appealing to the eye. However I like the logo i created for the title of the magazine as i feel itis short and sharp whilst looking attarctive.

Planning prelminary task

For my preliminary task I am going to craete a school magazine.
I am going to focus on our recent sports day and talent show to make the magazine interesting and appealing to the target audience.

The target audience for my school magazine is school students from the age of 12-18. I need to make the front cover appealing to this wide range of ages whilst still being interesting to all students.

I have decided on a blue/purple colour scheme with black font as I feel this is attractive to girls and boys.

I am going to get a younger pupil to pose in thier P.E kit holding a javelin for my main picture for the sports day article. I am also going to get some contestents from our school talent show to pose as a smaller article.

Analysis of contents page 2

This is a contents page of a pop music magazine. I like the style of this magazine as it is very young and fresh and will appeal to my target audience.


Several things will attract the reader to this page; firstly it is the circle at the top of the page that has the name of the magazine in it. Secondly as the reader looks down the page, there is a picture of a boy band to attract the reader.
This makes the audience want to find out more about what they are doing and read their story in the magazine. NME have used an interesting style and font that breaks the codes and conventions normally used for contents pages which reflects that the magazine is for teenagers.

Down the side of the page there is another section of the contents page that gives brief information on what events are happening in different areas of the country, the audience is drawn to the picture of people clubbing at the bottom of the page which relates to young people and what they like to do.


Lastly there is a token at the bottom of the page for £2 off NME clubs, this will attract the target audience because many of them will be students who are low on money and want to go to places that are cheap.




These are three other examples of contents pages from music magazines. As you can see they are vibrant and eye catching and all of them have pictures on. I am definitely going to use pictures for my contents page. The pictures on all three of the pages are mainly on the left hand side and the text on the right so I am going to stick to this format when it comes to designing my magazine.

Contents page analysis 1

This magazine is aimed at a slightly older target audience than the previous; this can be seen in the way that the contents page is set out. This page is much neater and more formal. The title of the magazine is written clearly at the top of the page with the date written clearly next to it. The first thing that the reader’s eye is drawn to is the big picture of the famous band that has a magazine article in the magazine.

The picture follows the format of the magazine, being very clear and plain but pleasing to look at. Underneath this, there is a small content on the reviews on the magazine, there is another picture of a famous person who has written some of the reviews, and this once again set out very clearly.

On the left hand side there is the main contents of the magazine, it is set into different sections, such as features, specials and every month. The contents page is very easy to navigate as the page numbers are clearly written next to the title of the articles.
There aren’t really any graphical features used to draw the reader’s attention which is a downfall, as makes the page look quite boring and not very attractive to the reader’s eye.

Summary of Front covers

(pics)



All of the music magazine covers make a huge statement; they are all very appealing to the eye and look very dramatic. Most of the colours used are bright and bold but still relate back to the colour scheme. If we look at the top three covers from Mojo, they are very artistic and fun looking. They relate well to their target audience and to the person on the front cover. The bottom three are also very bold and colourful especially the cover with lady gaga on, the bright colours and strange dress code relate to her personality and what she is like in real life.


Summary of front covers
Overall it is clear that most of the music magazines are similar to each other. The first aspect that is similar on all of the magazines is the use of the image on the front cover. Each magazine uses a famous person to grab the attention of the target audience. The ‘celebrity’ is normally looking straight into the camera as if they are looking straight at the reader helping to grab the attention of readers. The picture is more often than not an upper body shot so much more detail can be seen on the face of the main image. The position of the main image will vary from issue to issue depending on the type of message the magazine is trying to portray that particular week or month. The eyes of the model are normally positioned in the centre of the page to help attract the reader, and being a music magazine, it is very important the ‘celebrity’ stands out because it may convince the consumer to buy the magazine.

The second greatest aspect is the text. The text is very important because it supports the main images on the cover page in telling the consumer what is going to be in the magazine and once again convincing them to buy it or not depending on if they find it interesting. The text and main titles will be formatted depending o the target audience as its clear a teenager would not be attracted to the same text as a mature adult. The magazine will often have a colour scheme to give the cover consistency and help it to flow and fit together.

The final aspect is the general balance of the whole page. As I mentioned before the cover must have consistency for it to fit together and look appealing to the consumer. Magazine editors will look at the magazine form the consumer’s perspective and decide whether the look works well. It is well known that images are more appealing than text but it is important to get the right balance.

Analysis of front cover 3

The title of this magazine is in a recognisable format, it’s very bold and stands out so the consumer instantly knows what magazine they are looking at. The White text contrasts the black and green colour scheme and really helps to make a statement for the magazine. The ‘free CD’ you get with magazine is going to help attract buyers who are persuaded by free gifts.

The main image really grabs the attention of anyone walking by. The artists are looking straight into the eye of the consumer and it’s very interesting to look at. The band is made to look like the most important thing and their heads are slightly covering the title to make sure they are the centre of the page.

The colour scheme on the page is very attractive to the reader’s eye. The colours match well with each other and even suit the nature of the band.

The magazine cover includes a picture of the free CD that the consumer will receive, once again reinforcing the idea that you will be getting something for free. Also down in the bottom corner you can find more information about what is going to be in the magazine without having to read too much text



As you can see, the magazines I have chosen all have pictures of celebrity artists on. The images are all made to look as though the artists are looking straight at you, possibly not the case of the cover in the top left or bottom left but this is what most music magazines tend to do. We can see from these covers that they are all targeted at different age groups and the images will be interpreted in different ways. For example men might interpret the images different to women. In the cover in the bottom left, women may see this girl as a beautiful lady with nice hair, makeup and clothes whereas men might see it in a more sexual manner. For my magazine I want the front cover to be dramatic which the BBC one does not really aim to be because it is targeting a different market, therefore I am going to focus on the other magazines such as Mojo and Q.

How does the text used on the magazine reflect the genre?

Rolling Stone magazine
The font used in this magazine is very funky! It is not the type of text that is normally expected to be used on a magazine cover. It goes against convention which reflects the attitudes and behaviours of the people that are featured in the magazine. When the audience sees the text they will instantly know what type of music artists are featured in the magazine. The text used is often linked to rock music, e.g. used on their album covers. The other text used is quite ordinary, which helps the text of the title to stand out and have a greater effect. The colours that are used (red blue and white) also add to the style of music as they are quite strong colours that make a statement rather than having just black and white. This will definitely appeal to the magazine’s target audience.

Q magazine
Q magazine has a variety of music artists appear in their magazine but they are usually quite classy pop artists. This is reflected in the type of font they use, it is an ordinary but still quite fresh and modern style with colours that compliment each other and stand out. This quite simple use of font has a big effect and catches the reader’s eye. The colour red is used a lot on this particular cover because it is a colour that is often associated with classy women such as Madonna. This would be very appealing to the target audience of the magazine.

BBC Music magazine
The genre of this magazine is definitely reflected through the font used on the front cover. The font that’s used is very plain and formal and the main title is printed in a slightly italic font which is often used in the world of classical music. The colours of the font are not very interesting just plain black and white; the magazine is more informative rather than entertaining for the audience. The people that normally read this magazine would not be interested in paying for fancy front covers because they would rather just be able to read the font and see it clearly. The magazine looks very classy and appeals to its up market audience.

All of the music magazine covers make a huge statement; they are all very appealing to the eye and look very dramatic. Most of the colours used are bright and bold but still relate back to the colour scheme. If we look at the top three covers from Mojo, they are very artistic and fun looking. They relate well to their target audience and to the person on the front cover. The bottom three are also very bold and colourful especially the cover with lady gaga on, the bright colours and strange dress code relate to her personality and what she is like in real life.

Analysis of music magazine 2

Q magazine
Q magazine is a music magazine that is published monthly in the UK. It has a circulation of 130,179 as of June 2007. The founders of Q magazine are Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, they decided to create their own music magazine as they were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring the generation of older music buyers. Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing.

Every edition of Q magazine has the same title in the left corner of the magazine; this is different from normal titles of magazines. It makes the magazine stand out.

The logo of the magazine ‘Q’ is the same on every magazine, as well of the colour scheme red, white and black which dennotates passion. The magazine is aimed at young adults which is why the magazine is very ‘fresh’ looking. – this sort of layout will attract younger readers.
Q have advertised that it is a 196 page issue which is more than it would normally be, this makes the reader feel as though they are getting something for free and they are more likely to buy the magazine. The main image has her eye looking out as if she is looking at the audience (mode of address) which is very useful as it will catch the reader’s eye. As well as having the anchorage text being the name of the main image. Q has also listed many other famous people who appear in the magazine down the side of the page, this will attract people who like reading about famous celebrities. There is another headline and picture on the front cover; this will show that the magazine is packed of things. It will attract women because it is about important women in music.

Q magazine has a variety of music artists appear in their magazine but they are usually quite classy pop artists. This is reflected in the type of font they use, it is an ordinary but still quite fresh and modern style with colours that compliment each other and stand out. This quite simple use of font has a big effect and catches the reader’s eye. The colour red is used a lot on this particular cover because it is a colour that is often associated with classy women such as Madonna. This would be very appealing to the target audience of the magazine.

Analysis of Music magazine 1

The Rolling Stone magazine is a famous music magazine that was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by a lady called Jann Wenner. It is devoted to politics, music and pop culture and is published every two weeks.

Every edition of the magazine has the same style font for the title, but the colour is always different. This adds cohesion to the magazine and makes the title very recognisable. The name Rolling Stones is a very appropriate name for a music magazine as there was a famous band called the Rolling Stones. Most people know that there has been a band called the rolling stones and they were a very popular band at the time the magazine was created so this would appeal to the audience.

The main image uses direct mode of address, in which Amy Winehouse is somewhat looking straight into the eyes of the reader. In addition, her head overlaps the majority of the title, which suggests that he is the main focus of the front cover and possibly the whole magazine. The title is very infamous so even though she is covering it up you can still work out what it says. Amy Winehouse is on the front cover, for the reason that she is well known and would attract the target audience for this magazine.The anchorage text states that the main image is that of Amy Winehouse. The name of the artist as the main image is larger than the rest of the text, in which it is the second largest font size on the whole of the front cover, which suggests that it is the second most important feature on the page other than the title.

The title
In this edition of the Rolling Stones magazine, the title is the colour blue. The title is hidden by the main image. Even though the title is covered the audience will still know that it says Rolling Stones because it is such an infamous name. The magazine has chosen the colour blue because it stands out from the background and the person in the main image is not a very girly person so it would not look appropriate to have a pink coloured title or another feminine colour.

On the left side of the magazine, there are other titles and bits of information to tell the audience what else they will find in the magazine. A variety of different fonts are used to make different parts of text stand out.

“Giuliani: worse than bush”-This text has been put into a text box that stands out because it is an important piece of information. The creator of the magazine wants this piece of information to come across as important to the audience and by making it different to the rest of the magazine the audience’s eye is attracted to it

This edition of the magazine only has text on one side of the magazine (the left) and the right side is mainly taken up by the main image. This shows that the rolling stones are going against regular codes and conventions. The audience will perceive this in the way that the people that feature in Rolling Stones are unconventional and go against normal rules of society. This is adding cohesion to the magazine because they are sticking to the theme of going against norms.

The design of the title block suggests that the magazine is aimed at all ages of people not just he old or the young. However the font style is not particularly young fresh and hip meaning that they want to attract readers that are interested styles of music that are not necessarily in the charts.

The font used in this magazine is very funky! It is not the type of text that is normally expected to be used on a magazine cover. It goes against convention which reflects the attitudes and behaviours of the people that are featured in the magazine. When the audience sees the text they will instantly know what type of music artists are featured in the magazine. The text used is often linked to rock music, e.g. used on their album covers. The other text used is quite ordinary, which helps the text of the title to stand out and have a greater effect. The colours that are used (red blue and white) also add to the style of music as they are quite strong colours that make a statement rather than having just black and white. This will definitely appeal to the magazine’s target audience.

Research into music magazines

Media coursework research
At the moment there are many different kinds of music magazines available to people. Many of them focus on modern day pop artists or well known classic rock bands. Some different music magazines include; The Rolling Stones, Q, Clash, BBC music and MTV music magazine. Each of these cover a different genre of music, for example The Rolling Stones covers well known artists and popular bands of the past and present whilst Kerrang covers many different heavy rock bands. BBC music is famous for covering a lot of classical music artists and orchestras around the country.








Magazines
There are many different types of magazines. Magazines can either be print based or electronic magazines on the internet. They are mainly funded by advertising in their monthly or weekly issues, and do not just appeal to one age group but several.
Magazines cover a variety of different genres; the main genre’s are:
· Fashion
· Teen and fashion
· Health and fitness
· Music
· Women’s
· Car
· Computer
· Art
· News

List of magazines in the above categories

Some examples of fashion magazines-

· Vogue
· Cosmopolitan
· Glamour
· Elle
· Marie-Claire

Some examples of teen fashion magazines-

· Teen vogue
· Bliss
· Sugar
· Mizz
· Cosmo girl







Some examples of heath and fitness magazines-

· Alive
· Medicine
· Life positive
· Shape
· Health

Some examples of music magazines –

· Q
· BBC Musical
· FHM
· Rolling Stone
· R&R

Some examples of news magazines-

· The Economist
· The Reporter
· Hello
· OK!
· Red Herring
· The First Post

Some examples of women’s Magazines-

· Femina
· In Touch
· In Style
· Flare
· The Oprah

Some examples of computer Magazines-

· PC Pro
· PC World
· Windows Vista
· Computer Shopper
· New Computer Express

Some examples of art magazines-

· Art Calendar
· Raw Vision
· Contemporary