Music Magazine "Contents" Moodboard

This is a mood-board consisting of various items that enforce the ideology of my magazine. This is done via the inclusion of a variety of aspects that reflect a fun and vibrant "Pop"atmosphere. Artists, musical equipment, streaming services and social media sites are just some of the items that are included in this mood-board. I hope to use several of these items for them to feature in my magazine. This in turn will help flesh out my brand identity and ideology.  

Collection of magazine covers

These are a collection of magazine covers taken from Billboard, NME and Q respectively. This collage of covers are all different, but follow the same conventions found in other magazines. Billboard, NME and Q are pop magazines, which is the genre I'm focused on. Through studying and observing a wide array of covers form different magazines, it has enabled me to have a greater insight into what is effective on a front cover. I hope to take inspiration form these covers and use what I've learnt in my final media products.

Analysis of different genre

Through analysing a different magazine genre, I have learnt about the importance of conventions and brand identity. I chose to analyse a front cover from “Kerrang Magazine" who are well known in the heavy metal industry. This, I felt, was a good genre to focus on as my chosen genre is Pop. These two genres of music are extremely different which in turn would allow me to identify features that would be inappropriate for a magazine of my chosen genre. For example, this Kerrang magazine has an extremely striking main image which adheres to a theme of horror. This would be inappropriate to feature in a pop magazine as it doesn’t follow the vibrant and bright conventions typically found in a pop magazine. Other features such as the headline and straplines also had features such as a splatter of blood. This, combined with the low key lighting really enforce this dark atmosphere that many heavy metal magazines have. Overall, through observing a different genre of magazine I have been able to identify why different features and conventions are used to portray their genre and how some are more appropriate to feature in different genres than others.

Q Magazine Front Cover + Contents Page + DPS Analysis

LIIAR Analysis + Front Cover + Contents Page + DPS of Billboard

Target Audience & Brand Identity for my Music Magazine

Target Audience

My chosen genre for my Music Magazine is Pop. This is due to its mainstream appeal and the wide scope that is its audience. The genre “pop” also encompasses a variety of other genres, due to it being the popular music of today. This, I feel, is the ideal genre for me as my musical taste spans a variety of genres, and isn’t just specific to one. In terms of target audience, I feel that the ideal age range to target would be young adults aged 20-35. I have decided to target this age group because of the appeal pop music has to these people. In terms of gender, my magazine will be targeted at both due to pop music being liked by both sexes.

I aim to appeal to my audience’s interests in a variety of ways. For example, things like clothing, beliefs and the lifestyle of pop will be presented in my magazine. This way, I will appeal to my audience in not only the contents of my magazine, but the identity and the brand behind it. Common conventions such as interviews, reviews and news will all be present in my magazine along with a variety of pop artists. Some artists I could include are Lorde, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Drake, Adele, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. These artists are well known among the age group I’ve chosen, thus making the magazine relatable and able to attract the right people.

Brand Identity & Values

I want my magazine to have an identifiable brand that really relates to the audience I’m trying to entice. I want it to be instantly recognisable and trusted among the readers. Other magazines such as Billboard and Q all share qualities I hope my final product will have. For example, Billboard is a vibrant, enticing magazine, and very much adheres to the pop genre. This is a quality I hope my magazine will follow to ensure it represents the type of music I’m targeted at. These magazines, I feel, are a good influence when considering the construction of my own magazine. This is due to the experience these brands have and the massive following that is their audience. I want my Brand to be trusted among the readers and have a deep insight into the pop industry. In terms of conventions, I feel it is important my magazine follows the main conventions of a typical magazine. This is because I want my Brand to be recognised as a magazine as soon as people look at it.

I want my magazine to be social, and thus have conversational aspects to it. To achieve this, I hope to include articles that appeal to my target audience which will make them think about the world around them. I feel a more informal tone will be best for the magazine I’m trying to create. This is due to my target audience being fairly young and sociable. This in turn will make the magazine more engaging and relatable to my audience which, I hope, will make it an enjoyable read. Artists such as Taylor Swift, Eminem, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are all prominent pop artists that frequently appear in most pop magazines. These artists are mainstream and very much adhere to the audience I’m targeting my magazine at. These artists are also big fashion icons – an area I hope to explore in my magazine. People often want to dress like their music idols, so by including clothes from various retailers (i.e. Top man, River Island, Urban Outfitters) will hopefully create a strong relationship between my magazine and the audience.

Evaluation

Q: Who would be the audience for your media product?

In regards to an audience, I feel that my ideal magazine readers would be between the ages of 11 and 18. These are the ages of students who attend the school. Students, I feel, are a much better audience to target my magazine at instead of parents. This is because the pupils of the school are much more affected by the "goings on" around the school, thus making the articles inside my magazine much more relevant to them. I also feel that the design of my magazine helps appeal to my target audience. For example, the front cover uses bold,vibrant colours such as strong shades of blue and yellow. These colours have connotations of fun and excitement, something that a target audience of 11-18 years would relate to. I have also tried to keep text to a minimum on my front cover in hopes of, yet again, appealing to my chosen audience. From verbal research I found that 11-18 year olds do not like excessive amounts of text. This then prompted me to ensure minimal text was evident on my cover.

For my contents page I decided to strive towards simplistic visualisation. This was again due to the various comments I received on how a simple design is much easier on the eyes which also helps the reader to navigate through the page. This was ideal for a target audience of 11-18 years as peopele of this age group prefer to read less text.


Q: What have you learnt about technologies form the process of constructing this product?

During the process of constructing my magazine I have learnt a variety of new skills that, I feel, have allowed me to excel in the technological aspects of this task. During the early stages of the process I was unfamiliar with various editing software such as Adobes Fireworks. However, in time, I came to terms with how the software operates and have thus acquired a variety of new skills. These skills include removing parts of images, creating drop shadows, editing a variety of Mastheads and learning how to professionally edit photos. All these different aspects of technologies has taught me how many different features there are to editing, and has broadened my field of expertise in the subject.


Q: In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of school magazines?

My product has aspects of both conforming to and subverting various conventions typically found in a school magazine. For example, my Masthead is big, bold and takes up most of the space in the top half of my magazine. This is true not only for school magazines, but magazines in general. My main image is of a school student engaging in an everyday school situation. This can be seen in most school magazines and is a common convention they all follow. My strap lines are all placed to the left hand side of my magazine and follow the same house style, yet another common convention my magazine uses. During my research I found that most school magazines were colourful and vibrant. I then tried to follow this convention via my Masthead and house style by incorporating a variety of different colours such as Red, Yellow and Blue. The challenging of conventions however can be seen in my contents page. Within my contents page are two cropped images. These images are cropped at unusual angles, something that was not present in my research of school magazines. Although minor, I feel that by editing the images in this way has given them an extra flair and is a feature that is unique to my magazine.

Final Contents Page & Analysis

Final Magazine Cover & Analysis

Thumbnail Sheet and Images Used

These are a collection of images I have taken to feature in my Magazine Cover and contents page. I have chosen to stick to the theme of lockers, and have thus experimented different ways to incorporate various objects into the theme. I have experimented with things such as lighting, distance and how much a person is in the shot. For example, I first had only had a persons hands and their books in the shot, which was originally going to be my main image. However, after receiving feedback and learning more about the conventions of a good magazine, I realised that having a whole person in the image would show a greater understanding. I also took a variety of other photos consisting of various things around the school. Well known objects such as the school computers, the Apple Macs and the honours board are all things people instantly recognise, making them ideal to feature in my contents page. All of these photographs are of a documentary style. This meant that, through a pose, I was able to create a sense of what typically happens at the school.




IMAGES USED

Main Image

This was the image I decided to use in my final front cover. I feel that this picture instantly symbolises school life and a hard working atmosphere. The inclusion of lockers also sticks to the theme I intended to use, as lockers are common throughout all schools and are easily identifiable. The inclusion of a person, I feel, follows the conventions of a typical magazine cover. By following this convention I feel that my magazine is more likely to entice audiences.

       

Contents Page

These are the two images I used in my contents page. They consist of  a school computer in the LRC, and a school honours board. Both of these images are widely recognisable throughout the school, which is why I felt they were appropriate to feature in my contents page. They are subtle images, but really emphasis the school and a working atmosphere it strives for.