Main Task - Article Research

I have had a quick look at some professional articles and how they are layed out. Here, I am going to use just one example of a professional magazine. What I really like about this article, is that the image of Madonna on the left hand side shows that she is a wild and free spirit when it comes to parties and music. I also love how the article is layed out, with a huge title in light blue at the top, and then you've got that dark, bold text which is on top of the white background.

This is the link of the blog account where I found this article: http://anishapatelx.blogspot.com/2011/02/analyses-of-music-article.html

Main Task - Production of D.P.S

In this blog post, I will show you the final plan of what my D.P.S ( double page spread ) is going to look like. Now this is still a rough idea of what I want it to look like, but I will consider this as a guideline. This is so that if there are any altercations, I will be able to change a part of the D.P.S.

This is the rough layout for my D.P.S. I think that it's a simple layout for a D.P.S, however, I think that if I spend the right amount of time on it, it will look really good.

Main Task - Publication Plan

In this blog post, it is going to be very similar to the initial ideas which I had made for my magazine. This will also include magazine names, who's going to be where, and what's going to be put into my magazine. The part is practically the same as my intial ideas.


Price - The final decisions for my magazine will be £1.50, this makes the magazine quite cheap to buy, but its not so cheap that it wont make any money. The barcode will be in the bottom right hand corner, so that it is out of the way.

Frequency of Publication -  I think that having regular magazines made weekly would be the best thing to do, because the readers dont have to wait ages untill the newer issue comes out.

Average Issue Size - I think that having a lot of pages would be better for the readers, because they wouldnt want to spend money on a few pages. I think that having around 70 - 100 pages would make the magazine worth the money quatinty wise.

Regular Content - The regular content which would star in my music magazine would contain the following:

 - The latest information / gossip about previous events. i.e stars etc.
 - Upcoming events
 - Latest Gigs
 - Competitions for the readers
 - Lots if text and images

Feature Articles - I will have a lot of featured articles within my new music magazine, however, too much of one thing would be boring. I would include articles about an artist's life story / bacground. For example, I would look at Wiz Khalifa's background from when he grew up, and how he became where he is now in the music industry.

Magazine Title Ideas - For this, I will have to think what name is going to stand out from other professional magazine names. For me personally, having the magazine title at the top of the magazine in big, bold writing would be the best position for a title. These are some of my ideas which I came up with for a hip hop magazine title:

- Breeze
- Fresh
- Hip Hop Mania
- Addiction
- Hip Hop Weekly
- Bass

I think that my final decision for my magazine title is that it will be called 'Fresh'. the reason why is because a lot of African American people use this term for something which relates to nice or stylish things.

Publication Plan

The magazine layout which I am going to stick with for my own magazine will be one of 'The Source' magazines. I will have the front cover, Two contents pages, and also a double page spread article which will have a different artist on each one.

This will be the example layout I will use for my magazine front cover. It will consist of the title at the top, just above the artist / band. A mast head will also be included just above the title. The image of the artist will be in the centre of the front cover. It will cover most of the page to make it appealing to the audeince. The name of the artist will also be on the page in big, appealing text. The website adress will also be on the page so that the readers will know how to look at the magazine online. There will also be some coverlines. These won't be there just to make up some room, but to also entice the reader to buy the magazine.

This is one of many contents pages by the ' Vibe' magazine company. What I love about this contents more than any other, is that the colour scheme is like in a slightly black and white effect, with a hint of a colour. In this contents page, the colours are blue and red, with the shades being grey - white. I also like the fact the the big ' V' in the background represents the magazine's name/ logo. I also love how they have three lines for the ' Contents' text. it is in big, bold writing, making it easy enough to read. In my magazine contents page, I will have have the first letter of the title put behind the image of one of the artists which will be featured in the next few pages. The features / contents will be at the side, in a smart / fancy text, making it look more interesting, but also appealing.

This will be double page sread layout for my music magazine. What I really like about this specific type of double page spread article, is that the background is all dark colours, and then the text is which and yellow. These factors help make the whole layout look really eye catching / appealing for the readers. I will have a big picture of an atrist / band on one page, whilst the other page will have a quote on one part of the page, an image on another, and the actual article at the bottom.

Main Task - Planning Production

In this blog post, I will be explaining what I my decisions are going to be for my music magazine. I need to look at other professional music magazines, so that I can get a rough idea of what my magazine is going to look like.

Decide on front cover images - For this part of my magazine, I have had a look at various hip hop / rap artists and other thigns which I would like to put on the front cover. I have decided that I want a medium - close up shot of the artist from the double page spread.

Contents page - For my contents page, I want to have the same artist as the artist on the front cover. I want once again, a medium - close up shot. However, it would look silly not to have a medium - far shot. This is so that we can get the full image of the artist.

I have made a rough sketch of both my front cover using the guidelines of other professional magazines.

Here is my rough sketch of my front cover magazine.

The next image of the rough sketch I made of my contents page following a 'Vibe' magazine contents page.

Write the coverlines -  I have written a few ideas out for the coverlines. Some of the cover lines I came up with might be on, others might not, as I don't want too many or too less on the page.

- I will make sure that on the front cover, I will have some featured artists on the page.
- Name of the star on the front page.
- Putting in a quote from the double page spread article which will entice the audience to read it.
Article

For my article for my music magazine, I have decided that I am not going to do a 'question and answer' article, instead, I think that I am going to write an article of the success of the artist. I think that in my opinion, a lot of readers know very little about an artist's history and how they got to where they are know. For example, a lot of people know who Kanye West is, but not a lot of them know why he became a musician, and what made him do what he does best...

Main Task - Analysis of Double Page Spread Articles

Like the professional front cover and the contents page, I have done an analysis of a double page spread article of one of 'The Source' magazines. The article I have chosen is a perfect example of a double spread page, because a lot of double page spread articles consist of 3 columns per page. They normally tend to have questions within the columns. For example, a reporter would ask Gucci Main something which they would want to find out about him, something which he wouldn't normally talk about. This is what makes an article interesting, finding out personal things about idols / role models which you wouldn't normally know about him / her.

There is a pun which is used just above one of the main titles within the double spread page. (Who the @#$! is Gucci Poochie?). A pun is used as a joke or a punch line. For example, the pun is used here to make the artist feel unknown / no body knows him, when in fact he is a very successful artist. It is usually in a smaller text compared to the actual title, making it harder for the reader to read. This pun creates enigma for the audience and leaves them wanting to read on...

Notice how there are images of a hip hop arsitst on both pages. These images of the artists are there so that the reader / audience know who the article is written about. There is a quote used next to the side of Gucci Mane's body. This is used just to fill in the space within the picture. Also, if you have a look at Gucci Mane's dress code, it tells the reader automatically that he is a rapper. There is also a medium - close up shot taken, so the reader can see what he looks like.

The text used is the Arial font, which isn't really used that much in magazines, but the whole text is more or less written in this font, so it really doesn't matter. The article has three different colors within the text, which are black, red and white. The articles both have a drop word / drop words at the start of the article. A drop word is a word at the start of the article which takes up more than one line. For example here 'Industry', 'Prior' and  ' " We're " ' are the drop words. The drop words are normally used to split up the articles into different sections.  Notice how there is also an image breaking up the article on the page to the right. There is also some bright text also. This is used to help advertise their trade mark.

The first section of the article with Gucci Mane is an interview between him and a reporter / journalist. The questions are normally in a bolder text. This is so that the reader knows what questions are being answered. Also, the website address of the magazine company is always at the bottom. This makes it harder for the reader to look for. It helps advertise their website. The journalist will also have their name printed at the bottom of the article, this is used so that the reader knows who was asking the questions for the article. Towards the side of one of the articles, just under the title, there is a mini title which entices you to read on.


The second part of my analysis for a double page spread article which I am going to write about is from a music magazine called ' Q '. This specific article features Lily Allen, it describes her life and her career.

In this double page spread article, there is a massive image of Lily Allen. This is used to get the reader's attention, so that they will know immediately what the article is based on. The connotations here from this image are that she has dark eye shadow on, dark hair and dark clothes on. This represents her dark side in life.  The fact that she is wearing a red colored shirt shows that she is looking for attention, as it is the only actual color on the page, due to the fact that there is black and white all over the page.  In my opinion, I think that the way the title / quote and the colour scheme are both related makes me wonder if she actually does love being an attention seeker. The image it self is a medium close up shot, featuring most of her upper body.

The main title of this article is a quote she used to prove her innocence from being an attention seeker. However, there is also another side to her. What I mean by this is that the title says at the end that she’s just honest, but the there is only one image on the page, and it is big and powerful. This makes the entire article look really eye catching, because it makes the reader want to read on.

The layout of this magazine is simple and short. It consists of only four columns, but they are all very short. This makes that article look worth looking at, because not every reader will want to spend time reading a long, boring article. It makes a change to other magazine articles, which makes it more appealing in my eyes. Also there are three different types of colour schemes with in the text. These are black, white and red. The black text is the usual, boring, simple text used in nearly every article made in a magazine. This is mainly because the background will be a bright colour, like white.

The white text, which is the quote as the title, is on a black background. This makes the text look more appealing; which means that the audience will want to look at what the quote says.  The last colour scheme within the text is red. In the article, the red text is used when a name is being used. So for example, Lily Allen’s name is the prime example of this. 

The last and final analysis I am going to analyse is from a 'Kerrang' magazine. Now in this article, it is a band which is featured known world wide as 'Metallica'.

What I don't really like about this article, is that there is too many dark colours on the page. When I look at articles, I want them to look appealing and bright, other wise I won't really read the article. In this article, the colour scheme really does have the same relation to the rock band, as a lot of rock bands wear dark clothing. The dark clothing represents danger, because they are all wearing very dark clothing.

You can definitely tell that they are rock artists, as you can see that they all have long hair and big beards. The shot of the band is a medium close up shot; they are all looking at the camera / you. It makes you feel like you can relate to them, as they are directly looking at you.

There is a big quote which is used as the main title in this article. When you look at this quote, you will notice that there are three words which are in a bolder text than the rest of the text in the quote.  What I do like about this is that the quote is also written again behind the original quote, but in a really faded text, and that it’s in a bigger font too.

The whole layout of this article is quite good actually, because the background is grey, with black and white text all over the page. This does make a change from regular article layouts, as this magazine company has made an effort to make it look appealing to the audience.

The black text which is highlighted with white represents the questions with in the article. They stand out from the rest of the text because it’s bright and stands out from the rest of the page.  The small paragraphs consist of the questions which have been answered.  Unlike most articles, this particular layout isn’t set out as the rest. For example, one columns is a boxed off column, with a bright blue background. It makes a change from other magazine competitors and makes it stand out more. Also, the paragraphed columns have small pictures of the person answering the questions. This is to ensure that the reader knows who is speaking. Also, the text in bold shows the name of the speaker, just in case the reader doesn’t know who’s in the picture.

In the middle of the first page, there is kind of like a black banner with a small history of the band 'Metallica' shown. This stands out from the rest of the pages, because all you really see is a big black rectangular shape with white bold text.

Main Task - Magazine Front Cover And Contents Page Analysis

I have created to analysis's for the source magazine. The first analysis is of one of the magazine front covers, whilst the other analysis below the front cover is one of the contents pages used in an older magazine. I have had to think about what type of things the creators of the magazine have put into the magazine. For example, why would the magazine comopany have an image of the main star of the magazine on the front cover, and why would they have huge, bold test for the title etc.

Main Task - Audience Research Questionnaire Results and Conclusions

I've tallied up the results for each questionnaire. This will decide what my magazine will have / contain. obviously, for some of the questions, there may be more than 20 results, because some questions may require to answer more than one thing. Instead of creating pie charts and bar graphs, I decided to show the results by highlighting the text in red.... I have also included pie charts to show the results I got from my questionnaire. They are all colour coded, to ensure that the diagram is easy to read...

Questionnaire

        1)  What type of music genre do you like? (Please state below)

        Rock: 7   Pop/chart/dance: 13  1980's: 1   R&B: 2  Hip hop: 2  Easy listening: 1

 2) How often do you buy a music magazine? (Please circle your answer)

 Once a week: 1       Once a month: 8    More than twice a week: 0      More than twice a month: 0      Never: 10

3) What are your favourite types of bands/ who are your favourite artists?

      Bruno Mars: 2   Rhianna: 5   JLS: 3    Other:47

       4)  Why do you buy music magazine? (Please state below)

Features: 4    Not available: 12  Other: 4

       5)  How much money would you spend on a music magazine? (Please circle below)

      Less than £1: 3      £1 - £2: 8     £2.01 - £2.99: 4    £3 or more: 5

      
6     6) What do you think makes a great music magazine? (Please state below)

     Articles: 5   Images: 6  Other: 9

      7) Do you like having incentives such as free gifts in magazines? If yes or no, please say why?

    
    Yes: 16    No: 2 Not sure: 2    

 8)  What do you like to see in a magazine? I.e. certain articles, the layout, role models/idols etc. (Please state below).

Idols: 10  Information: 3  Tutorials: 1   Reviews: 1   Other: 5

9) How long has it been since you have last bought a music magazine?

   
    less than a week: 1     1 week - 3 weeks: 1    1 month ago: 6   2 + months: 1    Never: 10  

10)   Do you prefer the newer music magazines, or the older magazine companies the most and why?

Older: 8     Newer: 6     Not sure : 5  Both: 1


Conclusion paragraphs

Question 1

I have had a lot of different answers in this question, as lots of people have said that they like lots of different types of music genre. For example, 13 people said that they love pop related music. I have had more than 20 different answers in this question, simply because I didn't want to have one answer because they might have more than one favorite genre. 

Question 2

This question was quite simple for the audience to answer, as they only had to circle just one answer.  There were not more than 20 results for this question, so it made it easy for me to tally up, unlike the question above.  Most people said that they don't buy music magazines. The next highest vote was that 8 people would buy a music magazine at least once a month. I think that they do this because they don't want to spend lots of money each week, when they can get the same news but just once a month.

Question 3

This was the most annoying question I put on the questionnaire, because there can be various answers from one person. For example, I have 57 answers in total, from 20 people.  I think that I will need to have lots of various artists from different genres included in my magazine, but having hip hop as the main part of the magazine. From my results, not a lot of people liked the hip hop industry that much. Maybe making a hip hop magazine wasn't the best idea... The 'Other' section represents all of the answers I recieved where there was only one vote. For example, only one person out of 20 said that they liked Ray Charles or Drake...

Question 4

A lot of people who answered my questionnaire who do not buy music magazines. This didn't help make my decision on my target market because, a lot of my audience don't buy them. However, with the results where the audience did buy them, 4 people said that they enjoy the featured articles. Now some of the audience also put another reason. I put these into a section names 'Other', because they were all more or less different answers. Therefore, from the results I got, having features articles would be the best thing to put into my music magazine.

Question 5

All of the audience had a large number of ideas of what they would spend on a music magazine. 8 people said that they would spend £1 to £2 on a music magazine. This is quite easy for me to look at because, there weren't as many votes for the other questions.  The least amount of votes was less than a pound with 3 votes out of 20 votes. It shows that people would want to spend a substantial amount of money for a magazine which would be worth buying. I think that pricing my magazine at a fair price would entice people to buy it. 

Question 6

Most of the results I got for this question were that people think that articles make a great magazine, because they don't want to see too many images and not enough writing. They would want to see a lot of articles and still quite a fair amount of images to give the magazine a balance of the two things.

Question 7

This was a pretty straight forward vote, as 16 out of 20 people said that they would have incentives. This means that I would definitely need an incenvive with in my magazine. 2 pepole said no to having incentives. They said this because they felt that incentives ruin the entire reason as to why they bought the magazine in the first place. This is a true fact because a lot of people wouldn't really buy a magazine which didn't have incentives in it. 

Question 8

The most voted answer/result I got for this was having idols in a magazine with 10 votes. This is 50% of what the audience said they would have in a magazine. This is definitely a must have thing in my magazine. I need somebody who stands out from the rest. For example, Jay Z is one of the biggest known artist in the history of hip hop. He is also one of the most successful rappers today. He would be the perfect example for the double page spread article!!

Question 9

10 people have never bought a magazine, this made my decision on how frequently I should publish my magazine. The next highest result I got from my questionnaires was that 6 people bought a music magazine up to a month ago. This makes my decision clear on how frequent I should publish my magazine, because you have to take in what the audience think in order to get any profit...

Question 10

Last but not least, there was a close call between preferring older magazines and newer magazines.  Most people from my questionnaire want to have an older structure, and possibly a magazine which knows their stuff. On the other hand, 5 out of 20 people said that they prefer newer magazine companies because they are more down to earth with music. This isn't necessarily true, as magazines such as NME as one of the most popular, but most experienced music magazines around. 

Therefore, I think that having popular artists in the magazine will be better, but I will have to spend more time to ensure that I give the readers what they want.  For example, the audience won't want to buy a magazine where the company don't know what they're writing, they want a magazine where they can give the audience what they want.