Early drafts: Music Magazine

First Draft
This is my first draft, I have changed the masthead that I originally made. I decided not to use the original masthead as I didn't think it would appeal to the target audience of my pop music magazine. The font has been changed to one more suitable to the genre of music. I will change the colours and maybe the layout.

Second Draft

This is my second draft, I changed the colours to make them more suitable. I have added a shape at the bottom that I will put a plug/puff in.

Main Task: Music Magazine, Proposal

Popular Music Magazine Proposal

My magazine will be aimed at young girls aged 11 - 15. The image on the front cover will be a head and shoulder shot of a cheerful girl, this will follow the conventions of pop music magazines as they usually have a pop artist on the front cover with a photo of their head and shoulders, they always look cheerful and happy. I will take a photo of one of my friends with a light coloured background with no pattern. It will be a popular music magazine. The typical content will be about popular artists in the pop industry, with fashion articles, competitions and interviews. Some cover lines I may use are: "Win £100 of make up!" "Jessie J solves your problems!" "Guitar tabs of your favourite pop songs!" "Posters of your favourite boy bands!" "Song lyrics decoded!" The title I have decided to use is 'Volume' and underneath I will put the tagline 'Turn it up!' I have decided to use this title as it is music themed and a lot of the time music is better when played loud. The fonts I will use will be simple but eye-catching.

This is a first draft idea of my masthead, I will probably change the colours and alter some of it before I finish the final copy. The magazine will be published once a month and the covers style and colours will be based on the current season/month. In summer the colours will be bright and summery, like greens, blues and yellows. In autumn the colours will be darker, blues, reds, oranges. The magazine will be A4 sized. On the contents page I will put another picture of the person the main article is about and will put a short interesting part of the interview over the photo, the colours will be similar to the front page. I will also put smaller pictures I have taken of other bands/artists that are featured on the front cover. My magazine will be prized at £2.00. This price is suitable for all classes (working class, middle class etc.).  

Main Task: Music Magazine, Initial Ideas

Photography In Magazines

The Rule of Thirds

This rule is based on the theory that the human eye is naturally drawn to a point about two thirds up a page. A photo may be more pleasing to the eye if the object, or focal points, are located around one of the intersecting points.

Lines that can be found in images are powerful elements, with a little practice they can add dynamic impact to a photograph in terms of mood as well as leading a images viewer into a photo. 

Diagonal lines create points of interest as they intersect with other lines and often give images depth by suggesting perspective.

The uses of photography in these two magazine covers are very different. 

Vanity Fair has used the rule of thirds while laying out this front cover. Lady Gaga is on the right side of the magazine, leaving the left side for the articles featured in the magazine though some articles have been printed over her as well. Her head is just above two thirds up the page. She is looking slightly down at the camera meaning it has been taken from a slightly low angle. Her demeanour is relatively calm looking at her facial expression and the way she is sitting. 

The Source magazine cover is completely different. 

The rule of thirds has been ignored and the cover person is directly in the centre of the magazine with articles featured either side. The nature of this front cover is a lot more frantic than Vanity Fair. The man on the cover's facial expression comes across as scared or worried. His face in the middle of the intersection making it the focal point. The photo has been taken from the same eye line as the person on the cover and is a close up showing his emotion.

The Conventions of Pop Music Magazines

Web-based research and report into the target audience

In this post I will research the target audiences for different genre music magazines.

Pop Music - 

Top of the Pops, 

Billboard

The target audience for Pop music is mainly young girls, around the ages of 11 to 15 years. They could be from all classes. This audience would still be in school. They would probably like artists/bands like One Direction, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, these are the artists that are featured quite a lot on the covers of Pop magazines. The girls that are fans of these magazines are probably quite girly and might dress in pinks and purples and blues. The fans of these artists are often very dedicated to them, their rooms covered in posters of their favourite artists, owning all of their CD's, seeing them live every chance they get. This is very common with One direction and Justin Bieber fans.

Rock Music - Kerrang

The target audience for Rock magazines like Kerrang are mainly boys, though many girls read them. Taken from the Kerrang! Website I have learned that 54.7% of their readers are boys and 56.1% of the readers are aged from 15 - 24. These readers could be from all classes as it is an affordable magazine priced at £2.20, from working class to middle class.The audience will probably like heavy metal or rock music and will want to read rock music magazines to find out about new, up and coming rock/heavy metal bands. Artists/Bands that are frequently feature on the cover of these magazines include: Green Day, Paramore, Fall Out Boy and Muse.

Indie Music - 

NME, Q

The target audience for Indie music magazines is both boys and girls, made up of mostly 16 - 24 year olds. The magazines are aimed at all classes, from working to middle, with NME priced at £2.40 and Q £3.99. The audiences of these magazines will be interested in up and coming artists as well as current popular indie music. Artists/Bands that frequently appear of these types of magazines are: Florence and the machine, Amy Whinehouse, The Gallagher brothers, The Arctic Monkeys and The Stone Roses.

Mastheads & What they mean

This is the Masthead for the Rock/Heavy Metal music magazine Kerrang! It is based on the onomatopoeia sound of a power chord on an electric guitar. This matches the style of music as electric guitars are the main instrument of rock music. The font has jagged edges with lines through the letters, this stands out. The exclamation mark at the end of the word also stands out, it grabs attention. The white word on a black background matches the colours based around these magazines, dark and bold.

This is the Masthead for the Pop music magazine Top of the Pops. It was published along side the television show 'Top of the Pops' up until the shows cancellation in 2006. This magazine gives all information about current pop music. It is aimed at young girls, the Masthead matches this by being coloured bright pink to red. This stands out to young girls as a lot of young girls like the colour pink. The font is bold and eye catching and the swirl in the S at the end appeals more to young girls than boys.

Music Genres - Mind Map