The genre I have chosen to produce for my music magazine is indie/alternative rock. The reason I have chosen this is because I listen to this type of music myself and will find it easier to make than a genre I’m not very familiar with. By the end of this task I hope to have successfully achieved at creating a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. I will do this by researching and analysing into other magazines of the same/similar genre and evaluating what elements I can implement in mine, as well as taking part in my own primary research.
Magazine Front Cover Analysis -
Magazine Contents Page Analysis -
Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis -
Research into Target Audience -
My chosen target audience for my music magazine is both genders aged around 16-24. Considering the age group it means that most of these people will be seen as lower social class as they’d mostly still be in some type of education. However, basing it on their family’s social class instead it would be aimed more towards a middle class setting. I decided on this group of people as, based on other magazines of related genres, this tends to be the generalisation of people which read them. Using this information I am able to understand and apply similar features to my own in order to make it as successful as possible.
Questionnaire -
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Questionnaire Results -
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Questionnaire Results Evaluation -
The questionnaire I created focuses on many different aspects within a music magazine that I will need to include. The reason that this is crucial to my research is so that I can find out exactly what makes a successful music magazine that people would be interested in, so I can then go on to apply these factors into creating my own magazine that will guarantee it’s worth reading and appeals to my target audience. I made sure to ask 15 people matching the description of my target audience (primarily; male and female, aged 16-24, middle class) to complete my questionnaire as it meant I could evaluate exactly what they want and have specifically said they want to see. The questions I included are also aimed towards this demographic so that they are useful enough to know exactly what specific elements I need to pay most attention to.
By knowing if and what magazines my target audience currently read, and what genres they are interested in, gave me an idea of what magazines I should look towards for inspiration. Fortunately some I am already familiar with, such as ‘Kerrang’, ‘Rock Sound’ and ‘NME’. It also gave me guidance as to what colours, fonts, images and articles I should include and what types of things to avoid. I can tell from this research that I should primarily use darker colours and large, bold fonts. Another similar theme is a more informal presentation comprising of slanted texts and more relaxed images. This means that the images I chose to use won’t have to appear too expert, as if they were taken in a photography studio by a professional photographer. This has helped me in planning my magazine as having a specified genre and reference magazines has given me a better idea on how to organise the layout of each page and how to use these features to represent my audience. The genre I have chosen to base my magazine on is indie/alternative rock as it was not only the most popular preferred genre, but is also a rather broad spectrum that will allow me to appeal to many different people in one way or another.
Asking what their hobbies and interests are will allow me to be sure that include these specific elements to recognise which types of article topics I should be focusing on. The variety of responses I received are very stereotypical within alternative/grunge music magazines and are things I am also interested in. This makes it easier for me to implement them and to apply them successfully as a way of getting the attention of potential readers. These results will also have an effect on my magazine as it enables me to choose specifically which type of articles I should create, based on these interests and how important/relevant they should be. Considering these results I have chosen to feature concert information and multiple music related topics, as these were the two most popular interests and will also be easy to cater for. Another hobby was reading, which is a large part of a magazine, especially for the double page spread article I will write as it’ll involve a lot of detailed text to read rather than mostly relying on images.
Likewise, I am able to have the best initiative of what articles I should include by asking my target audience directly. The responses I received showed that the most popular article topics would be; album and concert reviews, new album releases, tour dates, current music related news, what’s popular and information of band members. These are very common topics within current music magazines and would be highly adaptable and useful for mine. This also allows me to be more direct with the wants and needs of my target audience making it more relatable and interesting. By only including important information that they themselves have said they would like to see could create a unique selling point for my magazine as it makes it more influenced by the readers.
I would make each issue of my magazine available every two weeks as it was shown by my results that they wouldn’t want it to be sold too frequently. I want to make sure to avoid this issue as if it were to be sold too often then my audience may not purchase every issue and potentially stop all together as they have already missed so many issues. This is also why I want to keep the price at a low and reasonable amount. The desired price of the magazine was clearly established to be £1.50 which I also think is a sensible price as my target audience are middle class teenagers to young adults who may not have a lot of money to be spending every few weeks on non-essentials. It also separates my magazine from all the other popular magazines as it’s a lot cheaper than the average £3-£4. This would make it available to more potential readers which could then increase the amount purchased. The price would also remain appealing as it suggests that the content wouldn’t be at a really low quality and would then still avoid making it too expensive.
The final factor of my questionnaire is to do with people’s individual personalities. Young and Rubicam is a theory which lists the six main categories of personality types that everyone is meant to fit into. They include; mainstream, aspirer, reformer, struggler, reformer and succeeder. My results reflect that the most common personality type to read my magazine is struggler. I think that this is because again, I am aiming m magazine at middle class teenagers to young adults, meaning that almost all of them won’t actually have a full time job and only have their set class due to their parents. However, the second most common types were explorer and mainstream which expresses more of their individual personality types and aspirations. It also outlines their passions and what they’re interested in which works to my benefit as I can adapt my magazine to fit these qualities.
Overall Evaluation of Research -
From having analysed two different front covers I am able to see what works and what doesn't in terms of attracting an audience as both of the magazines do this very successfully. Not only are they eye-catching but they convey all the important elements of the magazine effectively. It also allowed me to evaluate the different codes and conventions suited for the genre to see what I would need to include. This was also supported by my questionnaire as it further helps me to comprehend specifically what my target audience are mainly interested in, as well as how I can implement them into my own magazine. This also applies to the two contents pages and double page spreads as it gave me a clear idea on what makes an effective layout and the type of content I’d want to consider including. Analysing well known pages of current music magazines, has also helped me to how to evaluate my work and to have a better understanding on what looks good as well as representing my target audience efficiently. I have learned a variety of conventions that I can adapt and use that will allow me to create something of a professional standard.