Institution Research

I have conducted research on multiple institutions so I can make an informed choice on a magazine publisher for my music magazine.

Bauer Media Group

The Bauer Media Group is one of Europe‘s leading media companies, based in Germany. The Bauer family has managed the publishing company since its creation 138 years ago. Bauer publishes Q magazine, Kerrang Magazine and Box Telivision.

IPC Media

IPC Media is a Time Warner Compan. With more than 60 iconic media brands, IPC creates content for multiple platforms, across print, online, mobile, tablets and events. As the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher it engages with 26 million UK adults - almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. IPC publishes NME, Nuts and Uncut magazine.

Future PLC

Future is an award-winning international media group and leading digital business. It reaches more than 51 million international consumers a month and create content and advertising solutions for consumers online, on tablet & smartphone and in print. Future PLC publishes Guitarist, RHYTHM and Total Guitar magazine.

 

Hearst Magazines

Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst Corporation, is one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, with 20 U.S. titles and close to 300 international editions. The Company also publishes 20 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hearst Magazines UK. Hearst Magazines publishes Cosmopolitan, Marie Clarie and O magazine.

Dennis

Dennis Publishing is one of the world’s leading independent publishers. Founded in 1974, the group consists of a number of operating companies in the UK and USA. Dennis publishes Viz, PC Pro and MacUser.

Imagine Publishing

Imagine specialises in producing high quality, good value, international content for enthusiastic technologically literate prosumers. Imagine Publishin publishers Play, SciFi Now and X360.


In summary I have chosen the Future PLC because of it's lack of music magazine which includes a commentary section and reviews and on popular music artists. Future PLC also already reaches a very large audience and can offer the technology to design for smart phones and tablets an application for my magazine.

Analysing Previous Student Work

Rockhound:

Strengths -

• A large range of pictures are included in this magazine which provides a somewhat good aesthetic.
• This magazine contains a consistent font style and choice of colours which helps strengthens the magazine's sense of brand identity.

Weaknesses -

• Although there are multiple images used, the quality of the images are pretty poor which results in the overall aesthetic of the magazine having a poor quality.
• The front cover of the magazine has a very different style to all of the other pages which ruins the brand identity the creators of this magazine were attempting to build.

I would award this magazine with a grade C because of the largely consistent style throughout all of the pages with exception to the front cover which largely stands out. There's a good variety of images used in this magazine, however they are of mediocre, at best, quality.

Reckless:

Strengths -

• This magazine demonstrates an effective use of the double page spread and a good main article with relevant images.

Weaknesses -

• The images used throughout this magazine are very distorted and have a bad overall quality.
• The masthead on the front cover of this image appears very distorted and severely damages the aesthetic of the front cover.
• There's no consistency with the font and colours used throughout this magazine which results in the magazine having no overall theme.

I would award this magazine a grade E because of the lack of overall theme. This magazine also contains some very distorted images which have a very poor quality.

D.I.R.T:

Strengths -

• This magazine has a consistent font style which establishes a brand identity and keeps a good consistency throughout the pages.
• I was impressed by the contents page aesthetic which contained good quality images and a very clear and consistent theme.

Weaknesses -

• This magazine does not contain a large variety of images which results in some of the pages appearing dull and therefore the space on the pages is not being used very effectively.
• The style of the magazine is quite dull and colourless overall.

I would award this magazine a grade D because of the lack of image variety and dull theme. This magazine however does have a consistent font style and a good contents theme aesthetic.

From looking at previous student work I have discovered the importance of having a consistent font style and theme so a brand identity is established. The quality of images is also key to showcase an overall high quality magazine. I will be sure to not make the same mistakes previous students have made by taking high quality images and applying them effectively as well as deciding on a font style and colour to use throughout the magazine.

Coursework Stage 1 Planning

Type of Magazine:
I've decided to create a music magazine for my coursework. I came to this decision because of my general interest in music.

Name of Magazine:
I have yet to decide on a magazine title as I'm trying to come up with an eye catching title which can help me set up a brand identity and stand out from other, similar magazines. Coming up with a good title can also present my magazine as unique and hopefully attract an unreached audience in the market.

Audience:
I am aiming to attract an audience of people who are very interested in music overall. I aim to attract males aged between 16-30 who show a keen interest in rock/pop music and who also show some interest in the writing and production of music as well as being fans of some of the biggest artists in the music business.

Outlet:
I aim to get my magazine sold in the same places where the most popular music magazines are sold. The outlets where I aim for my magazine to be sold are; petrol stations, supermarkets, music/record stores and book stores.

Selling Point:
The selling point of my magazine is to cover the latest news in the music business through commentary reporting and high standard journalism. My magazine will also provide behind-the-scene exclusives on the records currently being made be some of the most popular musicians in the business as well as the most exciting up and coming artists. I also aim to provide credible reviews of all the latest music releases in the pop/rock genre as well as highlighting some of the best new releases on the independent music scene. My magazine will also contain exclusive interviews with the biggest artists in the business.

Theme Article:
My theme article will be an exclusive look into the recording and writing process of a popular music act's difficult second album. The theme article will contain a brief interview, exclusive release of working song titles, new images of the band and an account of how the recording/writing process is going for the artist.

Front Cover Image:
My front cover will contain one main image which will relate to the theme article.

Inside Images:
On my contents page I will provide images relating to various articles throughout the magazine to improve the overall aesthetic of the contents page and showcase the exclusives included in the issue. My theme article will contain numerous images relation the main article and will be positioned to provide context onto different parts of the article.

Contents Page Deconstruction

Contents Page Deconstruction

The masthead on this NME contents page is at the top of the page. They have used a large mast head which may be done to help establish a brand identity and reinforce their chosen colour scheme. Below the mast head is the date of the issue which has been done to link the contents of the magazine to the current date as a few of the items in the contents are news items. There's also a small news article below the masthead and an image that is relevant to the small news article. The small news article is a brief summary of the music news of that month. NME have used a colour scheme which is related to their masthead (magazine logo). They chose the colours of red, black and white which are the prominent colours throughout and are also the colours used on their masthead (magazine logo). NME could be using this scheme to create a brand identity. The contents page also shows where the items are in the magazine that were advertised on the cover page.

This contents page for Q magazine goes across two pages. This contents page has a large masthead which in relation to the colour scheme of the font creates a brand identity for the magazine which is similar to the style of the NME contents page. In contrast this contents page does not have an index to indicate which band is mentioned. This magazine contains numerous images which relate to the contents of the magazine this further advertises the magazines contents and gives the reader a preview of what articles to expect in the magazine. In contrast to the NME contents page, the text on this double spread contents page next to each image is the page number which the image is referencing which can help the reader find the article they wish to read quickly. This contents page has also positioned information to the side of the page which supplies audience with information on what the magazine contains. Also because of the great amount of text, the audience feel as if they are being provided with a high quantity and quality of text. The information has been separated into various sections which shows that the audience that the magazine contains more than any generic magazine's trait. The content has a paragraph of information following which provides the audience with more information on what they can expect to see on this particular page in the same way as the NME contents page.

This contents page for Q magazine is only on one page which is a different design to the previous Q magazine contents page. This contents page has a masthead in the same way that the previous Q magazine and NME magazine has which also has the effect of establishing a brand identity. This contents page also does not have an index to indicate which page each band it mentioned and instead has the bands noted next to the page number is similarity with the previous Q magazine contents page. This contents page only has two images which relate to the contents of the magazine which is significantly less than the previous Q magazine contents page but shares this feature with NME. The sell lines are advertisements of the music genre in general unlike other magazines, for instance NME who tend to use band names as sell lines. This will be to appeal to the target audience of pop/rock music fans in contrast to the only rock fan target audience of NME. The sell lines can draw in readers from other genres by some of the general things they advertise in music therefore creating a wider audience for the magazine. The composition is very effective. Placing the contents list on the left side is effective because people naturally read from left to right. The main image is placed off to the right and it doesn’t take the attention off the page as a whole, so attention can still be paid to the important articles. However it does imply that a main section of the article will be based on the band in the main image. Therefore fans of the band will be more interested in reading. There is also a small-boxed advertisement at the bottom of the page about q’s own personal music review. This is possibly small because it may feature often yet is still necessary on the cover as it is a main attraction to the magazine.

Preliminary Task Front Cover and Contents

For my preliminary task, I designed a student magazine front cover and contents page based on the previous research which I had conducted. I tried to follow the design of my flat plans as much as I could, however changed minor details where I felt necessary. I created these preliminary tasks in Microsoft Publisher.

 

 

The contents page follows the basic design of a magazine cover. The masthead is located at the top of the page and goes well with the consistent red/white colour scheme I chose. The lighting is also not great on the main image and it does contrast with the rest of the colours being used. The red/white colour scheme is attention grabbing as I intended. The sell lines offer minor details about the article contents, however do not offer enough to attract the reader and grab their attention.

For the contents page, I opted for the same colour scheme of red font and white background. In my own opinion, this colour scheme is very plain and cheap, despite it's consistency. The layout does not work well as it isn't make best use of the space of the page. The actual contents of the magazine is very breif and looks more like a badly designed leaflet than a magazine. The sub-headings give very vague ideas about the articles, however more specific sub-text may be required underneath each sub-heading. I am however pleased with images on this page as the lighting as bright and vibrant.

Inspirational Texts

I have been doing some initial research into the typed of music/artists I would put into my magazine. Here is a selection of videos....

Preliminary Task Flat Plans

In my font cover flat plan I planned my main image as the size of the front cover to attract as much attention to the main image as possible. The coverlines I will use will go over the main image however the main image will overlap the masthead.
My front page coverlines will be at the top and bottom of the magazine. I chose to do this to not distract attention from the main cover image.
My masthead will be placed at the top left corner of the front cover. I chose to do this to re-emphasise the main image and main cover line as I believe the masthead isn't as important for reaching my audience. My main image will be able to overlap the masthead of my magazine cover.
The essential information will be in the bottom right corner of my front cover. I chose to do this because I do not want the essential information to distract from the magazine's coverlines.

 

In my contents flat plan I placed a masthead at the top left corner to help create a brand identity and to help create a good aesthetic for the contents page. I have placed an image next to all the contents items. Each image will be related to each contents item to again help with the overall aesthetic of the contents page.