First drafts of front cover, contents page and double page spread

for these double page spreads interviews may be articles instead

The Treatment

The Treatment: Awe

Target readership: The Awe magazine reader is aged 16-18 aimed at students of both genders that like a range of music genres. They will enjoy festivals, celebrities and music in general also interviews of less well known artists.
The majority of the readers will rely on their parents for the money to buy the magazine, however in the current climate the magazine must stand out and actually be worth its price.   

Form and style: This will be an A4 full colour magazine that includes celebrity interviews, advice and previous views/ ratings on the best upcoming. On the front cover there will be a main image of the celebrity that features in the issue of the magazine. The front cover will look neat and more sophisticated although the whole page will be filled it wont be to cluttered. The coverlines will be moved to appropriate places on the front cover so that the image can always be seen also they will inform the reader of the main and most interesting aspects of the magazine. The magazine will be priced at £2.50 this is cheaper than average for music magazines and i think that it will be suitable for the age group.

Themes and typical features: Regular features will be celebrity interviews, top 10 bands of the month, upcoming festivals, any new events/tours. The magazine will be written in an informal way so that the language is relevant to the target audience also every so often the magazine will review things like top 70 albums ever etc.

Potential advertisers: The magazine will advertise a range of things such as clothing, band merchandise, technology (specific to music, such as ipods etc) and also promotions such as 50% off music lessons, and other others.

Editorial team: The editorial team will be made up from a range of older experienced members (both genders) that can design covers and write the articles for the magazine. However younger people nearer to the target audience will give input and bring new ideas forwards to the magazine however the final versions of the magazine will be made by everyone.

   

colour analysis

These are my three possible colour schemes for my magazine, i have chosen to use these colours as i wanted it to represent many genres of music. I like the third and second colour schemes as they stand out while also complimenting each other, i think the red in the second scheme would also stand out well maybe making it look more expensive like Q magazine. However the third colour scheme has blues and greens which may be associated more with a male audience although i think if these colours are used correctly that i could avoid gender stereotyping.

weekly review

This week i completed the research into instituitons and readership figures i also managed to complete font analysis. This week I will complete colour analysis and try to complete the treatment sheet.

Font analysis

Here are the five fonts i have selected that i think would look good as a masthead or banner for my music magazine. I prefer the first and last font as they dont suggest the overall genre of the magazine whereas the others suggest maybe a pop genre. However the last font looks as it could be on a literature magazine becasue of the typewriter look it has. To clarify my decision i may look at the first and last font in different colurs  

internet research into instituitons and readership

Music Magazines: Jul-Dec 2008 Year On Year Comparisons
Title	Publisher	Jul-Dec 07	Jul-Dec 08	Actual Change	% Ch
Classic Rock	Future Publishing	67,399	70,188	2,789	4.1
Kerrang!	Bauer Consumer Media	76,937	52,272	-24,665	-32.1
Metal Hammer	Future Publishing	45,809	50,269	4,460	9.7
Mixmag	Development Hell Ltd	35,817	30,159	-5,658	-15.8
Mojo	Bauer Consumer Media	106,218	100,507	-5,711	-5.4
NME	IPC Ignite	64,033	48,459	-15,574	-24.3
Q	Bauer Consumer Media	131,330	103,017	-28,313	-21.6
Rock Sound	Rock Sound Ltd	23,021	20,011	-3,010	-13.1
RWD	RWD Media Ltd	33,266	77,050	43,784	131.6
Uncut	IPC Ignite	91,028	87,069	-3,959	-4.3

“Q, MOJO and Kerrang! all have strength in breadth and depth in being complete 360 brands. Each continues to lead and define the music market by connecting all manner of music fans with their music heroes via groundbreaking editorial access and content.”

MOJO is the second highest selling music magazine that is sold monthly at 97, 722. MOJO looks at all music no matter whether its new or a classic From Fleet Foxes to The Who.


As previously mentioned Q continues to be the UK’s biggest selling monthly music magazine with a circulation of 100,172. It has an unrivalled access to celebrities and content which allows it to get access to big stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Noel Gallagher's and U2's. Q's publicity is enhanced by the fact that they also have radio stations a website and music channel.


KERRANG! is the UK’s best-selling weekly music magazine at 43,253.  Changes in market conditions and music consumption affected Kerrangs sales, but they are still dedicated to  serving its passionate rock readership with a weekly update news, features and reviews of the weeks hottest gigs, albums and music.


Kerrang! - 44,013 (w) 
MOJO - 91, 678 (m)
Q - 89,450 (m)
Stuart Williams, MD of Bauer Media's Music & Film portfolio, commented:

"Kerrang! has had a resurgent year under new Editor Nichola Browne, who has refreshed, rejuvenated and refocussed the magazine on its core audience of late teen-early 20s rock fans. Kerrang! continues to be a powerful media brand with a strong online presence and a hugely successful radio station."

"In MOJO and Q, Bauer Media boasts the two best selling monthly music magazines in the UK. MOJO recently marked its 200th issue with Tom Waits guest-editing and, as ever, the Mojo Honours List awards attracted a veritable Who's Who of music legends including Jimmy Page, Kasabian, Roger Daltrey and Marc Almond.

"Q will chalk up a quarter century in 2011 and will do so by continuing to extend its reach amongst audiences online, on TV, on Radio and at live events

In the year of 2010 the Magazine sales of MOJO had overtaken Q, it is obvious that MOJO's niche audience had stuck by their magazine while Q was slightly abandoned. For my magazine i have to make sure that it attracts a niche audience in a simiarl way to that of MOJO. 

Weekly review

I am currently up to date with my work so far, i have completed making the poll and questionnaire although i still need to create a poll and questionnaire analysis i will do this when i have more results.

Questionairre

1.How much would you pay for a music magazine?

• £1.00
• £2.50
• £3.00
• £3.50

2.What music genre's should the magazine cover?

• Rock
• pop
• Punk
• Rap
• other
• many

3.What colour scheme would you prefer to be used?

• Many different colours
• Light colours
• other

4.Would you prefer more writing or images?



5.What type of layout would you prefer?

• clear and simple (e.g. Q)
• Messy style (e.g. NME)

6.How often should the magazine be released?

• weekly
• monthly
• other

7. What age groups should the magazine target?


8.What gender should the magazine target?

• male
• female

Textual analysis of a double page spread

This double page spread is from NME magazine it is obvious that this article is about Florence+machine as Florence's image takes up a whole page and overlaps onto the other this is common in double page spreads; this also links to the title that is in the huge font, the image clearly relates to Florence trying to break into america as it shows her sat on the american flag. The colour scheme used for this page is red white and black, the red and white are obviously links to America. The article is separated into three columns of varying lengths this makes it look more stylised also this allows the text to fit nicely in between the image and the title, 2-3 columns are regularly used in magazines, also the text and image take up almost equivilant space.The tiltle of the article involves lyrics from one of Florence's songs quotes are commonly used like this in titles of magazines. The first letter of the article is in larger and different type of font this makes it clear that this is the start of article, also this used with the colour scheme makes this article look slightly more upper class. All of the pages ar numbered at the bottom so that the artivcle can be easily found.        

textual analysis

Q contents page

On this contents page the features have been separated into two sections, what's included in this magazine and what's included every month; this is good for readers as it puts emphasis on new articles, while also keeping the people happy that enjoy the regular features. The image is the main feature on this page this links to the features in the red box on the left this enables readers to find exactly what they want as all the articles have page numbers. An review of an artist is put in a white box at the bottom of the page this keeps with Q's brand identity as they are known for there reviews of artists also this page is in keeping with their colour scheme of red, black, white and gold, again this makes Q look more expensive. Q is also known for looking at things like greatest artists or albums as shown by this contents page, as it reviews the 100 greatest albums ever' to put emphasis on this it is in larger, bold, white writing and it stands out clearly against the red background. Everything is also clearly laid out and labelled  this allows specific articles to be found with ease.  

NME Contents page

that readers may want. However there is a band index on the left hand side this makes it easy for readers to look up the specific bands featured in that weeks magazine, this seems to be unique to NME. The dominant feature of the page is the large images of Oasis in the centre this is the main story, this is obvious as there is large font underneath the image and a descriptive paragraph about it. On the right hand side there are 5 headings that are used regularly in On this contents page the layout is not as simple as Q's because all of the content  crammed into this page it makes it look messy and makes it harder to find specific articles NME these are news, radar, reviews Live! and features, each contains a brief description and page numbers.

Tetual anlaysis of front covers

This magazine is by Q- (issue 295). Q's magazines are published once a month and usually have many pages and reviews as such they are the type of magazine that people collect. They largely have interviews and reviews about artists that are currently popular although they regularly have stories about the best albums, artists etc. within a certain time period. This magazines colour scheme is gold, red and black this is used in the front cover image, mast head and cover-lines; this colour scheme makes the magazine have a grand look to it as if it were an award. The colours are used in varying combinations so that all the text can be seen, however the red is still the dominant colour. The main image on the front cover is the vinyl record which makes it clear straight away that it is a music magazine also this image fills all of the cover but is dropped into the background so that everything else overlaps it. The title Q was used as people used to queue up for albums. Also the high quality covers and design used make the magazine look expensive, also they relatively are and that is why the price is hidden.

                        (Both kerrang and Q are published by Bauer publication)

The front cover of this magazine is dominated by a single image of the band My chemical romance, also the headline that links to the image is written in the bands logo font. The colour scheme uses red and yellow keeping in theme with the main image, however the mast head is in Its own individual font and in a different colour to make it stand out . The word kerrang is also an onomatopoeia for the sound of a guitar string being plucked, this links to the brand Identity of magazine as they usually feature rock music. The mast head is covered up by the main image to give the magazine a further depth of field, although smaller images are used at the bottome to make the page fuller this makes it seem like there is more content thus making the magazine look as if it is better value although the price is still relatively hidden. The coverlines are at the top and bottom of the page and they are mainly the names of other sub articles within the magazine.

 

NME stands for new music express commonly associated with punk rock although they have since expanded their genre. The front page is covered by text because of the cover lines that give information about other articles, although the image of eminem draws the most attention however this image was taken at a live concert and so we presume that NME did not actually take it, this makes it look cheaper compared to the other magazines as there photos are actually staged. The colours used are black, white and red, the black is used as a background and is the main colour in the image making it look simple na dless expensive compared to something like Q magazine. NME use the same font on the front covers making it look simple yet again. This is the only magazine where the image does not overlap the name.

These three well known magazines each have there own website and music channel this works to advantage thus making them commonly known.

Preliminary research

Action Plan

3/1/11         Textual analysis of magazines: 3 covers, 2 contents,
10/1/11       1 double page spread
17/1/11       Audience questionairre + analysis (poll- for magazine name)
24/1/11       Internet research into institions + readership figures
31/1/11       Colour analysis - (weekly review)
7/2/11         font analysis - (treatment shet)
14/2/11       Layout design
21/2/11       photoshoot, drafting pages, audince feedback
28/2/11       Evaluation
7/3/11