Proposal of ideas

I am going to create a magazine called "Amped" and my target audience will be a niche audience of 16-24 year old's who are interested in mostly the rock genre and heavier type of music.

The format of my work will be a front cover with dimensions of 210mm by 297mm which is the equivalent to an A4 size of paper. A contents page which will have the same dimensions, and a double page spread which will be 420mm by 584mm which is the equivalent to sized A3 paper.

My magazine will have similar features to many music magazines, specifically kerrang! as it has a very similar genre, so the thing that are in kerrang!, such as the advertisements and colours may also appeal to my target audience.

The purpose of my magazine will be to entertain people who are interested in the Rock Genre of music and to promote new bands and give the audience a deeper knowledge of the type of music and the industry.

I will be using about 8 models for my magazine. 5 of them are posing as a band and 3 of them as individual artists. This is to vary the story's in my magazine.

When i write my article it is going to be relatively informal. I will do this to make the reader more interested, it will also appeal to a younger audience and if the format of the writing is informal the younger people will be able to relate to it much easier.

Audience Research

Here is my questionare
I sent out a questionare to my target audience which is people who like rock and indie and heavier stuff. I asked questions to help me make my magazine more appealing to them.
I have found out that younger people (people of our age) prefer images to text therefore my magazine will have more image than text, and the text in my double page spread will be simple to read. From the reasearch it shows purple, turquoise and blue are the 3 most popular colours. To keep my magazines layout smart yet simple. The colours will be dark, but not too dark, this will show the genre of music I am targeting.

Focus group

I took about 4 of my friends and personally asked them questions. I asked people who are interested in the music i would be promoting in my magazine and the average age of people i asked was 17. I asked younger people because my magazine is targeted at a younger audience. I will be applying all of the things i learned from the focus group in my magazine.

Secondary Research

This is a screen shot from the NME reader profile. The statistics clearly show that NME magazine is consumed by mostely boys as total of 69% of the consumers are men and only 31% are women. This will influence people to advertise more things that boys are interested in in the magazine, rather than girly things. The average age is 24 which is quite a young so the interior of this magazine will be aimed at 24 year olds and probably younger. The consumers who buy NME spend aproximatly £46million on shoes, so the NME people can focus on getting their money by influenceing shoe companys to advertise in their magazine. They could also do this with certain shop brands and audio equiptment such as ipods, mp3's etc as the consumers spend aprximatly £326million on audio products. According to the reaserch 94% use the internet, and most of them have broadband so NME need to make sure they have an easy access online website and alot of advertisments on line to sell their magazine.

For further research I used http://www.uktribes.com/ to find out more about the audience i would like to aim at and different types of tribes. In this website i would aim for a type of person that I would want to target my magazine for and on the website it has bands and things that that type of person typicaly likes.

Textual Analysis- Kerrang!

Front cover: Kerrang magazine’s title is an onomatopoeic and sounds like the noise made when smashing an electric guitar or a loud instrument. This could already appeal to people who are interested in loud music and heavy guitars. The magazine's main target audience looks like it would be males who are mainly interested in the rock genre of music. I think it appeals to this audience because the people on the cover are all males and the colour scheme is quite dark, using mostely black. It could also appeal to a female audience because some females may be physicaly attracted to some of the males on the cover, or they could just simply enjoy that type of music. The front cover of the magazine uses a significant color pallet, the main colors are white, black , yellow , red and green these colors enable the magazine to be eye-catching and it allows some of the cover lines to stand out.

The main image on this magazine is of the band you me at six. Their facial expressions are shocked and this could appeal to a younger audience and it makes the image more eye catching. The band are wearing dark clothes aswell to follow the magazines colour scheme, as are the smaller images at the bottom of the cover. This could show that because they are almost blending in with the cover that they are calm because the colours they are wearing do not stand out but their facial expressions contrast with this, almost showing that they are to some extent rebelious. The words 'ROCKS NEW HOT SHOTS' show the readers that they are a new upcoming band which also reinforces the fact that this magazine is for younger people. The magazine probably appeals to people who like a darker sort of music because of the words of the bands such as 'disturbed, funeral for a friend' , they are very morbid names which may appeal to a certain type of tribe or cult.

The magazine prestention is shown as relaxed and spacious this can be seen on the cover because the other titles on the cover are in different colors but also in the main cover line "ROCKS NEW HOTSHOTS YOU ME AT SIX DOING IT THEIR WAY" has been printed using different fonts, color, and size of the text. This is because it enables the bands name to be striking and much more noticable grapping the attention of the consumer.

The magazines layout is suitible for the type of magazine it is. Its not completely all in line but it doesnt look messy so the music genre its going to be is going to be simelar to that.

It has used words such as 'plus' and 'FREE' to get the viewer to be more interested in buying the magazine.

Contents Page: The contents page of the kerrang magazine uses very basic colours once again such as, yellow, black and dark blue. This gives this page and maybe even the rest of the magazine a colour scheme, and the repeated use of colours means the magazine sustains its appearance, continuing the same genre and feeling.

There are alot of images on the page which almsot form a border, particulary two of the images stand out, a large dark image, and a large dark yellow image. These colours contrast against the white background, meaning the images stand out and catch the reader’s attention.

In the text there are adverbs used such as 'massive' which connotes the style of the magazine; a heavy rock magazine. The language on the contents is rude and informal ‘Your chance to win hot signed shit!’ but this once again connotes the style and genre of the magazine. It also gives a rebelious effect, like the front cover which appeals to a younger generation.

This contents page may be more appealing to a younger audience than the NME because the majority of the page is pictures, so this could show its trying to advertise the bands more than whats on the pages. I also think this because the actual contents is on the right of the screen instead of the left.

Double Page spread: The layout of this article is very relevant to the genre of magazine it is. There are much more pictures than text, this is appealing for the people who enjoy pictures more than text, which is usually more of a younger generation of audience.

There is not much colour in the text part and a bit more in the pictures which makes them stand out even more. This could show that the point of this article is to show the pictures of the gig, rather than the actual gig review.

The language which is used is quite informal and not very complex, this could link in with the target audience which would be teenagers and people who are into rock music. This could be drawing the reader who is obviously interest in the look of this band, to buy tickets because the pictures help emphasise how good the gig was. The fact that the singer has alot of tattoos could appeal to people who are interested in tattoos and body art. This could mean it could appeal to an older audience.

Textual Analysis Rocksound

This cover has very simple colours, mostly using blue and black. The cover could appeal to anyone but mostly people who like the rock genre of music because of the name of the magazine "rocksound" which clearly shows that the genre of the magazine is rock music.

It could also appeal to people who like tattoos as the person on the cover appears to be covered in them. The main article is aligned to the left of the cover which connotes that it is infact the main article and the fact that the font is larger than the font on the rest of the page. On the left of the page there is a list of other artists, that are of a simelar genre of music. This could appeal to people who like them artists as well as the artist that is on the dominant picture. There are also more pictures on the cover which appeals to preferably a younger audience and it breaks up the layout abit, making it look abit less formal.

The text on the page is straightly aligned but the font is eroded which helps promote its genre of music. This will show the reader that the rest of the magazine will be informal aswell.

The contents page almost looks as if it was backwards, which gives a messed up imagery of the rest of the magazine. This is used well however because of the genre of music. The contents are on the left which shows which page it is, but the majority of the page is taken up by pictures with short words that sum up the pictures and the articles that will come with them.

The stars at the bottom could connote a rating for the magazine as well as a theme and to make the page look abit more interesting.

The picture at the top, is a picture of the successful band known as green day. The lead singer is putting his finger over his lip, almost as if something is a secret, this could draw the reader in, because they would want to know what the secret is.

The colour of the contents is mostly red, this could connote an evil side. It gives almost a hellish feel which is assosiated with the type of music that is inside the magazine.
Double page spread- The word "Exposure" is written in the top left and right hand corners, this has a yellow banner with white block text this will immediately capture the readers attention and make them wonder what is in the article. The large image breaks up the text and makes the text seem shorter. The black highlighted writing in the center of the text also does this, it is also a key line which is used to draw the reader into reading the text by pulling out words that may encourage them to doing this. The layout is simple yet effective because of the size of the image.

Textual Analysis NME

Front Cover: The target audience for the magazine is probably teenagers because the bands on the cover are fairly new artists. The type of music for this magazine is mostly indie rock so it will appeal to the people who listen to that sort of music. The 2 men in the picture are promoting their new band 'the last shadow' but this will appeal to people who are fans of 'the arctic monkeys' and 'the rascals' as Alex Turner and Miles Kane were members of one of these bands. The cover is also dragging in slightly different genres of music by using artists such as panic at the disco, Amy Winehouse and the rolling stones but all the artists are still based around the genre of rock. The majority of the magazine is red white and black. The biggest headlines are in red because it contrasts from black and white so it stands our more.

The dominant image has been edited to make their skin look more pale and their hair darker so that it sticks to the colour scheme of red white and black and makes the cover look much more formal. The angle of the image is a low angle so they look dominant so it makes the audience feel like they are probably the front men of the new band they are promoting. It could also make the younger males who are reading the magazine to want to grow and aspire to be like them, and also it could do the same for new indie style bands. They are wearing big black coats on the image which makes them look quite mysterious which could emphasise on the mystery of their new band ' the last shaddow puppets' and push the audience to check them out or at least buy the magazine.

The Masthead has an outline around it so it doesnt clash with the red border at the top and its the boldest piece of writing on the page clearly showing the audience what the magazine is which is automaticaly promoting and selling the magazine. The name of the magazine "New Musical Express" appeals to people who are looking for new bands, this is also how we can guess the target audiences age, because it is new music.

In conclusion, the cover of this magazine is an advertisment to the people who are consuming it who are fans of the indie/rock genre. Therefore, when planning and making my magazine cover i will use the following techniques, use bold colours to help sell the actual magazine, design the title so there is at least a little idea of what kind of consumers i am aiming my magazine at, use a specific colour scheme and use titles that makes the target audience want to read more.

Contents Page: Firstly the Head title of the page is "THIS WEEK" which shows the readers that the magazine is fairly recent. The title on the contents page is "Oasis Kicked off their world tour" , they have used a band that is probably one of the biggest bands in the world as there main title, and then started a paragraph which draws the reader further into the magazine, influencing them to buy it. Also, because it says "the moment that.." makes the reader/consumer believe that NME were the first to hit that story, so they buy the magazine to simple be the first people to know about it. On the left hand side, there is a red and white section called "Band Index" and then a huge list of bands. This shows to the reader the variaty of Bands the magazine withholds.

The editor has used advertisments that are aimed for the key audience, so they are advertising things that their readers will want to buy to get money off the companys that sell those things.

Double Page Spread: This is a double page spread of a NME magazine. The main image is an image of the band 'the teenagers'. The main image is typical of the name of the band, for instance on the wall there are pictures of women and its quite messy which just makes it look like they are typical teenage boys hanging out in a typical teenage room. The boys clothings are quite indie looking which makes the reader presume what style of music they make. This appeals to a younger audience probably aged 15-20. The image is medium to long shot to show their appearance and surroundings, it could connote that they are a much more laid back than a band which would of gone for a more formal shoot.

The title is big and bold, this is because they are a new band so it sticks in the readers head. The colour scheme is blue which contrasts with any colour on the picture, this could make the writing in the blue box the more interesting that the article writing to draw the reader in. The fact that the majority of the spread sheet is pictures makes it easier for a younger person to read and makes it more entertaining.
The fact that above the name of the band it says, 'NME loves' shows the magazine likes them alot, therefore the people who buy the magazine will take more of an interest to the band.
There are also other new bands advertised on the side. They are shown by smaller photographs of the band to draw the reader to them and it uses bands that are simelar to make the target audience.

Print Brief

Preliminiary excersize: Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/ college magazine, featuring a photosgraph of a student in medium-close up plus some appropriately laid-out text and masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate your grasp of DTP.
Main Task: The front page, contents and double spread sheet of a new music magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style). All images and text must be original, produced by the candidate(s). Minimum of four images per candidate.