Title Block Poll - Response

Based on my poll, my third design seems to be the most appropriate and liked by my audience. I will choose this title block because of this, but also because it matches my genre and target audience more than the other two designs. This is because my target audience for my magazine is specifically males and the title block I am going to choose appears much more masculine than the other two options mainly because of the boldness and the fact that is embossed. This gives the illusion that the text is metal which is associated with being hard and bold which could be linked to how males are perceived by some. My genre for my music magazine is rap/hip-hop; this title block relates to this specific genre because the genre is often represented as being hyper-masculine. My title block does this through the black, bold and embossed font used.

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Institutional Research

Bauer

Bauer produces mainstream magazines meaning that their magazines are very well known and popular. This means that their target audience will be varied as the type of magazines they produce many different magazine. For example, ‘Match’ magazine is a football magazine targeted towards male children in secondary school as the content is information that they’ll understand and have an interest. In contrast, ‘Closer’ magazine is targeted towards mass-market women as it contains feminine colours and information to interest females mainly. Although, some magazines cater for a specific audience such as ‘Golf Illustrated’ which is targeted towards golf fans and golf players. The brand image is primarily to give their wide audience as well as their specific audience the latest information to do with each individual magazine. This is encouraged by the fact that their magazines are able to be seen online. Bauer have a lot of links to other media types such as radio stations like ‘Kiss FM’ and ‘Magic FM’, to show how they’re widely connected to the world of media. Also, they own other media products which include the different brands of TV, mobile and radio.

IPC Media

IPC Media produces mainstream magazines to ensure that they have a wide target audience and appeal to a lot of people rather than a few. Similarly to Bauer, IPC Media’s products vary from ‘Nuts’, a magazine targeted towards males in their 20s, to ‘What’s on TV’, which is targeted to middle-aged people interested in TV drama. The target audience is made up of the different specific groups who read each magazine produced by IPC Media. The company has magazines to do with cycling like ‘Cycling Weekly’, which contrasts hugely to music magazines like ‘NME’. This shows that the magazines produced by IPC Media are targeted to a wide audience rather than a specific audience, as their many magazines contrast to each other massively. The brand image of IPC Media is shown through the creation of content for multiple platforms which include print, online, mobile, tablets and events, indicating that they have many other media products except magazines. Their brand image is that they are “the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher” as they engage with 26 million adults in the UK. The brand is focused and committed to working and engaging with their consumers, advertisers, employees and business partners. Moreover, IPC Media has more than 60 iconic media brands which shows their influence on the market.

Immediate

Immediate produces mainstream magazines that are targeted towards a very wide audience which includes kids, teens, adults and elderly people. This is shown through the vast majority of the magazines produced by Immediate being based on either kid’s shows or kid’s toy stores. Despite this, other magazines Immediate produce include ‘Golf Magic’ and ‘Healthy Food’, which indicates that though they have a main target audience, they still have other magazines to appeal to other age groups, genders and lifestyles. In this case, these two magazines are targeted towards middle aged men as they play golf the most out of age and gender; the other magazine is targeted towards women aged 20 – 40 as at these ages most women are conscious of their weight. Immediate provide some of the most popular children’s magazines, meaning that their brand image is mainly to provide sensible and entertaining media products for kids as well as other audiences. This is shown through the amount of children’s magazines that are popular being produced by Immediate. Therefore, their brand image must be appropriate for a brand providing products for children. It would be wrong to be providing such a magazine like ‘Nuts’ whilst providing a magazine like ‘Girl Talk’. Additionally, the brand image of Immediate is being able to give its audiences multiple ways of accessing magazines. A quote from Immediate’s website states that they “create bespoke print, online, mobile, podcast, video or augmented reality content that helps organisations connect and engage with their members and customers.” This indicates that the brands audience’s accessibility to their media products is one of Immediate’s best interests, showing how their brand image is to give their audience the best content in the best way.

Development Hell

Development Hell publishes the market leading international dance music magazine, ‘MixMag’. The cover of their magazine ‘MixMag’ features the title on the top of the page with a central image and sub-headings surrounding this image. Development Hell is different to the other magazine publishers as it only produces one magazine. Due to this, their target audience is very specific as it is focused on one sex, one age and one type of lifestyle, unlike Bauer, Immediate and IPC Media. The main target audience would obviously be fans of dance music, as this is the music genre focused on by ‘MixMag’, meaning that the age group targeted is most likely to be people aged 18-25 as this age group particularly go to nightclubs or other parties, where dance music is often played and listened too. The gender cannot be as specific however, as both males and females generally listen to dance music. Development Hell’s brand image is being ‘The world’s biggest dance music & clubbing destination’, which is the slogan featured on the front cover of ‘MixMag’. This shows the ambition Development Hell has and to indicate that although they may just publish one media product, they are doing very well with it. As well as aspiring to be the best at what they do, Development Hell have multiple platforms in which their audience can interact with their magazine ‘MixMag’. The magazine publisher provides its readers with the ‘MixMag’ iPad app, mixmag.net, ‘MixMag’ TV, ‘MixMag’ events and ‘DontStayIn.com’, the world's biggest clubbing social network. Development Hell aren’t part of a larger media company, instead they are “an independent media company based in Islington, London”, indicating that although they may seem like a small business, the one magazine they produce is very successful.

Title Block's Analysis

The genre of music ‘Kerrang’ is about is rock music. This can be interpreted through the title block from the colours used and the physical appearance of it. The colour black is dark, and rock music has connotations of gothic and dark music. Moreover, ‘kerrang’ is the sound made from an electric guitar, and the lines appearing to go across the title block are supposed to be guitar strings, which further implies what kind of genre of music the magazine is. The font used is very bold and shows that the magazine wants to be seen and stand out. Even though you cannot hear the word being said, the magazine wants the font to imply that the sound of the word is loud. Rock music is kind of aggressive and messy; this is shown in the title block through the grittiness and messiness surrounding the letters of the title block, to show what the magazine is about. The title clearly shows information on who the target audience might be. With dark colours, bold font and an almost messy theme to the title block, it show that the main target of the magazine is people interested in rock music/artists, as these people will be interested in the magazine and its content.

The genre of music that ‘NME’ focuses on is punk rock. The colours used are red, black and white, with the main colour being red. Rock music is often represented with the colour black; the red used in this title block shows that the music NME focuses on isn’t just rock, it’s something different yet similar: punk rock. The font used is very big and bold, which shows that the magazine is dominant and has authority; general connotations of rock music.  The title of the magazine is ‘NME’ standing for New Musical Express. The title shows that the music being focused on in NME is new, which could suggest that the target audience are people who like to keep up to date with music, especially punk rock music.

The genre of music focused on by ‘Mojo’ magazine is classic rock. This could be interpreted from the title block because of the colours used. The background of the title block is like a really dark green and appears to be slightly foggy or blurry. Though one might not be able to know from this that Mojo is about classic rock, it is relatively easy to understand that the magazine has something to do with some kind of rock music as a dark colour is used and dark colours are often associated with rock music. The kind of blurry image of the title block implies that the magazine has something to do with old music, thus showing how it has content of classical rock. The font used takes up the whole title block, which generates authority and makes a statement to imply that they are a big magazine and one of the best at what they do. The word ‘mojo’ word originally means a charm or a spell, suggesting that the magazine is charming and makes reader’s remember the magazine “under a spell” for example. However, nowadays, ‘mojo’ is a quality that attracts people to you and makes you successful, which implies that the magazine is full of quality and attracts readers making the magazine successful. The target audience for ‘Mojo’ are fans of classical rock, which suggests that elder people who are interested in the rock music of their day would want to buy this magazine. This can be reflected to the title block as is appears old because of the dull colour used and the way it doesn’t look fresh and/or new.

Double Page Analysis

The band featured in the double page article of ‘Kerrang’ magazine is a rock band called ‘Sleeping with Sirens’. The title of the band itself already implies that they are a loud band that will wake people up with their music with the oxymoron of ‘sleeping’ and ‘sirens’. This is encouraged by the image shown on the double page article; though the whole band is on the pages, the lead singer is holding a megaphone which further backs up the point that they are a loud band and they want the world to hear them. The band members appear around the ages of 20-27 and are all dressed in skinny jeans with shirts/t-shirts on. Moreover, they all have slick, gelled hair with tattoos which, overall, indicates the traditional appearance for a rock artist. It is primarily because of the ages of the band members which determines the target audience to be young people aged around 16- 25 as they can relate to the band. Also, as the band is relatively new, there fans will most likely be young kids who like to keep up to date with the rock industry. There is no specific gender that the magazine is targeting with the article as the fans of the band featured in the article vary over both sexes.

The language used in this double page article relates back to the target audience: young people. This is mainly shown through the vocabulary chosen by the writer as they use words that will be familiar with the young audience rather than an elder. Rude words such as “s**t” and the ‘f word’ show, again, how the language reflects back to the target audience of the magazine as a whole. Usually, middle-aged or elder people would look down on swearing from young people like Kellin, the band’s lead singer, and deem it ‘rude’ and ‘disgusting’. However, a younger audience would understand this and would most likely to be apathetic to this as most of today’s generation of 16-25 year olds are familiar with that type of language. Additionally, words like ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’ would also refer to a young audience as they are widely associated with social media rather than the older generation. 

The article demands prior knowledge, though the reader will most likely be part of the magazine’s target audience which means they already have prior knowledge about the band. This is shown through the band members being referred to by their first names which fans will definitely know.

Colours used on the double page article include white, purple, yellow and black, which shows that the magazine wants to keep its house style. The black maintains the feeling of rock as that type of music is often associated with darkness. However, the colour white is used in contrast to the black to brighten up the page to appeal to a wider audience.

The text used is fairly small to fit all of the information onto the double page article. The text has been laid out in columns which create space for the text whilst allowing the background images to be as visible as possible.  This is very smart of the magazine because if the text was laid out horizontally rather than vertically it would appear that there is much more writing which could disinterest the reader as too much writing crammed up isn’t attractive. Both pages have images on them. Although there is more imagery on the left page, the main image is on the right. On the left, the four band artists are protecting their ears from the supposed sound that the other band member is making on the right page with a megaphone. Also, there are black circles emerging from the megaphone which get bigger as they spread out to represent the sound being made.

The magazine is using a tone that addresses the reader as an informed & intelligent fan. This is because of the vocabulary chosen by the writer; he/she includes the names of all the band members as if the reader already knows them well.

The band is presented on the double page article as a very loud band that is going to wake you up with their music; basically implying that there music will do the total opposite than put you to sleep. Plus, this article shows you that the band knows how to have fun as the things they appear to be joking around with each other and shows that they may be a professional band but they aren't overly serious.

The article clearly matches the front cover; the person in the main image (Kellin) is the main focus on both with a megaphone and his band mates are the secondary focus. As well as this, the black circles on the double page article to represent the sound are used on the front cover to reflect a consistency throughout the magazine.. 

Planning My Music Magazine

My target audience in the category of age is teenagers. This is because it is going to be written from a teenager’s perspective.There is no specific gender that my magazine is targeted towards as I want my magazine to appeal to a much wider audience rather than one particular audience. Although, males are usually associated with rap/hip-hop music so my magazine may appear masculine.

The style my magazine will focus on is going to seem commercial, mainstream and will reflect to the colours that my genre of music’s industry represents. Moreover, my magazine will consist of artists associated with the movement of my genre such as Rihanna, Drake and Beyoncé. The genre my magazine is based on is R&B as I am very familiar with this type of music and am comfortable with writing about it. Additionally, my magazine will focus on the present time’s music as this will appeal to my target audience the most. 

By looking at my survey that I created, on a particular question the majority of people answered that they buy no magazines. This indicates that the time period of when I sell my magazine is irrelevant. Despite this, I will most likely allow my magazine to come out every month as that is the average time period that most magazines come out.

The cost of my magazine is going to be a price where I could get a lot of sales, whilst maintaining the maximum amount of profit possible. By looking at the results I received back from my survey from the question: ‘What is the maximum amount you would pay for a music magazine’, I concluded the price my magazine will cost. Out of 15 people who answered the question, 7 answered ‘£2.01 - £3’. Despite this, nobody answered that they’d like to pay ‘£3.01 - £4’, indicating that I should make the price closer to £2.01 than £3. Therefore, I’ve chosen to sell my magazine and £2.49, primarily because most people are happy to pay this price and it will help me gain profit as it’s a good price. Also, £2.49 is, arguably, the highest possible price I could sell my magazine to make sure it sells whilst still gaining a considerably good amount of profit. 

I would like my magazine to appear glossy like Q Magazine, rather than a newspaper like NME. This is because a lot of glossy magazines are popular with consumers as they come across as more expensive and make the reader feel as if they’re getting a bargain. Also, my target audience, students, tend to be rather messy and/or clumsy. Due to this, if they spill food or drink on the magazine it can easily be cleaned as it’s a glossy magazine. 

Survey Analysis

 

By looking at my results, the majority of answers say that the thing found most interesting is music magazines are Album Reviews and Artist Information. Therefore, when I create my magazine I will focus mostly on these two areas when writing articles.

 

The results for this question tell me that the best price range for my magazine would be from £2.01 to £3 as 7 out of 15 people chose this answer. It will be best to sell my magazine at a price of £3 to make as much profit as possible while still focusing on the readers wants.

 

These results here indicate that that the most popular music genre to focus on in my magazine is R&B which means I will choose this option to appeal to a wide majority of readers.

 

In this question, I asked what title users would prefer for a magazine with 6 examples. I asked users to rank the titles with 1 being the best and 6 being the worst. The results I got back indicate that the most popular title ranked as number 1 is ‘High Tempo’, with the least popular being ‘new Sound’ as it was ranked 6th the most. This tells me the title of my magazine should be similar to that of ‘High Tempo’ as it is in the interest of possible readers.

My results for this question show that the majority of the people who answered this question don’t buy magazines. This implies that maybe I should use the internet to my advantage for my magazine seeing as 10 out of 15 people said that they buy no magazines in a month, meaning that they would rather access it on the internet rather than going out and physically buying a magazine. Also, this suggests that the time period of when I release m magazine is irrelevant to an extent.

 

My results indicate that I should make my magazine not too short and not too long as most users, as 11 users chose the ‘Medium: Average’ option. If I’m to choose either a long or short magazine, I should choose short as 4 users chose this option compared to the 0 who chose long.

 

These results tell me that the type of font I should use is either simple or stylistic as these two were the most popular choices among answers. 

By looking at these results, the three most popular colours are black, white and red, meaning that the combination of these three colours will be best for my magazine colours.