Whilst Creating my music magazine ‘Surround Sound’ I wanted to included various forms and conventions of music magazines which are seen in existing magazines. I researched and observed other music magazines and asked myself how do they get the attention of the audience. I then realised that the front cover needs to be eye catching.
My front cover consists of the famous Uk Rapper Gigs and My brother making a direct mode of address. This is also another convention also the fact that I made it a central image. This will certainly catch the audience’s eye because of the famous artist. The image relates to the lead story ‘When the Hardest Are Talking’ fans of the artist will instantly know that this is his Catch Phrase and will draw more attention to my magazine. I also included a puff on my front cover informing the audience of a competition. This is a convention I often see on a majority of different magazines. I also included Buzz words such free posters because the audience like receive free gifts from magazines.
Like other music magazines I have created a name which relates to music, ‘Surround Sound’ it directly informs the audience that my magazine is associated with music. Also the colour scheme I have chosen was purple, yellow, white and Red. I never chose the colours without purpose, the reason I made my background purple is the fact that purple represents royalty and power. I brightened he purple on where they shook hands, informing the audience that they have power when the two artist collide. I often see this convention in other music magazine such as ‘Vibe’ They often use the colours to highlight or represent the artists. I chose my title to be big and bold, and also yellow so it can stand out. The audience will be able to spot it from quite a distance. I made the buzz word ‘Exclusive’ in red because it is eye catching because it stands out builds emphasis for my magazine. Also the colour Red represents danger, power, strength, determination etc, this creates curiosity towards the audience and will persuade them to buy my magazine.
Like all other magazine front cover I must include the price and the barcode, the price informs the audience how much the magazine cost. My questionnaire gave me feedback the audience will not pay more than £4 so I acted upon this and lower my price.
Another aspect I included in my magazine is sell lines, sell lines represent what is inside the magazine. I included different sell lines so the audience will know we have a lot to offer. Also if I use up to date celebrities and artist, it will gain the attention of not only my target audience but others as well. I also added an anchorage text; the anchorage text tells the audience what the main article is about. My anchorage text is a catch phrase from one of the artist’s who is seen on my front cover. This will build hype and create word of mouth because the artist fans will be excited. The word ‘Exclusive’ is a buzz word; it catches the audience’s attention and builds emphasis to my magazine. Because it tells the audience that my magazine is the only magazine to have the interview of a famous band. it may also boost my sales because the audience know the only way to view the article, or interview or whatever, is to buy my magazine to read it.
The main colours i used to construct my magazine are Purple with a shade of Grey, Yellow, White and Red. My colour scheme is unique and makes my magazine stand out. I only used four colours so my magazine has a house style. I used the same colours for my contents page. My contents have the same house style as my front cover. My contents page has similarities to other magazines due to the fact that I have the page numbers on the right hand side of the contents page. But one thing I have noticed when I analyse other magazines contents page and I have noticed that some magazines don’t have images on their contents pages. I did the opposite because images on contents page attract the reader and draws them even more in to my magazine. Also since my audience is of the younger generation they like to look at pictures other than read the text. Another aspect that I included which i saw on other magazines ir an editors note. I placed my note on the top left hand side so the audience can read if they want.
The feature that i added that you can find on any magazine front cover is the bar code. So you can now see that I have used many forms and conventions which are seen on other music magazine.
How does your music magazine represent particular social groups?
My magazine represents current urban youths of today. It appeals to may, whatever your race is as long as you listen to Hip-Hop, R&B, Grime or Funky House. These Genres have become mainstream throughout the years meaning more audience’s will listen to it, like it and want to know more about a particular artist. My magazine represents both male and female of the urban crowd because they can relate to the artist, especially if they want to become an artist themselves. The genre which is R&B is now World wide so my magazine can represent other social groups other than the urban audiences. Slang is used in my magazine which may seem informal but teenagers can understand it fluently.
Who would be the audience for your music magazine?
Before I created my magazine, I wanted to have a large number of audience’s. so my target audience are teenagers aged from the age of fourteen to twenty. Both males and females because I will include things that both sexes can appeal to. My magazine is aimed at the urban readers because they can relate to the genre of the music. But however Hip-Hop and R&B are now mainstream resulting In the fact that there is a wider audience range than it was before.
So I made my target audience for my magazine for teenagers from the age of fourteen to twenty. of multicultural groups. I chose this age range because of the questionnaires i gave out, a majority of the questionnaires results showed me that the age range is between fourteen and eighteen. By having a large number of audiences, my magazine will be bought from a large number of readers and this will increase my sales. Also the readers can relate to them, Teenage girls are interested in gossip so my magazine will provide the information and teenage boys are interested in the rap culture, the beautiful female artist and more.
How Did You Attract/Address Your Target Audience?
I decided to do what a majority magazines so to attract their audience, and that is an eye catching image, a catchy title which relates to the magazine genre, Buzz words to get their attention like exclusive, colours which stand out and a good anchorage text.
The two artists on my front cover are making a direct mode of address meaning they want a close relationship with the audience. The fact that they are shaking hands inform the audience that there is strength in numbers so if anyone is struggling to be an artist they should not hesitate to ask for help. Their picture draws in the audience because a well known artist is collaborating with an up and coming artsit. This will get their attention and what and to know why. I sent out aquestionnaire asking them what interested them about my magazine. The feedback I received stated the colours and the central image.
Also on the bottom left right corner it shows the price of the magazine, the price also attracts the attention of the audience, because of its reasonable pricing. The audience will have a month to come up with the money since my magazine is once a month. I included a buzz word such as exclusive. This catches the audience’s eye, as it tell the readers that this specific article won’t be seen on any other music magazine but mine
In addition i placed a puff which says ‘win free tickets’. The puff should catch the audiences eye and influence them to buy it because of the competition.
What kind of media institution might distribute your music magazine and why?
The media institution that I want to distribute my magazine is “I.P.C, I want I.P.C to distribute my magazine because they distribute a variety of magazine of different genres. they distribute magazines about Hair, instruments, gardens and more. They also distribute well known magazines such as, NME, and more. Since they have distributed many successful magazines, I for one want to join the success.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your music magazine?
I learnt many things whilst producing my music magazine. For instance, I learned how to use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. I used Adobe Photoshop and illustrator to construct my front cover, contents page ad my article. I learned how to use the tools on both Adobe programmes, such as filter, filter allows you to manipulate your image, for example, make it gloss, neon glow coloured etc. In illustrator I learned how to design a layout with multiple colour schemes, rotate the image, and add effects to the text and headings. But the thing that I was surprised at myself was when I made my background scheme, I made the colour scheme by just using illustrator, I never had to take a background from the internet, I created it.
Also I learned how to crop using Photoshop, use the magic wand tool which allows you to select the area you want to delete in a picture, clone stamp tool etc. I also learned how to use a digital camera, I learned how to zoom in out properly, change the quality and more. In addition I learned how to transfer images from the digital camera onto my pictures using an USB stick. I was not good at taking pictures, but as time went past I got allot better at it.
I never knew how to set up a blog until now. Now I know how to create a blog and post my work onto it. I then learned how to organise the post by date and also learning how to add followers on the blog. As I used these programmes frequently, it became more memorable. These features helped me to produce my music magazine, it Made my magazine more appealing to my target audience and will attract them into purchasing my music magazine.
What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from creating the school magazine (preliminary task), to creating your music magazine?
In the process of creating my magazine (preliminary task), I have learnt a numerous skills. I have learnt the skill of finding how to appeal to my target audience by finding out what they would like to see in a magazine, basically their opinion. I also learned how different genres can appeal to different types of audiences. For example, my college magazine will just appeal to student, but music can attract a large number of audiences. When I was doing my preliminary draft, I never put that much creativity into it, because I never knew how to use the tools properly. I was even struggling with how to resize the images on Photoshop. As I was creating my music magazine I learnt on how to create a house styles and create multiple layouts. I also learnt how to attract my target audience through pricing. I also learnt that you should make your title big and bold so it stands out from the other magazines, so its most likely that the audience will see your magazine than all the others. This will encourage them to buying my magazine. I also learned to use every code and convention as possible as you will see on every other magazine. the programmes Photoshop And Illustrator will help improve my sales because of all the tools and effects that I have learned.
Audience Feedback
In addition I created ten questionnaires about my final magazine and my preliminary. I never did a poll because I wanted to give it to the audience and receive it personally. One of the questions I included in the questionnaire was ‘Which front cover was better out of the two, my preliminary draft or my real one’. Nine questionnaires which were returned had circled my real front cover. This proves that there is a vast comparison between the two.
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