AS Media Main Coursework - Blog 5

Fonts

In my magazine i didnt want to use simple boring fonts, i wanted to use one that my audience could relate to. I decided to conduct a feedback form for my main masthead for ages between 16-18 so i could decide which one was best suited for my magazine.

This was my feedback form, and the majority vote went to the first one. I think that this is because it is unique and funky, i can see why this would appeal to my target audience.
I also asked around to find out which font was easy to read and looked better out of sans-serif and seirf typeface. People said that serif was easy to read but sans-serif looked alot tidyer and neat, i took this into account and decided to use myriad pro which is a sans-serif typeface on my main body text.

AS Media Main Coursework - Blog 4

Flat Plans

Frontpage

This is the front cover flat plan to my magazine, i have used a fairly conventional method of layout but feel ive added a unigue touch. My masthead is instinctivly the main attraction, big, bold and eye catching. I have a strapline across the top with a little bit of information telling the basics of what u might find in the magazine. Data and issue number is in the top left over lapping some of the masthead. The slogan is used as a underline of the masthead. I feel my masthead is ideal for my target audience because its modern, punky and fits in with the genre. My main image is going to dominate this page but will not be the instant eye catcher. I want people to notice the headline so im going to make this big, colourful and bold. This is in fitting with the audience because young people like bright and eccentric stuff. Im also going to have sub-headings so once they have seen the headline there a little more information to entise them in. The sub headings wont be as big as the headline, they will just be a taster so they want to find out more. The price of my magazine is going down vertical on the left hand side of the masthead and the bar code vertical down the side of the page. My strapline is horizontal across the bottom of the page. This will have abit more info of what you can find on the inside. I feel that this front page has a mixture of all current magazine which are on sale now but has that little bit exrtra. Compared to NME i feel that mine will be more attractive. I want to use a fairly simplistic solour scheme similar to Q magazine but mine will be abit more modern.

Contents page

This is my contents page, i haved tried to make the whole page unigue. Ive carried my masthead though and used it on this page so people know exactly what they are reading. I have the date and issue. I would like to think i have broke away from the coventional method of layout on this page. I have done this by divinding my page into two parts; Info and contents, images. On the left i have what is inside and images down the right. The images have page references on them so you can relate them to the story on the left. I have boxes at the bottom just with the small extras that are in the magazine. The main subjects are in the contents part. I am going to use alot of decorative effects on this page which i think my target audience will relate to. kerrang has a similar format e.g. organised mess but i think i will be slightly more sophisticated.

Double page spread.

My double page spread is similar to many magazines when they are reviewing bands. My headline is across the top in bold, bright writing. With a small sub heading below. Im going to have the band name as the title. My body text is going to be in 3 collums covering only onside of the page spread. A few important facts about the band in a box spreading across both pages. I think this page will be relavant to my target audience because they wont be too much writing to bore them and if they just want the important stuff then they can glance back at the facts box. On the other page im doing to use a image to cover the whole page. I will use a picture of the band. Im also going to use a pull quote from the main text a put it over lapping the image. Alot of magazines use this and i think its a good touch. NME show it in blog 3.

AS Media Main Coursework - Blog 3

Analysis of exsisting magazines

NME (New Musical Express) i think they have given the magazine this name becuase they pride themselves on giving new bands and artists exposure they need. The magazine is within the similar genre of my magazine. The masthead for this magazine is big and bold in block capitals and uses a modern sans serif font. The layout is similar on all NME magazine covers. The Headline across the top makes a big statement and draws you into that at first sight. They use Sans-serif font on all writing on the magazine. NME cover all areas of their magazine with one main image dominating the page, its a image of Kings Leon Walking in a Field which links in with the headline that they are going to glastonbury. They use words like tranny which tells me its maybe not a sophisticated magazine and using slang language. On this magazine they have a strapline across the bottom, bar code and price and date featuring in the same place throughout all NME magazines. This magazine uses bright colours to appeal to a young audience. The target audience for this magazine would be 18-30, C1 C2 D E class.

Q Magazine stands for Que the Music, they have given the magazine this music because its what people say when they wont music to be played, it is fairly similar magazine but i think that is aimed for a slightly older target audience. The images on this magazine are quite simplistic and dont usually have a background which i personally prefer. In the headline it says " Brandon Flowers makes his point" which links withthe picture of him pointing. Their layout is typical with masthead in top right corner, headline the main focus to draw customers in, strapline along bottom in red which links with the masthead, barcode on the right and the price is in with the slogan. Keep the colour scheme throughout so it all links together. In this particular issue is like the front cover is split into two separate parts with the U2 special part because it doesnt link with the rest of the magazine and have totally different colour scheme its like its a different magazine. They use a sans-serif font on all the front cover apart from the slogan and masthead where its serif font and the design of it is traditional. Their language is slightly more sophisticated than NME mag because they dont use slang.

This is a contents page from NME, its a very clutterd up and busy page which means there must be alot going on inside this magazine. Have the main focus point along the top with the colours still linking to the magazine colour scheme. Main image is relating to the story beneath. They arent using to many colours on this page and just stick to main colours but this page has alot of writing. They have all their featured stories down the left hand side with page references and all the bands that feature in this magazine are down the right hand side. This is a good feature i feel because then people can find the band they are particulary interested in. They have a small advert at the bottom of the page explaining how people can save more on buying their magazine. The overall layout is good and can see why it would appeal to someone of my age because its like organsied clutter but still looks good.

This is a typical double page spread from NME magazine, its a story about a new band explaining what kind of music they play and a little bit about them. It has the main headline which is the bands name then has their story going down the spread in a collum of two. The colour scheme on this page is blue, black and white so you wouldnt really know that its from NME magazine unless you are a familiar reader. It has a box of information in the bottom left of the page with important facts about the band which is a good touch. I think the layout is quite cool and the use of colours is good. The image dominants one of the pages from the double page spread. They use bold sans-serif font on the headlines and in the main text. This page is split into two parts. It has the story of the band on a side and half and another section on the rest. On the other section They use same colours but in reverse e.g. insted of black its white writing and white background is now black. They also changed the main text too serif font. This is good because it shows that the two parts arent related. They use a drop cap on the first sentance of the story and have a pull quote in the middle of the story.

AS Media Main Coursework - Blog 2

Target Audience

My genre of music is Indie/Rock, so to find the tar get audience i looked at statistics for magazines with a similar genre. Kerrang and NME fall into their area of music.

Kerrang has 417,000 people buying their magazine, 239,000 ABC1 Social Catorgary and 178,000 from C2DE catorgary. 378,000 peple are age between 15-44 and just 39,000 are over 45. 290,000 men and 127,000 woman buy the magazine.

The typical reader of this magazine would be Male aged between 15-44 within ABC1 social catorgary.

NME is similar, 388,000 people buying. 250,000 from ABC1 social catorgary and 137,000 from C2DE. 339,000 aged 15-44 and 49,000 0ver 45. 296,000 men and 91,000 woman.
The typical reader for this magazine would be the same really but you can see that this magazine appeals slightly more to older people.
I got this information from www.NRS.co.uk


Target Reader
Male
Age - 20-35
ABC1
Middle Class/Students
Out-going/Busy social lifestyles