Whilst creating my magazine, I looked at a wide range of other magazines such as ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang’ to make sure that I followed the conventions and principal standards of music magazines today. The conventions that I found through my research gave me enough information to follow through on my own magazine. For example, on the cover on the magazines that I focused on I noticed that the title of the magazine was at the top of the page. I also payed attention to where the magazine had placed anchorage text and puffs . In particular I looked at music magazines such as vibe and ‘Q’. Along with gossip magazines such as closer, heat to help me when I was writing my article to my own magazine, to make it unique on the market as well as for magazine conventions.
I did look at a wide range of different magazines while doing research and followed standard music magazine styles. I attempted to make my front cover seem edgy and unique by using rasterization instead of using a normal colour and an image using Photoshop to add a unique feel. In this particular issue the colour scheme is grey and black the reason for this is that I made a questionnaire and the majority of audience voted that they would prefer darker colours . This is something that I hope the audience will recognise when looking for my magazine and will attract new people to it.
My magazine represents a narrow range of social groups. It represents young people of the age 16-24. The type of people that listen to mainstream music such as Pop, R n B and Hip Hop. The target audience could also be described as quite stylish as there is a lot to do with fashion and the latest trends in the magazine. I believe my magazine portrays this group in a positive light. This is because there is no violence mentioned at all in the magazine and the gang or knife crime culture of today is not mentioned or portrayed in any way at all. It just shows how people who came from nothing can make something of themselves. It shows successful people in the music industry and public eye, and recognises their achievements whilst encouraging readers to do the same and achieve their full potential. I believe it also represents them as a quite culturally diverse group of young people. This is because many different groups and artists are featured in the magazine in terms of race, culture and lifestyle. The artists highlighted are not only from one place but the whole of the UK.
The audience I have aimed my magazine at are the 16- 24 age group. I created a questionnaire to find out what people would be interested in when looking at my magazine. My results found that people would prefer it there was a free CD on the front cover or a poster. I also did some research online to find out what type of age groups would be most interested in buying my magazine I found that the 16-24 age group are big fans of mainstream music and the genres that my magazine promotes, thus the reason I decided to make them my target audience. I also found that because of the different ways of styles and music etc, making my magazine available in other countries would not be suitable due to what are other fashions and cultures are I the other countries therefore I’m only looking to attract people from the UK seeing as it the one of the most popular countries for listening to R&B. My product is aimed at people who live in London in particular, people who live in the city are more likely to be interested in the articles, art etc, I am also from london and fit in with my target age group so I will be able to recognise easily what is needed and wanted within the magazine content.
The Media institutions that I think are best to distribute my magazine are IPC Media and Bauer. However, after doing further research I have decided that IPC media is best suited rather than Bauer who are responsible for the distribution of magazines such as Kerrang, Q and Mojo. It appears that they cater for more Indie, Rock type magazines whereas IPC Media distribute a broader range of titles, such as Marie Claire, Nuts and Loaded. I think that this would benefit me as my magazine is pop/ R&B. I think that having IPC Media responsible for the distribution of my magazine would be very beneficial seeing as it is quite clear that IPC Media along with Bauer dominate the magazines market in Britain. This is something that will help my magazine because of the fact that IPC media is a well known distrubutor and will help the popularity and sales.
I made a questionnaire so that i can determine what my target audience would be most attracted to. My results show that to attract my chosen target audience to my magazine I would have to include things like free cd’s or posters. My results show that they would be interested in having more pictures rather than articles and things that are exclusively mentioned such as unsigned artists, fashion, celebrities, music reviews, competitions. I looked at the magazine ‘vibe’ and noticed that they mention alot of familiar artists and have more pictures than articles so I integrated this into my own product. I decided to include an exclusive interview with an upcoming artist from abroad such as America because even though it is a magazine aimed at a British audience American culture is a big part of our own music and entertainment culture here in the UK. I thought very carefully when deciding who would be the main feature of this issue and deciding which image to use on the cover. I had to consider the person whether they would be male or female, type of shot e.g long shot, mid-shot and setting/ location but I also had to think what article or interview would go with this and if it was suitable for attracting my target audience. In the contents of this issue I have featured ‘Missy B’ an upcoming solo artist from east London. This solo artist is from a british record label known in Europe, mainly the UK. This is an example of how I have catered my magazine for my target audience. I made a professional dancer ‘Hong ann’ the image on the front cover. I thought that this would be appropriate as my magazine is called ‘Move it’ these are the types of images that will attract my target audience want to see which I discovered through my research. I also decided that the background should be quite edgy, unique which is why I used a grey background and used special effects to make a mosaic pattern.
Through out this project I have been exposed to many different conventions and variations whilst viewing different magazines it has therefore helped me in creating my magazine. To create my magazine I had to use a program called Adobe Photoshop adobe illustrator, over the time I have developed several skills which enabled me to create my magazine. Such skills include editing the lighting of a photo, the ability to apply several images onto one layered background, the ability to edit font styles including adding different colours and lighting effects and to rasterize the background. Another technological skill I have developed was creating a blog, I created my blog on Blogspot.com and upon creating the blog I have learnt how to upload various types of work e.g images videos and text based responses, I have also learnt how to create polls which allowed me to get feedback From creating this magazine I have learned how complex and time consuming it is to create a simple magazine. I have realised that many things need be considered when creating a magazine. This includes getting the right artists and shots and having to find locations. I have learnt a lot about the key conventions of music magazines.
