Research

Survey Monkey questions;

Here you can find my print screens of my survey with my questions I chose to ask. I chose to ask these questions are they would help me decide on many of my options for my magazine, for example the price, genre and formal or informal type.

Prezi presentation music magazine time line;

Once I completed my mood boards I then researched particular magazines. Once I did this I put it into a prezi document and made a time line of these magazines. With a brief detail of each of the magazines and when they were first published. This helped me create my mood boards and also learn more about several genres of magazine and will help me create my own one. I found details that were popular and I would include in my own magazine to ensure my magazine is also popular. Here you can find my prezi presentation;

Prezi Presentation.

On this page you will find my 4 genre mood boards and other sections of research I have carried out to ensure I have the correct understandings of creating my music magazine. You can find all my research I completed before I began creating my magazine on this page.

 

Classical Music magazine genre boards;

Here is a genre mood board of classical music. This was a more difficult task to complete as Classical music is not as popular as the others. This meant i had a larger difficulty in finding these magazine colours. The magazines use brighter and more soft colours to match its stereotype of a soft and gentle genre of music. The use of colours like pale blue, white, purple and soft browns ensures a wider older target audience. The use of typeface in the majority of the classical music magazines resembles the genre of music Classical because its seen as very old fashioned and this is aimed at the older audience.

classical mood board podcast

Podcast script – Classical;

Brittany Measor – coursework portfolio.

Summarisation of classical magazine mood board.

The image on the front pages of classical magazine mood boards does not tend to stand out in general. This is due to three main reasons; firstly, its unpopularity with today’s generation. Secondly, to appropriately fit the target audience which is a mixed gender and the older generation. Finally, the image of the music has to match the sound of the music, for example; classical music is soft and smooth – the colour and layout need to match this so therefore do not tend to stand out.

The colours mainly used on classical music magazines are white, varies of pale colours and hints of black. This could connote the purity and simple side of the genre of classical music.

The typeface used also fits the genre of classical music. For example, the mastheads for classical music magazines within my mood board are all generally smooth and easy flowing font, showing a clear connection between the masthead and the genre of music.

Finally, on the front pages of the majority of the classical music magazine is an image of an instrument or an artist playing an instrument. This suggests the concentration on just music and no references. This suggests the concentration on just music and no reference to any celebrity news; solely concentrates on music.

 

R&B/Hip Hop Music Magazine genre board;

Here is a genre mood board of R&B/Hip Hop music magazines. As you can see, the colours of these magazines are a lot lighter, although are not quite as bright as the genre pop magazines. These colours portray the stereotypical genre of R&B/Hip Hop. these colours vary from reds, whites, blues, yellows and various uses of blacks. These colours are more welcoming therefore widen the target audience. These mastheads are also a lot larger to ensure they are seen easily and make the house style clear to be able to identify them on the shelves easier. This font is also bold but not quite as gloomy or dark as the rock magazines.

RnB/HipHop mood board summarisation

Podcast script – R&B/Hip Hop;

Brittany Measor – Coursework portfolio.

Summarisation of R&B/Hip Hop music magazine mood board.

As you can see, my R&B/Hip Hop mood board sits between pop and classical and rock when focusing on the favoured colours used. The colours vary within R&B and Hip Hop magazine; from red, blue, yellow, pink, white and black. This may suggest the variety within the particular genre of music and the wide variety of audience member within the target audience. The target audience is mixed gender and the ages of 14 to 21 years. There is a large age group for this genre of music due to a large popularity towards R&B and Hip Hop music.

The magazine fits the wide range of age groups within the target audience and this is shown through the techniques like the mode of address used; informal. This fits to the younger audience and makes it easy to understand. Whereas, the bold, sharp, red masthead on the magazine NME would attract the older and more mature audience due to its dull colours used but cold name.

The use of imagery is very important for the R&B and Hip Hop genre because it helps show the genre, for example; the stereotypical style for Hip Hop and R&B music can be shown and also a key element of facial expressions; a serious facial expression is commonly used for this genre of music resembling how seriously they take their music. Whereas, Rock is an angry facial expression and Pop is a happy facial expression.

The typeface used on a Hip Hop/R&B magazine are bold and rigid, most alike a rock magazine typeface. This suggests a cold and unique genre of music.

The mastheads are often the centre of attention and give a clear brand identity individually; they all differ largely from one another.

Rock Music magazine genre board;

Here is a mood board of Rock magazines. There general colours used in these magazines are black, red, white and blue. Some parts highlighted in yellow to ensure they stand out. This portrays the stereotype of a dark and gloomy genre of music. The mastheads on the majority of the rock magazines in my genre mood board are written in bold fonts and are the largest text on the magazine to ensure they stand out. Although, continuing to follow the stereotypical rock colours, black, white, red or blue.

Rock mood board podcast

Podcast script – Rock;

Brittany Measor – coursework portfolio.

Summarisation of rock music magazine mood board.

Rock is the genre of music I will use to create as my own magazine. Rock as a whole genre of music differs largely compared to other genres, making it easy to identify when purchasing. This is shown through its colours, typeface and type of advertorial and lures techniques and mastheads. As you can see, this mood board is also the darkest and dullest of the 4 music magazine mood boards. This stereo typically fits the genre of Rock music, for example; the majority of the colours used in the rock magazines are red, black and dark blue. The colour red could connote death or blood which related to anger. The view of Rock music stereotypically is that it is full of anger and hatred and that’s what the colour red could connote. The colour black and dark blue could connote the fear or the unknown, which also relates to rock music as a genre of music being unpredictable and unknown by many people. Colours like white and yellow are rarely used but if they are used they are only ever used to show a large contrast and highlight certain elements.

Advertorial and lure techniques are also used in rock magazine but are applied for this particular audience, for example; posters of rock bands like ‘You Me At Six’,‘Paramore’, ‘Fall Out Boy’ or ‘Enter Shikari’. Also, lures from particular interviews with rock bands or artists.

The typeface used on a front page of a rock magazine is sharp and bold and usually black, for example; the masthead for the music magazine ‘Kerrang!’ is written in large, black, bold and sharp font.

Majority of the images used in rock magazine are either face shots or mid-body shots and are taken in a dark lighting for a dark/mysterious look. It is very unlikely that a full body image or a well-lit image will be seen in a rock magazine as it doesn't resemble the stereotypical rock music image.

Rock magazine are very organised in generally and are full of information but they aren’t viewed as over full unlike pop music magazines. This is due to having an older and more mature target audience.

Finally, I choose to base my music magazine on the genre of rock because I think it’s the most unique and indulging music genre for a magazine.

Pop Music magazine genre board;

Here is a mood board of Pop magazines.The general colours used in these magazines are bright colours to appeal to the stereotypical target audience for pop magazines, being young teenage girls. The main colours used in these magazines are pink, purple, yellow, white and orange. The reason a lot of these colours are used so they can grab the attention of the target audience. The mastheads of the majority of these magazines are pink white or orange. This is because they are feminine colours and will ensure the target audience is interested.

Pop music magazine podcast.

Podcast script – Pop music;

Brittany Measor – coursework portfolio.

Summarisation my Pop music magazine mood board.

As you can see, the main and most popular colours used for this genre of music magazines are pink, purple, yellow and blue. The colour pink could connote the gender girl, which relates to the target audience for a Pop music magazine. The colour purple could signify the loyalty between the magazine and reader, making the customer purchases the magazine at any given opportunity. Yellow represents the happiness within the magazine and stands out hugely in any magazine which draws in the magazines target audience. Finally, the colour blue represents a suggestion of male participation; either purchasing the magazine or within the magazine. This all draws in the target audience for this genre, which is stereo-typically young teens who are female.

As you can also see, the majority of the pop magazines in my mood board were Top of the Pops or we love pop. This is because these are the most popular pop magazines today. This is shown through their high circulation, for example; Top of the Pops circulation is 98,030 copies.

The majority of the pop music magazines also have lures and advertorial techniques used on the front pages. That is because the target audience will be drawn in by this and they then receive more customers. For example; Top of the pops mastheads are usually pink, blue, purple or yellow and are also the largest text on the front page.

The typeface used on pop magazine is seen as stereo-typically feminine font; soft but bold. This suggests and shows the specific aim for target audience and draws in a female audience.

The brand identity for the majority of the Pop music magazine will include their masthead to distinguish once another, for example; The Billboard masthead creates an out stand brand identity as it is written in black but the b’s, o, a and d is coloured. This ensures it’ll stand out easily and clearly.

Pop music magazine in general are known for organised chaos. This is to ensure the target audience is continuously interested by the magazine.

The mode of address used on the front pages of this genre of pop music magazines are very informal and includes simple language to specifically aim at a younger generation. The used of imagery is used frequently on front covers of pop music magazine to have the minimal amount of text possible to keep the interest the age group it’s aimed at.

Textual analysis of different genre's of magazines;
Here you can find my analysis of two different genres of music, one rock and pop; rock front cover, contents and double page spread of each.

textual analysis.

Go animate - summery of case study findings;

This is my go animate of my summery of my finds from the case study and how this will influence my own magazines construction;

Go animate.

Results from survey monkey;

These results will help me create my magazine as I will know what the audience will enjoy and want from a magazine. I asked a varied audience of the ages between 15 - 24 so this can be my target audience. I picked this target audience as the research I carried through showed that this age is the most popular for the magazine, I researched this through Google. I researched this after finding out the genre I was creating my magazine on.  The results were shown as rock being the most popular genre of music and that will be what my music magazine will be concentrated. To ensure this genre is shown throughout my magazine I will include a dark colour scheme and serious or angry poses within the photography, the layout will also be edited to show the genre clearly. I will include all of the favoured information within the magazine. For example, the highest thing that the audience most enjoy when reading a magazine is the images used so I will ensure I use a high standard of image and many of images. The next question was how they would want the magazine to be addressed, informal or formal. The results came out as informal so I will ensure that's the use of text I use. The vote informal came out as I believe it makes the readers more comfortable with the magazine and keeps them interested with the magazine as it easy to read and relate to. I then asked how much they would willingly pay for a monthly magazine and the answer 4 pounds was shown throughout the results. Although, as mine will be a weekly magazine I will lower it to £2.75, I will do this to ensure its affordable and worth the money. I then asked the audience out of a list of artists which artist they liked and You Me At Six came up as a huge favourable band so I will ensure this genre is included in my magazine. Finally, how often they purchase a music magazine which came out as once a month but I would hope to create a magazine that would want to be read weekly. My aim will be that my target audience will appeal to the magazine and will want to buy it weekly as it will be worth the money and worth re-reading.