"LAME" magazine front cover draft 1

Commentary

When I was designing my first magazine front cover I wanted to make it as simple as possible. I took inspiration from 'Vice Magazine' in the way that the main image would sell the magazine. Because for AS media you have to use your own images instead of existing ones, the background on the image and the character shown will have to be described to fully understand my motives behind why I did this. But i realized that you probably wont be able to do that for the coursework so I am scraping this idea.

Strengths of this draft 

I love the simplicity of this front cover. I think the quote along with the image, "Rich and famous is hard work", goes fantastically to show what this character is all about. With the character Adam King is lazy fame, the character he portrays is someone who expects the world for no work. This can be symbolised but he hand and face expression as if to say "what?".

I used a simple drop shadow to create the shadow behind the character to add depth and to fill in a large piece of the left head side of the magazine. 

The black on white title makes the whole piece stand out from the crowd. It might be simple but very effective for grabbing a potential buyer when he/she is looking at the magazine shelf.

Weaknesses of this draft

Its biggest weakness is also its biggest strength ( in my opinion). The simplicity of this piece makes it look simultaneously half arsed and  yet professional in an 'arty' way - but from the examiners point of view this wouldn't get many marks that I need to be successful within this course. There is a lack of detail and too much blank space and this could be called shabby and cheap. 

The main image is very low quality but unless I can borrow either a college camera or a friends DLSR  camera I will have to make do with my iPhone camera. This is key to a successful front cover like this one where "less is more". If I cant use a good camera, I will have to be creative with the low resolution camera and hopefully play this to my advantage somehow.

Conclusion 

To simple, needs more to fill the space and a better quality image to make it look professional to get higher marks.

Flat Plan.

Double page spread analysis (Graham Coxon)

Front cover analysis (Rolling Stone)

Front cover analysis (Vice)

Example of the images I will use.

Magazine Preparation

Magazine Preparation

What genre of music magazine will you make? why?

The genre of my music magazine is going to be indie rock/alternative rock. I picked this genre because most of my answers to the questionnaire pointed to this genre as the most popular. With the only two people who buy magazines buying "NME", this is a good indicator that I should make my magazine about Indie rock. This genre also fits in with the age group I am aiming for. 14-25 year olds favourite music genre is pop and indie rock. My questionnaire is evidence of this claim with 50% of people picking pop music as their favourite genre and Indie rock coming in second with 25% of people picking it as their favourite music genre.

What will be in the magazine you make?

The front cover will be filled with a image of the main article which is inside. This main image will dominate  the front cover and completely fill it. The masthead and text I want to add will be put around, over or under the image to add effect and draw attention to the key parts of the magazine. Inside the magazine I will be creating a contents page and a double page spread of the artist on the front cover. This article will go into depth of how he lives and what life is like on the road touring. This would interest anyone who has a keen interest already in the band and anyone who wants to find out what life is like touring the world. 

Who will be your target audience?

My target audience for my magazine will be people aged 14-25 years old. My research showed that 25% of 16 years olds favourite music genre is Indie rock. This is a good enough size of people to justify the reason why I want to make this kind of magazine.This group of people come under social economic group 'E' which is student. This floor to aiming at this generation even though their clear interest in music is apparent, the age group I am selling to doesn't have much money. So to combat this I have to find a good balance between cost and quality of the magazine. I will be pricing my magazine between £1-£3.

What makes your magazine original?

My magazine will be original with its title. The title has not been used on another magazine before. The images were all took by me and only me so this makes my magazine original.

How will I ensure that my music magazine looks professional? 

I have looked at many mainstream music magazines and learned what makes them successful. I will have a big masthead that clearly shows what the magazine is and what you will be getting with my brand of magazine. There will be a HD main image in the central of the front cover to show what the main two page spread will be about. I will stick with a particular colour palette so not to make the pages look odd and unprofessional. The software that I will use to create my product will be a mix of photoshop and InDesign. 80% of my work will be done within photoshop because this is the software I am most comfortable and confident using. Most modern day magazines are produced using these softwares so I will follow suit.

What will you magazine be called and why?

My magazine will be called "Lame Magazine" because everything inside will be Lame and not worth reading. Obviously this is not true, but i want to play around with the concept that all mainstream magazine outlets shout and rave about been the best and 90% of the time the content is doesn't live up to the hype. So, if I say that my magazine is Lame customers and critics cannot complain. I per-warned them. But the target audience I am aiming for will appreciate the sarcasm and the not so serious approach I will be taking with the magazine. 

Front cover analysis (Rolling Stones)

Questionnaire results and conclusion.

The questions I used in my media magazine questionnaire. This was used as research for my magazine.

What is your sex?

-Male                     4

-Female                 11

What is your age?
-16                         15

How many hours a week do you listen to music?
-0 Hours                 0
- 1-2 Hours             0
- 3+ Hours              15

What is your favourite genre of music to listen to?
-Pop                        8
-Indie Rock               4
-EDM                       2
-Country                  1

How do you listen to your music?
-Internet                     11
-Phone                       13
-Radio                        10
-Other                          0

Do you buy music magazine? if yes, state which one.
-No                               13
-NME                            2

What attracts you into buying a music magazine?
-Price                              10
-Front cover                    3
-featured artist                 2

How do you buy your music?
-iTunes                             10            
-CD                                  2
-I don't buy music.            3

Whats your favourite band or artist?
-Arctic monkeys                5
-Rihanna                            5
-Kings of Leon                  5



Conclusion of results

My questionnaire was handed out in a sixth form classroom filled with as students. 11 girls and 4 boys took part so I have to take into consideration that my results are not 50/50 for both genders. All the people surveyed were 16 years old and in full time education. This implies that most students will be into there music but don't have much money to spend on music magazines. This is a good resource to ask what would make them buy a music magazine with such little money.

The amount of hours each teenager spends listening to music a week is more than 3 hours a week. This means that there is a clear interest in music within the teenage age group.

Music genres are an important part of my music magazine preparation. I wanted to find out if there was a good audience for a indie rock magazine. My research found out that 25% of the survey population has indie rock for there favourite music genre. I think this is a big enough audience to target and a good reason to justify making a magazine about Indie rock.

The next question I asked was about how people listened to their music. This would factor in how I would advertise to sell the music on the magazine. All three, Internet, mobile phone and radio are popular with everyone surveyed. This means I can choose what method of advertising I want to use. I asked how people buy music and 66% of people said from iTunes. This coupled with the results from my previous questions I will be marketing the new album of the featured artist on iTunes.

When I asked in my survey what attracts you into buying a music magazine 66% of people said the price. This means I have to think hard of the pricing for the magazine. Not to expensive that it puts people off buying it and not to cheap to compromise the quality of the content and what its made out of (Cheap thin paper or high quality glossed paper.)

Word Definitions.

Representation - The act of representing or the state of being represented.

Stereotype - A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing: "sexual and racial stereotypes".

Target audience -  In marketing and advertising, a target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which a product or the marketing message of a product is aimed at.

Language - The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.

Institution - A society or organization founded for a religious, educational, social, or similar purpose.

Genre - A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Conventions - Behavior that is considered acceptable or polite to most members of a society.

Denotation -  The literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

Cover Lines - Cover lines are short statements found on the cover of the magazine that allude to or describe the articles inside.

Masthead -

The title of a newspaper or magazine at the head of the front or editorial page. Connottion - An idea or feeling that a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.