Friday, 2 October 2015

Cover photo first draft


On my contents page I've selected the two main stories to be featured with a large image above the headline to draw the readers attention to the story. Along the side of the page there are the other headline which aren't as big as the main headlines but still big stories for the magazines. At the bottom of the page I've added a contact section for subscriptions to the magazine which appears in the magazines on a regular basis. 

Thursday, 1 October 2015

Colour scheme ideas, Name ideas and feature story ideas

Colour scheme


My colour scheme is going to be red, white and blue because these are the colours of the Union Jack so it fits in quite well with the Brit pop theme. These colours are going to run through the headlines on the front cover, contents page and double page spread. The actual logo itself is going to be a dull black colour to symbolize the fact that it is a retro magazine so it is a more black and white design because if you go back a few decades the magazines wouldn't have had colour. 


Final logo


I like the simplicity of the design but also how it represents the theme of the magazine. The font is based around what the Logo says 'Retro'.






I have narrowed my names down to four. Here are a few title names for Retro, Blast, Vintage and Evocative.

Retro






I chose the name retro because plain and simply its the theme of the magazine. Its a short, simple name but it works really well.

Blast







I chose BLAST because it is once again very simple but it is an effective word. It reminds me of ballistic actions such as playing the drums or playing an air guitar, really rocking out. Also it reminds me of raves that people used to have in the 'Madchester' era when people went to secret venues around the region dancing to music..

Vintage







I chose vintage for a similar reason to why I chose retro, its simple and describes what the magazine is about. 


Evocative












Social class & demographic of my product

To state which social class you will be aiming your magazine at.
-To state how you will adhere to their needs
-To decide on the price of the magazine
-Understand what free gifts/ prizes they would like
-How the social class table will help you with your feature stories and target audience. 

Style/ iconography of my product



These are the three font types which I am debating using on my magazine front cover




I have made a mood board of the images I like of boy band members from the past featuring bands from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.



My reader profile

Target audience:

My target audience is 25-35 year olds. This is because my magazine is based on music from previous decades which this age group will be more familiar with the music and more likely to want to read about an artist compared to a younger person who wasn't around when the music was at its peak. The majority of readers would be male as it isn't a colourful girly pop magazine, it is a straightforward music magazine with a plain colour scheme.

Reader profile:

Average reader age - 28

Gender of reader - 72% male : 28% female

Readers in employment - 68%

Part time workers - 64%

Full time workers - 36%

Readers in higher education - 27%

Readership - 241, 894

Circulation - 30, 798

iTunes users - 43%

On average Turn Back Times reader spend, per year:

Footwear - £180 (75% Adidas footwear)











Clothes - £493 (34% pretty green)


















DVDs - £30

New technology - £300 (48% new phones)

Music Equipment - £834 (60% guitars)








Other information:

95% of readers use the internet to read about music

They spend an average of 24 hours a week online

36% of readers collect vinyls as a hobby











89% of readers have been to a concert within the last year

Here are a few pictures I would associate with my magazine genre type such as bands, clothing and music sources.














Reader profile research

-Explain what a reader profile is
-Show an existing reader profile and break down each area and state why it is important for a magazine to understand their audience and profile their readers. For e.g. what type of audience does it attract? Gender ratio? Age or reader? Social class bracket? Where they distribute? What makes it desirable/ the audiences want to consume it?
-State what you think your reader will want
-What is the purpose of a reader profile?
-How will a reader profile help sell your product?

Genre Research

-A genre is a a style or category of music.

Here are a few different types of music genres:


  • Alternative Rock
  • Hard Rock
  • Indie Rock
  • Punk
  • Acoustic Blues
  • Contemporary Blues
  • Country Blues
  • Chant
  • Impressionist
  • Medieval
  • Opera
  • Orchestral
  • Dubstep
  • Electro House
  • Garage
  • Motown
  • Techno
  • Gangsta Rap
  • Jazz
  • Britpop


Indie Rock

Indie Rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
 The term is used to identify rock artists that are or were unsigned, but in some cases it is
 known to be used with artists who signed for small record labels rather than major record
 labels. It can also be used to describe artists who have their own sound. Examples of these
 include the following:

Acrtic Monkeys
The Killers
The Kooks
Coldplay
The White Stripes

Iconography - The main colours used are red and white. The logo isnt anything fancy which
 is very conventional for an indie magazine, it is just the name of the magazine. On the front 
cover the feature artist will be wearing normal everyday clothes which shows the audience 
that these big stars dress like them. The artist tends to have scruffy hair this shows that 
they arent bothered about their appearance which means her style is much easier to 
duplicate than someone who spends hours in front of the mirror trying to look perfect. 

Examples of indie rock magazines are NME, Q and Kerrang.


Brit pop 




Britpop is a subgenre of rock and pop music
 that originates from the UK. It emerged from
 the British independant music scene in the
 early 1990s. The bands were influenced by
 British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 
1970s. One of the main characteristics of 
Britpop is that the artists tended to sing in 
regional accents to show pride in their origins
, the main example of this are the bands from Manchester, Liam Gallagher was well known
 for his regional accent being used in almost every Oasis song. Other manchester bands 
such as the Happy Hondays, The Stone Roses and The Charlatans started the music
 scene dubbed 'Madchester' which showcased the best music from the city at gigs which
 were a huge success.

Britpop groups brought Alternative Rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of 
the cultural movement 'Cool Britannia' which peaked during 'The Battle of Britpop between 
Blur and Oasis which was the main talking point of the british media during 1995. 

Britpop started to decline due to record labels producing bands such as the spice girls and 
the music industry changed its style. Many of the Britpop bands tried their luck spreading
 their music overseas which was successful for a couple of bands. Although the Britpop 
Music has fallen apart and many of the bands are not on speaking terms their music lives 
on as many young people have idolised the britpop era and have tried bringing it back to 
life.

Examples of Britpop bands include:

Oasis
Blur
Pulp
Ocean Colour Scene

Just like Indie Rock, the main music magazine for britpop was NME. Many times the likes 
of the Gallagher's and Damon Albarn appeared on the front cover.

Iconography for britpop included things such as the Union Jack which showed the bands 
pride of being British. The clothing associated with Britpop includes casual gear such as 
jeans and a track jacket or  denim jacket, basically somewhere inbetween a student and a
 sports-casual. Many perceived the style as scruffy as band members hair would be floppy
 and choppy with not much effort put into it. This new look was very noticeable and the
 movements style of cheek and attitude was perfect. This look was brilliant because it was 
easy to mimic to look like your idols and was quite cheap at the time.


Motown Sound

Motown sound is a type of music which is distinctively soul with a pop influence. Motown 
started back in 1959 and is still very popular today. Detroit is the hometown of motown 
music and even had taken it in as a nickname. Motown played an integral role in the racial 
integration of popular music as an African American -owned record label which achieved 
significant crossover success.

Examples of Motown Sound Artists:

Stevie Wonder
Marvin Gaye
The Temptations
The Supremes

One of the main music magazines for Motown music is Mojo.

Conventions analysis double page spread



Conventions analysis contents page