Draft of my music magazines

Above is an example of how I am going to create the front cover of my magazine. I want the front cover of my magazine to be simple and to just have one main picture of the band featured in the magazine. I am also just going to have a few plugs on the front cover as I don't want the magazine to look too busy.

Above is an example of how the double page spread of my magazine is going to look, I chose to do the picture as the main feature on the page however I will still have quite a lot of text on my double page spread as this is the page which will have the interview on.

The picture above is an example of what my contents page for my music magazine is going to look like. My contents page will be the page containing the most photos, this makes the contents look more exciting and interesting.

Examples of Music magazines

This front cover from NME magazine is very busy and full, this makes the reader want to buy their magazine as it looks exciting. When creating my magazine I want the front cover to be simple as I think its hard to take in all of the information on the front cover of this magazine as its too busy.

This front cover is from Hip hop magazine, the front cover only has one photograph on and has a very bold title, when creating my magazine I am just going to use one picture on the front cover of the magazine as I dont want it to look busy. I also like how this magazine front cover has only used 3 colours, this is what I would like to create when making my music magazine.

The front cover above is an example from Rolling Stone magazine, I like the way that they have kept to one colour scheme and not used lots of different colours and fonts however they have covered the name of the magazine, this shows that the magazine is well known and people can recognise it just by what you can see in the cover.

Contents Page of Magazines

The contents page above is taken from Rolling stone magazine. This contents page focuses on one main artist rather than all of the artists in the magazine. The picture in the contents page is the main feature of this issue of the magazine, like the hip hop connection magazine Rolling stone don’t use a lot of different colours and just have one picture rather than several. I would like to create my contents page to look like this one from the Rolling stone magazine.

The contents page above is taken from Hip hop connection magazine. This contents page is very simple and easy to use, using one photograph and one coloured font it’s easy to understand. I would like to create my contents page to look similar to this one as I don’t think contents pages should look too full and busy they should be easy to follow and give all of the information needed. The font doesn’t catch the readers attention however the idea of putting the photograph of a celebrity on the contents page gets the readers attention. These colours are used to keep the page simple and so id doesn’t have lots of different things going on.

The contents page above is from NME magazine. This contents page looks very busy and exciting however it doesn’t look easy to follow and read. They have used lots of different colours and fonts making the page look exciting, the title of the magazine is also displayed on the contents page and unlike the magazine above it has lots photographs. As the contents page is the first page in the magazine it’s the first thing after the front cover which the readers look at, this contents page shows the magazine contents as being exciting, fun, busy and hectic. However the page doesn’t give a lot of information, when creating my contents page I would like to create it like the contents page from hip hop connection rather than the NME contents page.

Double page spreads from magazines

This double page spread is an example from hip hop connection magazine, the double page spread is an interview with the artist featured in the picture. I would like to create my double page spread in the style of this one, it doesn’t use a lot of different fonts and colours and it looks really simple yet effective as the title and the picture of the artist really stand out in this double page spread. Although when creating my double page spread I want the picture to be the main feature and I would spread the picture across onto to pages rather than just the one.

The double page spread above is from Rolling Stone magazine, it shows a large image and hardly any text, when creating my magazine double page spread I will have more text as I would like my double page spread to be an exclusive interview with a band whereas this double page spread looks more like and advertisement. The double page spread above is black and white, this is effective as the writing really stands out. I like the idea of using very neutral and not many colours in the double page spread as I think it shows the photograph and the text better it also represents the band in the picture well.

I looked at these double page spreads to get ideas on how to create my own double page spread. This example is from NME magazine, I like how this double page spread was simple, there isn't a lot of colours however it still sands out. I also think that it looks feminine and fits in well with the style of the magazine which I want to create. I think that the picture in this double page spread shows the musicians personality and helps bring her character across to the audience. I like the layout of this double page spread as there is still quite a lot of text even though the picture is big. The colours in the background of the picture are neutral and pale and make the artist stand out in the picture. The title is also big and bold making it noticeable to the reader.

Magazine Identity

Magazine identity

The target audience for my magazine is females age 16-25, I think that this is quite a large target audience however not many music magazines are aimed at this specific audience. My magazine will feature more acoustic and pop music rather than rock music like other music magazines.

I will appeal to my target audience by creating a magazine which I feel is most suitable for them, most 16-25 year old females have an interest in fashion and celebrity gossip as well as music. Although my magazine is a music magazine it will include aspects of fashion and celebrities however it will have exclusive interviews and will mainly have professionally photographed pictures rather than paparazzi photographs.

My magazine will be good quality, will contain a lot and will be issued weekly which makes it more like a womens weekly magazine. The magazine won't be priced too high mainly because it is a weekly magazine and the main target audience is students so they wont want to pay a lot of money for a magazine.

Genre of Magazine

Genre of magazine

As I am creating a magazine which isn’t already on the market it doesn’t have a specific genre. I want to create a magazine which is aimed more at females as I after research there isn’t already a magazine like this in publication. I feel that most music magazines are aimed more at males or younger people.

The genre of my magazine gives it its own individual appeal as there isn’t already a magazine out like this. I am going to create my magazine so its like a women’s weekly magazine but with official interviews and based around music with some fashion aspects.

When researching the genre of my magazine I found that no magazines currently in publication cover this genre. This is the main feature of my magazine, its not already available, people haven’t already read it before and its something different appealing to a large audience.

LIIAR - Music magazine

As this this is the beginning of the main task I looked at how the media key concepts could be applied to produce a college magazine using the acronym LIIAR, Language, Institution, Ideology, Audience, Representation.

Language - I will use a bright colourful interesting masthead and headline to attract the readers. I want my magazine to look very simple yet effective to do this I will use a simple picture that doesn't look busy and bold colourful headlines.

Institution - NME magazine is published by IPC, NME is the longest published most respected weekly music magazine, in May 2008 it was redesigned to be aimed at an older readership with a less 'poppy' more authoritative tone. IPC would be suitable publishers for my music magazine because I am going to aim it at 16-19 year olds however it will have more of a pop/fashion theme to it, this is the opposite to NME magazine and there are no other magazines on sale like this, if IPC published a magazine like this they would appeal to a different audience to NME so will have a different range of people buying the magazine.

Ideology – The music magazine which I am going to create will appeal to an audience which most music magazines don’t already appeal to. I am going to aim my music magazine at 16-19 year old females, with the interests of music and the fashions in music. There are not already any well known music magazines in the shop so when creating my magazine I will be creating something different.

Audience – My magazine will be aimed at 16-19 year old females with an interest in music as well as fashion and celebrities.

Representation – My music magazine will represent bands and artists in a positive way with interviews with them rather than ‘celebrity gossip’ found in most female magazines.