Who would be the audience for your media product?

From looking at my front cover, I have targeted a young audience. The image chosen is a close up which is not revealing. This decision was chosen deliberately, as I am aiming at a pop and indie audience. As I have been closely following popular music magazines such as NME, I have tried to maintain their conventions as NME targets a similar audience. The model that I chose to be presented on the front cover is 17 years old, however looks about 18/19 years of age. I deliberately decided to use this model as I believe it is important to feature a girl of a similar age to my target audience on the front cover, this way audiences can relate to the artist. The magazine is aimed at a middle class audience, it features chart topping artists and would be sold at a average price. The socio economic group is emphasised on the magazine’s contents page, with the page of ‘festival diet’, this article explains the festival diet, which is aimed at the middle class, they are made to feel comfortable. The whole magazine is mainly aimed at females, the ‘girly’ side is presented with the use of ‘pink lipstick’ and the ‘preety’ image. However, others may say that the cover may attract the male audience due to the attracting model. The model however does not have a sex appeal due to no flesh on show, this reinforces that the magazine is targeting the younger audience. I decided to aim my magazine at an audience that is interested in music, I believe it is important that they are passionate about music and are using my magazine to inspire them self. My target is to make sure that my magazine is making a difference to the younger generation, set a positive example.

What have you learnt about Technologies throughout the process of this product?

The iMac computer was essential to complete the final product. I would be using the iMac every lesson to fulfil the different task that were set. When initially doing research, I had to use the computer to get onto the internet and complete my research. The iMac would also be used to producing the magazine, I would upload all my photos onto the blog and with that edit all the photos and choose my final photos. Before this task I had never used the iMac, to begin with I find it quite difficult to adapt to the structure of everything, however through constantly uploading posts onto my blog, I got comfortable with how the iMac worked.

Picnik was the website where I uploaded all my photos and edited them. I found Picnik really useful, I could choose the font I wanted for the magazine. As I was aiming for an ‘Indie/pop’ genre, I wanted a different font. Picnik supplied all different fonts and sizes, and I had the chance to play around with it and apply the font to my image. It also had different shapes that you could apply to your image, for example in one of my drafts I used a circle on the front cover, which added more detail and interest to the front cover. I found that Picnik took a lot of time to perfect your final product, which was useful as then you could appreciate the final piece and upload it onto my blog.

                                     

 

Safari was another vital part of technology that contributed to the final product of the task. I used Safari for almost everything for the project. I would research previous music magazines to identify conventions that I needed to follow. From Safari, I could access Picnik to edit my photos, and get onto blogger to update all my work. I would not have been able to complete the task without Safari. Again, I had to get use to Safari as it is extremely different to the internet I use at home; the keys and tabs are different, after time I had thoroughly got used to Safari.

It was vital to use a professional camera for this project. My aim was to provide a professional product for the targeted audience, for me to follow this task I had to use a professional camera to produce high quality images ready for my magazine. The camera also enabled me to change the zoom and the precision of the lens to produce the shot that I wanted.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 

 

To reinforce everything I have said, I believe I have progressed a lot since the preliminary task and have learnt a lot

 

Design

After the preliminary task I learnt that for the next task I had to have an image with a clear background, and the image I had chosen for the prelim was a disadvantage to the final product as it had a busy background, which made the font on the front cover difficult to see, this then was a disadvantage for the readers, and would also not stand out on the shelves. For my final product, I made sure the image I took for the front cover was against a plain background. The font also chosen from the prelim task was quite basic (even though it matched it's genre), I felt that it didn't have much effect on me as it's targeted audience. For my magazine I made the font quite different, it is in bold, jet black with a 'graffiti' look to match it's 'indie' convention. Both images used in the two tasks are 'preety' images, I learnt from the prelim task that an 'attractive' image is appealing to an audience, especially male. Due to my magazine being an indie pop genre, I could again take an attractive image, the models hair is 'big' with links in with the indie theme too.

The contents page of the prelim task is very basic and plain, therefore I made my magazine contents page 'busy' with many images and different sized fonts to make it more attractive for the audience. I followed the convention of NME's contents page, where there are a lot of different images and text, this gives the audience opportunity to look at many different things the magazine offers.

How did you attract/address your audience?

What kind of Media Institution might distribute your Media Product and why?

I have been following closely the magazine of NME, my reason for choosing this specific magazine is that I believe it attracts it's targeted audience; it features contrasting artists and is never afraid to go against conventions of 'usual' magazines. The publisher of NME is IPC Media, which is the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher that engages with 26m UK adults - almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. I would want IPC media to be the publisher of my magazine, the demographic that I have aimed at are similar to NME. I have tried to maintain many of NME's conventions, as the magazine is successful. I have also created different artistic ideas that differ from NME, which would create a gap in the market for LOUD magazine.

Who are IPC?

IPC Media

Parent company	Time Inc.
Founded	1958
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Headquarters location	London
Publication types	Magazines, Comic magazines(defunct)
Official website	www.ipcmedia.com

Looking at my front cover, the chosen image is of an attractive girl who wears bright lipstick, this could appeal to the male audience as she is 'preety'. However, I believe the female audience would like this image as they can relate to the artist. The quote explains the year the artist has had, as part of the the female audience myself I feel like i would want to read further into the magazine. Stereotypically, I believe the male audience would not not be interested.
IPC Media attracts 53% of a female audience. This links in with the targeted audience of my front cover of the magazine.

What benefits would a Major Distributor bring?

A major distributor is more well known than individual distribution company. In our media exam previously we had to study the distribution of two films; one being a major successful film that had the largest distribution company, then one who had an independent company. The major distribution company had more money to spend on the product, and could publish more films in more screens. 

I put this research into the magazine industry, as IPC is well known and successful I thought that my magazine would be more of a success, it would be   more well known and more copies would be published.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I believe my media product represents my social group in a positive way. Looking at the Front Cover, I haven't set a negative tone. The quote from the artist was deliberately chosen as it is quite inspirational, it will attract the targeted audience (which is teenagers interested in music) and inspire them to follow the new artists first year of success. The image chosen for the front cover of the magazine is an extreme closeup, it does not show the artists figure, just her facial features. This suggests that I am not focusing mainly on the artists 'look', just her voice, therefore little criticism may be made in me branding the artist as a 'model'. Following the contents page, I aimed to keep the magazine topics as 'down to earth', as I can relate to the targeted audience myself, relating to the 'fry up' breakfast, is a 'normal' subject, which I believe will interest my social group. The image of the artist again featuring on the contents page shows her in an urban background, this is conventional for indie artists, they never get shown in glamourous locations, which will help the reader identify with the artist. The artist is also in casual clothes; a jumper and pair of jeans. The bands like to look like their fans, so that the fans can feel like they are 'one of them'. The contents also offers a festival guide, this gives the best opportunity to my targeted audience to find out about the latest festivals, as I aim at youngsters passionate about music, from the magazine I am offering as much as I can. The double page spread again deliberately sets a positive tone, it can inspire young musicians to follow their dreams to succeed, with the detail of how the artist got into music and her success after her first year.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge form and conventions of real media products?(Contents Page)

As you can see the top of my contents page has followed the conventions of NME’s music magazine header, as I have maintained the bold colour black for the header of the contents page, I thought it was important to make the title ‘LOUD’ a larger font, which makes the title stand out. If I was to complete the task again, I would make LOUD a different colour, just so there is more of a colour scheme conveyed throughout.

Looking at part of NME’s contents page, noticeably the page number is quite large. I wanted to use this convention for my music magazine, I believe by making the page numbers stand out it is clear to the audience of where they can look. The numbers standing out is also emphasised through the use of the bold colour, against the white background.

To the right of my contents page, I specifically made a bold, black box. This includes other page numbers of the magazine, which is set in white - again making the numbers stand out. I decided to choose a black box because it adds a different colour to the contents page, I believe it is important to add a different colour instead of having a simple white background, the music contents needs to stand out. There is a brief description underneath each image, this will explain to the reader about the page, they can then decide whether they want to read it or not.

I decided to use a ‘subscribe’ box on my contents page, similar to NME. My reason for this is that it is extremely conventional of any magazine to give their audience a chance to subscribe to the magazine to save some money. My ‘subscribe’ box is in a bold red, this was chosen deliberately to add more colour, as it is quite plain. 

On NME’s contents page, there is only one image presented. I wanted to include more images on my contents page, so it is not just full of text. NME has a busy contents page full of a lot of text. I wanted to go against that convention, as I believe it is vital to make it clear to the audience of where they can go and look for what they want to read.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Double Page Spread)

I believe my double page spread follows the conventions of other successful music products. When looking at other magazine designs I instantly preferred the double page spreads that had a large image on the page, I thought this deliberately attracts the audience to the page, the audience can recognise the artist which would lead them into reading the article about them. The location of the image looks ‘grungy’, I thought that this location would be ideal to show the artists indie side, that although she is good looking she is not afraid to ‘let herself go’. A stereotyped indie musician is said to be quite ‘rough’ looking with an edge, I thought the edgey sid of the artist is brought out through the use of the ‘dirty’ background. I decided to take a long shot of the artist to show the whole body, as I chose a close up for my front cover I thought it was important to show the reader the whole body. The head line at the top of the page is noticeably not centre, I chose to do this deliberately, as I noticed throught music magazines especially NME the structure is never the same. The overlapping of text also insinuates that the page is a double page spread. The text is in a bold black font which in conventional of a magazine to draw the reader in to read the interview. I decided to state the artists name in a larger blue font, the reason for the choice of blue was that it contrasts with all the colours on the page, this will make the artists name stand out and suggests what the interview will be about. The beginning of the interview begins with a larger letter in the blue coloured font, it is a convention to make sure the beginning letter is in a larger font. The structure of the interview is in three separate columns, I decided to choose this structure as then it is not set in an ‘essay’ structure, many music readers would not want to read a block of text. The bottom right of the double page spread is black box that states another page number suggesting a ‘gig guide’, I decided to choose this as it attracts the reader to carry on reading the magazine, and also links in with the interview when ‘Fleur’ is talking about a festival.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Front Page)

Firstly take a look at the title of the magazine. ‘Loud’ is an appropriate name for a music magazine, it fits into the music genre. When researching different music magazines, I focused on the magazine title ‘Kerrang’, initially most readers would think it is just an unusual magazine title, however beyond the surface is a further meaning. The stimulus for the title of ‘Kerrang’ is the sound of a guitar, ‘Kerrang’ is the noise when playing the guitar. I used this idea for the final product name, LOUD is a basic title, and is relevant towards music. Most readers would relate LOUD to any music genre. As my magazine is not just aimed at a niche audience, it is including Indie artists and Pop artists LOUD fits into both genres. The colour of the main title is in black, I thought this was a suitable colour as black fits in with any colour scheme and can stand out on the shelves. Through researching other products it is noticeable that black is a popular colour to pick for the title. The design of the font for the title of the magazine is quite ‘edgy’. It creates a ‘paint’ look, my reasons for choosing this specific font, is that I believe it looks ‘cool’ it makes the magazine look interesting and focuses on the importance of ‘looks’ for the magazine plus the genre. I decided to use a tag line as I thought it gave the audience more knowledge about the magazine. Like NME, instead of the cover being totally about another artist, I believe it is important to state how popular the magazine is with the use of the tag line. The tag line is in white, and is ‘Courier new’ font, my reason for choosing this font is that because I am aiming at an indie audience I looked closely at an indie artist; Ed Sheeran. Noticeably on his album he uses a similar font, I believe it sets an indie specific look. I have gone against a pop magazine convention for choice of surrounding font, as most pop magazines set a ‘fun’ looking font. Also as I have been focusing on NME’s magazine I have gone against their convention, as they use basic fonts throughout their magazine. The quote used “ I simply cannot believe the year I have had - I’ve learnt so much” could be going against an cool indie artist, however I had to consider that I am aiming for a pop audience aswell, where I think this quote attracts the audience to read more about the new upcoming artist. The main artist name is in a bold, white simple font. This is similar for many magazines to state the main aritst in bold on the front cover. The colour white can be seen as going against convention, many magazines like to show colour on the front of the magazine, or choose a specific colour scheme. The problem I faced was that due to the artist wearing bright pink lipstick, I could not state any text in bright pink, it could make the magazine look ‘tacky’ and loose its indie identity. However, I believe black and white do contrast each other well, If facing this task in the future, I would want to focus on a constant colour scheme throughout the magazine. The image chosen for the front of my magazine is a close up image of my artist. The reason for choosing a close up is that when researching different front covers, I was always drawn to the covers that had a close up of the artist, I think it captures the audiences eye if they are drawn to the artists face. Instead of a long/middle shot, where there would be other things distracting the audience from the main artist itself, the close up focuses simply on the artist. As I am focusing on an Indie/Pop genre, the look I focused on for the artist was a pretty image however the use of ‘messy’ hair represented the indie genre. I believe it is important to consider the looks of the artist, it represents the magazine and what artists their interested in. I decided to state some other artists on the top right hand side of the magazine, as it were noticeable that other magazines included a lot of artists that they interviewed on their front cover. It gives the audience an idea of what the magazine includes. The artists that I chose were indie and pop, I stated ed sheeran and snow patrol, that present the indie genre, then Jessie j and rhianna who present the pop genre, the magazine then appeals to both indie and pop audiences.

What I Had Realised?

Definition - A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something.

I realised I am a gatekeeper, I could control the flow of information given to the readers. At the start of the project I didn't realise the power I had and the control I had over the readers of the magazine. I could make all the decisions for the magazine and could put what I wanted in it to attract my readers.

I also learnt the 'prenumbra effect' - people outside your target audience will like your magazine. Just because I have a specific audience it didn't mean that others would not read the magazine. I will attract other readers due to the style and format. 


Time management was vital throughout this project. One thing I have learnt was to keep up with everything. For example, when my media teacher taught the class theory work, instead of going straight to my blog to upload the information, I would continue with the work that I were doing previously. This then lead me to immediately being behind the work, it put more pressure on me at the end of the project to put it onto my blog.
I never knew the time and effort it would take to do the evaluations, I admit that I should of started the evaluations straight away after producing my magazines, I would of then had enough time to perfect my blog before the final deadline.

Final Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final Double Page Spread

Consistency

Consistency is vital when producing a magazine. Consistency makes the magazine all as 'one' which contributes to make the magazine look professional.

 
Looking at my front cover the font for the mast head is different from all the text displayed on the page, this makes the main title stand out. The sell line font is used more than once on the front cover, I have used it for the quote of the artist and the artist names, I think it was a good idea to maintain a same font on the page, else if every piece of text had a different font it wouldn't look professional. The name of the artist however is in a different font, this was chose purposely to make the artists name stand out in bold. 

 

One thing I wish I had changed was the 'LOUD' font on the top of the contents page, for it to be consistent I should of maintained the font of the LOUD on the front cover for the contents page. I think this would the name of the magazine more consistent. However I did maintain the font used on the front cover of the artists name, for all the other artists on the content page. This font was used throughout the contents page, which I thought look professional. 



The font used throughout all of the three pages was maintained, this added consistency and achieve a better 'look'. One thing that was not kept consistent was the colour scheme throughout, however when i thought about changing the colours to make it proper colour scheme I thought that most magazines would have different colours on every, who wants a magazine that is going to look boring? The image of my main artist is used on every page, this signifies to the reader of who they are going to read about.

male V female

Looking at the National Readership Survey I wanted to see who was more interested in NME (the magazine I focused on) men or women. The survey suggested that 

189,000 Men read NME
96,000 Women read NME

This shown that the male generation read NME more than women do. This then meant that I had to approach my magazine targeting more at males as they are the popular reader.

How can I do this?

Due to my magazine representing the indie/pop genre I believe an image of a female would be suitable on the front cover. This image should be a 'attractive' image representing the indie genre,which will attract the typical male reader.

However I do not want to target just males for my magazine, why can't I increase the female readership figure?

How to attract females?

The article presented in my magazine is going to be about the down to earth artist, which will present her massive success. I believe females like to see other females being successful, so an interesting article may attract the female generation. 

Risk Assessment.

I had to draw up a risk assessment before producing the images for my magazine, it was vital that the model I chose for the photo shoot was safe.

Due to my magazine portraying the genre of 'indie/pop', the background of the images were extremely important, I wanted to make it look quite adventurous. 

The place of the photo shoot were chosen in the school surroundings, this made it easier for the model and I to meet up and take the photos without inconvenience. I chose to take most of my images under a bridge of the school, the natural background added interest to the photo. The natural dirt and nature came with the chosen background, I thought it was a brilliant place to take the photo and help follow the Indie convention.

As the background was so natural and was located on a slight hill, I had to be sure the model felt comfortable and safe. There were many bumps on the hill, so it was important to make sure the model didn't trip.

I also borrowed  a photography camera from school, due to the background being outside, I had to be careful with the handling the camera. 

To take the close up for the front cover of the magazine, I had to use a white back ground, I simply used a white background, no risks were involved.

front cover draft.

contents draft

double page

another double page

Uses and Gratifications Theory

McQuail classified the following common reasons for media use:


Information
Personal Identity
Integration and Social Interaction
Entertainment


Uses and Gratifications - This theory is about 'what people do with the media' rather than 'what media does to people'. It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications.

more double page drafts.

This is my first double page draft for my magazine. The image shown is the artist in a 'grungy' background, this represents an Indie artist well. The name of the artist is in a bold blue font contrasting with the black background, this helps the artist name stand out and also contrasts with all the colours on the page. The article is in pink, I chose the same shade of pink that comes from the jeans of the artists clothing, again I am linking in the artist with the edited double page spread. In one part of the article I made a quote from the artist larger than the existing text, this makes it stand out, the quote I chose emphasises the whole importance of the magazine, that the interview is about her first year of fame.  This links in nicely with the sub heading, which explains what the article is  going to be about, this is represented in a white background

double page spread draft.

front cover first draft.

Above is the first draft of my front cover for my magazine. I decided the title of the magazine to be 'LOUD', my reasons for choosing this title is because music is LOUD, whether your listening to it through head phones or in the car the demographic for my magazine like to listen to their music being played LOUD. The font I chose was found on google under 'magazine font', I think the font looks quite quirky, the outline of the title is 'edgey', which is conventional of 'indie' artists. However, as this is my first draft I may have to change the title font, as as it is not bold it doesn't stand out like conventional music titles do. A sell line is conventional for a music magazine, 'biggest music guide' just represents how popular the magazine is. The font is different to the title, the dark shades surrounding the text makes the sell line stand out. When researching music magazines, I noticed that it was conventional for a quotation of an artist to be on the front cover, this will intrigue the reader to purchase the magazine. The quote 'Im only honest' gives a bit of an edge to the magazine, it is quite interesting to the reader as to what the artist will be talking about,it will persuade the reader to read the article. The artists name is in a bold white font, the white contrasts with the models black jumper this makes it stand out. The bottom line of the magazine names the artists that the magazine has information about, this again will persuade readers to buy the magazine as it contains well known artists. The quotation marks are in a strong pink, this matches the models bright lipstick, I noticed that many magazines tend to edit their front cover around what the artist is wearing, therefore the matching pink I believe links in well.

Schedule for Photo Shoot.

Wednesday March 7th - Text model Emily Hawksby


'Hey Em, it's Amber can you do me a massive favour? I need a model for my media magazine and think you would be perfect for it. My genre is indie/pop, so if you could wear any quirky clothes that could represent my genre well, please do. However, can you make sure you wear a black top, as I need to take a close up for the front cover of the magazine. Is it possible to take for Friday 9th, Break time? X'


Friday 9th March


10 am - Go and get camera ready for the pictures to be taken.
10 40 am - Meet Emily
10 45 am - Take the photo under the bridge (make sure enough photos are taken)
10 55 am - FInd a white wall for the close up image
11 00 am - BREAK OVER 


Photo shoot finished.

double page spread draft photos.

recce backgrounds.

 This is a picture that I have edited, originally it was a wall, however using I-photo booth I have enhanced the colours to make it have that ancient feel. An advantage to this background is that I can safely put any font colour onto it, as the cream colours will go with any colour.

I really like this background, the shades of brown enhance nature which is liked to indie. The only problem I face is the houses in the background. If I wanted to use this image I would put my model behind the fencing, but would have to edit out the houses.  

The image of the bushes again highlight the nature feel, I really like the use of the shades of brown in all my images, I think the colour goes with the indie conventional colours.

To change the shades of brown like the other images, I decided the enhance the colours of the brick wall. I quite like the background, however if using this I would have to choose carefully the fonts surrounding the cover.

technology

target reader.

Name : Emily Hawksby

Socio economic group - Middle Class

Age - 18

Gender - Female

Ethnicity - White British

Lifestyle - Currently in her last year of sixth form. Her future plans are to go into further education, she is interested in completing a degree in Theatre Studies at Guildford School Of Acting.

She is extremely passionate about music, interested in artists like Jessie J, Rihanna, Ellie Goulding and Ed Sheeran. At the weekends Emily likes to go out and socialise with friends - a popular girl.

Her look are important to her, she likes to dress well, however going out in 'lounge wear' doesn't phase her.

Where does she shop? Emily is into her fashion, shops like Topshop and Miss Selfridge are her favourite, as she likes to keep on top of her fashion. She genuinely likes to be different from others and isn't bothered if she wears something different, she likes to pull unique outfits off. Every year she attends the clothes show where she bargains clothes that are not found in normal shops.

Where does she go on holiday? Normally she goes Spain with her family, however due to being an adult she will be attending Ibiza this year with her friends. She would love to attend Dubai with her boyfriend, who is also very similar to Emily.

Drive? Emily has past her test, currently she is driving an old classic mini, her plans for the future is to purchase a new cream mini.

Food? She loves chocolate and fast food, eating un-healthy doesn't bother Emily as she  believes 'you only live life once'.

Hobby? Into acting, loves to go out with friends and especially going shopping regularly.

Film - Loves a good chick flick.

Sport - Not into sport. However likes to dance.

Animal - Would like a cute little dog, preferably a pug.

magazine fonts.

I thought it would be ideal to look upon fonts for magazine covers. The font used above is quite basic, the sans serif font is used on all parts of the text on the cover apart from the logo and the sell line. This makes the logo and the sell line stand out. Overall I think it would be a good idea when designing my magazine cover, to keep the same font.

magazine camera shots.

magazine titles

indie musicians.

Above is a few indie artists, even by looking at their images you can tell they are different and fit the indie genre. 

what is indie?

After a lot of thought about what genre I am interested in to portray through my music magazine, I ended up with the genre 'indie'.
I thought it would be helpful to do some research into the actual definition of indie music.

Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent; this may refer to

Independent record label, operates without major corporate funding
Independent music, subculture music that is independent of major producers

• Indie dance, a type of dance music rooted on indie rock and indie pop
• Indie pop a genre of alternative pop music
• Indie rock, a genre of alternative rock music

Research Methods

There are four types of Research Methods I am going to look at:

Primary
Primary research is collecting primary data, this is data the researcher themselves has discovered. There are numerous ways to gain primary data, such as questionnaires, interviews, textual analyses and focus groups. These techniques can be sent out using 'survey monkey', the internet and social networking sites.

Secondary
Secondary research is collecting secondary data, this is data that already exists. Secondary data can be found from the internet, census, books and newspapers.

Quantitative
The quantitative research technique is displayed in a numerical form and can be measured. Questionnaires with a multiple choice answer are a type of quantitative research technique as the answers can be measured and then be put into a graph or scale.

Qualitative
The qualitative research technique cannot be measured, unlike quantitative research. An example of a qualitative research technique is a focus group. Data is collected by observation from the researcher.

I am going to use mainly Primary and Secondary Research. It is important that I produce questionnaires, as it is vital that I found out my target audiences pleases. A questionnaire will help me conduct my magazine, and will be able to help me make decisions easier.
Secondary Research is also important, researching present music magazines will help with the design of my magazine, it will also help me follow the conventions of a music magazine.
I may use Quantitive research when I have the results of my questionnaire, a graph will be helpful as when looking at it I can visualise the results better.

tropes & memes.

Tropes are recurring elements. These are repeated over time and form a common convention. Tropes are closely related to memes. They are the building blocks of texts. Tropes are subject to revisionism, the rewriting of tropes.


A meme identifies ideas or beliefs that are transmitted from one person or group of people to another. The concept comes from an analogy: as genes transmit biological information, memes can be said to transmit idea and belief information.

history of NME.

brief history.

The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved towards a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. 

typical content.

The typical content of NME involves interesting articles about artists. During research I have noticed that on the front covers of NME there is a general phrase that is 'unusual'. Like the cover above 'I'm a psycho', it is an unusual quote that had come from the artist, this however draws the readers attention to buy the magazine as it adds interest. The magazine offers interviews from artists that are associated with the genre of the magazine. The colour schemes of NME are not conventional, they noticeably vary. The colour scheme above originates from the artists nail varnish, i think this is really clever and original. It emphasises that the design is important and they always consider the artist that they are promoting to tie in with the design. NME often advertises something free with the magazine, when the magazine was re designed NME offered a free coldplay vinyl, this highlights the fact that offering free things draws attention to the reader to purchase the magazine.

typical reader.

research from www.nrs.co.uk

total £253,000 copies brought weekly.

15 - 44 - this is not such a specific target audience £218,000 copies brought

45+ -  34,000 copies.

These figures shocked me slightly as i thought that the target audience for NME would be quite young, £34,000 copies brought by 45+ adults is a lot, this emphasises that NME is targets for a massive age range.

men - £167,000

women - £86,000

This shows that NME attracts more males to purchase the magazine rather than females.

magazine's housestyle.

The masthead 'NME' is always located on the top left of the magazine, it is always in the same font; which is bold and large so it is recognisable. A different image of the artist is placed on the front of the magazine with a quote from their interview, this interests the reader to purchase the magazine and read the interview. The cover is very busy, it offers names of different artists which are included in the content of the magazine and the colour scheme differs. 

Target Audience continued..

This is an example of a hip hop magazine cover. The hip hop genre is similar to rock, it is anti social and violence is presented. The image chosen for the magazine is the artist Eminem, he is extremely controversial. His stern facial expression and his body language reflects an aggressive tone. Looks are not seen as that important, however the artist is wearing a top that shows of his muscles, this shows that looks are considered in a way as not being as glamourous but looking hot. This could attract the target audience for girls. The colour scheme of this design is similar to the rock magazine, it is less harsh as the background is clear, this shows that the hip hop genre is not as aggressive.

Target Audience, Ideology and Representation.

Every magazine has a target audience, it is important that the design of the magazine appeals to the target audience. An ideology is a set of beliefs a person or group holds. The different genres of music have different ideologies, this will affect how they represent them self. The representations of people and the use of the design will reflect the ideology of the genre.

This is an example of a pop magazine front cover. The in - house style appeals to the target audience as it fits the conventions of it being pro social. Noticeably the cover is positive, it is anti - drugs and  doesn't represent anything as going against a pop convention. The cover is non violent, the image of the artist shows her smiling, this reflects the magazines positive attitude. The other picture shows 'one direction', this picture again represents them smiling, it is also used for the target audience as it attracts girls. The colours are vibrant which emphasises the target audience to be for a younger age.

The pop magazine also links in with the music, pop music is never too abrasive, swear words are unlikely and glamour is represented as being important. The font used on this cover is 'funky' this connotes the pop magazine to be fun and positive.

This is an example of a rock magazine. In contrast to the pop magazine, the design is anti social, the colours are noticeably extremely different, the scheme is very dark reflecting the red font to connote danger. The image of the popular artist 'cheryl cole', represents her as a provocative artist, which is against what she is normally presented as. The cover is very busy this could reflect an aggressive tone, that there is a lot of things going on. The usual ideology of a rock magazine is that the looks are not important, however with this design as Cheryl Cole is such a popular artist her looks are still presented, but not in a glamourous way. The font changes throughout the design, the size changes making the cover look 'harsh', the rude gesture fits into the convention of a rock design and fits well with the target audience.

contents page.

Above is my final contents page.
I have remained the title of the front cover and also kept the same font and size, this will show that I am happy with the title, also throughout research I noticed many magazines keep the same title for the contents page.
I set 'contents' as the sub line, this will show to the reader what to expect throughout the magazine. However, I never put a capital letter, this was because I wanted to set an informal tone as my target audience is for 16 - 18 year olds.
I underlined 'contents' with a light pink, I chose to add slight colour to the page as the background is plain white, I thought I needed a bit of colour to make it more interesting.
I made the page numbers bigger than the actual text, the reason for this was that I think it looks quite 'funky' and it also stands out for the reader to what page to go to.
The picture I chose was one I took when choosing the image for the front cover. I think this image that shows a student studying sets a formal tone.
The text below the image just gives a bit of detail to the reader to what the magazine will be about, this will reassure the reader.

Preliminary School Magazine Cover

Above is the first draft of my school magazine front cover.

I decided to name the magazine 'Southfield Review', during my research I found a good example of a school magazine named 'The Revue'. I was fond of the title, therefore I changed the masthead to the original spelling 'review' and put Southfield before it, as I believe it is important to address the name of the school on the front cover.

Beneath the title is the sub line, my sub line says 'the guide to sixth form', I wanted to create a magazine that was for year 11 students going into year 12. I thought this would be an original idea, as going into sixth form is a huge step, therefore advice for this would be helpful.

After taking different images, I decided to choose this one. I tried to create the idea of studying being fun. The girl in my picture is a fellow sixth former, it shows her at work , but also smiling. This represents the student as being happy in the sixth form. A problem I faced when creating the cover was deciding the text as the background caused a problem. It was a natural background, which meant there were different colours this resulted in there not being a specific colour theme. If I could do this again I would make sure the background was white so I could decide easily on the text. The font has to be black, so it was visible for the reader and would stand out from the natural background.

The text surrounding the picture :

'sixth form social event - coming soon' - I thought this would be good for the sixth form magazine as it will make the new students feel at ease, they will be able to look forward to event and to go and make new friends.

'ditch the nerves, its time to meet your fellow sixth formers' - this again is helpful, as if I was to create the whole magazine my idea would be to take pictures of each student. This will help new students recognise new faces.

'how to keep on top of your a levels' - this would advertise students as a levels are extremely difficult and is a big step, therefore there would be advice to keep on top of the work.

'the uniform has finally been ditched, so what to wear?' - Going into sixth form is a change, not only to new subjects but the uniform changes. This may worry students having to have a different outfit every day, therefore offering advice on what you could wear would be suitable advice.

'win a cool sixth form pack' - Noticeably a magazine front cover convention is to win something. I didn't want to go against convention, therefore advertising a sixth form pack is interesting for students.