Evaluation for music magazine:

My final music magazine design was for the genre hardcore dance. To create the right feel of a dance genre magazine I needed to start with some research towards it. To find out what to include, what djs were popular and what was that extra something different that I could offer my magazine to make it stand out to the rest of the dance magazines. To do this I created a focus group that liked dance music to help me decide what to include in my magazine. I also analysed existing dance magazines to focus on the good and bad qualities. The good points I incorperated into my magazine.
I used very bright colours because they suited the quirky dance look that I wanted to achieve. I was aiming my magazine at a younger audience of teenagers that were interested in the genre. The magazine also focus' on new clubs, djs and even down to earth stories. There is something for everybody for the ages 16-19 and even younger and older than these ages. The age range is vast which opens up the target audience. Most dance magazines include naked pictures of girls which can attract a vulgar male audience, however my magazine opens up the audience to both genders and a range or ages and personalties.
I feel that my magazine stuck to the brief of challenging music magazine conventions. However, it has originality with some qualities of a popular music magazine which would make it a good seller. My knowledge of textual analysis has increased from the prelmiary task and I am now able to use photoshop to a better ability so my photoshop work for my music magazine was to a better standard than in the prelimary task.

2 page spread for music magazine

Contents for music magazine

Music magazine front cover

Music magazine - flat plans

Music magazine title ideas...

My hardcore dance magazine will need a title that is suitable for the music genre. The magazine name will need to be something that the reader will quickly associate with dance music. The title should not be overlong and should be easily recognisable, without any ambiguities to it. I need to consider a name that will not be confused with another magazine. The font needs to be carefully considered because it should not be too flowery or cartoon like. The title name will have to appeal to readers and be eye catching with a positve affect on those that read it.



*Pulse

*Strobe

*House

*Hardcore

*Mayhem

*Rush

Music magazine questionnaire

1. What shops do you normally buy your clothes from?

Republic New Look Topman Burton Topshop Primark River Island JD

2. What colour do you enjoy wearing the most?



Pink Grey Black Blue/navy Green





3. Who is your favourite dance dj?



Basshunter Cascada Ultrabeat Darren Styles Scooter





4. Do you prefer female or male djs?




Male Female





5. What clubs do you go to?




Dukes Barlambs Talk Mayhem Varsity Room 24





6. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?



Music Shopping Clubbing Seeing friends Sports

Mood board for music magazine

My mood board is based around the different genres of music such as pop, rock, acoustic and dance. I decided to focus on what makes up music and some of the most famous faces of those genres. Britney Spears is the number one pop icon and many people aspire to her. I have included the instruments and equipment that artists need to make music. Also, music is heard though concerts, ipods, CDs and radio stations which are important fans and advertisement for music.

Questionnaire results

1. What shops do you normally buy your clothes from?



The results show that Topshop seemed to be the most popular clothes store. They sell original clothes for many different styles that many of the celebrities wear. Even though this clothes store is expensive, it is most definitely fashionable. The fashion relates to the clubbing outfits, high heeled shoes and unique outfits of the dance world.



2. What colour do you enjoy wearing the most?

The colour that people enjoy wearing will help me decide on the colour scheme of my music magazine and what the people in the images wear. Girls enjoy wearing pink the most and bright interesting colours are very popular in the dance genre. However, black was the most popular colour, it is a very bold colour that is also sleek which is often worn to clubs.



3. Who is your favourite dj?

This is the most important question because it determines what artists and djs to include in my music magazine. This is who people will read about and who they want to find out more about. These artists seem to be the most well known in the dance music world, especially to the age group and audience that I am basing my music magazine on.





4. Do you prefer female or male djs?

Male djs are the most popular gender of a dj according to my questionnaire results. There are not as many female djs as there are male, but a mixture of both will satisfy my audience because basing my magazine around one gender can narrow my audience massively.







5. What clubs do you go to?

These results will help me decide what adverts ticket offers and type of music to include in my magazine that will appeal to my target audience. Mayhem seems to be the most popular among the age group, the club atmosphere suits dance music.

6. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?


Seeing friends was most important to my participants in their spare time. Socialising and hanging out with friends is popular among the people I asked, therefore I want to make this important to my magazine. I will do this by creating images of people at clubs to show the importance of socialising.

Focus group

Adam Lees
Adam is 18 years old, he left school at 17 and started work in the mobile phone shop, Vodaphone. He currently works part time there, which gives him the money and time to do what he likes in his spare time. He enjoys going to clubs, such as Varsity, Mayhem and Talk, which play all kinds of dance music including hardcore dance. Adam owns a laptop which allows him to download all his favourite dance tracks, including some of the biggest names in dance...Cascada, Dj Tiesto, Darren Stlyes and Dj Mangoo. These are some of the most well known DJ's in the dance world, making them more commonly played at clubs. Adam also enjoys going to the casino and driving around in his new car, which has a high bass and is brilliant for playing high bass dance tracks. Dance music has become a large part of Adam's life and he finds himself downloading new dance tracks almost everyday.

David Page

David is a 17 year old attending college, studying graphic design. His course has included graphic designing for dance music CD covers and I will find him a good resource for what kind of images need to be included when creating a dance magazine. David has a large collection of dance Cd's including, Clubland, SASH and Darren Styles. The clubland CD includes hardcore dance DJ's and recently clubland 14 has been realised. David also enjoys going to clubs and is interested in djing himself and learning about the DJ decks and how technical dance music is. David says 'hardcore dance music normally refers to the big clubs, concerts, glow lights, beats and remixes that make it exciting and more thrilling than any other kind of music.'

Sarah Lewis

Sarah is a 16 year old student attending 6 form and currently studying biology, sociology, business studies and maths. She enjoys going out with mates and even though she doesn't have a job and is not old enough to get into the bigger clubs, she manages to save up to go to concerts and buy Cd's. She also enjoys the clubland Cd's which seem to be the most popular among dance music fans. Sarah thinks that a lot of the clubland CD covers include a half naked girl, but she does not feel that the music is aimed at a male audience so why should the images be? This is something to be aware of when adding images into my magazine.

Target audience

My target audience are those that are interested in dance music, as my magazine focus' on that genre of music. To create my magazine I need to specify what type of dance music my magazine should be based on, hardcore, rave, techno, trance etc. Even though these are different types of dance music, hardcore is the most common and popular in the charts and on music channels. This includes artists and djs such as, Basshunter, Darren styles, Ultrabeat, Cascada and scooter. These are all featured in the cd Clubland, which has been produced 14 times and become high up in the charts. These are the more well known and talked about artists of the dance genre and appeal more to 16-19 years old teenagers. Therefore I have decided to make this age group my target audience. I want to focus more on specific songs and artists that my focus group will be interested in and what images and stories they would want to include in a dance hardcore music magazine.

Textual analysis - my music magazine genre

DJ - THE DANCE MAGAZINE

The colours are bright and the headlines are used in a bold font that stand out to the reader. The image used is of a woman that is wearing a revealing bikini that means that the magazine could be aimed at a male audience, but the bright colour and outrangeous style makes the target audience more unique.

There are more headlines than most magazines have which makes it look busier and more entertaining to readers. The headlines include foreign countries, which means that the target audience would be for older people that are able to travel and get into clubs.

Textual analysis - Music magazines

Mojo
This magazine first appears sinister, with the image of a band dominating the front cover. It has huge impact as the eye contact with the people in the image is intense, attracting the public to the magazine. The image of the band stands in front of the magazine name 'Mojo', this tells the audience that music comes first, that it is not about image, but about music content. The band also covers up half the name 'Mojo' suggesting the power of the band and that the magazine is aimed at people that are serious about music, the seriousness is also elaborated in the band's eye contact. The image is of a band called Oasis, because the band is of the genre rock. The band is represented as moody and challenging which fits in with the persona of the band Oasis. The eye contact is direct and striking blending in with the bold font and mod theme colour.
From the magazines appearance, it shows that it represents the rock/mod genre of music and the magazines contents will contain information relevant to this music.

Q

Simple blocks of primary colours are used in an eye catching way to attract the reader. The clear red, white and black font contrasts with the animated images and gives a simple direct message. The main figure is looking directly at the reader and pointing, as if it is say to the reader that they are personally involved. The bands are in the largest print to show the reader what to expect. The language is persuasive, using the selling point of FREE music and the COMPLETE U2 story.

This magazine is aimed at someone interested in a wide range of music, as inside you can get information on people as diverse as Lily Allen to Kylie. It is for someone who is quite sophisticated as there is an article by Tony Blair. This magazine is trying, successfully, to sell itself as a stylish magazine, building on already known quantities, such as GQ and James Bond.

Contents page:

Front cover for student magazine:

This was my initial design for my school magazine, however I feel that it needs adapting and changing to be made more suitable to be a student magazine. The image I chose to use of a girl smiling will relate to the students that my magazine is aimed at, but there is no eye contact with the reader, which is the convention of many magazines. The title of my magazine is called 'Whatever!' This language can be harsh on students and the word is a negative one. The images that I incorparated of a top and skirt are quite bland and do not suit the fashion trend that college students aspire to. The highlighted font is far to garish and the positioning of text and images needs to be re-thought. My final school magazine front cover...

3 flat plans

Title ideas for school magazine

These are the ideas for the title of my Sixth Form magazine. I brainstormed through a lot of different ideas to get the right mood and feel for my magazine. I decided that my title needed to be informal and chatty to appeal to my target audience and to contain some colour that was both pink and blue for both male and female students.

• S.O.S


• Teen Brief


• The Universal


• Academy


• What's new?


• The Reporter


• Showtime


• S.O.S Now
  

My final choice for the title of my magazine is 'Teen brief'

Textual analysis for target audience school magazine

Dave - South East Essex College

This magazine is aimed at my target audience, year 12 students. The magazine title is Dave, which is very masculine for a college magazine. The image that is also presented on the cover is of a male singer in Essex, the features of the magazine are aimed at teenagers and the colors, images and title suggest a male audience. The title is a male name and is presented in bold yellow letters against a black background to make it stand out. The colors chosen are also masculine even though it is more likely for this magazine to appeal to both male and female students. A colour scheme is very important in determining who will read the magazine, this student magazine however can appeal to my target audience although the images, title and colour scheme limits the readers.

Next
Next magazine is aimed at year 12 students that helps guide them through the year. It contains knowledge about life after school and gives students useful advice that will help shape the career that they wish to have when they leave school. It gives students ideas about what they want as a career and the path they should take to get there. This gives students an idea of what they will encounter in the following years as students, which I think is a useful feature for a school student magazine. The title is suited appropriately to the content of the school magazine and what information it offers students about the ‘next’ stage in life. The image featured on the magazine is friendly and inviting and I think it would be a successful magazine to appeal to both male and female. The people in the image look like they are having fun and also they look popular and happy, which appeals to my target audience.

Questionnaire graph results

What are your hobbies and interests?
The results for this show the different hobbies that students enjoy when i asked a range of people in 6 form what their interests are. The results conclude that most people enjoy shopping and seeing friends, therfore this is what is most important to them, which makes it a vital part of my magazine content.

Do you read your current school magazine?

Most people do not read their current school magazine because it does not appeal to them. This helps me learn of the design and content of current school magazines that it is not appealing to my target audience.

What subject do you enjoy most at school?

Most people I asked enjoy the subjects such as politics and english. In my magazine I can include information about subjects and information such as school trips that relate to 6 form subjects.

Are you interested in fashion?

Many people I asked were interested in fashion. I want to include a fashion part in my magazine which could relate to the sort of clothes 6 form students can wear to school.

Do you read magazines outside school?

Most of the people I asked did read magazines outside school, this includes the male audience that I asked aswell.

If so, which magazines?
This question that follows then helped me determine what magazines the students were interested in. This included many fashion and real life magazines and contents.

What attracts you to a magazine?

I feel this is a important question to ask, as this will draw students into reading my magazine. I found that images and stories were the most important feature to a successful magazine and what my magazine should contain.

Mood board for my school magazine

This my mood board created for my preliminary task for the student school magazine. I was able to adapt the images and logos on the mood board to suit the students expectations of a successful and readable school magazine. The mood board fits in with the answers I got from my questionnaire that I asked a range of 10 students. This mainly includes the interests of students and their entertainment. There is also an example of what I found was the most popular girls magazine, 'Look' and what was the most popular boys magazine 'Nuts', even though that was to graphic to display on my mood board. I created a mood board that relates too students, including the fashion style and shops they like to go to. A lot of people learn to drive in 6 form and it is when getting a job starts to become important because students want money for going out. Creating this mood board helped me to investigate into what music, hobbies the students are interested in. As the consumers, the students ideas and interests is what would be most important to contribute to my magazine. The social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook and even communicating by mobile phones are important in students lives.