Initial Planning

This is my plan for my own magazine which will help me produce my final magazine product. All the ideas will incorporate into my own magazine.

Magazine Institution Research

Magazine institutional research from sam_sasi

In this presentation  I have researched about the magazine institutions in order to see what institution I could use for my own magazine.

Analysis of a Double page article analysis

Double Page Spread Analysis questions

 

The Rolling Stone magazine was mainly a rock genre and Macklemore is on the front cover which goes against the main genre as it is hip hop. As Macklemore is on the front of the cover it suggests that the article will target a female audience which means I high rise in the female readership including the male readership. The age’s will vary between around 16- 30. They will be interested in how the artist is behind the scenes and want to know what they think about apart from the hectic lives as a pop star. They would also like to know every detail of the artist to make them involved in their lives and be a part of it.

The language is informal toward the audience because they use words and phrases that you wouldn't hear in a formal letter for example ‘grown-ass man’. This is used in the beginning of the article suggesting that mackle more wants a greater relationship with the audience and wants them to feel more connected with him. ‘He’s of Irish decent, but looks indeterminately European, like he should be manning of the counter of an Amsterdam coffee shop or playing a bad guy in a Die Hard sequel.’’  This makes it humorous for the audience which shows that the whole magazine is not to serious but wants to make a friendly connection with the audience.

The main text is black and the main background is white making it similar to the front cover and the contents page. On the top the header has Macklemore and it is multi-coloured making a link with all the pull quotes suggesting that they are the most important piece of the article. The style of the text is a clear readable font (sans serif). The way the article is spread is clear as they and they use drop caps to show that they are on a new section and have moved on a different subject. It is also in columns to make it tidy for the audience. There is a brief introduction at the beginning to show that audience the article is about him even though there are already images about him.  There is not an overload of images and text but it is all spread out equally to make it simple but eye catching for the audience.  There is one large image on the second page which allows the audience to learn something about them visually.

The tone of the magazine is informal as they use a lot of humour to interest the audience and keep them reading the article.  It is as if they are addressing the audience as a long term friends. They are suggesting that you don’t have to be formal to be informed about the life of Macklemore.

Macklemore is being represented as someone who is wild and crazy and you can tell this by the images that they show as he is jumping and has his tongue sticking out which implies that he has a fun character. He also look that he doesn't care what critics think about him as he wears jeans with clothes that don’t suit as he has a jersey top with a fur coat which shows care what the critics think. This image is of him in a concert or a gig as he is holding a microphone.

The style of the magazine is in relation to the front cover as they are both not serious. The colours match, they use black mostly to make the text stand out. They also use bright colours to highlight certain things.  

The audience doesn't have to have any other knowledge about the artist before they start to read the article. The article is there for the audience to get to know the artist. The interviewer explains his pops star life in a humorous way for the audience to engage in it. The writer makes us learn about his early career and his present career and by the end of the article we have a clearer picture of the artist.  We learn new things about Macklemore by just reading the introduction that is three lines. ‘’ As a self-proclaimed ‘’ nice guy rapper,’’ a re-covering alcoholic and drug addict whose lyrics preach against the evils of homophobia, sexism, and $50 T-shirts, Haggerty hasn't left himself much room for vices.’’ As the article has images it helps teach us about him as we reads.

Analysis of a Contents Page

The contents page is using only 3 pictures but one is larger than the others that implies that it is a must read and is important but not as important as the main article that they have place in the front cover. There are two images that are much more smaller that are placed underneath the main image that suggest that they are also articles to be read but they are not as important as the other image.

As the Rolling Stone has a mixed genre and ranges in variety the contents page has images that are of artists that are belong to a different kinds of genre. For example, the main image which is the one that takes half of the page is a genre of dance techno as it tells you ‘The rave of new world Swedish DJ-producer Avicil’ It gives a clue of the genre from the word ‘DJ’ which makes you think if dance and clubs.  The next image does support my initial findings about the style of the magazine because in his image it is a completely different style of genre as in this image it says  ‘M.I.A returns’ and that artist is in the genre of indietrocina which shows that the style of the magazine has a variety of genre. The other image is of an actor which shows that the style has its variety which makes it an easy target audience that are interested in many different genres.

The colours and fonts that are used in the contents page are the same because for every heading they have the colour red which at the front cover it keeps the colour that they have for the title ‘Rolling Stone ‘which keeps it consistent. The sub heading are black to make it stand out and to read it clearly which is white., the same as the background on the front cover that makes it look tidy and support the style of the front cover.

The information is organised that makes it clear and easy for the audience to read. As it is in columns which make them spaced out. The information is placed anywhere on the page which means the audience would find it harder to find the articles they want to read. They are placed into 3 different sections which are; features, rock & roll and departments which makes it easier to find the articles that the audience do want to read.  They have a line to break up these different sections to make it simple for the audience. This would that suggest that the articles the are inside the magazine will be tidy and split into different sections to make it simple for the audience. This keeps it consistent with the front cover as well as the contents page. The sections show that the style of the magazine is still a variety as they even involve ‘department’ section which is filled with movie criticism and have other movie news. The other sections are about music which relates to the magazine.

At the top of the magazine it says ‘RS1190’ which as the audience we know what this means and know that number is the issue of the magazine. On the contents page they have some sort of pull quote because it says “All the NEWS THAT FITS”. It tells us that in the contents page they have the most important new on the contents, even though a might be a lot of pertinent information they can still fit it in for us to see what it is. 

Analysis of a Front Cover

It is a music magazine and the genre for this magazine is extremely wide as they have artist on their front cover such as Pink Floyd whose genre is rock to Adele whose genre is entertainment. This shows that the genre is varied.  The articles that would be issued in this magazine would be about different artist from different kinds of genre it will involve different kinds of music, albums, news, music reviews and politics.         
The target audience is adults between the ages of 18 and 30.  It is 60% male and 40% female. The interest that this particular age group would be the desire in music and to be aspiring musicians. They can also be interested in the latest news of artists and get to know what they are doing during the past few months. In addition they would also be interested in reading gossip of the artist and that why they buy the magazine to get involved their life and want to know what happens behind the scenes when they are not performing.    
The central image is of Macklemore and it is a close up shot which means you can see the details of his face and fully focus in is face as well. This suggests that Mackle more will be the main feature of this issues magazine. He wearing a simple vest and a necklace which makes him seem down to earth as an artist.  The mode of address is a direct contact with the camera to show that he is engaging with the audience. Since the camera shot is level with the audience it make it seem that he is just wants to be a normal person rather than the famous superstar. As it is a close up shot it makes the audience to feel closer to Macklemore and tells us that we should read his article. It kind of wants the audience to have an intimate relationship with him as he is on the front cover. He is on the front cover because he has grown to a major superstar which gives him the reason to be on the front cover. His facial expression is that he is smiling which implies that he is friendly and he wants you to get to know him. It also gives out a message to the audience to say ‘come buy me ’which gives out a confident look.
The anchorage text is ‘THRIFT SHOP SUPERSTAR MACKLEMORE’. This was Macklesmore’s most famous song (thriftshop) so they   make it go on the front cover to make it easier to identify the artist. The text is bold and bigger than the rest of any other text which makes it easier to read and catch the attention of the audience. The text is in white which stand out as the background it is in, is black which makes it stand out even more. There is no other text relating to Macklemore as they keep it simple and prefer the audience to read about rather than tem giving them an insight of the article. It can also imply that the artist itself is simple from the outside but when you read the article that is inside you can find out his true colours. The magazine represents him as a friendly and inviting person since it is a close up shot and suggests that the article is going to be a personal one.
The titles block on the top and are the same size as the main name of the artist which makes it stand out as well the anchorage text. The title block is a different style of the anchorage text because it shows the identity of the magazine. Since the artist is covering part of title block is tells us the magazine has been around for a long period of time because we automatically know what the title is going to be.
The puffs that are used are a variety as there is ‘The loan college loan scandal’ which is political and social which does not focus on music. This is a puff because part of the audience are 18 which means this puff refers to them which makes them want to buy so they can inform themselves of their education. However, the rest of the puffs are based on music and music news which tells us they are going to give out information and gossip to the audience. They have popular names on the front cover such as imagine dragons, lady gaga, Katy Perry, Drake and Elton John which everyone knows so these puffs attract the attention of the audience. The puffs are in columns which makes it clear to read and it not disordered. This tells us about the type of audience that will be expected to buy the magazine are people that are interested in different kinds of artist and their history or what they are getting up to.
The colours that are used in this magazine is consistent house style which is black bold text to show the puffs and to identify that they are the subheading if this magazine. They use the colour white for the main article which makes it stand out from the black. They also include yellow to show a little preview of the articles as if to make sure the audience reads it. I personally do find them attractive because it is makes it stand out and appeal to the audience. All the fonts are bold except for the title block because then they can let the audience know what magazine it is. The title keeps the same font and style to make it unique from other music magazines. The strategies that they use to attract the audience is by having the artist in a close up shit to make the artist stand out and make it easier to catch the attention if the audience.  They also keep the house style simple and consistent to not make the magazine look messy.

Front cover analysis








This is a music magazine and the genre is indie music as there is an indie band on the front cover. It tells us that magazine will issue articles that are about music and the music business including new upcoming artist and featuring articles.

The target audience is an average of 25 but the magazine is mainly targeted at men ages 17-30 and is predominately male with 73%. It contains articles that interest them and include bands that they are familiar with. Their interest would be that they would be interested in music but mostly indie music. The audience that would read it would be people to be aspiring musicians and truly believe in their music. They are people that are quirky and edgy people that like to experience different new things.

The anchorage text is ‘ARE YOU READY FOR US THEN? On the road and on the run with the new-look’ it gives the audience previews of the article making them engage with it because they ask them a rhetorical question. Since the text is across the magazine and is bold and the colour white makes it easier for the audience to read and to continue on reading. The text also questions the audience which makes them interact through the magazine. The magazine represents them that they are involved in all types of music but mainly the indie genre as they are on this magazine.

The colours that are used are red, white and black which make the house style consistent and make it contrast well with the magazine. It is also easy to read because it stands out of the magazine. There is also the colour yellow but that is for extra information to give out to the audience and it is a buzz word to make the audience interact with the magazine. I like the colours as it makes it look attractive so it catches the audience’s attention. The layout is a good strategy as it makes it clear to read for the audience and makes them read it without any hassle as it is not placed all over the page and not in variety of colours which makes it easier to read. They also added a new band that has a comeback which makes the magazine more interesting.

The buzz words are ‘WIN!’, the effect that it has is that it is eye catching so the audience will automatically look to see the information on what do they win. The buzz words also want the audience to interact with the magazine as they include them to be part of the magazine and will allow them to buy more magazine as they would lie to know what else they could win or get things that are or ‘free’.  It will also make them more excited and this way they can buy more magazines as they can get more freebies.

The puffs that are used are ‘Drama queen, Sicko and Pretty Mouth!’ these are the subheadings to tell the audience that there is more articles inside the magazine but it will purely be about what shows they have got around to or who has been singing with each other and a bit of gossip of each bands or singers. All the puffs give them an insight of what the magazine contains. The puffs words are in row which makes it easier to read as it is not messy. They are spaced out to know what each puff is clearly about. It tells us the magazine is expected to find the target audience to red only about music news.

The central image is Arctic Monkeys and they are spread across the magazine to show the magazine is mainly about them. They wear laid back clothes that are not fancy because they want to show that they are focused only on their music career.  The mode of address is a direct contact with the camera to show that they are engaging with the audience, the main singer is wearing sunglasses witch kind of hides in identity but when the audience reads the article it will show his true colours. It shows that it wants an intimate relationship as they want them to read about how they are and how feel about certain things.

The Arctic Monkeys are on the front over as they have released a new album as there is more information about the band rather than any other musician.  Their facial expressions are serious and probably serious about music and their career. They look very firm and the camera shot is kind of low angle which makes them look confident and self- assured. This also relates to their body language as they are standing steady which gives them character of strong musicians and look very controlled and look like they are in control of the audience.  The message that artist are trying to give out is that they are trying to express their new music that they have released. They are not being represented as a cheesy boy band but are being portrayed as a group that only enjoys being part of the music. They represent as that by making them look really normal by making them put a normal costume that is not over dressed. They have also not added so much make up which represents them as a classic group.

The title block on the left hand side and is smaller than the anchorage text suggesting that the main article is more important than the actual music magazine; however since the title block is in red it makes it easier to know what music magazine it is. Also the anchorage text is red which links to the title block and you can identify the magazine. The design of the title block is bold and red which could relate to the main bands as they are suggesting that the band are also bold (confident). The style of the title block is very simple which can also relate to bands that NME have their front cover as they could suggest they are simple as they are not interested in other types of genre but bold at the same time.

  

Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover

Analysis

I have  analysed the conventions of NME's music magazine. This will help me to identify the conventions and will help me to construct my own magazine as I will have to use these convention to make my magazine better and more appealing.

Preliminary Contents Task

This is my mock contents page for my magazine and I went out and decided to take some photographs. All the photos are related to the magazine which is about student life.  I placed these in my contents page to not make it look to plain. I added what I thought was necessary for my contents page and this is the result I got. I added the title to indicate what page this is for the students. The tools that I used to be able to do this was by using different tools like the filter and used contrast and brightness to alter the original picture. I have also used the crop tool to make my picture different to the original and in order for the students see the image clearer. I also used different font style to make it more appealing to the audience as it won't make it boring to the audience These skills will help me to construct my own magazine.