Music Magazine Sub-Genre Research

POP:

The typical target audience for a Pop music genre magazine is usually aimed at teenagers but their are also some styles suited more for the younger target audience. Pop magazines are also aimed towards young adults which is shown in how Billboard have presented their magazine. Billboards magazine is very simple in how they laid out their information and how they use consistently one main image to present their front page. This differs to the magazine 'Sugar' who have crowded their front page with lots of information presented using different styles of fonts. This may suggest that this magazine is aiming towards predominately teenagers and the younger target audience, compared to the professional lay-out of the magazine 'Billboard'. All of the magazines shown use currant and trending artists which allows the target audience to understand whether or not this magazine links to their chosen genre type and if it appeals to their specific needs. In terms of production value, you would suggest that Billboard has a bigger production value based on the various different target audiences they are able to appeal too. In contrast to 'Sugar' who predominantly only aim their target audience towards the lower age groups.

In terms of layout, the conventions of a pop music magazine typically have one main image in a mid or median shot. This then allows their cover lines to stand-out around the image in a very typically bold, colourful font. Another point to make about the typical lay-out of a pop music magazine is their common use of having a bold masthead which stands-out on their magazine front covers. This connotes the typical conventions of a pop music magaizne becuase of the effect of having bold typography layered on the page which ultimately allows pop music magazines to stand-out.

ROCK:

The typical target audience for the Rock music genre, I believe is aimed towards teenagers, young adults and also the older target audience. The older target audience age range is evident in magazines such as 'Rolling Stone'. Rolling Stone usually use classic rock artist as their main, medium close-up shot on the front page of their magazine. However, they do occasionally use trending artist such as  Jay-Z which may suggest how their magazine targets the teenage and young adult age range. This may also suggest that 'Rolling Stone' magazine has a higher production value than other rock magazines such as 'Kerrang' because their magazine can appeal to various age ranges. Kerrangs only main target audience is in the older age range which effects their production value. The lay-out of the Rolling Stone magazine front page is very neat and appealing compared to Kerrangs which is crowded with information, making it hard for the reader to understand.

The main conventions in terms of lay-out for a rock music magazine is typically a jumbled front page which includes various different cover lines which link to their main image.  Their masthead does however stand-out very effectively. As you can see on Kerrang's front cover, all of their masteheads stand-out very effectively to the target audience. Also, Q's magazines masthead stands-out very effectively to the reader. This allows their target audience to be drawn into their content shown on the front cover of their magazine.

HEAVY METAL:
I believe that the heavy metal music genre is aimed at the older target audience as this genre, I believe is a very old music genre, thust linking it to the older age range. Magazines such as 'Kerrang' and  'Q' also offer Heavy Metal content as well as Rock. This suggest that both 'Kerrang' and 'Q' are predominantly linked to the older are range, even though they offer relatable content to the younger audience because they also present content for Rock. Given that the heavy metal genre predominantly targets itself at older age ranges, you would suggest that the production value for these magazines are reasonably low, however popular magazines such as 'Kerrang' and 'Q' may have a higher production value because they link to various different target audiences.
The artist who are shown on the front cover are usually related to the heavy metal genre. Avenged Sevenfold and Metallica are very popular in heavy metal and are frequently used on the front page of heavy metal magazines because they allow the audience interested in heavy metal to be more attracted as it shows a popular heavy metal band.

The typical convention in terms of lay-out for a heavy metal music magazine is generally quite a 'busy' magazine front cover. Again, like Rock magazines, their mastheads stand-out very effectively on this page more than anthing else. It ctahces the readers eye the most effectively when they first see this magazine front cover. Also, the images on their front covers have a large group of artists centered in the middle of the page. This differs from a typical pop music magazine lay-out which typically features on one artist.

INDIE:
The primary target audience for Indie music magazines I believe is from ages 16-25 plus. Indie style music is frequently shown and presented at festivals where this music genre is most popular. This I believe is evident in how the layout and colour palette is used. The layout used on the front page is very simple, with magazines such as 'Indie' only using one main medium close-up shot with at least one main cover line shown. The colour palette is vey simple with the effect of only useing calm primary colours standing out on a very blunt secondary background. This may suggest that the production cost of Indie magazines are ultimately low. I believe the Indie music genre makes most of their profits from frequent festivals with rising artists such as the Artic Monkeys and The 1975 who are continuing to attract many target audiences with their trending music.

The typical conventions of an Indie music magazine

HIP HOP/RAP:
The target audience of Hip Hop/Rap is becoming increasingly popular with the teenage age range. Artists such as Macklemore, Fetty Wap and Drake are now becoming increasingly popular with the teenage age group. Music magazines such 'Vibe' and 'The Source' use these trending artists to attract the growing teenage target audience. Vibe uses a classic layout of having a medium close-up shot of an artist and most commonly keep their main cover lines and cover lines to a limit. This connotes that they are trying to show themselves as a professional style of magazine. In contrast to 'The Source' who again only use one main image, but use various different fonts to show their cover lines which seems to take over the front page. As a viewer I find their front page complicated and uninteresting. The production value of Vibe compared to The Source you would suggest to be higher because of the professional presentation they have significantly shown to their target audiences and as a reader, I would be more interested in purchasing Vibe than The Source ultimately because of how both of their front covers are presented.

Evaluation: Front Cover and Contents Page

Front Cover: 
I believe my finished front page design has professional elements to it which I was aiming for, however, I would think more about the chosen image and what content is going to be shown on the front.
Overall, I am happy with the main image on the font page. I like the effect of having the background blurred to allow the composition of the person to stand out to the audience. I believe this is effective because it allows people to instantly be attracted to the audience. I believe this is effective because it allows the primary part of the image to stand out more vividly to the viewer. This image also fits the 'College' genre of this magazine. Even though I like the style of the image and the composition, I would have liked to think about how the background effects the front cover when going to edit it.

For the front cover I have used two cover lines and one puff to present some relevant information regarding the genre of the magazine. I like how the white text stands out from the blurriness of the background. I have also used white text for my title masthead, complimented with a black glow around it. I kept to a more simple colour scheme because I was aiming for a more professional tone and style which I feel shows.

Even though my cover lines and puff don't make the front cover crowded, I feel their needed to be more information on the front to give a more 'attracting' effect to this magazine. I felt this wasn't achieved because when I created my flat plans, I didn't put any information about what the main and secondary cover lines were going to say. So when it came to designing my final design, I had problems with what I was actually going to say.

I chose to use 'College Life' as my title masthead because I felt this name had a professional and simple effect which I felt was relevant to this magazine genre. I originally had 'Bodmin Bulletin' for my masthead but I felt this name wasn't professional enough for the style of College magazine I was aiming for.

Contents Page:
For my contents page, I tried to keep the same style and colour scheme to allow the professional feel to carry through the magazine. I kept the contents page lay-out more simple because I didn't want to overcrowd this page with irrelevant information. I decided to place all the images on one side of the page and the text on the other. This allowed me to clearly link certain pieces of information to the matching image so the reader can visually see what the information is showing.

The colour palette of my contents page uses more primary colours compared to my front page. I chose to use more primary colours because I felt the magazine, even though it needed a professional feel, had to show the target audience and the College genre of this magazine. This is why I chose to use a more primary colour palette, so I could link it to the specific 'College student' target audience and I believe using bright colours shows this.

The title masthead of this magazine I also kept simple which also includes a small text print of the magazines masthead. I chose to put the magazine masthead in a smaller font to try and give the magazine that professional feel I was wanting to achieve. Different genres of magazines have used this style of having the title in the contents page and I was hoping that it would add to the magazines professional feel.

Overall, I am happy with the lay-put of the contents page complimented with the images and text shown. Next time however, I would include images which feature different students or settings to give the magazine a more interesting appeal to it.

Preliminary Task: Construction

Flat Plans

Front Page:
These Flat Plans show my first initial ideas of how I want my front and contents page to look. For my College front page, I have chosen to use the title masthead 'College Life'. I have chosen this name for my final design because I believe this name is simple but allows the professional element of this magazine to show.
I have only used two cover lines and a puff because I don't want the front page to be too crowded with information. I want to leave relevant information for the contents page where I can expand my topics in more detail. I will make the puff more of a primary, bright colour to allow it to stand to the audience and to give the colour palette of my front cover more diversity.

Contents Page:
My contents page will offer more of a primary colour palette scheme, which will still show the magazines professional tone. As you can see on my contents page flat plan, I have placed my three images on one side of the page with the text information on the other side. This allows the images to be spaced evenly between each other which also allows me to position them in all the same sizes. Having the text on the other side allows myself to explain the topics in detail to the reader.

Contents Page Images Analysis

I have chosen to use this image on my contents page because I like the naturalness of the background. This will allow people to see what kind of environment the students are in and whether or not the College is keeping up with specific standards. The lighting of this image is very appealing because it allows the naturalness of the picture and the background to be illustrated more effectively.

The image of the student is shown to be very calm. This allows people to assume that the College is a relaxed and friendly place. The building also adds to the image and gives the picture another element of texture and colour which I believe is a vital component of a magazine.

 I have used this image for my contents page because it involves an educational element to it. This is clearly shown in this image because the background I've used in this is of a library which fits the composition of the person holding the book. I believe this image shows the educational side of the College.

The calm primary colours used in this image shows the audience the environment of this College and how students succeed in this environment.

I am using this image for my contents page because it links to student achievements which is a common feature in College magazines.
I have also chosen to use this image because of the creativeness of the background. The colour palette used on the background is mainly primary colours. This links with the College magazines primary target age range. It also allows the composition of the person in the image to stand out to the reader.

Front Cover Image Analysis

I have chosen this image for my front page. I believe the lay-out and colour palette shown in this image fits the professional and modern feel I want this magazine to show.

I also like the way he's pointing at the audience, involving them with whats being shown. 

The colour palette is predominantly of secondary colours. This fits the style I'm looking for because I aiming it more at the higher class social grade. However, even though I am creating this magazine predominantly for the higher class, I want to be able to allow all classes of people in society to relate to certain aspects in this magazine.

I will edit the background of this image to blur it out to allow the image stand out more clearly to the audience. I believe this image is suitable for the front page because the layout is specifically showing the student, which fits the needs of a College magazine.

Preliminary Task 4: Audience Research

For my College style magazine, I have chosen to target my primary audience age group from around 15-21 year olds. I have chosen this age group for my primary audience to allow myself to give this college style magazine a more professional and modern feel to it.
In terms of class, I have decided to target more middle and upper-class people as this magazine is predominantly going to have a professional and modern feel to it giving the feeling of the upper-class hierarchy.


The genders I'm targeting this college magazine to is both male and females. I have chosen to aim my magazine at both genders to allow different audiences to connect and relate to this magazine by offering relevant content to both. I do not believe the social grade of this magazine matters as I want to aim it at different classes. Even though I'm aiming it towards more of the upper class appeal, that doesn't mean I don't want other social classes to explore and relate to this magazine.


For my secondary audience, I have decided to aim at people aged between 23-30. I have chosen to aim it for people of this age group because I feel many parents or guardians are interested in the college's experience and achievements. Also, because this magazine is going to have a professional feel to it, it automatically allows itself to target ages higher because of the style presented.

Survey Monkey Questionnaire - https://www.surveymonkey.com/create/?sm=ghJub_2FMzhd4HKJec0362h5AOT4V64lAAN8H_2FxWDyqgo_3D