Magazine Name and Font

1. Walkway
2. Sketch Block
3. NKOTB Fever
4. Levis Brush
5. Green Piloww
6. Champagne and Limousines

Choosing the right font and title for your magazine is crucial. I used dafonts.com and saved the fonts I preferred and thought would be suitable for the front cover of my magazine. I chose the sketchier fonts because I thought it would give my music magazine more individuality and personality. My personal favourite of all the fonts I have singuled out is 'levis brush' because i feel it is a lot different to the fonts you usually see on the front of a magazine and it again gives it that unusual alternative feel.
At the moment i am undecided on the title of my magazine but am edging towards an animal name because sound and music to them is very different to the way we hear sound. I like the name 'wolf' because it conjures up the imagery of a wolf howling, i also like 'oh deer' as a pun, i think of it as a fun name for a magazine, injecing a bit of humour into the overall concept.

Front Cover: Chosen Image

I have decided to use this image for the front cover of my music magazine, i think this is a great image and i am really pleased with the way that it has come out.
It is an upper body shot taken with an SLR camera on a slow shutter speed. The pictures above are exactly the same but i have been messing around with the contrast and brightness on photoshop and i am not sure yet which colour i am going to use in my final product. I am not going to airbrush the face because i wanted a photo that shows the blemishes and dimples of a normal person, it means that the audience find it easier to relate to the subject used. I think this image epitomises exactly what i wanted my magazine to be like, the image is quirky and alternative and the boy photographed will have an interview inside my magazine as a band member of an indie group. My survey showed that the majority of people want a music magazine to be different and interesting, I want my magazine to appeal to this audience and to contain photography on fashion and art isnpired by music culture as well as all the normal cliche music magazine features such as interviews and top 20's.

Front Cover Image: Possible Choices

I took several photos over several days trying different lighting and different settings. I tried a white backdrop and a black one and found that the black backdrop with all natural light blocked off, only using camera flash created a much clearer and more detailed image. I tried different shots but the majority being upper body or headshots because this is the type of imagery that is typically found on the front of music magazines. I wanted the photos to feel natural and a lot of my photos although professionally taken were spontaneous to ensure that my subject looked comfortable in all of his photos.

Front Cover Image

I am going to use a Canon EOS 350 Digital SLR camera on a low ISO shutter speed of about 100, similar to the technique used on the front cover of this edition of 'Empire' magazine. I will ensure that my subjects backdrop will be dark (black) to make sure that the figures portrait will be clearer and extremely detailed, white backdrops wash out the features of the portrait. Although this cover is in black and white, i am unsure whether my final cover will be in black and white or colour after the final edit. The fact i will be using a slow shutter speed and a low light intensity means that i will have to use a tripod to prevent camera shake and therefore an unclear image.

I think that a highly detailed picture on the cover of my music magazine will create a very professional and fresh look. These sort of images can be very effective, recently The Sunday Times: Style Magazine printed Robbie Williams using this same camera technique and it created a very emotive response. The majority of music magazines use images of groups or solo artists on their covers but using a style like this is a little bit more alternative and makes the magazine more individual in comparison to mainstream music magazines such as NME or Mojo.

Results from Questionnaire: Target Audience Research

After conducting my music magazine questionnaire, i discovered some quite unusual and useful results.
I was surprised that my research uncovered that the majority of people do not read music magazines and those that do only rarely buy them.
In answer to my first question 'which of the following magazines do you read?' the majority chose option G - none of the above, the reason being that the specific information that they need they can find on the internet and a lot of non-music specific magazines sometimes include music information. Other people said that magazines for a certain genre, be it alternative or soul etc, use specific terminology and are a little 'hard' to read and understand.
Question 3 stated 'what genre of music do you listen to?' and i found this interesting becauses the results were so varied, some singluar people stated several genres as their preferred choice of music. This proved that the majority of people are interested in a variety of music and like to mix and match, listening to something 'a bit different'.
Question 4 and 5 were the most important of this questionnaire investigation because it allowed me to see what my target audience wanted from a music magazine, again these results varied proving that the majority want a variety from their magazine. When asked what they would like from a new music magazine a lot of people answered 'something different', music magazines although about different genres are all very similar in their context and i want to ensure that my magazine provides my target audience with something unique and fresh.

It is always difficult to conduct market research because people don't have the time to fill out questionnaires. I only received a small proportion of responses in comparison to the quantity i sent out but it was enough to come to a conclusion as to what my target audience want from a music magazine.

Questionnaire for Target Audience

To ensure that my magazine adheres perfectly to my target audience's preferences i am going to conduct a questionnaire on facebook that asks the kind of questions that would help me to produce a successful and popular magazinefor my genre.

Questionnaire for a Music Magazine:

1. Which of the following music magazines do you read, if any?

a. NME

b. Kerrang

c. Q Magazine

d. Mojo

e. Rolling Stones

f. Other _____

g. None of the above

2.If you do not read a music magazine, why?

3. What genre of music do you listen to?

a. Indie

b. Pop

c. Rock

d. Hip-hop

e. Jazz

f. Other _____

4. What do you look for in a magazine?

a. Playlists/Top 20's

b. Fashion influenced by music culture

c. Interviews

d. Festival Coverage

e. Reviews

f. Other _____

5. What would you want from a new music magazine?

I intend to send this questionnaire to as many people as possible via facebook.com and i will then tally and graph results in order to see what my target audience are looking for from a magazine.

NME: 10 Special Edition Covers

NME, similarly to other magazines not specific to music, sometimes create 'special edition' covers for collectors or special occasions. These ones were done in celebration the first edition of a new-look NME magazine.

These NME covers use different models and subjects on each 'special edition'. Compared to the normal NME cover, these 'special edition' covers are more contemporary and simply. If the model is holding an object (such as in the Laura Marling shoot, where she is holding a blue mug and the Jack White shoot, where he is sitting on a yellow chair) that is the main subject within the picture, the most noticeable contributing factor, the NME title and font colour then will be put in the same colour as the main colour feature within that photo.

The photographer also uses the same lit background throughout the 10 issues of this magazine, a white background with a hit of grey. It helps to make the artist stand out against the background because it doesn't overpower the main feature model.

In some cases, the picture of the model goes behind the title of the magazine and sometimes it is edited so that it goes over the top of it.

I will create a couple of covers as my final piece; a mix of complex and simplistic to show a variation of my skills. It will also show that i understand that the magazine market sometimes provide their buyers with a variation of magazine covers.

Market Research: Indie Magazine

www.indie-mag.com

Indie Magazine is a prime example of the kind of magazine i wish to produce. Although not a music magazine it is in the style and receives the same readership and market that i would like to tap into.

The link i have provided gives a preview of a couple of pages of the magazine and gives the reader a feel for the type of audience that 'Indie' is trying to entice.

The front cover is fresh and modern, simple yet effective. The photo itself uses very sharp colouring juxtaposed against a fresh background and the font type and colour compliments the overall contemporary feel of the magazine.

I love the use of white space, black font and large photographic imagery within this magazine, it gives the feel of a sophisticated art and fashion magazine and it is the kind of style that can be easily altered to fit the theme of a music magazine.

Mood Board

I created a mood board that encommpasses my theme for my music magazine. Instead of using imagery from music magazines that are already out there I have gathered together a collection of images to create the overall theme i am trying to create within my music magazine.
I am creating an 'indie' style magazine that combines fashion, art and music.
I wanted to create something quintessentially british, words and objects such as 'pigeons', 'polaroids' and 'fish and chips' all inspire my theme. Kitsch imagery put alongside the articles and features on indie music will help to create my theme and will appeal to the audience i plan to sell my magazine to.

Market Research: Q and Mojo

Q and Mojo are two music magazines that are made for an older audience.

This month's issue of Q magazine is revolved around the main story of John Lennon at 70 featuring interviews with Yoko Ono and unseen footage on Lennon himself. Although Q magazine does tap into a younger audience featuring more up to date and current artists such as 'Foals' its main audience is maturer music lovers. It contains some features that are seen within some of the magazines aimed at teenage audiences for example features such as track of the day and festival coverage but doesn't include some of the features that i want to include within my 'indie' magazine such as linking fashion and photography with music. My magazine could include a mix of contemporary and vintage music, bridging the gap between the older and younger generations.

Mojo is very similar to Q magazine in its context. The Mojo issue taken from the same month as Q magazine have very similar features and articles, a focus on John Lennon for example. Something that Mojo seems to focus on, that a lot of magazines don't, is actually providing its audience with a sample of music. Most monthly issues of Mojo include a CD that tends to relate to the overall theme of that months magazine. This is a nice feature that magazines for a younger generation tend not to include due to the higher interest in internet downloading. I could include this feature within my magazine, like Mojo, providing my readers with the opportunity to download free music by following a link printed within the magazine.