Conventions of music magazines-Prezi Presentation

Conventions of Music Magazines on Prezi

Using the free online programme, Prezi, I created a presentation to showcase my research in a different way. The clear layout makes information easier to take in and you can also make it so you can order how the information comes. I found Prezi really easy to use and I will definetly use it again to show my work on blogger.

Music Magazine Research

In the magazine world the amount of music magazines available is growing. This means that there is something out there to suit all music tastes, ages and genders. Below are a few of many different music magazines available.
Rolling Stone Magazine                                                                                                       


Rolling Stones magazine was founded November 9, 1967 and is part of the Wenner Media group. Published bi-weeky it is an American music magazine but also covers liberal politics and popular culture. The type of music it covers isn't specific to one genre and includes pop, alternative, rock and soul with most other areas of music covered.
In the 1990's the magazine was criticised as it changed it's content to attract younger readers often focusing on young television or film actors and pop music. This led to criticism that the magazine was emphasising style over substance. In recent years, the magazine has resumed its traditional mix of content, including in-depth political stories, and has seen its circulation increase.
This magazine is a good one to look at as it is very popular and sells well world wide and has become famous for creating posters out of popular covers and has lots of information available for you to research the magazine. 
The stars that appear on the front cover such as Adele attract both genders and the age range of people buying this magazine ranges from 18-30.
NME Magazine

NME magazine was first released 7 March 1952. It is a UK based, weekly music magazine and is part of IPC media edited by Krissi Murison. NME stands for New Musical Express and originally started as a music newspaper later turning into a magazine format nearer the 1980's. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart and in the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. 
NME is a very popular music magazine and sells well across the UK and from it's success NME has other projects including the NME awards and NME tours. The target audience of the magazine is teenagers, both boys and girls, aged between 15 and 25. The music genres it tends to cover are rock, alternative and indie.
MOJO Magazine


















MOJO magazine is a monthly music magazine first published November 1993. It's a British magazine based in London and is part of Bauer media group. 
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. 
The magazine is noted for it's in-depth cover of both popular and cult music acts, covering classic rock bands like The Beatles as well as newer and left-field acts. 
Because of it's varieties of music genres and time periods the age group of the magazine I would say is men from the ages of 18-40. 
It is a very popular magazine and is becoming more well known.
Q Magazine

Q magazine is a popular music magazine published in the UK. The first issue was released October 1986 and is part of the Bauer media group and is edited by Paul Rees.
Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology. Q was first published in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing.
It focuses on more mature music as it's aimed at the older generation and the front cover above which has a semi-naked picture of Lily Allen suggests its aimed at men aged 30+.


Below are other music magazines which are around today, some popular and some not well known.

top l-r: Billboard magazine, Kerrang magazine

bottom l-r: Top of the Pops magazine, WIRE magazine.

Final front cover for my student magazine

Below is the final design of my student magazine. Overall I am quite happy with the way it turned out. The colours not only represent the colours of South Downs, relating to the fact it's a college themed magazine, but I also feel that looking at the cover, I feel that this colour pallette will be attractive to boys and girls as they are neautral colours. The type used for the taglines is quite bold and the way that the article names are in larger bolder letters attract the audience to see what they say. The contrasting blue and green pattern in coverline names I feel is also a fun twist, that just makes the overall cover look more appealing. The elipsis tool I used to create the puff I personally think suits the coverline of WIN! because it stands out and jumps out at you, something you would do if you won a competition. I'm really happy with the way the image of my student is alligned right with a white background that leaves room for all the coverlines. I also am happy with the masthead and feel the design chosen by my classmates was the right one. Overall  I am happy with this cover and feel that it could be attractive to the 16-18 year olds attending South Downs and they would want to read it after taking a first glance at the cover.

Coverlines

1. 'Exam Pressure?' We tell you the best tips for keeping calm and earning a good grade. The rhetorical question used as the coverline makes the readers think about their exam worries so read on and then see inside there is tips on how to beat the pressure meaning they will pick up the magazine.

2. 'J'adore Paris' Paris trip photography. The use of a French phrase which people are familiar with makes the reader wonder why this has been used so then they can see that it relates to a Paris photography trip inside, meaning interesting pictures that students will want to look at.

3. 'Students of the Future...' We hear about your dreams for the future. Students from South Downs want a good future and the coverline here is like a calling to them, drawing them in to read how other peoples dreams came true.

4. 'Plus!' All the dates you need to know for Spring 2012. Plus! is a typical technique used that makes the readers look in interest in what the coverline could be talking about. It persuades the reader to go on my saying need to know, as they feel that there must be something important inside.

Flatplan

I created this flatplan on Microsoft Word then printed it out, took a picture and saved it as a JPG so I could upload it onto blogger

Beginning putting the cover together

Now that I have chosen my front cover image and masthead for my college magazine, South Downs Speaks, I can begin putting the two together and picturing what the two look like together. Once I've done this I can begin adding in the other details on my front cover such a puffs, coverlines and the fonts and colours I will use for them.


This is my final masthead

This is my final image

And together this is what they look like together
                                                                                        

           

Masthead Ideas

I decided that I wanted the title of my college magazine to be 'South Downs Speaks'. Now that this was decided I had to think of a masthead design. I wanted it to stand out on the page, so that means a clear easy to read font and clear colours. Thinking of colours, I wanted them to be bright but also suit South Downs personality, so I firstly decided the colours I wanted were blue and green which are the college colours. I started creating different variations of the title using these colours and experimenting with different fonts on the programme InDesign. Below I narrowed it down to four designs I liked the most.

To make my final design I went around my class taking a tally on which masthead they liked the most. Here are the results:

Masthead 1: 6 people voted
Masthead 2: 1 person voted
Masthead 3: 2 people voted
Masthead 4: 1 person voted


From the results Masthead 1 was the most popular so I will use that one, I also think it is a good design, the font is clear and the colour is bright and easily catches the eye.

Photography for front cover and final picture

For my front cover I needed a picture which would be the main feature on the front of my magazine. I took lots of pictures so I had a big choice and could pick the perfect picture. It had to be from the waist up and have enough blank space around it so there was room for text including the title. Eventually I decided on the image below. I feel it is the best picture I had for many reasons. Firstly my model is place slightly to the right of the frame. This means that there is lots of surrounding space for everything else on the cover. Also his pose and facial expressions are happy and welcoming which is suitable for an image to be used on the front of a college magazine. The background is also blank which leaves a clear space for everything else. Altogether I am happy with the final image I'm using for my front cover.

Choosing a name for my magazine

I have come up with four different ideas for names to use for my music magazine. I can't decide which one to use as each one could work well as a name. As a result I decided the best people to ask for opinions were the people who would be reading the magazine; fellow students. I asked each of my class mates to choose their favourite name from the four below.

1.South Downs Speaks
2.South Downs Says
3.SDC
4.SD Central

Here are the results...

1. 6 votes
2. 0 votes
3. 3 vote
4. 1 vote

As you can see from the results above the favourite magazine name and the one I will be using for my magazine is South Downs Speaks. Now I know this, I can begin to think about possible design ideas for mastheads and applying them to my magazine design

Proposal

I have looked at my initial idea and now I'm gathering my ideas in a proposal for my student magazine. I have thought of the important areas I need to think about.


Who are you aiming your magazine at specifically? I will be aiming my  magazine at students aged between 16-18, both male and female who attend South Downs College.


What will your magazine be about?
My magazine will be about different things going on in the college and will provide lots of information on things like latest news, events, sport, social scene at college, achievements and other features you'd expect to see in a college magazine.


What are your ideas for cover lines?
My ideas for the cover line is that they will be in a clear font yet not to boring, I think it will be a black font as the rest of the magazine will be colourful and bright so I don't want it to look to busy and unable to read.


What title have you decided on and why?
I have chosen the title South Downs Speaks. This is because it's quite catchy and the magazine is about South Downs so using the word 'speaks' suits quite well. Also the use of alliteration makes it stand out.


What font's do you want to use?
I'd like to use quite simple fonts because I feel it looks more effective and it's much clearer than a complicated font which is to fancy and you can't actually read. Something like Arial or Comic Sans would be a good font to use and then for the title I might use something a bit more interesting.


What are your ideas for tag lines?
Personally I don't want to use a tagline because I feel it's not a massively important aspect to a magazine. I find them a bit to cheesy sometimes and I don't want my magazine to feel like that so I probably won't have a tagline.


When in the year will it be published?
I think I would have the magazine published every term so autumn term, winter term, spring term then summer term. This way the magazine can be appropriate to different times of the year for example the summer edition would focus on exam information.


What kind of image do you expect to put on the front cover and how will you go about getting this image?
I think I will use and image of two or three students, boys and girls, and have them look like they are having a good time with the backdrop of a college area such as a cafe or library. To get this image I will ask my friends if I can use them as models for my front cover and use a college camera to take the picture.


How frequently would it be published?
I would have the magazine published every term so that would be four times a year.


What are the dimensions of the cover?
I think my magazine will be a normal A4 size like many magazines you get nowadays. 


What images/colour would you use on the contents page?
On the contents page I would use blue and green colours for the font as they are the college colours and have a simple white background. I would have a smaller image faded into the background of students at the college so there is more focus on the actual contents.


Now I have created a proposal I am clearer on my ideas and what I want my magazine to be like. I can now start thinking about starting the process of making my magazine, firstly by creating a flat plan.

Initial Ideas

After starting to understand the way in which magazines are produced with everything in mind, below I have begun thinking of initial ideas to help me in the process of creating my college magazine.


Target Audience

• 16-18 year olds
• Boys and girls
• College Students

Typical Content

• College Information
• Student Life

Cover Lines/Contents Ideas

• Student Discount
• Latest Events
• Student social life
• Sport
• College trips
• Extra curricular activities

Colour Scheme

• Bright
• College colours (blue/green)
• Have to appeal to both male and female
• Reduced palette
• Eye catching

When published

• Every term

Titles/Tagline

• South Downs Speaks
• South Downs Says
• SDC
• SD Central

Images

• Students
• Boy and a girl
• 2 or 3 people
• Happy people
• Medium shoulder shot

Font

• Stand out colours
• Certain cover line words to stand out

Masthead

• Eye-catching
• Bold
• Readable Font

I decided to list my ideas as I feel it's a good way to have all your ideas clearly in front of you. Obviously I will have to keep looking back at this for inspiration during my designing process as it is full of ideas. Next I will create flatplans of what I would like my magazine to include before going on to make the proposal.

IPC Case Study

IPC are a media brand that produce over 60 million media brands. In print alone, two thirds of UK women read print part of IPC media. IPC media have something for everyone but the three markets they focus on mostly are men, mass market women and upmarket women.
Examples of men's magazines they publish are Rugby World, Nuts, NME and Horse & Hound.
Examples of mass market women's magazines they publish are Look, Now, Chat and What's on TV.
Examples of upmarket women's magazines they publish are Marie Claire, InStyle, Ideal Home and Women & Home.
Named above are a few of many magazines published with IPC Media. 


IPC or The International Publishing Cooperation Ltd was formed in 1963. It was formed of the three leading UK magazine publishers - George Newnes, Fleetway Publications and Odhams Press - merging together and therefore introducing the IPC.
Recent news at IPC is that two of their publications, Marie Claire and InStyle have partnered with L'Oreal Luxury to promote Armani Code with a multi-platform campaign that uses watermarking to unlock additional content. The use of famous brands in their publications is clever as the target market who buy these magazines also buy from these brands. 

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

In magazines aimed at teenage girls such as Bliss, Cosmo Girl, Mizz, Shout and Sugar, which I have analysed in the previous post, there is a lot of talk that they are to blame for social ramifications of teenage girls across the country. I think that some content in these teenage magazines exposes girls to things they are too young to be doing or understand or can make girls very critical of themselves because of what they see in these magazines.

The first thing I think is affected for girls who read these magazines is their body image and self-concept. In every teenage girls magazine is features on celebrities who appear beautiful, skinny and perfect. The truth that the reader doesn't see is that these airbrushed images aren't real. Girls see this perfect image and look at themselves and feel unhappy that their not these ideal people. Really these celebrity images are unrealistic and they don't show images of a celebrity in a bad state because that's not teenage girls are interested in.

I also think girls are introduced to the world of boys and relationships to young because of articles in these magazines. For example girls read articles called 'Kissing Tips' and feel that they should be doing stuff like this when really their a bit young to be doing stuff like this. Also celebrity boys who are popular to teenage girls such as Justin Bieber or JLS are featured and there is a big emphasis on the physical attraction to these boys and they forget about personality. It's quite shallow and will make girls care more about how a boy looks in the future instead of their personality. I personally think this emphasis on boys and boyfriends encourages inappropriate behaviour to young. Also problem pages in these magazines have questions about sex and are asked by girls who are sexually active. This is likely to put pressure on girls who are younger and reading these magazines to do these things because they feel everyone else is doing it when they are probably not. I think sexualisation of girls as young as eleven who are reading these magazines needs to stop.

Celebrities are another huge factor which to quite a big extent should be held responsible for social ramifications. Teenage girls are usually fans of celebrities and the majority aspire to have the lifestyle of these celebrities, although some of what you read in these magazines about celebrities could encourage bad behaviour, such as binge drinking and taking drugs. Because girls want to be like these celebrities they are easily influenced and feel that if they follow the same lifestyle as them they will become like a celebrity. What they don’t realise is the problems celebrities face as a consequence of some of their behaviour as its not printed in teenage magazines. I feel that these problems are not highlighted enough in these magazines.

The last factor which I think is an important issue is the food issues girls develop through the pressure of having a ‘perfect body’ because of certain articles printed. For example if there are tips on having the perfect body and this is portrayed through an image, these girls my feel they have to look like this which would then lead to devastating issues which are sometimes very dangerous such as anorexia, bulimia, body shape issues and size issues. Also if girls are constantly reminded of what is the norm, they may feel scared to admit to things such as their sexuality or careers choice because it’s different to what is talked about in these magazines aimed at teenage girls.

In conclusion I feel that the factors mentioned about are very big reasons as to why teenage girls are growing up to first, not happy with themselves, or having body issues. I think magazines are largely responsible for the social ramifications of teenage girls who these magazines are aimed at.

Conventions of magazines aimes at teenage girls.

Above are five magazine covers that are all aimed at teenage girls. From looking at these covers and considering they are all aimed at the same target audience, you notice certain conventions that are familiar in all.

The first thing you notice that is a recurring convention is the main picture in the middle of the page that your eyes are first drawn to. They are all celebrities such as Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. These celebrities have been particularly chosen to feature in the magazine because they are popular with teenage girls. This makes it more likely the target audience will buy the magazine.  Although the majority of celebrities on the front cover have adult lives which might change teenage girls attitude towards them, on these front covers they all appear innocent and like the girls they are appealing to through the clothes their wearing to the facial expressions they have.

The next convention that would appeal to the target audience is the colour used for any text whether it’s the magazine title or bodytext. The main colours used are different shades of pink, purple and blue on the majority of the covers and other colours in smaller dosages such as orange and peach which are still used with the other colours. These colours have been used because they are stereotypically ‘girly’ which usually is true. So, by using these colours you are more likely to attract a teenage girl audience because you’re using colours they like.

Also on each magazine cover the titles of articles are all in big font, and use puns all to draw the target audience in. Also the names of the articles all have similar themes. For example, ‘382 ways to be irresistible!’ ’21 Celeb Style Secrets’ and ’63 things you need to know about your boobs’. These subjects are what teenage girls are typically interested in; attracting boys, dressing in the latest fashions and having the ‘perfect body’. So by having these articles within the magazine and making sure the target audience read the title on the front cover they are more likely to get teenage girl buyers.

In conclusion I think the five magazine covers I’ve looked at and probably more all have similar conventions when it comes to ways the magazine companies attract their target market, which here is teenage girls.

500 Word Analysis on Nylon Magazine Cover

Above is an image of the front cover of a recent copy of Nylon Magazine. It's a fashion magazine with focuses also to music, TV, film, and celebrities. The target market for this magazine would be girls aged between 14 and 25 interested in fashion and the other features in the magazine.

The cover design has helped appeal to this audience in many ways. The first thing that I find would attract the intended audience is the use of a picture of Christina Ricci on the centre of the page, which is the first thing your eyes are drawn to. She is an actress who would've appeared in films and TV shows that the target audience would've watched so they would buy it because their interested in her life. Also the text colour is very appealing to girls. The pastel pink and blue shades complement each other and create a girly look to the cover appealing further to the target market as colours like that are usually associated with girls. Another way the designers have tried to attract customers is by making the titles of articles stand out in black lettering so they draw in the eye of the reader and in that title the words have to attract the buyer. Also words are bigger when they are more important for example the numbers '182' are enlarged because the number is big and the magazine is offering a  large number of fashion looks so a girl would be attracted to this as they like being given style advice. The white background makes it easier for the light coloured words to be read giving a clearer picture and making it easier for someone to take in the magazine without having to read too far into it to get the idea. When a girl buys a magazine she wants to find it fast so to make sure that Nylon magazine stands out they have to make it easy to read.

Other terminology used that you would find in most magazines is a tagline, cover line, informal text style and a barcode which aren’t necessarily used in magazine design to attract the target audience as much as others. They are more used because that’s part of the front cover of a magazine.

The text style is in serif so it looks simple and contemporary, as style which you would use on a magazine aimed at 14-25 as it sets the tone as not being too serious.

Overall I think that Nylon magazine have designed the front cover well in order to appeal to and gain to the target market of girls aged between 14 and 25. It has been achieved through pictures, celebrity features, text, titles and colour and all have been carefully selected to gain buyers from the target market.

Terminology Associated with Magazine Design

In magazine design, lots of different types of terminolgy is used. The terminology is thought about carefully to appeal to the right audience and to make the magazine suitable to itself. As well as having the common properties of a magazine. Here are a few examples of terminolgy used.

• Barcodes - They are used to give the magazine an individual number and to keep track of whether it's been purchased, all magazines have to have a barcode to be bought.
• Puff - These are coloured shapes with text usually inside of them. They are put on the front cover of a magazine and the design of them usually depends on the target market.
• Font- Font is different styles of writing that can be used in magazine design.
• Typeography - The style and appearance of the text.
• Style - The style of wrting used. This can be informal/formal e.t.c
• Target Audience - This is who the magazine is aimed at and affect the magazine design.
• Puns - They are used on the front of magazines to draw the readers in by making a joke with different meanings of a word
• Informal/Formal - Depending on the target audience, this is the type of language used that is suitable. This is decided on during magazine design.
• Sans serif - These are typefaces which don't use small lines at the end of letters.
• Serif - These are typefaces which do use small lines at the end of letters.
• Headline Font - Font used for headlines which can be used for headlines only.
• Bodytext Font - The font used for smaller sub tex.
• Drop Cap - When the first letter of a paragraph is bigger.
• Rhetorical Questions - They are questions that are not made to answer but to make you think. They are used in magazine design to draw readers in.
• Coverline - Information about a major article given on the front page of a magazine.
• Tagline - The slogan of the magazine

These are fifteen of many different terminology uses in magazine design.

My First Page

We were each given a camera to go outside and take pictures of the area surrounding the college. After doing this we took the photos from the memory card and uploaded them onto our desktop. We opened up the programme In Design and named the page 'My First Page'. I then created a box where I could place the pictures I'd taken into. To do this i had to select Elipse Frame Tool then made a box, then went to File, Place then selected the picture I wanted. To fit the whole image into the box i had to select Object, Fitting and Fill Frame Proportionally to do so. Afterwards i could experiment with sizes and also cut corners from the picture. You can also make the shape of the box different. I was very new to this software and wasn't confident but after experimenting I gained more confidence.

Getting to know Blogger

What can I do with Blogger?

• With blogger I can post text, photos and videos.
• You can post information to your blog for free with your free website.
• There are many different templates available for your blog so it suits the theme or makes it personal to you.
• You can gain followers who read your blog and you can follow other blogs.
• People can comment on your posts, giving you feedback.
• People can subscribe to your blog meaning they are notified when you create a new post.
• You can create links to lead to another webpage away from your blog such as a link called 'About this blog'

How do I think blogger will be useful for my coursework?

• I can post my work easily onto my blog making it easier to look back on as it will all be in  the same area.
• I can show my ideas and make progress with them whilst showing people the progress I'm making.
• People can comment on each post, giving me feedback and ideas for later work I will be posting.
• My work will be kept safe.
• Using different templates and text I can create a look for my blog that is like my blog posts.
• I can access my work from any computer with internet.