Origional and Manipulated Images

Front Cover Finished Product

Contents And Feature Article Finished Products

Kerrang Case Study

Content/Genre Kerrang is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music and Heavy metal covering music from Metallica to Muse, Foo Fighters to Fall Out Boy

Publisher Spotlight Publications (United) / Emap / Bauer Media Group.  It is sold weekly.

The target audience for my music magazine are young people, aged between 18 and 25 years, who are creative and fans of indie and acoustic music. They are from a middle class family and aspire to make in big and be taken seriously in the arts world.

My mood boards show things such as brands, shops and hobbies my audience would have. They are creative, social people who like going to gigs and festivals and making memories.

My advertiser’s mood board also reveals information about my target audience, as it shows products and companies they would be interested in. The apple logo suggest that they are technology savvy and wealthy, and the designer labels and make up show they are fashion conscious within their own group. The hair dye shows the slight rebellion and wanting to be different. The starbucks and tickets again shows wealth and that a social life is important but they aren’t the type of people who hang around on street corners. 

My magazine represents the social group of my target audience: young people who are fans of indie and acoustic music. These teenagers are from a middle class background but aspire to do better however maybe not in a academic way so they aspire to be musicians or artists. The content of my magazine reflects this, as it contains articles and features which would interest them, but also the language used and colour scheme help to represent this group.

I used an artistic textured background as my masthead and contents page to relate back to my audience, I also chose the magazine name ‘IBIS’ which is a colour. The bright clothes worn in the front cover catch attention and draw the eye. The calm background colours clashed with the bright colours of the title and costume represent my target audience as being stable but somewhat unique and restless, as opposed to the sense of open rebellion portrayed by rock magazines such as Kerrang! The language used in my magazine is informal and uses slang as although my audience want to come across as higher class they are still teenagers.

My magazine is stereotypical in that it assumes the target audience will know who the bands and artists featured are. It stereotypes the kind of person who would listen to them through the content.

in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions are an agreed set of conventional norms which form a custom. Conventions often change through different societies, countries and stereotypes. Like you wouldn’t see a ballerina in a rock magazine.Through its use of existing media conventions, my products look authentic and features style points similar to real magazines.Firstly, my front cover has a main image that takes up the whole page, masthead containing the magazine title at the top of the page, bar code, website and dateline. The masthead also creates a house style for my magazine, since it will be the same on each issue. There are few cover lines on my magazine this could be seen as challenging the conventions however the magazines I used for inspiration that also appealed to my demographic had simplistic front covers. Although I included a some coverlines to give details of the features inside and persuade to audience to buy it. These lines conventionally wrap around my main image. On my main image my models are not making eye contact with the audience this again challenges conventions but the fact that the image is taken off people of the genre that would read this magazine follows the conventional rules.
My contents page also features some magazine conventions, in that it is divided into regulars and features and contains page numbers and information about what is in the magazine.

Finally, my feature article conforms to conventions as I have used a larger image on the left had side of the page, a pull quote next to the heading and a side bar these are common conventions of real magazine feature articles, so they make my double page spread look authentic. Although my article is not set out in a way you would conventionally see in a magazine. 

Construction Schedule

Feature Article Photoshoot

Information On Publishers

IPC and Bauer are the biggest publishers and cater for the whole of the public between them with their wide range of mainstream products. Together they own roughly 46% of the industry and therefore have a lot of power. However there are smaller companies that are more specialised in the genre of magazine they publish. For example Future PLC that cater for young/male audience.

When creating my magazine I would have to consider what publisher I would want to use or wheather I wanted to go solo.

Pros of going with a company; ·         Costs ·         Establishment ·         Distribution network

Cons of going with a company; ·         Control

Basically if I went to a company, I would have a quicker establishment in the market as they would have to money and connections to get my magazine widely spread straight away, this could be seen as a good thing because you can achieve power quicker and easier or a hindrance because it doesn’t give you a chance to iron out the creases before a large part of the public. Also going with a company does mean you hand over part of the control of your magazine.

I would choose to go with a company for the guidance and help. I would choose Conde Nast. They are a publisher that produces a certain genre of magazine aimed at a cultural, middle/higher class demographic therefore my audience of my magazine would fit in as they are middle class teens aspiring to look higher class with a rebelling edge. I took into consideration what other magazine they already produced when choosing my company because if they already have a magazine aimed at the same audience as they are not going to want another to challenge themselves. 

Feature Article Analysis

The image is anchored by a caption, its posited high on the page above the main focus of the image so that it is easy to spot and read but small as to not interfere or distract from the image. The main text of the article in started with a drop cap, in a different colour, larger, behind the main text. Another standard drop cap is further below. There are no pull quotes in this article however there is a circle in the middle containing information on the article a bit like the side bar, at the bottom right of the main article this gives further information in relation to the subject of the article. There is a whole page dedicated to the image and title of this article. Under the title they use a kicker to summarise what the article is about.

Fonts Mood Board Analysis

I chose these fonts because they are easy to read and represent the unstructured genre of music I will be covering in my magazine. They are all bold, eyecatching, uncomplicated and recognisable witch is a important convention when choosing a masthead font. I chose mainly sans serif fonts as they look give a scruffy feeling that will appeal to a younger audience that are my demographic.

The masthead of a magazine essentially becomes that magazine’s logo; this makes it an incredibly important part of the magazine’s design as, judging by other magazines, it stays the same throughout every issue. I experimented with some fonts that I found online. I felt that using a font found online would be interesting as it’s less likely for another magazine to have it whereas if I was to use fonts already installed onto a computer, the probability that another company had used it is higher I looked for fonts that insinuated intensity towards music. This is why I chose some bold / simplistic fonts however; I also added some handwriting and sketchy styles as it makes the magazine look arty or genuine; as though it’s actually coming straight from the artists / editors with the handwritten fonts. This would interest and attract any “hard-core”, dedicated music fans as they see music as a form of art and expression, therefore a handwritten font fits well. I need to be careful to not pick a font that looks childish however. An alternative option could be a Serif font. Serif fonts have flicks on them and therefore I feel this would add sophistication to the magazine. Using a Sans Serif font could make the magazine appear more manly, and loud-natured when really, the appearance I am going for is dedicated, sophisticated and knowledgeable when it comes to music. I am going to try and avoid making my magazine look as though it is genre specific as this will interest a wider, more varied audience which in-turn means, the design isn’t limited.

Fonts Mood Board

Colour Mood Board Analysis

The colour red will be the main colour of my magazine as this is the most attractive colour to the human eye. This means that it will attract various viewers regardless of whether it is their preferred style of magazine / music. Red is also a colour that encourages people to make quick decisions, therefore having the masthead in red will evoke people to buy it. Red symbolises passion and love which demonstrates the feelings my magazine will have for the music it is reviewing / speaking about. I chose a darker red as I feel that this is more sophisticated and looks less childish. It also implies that the ‘love’ the magazine has for music is deeper than other’s. The colour blue has been known to symbolise trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, and intelligence and therefore incorporating this colour into my magazine will subconsciously make the readers feel as though then can trust the things the magazine is saying. The colours, white, black and grey are there for the background, the text and other basic things on the magazine. The more vibrant colours are there to highlight the more important parts of the magazine and the text. All the colours I chose are either rustic or pastel these are colours that my audience would like and choose if they were to choose a shade of that colour. 

Colour Mood Board

Audience/ Advertising Mood Board Analysis

Fashion- I chose ‘asos’ and ‘topshop’ to represent the places where my target audience. These shops sell the style on clothing my audience would wear although quite expensive my audience are very fashion conscious and therefore will spend a fair amount on clothing and accessories. ‘Jeffery campbell’ is a shoe designer that my audience would either have or aspire to own. When you look at this type of shoe it shows their style and also gives an indication to what they might get up to in their spare time (ie ‘party shoes’)

Norwich art centre- I put this on my mood board because this is locally where my audience would go to for gigs and sets of the genre on band and artist they are into.

Festivals – I used an image of a festival scene to show how my audience would spend a majority of their summers. Again this shows a reasonable amount of money or will power to save up to go to these.

Social networking sites- it’s very likely that my target audience will have more than one social networking site, normally 3 or 4. This shows that they are good with technology as well as part of the younger generation. You can only get an instagram account on newer android phones consequently this shows wealth within this audience again.

Technology- ‘htc’ and ‘apple’ are one of the more popular brands and therefore one of the more expensive brands. However my audience keep up to date on the latest technology out. This again portrays a younger demographic too.

Food and drinks - ‘absolute vodka’ is one of the more expensive brands of vodka and show that my audience like to have a good time and gives more of an indication towards their age. ‘starbucks coffee’ not only does this show the type of drink my audience would choose but also the areas they would spend time at and their wealth/class as does the subway.

Guitar- not only could this represent a hobby my demographic might have but it also shows the type of music my audience would listen to (acoustic)

 Mac- is a make-up brand that will suggest the gender of my audience. It’s rather expensive showing again that they take pride in their appearance. The eyeliner shows the type of make-up they would wear.

Hair- dying hair is very popular with my audience; this ombre style is a popular way that they would have their hair.

However my audiences interests are constantly changing to be up to date and as a magazine I would have to appeal to them as they changed. 

Audience/Advertising Mood Board