NME magazine analysis <CLICK HERE!

Here is my slide share on the analysis of NME magazine, I have annotated images of the front cover, contents page and a double page spread. This is to give me an idea of what media aspects a music magazine involves and what effect it has on the reader. I found this really useful for when I complete my coursework task!

24th Feb: Research and planning

I have been researching music magazines such as NME and Q, I believe these are brilliant magazine and are shown to be successful due to their recognisable names. Both magazines used the same codes and conventions such as a Masthead, cover lines, flashes and variety of font sizes but the same font design.

The front cover of both magazines, use a main image which is relevant to the main article in the double page spread. I believe I will be using this for my magazine as I think it link the magazine well. The Masthead remains dominant and in the same position, which shows that it will always be recognisable – also, as the logo is on the left third it will be the first thing readers see when they look at a stack of magazines. Both of the celebrities featured on the front cover are giving direct eye contact to the reader, this shows an immediate connection and makes the magazine very personal and welcoming. I think when I will take pictures for my front cover; I will use more than one model as I think the NME issue works more effectively and makes the cover more fun. The use of colour is continued throughout the magazine which is important as it makes the magazine flow better. I like the colours use in NME, however feel that they are two bright. For my magazine I will definitely use darker colours to give it more of an indie feel.

The contents page are also very similar as they both include one main image and a story to lead with that and a list down the side of the pages, with page numbers. The background is simply white which makes the text better to see and the images clearer. However, I feel this is too plain and I would use a similar background image to my front cover to make the magazine have a continuous theme. Everything is well framed and there are no gaps or sense of emptiness which suggest that the contents page needs to be filled.

The double page spread seems to me the easiest to produce as one side of the page (either left or right) have a big image of the main article celebrity with a quote or a caption. Then, on the opposite hand side, the article is featured. In my opinion, the Arctic Monkeys double page spread is better as the titles is not the name of the band (which readers should already know due to the front cover and their own personal interest. I think the heading has to stand out and take up 3 quarters of the page in order to look effective and grab the reader’s attention onto that page and that specific article. Each spread had a by-line showing who the article and photos were produced by, this is defiantly something I will include in my magazine as it gives a sense of professionalism.

Questionnaire results

I printed out 20 copies of my music magazine questionnaire and distributed them to people in sixth form, including teachers and my family to vary my results. I think the seven questions I conducted helped me consider what attracts people of different age groups to specific music magazines.  

The first question I asked was the gender of the person filling out the questionnaire; I thought this was important as it may affect the type of music magazine brought. Although, I believe women more commonly buy magazine I asked more men as I wanted to know what attracted them specially to buy a magazine. For women, I think it’s obvious, they are mainly attracted to celebrity gossip, fashion, and pop bands.

My second question asked what age group they belonged to, this would help me discover the target audience of magazines; for example, it shows that more 17-20 year olds filled out the magazine which could represent that specific age group is more likely to buy magazines than any other. However, as I handed the questionnaire around sixth form this could be why there are more people of that age group filled out the questionnaire therefore, next time I will ask some of the lower school to fill out the survey to get a different range of answers.

I thought that because my questionnaire was specifically to gather information about music magazines, the most important question was the genre of music the audience listen to. My results show that the most popular genre of music was pop as 7 people voted for this; most of these were women though. I found that the male audience went for either Rock or Indie or sometimes both placing them both 2^nd popular choices. This could also relate to the target audience as I asked students between the ages of 17-20 year olds and I believe, usually indie/pop music is aimed at students who enjoy bands and listening to live music.

My fourth question asked was whether people currently purchased music magazines, 18 people replied yes and only 2 answered no. This is a promising result as it shows how popular music magazines are and interestingly, it was 2 females 25+ which said no. I think this is because maybe women of that ages are usually interested in celebrities, fashion and health magazines than music. Also, I believe that music magazines are more attract the male target audience more as they tend to engage with bands and other music competitions.

The next question was how often do people purchase a music magazine, this would allow me to see if people purchased magazines continuously or hardly ever. As most music magazine only come out once a moth is was hardly surprising that the largest amount (6) brought it once a month. Also some magazines come out weekly which represents the 2^nd most popular choice. I believe the price of the magazine could also affect how often they buy that particular brand, for example, if the magazine was expensive students may save up to buy the copy once a month.

To find out what attracted people to buying the magazine, I asked what they liked to see in the issue. With the choice of gig reviews, gossip, competitions, new music, photo shoots, posters and advertisements; I found that the most popular was a tie between new music and gig reviews. With the women target audience mainly voting for posters and photo shoots.

The average price people are willing to pay for a music magazine is important as the magazine would want to attract the target audience by beating competitive pricing. My results show that most people would pay between £2-2.99 (this is the price of magazine such as Kerrang, NME and Q) this is fairly cheap to attract buyers.

Overall, I believe the questionnaire helped me conduct information about what influence people to buy magazine, which is helpful for me in the future if I wanted to produce a magazine aimed at different target audience. 

Questionnaire on Music Magazines!

Please circle one of the options given-

What is your gender? 

• Female
• Male

What is your age range? 

• 12 and under
• 13-16
• 17-20
• 21-24
• 25+

What is your favorite genre of music? (Its OK to circle more than one)

• Rock
• Pop
• Mental
• Indie
• R&B
• Other (Please state) ________________

Do you currently purchase a music magazine?

• Yes
• No

If yes, how often?

• More than once a week
• Once a week
• Once a fortnight
• Once a month
• Less than once a month
• Hardly ever

What would you like to see in a music magazine? (Again, its OK to pick more than one)

• Gig reviews
• Gossip
• Competitions
• New music
• Photo shoots
• Posters
• Advertisements of cool things 

What is the average price you would be willing to pay for a music magazine?

• 99p or less
• £1-£1.99
• £2-£2.99
• £3-£3.99
• More than £4

Thank you for taking the time to fill in this survey! :-)

Coursework Time Plan

I have created a time plan in order to keep up to date with my set coursework task. I have dated every friday when I will me updating my media blog and stating what I will achieve by that date.

Dates	Aims
24th February	Research and analyse other music magazines
2nd March	Design a template for my front cover, contents page and double page spread. Pick font and colour schemes. Also chose a model(s) to take photos of.
9th March	Take photos (paying attention to mise-en-scene – props and clothing) and edit them on Photoshop, decide which ones to use for cover and main story.
16th March	Using Adobe In Design I will begin to make my front cover and contents page, sticking to the templates. I will also ask for feedback on these pages, to improve.
23rd March	I will begin to do the double page using the same colour scheme and formatting as the front cover and contents. This will also include the article which I will write and relevant photos on the front cover.
30th March	Print out a copy of my magazine to see how it looks on in real life. Make changes if necessary.

Preliminary task - School Magazine evaluation

This is the first draft of my original magazine front cover for the preliminary task. The draft for the front cover was the first thing I did for the magazine task as it allowed me the basic guidelines of my actual magazine. Like most magazines, I decided the mast head was most important and would be the biggest written text on the front cover, (big and bold to attract the audience.) But also the main image will take up the background of the magazine making it more attractive and noticeable to the students.  The tag line at the bottom of the page will draw the consumers into reading the lead article of the magazine. Also, like other magazines I used the rule of ‘left third’ as if the magazine was on a shelf the main bits of the article would be seen by the purchaser. 

Here is my actual magazine front cover as you can see I stuck to my design in order to make the magazine attractive. I also used the same colour scheme of Idsall sixth form using the specific colour from the sign 'Idsall sixth form.' 
The main image, I took myself, portrays happiness in sixth form and makes the magazine look fun and exciting which attracts the readers. The models I used were a two students who have different appearances - also they both represent different ethnicitys in the sixth form. Th picture is posed around the sign of Idsall sixth form so the focus in only on the sign and the students. I think that the tag line works effectively as grabs the readers attention and they want to read more about the story. Also the short coverlines give the reader a sneaky preview of what inside the magazine and what it has to offer. 

When creating the front cover of my magazine I used Microsoft Word Publisher which allowed me make the layout of the front cover the way I wanted by creating different heading of text.    I continued the colour scheme of Idsall sixth form through to the contents page and would carry it throughout the magazine as it is effective in representing the school sixth form.

 The font I have used for the whole magazine front cover is Ariel in various different sizes. However, I feel this font is too formal and boring; therefore, next time I would choose a font that stood out to the audience and made an impact.

Admittedly, I did not plan the contents page as I felt that I already knew every magazine had a basic layout, not just specific to school magazines.   I also included an editor’s note which to me made the magazine seem more personal to me as I am connecting with the audience and telling them what I have included in the magazine and why. On the right hand side I have included a list of pages and page numbers to allow the readers to quickly flick to what they want to read about. The pictures included on the left hand side reflect the articles and make the magazine more appealing to read and further their understanding of the articles. I also included music articles as I thought that many young people are interested in reading about new music and this will attract a wider target audience.

The hardest thing about producing the contents page was that I found it to have a lot of gaps in between pictures which make it appear quite plain and boring, next time I will include pictures that overlap showing there are many stories not just 3.

By doing this preliminary task, I am more confident with producing my actual coursework task as the research had helped me gain better experience of what I need to do better and what I’ve done well. I think the colour scheme worked extremely well and they had relevancy to Idsall Sixth Form and I would consider keeping those colours for my final piece. Also, all the images I used were taken by me because I felt they were relevant to the issue. However, next time I do the task I would think about changing the font making it more fun for the younger target audience to read about the highlights of sixth form. 

Key designer principle – production tips

-          Separate the most important aspects from the rest

-          Spend time cropping and resizing images and using clipping paths so, you can work on an image but not on the background

-          Experiment with filtering and other effects to create impressions of motion or soften the focus – only use effect if it is essential.

-          Range of fonts and sizes – keep in mind that most magazines only use 2 or 3 fonts.

-          Remember to consider contrasts between font and purpose – such as heading.

-          Use a pyramid approach for margins – the margins at the bottom should be broader than those higher up.

-          Use DTP software guidelines to keep text and images neatly arranged.

-          Experiment with colour – black on white, white on black for contrast.