Music Magazine Analysis- Q

Masthead
The masthead for “Q” is very simple and clear. It is white and red, this makes it stand out and appear bold. As it is short, it is memorable and recognisable to people, so it would not be hard to spot on the store shelf. The font is slightly cursive which suggest it to be for older, mature audiences as it has a more formal feel about it.

Straplines
“Q” is more traditional when it comes to straplines. It has a lot, spread around the cover of the magazine. This strapline includes Fleetwood Mac, an older band that only older readers may be familiar with. However, along the bottom there is an article about the Sugababes, who may still be older in the sense that music is adapting and evolving rapidly but they are still fairly well known and heard off, particularly with a slightly younger audience.  This conveys how wide-range this magazine is. It still has a staple target audience of young adults, interested in music knowledge, but it could openly appeal to many different kinds of people. The colours and fonts of the straplines are bold and clear. It makes the cover look orderly, but still informal and casual. The colours aren’t aimed at either genders, it’s purely for design and boldness.

Dominant Image
The main image is Kings of Leon. The strapline says “It’s the comeback story of a lifetime”. Kings of Leon are beginning a new tour after working on the new album for such a long time. Having them as the dominant image helps promote them, the tour and the new album. Kings of Leon also have a large following of fans, making the magazine appeal to a lot of people due to them being so popular.

Music Magazine Analysis- Kerrang

Masthead
“Kerrang!” is a noise a guitar makes. Suggests it’s loud, chaotic and out there. Relates to the genre of music that will be in the magazine, it will include guitars. The font has a shattered glass look, making the magazines image appear rebellious and reckless. The explanation mark adds enthusiasm, and once again conveys the idea of the masthead being shouted. Some artists’ heads cover part of the masthead. This proves the magazine is established and well known by many people, so they aren’t risking anything by covering part of the title.

 

 Dominant Image
Includes many different artists’ the issue will involve. In bold font in the centre it states the main article and how it links with all the images around the outside. There isn’t one main, dominant image, but a lot of little ones. This makes it appeal to a lot of people, as there are different band members from different styles of genre of rock music all pictured. It also lists off the bands mentioned inside, all contributing to the idea of attracting and appealing to the target audience. There are bands from different eras of rock music. For example, Slipknot and Metallica are older bands, who will appeal more to the older reader, possibly a more male audience. Whereas Paramore, Green Day and My Chemical Romance are popular with both genders and slightly younger, teenage audiences. Although the background is dark and the majority of the artists clothing is dark, they stand out and are recognisable. They are all making eye contact which portrays a sense of it being personal to the reader. The dark colours of the clothing and the background also lead back to rebellious side and not being perfect, which the masthead also suggests.

 

There are no straplines around the magazine, stating what else will be included inside. This breaks the traditional layout that most magazines follow; returning to the idea of breaking the rules, being reckless and standing out from everything else. The only other mentioned thing inside the magazine is the posters. This is because posters are a huge selling point to the teenage target audience, who are the main target market for the magazine. Kerrang! know this, which is why they chose to have the posters shown, if not anything else about the issue on the front page. It’s all down to the marketing.

Final Analysis

Analysis – My Problem Page

14^th September 2013

·         For my problem page I used basic conventions that other magazines use for their problem pages. For example, a main image of the “agony aunt”. I decided to use an image of the agony aunt because it makes the advice more personal. You know who is trying to help you out which gives a sense of relief and knowing you can rely on what is being said. This is why I made sure the picture was looking directly at the reader; it makes it 100% more personal and direct.

·         Another convention I used was feminine colours. I decided to go for light pastel pinks, purples and blues because they are more associated with the female gender which is who my magazine is aimed at. It will also appeal to females between the ages of 14-18. As they are pastel colours, they are more relaxed and soothing than bright, bold, in your face colours. For a problem page especially, you want more soothing, subtle colours and it will create a positive, happy atmosphere for the reader. Finally, everything all links back together again. The name, Floral, represents nature and being full of life. The colours are closely linked to spring which also conveys the idea of life. The slogan also ties in. Everything correlates strongly and mixes well together. I am very happy with the way my house style turned out, and the design features.

·         I believe my finished page turned out successful. I altered it slightly from my original mock up, but I’m happy with the way it turned out. I tried to set out the page neatly but I didn’t want it to be too formal. This is because my target audience were older teenagers; it may make them not want to read it, so I ensured it was as casual as possible, but still looked mature and appealing to the eye.

·         For my future work and my portfolio I think I need to spend more time on the quality of the work, instead of spending a lot of time on presentation. Although both are important. I think this would improve the quality of my work and boost my marks a bit.

Final Copy

Annotations of Problem Page

Target Audience

Planning: Target Audience

Target Audience

Primary Target Audience

For my primary target audience, I chose females around the age group 14-18. I chose this age group and gender to be my primary target audience because I believe they appeal mostly to the idea of a problem page or ‘agony aunt’, and would happily choose to read the page and submit questions and stories themselves. There are also many questions to be asked and answered around this age group, from growing up and relationships, to the future. Therefore it would be very beneficial and useful for them to have somewhere to turn to seek advice.

Secondary Target Audience

For my secondary target audience, I decided that anybody who relates to the page and what it writes could find it useful. No matter what age they may be, or what gender, if they find something useful then it is a bonus. Typically, you may not find a teenage boy the first to pick it up and read it; however it is there if they want to. That is the good thing about a problem page, although not all questions, most can relate to one than one group of people. 

Interests and Hobbies

The target audience of my problem page will probably have everyday interests and hobbies. For example, meeting up with friends and going out at weekends etc. I also believe that they have to have an interest in reading the page though. They want to see if any problems are relatable to them and if they are, they want to read further into the advice. As I have also adapted my problem page to include more general advice (online advice), it will appeal to them to read the page more. They may also be interested in keeping their social life and school/work life organised and separate, which is why I chose this age range.

Mock-Up of Problem Page

 

 Planning: Magazine Features

9^th September 2013

Name and Slogan

I decided to name my magazine Floral. I chose to name it this because of the connotations. For example: flowers, pretty, spring, full of life, colourful, girly and bold. I thought this would work well and run alongside nicely with the target audience being teenage girls as it will appeal to them and make it eye catching. I also thought it would correlate with the colour scheme.

For my slogan of my magazine I wanted to choose something that would link with the name Floral. In the end, I thought “Helping Girls Blossom” was my best slogan I had come up with. This is because; once again it correlated with the target audience of it being teenage girls, and sounded good with the name of the magazine. In addition, when you picture “blossom” you conceive a very pretty, delicate image in your mind, it is light-hearted, simple and conveys the idea of becoming more confident with yourself.

Font and Colour Scheme

I picked this font for the masthead because firstly, it would stand out against the white background. This makes it eye catching, bold and easily read. It wouldn’t be hard to spot on the shop shelf. Secondly, the font is also very unique, making it more memorable and different to typical teenage girl magazines. This works well with it standing out and being noticeable.

I picked this font for the slogan because it is simple and straight forward; however it still compliments the masthead. I would use this font for the titles of the articles inside the magazine, so it has an orderly, dominant font throughout.

Resources: http://www.dafont.com/raspoutine.font?psize=s&text=Helping+Girls+Blossom...
                     http://www.dafont.com/tuna-and-hot-dogs-on-rye.font?psize=l&text=Floral

As for the rest of the magazine, I would stick to a light pastel colour theme. For example: light pinks, light purples, yellows, light blues, black for some font and white. This is because it all ties together with the flower and delicacy theme. It has also been scientifically proven that girls are more likely to opt towards redder shades, for no particular reason. So as well and it tying together the idea of flowers and blossoming, it will appeal and catch the eye of the target audience.

AS Media Studies: Preliminary Project

Problem Pages Analysis
9^th September 2013

Style Features:

·         Each problem page uses colours such a pinks, reds, oranges and light blues. These are known to be more feminine colours, suggesting the page to be aimed at women for an audience.

·         All images are also women, or women with families. This alongside the colours highlight further that the target audience are females.

·         They are all laid out a similar way, columns with the question above and the answer below. This makes it look neat and orderly but the colours make it more informal and relatable to read.

Conventions:

·         Celebrity help – shows that they are just like you. Could make women feel better about themselves that even famous people could go through problems, and have advice to help you out.

·         Either a woman runs the problem pages themselves, or a professional does. They are all experienced and know what they are saying. This makes the reader feel more comfortable and can rely on what the advice given is trust them with it.

·         Along with the point above, the page usually states who the person giving advice is, and their career or other statement to show they can be trusted.
For example… “Suzie Hayman has trained with Relate and has been a counsellor for 15 years” and “GP and TV presenter answers your questions”.

·         Target Audience – I would say the primary audience is females, around the ages 25-50. Also women with families and a job, an everyday normal person. For a secondary audience, people who can relate to the questions and issues that have been submitted. The idea of the article is to help out as many people as possible, making the audience very wide range and universal to everyone.