Planning

Magazine Title
Sound
Music Genre
Indie/Rock/Pop
Target Audience
Young people aged 16-25
Price
£1.99

I have chosen this as my magazine title as the word "sound" can be used when speaking about music and isn't specific to any single type of music.
I have chosen this music genre because it can spread over to most kinds of popular music.
I have chosen this target audience because it is quite a large range and appeals to most young people.
I have chose this price so that it is affordable for the younger audience.

Double Page Spread Analysis

Language
The language used in this article is very informal and not very complex which shows that it is aimed at younger people who may not be as intelligent. There are also a lot of images and not much text.

Institution
This magazine is part of a commercial institution this is shown by the magazine logo shown in the top right hand corner which reinforces what magazine you are reading.

Ideology
The ideology behind this magazine article is to review live bands, which is obviously a regular article in this magazine. This is made obvious by the ratings key in the top left hand corner.

Audience
The audience for this magazine is obviously young people who are interested in rock music. This is made obvious by the lack of text and the simple and informal language used and the large amount of images used.

Representation
This magazine is obviously aimed at people who are interested in rock music, this is shown in the images by the band being heavily tattooed and playing electric guitars. They are also blatantly an American band, this is shown by the aviator sunglasses the lead singer is shown to be wearing.

Double Page Spread Analysis

Language
There is only one small column for text which means that the text used is specific and links to the picture. The language in the article is quite formal and uses some complex words. This shows that it may be for people who are older.

Institution
This double page spread is taken from a magazine from a commerical institution although it can't be seen by just this article.

Ideology
This double page spread layout works and links really well with the type of music genre that it is aimed at. Dark colours are used which links in well with the Rock music in which the magazine is mainly about.

Audience
Because the language that has been used is formal and the words are more complex this shows that the magazine which this article has been taken from is aimed at an older audience who are interested in rock music.

Representation
The dark colours used in this article show that it is quite a serious article and the black and white image also shows that it's serious and aimed at an older audience. The artist in the image has lots of tattoos and is fairly young this relates to the genre of rock music which this magazine is about.

Double Page Spread Analysis

Language

As the band shown in this double page spread are called The Teenagers it is presumed that their music is aimed at young people aged 14-18. Becuase of this there isn't too much text within this article as young people aren't usually interested in reading lots of text.

Institution

You can tell that this magazine is part of a commerical institution because of the small advertisement for the NME website at the bottom of the page.

Ideology

Because of the small box on the left titled 'Need To Know' it is shown that the ideology of this double page spread is to introduce this band to the reader and give them information about a band the reader may not of heard of before.

Audience

Because the band is called The Teenagers it is presumed that their music is aimed at young people aged 14-18.

Representation

The blue used over the text is some parts is used to make the text stand out and attract the reader's attention. Also the contrast between the blue and the white on the page looks cool and modern. The band shown in the main image look quite scruffy which relates to the genre of indie and shows that the band is young and appeals to young people.

Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Language

This contents page, taken from Q magazine, has been seperated into different sections such as "Features", "Every Month" and "Review". This has been done so that the reader can instantly find what kind of article they are looking for within the magazine.

Institution

The institution for this magazine is a commercial institution, this is shown by the section that says "Every Month" because it is obviously a long-running magazine that has established the same types of articles every month that have proved popular with their audience. Also, at the top of the page there is a website address relating to the magazine, this also shows that this is a popular magazine with a large audience.

Ideology

The ideology behind this magazine is to promote pop, rock and indie music. This is shown by the variety of bands that are featured within the magazine and within different articles.

Audience

This magazine is aimed at males aged 18+, this is because they are the type of people usually interested in the genre of music this magazine is aimed at. Also the magazine seems to be quite serious rather than playful as it would be if it were aimed at a younger audience.

Representation

The colours red, white and black and been used consistently from the front cover. Also the larger image of a band shows that they are quite a serious band despite their scruffy appearance. This is shown by the location of the photograph and they way they are posing for their photograph.

Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Language
Features an Index which would allow the audience find a particular band of interest. There are page numbers so the reader can easily find what they are looking for within the magazine. There is also an advertisement for a subscription to the magazine at the bottom of the contents page, this uses language which tries to convince the reader to buy a subscription.

Institution
The institution of this magazine is a commercial institution this is shown by the advertisement for a subscription at the bottom of the page that shows that this a popular magazine and is sold in many places.

Ideology
The ideology behind this magazine is music, this is shown by the image of a venue and the title of the main story which is about the venue in the image.

Audience
This magazine is aimed at males aged 18+, this is because they are the type of people usually interested in the genre of music this magazine is aimed at.

Representation
The colours black, white and red have been used consistently throughout the contents page, this is because these colours are used in the NME logo.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Language

The language used in this magazine front cover shows that this magazine is related to the music genre of rock. The phrase "The Drugs!" relates to the saying "Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" which is generally associated with the music genre of rock. The sub heading underneath the cover line "Jakob Dylan" says "All hail! The son of Bob!" this shows that unlike Q magazine Mojo magazine isn't as serious.

Institution

The institution of this magazine is a commercial institution. This is shown by the barcode and price being placed on the front cover, showing that this is a popular magazine which is sold in many shops.

Ideology

The ideology of this magazine is based around the music genre of rock. This is shown by the type of artists shown on the front cover. The main image is of the band The Clash, a well known punk rock band and also by the bands on the cover lines such as Radiohead.

Audience

This magazine is aimed at males aged 18+, this is because they are the type of people usually interested in the genre of music this magazine is aimed at.

Representation

The main image on the cover of this magazine is a mid shot because the band have been photographed from around the waist up. The band are shown to be a rock band because of the way they are clothed.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Language
The language shown on this magazine front cover shows that this magazine is related to the music genres of indie, pop and rock. The sub heading "The Greatest 25 Rock Movies" shows that this is a serious magazine and perhaps not as playful as NME which I have previously analysed.

Institution
The institution of this magazine is a commercial institution. This is shown by the barcode and price being placed on the front cover, showing that this is a popular magazine which is sold in many shops.

Ideology
The ideology of this magazine is the music genre of pop, rock and indie. This is shown by the contrast of artists shown on the front cover of the magazine. The main image is of Lily Allen, who is a pop artists but the stories displayed on the front cover include U2 and The Rolling Stones who produce rock music. This shows that the magazine isn't just about one genre of music.

Audience
This magazine is aimed at males aged 18+, this is because they are the type of people usually interested in the genre of music this magazine is aimed at.

Representation
The image used on the front cover on this magazine is a long shot, this is because animals have also been used in this image and the model's whole body was intended to be shown. The model is represented to have quite a dangerous and sexy image, mainly because of the animals used in the shot and the word "wicked". Because of the plain background used in this image, this again shows that this is quite a serious and respected magazine.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Language

The language used in this magazine front cover is related to the music genre of independent and rock music. But the language is also related to Christmas, obviously because the issue was published around Christmas time.

Institution

The institution of this magazine is a commercial institution. It is shown that this magazine is a commercial institution because of the barcode and the price has been displayed on the cover. This shows that the magazine is sold in many shops.

Ideology

The ideology of this magazine is the music genre of independent and rock music.

Audience

This magazine is aimed at an audience of mainly young males aged 18+ who are interested in rock and independent music. It is aimed at this audience as these are the usual type of the people who listen to this music.

Representation

The main image used on the cover of this magazine. The image used is a medium long shot, this is because the band that have been photographed are viewed from further away. The band in this image are an indie/rock band, this is shown because some of the people have long hair, this is usually associated with people who make this type of music. Also one of them has a costume on which show that they are fun and lively and they're all wearing santa hats which again shows that this magazine was published around Christmas time.

Music Magazine Genres

As there are many different genres of music, there are magazines produced which are based about each type of genre and because there are so many different genres of music, many different magazines are produced with their target audience being people who listen to whatever genre of music the magazine is based around.

There are many different music magazines based around different genres:

Metal - Kerrang!, Metal Hammer.
Indie - NME, Q.
Rock - UNCUT, Classic Rock.
Pop - Blender.
R'n'b and Rap - Vibe, Source.

Conventions of a Music Magazine

This magazine cover correctly follows the conventions of a music magazine through the following conventions which are almost always found in music magazine covers:-
Image of a band/artist (Brandon Flowers)
Price and barcode
Masthead (or title of the magazine)
Issue Number

Cover lines
Bold text which stands out to attract the attention of the reader.

Conventions of Magazines

Masthead - Title of the magazine.
Dateline - Date of publication and usually the price.
Main image - Cover image, usually of a model.
Coverlines - Headings of other stories featured in the publication.
Main coverline - Title of the main story in the magazine.
Selling line - Short, sharp description of the magazine's main marketing point - maybe showing who it's audience is.
Barcode - Standard barcode used by retailers, this shows that the magazine is a commercial institution.


All of these are found on magazine covers generally.

LIIAR

Language: Media in general; sound, editing, cinematography (camera angles & camera shots), mise en scene (lighting, costumes & props).
Institution: Who controls the production process and how it effects the final product. Websites & telephone numbers. The publisher and the conglomerate company which may be hidden away in the smallprint.
Ideology: Certain ideas that the magazine is trying to portray; rock music is cool, a certain artist is very good/talented and deserves your listen (achieved by the usage of the band/frontman on the front cover
Audience: The target audience of the media product/text, and how I will target that audience and eventually cater for it; Age, interests, gender, wealth/occupation and social groups (chav/emo).
Representation: Individuals/groups/issues appearing in the media text and how they're portrayed. What is excluded to achieve this.

The Brief

Main Task:Produce the front page, contents page and a double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

Evaluation

When starting this task, I looked at many different types of magazines to help me decide how I would design my own magazine. I learnt that magazines have a masthead, a selling line, cover lines, a main image, a main cover line, barcodes and dates. These are conventions usually found on all magazine front covers. I have used all of these conventions within my own magazine front cover.
I have used an image with a professional medium close up to ensure that my magazine front cover looks authentic and similar to actual magazines. I have also used the same font consistently throughout my magazine front cover but also on my contents page, in the way you’d see in an actual magazine.
Although my magazine front cover wasn’t very well planned I believe that it looks fairly authentic due to the main image, the selling line, the barcode and date and I also used a fictional website URL that seemed relevant to my magazine.
To make my magazine front cover look more authentic though I could’ve done a lot more work in preparation. I could’ve looked at more magazines, particularly actual college magazines and other magazines aimed at college students – this was my target audience.
I used an image which I thought would catch a potential reader’s attention, although I could’ve used an image with more colours which seemed more eye-catching to attract readers. I also believe I could’ve used more than one image on my front cover, although these images would’ve been smaller and used in relation to my cover lines.
I used a bold, eye-catching font in a bright colour which I also thought would grab the attention of a potential reader. Although, I could’ve made the font larger in certain places, such as the cover lines.
I believe that my magazine front cover could’ve been better if I had spent more time on it although I do believe it looks fairly authentic and believable.
My main cover line was “Exam Stress and how to beat it”. I used this because it seemed like something a college student would want to read about as it’s a common problem found within students. My other cover lines were “best college sports teams”, “time management” and “college travel and prices” I chose these cover lines as they seemed relevant to life as a college student.
I placed my image as the background of my front cover but made sure the main focus of the image was placed in the centre and I put the masthead and cover lines around it as to not draw any attention away from the image.
I believe that I did a good amount of research and planning. I looked at and analysed other magazine front covers and contents pages. I feel that this research helped me decide what to do in my own. I also did numerous quick sketches as to how my front cover and contents page would look and I also did a spider diagram of ideas which helped me decide on which colours, cover lines, masthead and image to use. I feel that without this research and planning my magazine front cover would not have turned out as well as it has.

Contents Page Mock Up

This is the first ICT draught of my Contents Page. The main purpose of it was to determine different ways I could present the layout of the contents page for my college magazine cover, determine the positives and negatives of it and then change it to suit what I need it for in my final draught.

I have used conventions easily. For example, there are pictures relating to the articles and I have placed a small description of the articles underneath the main heading, this will further engage the reader and persuade them to read through the magazine.

In my final draft I would probably add more images and use a background image or colour and also perhaps include contact details for the magazine, eg. a phone number/e-mail address.

First Draft

This is the first draft of my college magazine front cover

PLANNING

This is how I want my college magazine front cover to look like.

PLANNING

Here are some of my ideas for my college magazine.

PLANNING

This is what my magazine front cover will be set out like.

Ingredients of a Magazine Front Cover

Masthead - Title of the magazine.
Dateline - Date of publication and usually the price.
Main image - Cover image, usually of a model.
Coverlines - Headings of other stories featured in the publication.
Main coverline - Title of the main story in the magazine.
Selling line - Short, sharp description of the magazine's main marketing point - maybe showing who it's audience is.
Barcode - Standard barcode used by retailers.

Example of College Magazine Cover

This magazine cover is from a college magazine. My task is to create my own college magazine and contents page so this magazine cover is similar to what I am aiming to create myself.

This magazine cover carries the same conventions as other magazines.
These conventions include:

• Title of the magazine
• Headings
• Main image
• Date Barcode
• Sub headings
• Logo

When creating my own college magazine cover I must use this conventions.

Magazine Contents Page Examples

There are many different types of magazines, therefore there are many different kinds of contents pages. Here are some examples:

Image from: http://www.ihd.net/

The contents page for this magazine uses small images to make it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for in the magazine.
Also it has been laid out over two pages instead of one.

Image from: http://www.ephraimgregor.com/

The contents page for this magazine uses just three images and the page numbers in large over them to show where the reader can find the story relating to the image.

Also, there don't seem to be many stories in this magazine compared to others.

Magazine Contents Page

The purpose of a contents page is to inform the reader about the content of the magazine and where it can be found. It needs to be simple and easy to read/follow. The colour scheme from the front cover should be be used again to create consistency. The contents section is usually split into sections so it is easier to find what the reader is looking for from the magazine.

Conventions of a College Magazine Contents Page

Pictures
Page numbers
Headings of features
Welcome note
Descriptions of features
E-mail addresses/telephone numbers

Usually a main image is used in connection with the main feature story featured within the magazine, this is usually placed in the center of the page to catch the reader's attention.
There are also headings and sub-headings to show additional articles within the magazine and give more information to the reader.

Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover

Main heading - Highlights the subject.

Image - Gets a feel of what is to come inside the magazine.

Date - Tells the reader how old the magazine is in terms of relevancy.

Sub-headings - Shows other issues discussed within the magazine.

Logos - Something the reader knows and trusts.

URL of the related website - Where the reader can visit for further information.

Image from: 17seconds.co.uk

The Brief

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the full page of a new schol/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents [age to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

Main Task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.Presentation of your Work:

The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may ake the form of any one, or combination or more, of the following:a presentation using slideshow software such as PowerPoint; a blog a podcast.