Research into music magazine industry

We have spent some time researching the music magazine industry and finding things out about magazines of our choice, such as the owner, editor, price etc.
According to ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation figures) the readership of music magazines continues to drop every year. This is due to the increase of technology and more people being able to access the internet.
Now, the biggest rock music in the magazine is Mojo.

Here are some figures on how much music magazines have dropped, according to ABC:

• Mojo: 79,345, down 6.8 percent
• The Fly: 70,866, down 34.9 percent
• Q: 58,980, down 8.7 percent
• Uncut: 56,894, down 9.7 percent
• Kerrang!: 37,603, down 6.5 percent

These have dropped so much due to the internet becoming much more accessible and popular.

Research and analysis of music magazine pages

Here is my analysis of different magazine's front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. I did two of each so that I have a range of different magazine types with different genres and styles.

The key learning points about the front covers are...

• There is a 'sweet spot' which is the same on every magazine. This is positioned on the left side in the middle. This is where the reader is most likely to look first so it is a good idea to put the key cover line here or something interesting that will make the reader want to buy the magazine, such as details on posters or free gifts etc.
• Things such as free posters, stickers and gifts (for example a CD) increase the amount of readers.

The key learning points for contents page....

• You should try and put the logo of the magazine somewhere, such as at the bottom next to the page number or at the top somewhere as this provides brand identity.
• Most magazines use two pages for the contents as it gives you more room to spread everything out and not have it crowded.This way you can have a mixture of text and images to keep it looking interesting.

The key learning points for the feature article...

• A stand first, drop caps, pull out quotes and side bar are key to make your feature article look realistic and interesting. They are good entry points for the reader.
• The key image should anchor what the article is about, and the stand first. It should be similar to the front cover image, not a different person or dressed in a different way as this wouldn't make sense.

Here is my power point presentation analyzing the music magazines:

Olivia Whittingham music magazine analysis from oliviar0sew

Prelim task review

Below is my prezi which analyses my prelim task:

Planning ideas for sixth form magazine

Here are my ideas for my sixth form magazine front cover:

• My key image will be of Charlotte, taking up around two thirds of the magazine and on the right hand side. She will be dressed in sixth form clothing; a black blazer and smart clothing with her sixth form lanyard on.
• The masthead will be 'Sixth Sense' as it sounds good with the alliteration and 'sixth' makes it sound like a sixth form magazine. This will need to be large and bold but not too big, and the image will go over it.
• Underneath the masthead will be the edition. I like the idea of my magazine coming out monthly or every season, so it will say 'winter edition 2013'. I would like this font to be very elegant.
• I will have 3 cover lines going down the left side of the magazine. The titles will be bold by being in a different colour and font. They need to be interesting and something to do with school or something students would be interested in.
• One of my cover lines will be about the winter ball as this is an upcoming event and goes well with the 'winter edition'.
• My key cover line will go over Charlotte and be significantly larger than the over cover lines, however not as big as the masthead. This will match the other cover lines in that it will have the same colour scheme. The key cover line will have to clearly link with my key image, so it will be to do with Charlotte Harrison being the star of the school production.
• I think the background will look a little too bright and unrealistic if it is just white so I would like to change the colour to a grey or shadowy look, or just accomplish this with the lighting in the studio.

Ideas for cover lines:

• Winter ball - what to wear!?
• Win 2 free driving lessons!
• Love photography? Enter out competition!
• Charlotte Harrison - star of the silver screen production
• We talk to...

Here are my ideas for my contents page:

• Sense of continuity within the fonts, sizing, colours etc.
• Have the 'content's title at the top left and large, but not as large as the masthead would be.
• Have 3-5 pictures, all linking in with what is in the magazine, seen either on the cover lines on the front cover of the magazine or in the subtitles on the contents page.
• The page numbers should be a different colour, size and font so they stand out against the subtitles next to them.
• Each subtitle should be about something school related that will be found in the magazine
• The page numbers should change as some articles in the magazine may be more than one page long.

Typefaces:

We looked on www.dafont.com for different fonts to feature on our magazine. These are the fonts that I like for my masthead:

In the end I chose 'Nouvelle Vague' (the second one).

Here are other fonts that I like, for the cover lines on the front cover and contents page.

I chose 'Bambi' for maybe the key cover lines or for the subtitles in the contents page. This is the third font.

Here are the fonts that I like for the 'Winter Edition 2013'. I want a font that is very elegant and tall, which is similar to one you would see on a modern or posh magazine for a shop such as next or Marks and Spencers.

I chose 'Edition' which is the first font.









I chose three fonts so that my magazine isn't too boring and plain, but I didn't want too many because then it would be busy and too much to look at.

Colour Schemes:

We looked at Adobe Kuler for different colours as they have a wide range and use a colour wheel which makes it easy to choose. I want to keep my magazine quite plain with not too many colours, as I feel a lot of bright colours would give the impression of a gossip or pop music magazine. I like the idea of keeping the magazine with black writing and another colour. I looked at a lot of green and teal colours and also purples.

Here are the colours that I like:

I decided to go with a purple feel to the magazine as this is a much softer and warmer colour, also more formal than a bright green, so it would not only attract students but teachers too.

Flat plan:

Here is what I would like my magazine front cover and contents page to look something like.

~~image of flat plans~~

Research into sixth form magazines

In class we looked at a few different sixth form magazines made by students to give us ideas for our own magazine.

Here is the front cover of a magazine that I have annotated called 'High Profile' by students at King Edwards school.

I have also annotated a magazine cover from Combertion Sixth Form.

I don't like the cover of 'High Profile' as the image 

What i have learnt ..

Introduction

My name is Olivia and I am an A-level Media student.

This is my AS coursework print brief blog, which will chart my progress.

The brief is:
a preliminary task - to produce the front cover and contents page of a new school magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in MCU plus some appropriately laid out text and a masthead.

The main task is to design the front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine which is to include a minimum of 4 original images.