My Double page spread

For my double page spread I decided to do a biography of the person on my front cover, which is Rihanna who is a successful and global R&B and Hiphop recording artist, therefore I thought that my target audience; whether they are male or female will be attracted to the magazine if it were on a shelf. I will do my research by looking at sources, for example, reliable magazines with reliable sources, Rihanna’s official website, interviews on you tube and also Wikipedia  I will not be getting my research from fan sources as this information can be unreliable at times.

My front cover plan

Today I booked the TV studio to take out my images. I also made sure to take out an SLR camera, light reflector, USB cord and tripod.

Before going into the studio to take out my images I have to plan out what I am going to do. I decided that Rihanna would fit in my genre well is an R&B and Hiphop singer. I have to think of the different codes and conventions that would be in a typical magazine such as the pose that would attract a unisex magazine, also I have to consider the clothing as Rihanna’s signature style is a denim jacket, red lipstick and different hairstyles as this is how she presents her persona to the audience.

Front cover analysis

There are three dominant colours that are used in ‘Vibe’ magazine’s front cover; red, white and blue, where as ‘The source’ magazine’s dominant colours are gold, black and red.  This keeps it simple however adds order to the front cover as it shows an importance of the variety of cover lines. There is a distinct eyebrow at the top of the each cover.  This copy is well defined as it is a different colour to the masthead and also is slightly over the picture. It highlights the key articles in each particular issue. The masthead is dominant as it is a bright bold red and the ‘V’ is unusual giving it a signature style and logo and the font used is effortless, clear and sophisticated. The source’s front cover is also bright red, with black put behind it to add more dimension and make it look more 3-D.

The central image is one of the main conventions of most magazines. In hip-hop magazines they tend to be front head shots. The angle and positioning of the central image of both The Source and Vibe magazine captures the reader’s attention. The image in Vibe looks at the reader directly in the eye making a straight line down to his hands, leading the reader to read the information where his hands are, which is evident that this is what the photographer wanted to construct. The central image of The Source also follows the same conventions as Vibe as the person is looking straight at the reader to gain their attention. The central image in both magazines are placed over the masthead as it does traditionally, giving the effect that the image is 3D and defining the music artist and giving him more character.

The cover lines give information about the magazine content, this relates to the audience as it has the specific artists that relate to the magazines’ genre of music, e.g Jay-Z, T.I. The artists names are all in big font and you are immediately drawn to these when you look at the magazine. This shows the audience straight away what will be in the content of the magazine.

I also decided to look at the representation of women in Hiphop magazine and how they pose. From my research I was able to find out that in the photos of women, they are normally taken from the knee, up as this is how women are predominantly represented in magazins.

Audience Research

My group and I decided that for our audience research we would ask 21 people each, therefore 10 black people, 6 asian people and 5 white people between the ages of 16 – 22 year olds which is our target audience, giving us a total of 63 people. Furthermore to make it equal we asked 3 people of each age group and ask 10 boys and 11 girls.

From my results I can gather…

• Most people enjoy listening to Rap, Hiphop, R&B and grime music.
• Most people prefer simple articles rather than complex articles
• The majority of people also preferred shorter articles as a pose to longer articles
• The majority of people answered ‘yes’ when asked if they would like to see gig reviews, interviews and album reviews
• My results show an equal balance of people who preferred formal and informal articles.

Masthead name ideas

Masthead Designs

These are some of the mastheads I have looked at to see the codes and coventions that magazines use in their mastheads. for example Kerrang! uses a cracked effect with white lines going through the black text to represent the genre of their magazine which is a rock magazine. NME uses a range oftexts on top of each other to make it bold and stand out. I have also looked at Vibe magazine to see what Hiphop magazines use as their mastheads.

Magazine plan

• We decided to go with a unisex British and American R&B and Hiphop magazine as there is a gap in the market for magazines like this.
• Our target audience is 16 – 22 year old males and females who are mainly students
• The publication we thought would best suit our magazine is IPC as it is global publication
• We researched the genre of our magazine and found that our nearest rivals is Vibe magazine which is a successful American magazine.

Research into IPC:

• IPC has over 26 million UK adults reading their magazines therefore our magazine would bring something new to their teen/music section as IPC publish magazines such as NME and Uncut which are both rock magazines. Therefore a new genre of magazines would fit well into this publication as they haven’t done this before and there will be less competition.
• IPC mainly publish their magazine to a mass market of men and women, therefore having a unisex magazine can build their readership even more, attracting a new set of readers and widening their audiences.
• IPC has published extremely successful music magazines such as NME which proves that our magazine be a great selling point

Research into Vibe magazine – Rivals:

• Vibe magazine is issued bi-monthly – 6 issues annually
• US magazine based in New York City
• It predominantly features R&B and Hiphop artists, actors and other entertainers
• Vibe has over 19 million consumers every month through TV shows, website and direct mail
• It is published by inter-media
• A single copy retails at $4.99

Statistics of Vibe magazine:

• The magazine is made up of 55% of male adults and 45% of female adults
• The median age for the reader is 30 years old
• 75% of their readers are Black/African American
• 15.9% are White
• 12.4% are Spanish/Hispanic/Latino
• 1% are Asian
• 11.3% other race
• Vibe.com has 1.3 million users per month (62% male and 38% female)

 

Reader profile:

Cassie is a typical 19 year old who attends Southampton University where she studies English Literature and Journalism. Her boyfriend goes to a different University however visits regularly. They both share similar interests in music and both read the magazine ‘Lyrical’ as it’s a unisex magazine. Cassie’s friends live in halls with her and also read ‘lyrical’ as this is a common interest between her and her groups of friends. She also has a part time job in John Lewis so in her spare time she likes to splash out her money at places like Topshop and Urban Outfitters. Cassie is into the latest technology as she owns a smart phone. Cassie’s style reflects her taste in music as she aspires to look like her favourite music idols, for example Rihanna and Rita Ora. She has a wardrobe of branded clothes and footwear. She looks forward to her Friday nights as she goes to the local night club with her friends where she socially drinks and listens to Hip Hop and R&B music. After a night out she comes home where she regularly tweets and uploads photos on Facebook.

Magazine Content Analysis

This table shows a range of six different magazines, we have analysed in class by their price, audience, publisher, pages, adverts, promos, percentage of editorial copy and percentage of editorial imagery. The main publishers we looked at were IPC and Bauer. At first sight we can see that the magazines targeted at older audiences tend to have more editorial copy to imagery, for example Uncut is aimed at males 25 years and older, therefore they have 59 – 31 editorial copy to imagery, where as Kerrang has 28 to 25 editorial copy to imagery. The balance of advertising also changes due to a certain age group as the older the target the audience the more content they can afford due to the amount of advertising as Uncut has 132 pages, however 32 pages go towards advertising, leaving 100 pages including promos for the reader, where as NME is aimed towards a younger audience and has a total of 68 pages and 16 pages going towards advertising, leaving the reader with a total of 52 pages. The balance of advertising to content affects the price of the magazine as the more adverts there are, the better as magazine will earn money through each advertisement, which will cover production costs making the cover price cheaper as their main source of income comes from advertisements in their magazine, a good example of this is the independent magazine Propaganda as the magazine is completely free and from the table we can see that there are 12 adverts out of the 32 pages and 6 promos.

Furthermore Uncut and Mojo resembles one another as they have the same target audience and also have a more expensive cover price as it is $4.80 for Uncut and £4.60 for Mojo, both including a free CD. However the free CD may have added onto the price as it may have cost the magazine 60-80p for the CD, therefore this tells us that if the magazine didn’t have a CD the price range would have been similar to Q magazine’s as it is £3.99 and with the same target audience.

Bauer has two music magazines which are Mojo and Q. These two magazines have the same target audience which is aimed at males 25 years of age or more.  This suggests that Bauer may be trying to compete with IPC in terms of gaining readers as both publishers are global corporations, also IPC run a successful music magazine with target audience of males 25 years and older.  IPC own NME and Uncut, however they have different target audience.

Overall looking at these six magazines, I have learnt the different codes and conventions that run through each magazine that will help me produce my music magazine in terms of the target audience, pricing, advertising, proms and editorial image to copy.

Comparative Study

        

The music magazines I chose were NME and Uncut. NME is a popular music magazine with a range of genres such as indie, rock, pop rock and alternative where as Uncut is a music magazine which focuses on Brit pop with the subgenres of alternative rock. NME and uncut are both published by the same global Corporation, IPC (International Publishing Corporation which is owned by Time Warner. The target audience for NME is predominantly 16 – 22 year old males whereas Uncut’s target audience is 25 – 45 year old men. In NME there are 68 age with 16 adverts and in Uncut there is 132 pages with 32 adverts. This reflects the target audience as we can tell that the older audience refers a magazine with more pages where as teenagers prefer less detailed articles.  Also in NME the balance of editorial copy to imagery to 31 coy to 31 imagery and in Uncut it is 59 copy to 31 imagery.

Furthermore the cover price for NME is £2.40 in the UK and also retails at €3.79 in Spain, $7.99 in the US and $6.99 in Canada. Uncut retails at £4.80 in the UK including a free CD and £13.99 in Canada which is twice as much as it retails in Canada for NME. Uncut may have decided to retail their magazine at this price because their magazine is focused towards an older audience who have disposable income and can therefore afford this magazine.

NME may be affected by advertising as the price of the magazine may go down as they will be getting money from adverts whereas in Uncut the price is quite high for a magazine but they have made up for it by providing a CD to readers. Most of Uncut’s adverts are based upon upcoming concerts, new music downloads and gadgets. The cover price also affects the paper quality as NME’s front cover is glossy, however the content of the magazine is fully matte which immediately shows that it costs less to produce matte paper than it does for glossy, therefore this is why the price of the magazine is low as it quality isn’t as good. Meanwhile in Uncut the front cover is glossy and the content also has a glossy finish to it. The paper has a thick feel to it which shows that it would cost more to publish which is another factor to why the magazine is expensive.

NME doesn’t have any inserts unlike Uncut where they include a form to subscribe to the magazine making it easier for their readers and a camera which gives their readers the opportunity to get an insight into the latest and best technology out there, showing us that Uncut’s older audience, like to spend their money on only what they believe is worth their money.

NME and Uncut’s cover:

In NME the front cover has 5 layers whereas in Uncut there are 6 layers. The masthead in NME is bold and white with 6 fonts and goes across the whole width of the page. The masthead is against a vivid red background to make it standout to the readers/potential readers. Meanwhile in Uncut the masthead is big, bold and bright red with 6 fonts. It has a drop shadow which stands in front of a black and white central image. On the front cover of Uncut, the colours are mainly red, yellow, white and black. The central image is laid under the masthead which shows that the magazine isn’t high in technology whereas in NME the central image is laid over the masthead.

NME is very unconventional and rebellious l in terms of layout as the central image shows one member of the Foo Fighters taking up the left side of the page with a ripped paper effect that goes down the middle and then a member of green day taking up the right side of the page, showing rivalry as it states “Battle of the rock gods”. This is unconventional as it doesn’t look like it was a taken in a photo shoot format like Uncut does with the person in the central image looking straight at the camera as NME show them elsewhere. This reflects their young target audience well as it shows that NME are anarchistic and don’t like to go by rules.

The one member of the Foo Fighters on the right is playing has got his hands up in the air, his guitar hanging from his neck whilst in the midst of signing. The man who looks middle-aged has shoulder length hair and a beard whilst wearing all black which suggests disobedience and freedom to do whatever he wants. He is also wearing a cross around his neck which can be shown as he’s religious or a fashion statement, which again shows freedom. The green day member on the right hand side is also wearing all black with jet black hair that goes in different directions, stubble on his face and a tattoo going down his left arm. He’s got a grin on his face while playing his guitar showing he’s having fun, and is looking at maybe a member of the audience or band member who is behind the camera as he looks like he’s playing during a concert.  In contrast to this Uncut’s central image is of musician, songwriter and author Nick Cave. The image is in black and white which is unusual for a magazine front cover, suggesting that Uncut’s readers are distinctive individuals. The image gives off an eerie and mysterious atmosphere. He is looking straight at the camera with his head titled slightly downwards, casting a shadow upon his eyes. He has long hair which is slicked back making him classy and sophisticated which represents their older target audience well.

NME have 6 articles signposted on their cover without the page number, whereas Uncut have 8 articles signposted on their cover, referencing to their page number showing that since they have an older target audience who have little time on their hands with work and children, they are able to flick through to the page they desire and read. In addition to this Uncut includes a cover mount which is a free CD of “Into your arms”. This is an advantage to their readers as they get to know the best music out there and this is an advantage to Uncut as this pulls in readers/potential readers who may want to buy the magazine for the CD.

In NME the heading for the different sections in the magazine are the same fonts and are mostly black. The main theme of colour that runs through the magazine is virtually the same with teal blue subtitles with black and white writing. The magazine transits into more vibrant colours after pages six to eight to not bore the reader, showing the distinct sections in the magazine. In Uncut the colours on the front cover of the magazine are mainly red, yellow, white and black which is predominant in the content of the magazine as apart from a few selected articles similarly to NME where the colour differs to yellows and blues.

NME and Uncut’s contents page:

NME’s contents page has 11 sections whereas in Uncut there have 18 sections. This suggests that since NME’s target audience is younger, they just want something that doesn’t go too much into depth and just want a quick read, where Uncut’s target audience is older and want something to read for longer with more words and less pictures. Both magazines are right facing. NME’s contents page is 1 page into the magazine whereas Uncut’s is 3 pages into the magazine which shows that since Uncut’s production costs are high they will need a lot more advertising and can’t depend on the amount of sales to cover these costs. There are 2 images on the contents page of NME and 8 images on Uncut’s contents page, with a caption under the picture, where in NME they don’t use caption’s as they know they target audience may not be interested about the knowledge of each image. There is a message from the editor in Uncut and not NME, which suggests that Uncut is a conventional magazine whereas NME are anarchistic. This shows that Uncut’s target audience are dedicated readers who like to know everything new that’s happening and like a long read from start to finish.

Double page spreads:

Uncut has 11 double page spreads in comparison to NME, who have 5 double page spreads. Even though NME and Uncut aren’t typical magazines you see which follows all the codes and conventions they both share many similarities such as a main headline, stand first, main imager, gutter, captions, banners and pull quotes. In NME there is an equal balance between images and copy, making it easy on the eye for the reader. The images in the double page spread include captions, are cross over pages and are not full bleed as they have boarders. There are pull quotes to highlight the main sentences in the article to draw in the readers. Furthermore Uncut’s double page spread articles include more copy to imagery as it is based around an older audience who have vivid imaginations and like to read more and therefore don’t need a lot of images. Some of their images are full bleed; however most of their images have boarders. Similarly to NME, they include pull quotes, stand firsts and captions to entice their readers. In both magazines’ articles they credit the writer, photographer of the articles as NME’s articles states “edited by…” under the standfirst and their photographer is credited at the bottom of the page. Uncut’s double page spread articles states “words by John Robinson” and “Photo by Sam Jones”. The language in Uncut is very descriptive and formal as it states words such as “fleetingly glorious” whereas NME’s language in their articles are mostly informal and uses youth style language.