Looking At My Product

For my main AS Media Studies coursework I was set the task of producing the front cover, contents page and a double page spread for a music magazine that I would be designing and creating. When looking at well known, already publicly sold, music magazines I was shocked and worried of the assignment but after recognising that by following particular trends and conventions that were common amongst almost all of the commercial media products looked at, I could form a well produced result which would be attractive to the target audience (who, as a result, would consider purchasing it).
For front cover-
From my research, I noted that front covers of music magazines, simply, always have a header and at least one image. The header is the chosen name for the magazine, being the trademark for it and what everyone would refer to when talking about it. This is why it is important that the header is simple yet quirky, making the magazine instantly attractive to the viewer’s eye. It also needs to be memorable and, if possible, to do with the topics the magazine covers. This is why I decided to name my magazine ‘inTUNE’. I felt this name would be a successful attribute to my magazine as it is not only shocking with ‘tune’ being written in capital letters, but also as the term ‘in-tune’ is connected with music, which directly lets the reader know that the magazine is focused around music. The header is big and bold, which was the same for every magazine researched (actually common to any published magazine, no matter its focus or features) to make it eye catching and easily recognisable. Most headers are positioned to the top left of the front cover or top centre. However, I decided to challenge this convention, to make my magazine slightly different to the other ones on the market, in order to make it stand out. The typical colour for a music magazine header is red, a tradition that I subsequently followed. The font chosen for the header was called ‘You Are Loved’, and I felt it worked very well for my magazine. The jagged, not completely filled in look stands out from the rest of the text on the page which use block colour. The fonts I used for the other pieces of text across the front cover work well together, without any one in particular standing out or over-powering another. The colour scheme I chose to use for my front cover is red, black, grey and white. I felt these colours would combine successfully, and cannot be classified as gender specific, so will attract both sexes. So as not to make the page too crowded I chose to only use two images, one as the main background image, and the other a small one at the side of the magazine. The main image is of a young music artist that is to be featured in the magazine, and is the content of the main article of that issue. The other one is also of a music artist to be in the magazine. I believe both are proportioned well, with the main image attracting most attention, whilst the other one is also attractive and provides more amusement.


For Contents Page-
From the three production tasks set (front cover, contents page, double page spread), I found the contents page to be the most challenging. This was due to the fact that, unlike front pages and double page spreads in magazines, there are not many set, commonly used conventions for contents pages. From my research on music magazines currently on the market, I noticed that the layout of contents pages was not similar from one magazine to another, and individual magazines themselves completely alter the layout between issues. This meant that I had few guidelines to work with when designing my layout, which made it hard as I had to try and create an effective layout, but it also benefitted me in the sense that no-matter how my contents page looks it doesn’t matter, as long as its original. I decided to not over-do my contents page, in fear of it looking too crowded, so kept the layout basic. Instead of simply using the word ‘contents’, or ‘contents page’, for the header of this page I chose to write ‘this month’. This clearly defines what the page is going to tell the reader (the content of the magazine for that month) but is a different, innovative approach. I used large pictures of artists that were featured in the magazine and put the page number that they were featured on over the picture. I felt this would be effective as it’s a quick and easy way for readers to navigate to particular articles that interest them, without having to read through any text on the page to find out which page to turn to. I feel it also makes the page more aesthetically pleasing, with images being nicer to ‘read’ than text. With regards to the pictures themselves, I added effects to make them brighter and more colourful. This simply adds to their ability to catch the consumer’s eye. I decided to make the picture of my front cover, and main article, artist (Sophie Grace) the largest in order to show the importance of her article and for people to notice with ease, especially for those who simply bought the magazine due to her feature article. After realising it may look slightly unprofessional if I only use pictures on my contents page, I added some text down the right hand side. The text was short introductory titles for a selected few articles in the magazine, and the pages the reader can find them on. In the top right corner of the page I also added some text encouraging people to subscribe to the magazine, at a rate sixty pence cheaper than normal cost per month. After putting all the text onto my contents page I thought it looked slightly bland and there was nothing special about the writing compared to the bright images next to it. For this reason I added effects such as coloured borders and speckled backgrounds to each of the individual pieces of text, to make the page more attractive as a whole. The colour scheme I used for my contents page was the same as the front page (red, black, white, and grey). This was to maintain a common theme throughout the magazine to form a continuing identity for the product.


For Double Page Spread-
I chose to do my double page spread on the main focus of my magazine; the story on the famous teen rock chick Sophie Grace. The layout of my double page spread was very simple. I chose a picture I had taken of my model (Sophie), as the background across both sides. In the image Sophie is in the bottom right hand corner, at the top of a hill, with the back-drop behind her being a scenic view of the ocean. I felt this picture would not only be attractive for the viewer for its beauty, but also it ties in with the setting of the article, Southend-On-Sea, Sophie’s hometown. ‘Sophie Grace’ was the title of the article and I displayed this in a very large, bold font. This was positioned, mirroring where Sophie was sitting in the background, on the left page of the spread. The colour I chose for the title was white, but I added a pink outline around each letter as I felt this colour would be more appropriate to the article’s content. I also chose the same colour pink for any parts of text I wished to make stand out, for example a piece of text informing readers of which page to view to win a prize related to Sophie Grace and also the first letter of the main piece of text for the article. Having a different colour for the first letter of the first word of the article, as well as making it slightly larger than the rest of the text, is something I learned to be a convention amongst almost all magazines, including music magazines. Also following what other magazines do, I chose for my text to be black, small and set out in three columns. So as not to make the double page spread seem too empty, therefore dull, I added three pictures of Sophie Grace in the large space, on the right side page. As a final touch I added a pink border around each image, the same pink I used for all my pinks texts, making it seem more connected and bringing the whole article together.


I took all the regular conventions I discovered from my research into consideration, and incorporated similar ones into my own product. Following and using conventions that are used by all magazines I knew would make my magazine seem more professional and more relatable to the reader. On the other hand, in parts, where I have challenged conventions and added my own twist to ideas already used, I have put my own stamp on the music magazine market and bringing in a modern and exciting new publication for consumers. I feel my magazine would be successful as, after listening to and taking into account the feedback I received from the general public and reviewing my own research undertaken, I have incorporated many aspects that seemed to be most favourable of a music magazine, which would, in-turn, encourage consumers, experienced purchasers and music magazine virgins alike, to buy and read my product!

Front Cover Progress

Main Artist Photoshoot

Single Artist Photoshoot

Group Photoshoot

Beach Photoshoot

Questionnaire Results

After the completion of my questionnaire I asked 50 people, a fair split of 25 females and 25 males, to fill out the form and return it to me so I could read through and analyse the results. I gave my questionnaire to people between the ages of 14 and 71, ages I felt were minimum and maximum ages for people who would purchase and read a magazine like mine. The following is a summary of the feedback I got from the returned, completed questionnaires.
As mentioned earlier I gave an equal number of questionnaires to each sex, and the age range of people answering was broad. However, the vast majority of people asked were between 16 and 20. This isn’t too much of a disadvantage for me though as this is the ages of which I hope my product will attract and appeal to most.
When asked what their most common source of music consumption was, the majority of people answered YouTube to be theirs. This could possibly be due to the fact that YouTube is an easy and free way to access music of all genres and from all era’s, past and present, even brand new releases. This answer was interesting as it lead me on to think of how, once my magazine brand was established and starting to run successfully I could look to linking it with YouTube, and possibly even advertising for the website in exchange for adverts displayed on their page.
The response I got when I asked what particular genres of music people were in was vast! Dance, pop, hip-hop, grime, r’n’b, rock, garage, and house were all mentioned, with genres such as jazz and reggae also put on some forms! This clearly showed me that the public’s taste in music was very varied, with everyone having such individual likes and dislikes that not one particular genre is favoured. Taking this into consideration I decided that, to ensure I was attracting as much of the general public as I could to my magazine, I would not focus on one particular genre but create a magazine that featured all different types of music genres.
Finding out what peoples ‘main music interests’ are would help me look for particular genres of music people enjoyed and what particular artists were preferred. As with the previous question there were no trends shown, with everyone stating they enjoy different artists, some enjoying soloists, some bands.
V Festival and Reading Festival were the two most mentioned festivals given. The next question and the one following wanted to know festivals and other events that the person had been to and there were many different answers given. One particular venue that was regularly mentioned though was the 02 arena in London. This would appear to be a popular place for people to go and watch their favourite music artists perform, so could be a venue to closely follow in the magazine.
‘NME’ and ‘Q’ magazine seemed to be gain the most interest out of the people who completed my questionnaire, with ‘Kerrang!’ closely following these. This would show me that it is important to look at all existing music magazines as not one particular one stood out dramatically from the rest. By then taking successful conventions from each magazine I could incorporate these into my own and create a magazine that would automatically be at the standard of (if not higher) the real media products that are already on the music magazine market.
There were lots of things listed as answers for the next question; ‘what attracts you most to a music magazine before you buy it?’ People said that the articles mentioned on the front cover were important, as well as the images used, showing that some people do judge a book, or in this case a magazine, by its cover. Others said that they would be attracted to the magazine that offered the best competitions to enter or gave away the best free gifts with the magazines. Before, I didn’t realise that simple extras such as these could be the attracting point to so many people, but now I will be sure to incorporate these ideas into my own product.
The type of music magazine articles that people most wanted to read were ones on new music releases or what was soon to be released, inside stories on famous artists and information articles about festivals, concerts and other music events. This, with the fact that many other types of articles were also mentioned, showed me that people like a variety of articles and by trying to cover stories on lots of different sides of the music industry would make my magazine more attractable to a wider audience.
People mainly said that they buy magazines on a monthly basis or once every 2-3 months. This confirmed to me that if a produced my product on a weekly basis I may find it difficult to sell a large quantity each week, especially if I wanted to ensure I made a profit from each issue. However, I also decided from this information that to not lose custom due to people not wanting to wait long for the next issue, I would bring my magazine out on a monthly basis. This way everyone would get a chance to buy it and would only be paying £2.50 a month to get every issue. Some people in this question, however, said that they do not ever buy music magazines. This gives me more determination to ensure my product appeals to everyone, including the people who don’t consume these magazines.
To ensure I don’t under-price or over-price my magazine I asked what would be the maximum people would pay for a music magazine. The answers I got ranged from £2.80 to £5.00. This showed me that people are willing to pay quite a lot of money for music magazines so as long as I do not price my product much above about £4 then a lot of people would be more than happy to pay for it.
As expected there was a varied response from people, as to what their all-time favourite song was, with everyone giving a completely different answer to the next person.