Music Magazine : Research & Planning

Examples of music Magazine  

Here is just an example of  four different music magazine cover I will use these magazines to analyse and decode to help me with my music magazine , VIBE, KERRANG, XXL and BILLBOARD

After researching and analysing a lot of different genre music magazines, I felt that the more R&B and Hip Hop genre magazines were more appealing to me as that is the type of music that I enjoy listening to and I know a lot more about a lot about the artists that fit into those genres in comparison to magazines like 'KERRANG' or 'MOJO' .When I was researching the different magazines I was making sure I was taking note of what stood out to me, what I really liked, and what I would have changed  and my favourite magazines in the R&B/HIP HOP  genre that I found were: Vibe; Rolling Stones;XXL and Billboard.

What I found it during my research was that with Music Magazine ( in comparison to Fashion Magazines) is that the main image is the one of , if not the most important thing to them as that is the real selling point of the magazine and not just because the magazines are popular big name magazines but because both the artist and the magazine are trying to promote themselves and sell their  music, which is a lot harder to do that to sell clothes.

What I really like about 'Rolling Stones' is that they feature a wide range of artist in their magazine and not just a specific genre and whats even more interesting about their covers is that they when they photograph artist they always manage to get the photograph that suits  the artist personality, genre, style which makes it feel more raw and unpredictable ,for example the cover on the left with singer Adele on the cover really stood out to me because I remember looking at a cover of Adele on Vogue and how they managed to portray her there is different to this cover.On this cover it feel more organic, well thought out and all about the artist , which is one of the most important thing because that's be the selling point.As well as that, the magazine just has an effortless flare to it that still really sleek and polished more specifically the way the positioned the main cover line 'Adele- heartbreak superstar' and I really liked it because when you look at the image you get the feeling like shes a rockstar who just had a big argument with her boyfriend and that's kind of like a mugshot of the aftermath.

I also looked at this cover of VIBE  featuring Keri Hilson and I was comparing it with the Rolling Stones cover to see what it was that I really liked about them both.VIBE being the more urban , R&B/HIP HOP style magazine it usually features artists of the same genre to name a few , Nicki Minaj ,Beyonce,  Kanye West,  Usher and Eminem.What I really like about VIBE more specifically this cover is that the always give the artist a character to play for their cover so for example if you look at the main cover line 'Keri Hilson  has been a very bad girl ' and then look at her image she is really portraying that bad girl image and she look like she in control of the image and ready to take charge and also the way that the played with the coverlines as the album she was promoting at that time was 'No Boys Allowed' they managed to make a link in a subtle but clever way.Moreover the colour scheme on this magazine is a lot more cooler and toned down which makes the image the main focus and the real selling point of the cover.


Overall, I feel like the amount of research I have done is a good starting point and its definatley given me a clear direction to go with for my music magazine, I just need to make sure I do further research into who my target audience is, the age group and what they're interested in.The next step for me is to ask a group of people who are into the urban scene or maybe create a questionare so a can get a sort of a tally vote of what they would want to see in a magazine and what interested them and hopefully this should help me progress with my magazine.

Magazine Contents Page

Final Magazine contents page

My contents page was what I found the most challenging to do during the whole process as I ended up making my cover using Microsoft word it took a lot of time which men't  I didn't really get the time to have a clear idea of what I wanted the end result to look like. Initially I had planned for my contents to be look a little bit more polished and upscale just like you see in VOGUE -which was the main inspiration for my magazine design- but in an attempt to just get it completed I left no time to take images for the specific page title that I featured so it was all a last minute rush and I ended up using images that I had previously taken as potential main images for the cover but I felt they didn't really suit the style of the magazine so I decided to feature a few that I liked in the contents page.

My main aim with the contents page was to keep it as minimal and simple as possible but still very polished and expensive looking, which proved quite a challenge at first because trying to fit images and trying to get them in the right proportion so they're clear was hard because the shape of my magazine is kind of a square shape so I had to figure out how I was going to fit the images with the text as well and still keep it very minimal.The colour scheme was kept in the same tones as on the cover because I wanted it to be very cohesive and together, so I went with the grey, black and the maroon colour and I kept the same font from the mast head on the contents page title - Century Gothic- and for the page numbers I used 'Baskerville old Face'

Overall, I wasn't completely happy with the outcome of my contents page but  I feel like it was a good starting point   for the next magazine I make and I've definatley learnt that a well thought out plan and researching will make everything easier and its also less time consuming.As well as that, I will hopefully be experimenting with Photoshop and In-design as I feel it might be easier to use for the magazine as the software has all the equipment and Microsoft doesn't really have the tools for some of the things I wanted to do for my magazine. 

Magazine Final Cover

This was the final version for my Magazine front cover 

When I first started doing my cover I realised a lot of the things I had planned to do weren't working out or the was a problem of some sort .I didn't want my magazine to be a cliche college/school style magazine that you can get free from the college stands I wanted it to look like something that you could actually see in the news agent and something that people would actually pay money for , so I took to the internet and looked at Magazines like VOGUE, GLAMOUR ,GQ and BILLBOARD because I liked how sleek and polished  their covers look and the hardest part was trying to do all that without using Photoshop or in design hence my final front cover being created completely using Microsoft word.I started of by taking a few picture because originally I wanted a picture of a boy and girl because I felt some people might get confused by the title of the magazine with it being called 'FRESHMAN' but after a taking a number of picture and testing them out with my flat plans the didn't seem to look quite like I wanted them two so it was only after a third session of picture taking I settled on this one and I knew I wanted use this one because I liked the composition of the picture and how clear it was which luckily for me men't no editing.

So after picking the picture, cover lines , magazine name it was all a case of just putting it together which proved to be easier said than done and took a lot of time to complete. Immediately after picking my magazine name I knew I wanted it to be right at the top center of the cover but not in a thick writing I wanted something striking but subtle and I ended up going with  'Century Gothic' in a black/grey colour for the mast head after I tried different colours on the masthead I felt they looked cheap and very flat but the black/grey colour really suited the font well.As I took the main image in front of a white wall the positioning and placing for my coverlines was fairly simple and I knew I wanted them to be bold but minimal, and with it being the fall/winter issue I knew I was going to be using a lot of maroons, reds and burgundy as those are the colours that remind me of fall.

My magazine being called FRESHMAN I wanted it to be almost like a guide or manual to all first years or people that are new to college on the lifestyle and all things to do with being a college students so my coverlines were almost like tips and hints on everything you might need to know about college for example '10% student discount'  and '5* tips to A* results' I felt were most effective because we all want to get As and A* in college so I thought that would get everyone interested and '10% student discount', well who wouldn't mind some money of their shopping ? Even though I was really happy with how my cover turned out, if I had to do it again I would definatley try using in design or photoshop because I feel it would take less time and it would be a better finish than just using microsoft word  

Preliminary Task:College Magazine

Proposal

My Magazine will be aimed at first year and second year college students who have an interest in music, fashion, art , movies and entertainment and celebrity gossip.I want my magazine to have a cool , modern and urban feel and I don't want it to feel outdated or as if it was an adults representation of what a college magazine would have.I want it to be a college magazine for the students by the students so it's important I keep it up-to date and current and also relevant to what college students are interested in.My magazine will feature things like ,were to get student discounts, any upcoming college events, enrichment programs and any new college news but as my target audience is more of the adventurous, outgoing and stylish student its important to keep it relevant to them by keeping it current and on trend with what other magazines are talking about.

  Cover Line Ideas 

Freshman of the month

Exclusive interviews

Style upgrades

Ones to watch

Discount spots

College lifestyle

free gifts, posters, stickers,coupons

Dictionary definition for  Freshman  

'A first-year student at a university, college, or high school.'

I have chosen to go with 'Freshman' as the name of my magazine because it is mean't to represent everything about college and student life and I feel like this can easily relate to both girls and boys which means I have more of a choice of what I want the cover to be like.Fonts wise I wanted some thing very sleek and streamlined because I thought that would look more professional than chunky bubble writing and I experimented with fonts like 'Baskerville old face' and Century Gothic just to see which one would work best with the title of my magazine .

The year of publication was easy to decide and since fall/winter is my favorite time I immidiatley decided that I wanted it to be the winter issue and the magazine would be published monthly just so it doesn't get boring by giving little weekly updates you can get a whole months magazine which helps to keep it current and fresh.Secondly, in terms of main image in my plan I wanted to to use a picture of a boy and a girl to show that the magazine is for both genders and not just aimed at one and I was going to ask some of my friend to do it  and and fortunately for me the college was able to supply with me a camera that can take excellent quality photos which takes out the hassle of re touching and editing as I'm still getting used to 

using Photoshop.

When I started I knew I wanted the magazine to be just a little bit under A4 size more like a square shape because I felt like theres no need for a college magazine to be massive as theres only so mcuh information that you can give to someone before they get bored keeping small means that I can space things around easily without over doing it with coverlines, I can keeps things fairly small and they wont look out of proportion and it will be easy for me to fit the picture on that style cover as well and colours I was think about burgundy, mustard , orange , red colors all the colors of fall and winter just to tie the whole front cover and contents page together.

Teen girl magazines

Here is 5 examples of different Magazine covers aimed at teenage girls, Seventeen, Teen Vogue, Bliss, Teen Now and Cosmo girl

To what Extent should magazines be held  responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer

Magazines and print media as a whole have a very strong influence on their readers,sending different views and messages on life and how we should live our lives.Teen magazines are usually aimed at female teenage readers.They almost always consist of gossip, news, fashion tips and celebrity  interviews and may also include posters, stickers, small samples of cosmetics or other products and inserts. 

One of the biggest issues with teenage magazines is the content that is within it and their portrayal of how teenage girls should live their lives.Magazines like Seventeen, Bliss and Teen Vogue act as a manual or guide to a young society that hasn't yet learnt how to deal with some of the very issues that they write the magazines around and whats more worrying is that its not only teenage girls that are affected by these magazines over the years more and more boys have found these very to be a major influence within a  young society.

While researching this topic I selected a number of popular magazines that any teenage girl or boy would normal by .Firstly, looking at the front cover of the 'Teen Now' magazine you can already tell that this magazine is aimed at teenage girls, the cover is all picture of boy celebrities and only two of the pictures featured are girls which shows that this is more targeted towards the girls an as well at that also force feeding it young readers with the issues of sex ,love and relationships to some readers who aren't mature enough to deal with these issues.As well as that, this is also reinforced by coverlines like "More hot boys "  , " yes it could be you" its giving teenagers the impression that its all about chasing celebrities, looking for a boyfriend and going shopping and not once that it talk about things that could actually influence teenagers in a positive.

Moreover I find that a lot of the times with these types of magazine the more important or "serious" are usually the ones to be pushed to the side in very small font which is almost as if they don't want teenagers to deal with the real issues in their lives and just go shopping instead , but in fact that could cause more damage than if those issues were highlighted and talked about more it give teenagers the answers to all their questions and a way to some of those issues if they are going through them, for example if you look at the cover of  ' 'BLISS' bottom right corner the coverline ' Accidental Anorexic' is featured and weight and health issues being one of the biggest problem and not only within teenagers but adults as well I feel like they're not doing enough to try bring the point across to allow the chance to get help and advice but instead the only decide to highlight the less important things in life and  a lot people can argue its just subject to opinion but I believe if issues like that were highlighted more within these magazine society wouldn't be in such of a crisis as it is because we would all be getting advice and guidance at a young age .

Another one trick that most teenage magazines mostly girl magazines is the 'girl - next-door' on the cover and 9/10 usually she would have perfect hair ,flawless skin and a nice smile and as good as that sounds , to a less confidant ,glasses wearing ,over weight  and acne prone that could be a little bit intimidating and that is where the pressure to be thin and perfect like the girls you see on the cover which is where my argument comes back to that is they were to highlight the fact that no one is perfect we all don't look the same or like the celebrities that they use on their covers instead they do everything in their power to make us want to be just like them, buy what they buy and eat what they eat.As well as that, a popular reoccurring theme that found out it the use of the colour pink on the front cover and I guess that ties together with whole ' girl next door' image that's normally on the front but that doesn't justify the fact that no every girl likes pink or infact that not every boy likes pink, magazines  tend to shy away from challenge the normal and sticking to the same theme of , this is what you should by this week , that's what you like this month, and your a girl so you also like pink' when in fact they need to embrace the differences that we all have and use that to their advantage to appeal to a broader audience and educate the younger audience.

Now comes the part to decide who should be held responsible for this  and I completely agree that magazine  have some of the blame to take for the social ramification of the representations they offer, I feel like they don't do enough of educating enough about the things that are actually important to someone in their teens and in fact they give us a non accurate representation of  teenagers.On the other hand , I do have to agree that an audience has their choice of magazine to read but I feel like it doesn't matter if its BLISS or Seventeen if their semiotics the only difference between the two magazines is who would be on the front cover.Lastly if there was one thing I would like to see on these types of magazines is the use of real people with real issues that we can all relate to and not celebrities who all have their own issues that only a celebrity would understand .