proposal

My magazine is going to be called Urban Beat as both words connote R&B and rap music which is the genre of my magazine. It will include rap artists as well as R&B artists and a new issue will be published every month. It will sometimes include freebees; itunes gift cards, latest CDs etc. In every issue it will have top 10 downloads of the month, adverts, celeb gossip and interviews, upcoming artists, mission statement and competitions.

 My magazine is different from others as it includes mainstream and upcoming artists and also every season there will be an exclusive fashion section showing the audience what’s in style and it will include upcoming concerts. My colour scheme will be white, red and black. The white represents the something new and fresh which applies to the upcoming artists that will feature in my magazine. The red represents passion and love; in this case that means people’s passion and love for music. The black represents something dark and something undiscovered which applies to the exclusive interviews and celeb gossip. The price of my magazine is going to be £1.49 which is a suitable price for my target audience as they tend not to spend more than £1.50 on a magazine.

The font I will use for the masthead is Bauhuas 93 as it is quite informal which is how the rest of my magazine will be and goes well with the title of my magazine. My magazine is being published by Haymarket publishing as the music magazine they are publishing at the moment is just based around classical music I feel I can broaden out there audience by bringing a R&B and rap magazine also because of my fashion section is could tie in with their fashion sector. My target audience is male and females aged from 13 – 30 who go to school, college, university or are starting out in the working world who have a passion for music and fashion.

magazine distribution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magazines are laid out in 4 different sections women’s, home and leisure, men’s and kids. Music magazines are placed in the home and leisure section as it caters for both men and women and listening to music is something we do in our spare time. The classical music magazines tend to be next to the pop music magazine then rock follows and R&B and rap are next to that.

 

Magazines are either laid out in levels so you can clearly see the masthead and a few cover lines or they are laid out in front of each other showing the left hand side of each magazine so the reader can see any freebees that come with the magazine if there is any, see the masthead and look at a few cover lines to see if they are interested in buying it.

 

The front covers usually have one main image placed in front of the masthead and a typical colour scheme for a music magazine is black, red and white. The main cover line usually goes with the main image and the other cover lines are on things that feature in the magazine.

 

Magazines can be distributed through mail, newsstands, bookstores and other vendors or free distribution at selected pick-up locations. There are three main categories for distribution sales models.

 

Paid circulation- the magazine is sold to readers for a price, they pay for it either annually or monthly and it gets posted to them.

 

Non-paid circulation- It has no cover price, the issues are given away.

 

Controlled circulation- The magazine is given to its target audience, mostly for free and comes with a survey to see if the magazine is suitable.

media kit

http://www.vibelifestylenetwork.com/VLN-Media-Kit-2011.pdf

In this media kit it shows that people from 18 – 34 read vibe magazine the most which is their target audience so the layout of their magazines and the contents inside it is at the right standard. There is only 10% between the male and female audience which is accurate as vibe magazine is intended for both. The race that reads vibe magazine the most is black african americans which is also accurate as it is an urban magazine.

Vibe magazine is published each year by Intermedia Partners they focus on leverage buyout and growth capital investments in the media industry.

Vibe also does other cross media such as; Radio, mobile, social networking, interactive overlays etc this is important as it gives vibe more exposure to the public as not everyone reads magazines which in the long term will make them more money.

Vibe has many different publishers for its different sections one of those publishers are vibe vixen they cater to the women and cover the fashion, dating, entertainment and beauty elements in the magazine they are also responsible for the some of the hair care or perfume adverts that are placed in the magazine and they have there own magazine. There are also a variety of different publishers for the sports and music sections.


http://www.srds.com/mediakits/rollingstone/demographics.html

Rolling stone does other cross media such as; website, social networking, mobile, Ipad and they even have a restaurant this broadens there market and gives people that don’t read magazines a chance to hear and see what it’s about.

In the Rolling Stone media kit men tend to read the magazine more than women this is because on a whole men are more interested in the type of music the magazine promotes. The age of the audience that reads the magazine the most is 18 – 34 this is because people at this age tend to read music magazines where if you are younger or older magazine don’t specifically interest you. Single people read this magazine more than married people as they have more time. The race that reads this magazine the most is white as they are more likely to enjoy rock and pop music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

case study 2

The Rolling Stone is one of the most well known music, liberal politics and popular   culture magazines and it was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner. The magazine has a colour scheme of black, grey and white the masthead stands out as it is in red, it’s the biggest piece of writing on the page and the font is informal and different to the other fonts on the front page which is eye catching. There’s one main image of pink in the centre of the magazine she is  in front of the masthead which means she is more important…..

 

Pink is not your ‘typical’ female she has male aspects to her such as her hair, attitude and nose ring which is weird as the colour pink represents femininity, this shows she is outspoken and is willing to break the rules if neccessary. She is dressed in a black leather jacket and it is unzipped which connotes that she is daring and doesn’t care about other people’s opinions of her, you can also see this from her face expression as she isn’t smiling she has a neutral look and she’s using direct mode of address. The position of her hands also shows she is quite tough which coincides with the cover line as it says “the dark side of pink.” The words “the” and “of” are in a smaller font because the designer wants the words “dark”, “side” and “pink” to stand out so the reader will be intrigued and want to read the article. There is a quote from pink after the cover line in white it stands out because it is against the black background and it makes the reader want to read on as it is an informal quote this relates to the target audience which is teenagers and people in their 20’s, who have a love for music.

 

This issue of Rolling Stone is mainly aimed at lovers of rock music because it has pink on the cover and the skyline which informs you of who else is featuring in the magazine are rock bands. That is also in white writing against a black background so the reader will be drawn to it.

 

It also includes teasers which tells the reader what else is going to be in the magazine “comedy bonanza” is written in yellow which adds a softer touch to the dark, rebellious looking colour scheme this grabs the readers attention and makes them want to read about it.

 

The text box is also in yellow which makes it the first thing you see when you look at the magazine. It says special report which informs the reader that they will be finding out something exclusive, this will make them want to read on as everyone likes knowing things other people don’t.

 

The barcode is placed at the left side of the magazine as it’s the first part of the magazine people see because that’s how it’s laid out in shops. It also follows the codes and conventions of having the price and issue information on the front of a magazine.

 

The contents uses three colours main colours red, white and black which links with the masthead on the front page, it has three different images which show the variety of different people that are featured in the magazine. The word “contents” is written at the top which informs the reader of what page it is. The use of sub headings and numbers tells the reader what exactly they will find in the magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

The double page spread also has the same colour scheme as the front page and contents page. Its main image is of the kings of leon they are sitting down in a relaxed position which puts across their personalities of being laid back and relaxed this is a generalisation of all rock bands as that’s how they are usually portrayed. The biggest piece of text is their name which informs the reader straight away that that’s what the double page spread is about.

 

It also has a quote from the text which gives the reader a taster of what’s in it. This is different to vibe magazine as there isn’t that much going on you can tell its for a different variety of people.

 

 

case study 1

Vibe is a well-known music magazine, which I think is a perfect name as when you think of the word vibe it has connotations of music, it was founded by producer Quincy Jones in 1993. The masthead is the biggest piece of writing on the front page. It is yellow and orange which catches your eye and symbolises the sun which relates to the picture as it is set on the beach.

The image is placed in the centre in front of the masthead which shows the image is more important. The model is attractive and wearing a bikini which appeals to the male audience as it is

 The main image is in the centre, a medium shot, in front of the masthead and is of Mariah Carey which shows she is the main focus of the magazine and it is a medium shot so the reader sees her whole body. This catches the reader’s eye as she is attractive; looking directly at them in a provocative way which is known as direct mode of address this is commonly used in most magazines. She is also wearing a bikini and the ocean breeze is blowing through her hair which will draw in the male audience and the female’s audience will be intrigued with the story.

                                                            

 There’s a variety of different colours such as; yellow, orange, blue, white and black for this issue of Vibe, but it works because of the beach setting. The main cover line is in pink which stands out from the rest of the front page because you wouldn’t usually relate the colour pink to the beach and it’s not part of the colour scheme on the magazine. The cover line also links to the main image as it says “Mariah Carey hits the beach in heels” and she is placed in a beach setting the font for “Mariah Carey” is informal which relates to the magazines target audience.

 

The skyline informs readers of what else they will find in the magazine to keep the readers drawn in and make them want to buy it and read the story or article it also includes vocabulary that a younger audience will relate to so I feel the intended audience is teenagers or people in their 20’s.

 

 

The magazine also includes teasers which does the same job as the cover line and lets the readers know what’s going to feature in the magazine they are placed on the left side of the magazine because when magazines are laid out in shops the left side is the only side that shows so as a designer it is important to place all the interesting bits on the left side so people will buy the magazine, this is also why the barcode is placed there, as well as it following the conventions of having the price and issue information on the front of a magazine.

 

The contents page has one main image of ciara laying down the first thing that draws your attention is her legs this causes people to actually look at the contents page as it is usually bypassed. The word contents is bigger than the rest of the writing to so the reader knows what page they are on. The magazine is split up into different categories and these are shown on the contents page. The background ties in with the picture as the colour schemes are the same.

 

 

In this double page spread for vibe magazine the colour of the font is grey, blue and black this is in contrast with the main image as solange knowles is dressed in a red dress and pink heels this connotes that she is confident. The colour red doesn’t usually go unnoticed therefore she is not afraid to be centre of attention. Her dress is short and shows her legs this is attractive to the male audience and will make the female audience envious and what to be like her. Her name is written in blue which stands out against the grey writing this shows her importance.

 

There are many pictures of her posing in different positions in the background which shows she is an artist that will not be overlooked this is important as her sister is a well-known singer so she has to try harder to be noticed. A quote from the text is placed next to the main image which show signifes again the importance of what she has to say.

 

The main image is also the only image that’s in colour this catches the readers attention when they flick through the pages and makes them stop and read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

preliminary evaluation

For my preliminary task magazine I decided I wanted to do a magazine for Leyton Sixth Form college students so therefore I called the masthead LSC which is an abbreviation of it. It’s simple and straight to the point which is what students like and also it relates to them as that’s what they call the sixth form college. I placed the masthead in the top left corner, it is a big sized font and it is in black so that it will catch the reader’s attention as it is against a white background and white and black are contrasting colours.

 

My main image is a medium close up of a student and it is placed in the middle and in front of the masthead which is the most suitable shot as it shows there student ID and the biology book she is carrying and also connotes that at LSC the students are more important . She is using direct mode of address and she is smiling which connotes to the readers that she is a happy student and is enjoying her time at LSC.

 

My main cover line links with my main image as it talks about the person in my main image it’s the only piece of writing apart from the masthead that is on the left hand side and it is in a bigger font than the teasers so it stands out to the reader.

 

I also added teasers which inform the reader of events that are going on in the college and they will know what’s going to be inside the magazine which will make them want to look inside to find out more.

 

To do all of this I used Adobe Photoshop which I found my way around quite easily as I had used it before I asked for a bit of help to shrink my main image, however apart from that I worked things out myself and managed to get it to how I wanted it to look. My Photoshop skills still can be developed so that my music magazine can be to the best of my ability and look like a magazine that can be sold in stores.

 

My contents page matched the colour scheme of the front page so its obvious they fit together I also added the masthead in a small font in the corner of the contents page as I saw from looking at other magazines they sometimes include that. The word ‘contents’ is in black and a bigger font than the rest of the writing on the page so the reader knows instantly what page they are reading.

 

I put 2 photographs I had taken myself on the contents page below the word ‘contents’ so that the reader would be immediately drawn to those images after reading what page it is. These images are of students working I chose those 2 images for the contents page because what the students are working on looks exciting which will attract the students attention.

 

I also included the different events that will be on each page and a little description which is a code and convention for contents pages.

 

To do the contents page I used Indesign which I found quite easy to use but my skills can always be developed so I can make my magazine look even more realistic.

preliminary task contents page