Market Research of Magazines (Using LIIAR)

Kerrang

Language - The mast head is placed at the very top of the cover, usually the mast head is located at the left hand side of the page but kerrang goes against this convention and spreads across the top (like a banner). It has a distorted and ripped look about it due to the smashed effect put on the text, this connotes the genre of rock (as a convention of rock is being rebellious and breaking things). The name "kerrang" is a form of onomatopoeia as it is the sound made when playing a power chord on the electric guitar. I think this is clever because most of the music featured uses an electric guitar and includes power chords.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrang!)

The image of "the king blues" shows a very laid back look. "Itch", the man on the right, is stood on side which shows a comfortable feeling. He is also more in the foreground, which could show that Itch is the main man of the band. A mid-shot has been used, this is a common convention within a music magazine. There is a yellow banner headline across the middle of the page which is placed on top of the image of "the king blues". It also gives anchorage to the text by giving more detail to the topics which they will be focusing on. The banner is obviously connected to  the image because it is on top of the image but also by the use of yellow in the text which relates to Itch's yellow top, however this second connection is not always reliable as there is an image of hayley williams in the bottom left corner, who is also wearing a yellow top. The bar code is placed in an unconventional way as it is placed portrait, unlike the like conventional landscape which we are all used to. The price of £2.20 shows that the magazine considers the income of the target audience (teens and students) as they have a low income, but will be able to afford a £2.20 magazine. 

The house style of the front page is ripped and messy. This relates to the genre as punk connotes, breaking things and being loud. The three main colours used on the front page are black, yellow and small amounts of red. I think the reasons behind these colours are because of some of their connotations, for example, the colour black can be seen as being powerful and dominant. Yellow is energetic (electric) whereas red is passionate.

The contents page is quite unconventional in the way it has been laid out as it is unusual to see the page being divided into halves, one featuring images of artists and the other being the text on the contents page. This shows a different approach has been took compa The house style has stayed consistent throughout the front, contents and double page spread yet the double page spread is slightly more structured and tidy, giving the article a more professional feel, this is so that it is easy for the reader. A caption and strapline have been used on one of the pages of the double page spread.

Institution - Kerrang is produced by the media company Bauer.

Ideology - Kerrangs ideology has shows that rock music is reckless, fun and care-free.

Audience - I believe that the target audience for Kerrang is people aged between 15-24 because of the bands/ artists used. The pricing for the magazine is fairly cheap and something that people in this age bracket should be able to afford on a weekly basis. Kerrang magazine includes a much wider range of genres than most prodominantly rock magazines as it also focuses on other types of genres and sub-genres such as "pop" and "pop rock", therefore it has a larger audience to supply for weekly, the price is really reasonable, costing £2.20 per week.

Representation - I feel Kerrang have an accurate attitude towards the "rock" as the layout of the whole magazine include many connotations of rock music. I really like how the magazine is layed out and I want to set mine out in a similar way. Kerrang are one of the most dominant magazines in the industry, it is very suitable to the audience chosen and the way it portrays it's bands, shows how passionate Kerrang are about rock music.

Pricing and Frequency

NME - Weekly - £2.40
Kerrang! - Weekly - £2.20
Q - Monthly - £3.99
DJ magazine - Monthly - £3.50

After looking at these prices and frequencies I have come to the conclusion that I will publish my magazine weekly and at a price of £2.10. This is because my biggest competition (Kerrang! and NME) both publish weekly.

Template for Front Cover

This is the finished template for my front cover.

Draft Cover 7

I did this draft in order to see what a different background and how different effects (the glow around main model) would look. I am on the fence about the background, I prefer the other one, but this one is easier to move as the other background came from the image used. A reason that I prefer the other background is that it is harder to see darker images when put on it. This is the main reason that i did put a glow around the main image.

Draft Cover 6



I made one change to the cover in this draft; I added a gritty effect over the top of the background in random circular positions.

Draft Cover 5



With this draft the only change I have made is the "hue" effect I have put over the entire magazine. This adds to my red colour scheme (most noticably with the image of the Gorillaz).

Draft Cover 4

In this draft I have made 3 changes to the cover. The first (and most noticable) is that I have changed the colour of one of the boxes and the text inside it. This is to show that this article is the main article; as it stands out from the others. Another change is that I have replaced the text in the Thirty Seconds To Mars box to an image as I thought that it looked a bit too plain with just text. I have also added some more ripped paper down the left hand side of the page to add to this effect.

Draft Cover 3

I added 2 more boxes with article headlines in this draft. I also moved the "rock magazine" text to below the masthead and put the music genres featured in it's previous place. I moved the hand in the crowd infront of the album cover so that more of the original background image is showing.

Draft Cover 2

I made quite a few changes from to this draft from the previous one. For example I decided to use more than one shade of red as I thought that it looked a bit boring with just one shade. I also added a bar at the top of the page to decrease the amount of blank space. I added text (a competition to win a free album) to the empty box and added another box with another article in it. I changed the position of the price to its conventional place (above the bar code).

Draft Cover 1

This is my first draft of my magazine. I decided to use an image of foo fighters guitarist Dave Grohl. I chose this image for a few reasons;
 1. it is a large image of good quality.
 2. he is in a pose similar to that of what I want my model to be in.
 3. the background is unusual.

I chose my main colour to be red as I have noticed that quite a few band logos contain this colour. For example:

Foo Fighters

Red Hot Chili Peppers

You Me At Six

Name Ideas

Bedrock

Crag

Granite

Boulder

Shrapnel

Debris

Slab

Lodge

Quarry

Outlaw

Deadbeat

Deadhead

I found these names by using the online thesaurus, using the words: Rock and Punk. I decided that I could use a definition of an actual rock. As it could be a clever play on word. However my favourite from the list is deadbeat. It is another word for punk (my main genre) and it features the word beat; which relates to the other music genres I am using.

Interpretation of Brief (Using LIIAR)

Language - The front page will need to have a masthead, and it needs to be bold and clear. The front cover also needs to have a clear colour scheme (light text on darker backgrounds or vice versa). The main image needs to be large and of a high quality. The contents should follow the same colour scheme as the front cover, it should also use the same font as that featured on the front cover. The same font should be continued throughout the product. When taking my main image I will position the camera from the bottom half of my model (an artist/band) facing upwards to make the image seem larger. I have chosen "Rock" music as my genre and so the colour scheme should feature darker colours as a primary and red, blues and maybe greens as the secondary colour.
Institution - I will be creating a brand new magazine for people with an interest in Rock, Alternative Rock, Punk Rock, Punk, Hard Rock and Metal.
Ideology - I would try to connote a better reputation for my choice of genre. Rock is stereotypically seen as being all about "Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll" and so has a bad reputation, when really most songs are written by composers with a strong passion for music. I would try to change that bad reputation Rock has and connote a more positive reputation.
Audience - My target audience will be aimed at people from ages 15-26 with an interest in Rock music.
Representation - I would try to represent my audience, artists as being strongly passionate about what they listen to. It will be stereotypical in some ways; i.e. I will be using dark colours as my primary. And feature some loud bands, but as a whole I would like to connote a postitive feeling about Rock music.

Brief

The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and texts must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

Contents Page

       On my contents pages I have tried to keep a similar theme to the front cover by continuing the font used and the colours used.
      On the left hand side I have put in an advert for the media trip to New York, which includes a building from the college in the Manhattan skyline.  I also included the statue of liberty and to add some humour; I merged a familiar face from the college onto it. I think this will add some more interest from the target audience as teenagers love a bit of humour.
     On the right hand side of the page I have the contents list. It features the same font used as on the front cover, it also features logos from "Subway" and "NUS" which are both linked with the college as "Subway" provides sandwiches for the colleges. I have also included an image of a student at the college and a background that shows the "OAK building" from the college. I took this image on the grass; I did this to continue some of the colour scheme (green and purple) in the background. I also added a green box (which is slightly opaque; in order to see the background) which makes the text easier to read for the audience.

Interpretation of Brief (Using LIIAR)

In the task set for me, I must use LIIAR to help me create a high quality product.

Language-
                 I should include a few connontations of magazines, specificly ones aimed at college students (people aged 16-18). Although they are of a different genre, magazines such as Kerrang! and NME follow similar connotations, such as; a large masthead, a main heading across the pagehey both have large sales (mainly to 16-18 year olds) and so if I can follow some similar connotations my magazine will appeal to my target audience.

Institution-
                The company/institution is the college itself. Creating a magazine for it's students.

Ideology-
              This magazine isn't aimed at any social groups in particular, just college students in general. It is purely to help college students find out the news in the college, and also help with problems they are facing.

Audience-
               The target audience of the magazine are students of the college.  (Ages 16 onwards)
Representation-
                       The magazine represents the college. It uses the colleges colours and part of it's logo to create the masthead.
                     

Final Cover

I have followed a connotation used by magazines aimed at a similar target

audience. These connotations are the borders around the text and a main

heading going right across the page. This will add an extra appeal to my target

audience as it is something they are familiar with. It is also something that

when they see they will know that this magazine is aimed at them.

It also fills the page more, removing the boring blank spaces.
Another addition I have made is that i have added an image of the library
("Keith's Kingdom") as it is going to be used in an article later on in
the magazine. It also covers up boring blank space.

Second Draft of Cover

This is my second draft. I decided to change the main image of the magazine

and put an actual student in it. I am sure that this will add more appeal

to my magazine. I have also added more information about the

magazine, such as; headlines featured, date of the magazine and I have

changed the font of the heading to a more "friendly" font.

First Draft Of Cover

       My first draft of the cover. I came about the name almost instantly, "WM" meaning "Wyke Mag". It was also very easy to create a masthead as i just used the "W" from the wyke college logo, copied it, and flipped the copy upside down to create an "M".

       For the slogan I used an informal type phrase; "It's a college thing". It is also like a phrase often used by teenagers; "It's a boy thing" or "It's a girl thing" to show that whatever the person has done is something commonly done by a boy/girl. 

       For my first draft I decided to use a picture I had taken of the college Librarian. I took image firstly for my photography work, but I thought it might work well as a main image for now. However I think that students would relate to the magazine more if an actual student was on the cover instead of the librarian.
       I decided to charge 20p for the magazine as it is not a sum of money that is unaffordable for college students and it would also bring some extra funds to the college.

Idea Development

                                                                               Image Of Student (Robbie Gillyon) Used on contents page.

                                                                              Image Of  Student (Jake Vollans) Used on contents page.

                                                             Image Of  "OAK building" (taken from grassy floor) Used on contents page.

Image of Wyke Library used on front cover.

Image of College Student (Jake Vollans) main image on contents page.

Image of Wyke's OAK building used on contents page (part of advertisement).

Image of Wyke's Wilson building, not used as there was no space for it and also no need for it.

Image of Wyke's Garden, not used as there was also no need for it.

Image of Wyke's ASH building. Not used as there was no need/space for this image.

 

Image of Wyke Librarian (Keith Mawer). Used on front cover to promote inside article. Was also main image on draft 1.

Hand Drawn Design

Brief

We where set the task of using a design software (adobe photoshop) to create the front page and contents of a new magazine for our college. Featuring a masthead, an image in slight close up and some text laid out in correct places on the cover.  We where also told to create a contents page for the magazine to show our skills on photoshop.