I have decided that the music cover I would like to produce would be based on many of the rock magazines in circulation today, for example; Hush, Rock and Uncut, these will be some of the influences I would like to research in helping me make a professional cover. In the mock magazine cover that I produced I said that it would be ideal to look at many magazine covers to discover ideas and techniques used to help me in fulfilling the highest grade I can get my meeting all the needs asked for by the exam board.
Over the last week I have been looking at many magazine covers and have noticed a strong repetition throughout, and keeping to conventions. Many of the rock magazines use strong contrasting colours for example; black and red. I feel these are used to create meaning so show the good and bad of rock. This represents the drugs, sex, rock and roll and the high quality music that is produced by many of these musicians. I feel that I want to create a strong magazine cover to capture the moment, making people feel like they want to read my magazine, making it look striking and interesting to the reader/consumer. I feel that using a different technique from these would help me in designing me own cover.
Although I have used these magazines that are very successful and make a lot of money there are too many Rock magazines that look the same. I feel that I would like to use a 60’s psychedelic look, with Andy Warhol and pop art as a inspiration. I would like to use his way of art design in creating my main image for the front cover of the magazine. I have got this idea from a Rock magazine called ‘Crawdaddy’.
I discovered that ‘Pop Art’ had more of a link to music than originally first thought. Peter Blake was a leading artist used to design album covers for Elvis and the Beatles. Pop art was also related to swinging London and this was breaking normal convention because before the time of swinging London the second world war was a big part of people’s life. Pop art was changing this norm in its own way to celebrate no more rations. Pop art was also trying to relate to youth and pop music.
These show strong images that would capture many people’s eye. Not only would they stick out from the ordinary repeated Black and Red colouring they would also look very different from the many images we see of ordinary people on the front of the magazine cover where no image manipulation programs have been used to create a funky and original image.
I feel that by using my pictures and manipulating them in this way, to give them the pop art look, it would appeal to a variety of different people. From people who are interested in music, to art students who would find the image of a certain interest, I would think that there would be a range of different ages as well a groups who would be interested in my magazine. The age could range from 16-25 year olds, depending on the bands featured, to information given. These are all factors of influence to buying my magazine after being attracted by my front cover.
You need to appeal to a wide range of audience to make the money you need to make a profit from the sales of your magazine. By appealing to many different types of people and ages this will expand the range of consumers. Also i have looked into what would be potential giveaways to get people interested in buying the magazine that you could have on your front page. Examples of this could be; Pull out posters, Pull out year calender with favourite band members and CD’s
This would appeal to both girls and boys as it is not specifically aimed for one sex and this will also help in broadening the audience of the magazine. Also I think that the class of my magazine will range through out from class A-E. I think this because people who are at the top will buy it for their children and people at the bottom, which may include students, will buy it through the pocket money they are given. The magazine is only £2.99 and feel this is a suited price range for everyone. The reason it is not more and is this price is because the publishers will be paid by advertisements that will suit all age ranges and class. There will be higher priced clothes shops and lower priced clothes shops to suit the needs for almost everyone, gadget shops and hair products used by girls and boys of all ages. Many magazine covers are too highly priced and therefore I feel even though are extremely successful could engage more readers if the price was lower. When you can go and see a unsigned band for £5 a magazine at £4.99 could lose its appeal. This could be down to students who have little or no money, they could borrow or get £2.99 off their parents but £5 is too much. This could increase sales for the magazine if prices were lower. In addition to this in today’s economy many people haven’t got money so pricing it at £2.99 will be suitable for more people. Many music readers will still buy a weekly magazine out of genuine habit, so it they see a cheaper magazine, that ‘looks’ just as good as the more expensive magazine, they may feel obliged to buy it.
I feel that many Rock magazine covers appeal more to boys than girls and I feel that I would like it to be for both and I hope to capture this through the main page, contents and double page spread. How my contents page will relate with my front will be the design that is carried through of the Andy Warhol theme. You will be able to see a clear relationship between these two pages. These will link through to the double page spread that will carry on the same theme, maybe a header that has the magazine name to keep a clear link throughout. I have thought of some names for my magazine, these are; LONDON, HEIGHT, LONDON TOWN, CAMDEN TOWN, CARNABY ….
Planning
The next step onto planning my task is to get potential people who I could take photographs of to use in my magazine.
Actors- I want someone who has a Rock look about them to capture the genre of my magazine in the best style possible. This will enable me to keep everything tied in with the genre of Rock. Therefore it all links in and does not look out of place in any way. I went to a local club that lets unsigned band plays there and my some of my mates where playing, I wanted to capture some natural images of them playing. Also I got in contact with some of my old school friends are in a band and arranged to meet them at there house, where I took a few pictures in the garden I wanted a relaxed image of the boy. I cut around the image of one of the boys playing on his guitar.
Location-I did not feel that I wanted a specific background to my images as i wanted the peoples faces to be the main point and did not the feel background was important, only one of my pictures I used has a background and this was to give it a more professional look and relaxed look.
Costumes- There are no costumes needed as the people I took the pictures of have a natural rock image about them. I also took the pictures at a gig so they were dressed in their normal clothes and did not need costumes.
Props- Are not necessary as I took some of my images at gigs and therefore they already had music equipment they needed.
MOJO uses free giveaway of free made in britain CD this will get interest as people will by a magazine if there is a free giveaway CD with songs on it they are interested in . Also the colours used are White Red and Blue this is colours of British and American flags this creates audience in these two countries, where the main big rock stars come from. Also they have used the technique of putting a famous name on the front to grab readers attention. They also use striking images that are eye catching and make you want to find out why this person is on the front, they also use pictures of famous stars this is also so people can see idols.
Some magazines such as ROCK do magazine deals. For example, £3. This is worth the money and makes people want to buy the magazine. This is a one off deal and has maybe put in place, due to the credit crunch, but they still want people to buy their magazines and make money.
ROCK SOUND another music magazine is very clever in the way it uses individual bands photos and typeface they are known for, that they put on album covers and are printed in when being advertised, on the front cover. I feel this is a very good way of advertising as people who would not necessarily recognize the magazine, but would recognize the band would be interested in buying this magazine. I feel this works very strongly and captures what a music magazine cover should, although it has no writing on it I feel from the front cover and the title of that band on the front cover u start to get a pretty good ideology of what the magazine is about.
CLASH- Yet another music magazine cover features some of the biggest music fans. On the issue I looked at, issue 26, Duffy was staring on the front of the magazine cover. The new up and coming star has many fans. This will be eye catching to people who like her or people who are intrested in who she is. The UK being very nosy and wanting to know gossip will buy this magazine just to keep up with the latest gossip. Not only do they feature a very famous up and coming artist. They also feature some of the biggest bands throughout the magazine cover for example; Carl Craig, Mavis Staples, Gnarls Barkley, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Tom Middleton, Madonna, Jamie Lidell, Black Dog, Blood Red Shoes, The Long Blondes, The Black Keys and David Bowie! They also advertise by getting over 90 reviews, downloads galore, news, competitions and 132 pages of in depth cultural analysis – Clash Magazine not only has a good first impression it also publicises by using many different techniques.
NME
NME is very big in the UK, NME has a website which sells music tickets, photos, reviews, NME radio. The magazine has a subscription so that u can buy a months worth of magazines for a cut price. This helps boost magazine sells and gets money up front. This also means they have definite buyers. NME has a bold, short name that is rememberable and therefore will remain in people heads and will be reconisable when people go to buy a music magazine. NME also has the reputation for its buyers having pages of NME over their bedrooms walls as a loyalty to the magazine, and by them having this reputation, they have weekly pullouts of bands for people to continue this stereotype. NME are also known to help up and coming bands by putting pullouts of up and coming bands alongside huge well known bands such as, The Ramones and Razorlight.
Q
This magazine keeps the same look on every magazine to keep the article recognizable to its reader, keeping a title the same or same layout is a good way to keep the same customers because if you break convention and change the layout and typeface each time then your audience are less likely to buy it because, they don’t recognize it or it does stand out from the other magazines on the shelf. People get into habit, of weekly shopping and it is easier to pick out a magazine if it has layout or typeface the same each week, people become familiar with the magazine and are more likely to buy it, if it keeps the same masthead. In comparison to this a new magazine coming on to the market, with a different masthead and pictures to the norm will stand out, and make people want to try a new maybe more exciting magazine, this is what I am trying to achieve with my own magazine. I want my magazine to be different to the norm and stand out on WHSmith shelf against the rest.
I have learnt from this research in many different ways, from layout of the text and imaging, to appropriatly used language. I feel a strong image is key to making sales of the magazine a succsess along with advertisement. Type face is also important due to the fact it has to link to the imaging, it has to complement the image, it is very important that the image is up to date and meets the needs of the buyer. The typeface has to be readable, so that it stands out and is eyecatching so buyers can read the type front easily .
After research on music magazines and what keeps customers coming back it seems to come across that its not all about free giveaways any more unless its two tickets to see Oasis, its about the music its self, about what is going on in the world at the current time keeping up to date and not having leaked information you have heard all week before your weekly magazine comes out. The information given needs to be unique to that magazine pacifically. After all you are paying for the information, the interviews with the bands and gossip. If you have already heard the gossip, from friends the information is no longer interested and is old news.
CONTENT PAGES
A contents page is very important for a magazine it shows you where the best parts of that are advertised on the front of the magazine where they are exactly in side the magazine, it also helps to organise the magazine into readable portions and quides you to the page.
It gives a clear indication as to what is going on through the magazine and therefore requires the most, text and language used. The language used needs to be clear and sharpe so the reader knows exactly where articals and interviews are, so they can go straight to the page, contents page may even have more text then a double page spread as a double page spread is a statement not an information packed page.
I feel overall the contents page needs to relates well with the front cover and corresponds well with the use of pictures and the style writing, along with the colour scheme used on the front page also it has to be constructed neatly and has to be easy to understand.
The contents pages normally have small portrait size photos of the front cover in the corner to emphasises the logo and the magazine itself. The logo on the contents page should not very dominating as it doesn’t want to constantly remind the reader of the logo in hand.
Pictures are used as an advertisement on the contents page to tell the reader what they are going to be reading about further along in the magazines. Pictures therefore are away of showing some of the most famous people in show biz and helps to sell the magazine. For example; if you pick up a magazine in a shop you will tent to look through to see what is init the contents page being mainly the second page in the magazine will tell the reader what is in the rest of the magazine and therefore could make or break the sales of a magazine.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Here are some examples of music magazine double page spreads, the main theme through out these selected pages are an etablished photograph of the person in question in the text along side. The picture is to make sure the reader knows who the artical is about. This helps when they are well known stars so they grap you attention as you flick through and see an extreme close up of a celebratie it makes you wonder what the artical is about and makes you want to read it.
Double page spreads are often used to get peoples attention on the latest trend weather it be a new chocolate bar, car, perfume, band, solo artist, double page spreads are all used to advertise the latest crazz that is out. In advertising, double-page spreads are very costly and are usually used only when the advertiser is making some special announcement, such as the introduction of a new product, or a new brand promotion, so therefore the brand is paying for the cost of the double page spread and the magazine is not, therefore works out as a profit for the magazine and often is how they pay to make the magazine as well as people paying for the magazine.
I feel that for my double page spread I wont a main picture that will take up most of the space so the focus is left on the one person or band so this becomes the main focus and is a WOW point when you turn the page over and have a extreme close up of a band on the page. I also want to introduce putting vouchers on the page so that the people who read the magazine can get money of places to go out or eat at. Either give away vouchers or make the background of the double page spread vouchers overlaid so it gives a feel of tickets. These tickets could be from other gigs, train tickets, money off coupons all used to create a back ground that people can relate to from there experience now or as a child as my age range will vary.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The target audience is very important the colours have to reach out and have to be in touch with the buyers for example everything have to be perfect from coverlines, headlines, sidebars being the right colour, to having a exceptional photo that will be prominant in making sales. Design is important in capturing your target audience it will make a big difference in how my magazine will be accepted. Questionaires will influence me in creating my magazine by assemberling this is will create away for me to get answers from a potential audience, it is important I do this to make sure I meets the needs of the buyers. Also I my find a more specific audience, for example; ’Emo’ ‘Grunge’ ‘Chav’ ‘Rock’ although I want to try hard not leave any age race sex or group out it would help me if I was to develop my magazine further. If I did end up having a specific group then this would help me individualize my magazine and aim it at a specific group, I feel that if my magazine was aimed at everyone then this would may help society in forming these groups and represent the coming together of everyone. This maybe impossible as groups have already been formed over time into music groups but i feel that it will bring many people together, it could make to very different people have one thing in common. Imaging, colouring and quality of the photo will need to be questioned, I feel it is very important I learn what others want before I make the magazine so that it meets the majority of peoples needs. I want to feel that people will give me honest opinions on what they want so I can really develop there ideas as well as my own.
Audience is not only age but race as well i wont to try to capture the fact that this magazine does not discriminate any race and want it to appeal to all races, to make sure everyone is included. I feel that audience is main part of keeping customers by discriminating one culture, this will not only be rasist but will loose customers as we have seen many times in the newpapers, being rasist or biast will loose customers for the magazine.
Class also affects sales I feel as the designer of this magazine, it will be for all class’s. The magazine is not aimed for upper middle or lower class it wants to involved everyone, people should not be judged on there class, race or age. Music can bring many people from these different back grounds together, to listen to the same type of genre, whilst introducing them to other genres which maybe they have never thought about doing before my magazine.
REFLECTION ON THE CONTENT OF THE MAGAZINE
I need to convery what is in the magazine by getting this across on the front page which is essential for someone who is buying the magazine to be able to pick it up and automatically know what the magazine is trying to do editorially. The text that will be on my double page spread will be match the design of my front cover so that the content relates to the main page other wise this will confuse my target audience and will put it down, the whole point of a magazine is to get people to read it not only once but on a regular basis.
COMPETITION
Although there will be other competition I feel that if i have a strong enough design that competes with out magazine, although I need to make my magazine fit into the market of ROCK MAGAZINES I need it to sound at against the rest by making something about my magazine origanal, with my Andy Warhol designing and bright colours, if I design my magazine cover to have a different bright colour each week this could be seen as my own individual selling point, or for example if I have a cut corner on the magazine so that the top right hand side is rounded instead of your normal right angle.
LAYOUT
Page composition needs to be easy to follow and lead the eye easily without struggle, the UK like things to be put in front of them and easy to read, people will not read my magazine if they have to squint to see my typeface or can not read text due the rule of ‘red and green’ the clashing colours makes it very difficult for a someone to read. Pull quotes need to be striking and easy to read if I want people to read my magazine and get them to continue to read I will need to make them obvious and bold.
