Planning Task Three: Masthead Design

 

For my masthead, I have decided to have it's font colour to change depending on the dominant colour of the main image to create cohesion through the front cover. It will be large in size and at the top of the cover to adhere to generic conventions. The masthead and strapline will both be fully capitalised to increase visibility when being sold in a shop, to attract a larger consumer base.

The first masthead is in the font Speedrace and the strapline is in the font Dance. The second masthead is in the font Chopsic and the strapline is in the font Okta. The third masthead is in the font Vampire Raves and the strapline is in the font Konexy. I think that the second masthead's font type communicates that the magazine is focused around rock/metal music and the strapline is easier to read than in the third font type, so I think that I will use the second masthead and font type for my magazine.

Planning Task Two : 60 Second Pitch

Planning Task One : Magazine Title and Strapline

 

For my magazine, I have chosen the title 'The Bassline', as I feel that it easily and quickly communicates that the magazine will focus music. As my strapline, I have chosen ‘Rock Redefined’ because it communicates to the audience that the magazine will have unique and fresh content compared to other music magazines on the market.

Research Task Nine : Target Audience Research And Analysis

 

For my research into the intended audience of an independent music magazine, I used a sample of fourteen people, ages 16-22, consisting of a mix of genders. I interviewed them, using questions that range from the genres of music they prefer, what the magazine could include that would interest them and the general price point that they would pay. The results of this will help me to target my magazine to a specific target demographic and really appeal to them.

From this, I found that most people I surveyed preferred rock/alternative/metal music, all interested in a range of bands and artists from these genres. I also found that most people would be more interested in purchasing a magazine if it offered free products (such as posters or CDs) and would generally pay between £3.50-£5.50 for a music magazine that interested them. Most participants don't buy music magazines or visit music magazine websites as they weren't interested in the content of music magazines on offer and didn't know how to find websites suited to their tastes, due to this I would focus on making sure my magazine strongly appealed to this sub group of people. Everyone I interviewed said that they mostly found out about music related news from social media, because of this I would strongly advertise the magazine's social media accounts on the website/in the magazine. There was a split between people who attended gigs and festivals and people who didn't, those that didn't attend said that they either weren't interested in artists touring locally or didn't keep up to date on when certain artists would be touring, so my magazine could offer information on certain festival/tour lineups and dates.

Research Task Eight : Research Into Other Independent Music Magazine Websites

 

Metal Hammer :

Under The Radar :

Research Task Seven : Independent Music Magazine Websites

The Wire's website features many examples of digital convergence. A consistent masthead is used within both the covers of physical issues and on the website which creates a sense of a consistent brand identity to help consumers easily recognise the publication. The website also advertises the price of a physical copy and has a hyperlink for customers to subscribe to the magazine which heavily aligns the website and physical edition of The Wire together. The home page of the website shows the current issue of the magazine through image and a short description, which encourages audiences of the website to go out and purchase the magazine, this allows for The Wire to increase their profits.

Many instances of cross-media convergence can be seen on The Wires website, they consistently advertise their social media accounts, newsletter and radio show, among other things, this creates an image of the publication being well-established and successful as they have diversified the brand into many areas. It also encourages the consumers to interact with them (such as subscribing to their newsletter, listening to their radio show and following and sharing their social media accounts) which will amplify the magazine by spreading it to a wider audience and is also an example of participatory culture as The Wire are, in this way, relying on their audience interacting with them to further increase their outreach.

Reflection Point : What Have I Learned About Magazine Contents Pages?

Contents page for music magazines usually feature one or multiple images of artists that will be featured in the magazine, the majority of the time this includes the musician featured on the main image of the cover. This attracts the audience's attention as the images stand out and entice the consumer to buy the magazine to read these articles as they are most prominent on the page. 

Generally, content pages separate the different stories into different sections which are marked by sub-headings. These are usually in bold or underlined to stand out against the background, which allows them to be quickly read by a consumer who might be deciding whether or not to purchase the magazine to interest them and encourage them to start reading the magazine. Also, the page numbers are easy to find which allows audiences to quickly and easily navigate the magazine to find what they want to read.

Normally, the stories featured on the contents page have a short caption designed to hook the readers interested and give them some context on what the specific article is about. The captions and titles of the articles are normally written consistently with the language register used on the front cover and throughout the rest of the magazine to easily appeal to their target audience and avoid causing any confusion.

Some reference is usually made to the front cover in the contents page, through image, main colour or other methods, which creates a sense of consistency when looking through the magazine.