My analysis of a general magazine

Magazine Front Cover

This is the closest to how i would like my magazine cover. I would like to aim my magazine at music fans who want to know what all the major artists such as "Kings of Leon" on the front cover have been doing whilst creating their albums or singles which they have released into the charts. My magazine would like to follow this layout as their is all different types of artists who release different types of music and that is the type of audience i am crying out for. The audience i am hoping to specialise in is indie rock as the music is understandable and does not have the loud instruments and music which some rockers use. The audience i am aiming at is the young teenagers to young adults who have aspirations to become as famous as the stars featured on the front cover of this magazine. 

 The text used on the front cover which contains the bands name appears in the middle of the page with a mix of font that contains edges and is not as bubbly or creative as some bands who release themselves. The text is spread along the page and due to their outstanding success in the UK and USA it makes people want to read even more about the band. The fact with it being a "World exclusive" means that they may be telling the magazine their own inspiration behind the album/single they are about to release.

 The other thing which catches inspiration from this front cover is that their is a CD feature within the magazine. This has been done as it contains classic American music which everybody loves and which inspires people to have a good time. The text is also identical to the main title on the page containing "Kings of Leon". This has been done as it is trying to keep the audience interested and facinated to have a listen to it. The front cover of this CD also has a vibrant mix of red and white which is eyecatching and very bright and this will make the potential reader to listen to the music aswell as listening to the music. The other text featured on this front cover contains other interviews taking place in the magazine.This is not as eye catching as it is suppose to encourage the audience to read the other interviews featured within the magazine. This text has been done in bold sans-serif font and this is used to encourage audiences to read the magazine.

Contents Page

This is how i intend to have my contents page. This will be the intended layout, but their will be more pictures inserted than their is currently placed on this contents page. The Bold fonts on the page are used for advertising reasons and they are mainly used to advertise the main feature page in the magazine. The Layout of the page is how i would like my magazine to be like. However mine won't be identical to this as it will have pictures above aswell as below the main feature picture. 

Feature Article

This article is a reasonable article, but it would sell copies and would be read because of the acts name. The Picture is also professional and is eyecatching towards the audience. This is because we can see that the headline is in the largest size of text, the subtitles are in a lower cased font and the main bulk of text is in an even lower. This has been used to create a general feel for the magazine and hopefully encourage people to have a read of the article. The article has a very serious feel and as its a serious music magazine which is aimed at fans of indie rock and those who have general interest in music overall.

The Current Top 40 (1/2/11)

• This Week's Number 1 Grenade Bruno Mars
• Number 2 We R Who We R Ke$ha
• Number 3 Rolling In The Deep Adele
• Number 4 Coming Home (feat. Skylar Grey) Diddy - Dirty Money & Skylar Grey
• Number 5 Do It Like a Dude Jessie J
• Number 6 Blind Faith Chase & Status
• Number 7 Yeah 3X Chris Brown
• Number 8 What's My Name? Rihanna & Drake
• Number 9 Traktor (Explicit Edit) Wretch 32
• Number 10 Hold It Against Me Britney Spears
• Number 11 Eyes Wide Shut JLS
• Number 12 Firework Katy Perry
• Number 13 Only Girl (In the World) Rihanna
• Number 14 Higher Taio Cruz
• Number 15 Love You More JLS
• Number 16 Thinking of Me Olly Murs
• Number 17 Lights On (feat. Ms Dynamite) [Single Mix] Katy B
• Number 18 Just the Way You Are Bruno Mars
• Number 19 Forget You Cee Lo Green
• Number 20 Cooler Than Me Mike Posner
• Number 21 Raise Your Glass P!nk
• Number 22 Like a G6 (feat. The Cataracs & Dev) Dev, The Cataracs & Far East Movement
• Number 23 When We Collide Matt Cardle
• Number 24 Invincible (feat. Kelly Rowland) Tinie Tempah
• Number 25 Make You Feel My Love Adele
• Number 26 Your Song Ellie Goulding
• Number 27 Let It Rain Tinchy Stryder & Melanie Fiona
• Number 28 F**kin' Perfect P!nk
• Number 29 Happiness Alexis Jordan
• Number 30 All Time Low The Wanted
• Number 31 Who's That Chick? (feat. Rihanna) David Guetta & Rihanna
• Number 32 Just a Dream Nelly
• Number 33 Alejandro Lady GaGa
• Number 34 The Flood Take That
• Number 35 Higher The Saturdays & Flo Rida
• Number 36 2012 (It Ain't the End) [feat. Nicki Minaj] Jay Sean
• Number 37 Hello (UK Radio Edit) Martin Solveig & Dragonette
• Number 38 Hollywood Michael Bublé
• Number 39 It's OK Cee Lo Green
• Number 40 She Said Plan B

The Genre of music i am aiming at being placed in the magazine which i am doing are either R&B or indie rock. I am currently unsure about which genre i am doing, but their are currently 18 songs in the current top 40 which follow the aims and characteristics of the magazine which i am hopefully going to publish and comply with in my coursework and future publication of the magazine.

My Preliminary task



For my Preliminary task i have to create a music magazine. This magazine is aimed at students who like to read a magazine which contains exclusive interviews whilst reading through life in the college. The Magazine i am trying to portray is a factual magazine which contains a mix between interviews and facts about the life of a student.  

 The magazine is also colourful and is very advertising to the general audience. This a good point of the magazine as the background shows it is going to be interesting and eye-catching to the general audience. The choice of text used is also good as it is punctual and advertising  and it is easy to read, however the background placed behind the text it very detoriating and it kind of clashes with the background image.

 To improve this i would fade the background behind the text into the page, so you can see as much of the text as possible without the text background interfeering as much.

Feedback 27.1.11

Well done Aaron. You are working hard on this already. Please continue to work through the research. You need to anlayse the conventions of a real magazine - front page, contents and feature. Also, ensure that yout prrelim contents page sketch is uploaded with the front page - Mike or Nikki can scan it for you if you ask them. Please also book a workshop time for next week with Mike or Nikki.

Mrs A

Conventions of the magazine.

 All Magazines have to follow a similar rule. They all have to be either monthly "glossies" or cheaper weekly magazine. They all have to have a certain amount of intent on the front cover and the feature inside the magazine to hopefully encourage people to read the magazine in the future.

 Magazine covers are suppose to be colourful and advertising for the potential reader. Profits for the magazines are made by using good, creative and exciting, this has to be done as their is so much competition for the same types of magazines and you have to make your magazine the best around due to competition from other publishers. A colour scheme is also important for the magazine as it is creating an "house style" which makes it appealing to the target audience and if the wrong colourscheme is placed you could be making a big mistake.

All magazines have titles and subtitles on their front covers, these have to be eyecatching and visually interesting and are done to tell the audience what the name of the magazine is and what is featured in the website. This is done to encourage people to open the magazine and read the feature story in the magazine. This text is usually done in creative fonts and various types of colours to encourage people to pick up the magazine and read all the feature stories included. The style of font on the front cover has to reflect the genre of music magazine which you are aiming to publish and sell to the vast audience of the magazine.

The pictures on the front cover, contents page and the feature document are even more important to the audience, then the titles and the features which are included within the website. Some people may only pick up the magazine because of the image and it is vital for the photographer aswell as the publisher that they are going to sell copies of the magazine. The dress code of these celebrities have to suit the genre aswell and made to look like they are part of that certain music genre.

Many magazines have a double page feature which contain a big picture of the interviewed person across the feature page with columns of text either over or at the side of the main picture. This has been done so people can look at the pictures and the text if they wish to have a browse at the text. The headline and the size of text has to be eye-catching and readable by the audience. The celebrities may only do a few interviews per year and these are mainly for major releases or products of theirs which are going to released or have been released in the past.

A contents page in a magazine has to be as creative as the front cover. They have to use dominant images which tells the audience what sort of magazine they are about to read. The images and the text placed in the contents page often determine if the person is willing to read the magazine or not. The images also have to be appropriate to the audience as they can often determine whether the person is willing to read the magazine or not. This means that the contents page has to be perfect or the potential audience will put the magazine back and pick something else up.

My initial ideas

I would like my potential magazine to be aimed at fans of R&B/Indie Rock music. I would however like to aim it at teenagers and young adults who have a potential interest in that certain type of music, my magazine would be aimed at 15-23 years olds or those who have a general interest in that taste of music. I want my magazine to be creative and catch the eyes of the potential reader of my magazine, i also hope to contain enough information to enhance my audience and hopefully see them buying the next issue and keep on buying it.