Finished Magazine-Contents Page

Finished Magazine-Double Page Spread

Publisher

For my publisher I decided to use IPC Media. I choose this particular publisher over others as one of it's 3 main audiences are male-which is my target audience. It also publishes over 60 iconic magazine brands including NME a popular music magazine not to dissimilar to mine, so this proves it has what i need to make my magazine a success. IPC also had a website that reaches over 14 million users per month, this would be very useful for me  starting a new magazine as it would give me a lot of advertising to my target audience. It had a very diverse printing and digital portfolio that can offer me what I want at a price that will enable me to sell my magazine at the price I wanted to without having outstanding costs.

First Draft

This is my first draft for my magazine front cover,  feel that there are a lot of things that need to be improved and the page doesnt work well as a whole. I really like the picture I have chosen as it should draw you in as the eyes are looking straight out at you. But I think it is ruined by the cover line- it has been out between two large pieces of text which really takes you eye off the image and too the text, and the main cover line is more noticeable than the masthead. The cover line itself also looks strange and not quite right, I don't think i need the little explanation at the end in blue as it looks too much and it's not needed, but I want to try writing her full name to see if it would make more of an impact. This way I can make the text smaller so impact goes mainly back to the masthead.  I like how I have laid out my masthead, the only thing i don't like is the price next to the date, i think it may look better with the barcode as the barcode if just floating around and looks in the way. But i would keep the date where it is, as it fits it well and doesn't take anything away from the masthead just adds to it in a positive way. I like how my cover lines look but I do think they could do with being re-written as some of them don't sound right for example the 'alert' and 'songs by' ones, they seem too predictable titles and aren't interesting enough to be on the front page. Also I think there is room for another cover line where the barcode currently is. I like how the 'elbow' cover line stands out being in a bubble, but i think putting the embossed effects on it made it look too fussy rather than clean and professional- in my next layout I would loose the effects on it and try the bubble in another contrasting colour like yellow so it stands out more but also put another cover line in yellow so it's not completely alienated.
Overall I think it needs a lot of work, but doing a draft was really useful as it showed me where i was going wrong and how I could improve on what i had done, and keep it all looking very professional.

Genre Of My Magazine

I wanted to choose a genre of music that i could relate to and that I would know a lot about so therefore my magazine would be affective rather than someone trying to produce something not know fully and being able to experience it.
With this in mind I decided on an 'indie' genre- which as well as being one of my favorite types of music it is also a genre on the rise, with many new bands appearing in this genre so i would always have something new to talk about. I would want to keep to the types of music that my readers would enjoy, bands like Mumford & Sons, Foals and The Temper Trap. But also try and introduce other artist that are loosely around the genre like Bruno Mars and JamieT which readers may enjoy listening to but aren't technically part of the same genre. I would also want to have a section in my magazine for bands/artist that are 'up and coming' so therefore helping them into the music scene and getting credit for it in my magazine!
This genre is also very gender neutral so can be enjoyed by both male and females. Although my magazine is mainly aimed for men, I would like it to appeal to a small percentage of women readers that are serious about music.

Personalizing My Magazine

I wanted to give my magazine a personal look to it, so it kept it informal and friendly! so i designed two logos that would appear on my DPS and throughout my magazine. I used my original masthead as the base for both my logos, i did this so it would keep it familiar and easy to recognize and also to know what it is about!

This was the first one i designed, i would put it when it on articles and when talking about new bands/artists. It's to show that the magazine likes this and to look out for them in the future. I used the masthead but removed the black background so it had no fill, so therefore blended in with what it was in front of. I then used a hand-written font that i downloaded. I purposely wanted to use a hand-written font as it makes it look even more personal-also I put it on a slant so it looked although someone had just scribbled it across the logo. i kept to the black simple background that could be edited to any colour of background- but I put the orange circle behind the main part of the writing I did this as orange has been the colour scheme throughout the magazine and the colour 'the wire' should be connected with. Overall I think it gives a good impression and nice, familiar to see on a page!

I also designed this small logo for the magazines website, i thought a logo would make a better lasting impression on the reader than just simply writing it and if someone wanted to quickly find the magazines website it would be a very obvious indictor. Again the original masthead come primarily through in this logo which helps people remember my magazine. But this time i kept the orange shape around the title and simple wrote '.com' overlapping the orange shape so it was clear it was all linked together. I also inserted and edited in a mouse icon which is very easy to recognize and it always associated with computers so at a glance you would know what the logo is about.

Reader Profile

As i want my magazine to have a good reputation i chose to have my readership in their mid-teens to early twenties (14-24) although it is quite a wide gap i think as all my readers will be serious about music it won't matter and my content will appeal to all. My readers will be very style orientated, buying clothes from minor designer labels such as Fred Perry, Jack Wills and Diesel- but also going to high-street stores like Topman and H&M. They will be able to afford these things as they are at the age when they are getting jobs or how an allowance. This also enables them to go out with friends and be social, enjoying the cinema and friendly gatherings. Also as they are part of the technology generation they will be very interested in the most up to date gadgets, such as xbox and ipods-often opting for the ipod classic as it holds most songs and movies. Also choosing to relax by keeping up with their friends online on social sites like facebook and twitter and watching television mainly channels like E4 which show comedy and drama programs like misfits and skins. The older half of my target market would enjoy going to clubs and pubs, whereas the younger half look forward to thins in the near future! As they are all quite young and mainly male they don't have a great care for dieting usually opting for junk food for example subway and burger king.