First Draft Front Cover and Focus Group

This is the first draft of Shuffle. It is very similar to my flat plan, I wanted to keep everything what I planed. So the main image of a male place on the middle of the page and he is wearing a big coat and sunglasses to make it look more as a pop music magazine.The background is black with big blue flames behind the main image to make it more eye catching. The masthead is presented in large and white fonts on the dark background so it is very eye catching and bold for the readers and they can clearly see it is a music magazine. The cover lines also presented in white but with different fonts to be less bold but still eye catching on the dark background and they are placed around the main image. The numbers and the ,exclusive, are presented in yellow and also with thicker fonts to make the front cover more conspicuous and interesting. I have added a banner  at the bottom of the front page, and it is presented in white and the bar code is placed in the bottom left corner. 

 

Flat plan of front cover - music magazine

This is the flat plan for my front cover of a music magazine. The main image will be of a male standing slightly to the right but still looking directly into the camera. The genre of this music magazine will be pop and alternative rock, so to show this he will wear a big,black coat and sunglasses. I have chosen to place my masthead in the middle of the top of the page, and it's will be white to be bold on the dark background. The cover lines will be placed around the main images, and they also will be white but different font. I have added a banner at the bottom of the page, which will include extra gifts, and the barcode and the price also in the bottom right hand corner of the page. 

The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a powerful compositional technique for making photos more interesting and dynamic. It's also perhaps one of the most well known.The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagnie breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) s that you have 9 parts.

Here is some examples:

The use of language in the music magazine

Language and Mode of Address 

Mode of address: The ways in which media texts speaks to audience. How music magazines are presented to the audience.
Language: use of language show us who the audience, the genre of the music magazine and the purpose of the text.

The use of language of the Q magazine is 1st person, e.g. 'I thought I was gay', 'I am an ambitious little tosser', 'I only lost my virginity two years ago', 'We are not Travis ok?', 'I am excited. There's so much to tell you'. He tells to the audience his personal secrets, but we also can see he wanted to tell us ( 'There's so much to tell you').The magazine use the direct mode of address. The subject of the text communicates directly with the audience. the effect is to make the audience feel involved.
 Use of hyperbole (Britain's Biggest Music Magazine) making the music magazine sound better then it is.
This magazine shows an other side of the singer of the band, which can draw the audience attention. As we can see the cover lines are discuss his secret word.

The contents page of Vibe magazine obviously aimed at women. The cover lines are presented in black big fonts so we can clearly see it's discuss the fashion.
The magazine use informal mode of address, they use colloquial vocabulary and personal pronoun to engage their target audience and make them feel as if they are talking directly to them, e.g. "Robin Thicke just can't get enough of your love" or  "....CrazySexyNasty..."
The magazine also use direct mode of address, the subject of the text directly communicate with the audience so they feel involved and the models or celebrities often look directly out of the magazines, engaging seemingly in direct eye contact with the reader. They draw the audience into the magazine.

The double page of We Love Pop magazine is definitely use informal mode of address and direct mode of address. She is talking about herself in 1st person so this makes it more personal,  so she is directly communicate  with the audience.
The subject of the text is directly communicate with the audience and the effect to make them feel involved,  it is as if they are talking directly to us at home..."Forget everything you think you know about Cher Lloyd and read this interview now....". This sentence draw the readers attention. On the right side the main image of Cher Lloyd cover the whole page and she looks directly out of the magazine, engaging seemingly in direct eye contact with the reader and her position as she is hold her hands is fitting with the article on the other side, because she looks like she did something wrong.

Questionnaire Analysis

The result showed that the most common age of people interested in music magazines were between the ages of 16-18. I will therefore aim my music magazine at this specific age group by including things that will interest them the most. 

From my results I found that Pop and Rap were the most popular genre of music for the selection of people that answered my questionnaire. I want my magazine appeal to pop and alternative rock. 

I generally found that not many people read music magazines. 

It seems that readers are attracted to the up and coming artists and the reviews. So when I'm planning my music magazine I will try to focus on the reviews and up and coming artists. 

Youtube is the most popular of people accessing their music. iTunes and Spotify was another popular answer. I think the reason Youtube is the most popular is because is good to see the video along with the music. And iTunes is also popular because it is free and easy to use.  

 

From the results I can see most people want that the publication be circulated weekly and most people don't want to spend more then £3 on music magazines. I will try to encourage sales by including things that will make them want to purchase this magazine.

Music Magazine Quastionnaire

I did a questionnaire to research what my target audience want to see in my music magazine. I asked them about the genre, favourite artists, pricing and what they look for when purchasing a music magazine.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - linked to my music magazine

In 1943 Abraham Maslow (american psychologist) proposed the idea of a psychological hierarchy of needs in human beings.
This is a theory which suggest there are 5 stages people go through in life. The theory says that at each stage we have different motivations that drive us.
I can apply these stages to media then  I can use them to try to understand the motivations behind my target audience as well as another piece of evidence to support my arguments.




We have to look at the Self-actualization stage, where we can see the morality, creativity and spontaneity. I will try to satisfy these area's by interesting articles, eye catching cover lines, use of colour, and to draw the readers attention I will use big,bold and very eye catching title. The cover lines will discuss interesting arguments and interviews with artists to capture the readers interest.