Ideology and Representation

These key terms above ^ were important in the making of my music magazine. As you know, ideology means something that guides an individual or large group. That is why i created a questionnaire and target audience, to really identify my magazine audience, from their interests and feedback.

The questionnaire, guided me in many ways i asked valuable questions which would guide my research like:

What magazines do you read? if not why?

If you read a music magazine, do you want to read about a particular music genre, or about different music?

When you're at a Houseparty, what do you enjoy listening to?

Please state 8 of your favourite artists:

What is your favourite colour?

Do you think a magazine should look stylish?

Do you prefer music magazines which i.e. discuss what music celebs are wearing?

Would you be interested in a magazine which was about music you should play at a houseparty?

Do you listen to the Big Top 40 Show?

Do you think magazine about all the lastest music, is more interesting than a specific genre of music, like Rock or R'n'B?

I used a variety of style questions, like "please tick the box", yes or no questions and writing answers, this is so i got a proper feedback from my target audience. i didn't want to bore them with silly questions, so they would end up giving little detail to their answers like "dunno" or something like that! i also kept a minimum of 10 questions which would be key to finding my answers to create an excellent music magazine, and again not bore my target audience.

My analysis from the magazine questionnaire results showed me what my target audience wanted. Over half said they would prefer to read a magazine which was not about a particular genre, Green was their favourite colour, but in a close second were the colours;Blue, Pink , Black and Red. 100% of the people from my survey said they thought a magazine had to be stylish. Only four more people more said they'd like an issue about fashion, current music was most popular to listen to, only one person said they wouldn't read a magazine which was about music to play at a houseparty. 50% of people listen to the Hit Top 40 Show and over half of people would like to read a magazine about the latest music instead of a particular genre, like Rock or R'n'B.

The analysis helped me come to a value magazine decision, i trusted the people i had surveyed as they ranged from 16-19 both male and female and they gave different, but truthful responses. That is one reason why i think my magazine was a success.

From the analysis i concluded that my magazine would be about current music which you could play at a houseparty. For the magazine contents and cover i would use plugs and anchors which were about artists found on the Hit UK Top 40. Colour and style wise the magazine would be contempory and to the target audience specifications.

Using, developing and challenging forms/conventions of a real music magazine

What ways do my music magazine "HOUSEPARTY" do this?

I firstly had to think about what a magazine looked like. By analysing numurous amounts of music magazines designed for different audiences, i had to pick out the typical conventions, so my magazine would stay dynamic, but still have a typical magazine edge people enjoy reading and looking at.

For example, I would look at the fonts, and decide why they were like that...why did they have a certain name? why were they are certain size/font/colour? could they be changed stylistically every issue? and did they leave a memorable imprint in my head, so next time i saw that particular magazine i would remember it?

Secondly i would focus on image- what is the picture portraying? is it suiting a multiple age audience? is it focusing on a particular gender? does it appeal to both men and women?

These questions were important in understanding the magazine's style.

I focused strongly on:
Main Image - The celebrity endorsed in the magazine " BARNEYS STARDUST"
Colour - Attractive for buyers, different per issue? extracted from main image?
Magazine genre - Identified by magazines content, typography, colour, style and celebrity
Secondary images - Small, and give the reader an idea of what's in the magazine
Strapline - Bold, and dominant on the page, relating to main image
Information - What is in the magazine
Lettering - Mainly subheadings and plugs to anchor the audience through different font style
Masthead review - Unique typography, relates to magazine genre, needs to be recognisable
Plug - "Do you want the best houseparty ever?" caption entices the reader to buy the magazine
Lead story - Usually something to do with the celebrity endorsed in the magazine cover

and then considered where to place:
Date - situated near barcode, and sometimes the masthead.
Price - situated near the barcode, and again...sometimes the masthead
Issue number - Indicates to reader how many issues there have been of the magazine
Language - The context, is it formal,informal, feminine,masculine?
Celebrity endorsement - The endorsed model used as the main image- blemish free/photoshop!
Advertising - Kept to a minimal on front page- usually found in contents; Addresses, slogans and webpages for the magazine.

All these helped me develop my forms and conventions of a real music magazine because i wanted my magazine to a reflect a "normal" music magazine i had researched like "Tillate.com" for example, however i challenged the forms because i was forever trying to make my magazine unique, by the Name, Font/Logo, Colour and Image.

I did mood boards to show my target audiences interests, and also a psychological profile of one of a typical reader of my magazine "HOUSEPARTY".

These helped me develop my magazine because i could always check to see what sort of style and look my target audience was interested in, and they challenged them because i wanted my magazine to look niche- but mass marketed!!

Music Magazine Evaluation Introduction

My brief was as follows; create a music magazine front cover,contents page and double page spread, by using Photoshop and InDesign. Analyse other magazines by deconstructing, and finding out the typical conventions. As i had paint shop pro at home i used that to formulate lots of my magazine! all i did was convert the file into a PDF and JPG.

This blog is being used to show my progress and what i did to achieve my final piece of coursework.

I have chosen widely on making a dynamic magazine which could be read by both genders, however the personal profile i chose to create was of a female because i found out with a little research on google.com, that women read more magazines than men.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.ph?storyID=14175229

Enjoy!!