Font Research

I have researched different font styles on the internet and have narrowed it down to two fonts from www.dafont.com which I will use for the masthead for my magazine. The 'Smash Punkers' font creates a grungy look to the font relating to the genre of my magazine. Whereas the 'Ruptured Sans' font is similar to the Kerrang! masthead font where a distorted cracked effect is used. I prefer and have chosen to use the 'Smash Punkers' font for my magazine masthead as it looks like a natural distorted effect rather than a graphic distorted effect. However my magazine title has a '!' at the end and the 'Smash Punkers' font does not include a '!' so I will use a '!' front the 'Ruptured Sans' font.

Smash Punkers

Ruptured Sans

Primary Audience Research

I conducted some primary audience research in order to:

• Find out what appeals to my target audience
• To discover any flaws or potential improvements that could be made to my magazine genre
• To identify any gaps in the market and place a refreshing new twist on the genre.

 

Above are the chosen products that I conducted my research on.

I asked my fellow class mates seven questions which they responded to:

1. What age do you think the target audience is?

2. What genre do you think this magazine is? Why?

3. Do you think the colour scheme looks professional? What could be improved?

4. What do you think about the layout of the double page spread?

5. Is there consistency between the front cover, contents page and double page spread?

6. Does the language used on the front cover and contents page make you want to read on?

7. Do you think the masthead fits with the genre? If so, how?

From the research I did, with a selective sample from my target audience, I found that (some quotes included):

• The age of the target audience was teenagers with around the age 15 to 20.
• The gender of the target audience is both genders, but mostly male 'as the genre is very aggressive'.
• The target audience is aimed for middle class people in the C1/C2 category.
• The magazine genre is rock because of the use of rock bands throughout the magazine.
• The language used is slang with 'smashing captions' so is suitable for the target audience and makes them want to read on. - 'slang language so makes people want to read on as they wonder what it is about'/'I'd be more interested in the main story of the article rather than the language used to convey it'.
• The colours used are bold and bright to suit the target audience and genre as they stand out as 'bold and bright colours are typically what you would find in rock related magazines'
• 'The large image on the double page spread shows the attitude of the band which is similar to the attitude of the target audience.'
• The masthead suits the target audience as it is 'big and bold' so suits the target audience and genre of rock.
• The target audience is mainly aimed at middle class males as the type of music is aggressive.
• The cracked text on the masthead creates a 'grungy effect' and represents the aggressive nature of rock.
• To improve, the three colour palette scheme should be the same throughout unlike this magazine where the cover page and contents page is black, white and yellow and the double page spread is black, white and red.
• The colours of the white text used against the black background is effective as it shows contrast so stands out easily.
• The difference of the blue to the three colour palette scheme on the front cover shows that there could be an alternative side to the genre.

Below is a list of stylistic decisions I'll make for my project following my audience feedback:

• I will use lots of images of rock bands/artists throughout my magazine to show that the genre is rock.
• I will use a bold and bright colour scheme to suit the target audience and make it stand out, and the three colour palette scheme will be consistent and carried out throughout the magazine.
• I will use slang language to suit the teenage target audience and 'smashing captions' to make the reader interested and want to read on.
• The image on the double page spread will be large and and the models will be showing attitude to represent the attitude of the target audience.
• I will make the masthead big and bold to suite the target audience and genre of rock.
• I will make the masthead text cracked to show a grungy effect and represent the aggressive nature of rock.
• I will use white text against a black background so it stands out easily as they contrast.

As I have been given some feedback of good aspects and also for improvement of current professional magazines by my peers, this has affected my ideas for my magazine. Some of the features of Kerrang! magazine have been found unpopular by my peers which are also my target audience, therefore I will need to make sure I follow my stylistic decisions I said I would make and do things for my magazine which my peers like and make sure I don't do things for my magazine which my peers don't like. I am going with what my peers say to ensure my magazine is more popular and successful.

Research Into a Potential Target Audience - Secondary

This image is from http://www.slideshare.net/belair1981/kerrang-readre-profile accessed on 21st January 2012 describing the audience profile for Kerrang! magazine.

On http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Brands/Kerrang/, accessed on 21st January 2012 it describes Kerrang!‘s audience profile as ‘Young, individually minded and passionate consumers, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty.’ This shows that the target audience for this magazine is for people with an interest in niche music rather than mainstream music as they are passionate to one genre (rock).

On http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Brands/Q/, accessed on 21st January 2012 it describes Q's audience profile as 'composed of passionate, engaged and open minded music fans driven to continually discover new music - and to use this lust for discovery to influence their friends. The audience is split 75% male to 25% female and is affluent (with 68% ABC1).' This shows that Q’s audience is different to Kerrang’s. It is targeted at an audience with an interest in mainstream music rather than niche music as they are passionate towards a range of genres. This is also aimed at an older working class audience rather than a young one.

My target audience will be ‘young, passionate and individually minded consumers thriving to discover new and upcoming artists.’ I am targeting this group of people as it is similar to Kerrang!’s target audience however the content will be slightly different as it will feature new and upcoming artists so the target audience must be thriving to discover these new and upcoming artists. The target audience will be, like Kerrang!’s, a young audience as they tend to have more passion towards the genre of music. 

My target audience will generally have these following characteristics:

• Age: 15 to 28
• Gender: Both male and female, however mostly male.
• Hobbies and Interests: Attending music gigs of rock/indie bands, reading rock music magazines like Kerrang! and Rock Sound; watching teenage TV dramas like The Inbetweeners and Skins; accessing social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter; shopping at alternative clothing shops like Drop Dead and Urban Outfitters.
• Media Influences: Internet, Technology, Social networking sites, TV dramas, rock music magazines and rock artists.

Research Into Institutions That Distribute Similar Products

Research into institutions that distribute similar products

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Research Into Similar Products

PRINT brief

prelim task = cover + contents page of a college magazine
      +
main task = cover + contents page + double page spread (DPS) of a new music magazine

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the program.

Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.
All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate, minimum of FOUR images per candidate.

Print Prelim Product and Evaluation

Comparison to professional magazines

• My magazine front cover is different from Kerrang and Rock Sound magazine's front cover as their magazines include a group of people (a band) on their front cover, whereas my magazine front cover includes one person.
• The layout of my skyline and bar code are similar to Kerrang and Rock Sound's magazine, and the main sell line is similar to Kerrang's magazine as it has the main content of the main sell line in white and bolder than the rest of the main sell line and it is situated in the middle of the front cover.
• I used two of the same colour pallete scheme of white and black like in Kerrang and Rock Sound's magazine.
• The masthead is different to the ones on Kerrang and Rock Sound's magazine as it is brought in front of the main image, whereas in the professional magazines it is brought behind the image. Also, the font size of my masthead is too small compared to the professional ones.
• The layout of the sell lines are different to Kerrang and Rock Sound's magazine because in the professional magazines the sell lines are situated on the right hand side of the front cover, whereas in my magazine the sell lines are situated on both the right hand side and the left hand side of the front cover.
• The content of the sell lines are different compared to Kerrang and Rock Sound's ones as the content of mine are to do with college and the content of the professional ones are to do with music.
• On my contents page I included my magazine's name, 'Fresh', and 'this week' like in Kerrang magazine. I also included the subscription offer on the contents page like in Kerrang magazine. I only included one image on the contents page like in Rock Sound magazine.
• I think my magazine compares to the professional ones slightly, but I don't think it is like a professional one.

Audience

• My target audience is male and female college students aged between 16 and 18.
• Not aimed at anyone with particular music tastes as there are no music articles included in the magazine.
• Aimed at people with an interest in high street fashion as there are fashion related articles included in my magazine.
• The model included in my magazine is an example of the target audience.
• The colour palette scheme I used related and was suitable to my target audience.
• The language used in my magazine is informal which is suitable for the target audience of young people. 

Attracting/addressing audience

• In order for me to design my magazine front cover and contents page, I needed to know my target audience so I could address and attract them. Knowing who your target audience is makes it easier to design a product for them because I can base my content and images on things which will be suitable to my audience.
• The model on the front cover of my magazine is wearing high street fashion clothes and is also a college student aged between 16 and 18 so she is an example of my target audience.
• The insert of the image of the model on the contents page is a picture of the model wearing specific make-up in which there is an article included in the magazine about.
• I used the colours purple, black and white because purple is the main college colour and as it is a college magazine aimed at college students the colours need to relate to the target audience. I used the black and white colours because they are simple plain colours so the text is easily readable for students.

Technology

• To create my magazine front cover I used the Photoshop software on Apple Mac's. With this software, I learnt how to create new layers which made it easy to move certain parts of text around without moving the whole of the texts and images around. I also played around with the effects on the texts like to make the text have a shadow or blur effect.
• To create my contents page I used the InDesign software on Apple Mac's. InDesign allows you to create multiple columns so it was useful when designing my contents page as there was two columns needed.
• To take my photos for my front cover and contents page, I used an SLR camera. The LCD screen was split into sections so I could use the rule of thirds to take the photo. I also used lighting equipment in a two light set up so the lighting in the image would be produced evenly without dark shadows on the image.
• To convert my images onto the Apple Mac, i removed the memory card out of the SLR camera and transferred the images onto the Mac by putting the memory card into the Mac. I found this a quick and easy way to transfer the images.
• When I designed my flat plan, I had to convert my design onto the Mac. I used a scanner to do this. Like the memory card, this was a quick and easy way of transferring the design. 
• The final piece of new technology I have used in this task was Blogger. This was a new way for me of recording and evaluating my coursework. I found it a good piece of software to use as it is accessible from both home and college and posts can be edited and saved as drafts to come back to later.