Evaluating My Music Magazine

By Izabella Tulip-Parkin

My music magazine takes major influence from NME,

The FLY and Mojo. After researching music magazines such as Mojo, NME and Q and the industry I choose a

genre I was familiar with and knew well which

alternative/indie genre was. A key way in which my

music magazine challenges the conventions of most

media products is that my magazine is free. Which means it is open to a wider university/student based

audience as anybody could pick it up and would be in

expensive. After dissecting the front covers and contents

pages of magazine like Mojo and NME I decided I want a

clean and simplistic layout, which looks modern and quite arty as that is the direction I want my magazine to

go in.

With my chosen music genre of alternative/indie which

includes such bands as the Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and

Vampire Weekend which I based my layout and design on. My

layouts are simplistic by this I mean my page is note cover in a

large range of images and massive clumps of text, but instead

one main image surrounded my small sections of text spread

across the page. They follow a theme and colour scheme of

black, red and deep purple with some grunge undertones that

is promoted by the front cover image. These themes come

through also in my chosen logo which looks like an old

fashion typewriter style text and font type used on my front

cover and the key idea of using a simple layout. I think this

reinforces the ideas that I aimed my magazine at the more

indie music lovers and arty students. But overall the most

prominent way in which I target my social groups is by what

music I include in my magazine.

I if were to have my magazine distributed I would imagine media institutions such as Bauer and Times Inc. would publish

my magazine as they distribute in the UK. They publish such magazines as NME, Q, Kerrang and Mojo. I have chosen these

distributors as they publish magazines that are major influencers of my magazine and I feel it would be a magazine

that’s fits in some of the niche magazines they already publish. I would want my magazine not only to be stocked in newsagents,

but also galleries and indie clothing shops e.g. American Apparel, Vintage Boutique in Brick Lane, Topshop etc. I want

my magazine distributed in a range of shops as I feel it means it spreads out to a wider audience, but still targeting my niche groups of alternative, indie and rock music fans. Also I know

that this were my target will go and be so would be great publicity.

My demographic is indie, alternative and rock music fans from the late teens up to mid-30s. Also a key group would be students from secondary to university. I have this target audience it has been found that teens and students are the people who read the

most music magazine. Also I feel that my magazine would appeal to them most, as students are the largest niche group of indie

and alternative music fans.

The first thing and the most important part of a magazine is the front cover, which is

what I thought about most as the magazine is the first the reader sees, and what draws

them most to the magazine. I experimented with a range of fonts, as I need different fonts

to create different effect and need to match different themes. The front cover image is

bright and bold which thinks I think is eye catching and would draw the reader to the

magazine as the in the center of the image is the main story ‘Billy Rose’ who is portrayed

modestly, but you still get this idea that she is a strong minded women and . Then all the

other elements on the page I made sure worked well the complement the image that

makes it look stylish and sophisticated. For example the tagline and title of the images

the two fonts compliment the image and are relevant and add to the grunge/rock tone of

the image. Also the colour scheme and font sizing of the tagline lines work effectively

together and look quite stylized. I kept my contents and article layout simplistic as it

looks elegant I feel fits in perfectly with the indie and alternative genre. For instance the

content page I kept the background white and all text in black, but worked will with the

vibrant images which I used. I followed the idea of the left third which is where I listed

my tagline to each page reference which I varied the size and font type between. Also a

key element on the page was my used of lines as I found it made the pages easier to read

and follow through , but also made the page look more clean and spacious. For the layout

of my double page spread article I had one page which had an A4 size picture of ‘Billy

Rose’ and then the tagline I made sure stood out, but complimented the main image. The

article itself was a simple column layout so is easy to read and I used a range of size and

colours so that you could see the change in paragraph and point. When writing my

article I not want to use overly complicated language to scare my audience, but to target

my niche group by using language that will make most sense students and specially indie,

alternative and rock music fans. Using terms that are only relevant to my niche group

and make it seem as if I am speaking directly too they not will formal language, but being

opinionated and being very informal almost like I am having a conversation with some.

I learnt how to use adobe software more effectively and skill

fully such as InDesign and Photoshop. Such as I know how to

design an layout a double page spread article or a front cover

and how to change and create taglines and titles or organize

an article. Also on Photoshop I can cut a figure from a

background and place on another background. I have

explored a range of Website I can create presentations on. It

has shown me how much time and skill goes into designing a

magazine and given me idea of how to create other thins using

this software. Given me a taster of what it could me like to

work in the media industry.

I found the research into the industry incredibly interesting looking at the media industry and how it has been affected by the economy over the years. Also it has been interesting to see what sells and how you to develop a product and what sort of research you need to do to most successfully establish and sell a magazine. I have enjoyed the designing aspect of creating the

magazine and thinking about what is most appealing and when designing think about what layout works best

dependent on your genre. Also how you can create a front cover and other pages where all the elements on it inter lock and work well besides each other. Overall I have enjoyed the

process of creating a product and researching the media industry and is has encouraged me to consider what sells in

the music magazine industry and what isn’t out their yet. Also after getting feedback from friend and other class members they could pick out the genre of music I was aiming towards

from the front cover and like the images and found the article enjoyable to read.