QUESTION 5 ADDRESSING THE AUDIENCE

Coursework evaluation

Design of the magazine

Design I used many different kinds of design features to create an atmosphere for the reader to

enter, one such feature was the way I used the colours of my magazine. for the front cover of my magazine I made sure that the colour red was used for plugs, such as free poster, exclusive and also. I used this design method to get the attention of the readers.  For the contents page I used the colour amber for every important line said by the band member, an example of this would be "We're a amazing team" pieces of information that needed to stand out. 

I used the colours red and black to speak to the rock audience as these two colours are associated with the rock genre. The black is associated with all forms of the rock genre, while the red is associated more with the emo section of the genre.

I also designed my magazine to be straightforward, not really complicated for the readers, as a typical rocker just wants to get the information on how their favourite band is doing. or how their favourite artist is doing, or specifically for my magazine what new and upcoming talent can you expect to see.

Overall I believe that my plan succeeded, as the combination of the style and colour choices does show the growth of my house style. As if have repeatedly used the same colours to give different effects, I used the red to get the attention of the readers, I used the white to highlight the contents of the magazine. I do believe however that I could have put the amber to better use. As it is mainly used in the c0ver page and the double page spread, but then hardly appears in the content page.

How the design appeals to the audience

Design The design of the magazine should mainly appeal to people in the social grades of c1, c2 and d.

This range of social grade will include low management, skilled and unskilled workers, it should appeal to them, as I have made the magazine to look attractive, however I did not try to raise an elegant look, also many of the people who listen to rock music are found in the social grades of c1 and c2, meaning skilled and unskilled workers.

The magazine would also appeal to people who have a strong sense of companionship, that is because one of the major themes of my magazine is the close connection between groups of people, that is why I repeatedly wrote about the backstory of the band members.

The colour scheme of the magazine would also be appealing to the rock audience. I originally had planned to use a more unique colour scheme, to challenge the conventions of rock magazines, it was originally going to be cyan and magenta, however after careful consideration, I decided that it would make more sense to use the colours red, black, white yellow, I had chosen these colours as they are very popular colours in the rock community, black is a style worn by many of the most famous rock artists, such as black Sabbath. I used red as it works very well with the black, I used yellow as it seemed to be a running theme between various other rock magazines, such as kerrang.

The fonts I have utilized would also appeal to the rock community, as they’re all very bold and “loud”, originally I had decided to use cooper black, Goudy stout and Arial, however through my production I decided that the fonts I use should be more aggressive and intimidating, that’s why I replaced cooper black with the much better impact, I changed Arial to a much nicer franklin gothic demi, these fonts are much more appealing to, not only the rock audience, but also readers in general, as it improves the quality of the magazine.

Language used in the magazine

Language The use of language in my magazine was quite difficult for me to filter, for my editorial piece I

used language that my audience would relate to, using words such as hype. for the kickers and cover lines I used proper magazine etiquette, no slang words or the such, just quotes from various bands for example I used a very generic quote such as "We're back and better than ever" For the actual article I began using the type of language that my audience would identify with. An example would be hen the two guys are ripping on each other and Yuri says "Alright billy-no-mates"  Another example is when the band mention says " me and me friend Ed here"  All this contributes to the magazines mode of address. As they’re able to easily identify with not only their favourite artists, but with the staff of the magazine, as the audience will realise that the magazine isn’t just another job for the magazines staff. It’s a dream job, because they are just as big of fans of the groups than the actual audience.

For the general layout of the contents page, I used little to no slang words, it was set out to look as professional as possible.

The mode of address for my magazine, is one were the magazine staff are to appear very similar to the people reading the magazine. I want it to be clear that the staff absolutely love their jobs, that they love the rock genre and all its artists, the good and the bad. I believe that I have succeeded, as the article does show the bond between the two band members, it shows all the right principles of the magazine that I wanted to convey, the closeness of the rock genre, the bond that can be formed with people. I do believe that I could have built more of a rapport with the audience with the editorial piece. As I have used various piece of language that reader would be able to recognise, but I did not get across the joy the editor has at working for the gen z magazine.

Branding of the magazine

The main goal I set for the magazine was to give a sense of belonging, that is so important in the rock culture, I wanted to convey a feeling of companionship between the band being interviewed, it was all a way to show how this magazine represented the fact that the rock genre is about being together. As every aspect of the rock genre has incredibly close groups, just look at the head bangers and the punk groups, even the slightly low key group emos are incredibly close to each other in their own group. That’s why I wanted my magazine to have that feeling of togetherness.

I also intended my magazine to be a place where struggling bands can get their time in the spot light to show what they can really do. This is because so many groups already have a quite large following, these followers may not be reading the magazine, if that band were to then appear in the magazine, their followers would then pick it up, as well as the band gaining some followers from the magazines audience. Overall everybody wins, both the band and the magazine get a new following.

I also wanted my masthead to be instantly recognisable to people who have read the magazine. That is why I kept pushing the Z in generation z as I wanted it to be similar in nature to Kerrangs’ K!. I wanted this as it would quickly spread the news of the magazine, people would be able to easily spread the news of the magazine.

Specific points that would draw attention

There are specific sections of my magazine that I had worked on to draw the attention of the reader, the first example of this is on the cover page, I wanted the main artist, stardust crusaders to get noticed, that is why I put the name of the group in a much larger and more dynamic font, this was to show how unique this groups style of music is. Another area I tried to draw attention to is the actual article, I used certain titles to highlight certain pieces of the article, these pieces highlight the friendship of the two band members, how one of them helped the other during the darkest time in their life.

The kickers and cover lines used big, bold fonts, I did this so that the reader’s eyes instantly go to the masthead, headline kicker and cover lines.

I also used the colour red for thee majority of the writing, I did this as red is quite a colour, it truly makes the information standout, it also gives meaning to specific bands.