Magazine Planning

Content and Layout

     The results from my questionnaire and the opinions will form the backbone of what my magazine will be like. So far I know it will focus on rock and pop music, contain interviews and reviews which comes under human interest and also a bit on gaming. My results also showed that people wanted it not to be too serious so I will make sure not to make it too formal.

     My analysis on the two magazines NME and Metal Hammer have given me insight on how current magazines are laid out. Both are more or less opposite ends of the spectrum which gives me a good overview of how genres often dictate layout. Because NME magazine is more in line with my target audience than metal hammer, it goes without saying that my magazine should look a bit like that (thank God). However results from my questionnaire showed that people prefer more splashed out articles rather than a broadsheet style specifically like the one used by NME. This doesn't surprise me as the NME double page spread was so depressing that I found the thought of starting my philosophy essay quite delectable. Funnily enough I thought the one in Metal Hammer was a lot more appealing though in turn that one didn't have quite enough words.

     NME DPS - Far too much writing          Metal Hammer DPS - A lot of             Ideal DPS - Just over half of it
     and the pictures were boring.             picture which is nice but I miss          is filled with pictures. Nice
     Kidney stones sound more fun             having something to read.                amount of reading material
     than this.                                                                                                 and some stuff splashed about
                                                                                                                    a bit as said in the
                                                                                                                    questionnaire.




     Regarding the contents page I have decided that I rather like the NME one after all. Though I would like to see a better table of contents as this makes it feel a bit more ordered and proper. I propose a layout a bit like the one shown below. The table of contents is spruced up but nevertheless it is still that recognisable list that we all know and love. The main articles expand outwards and draw your eyes to them.

Front Cover Design
     The front cover is of course the most important. It's supposed to draw people towards the magazine by being eye catching and standing out and then making the consumers eyes be drawn to the content. This will therfore require a lot more planning than the contents page and DPS.
     I will start by thinking up a magazine title and then designing it so it stands out and also represents the magazine it is on. In this case it needs to be young and casual, not patronising as many designs and have a good use of colours.

     The names which crosed my mind were:

• Tier 1
• Now Tunes
• Escape
• Uncovered
• Intermission
• Encore
• Numero Uno

     I have chosen four favourites from the list and have come up with initial design ideas which are shown to the right.

     Now I have to decide which of the four will be my final title. 'NOWtunes' sounds a bit too much like the NOW albums so I won't use that one. 'Numero Uno' is Latin, I like Latin, latin is fun. However I don't think many young people (christ I sound old) would have even heard of Latin, let alone appreciate it on their magazine. So I am torn between 'Encore' and 'Tier 1'. I have decided that I will go for Encore for one reason. I think it better represents what my magazine will be about. It's going to have more news and reviews which will hypathetically be carried out by the magazine itself and so it's an encore. Tier 1, though pretty awesome doesn't have the same relation with the magazine.

     Below is the process I went through regarding the title design.

     My questionnaire results said the people wanted a magazine that was pale blue, white and yellow. I have chosen to make the title red because it stands out. Having a title that blends in with the background is a bad idea. 

     This is a rough plan of what my magazine cover should look like. The title is in the upper half of the magazine like they are in the two magazines I analyised. There are blue boxes for articles inside and a yellow strip to help. The titlewill probably be a bit smaller. I don't really know what else to put here...

Metal Hammer magazine analysis

Front Page Spread

• Very powerful cover and is immediatly eye catching.
• Long haired gentleman is standing infront of the magazine title 'Hammer'. This is a successful magazine.
• Title of the band is in the middle of the magazine, presumably the band is the main feature of this edition.
• One liner to grab attention 'and the future of metal'.
• Other band names are listed in the bottom left so the viewer is immediatly aware of whats's in it.
• Questions in the bottem right corner to make viewers want to know that answers. Alleged experts will apparently answer them.
• The style is very 'loud' it almost personifies the type of music and is designed to only attract people who like metal music.
• I think it almost nauiating to look at but that's just me.

Contents Page

• A traditional table of contents (Horray!)
• Still seems quite scary to me, perhaps that's the point.
• Article on the right somewhat ironically called 'Look in the mirror' so you are immediatly thrown into the magazine.
• Colours are those I would associate with death and depressing things, the audience likes death and depressing things.
• Already there are adverts at the bottom, yay.

Double Page Spread

• Six men look at the camera, the camera looks up at them and one points down. They are being portrayed as something powerful and something we should like.
• The name of the band stounds out and takes up most of the first page along with a quote that is designed to drawe in readers.
• I like this, there's sunshine and no lightning bolts, no ones wearing face paint or sticking their tounges out. It's a lot less intense and people I have asked find this a lot more satisfying than the other oxorbitant pages.

NME magazine analysis

Front Page Spread

• Band on front stands out and draws your eye towards it. They are looking straight at the camera.
• Name of band equally large and prominent. More noticable than 'NME' in top left.
• Plain whitebackground makes band stand out.
• 'Satanic majesties' and 'The new queens of the underground' are the dominent phrases on magazine.
• Magazine about Warpaint, not NME magazine.
• Two other bands mentioned off to the side which are featured in magazine .
• Another feature- 'The 50 greatest debut albums ever' which sparks interest even for those who aren't loyal NME consumers.
• The 'Free classic posters' are shown at bottom. Fans of the bands featured will spot this and may buy the magazine for this content.
• All writing is upper case so it can stand out.

Contents Page

• Not a traditional layout. Designed for a young audience.
• Only has pages that might be of interest to audience (possibly those who like Warpaint?).
• Page dedicated to upcoming national event (Christmas).
• Rather than saying contents it is labled 'Inside this week' to demonstrate the unconvetiality of the magazine (young audience?).
• Personally as someone in NMEs target audience I dislike the randomness of the contents page. Page articles are layed out with no particular order. What's on page 44?
• It's not initally a noticable contents page. People usually associate them with tables or at least expect to see larger page numbers. When flicking through I passed it thinking it was just a page.

Double Page Spread

• Looks very much like a broadsheet, contrast to the contents page which is a bit more fun.
• I hope it's an interesting article because it's not something I would read for the sake of it.
• Doesn't really make any good use of the two pages.
• Very dreary colours; the sort of colours I would associate with a ration book rather than a music magazine.
• Overly very boring and depressing.

Questionnaire And Results

Objective
     In order to create a magazine that best suits the reader I carried out a questionnaire. I asked questions about how the cover should look, what sort of content they would like to see in it and even on colour choice. I planned to hand out 16 questionnaires; 8 to boys and 8 to girls so as to get results that were as fair as possible. I also gave a selection of questions which were either multiple choice or gave a space for someone to write an answer.

Results

Q.3 - A lot of people never buy magazines so my magazine won't suddenly be issued every week, I instead will compromise and issue it every fortnight.
Q.4 - As expected.
Q.5 - Varied selection. Music mag should include some film/gaming, human interest and car contexts.
Q.6 - As shown.
Q.7 - Interviews and Reviews appear to be the more favoured content.
Q.8 - The majority of people prefer Rock and Pop.
Q.9 - As shown.
Q.10 - Magazine needs to be slightly more playful than serious but still remain seriousness.

Q.11 - As shown; magazine should be priced at around £1
Q.12 - Adverts should relate to content i.e. band t-shirts and other similar merchandise.
Q.13 - There should be some information on the front cover
Q.14 - There content in the magazine should be more splashed out.

Conclusion
     These results will act as guidelines for the music magazine I aim to create. That way I will end up with a magazine that suits it's audience.

My Perliminary Task

Basis
    I understood the need to have two articles; the main one takes up the cover and would be on the subject of spooning (an old sixth form game) and a second on a smaller article inside the magazine.

Layout
     Because of the positioning of the background picture and my attempt to show only the back pocket of the jeans I was unable to place the title of the magazine at the top of the page. I added the second article preview to the side to emphasise its positioning in the magazine. Other details such as the slogan and issue numbers are to add a professional effect and the Guilsborough logo was added to show that it was a magazine associated with the school.