Leila Alimadadi

In the research process, I analysed different types of magazines from gossip magazine to rock music ones. They were all unique in their own differing ways and appropriately targeted to their audience by featuring articles they would want to read.

From recording my vox pop and talking to pupils in my school year, I have decided that my music magazine will be R&B/pop based as this proved to be a favourite genre from my target audience who will be female teenagers aged 15-18 and like this genre of music. I want my magazine to appeal to this particular target audience as but I don’t feel there is a music magazine out that targets this audience specifically, and therefore I want to produce a magazine that suits this target audience who like this popular genre of music.

Looking at existing magazines that are currently in the market gave me an good idea of how the layout of my pages should look like, (e.g. most of the music magazines used one artist as their main cover image) and also ideas on what to include that will be appealable to my target audience. I also discovered what features my target audience would want to find in a music magazine including the latest gossip on their favourite artists and exclusive interviews. Later I conducted an online poll to find out what type of feature I should use and will be later explaining the results.

My magazine will compete against magazines including Billboard and Top of the Pops. However my magazine will differ because it will be based on the two music genres of pop and R&B combined together as they link together well and are associated with each other.

I believe the combination of these two music genres will make my magazine appealable to a large segment of teenagers who like both these similar music genres.

The publishing house I have chosen to design a magazine for is Bauer Media. They have around eighty of more media brands varying from magazines to radio stations such as Heat, GRAZIA, Closer, FHM, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, 4Music and many more. I believe my music magazine fits well within their product portfolio and is a suitable publishing house for my genre of music.

POPR&B

The USP of my music magazine will be that readers will be able to win a £5 iTunes voucher with each issue to download their favourite songs.

Each issue will have a printed code and readers can put this code into the magazine’s website to see if they have won the £5 voucher.

The chance of winning a prize will encourage people to buy my magazine and makes my magazine unique and stand out compared to others in the market who don’t offer such prize.

This is Rebecca Hui. She is 17 years old and is a student currently studying for her A Levels at 6th Form. She likes to spend her spare time going out with friends, socialising with other young people and listening to music on her iPod and some of her favourite artists include Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj and Drake as her favourite genre of music is R&B/Hip Hop but also likes to listen to dance music when she is out. Rebecca also likes to go see her favourite artists at concert venues like The 02 Arena and Wembley. When she watches TV, she often watches teen drams such as 90210, Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries. She also tends to listen to music channels such as MTV, Kiss and 4Music

Her fashion sense is quite girly and stylish as she likes to follow the current fashion trends but also adds her own quirky touch to make it her own. Her favourite clothing items would be skinny jeans and dresses that she can wear casually as a day outfit or dressed up with high heels for night time when she goes out.

She tends to buy magazines every few weeks when she has time to and her favourites include Heat and Look as she likes to read up on celebrity gossip and see what her favourite celebs are wearing as she is interested in fashion. She doesn’t buy music magazines on a regularly basis but if she was to purchase any she would buy Billboard or Top of the Pops as they are the magazines that include her favourite artists but she feels as if there isn’t a music magazine currently out that stands out to her.

The target audience for my magazine will be teenage girls aged 15-18 who listen to R&B/pop music as I feel that there isn’t a particular magazine out currently that targets this specific target audience. Taking into consideration the age of my target audience, I have decided that my magazine should be priced around £1.50-£2.00 as they do not earn much money as students and therefore the magazine must be affordable for them to be able to purchase on a regularly basis. I have chosen Rebecca to be the main basis for my target audience as I believe she reflects the stereotypical teenage girl who would want to read my magazines as it would appeal to her interests and likes.

Base – relates to the genre of music I am basing my music magazine on. When the word is said you can almost hear the sound of it which makes it exciting for readers when they hear about it. Readers associate this word with music and therefore is suitable to use as my magazine title. Quite unique and catchy which will make it memorable for readers. However it may sound a bit plain and unoriginal.

Turn It Up- reflects the exciting and fun aspect of my music magazine. Unlike the other names, it is an actual phrase and people may be more likely to remember this as it is different from other magazine titles out. Relates well to the concept of pop/R&B music being enjoyable and cool. However the only negative point of this name is that it is perhaps a bit too long in comparison to other names which tend to be short and snappy but this is what makes it unique from other standard names

Track- when you think of this word you associate it with music tracks/songs and therefore is relatable to the whole concept of my magazine. The simplicity of this title makes it memorable for readers. However it doesn’t particularly stand out from my other ideas and doesn’t reflect the pop/R&B vibe that my magazine is aiming to present to my young target audience.

Exclusive- this masthead name will make the magazine look important and stand out from existing ones as we associate the word exclusive as being elite and unique. However it doesn’t relate back to the whole music concept of my magazine which I think is important that my magazine title does in order for my readers to remember it.

I created a poll at https://app.zoomerang.com/ and placed in on my yolasite. I then asked people on my twitter to vote for which name they preferred to give me an indication of what my target audience would like the magazine to be called and one they’d be appealed to buy.

Results – Out of the 16 people who voted in my poll both ‘Turn It Up’ and ‘Base’ received the most votes ‘Track’ didn’t receive any votes and therefore I won’t be using that name. Between ‘Turn It Up’ and ‘Base’ I have decided to choose Turn It Up as my magazine masthead as I believe it relates well to my magazine concept and is unique in comparison to existing magazine names. It has also received good feedback with people saying the name is memorable and catchy.

The typography is quite simplistic but this makes it memorable to the readers. The bold lettering also makes it eye catching. However I think this font is a bit too plain for my front cover and it doesn’t reflect the magazine’s loud and exciting vibe that I am aiming for.

The typography connotes a fun and girly feel which would suit my magazine that targets female teenagers. The positioning of the letters looks artistic. However I feel this typography doesn’t really suit the R&B genre of my magazine and doesn’t relate back to my masthead of ‘Turn It Up’ of being loud and exciting.

I like the ‘worn’ effect of this typography and makes it look artistic and unique. The bold lettering makes the title stand out and emphasis on each word makes it suitable to use for my title. However I feel that this font doesn’t relate to my music genre well and would suit more to perhaps a rock theme.

The style of this font looks artistic and unique compared to other fonts I have looked at. The creative look to this typography makes it attractive to look at making it suitable to use for the front cover masthead.

The curved and bold effect of this font makes the masthead look exciting and fun which relates back to the title of ‘Turn It Up’. I like the way in which all the letters are in the same size which makes it different from other fonts I have looked at

Using www.dafont.com I chose 5 different font styles that I could use for my front cover masthead. I have written about the good and bad points for each one and at a later stage I will ask a group of individuals who belong to my target audience of which particular font they like the most.

After analysing magazines, I noticed the features of the magazines and the ones which were most popular were:

Interviews Artist features Latest gossip on artists Fact files

I created another poll which featured on the research page of my yolasite. I posted the link onto my twitter page and asked my followers to vote for which feature they would like to see in a music magazine to give me an idea of what my target audience expect and want from my magazine.

Results – Both interviews and latest gossip received the most amount of votes which is what I expected as they are popular common features in magazines. Therefore the feature on my double page spread will either be an interview style one or one that covers the latest gossip/news. This information is of use for me when I come up with my possible story ideas.

School girl turned R&B’s latest young artist. The story looks at a young teenage girl who has been given a signed recording contract and the magazine covers an exclusive interview with the young artist. Readers will be able to read on this new artist on the scene and may start to listen to her songs and become fans of this artist.

Boy band who have just finished touring with R&B artist Rihanna. My magazine will cover an exclusive interview with a pop boy band who have just finished touring with the hugely successful artist Rihanna. Readers will be interested in such story as it features an artist they like and will make them aware of this upcoming band who are at the start of their careers.

Pop band winning a BRIT award. The feature will cover the pop band who have won a BRIT award and include information about this band. It will also cover other news of the BRIT awards night. This story will appeal to my target audience as it includes the latest gossip on their favourite artists/bands.

Does Goffs School have the X-factor? The feature looks at what’s happening in the music talent show at Goffs School and includes a few of the finalists as they prepare for their final performance.

New Girl reaches number one! This story looks at artist ‘New Girl’ whose debut single has gone straight to number one. The feature will include an interview with the artist herself and gives the readers information about the artist that perhaps they didn’t know before

From my research, I found out that my target audience were looking for features that included the latest gossip or exclusive interviews. Therefore the story ideas that I have created are all based on either a gossip style or as an interview feature. At a later stage of my planning, I will conduct a poll to see which story people prefer the most and would want to read about it and then develop my chosen one into further detail.

Marketing is an important tool in creating awareness of my magazine and I have suggested a few ways in which I can market and advertise my magazine:

MARKETINGMARKETING

Internet Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. This is an effective way of marketing as the majority of my target audience use these websites regularly.

Posters- these can be placed in many places such as schools and public halls where they will be noticeable to my target audience.

Leaflets-A4 or A5 sized leaflets can be made and handed out to groups of people who fit my target audience and are interested in the idea of a new music magazine for teenagers.

Billboards-The front cover of my magazine will be advertised on billboards around the area which will be noticeable to my target audience as they go past. In by doing this it will create awareness and attention for my new magazine.

To create awareness for my magazine and to use cross media marketing, I will make a Facebook and Twitter page for ‘Turn It Up’ which will be updated regularly on release dates and information about the magazine. Readers of the magazine will be able to follow the magazine and be kept updated on the latest news and when the next issue will be out to purchase.

Marketing my magazine on such social networking sites is a suitable way for my to advertise my product as the target audience I am aiming for use these types of magazines and therefore I can target my magazine to them effectively and use websites like Twitter to involve them in the magazine. I am also able to build an online community by making my magazine established on the internet.

My magazine will also have its own website where readers can enter competitions and have a look at what to expect from the next issue.

MAIN IMAGE

MASTHEAD

PUG

MASTHEADPUG

MAIN COVERLINE

MAIN COVERLINE

MAIN IMAGE

SUB IMAGE AND HEADLINE

SUB IMAGE AND HEADLINE

COVERLINE

COVERLINE

SKYLINE

COVERLINE

BA

RC

OD

E

BARCODE

DATE AND ISSUE

DATE AND ISSUE

Here are two designs for the layout of my front cover that I have come up with. From my previous research, I was able to design two front cover layouts which I think are suitable for my magazine. I have included common conventions of a magazine front cover including a main image, pug and the date which are all things that readers will expect from a magazine.

COVERLINE

CONTENTS CONTENTS

MAIN IMAGEMAIN IMAGE TEXT

TEXT

EDITORS NOTE

EDITORS NOTE

SUB

IMAGES

SUBSCRIPTION

SMALLER IMAGE OF COVER

SUBIMAGE

SUBIMAGE TEXT

LOGO LOGO

Here are two layout designs for my contents page that I have come up with. From the research I undertook, I was able to identify the codes and conventions of a magazine contents page including the editor’s note and subscription, and have included them within my own layout ideas. It was important for me to use these conventions in order to make my layout look as realistic and professional as possible.

Thank you for listening to my pitch and I welcome

any feedback!

Leila Alimadadi