Audience Survey.

As I read through the supposed best, most popular music magazines, one of them the famous NME, one thing struck me - I was finding it hard to find more than a few artists I actually liked. Fairly quickly I realised it might be a problem if I was to create a music magazine, so I tried forcing myself, but I still found it difficult. I had to try and find a way round this problem. So I created a small, simple survey, to decide which genre of music to base my music magazine on (the genre was a good starting point as it would completely shape my magazine in every way). I made a list of music genres, and asked people to tick their 3 favourite ones. As there are so many genres of music, I only wrote down the main ones. To increase the validity, if a genre was similar to another I would add them together. In this way, I was going to let other people, and my market, decide what my music my magazine would focus on.



As you can see, there are no clear winners and nearly all the music genres have been ticked. It is very inconclusive to the point of my survey, however inspired to a unique, fresh idea.
I decided on a music magazine that would include all the genres of music. If the magazine focuses itself around the idea that it includes many genres, the magazine will become memorable for it.
The magazine would be very structured - the layout could be the same throughout the magazine, but each 'genre' could have its very own font and color. For example, the section on metal music would be black, with some kind of spiky font. And each genre would have news and an article or two for itself.
I think it would be effective on one hand, as people seem obsessed with stereotyping, and classing people. I would just be taking advantage of that.
Furthermore, because of the internet and music streaming websites, music has become very cheap and very, very accessible. Someone would not find it hard to download music they've only heard the name of, let alone listened to on the radio once or twice. So it would not make it all too hard for someone to open themselves up to many types of music, which is what has happened. People do like many different types of music.

Front cover analysis of a modern music magazine

So - what to put on my front cover. I will analyse a music magazine now to understand the conventions of a music magazine.
I am looking at the 16 February 2008 edition of NME. I will analyse NME because it is the biggest selling music magazine that shares my target audience.



The layout is very messy. There is not one thing that first catches a potential readers eye - the sweet spot is not utilised. Everything is crammed onto the page, and although this means you can see all the features of the magazine, nothing seems like the most important thing. It is also hard to take in all the information. When I develop my front cover, I think it will be simple, and this will be the main difference. In this way, it will challenge music magazine front cover conventions. It is interesting to note that the designers for music magazines such as NME actually keep the front covers much more simple, much like old 'NME's which I will talk about later. However it is the owners of NME that put all the information onto the front cover, and sometimes when they are ordered in the post, they come with out many of the captions, because the magazine is bought in a very different way. So from a design point of view, a simple front cover will be much more aesthetically pleasing. Also, it will be unique amongst other music magazines, and so will be given an image.
It is not just the captions, but the colours on this NME may also be too numerous. The logo of NME is red, white and black, but the text across the page varies from yellow, to white, to blue and black. There is only a little red. This confuses the cover even more, again making it hard to focus on one thing. I will keep only one or two repeating colours, that will represent my magazine.
However the colours and the photo make it clear that the magazine is for young people - the colours bright and the band on the cover three young men.
The background is a photo, which I agree with. However, the photo itself I don't think is a very effective one. It is not clear what the three are doing, and the poses they do make them look slightly silly and ridiculous. They also don't look like musicians - I will make sure my photo will show an instrument. Again, the confusing amount of captions does not work on the front cover, as although they are on the front cover it is not clear if they are important or not.
The font used on this NME I think is effective, as it is very neutral, and in this way reflects the music in the magazine, which is fairly non-directional. It is very simple and easy to read.

Front cover analysis of old music magazine

I will now contrast this issue of NME to my preferred designs of an old issue of NME.



I am looking at the 29 October 1988 edition of NME. The layout is evidently very different - maybe less people bought it in the post, so the hundreds of captions were not added on to the covers by the owners of NME (like what I previously talked about). This helps the design of music magazine covers a lot, as the design can be changed from issue to issue, giving much greater possibilities to designers. And because it is not a very crowded cover, the potential readers eyes are drawn to the logo very quickly, so the fact that the design may be different doesn't mean the magazines identity is.
Furthermore, the colours also help to tie the magazine together. There is a repeat of red and white, which is also used in the logo, tying the magazine together.
Another advantage of not having the cover crowded is that the photo can become more part of the design. The cover is very symmetrical, with the girl pictured one side and the writing the other. Modern NME's look the same each month, as not only other NME's but most other contemporary music magazines - and this is not the designers fault. Old NME's looked different each time, but still were able to be tied together by the simplicity, the colours, and the font.
We can see this when we look at the NME released a week before, the 22 October 1988 edition. Again, very simple, the design again focusing on a good picture rather than millions of captions. The picture helps it to differentiate from the edition released a week later, but the easy to notice logo and the simple, small amount of colours used helps to tie it together.
I would like to use some of the conventions from older designs of music magazines (before the many hundreds of captions were crammed on) and focus on a design that works with the idea of having many different genres, and incorporates this into the design, probably through colour, and also has a photo that fits into the cover, that is almost a centre piece.

Using magazine front cover analysis

I would like to create a cover that challenged music magazine conventions, as I think todays music magazines have an ugly visual style, as in, they are very cluttered and hard to digest. An example is the 19 August 06 issue of NME. The first thing I noticed about it is that there is nothing noticeable about it at a first glance. Nothing catches a potential viewers eye, as the way it is designed makes it look as though everything is the most important part of the magazine - as if each article, headline and photo were all competing over which to catch a buyer's eye. In short I think it looks cluttered, and slightly undistinguishable from other music magazines. The March 11 2006 issue of Kerrang! music magazine I think also looks cluttered, and you cannot actually read the title of the magazine.
I think design magazines, partly because they have to, use very unique, stylized, original designs on their front covers. I would prefer to use these same techniques to design my front cover. I would make sure it was clear it was a music magazine, but look, in a way, slightly more like an art piece than todays mainstream music magazines.

Reader/Audience Profile

READER PROFILE
Alex is a 16 year old boy. He lives in London and has a girlfriend. He occasionally reads the newspaper, and watches a little TV, but gets most of his information from his computer via the internet, on which he spends an average of an hour a day, listening to music, and browsing websites. He plays an instrument and is in a band with some of his friends, and has an iPod, so is greatly interested in music, new and old, because of the nature of his music lessons and accessibility of music from the internet. Most of his friends live within half an hour of him, and his school is a local state school. He lives in a semi-detached house and is of middle class economic and social background. He is studying for his GCSEs, but plans to do A levels and go to university. He reads a music magazine once every few months, and goes to gigs/clubs once every few months. Sometimes he performs at 'open mic' gigs, with some of his friends.

ANALYSIS
He is a 16 year old boy, so this may limit some of the types of music he is interested in. However, there will still be many genres he is interested in. He lives in a city, London, and many music events are accessible from there, so if musical events are advertised in 'Genre', my audience wouldn't have a problem reaching them. He reads the newspaper and watches TV, so a unique idea would be to have 'Genre' magazine advertised on the TV, a medium other music magazines have not properly attempted. However, my audience spends more time on the internet than those two put together, so this would be a better place to advertise. However, some of the articles could link in with the internet. Because music is so accessible via the internet, if there was a 'top 3 songs' in each genre section per issue, my audience could then listen to/download them. Music videos on Youtube.com could also be mentioned in the magazine, so readers could become pro-active by watching them.
He is in a band, so not only normal gig listings but 'open-mic' nights would be advertised, as these are becoming very popular at the moment and a good way for up coming bands to get their name spread and take their music to the next level, while not being too serious.
My magazine relies on my audience being interested in many genres of music, which I think is the case (and I have talked about in a previous post), but this means having an interest in old and new music. This will effect what articles are in the magazine, and maybe each 'genre section' could be semi-structured into old and new articles, depending on the genre. It will also mean that old articles and news previously published in old music magazines could be re-written about, as it will be for a new audience who have not read about them before.
He is of middle class economic background, so the monthly £2.50 would be easily affordable, however this would be the case no matter what background my reader was from. The price has to suit all backgrounds, because the music covers all genres, therefore all backgrounds. However, in reality, a large editorial team would be needed, with journalists for each genre, so the price would possibly, in reality, need to be higher.
The problem is, my audience is does not read music magazines too often and the same for goes for gigs. However, because of the extremely easy to navigate, accessible layout of my magazine, it might be easier to read about gigs, and therefore more people might want to read it more. Part of the problem with gigs is that they are quite expensive, so discounts as freebies or competitions with ticket prizes could be offered.
Now the main problem: my audience doesn't read music magazines that often. So, my magazine has to focus and zoom in more. My magazine will not only have to be entertaining, but furthermore useful, for finding out many different things and even organizing events.
Also, because my magazine is rather unconventional in its layout and design, it may offer a new refreshing way of reading music magazines, and attract new and old audiences.

Front Cover planning

I now have a design style for my music magazine. Because the magazine would focus on so many different types of genres, it needs to have a style to tie the sections of the magazine together, so it does not look like many different magazines strung together. The style is quite modern, the same style as many modern design magazines that I talked about earlier. The colours are bright, and the magazine front cover and contents set out with stripes. I repeat the use of the colour white in the magazine, along with the title/logo, which are both very neutral and don't suggest a specific genre. This is important as to put a preference over one genre would ruin the purpose of 'Genre' magazine.
On my front cover I'll have one sell line that references to the picture. I don't want to over crowd my front cover and have discussed why earlier. However it will also encourage potential buyers to open and read the music magazine.

Here are my notes concerning my magazine.

Front Cover

This is my final front cover I have decided on. As you can see, I went with my 'stripes' idea over my 'box', as my sketches of potential 'colour box' designs showed me that there was too much white showing, and it didn't make the front cover look very good. It is purposefully simple, so it doesn't conform to normal magazine front cover stereotypes, as I found these looked cluttered. The cover story is written on the pink line, and in pink, to show that the main story for this week is 'pop' music. Previously my magazine was called 'Genre', as opposed to 'Music Genre'. I thought that the designs flaw was that it didn't show my magazine was a music magazine, so I changed the name. Also, I made sure my picture showed an instrument, to further show how it was a music magazine. The name 'Genre' was not good enough simply on its own, as although it gave connotations of different genres of music, it is not specific to music.
The art editor of 'Mojo' music magazine commented that the magazine had too many colours. I tried one or two changes to the picture to reduce the number of colours.



Here is one where the picture has been changed to black and white. It makes the picture look more dynamic, but audience feedback said that there was too much of a contrast between the colourful background, and the black and white photo. The emphasis was changed from the photo to the background.



I instead changed the picture to have a pink wash over the picture. The picture is then made up of different shades of pink. I chose the colour pink again to show how the magazines main story was a 'pop' story. However, I felt it put too much emphasis on the magazine being a pop magazine rather than a magazine about all genres, which meant potential buyers could get confused, or I could attract the wrong audience.