Diary Entry #6

Diary Entry #6 – 24^th October 2011

This week I have been very busy on my blog. At the beginning of the week I created my colour connotations page and my name ideas. However, now I have officially completed my audience profile and put up my poll results.
I created a poll asking questions that I wanted to know the answer to in order to make my magazine more successful and accurately made for my target audience. I asked questions such as ‘what do you look for in an article?’ and gave possible answers such as ‘mostly text’. This has helped me a lot actually, as it has provided me with knowledge on subjects such as price, layout, content, design and so on. I now feel very confident that my magazine will be successful and I have no doubts about what I will include on my front cover, contents page and double paged spread.
As for my audience profile, I spent a long time thinking about what my ideal reader would be like, and created a profile explaining her hobbies, favourite books, music, where she would live, where she would go in her spare time and so on. This has shown that I am basing my magazine around a person of that sort. Underneath my profile I wrote about my general target audience, discussing what social category they will be from, demographics, psychographics, age group, male or female and have given reasoning for each of my decisions. 

Poll Results

Poll Results:

How much are you willing to spend on a music magazine?

£1 or under – 20%
£1.50 - £2.50 – 60%
£3 .00 - £5.00 – 20%

Therefore I am going to make my magazine around £2.00.

What colours appeal to you most on a magazine?

Yellows/Reds – 20%
Pinks/Purples – 20%
Blacks/Whites – 40%
Greens/Blues – 20%

This has shown me that primary colours and bright, loud colours do not get as much attention as plain colours like black and white. This could be because black and white creates a more sophisticated look and other colours possibly come across as tacky. Therefore, I know to include black and white as my main colour scheme.

What types of bands/artists interest you?

Rock/Punk – 0%
Indie – 20%
R&B – 80%
Pop – 0%

This has shown me that people of the age group 14-17 enjoy reading R&B magazines, rather than my chosen genre of rock/indie/punk. This has informed me that I must make sure my target audience is of an older age group and will appeal to those in their 20’s and 30’s.

What look to do you prefer to see on magazine front covers?

Minimalist/simple – 20%
Busy and informative – 80%

This has given me the knowledge of how much to include on my front cover and to ensure it has a lot of sell lines and writing in order to make the magazine look busy and informative at first glance.

Do reviews change your opinion on particular bands/artists?

Yes – 20%
No – 60%
Depends on where the review has come from – 20%

This has shown me that constant criticism in my magazine is not needed, as the majority of people do not take any notice of it.

Why would you read a music magazine?

To find out about gigs – 20%
Information on new upcoming bands/artists – 40%
To find out about the history of music – 20%
To read reviews – 20%

This has told me that I should inform my readers that my main feature artist/ cover model is a new artist.

What do you look for in an article?

Mostly images – 0%
Mostly text – 40%
A balanced amount of text and images – 60%

This has informed me that rather than having more text, or more images, I should aim to make my main article balanced for both features.

If you find a music magazine you like, do you visit the website?

Yes – 40%
No – 60%

This has told me that new technology (the internet) has not been over populated and magazines are still people’s main source of musical information, that it is the preferred method.

How often do you buy music magazines?

Weekly – 0%
Monthly – 0%
Yearly – 40%
Whenever I can – 60%

I now know that my target audience might not read my magazine every month, due to money issues or other reasons, therefore I should make sure every issue is completely different and that I do not refer to ‘last month’s issue’ often, as most readers might not have purchased it.

Do you read the editors note?

Yes – 20%
No – 80%

This has told me that I do not need to include an editor’s note to have a successful magazine, as the majority of people do not take notice of it. 

Diary Entry #5

Diary Entry #5 – 24th October 2011


This week I have successfully created my name ideas and my colour connotations page for the plan for my magazine. For my name ideas, I spent a lot of time researching band names such as ‘the clash’ and so on, in order to get some insight as to what rock bands names are like, so I can make my magazine an obvious ‘rock magazine’. I also looked at the connotations of ‘rock music’, in order to view the actual definition of rock, therefore making it easier for me to think of a name that my target audience will have a personal identification with. I came up with the names:
- CLASH
- Backstage Beats
- WBR (World’s best rock)
- Rock, paper, singers.
I feel I have come up with successful names that have made it easier for me to decide what I would like my final magazine name to be.
As for my colour connotations page, I spent some time reviewing my similar product research, reminding myself of what my inspiring magazines, such as NME and Kerrang used when it came to colour schemes, and came up with the four colours of:
- Red
- Black
- White
- Grey
I am happy with these colours as I know the connotations of them will make my music magazine seem dangerous, trustworthy, sophisticated and professional, therefore selling them to my target audience who will be looking for these features in a magazine.

Name Ideas For My Magazine

My Colour Scheme

Media Music Magazine My Colour Scheme

My Target Audience

Media Music Magazine My Target Audience

Mood Board and Inspiration

Mood Board

Diary Entry #4

Diary Entry #4 – 17th October 2011
This week I am going to do my photo shoot for my magazine. I have been thinking about the range of images I want to take, ranging from an extreme close up of an eye, to a long shot. I am going to have my model wearing the same pair of trousers, but one pair is burgundy and the other pair is mustard. With this mise en scene I am going to try and create an effective mirror image, where my model will be striking the same pose but wearing a different outfit. I have thought carefully about creating abstract and visually striking images for my double paged spread and front cover.
As well as preparing for my photo shoot, I have also explored Cam Studio. This is a new programme to me, however this week I have successfully created a video showing the steps I took to create my preliminary front cover and contents page. I clicked on each layer, step by step, revealing what I did next. I now feel confident on this programme and feel I can use it to present work again.

Diary Entry #3

Diary Entry #3 – 10th October 2011

This week I decided to focus on my Proposal. In my proposal I explained my idea for my music magazine, what I want to involve, who will be featured in my magazine, the target audience and the genre of music I am focusing on.
I explained possible ideas I have thought of for my main images, using artistic ideas such as confetti and paint. I also described why I am choosing to create an indie/rock magazine because of my wide knowledge on magazines such as NME and Kerrang.
I explained the age group of my target audience and why I feel they are people who will be interested in my magazine.
I feel doing my proposal has helped me as I now fully understand what I need to create and has a general idea of what colours, images and layouts I need to create to make my magazine typical to the rock/indie magazine conventions.

My Music Magazine Proposal

Key Concepts

Diary Entry #2

Diary Entry #2 – 6th October 2011

This week in Media Studies I have been working on a key concepts presentation based on the magazine NME. I have chose to create this key concepts presentation on NME, as it is a magazine that follows the genre of punk rock, indie, mainstream and individual bands. I aim to base my magazine on the same genre as NME does as I feel it is a genre I know most about, therefore will find it easier to create a house style and take appropriate images for my magazine, of people in outfits and positions that portray the genre of indie/rock.
I created this presentation on Prezi, as I have experience from GCSE and know how to create an interesting looking presentation. I feel this will imply that I have skills on other forms of media presentation programmes, other than the obvious Photoshop, Blogger and PowerPoint.
On my presentation I have included information about brand identity, the way articles and music artists are portrayed, the history of NME, codes and conventions, institution and representation. I did this as I want to show that I have knowledge on magazines therefore implying I am confident I will be able to create a successful music magazine.

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MEDIA Similar Product Research