Magazine Analysis

Magazine Analysis:

I began by searching for one specific music magazine, I chose to look at Billboard Magazine. I looked at all the front covers from Billboard to establish their house style and similarities that run throughout.

At a first look I can see that they use a very simple design keeping the coverlines and much more very minimal. There are a lot of pale colours including mainly greys with some blues and pinks. They all seem to have a close up or mid shot of the artist on the front and stick to only one person, in most there is a direct mode of address.

After doing some research I found that the target audience for Billboard magazine varies from young teens from the age of 16 to young adults at the age of 26. This is because it gives readers the latest updates from the charts of different and various types of genres. This is shown in the front cover as the design is very mature and is not overcrowded with images and coverlines.

71% of readers are aged between 25 to 54 years old. The median age is 34. 82% are college graduates. 65% are director level or above. The average yearly household income of Billboard readers is $278, 620. 61% are members of one or more industry assasiations such as BME, ASCAP, SESAC, AAAA and others. 51% are men and 49% are women. The genre of Billboard magazine is R’n’B and pop music. It is run by the company who decide the top 100 songs in the US therefore it contains information and music artists who are currently in the top 100, this makes it appeal to a larger audience because as it contains facts and up to date news on the charts and relevant artists.

Masthead:

-The masthead is kept simple on this magazine, it’s in the top left hand corner instead of being completely across the top and the artists head is brought over the top to avoid having his head covered. Billboard are a well-known magazine and readers can recognize it without having to read the full name. The white is simple and shows sophistication, informing readers that this magazine is mature and full of information, suiting the age group of its target audience. 

Main Coverlines / coverlines:

-There are minimal coverlines on this cover, this is so it’s not too busy and your focus isn’t taken from the image. It also tells the reader brief information making them want to read the article inside. The colours, similar to the masthead, are kept simple with black and white giving the same effect as the masthead does and fits the colours of the image, contrasting well with the background.

Image:

-The image is of Drake, a rapper. Billboard have chosen Drake for the cover of this magazine because he is a relevant artist and will draw in a younger audience as many think of him as a figure to look up to.

-Drake is well-known but his name is written very large across the middle of the cover, this is because Billboard want to advertise that they have him on their cover and people are more likely to pick their magazine up seeing the word ‘Drake’ plastered across the front. The words ‘finds happiness’ fits with the image as he smiling or laughing and a happier artist draws a bigger audience in this genre.

- This is a photoshoot photo rather than a live shot, this way they can get him to pose in this way to fit the coverline and look more natural in this environment than flustered on stage.

-There is slight direct mode of address in this as his head is turned towards the camera but his eyes are squinting as he is laughing making it look natural, this direct mode of address is important here so readers can relate not only to his style but to his emotions also.

-His clothes are simple but also fashionable, this is something many boys or men would wear on a day to day basis making him relate and seem down to earth and on the same level as the reader. The colours of his clothes match the colours of the coverlines etc on the cover showing consistency and giving it more of a modern, minimalist style drawing people in.

-The photograph shows Drake in a medium close up, this is so you can see his facial expressions and slightly his body language along with his clothes but it isn’t too close up that it feels like he is invading the readers personal space.

Sources: 
billbaord.com
wikipedia.com
google images 

This magazine analysis is beneficial for when creating my own music magazine front cover, I will be able to tell what makes a good cover and apply it to my own taking this into consideration when choosing a colour scheme and fonts etc.

Target Audiences, Publishing Houses, Social Groups, Socio-Economic Groups.

Bauer Media: Using the website Bauer Media I researched some music magazines.

Kerrang! Magazine:

Q Magazine:

Mojo Magazine:

Publishing Houses-

What is a publishing house?: A publishing house is another name for a publishing company. It is a company that takes the written work of a writer and makes it available to the general public.

Music Magazines with different publishing houses:

-NME: Published by TimeInc.UK

-Rolling Stone: Published by Jann Wenner

-VIBE: Published by Spin Media

Socio-Economic groupings-

Socio-economic group, or SEG, is a classification that aims to bring together people with similar social and economic status.

The groups are most often defined as follows:-  

A- Higher managerial, administrative, professional e.g. Chief executive, senior civil servant, surgeon

B - Intermediate managerial, administrative, professional e.g. bank manager, teacher

C1- Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial e.g. shop floor supervisor, bank clerk, sales person

C2 - Skilled manual workers e.g. electrician, carpenter

D- Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers e.g. assembly line worker, refuse collector, messenger

E - Casual labourers, pensioners, unemployed e.g. pensoiners without private pensions and anyone living on basic benefits

Looking at these things will help me when creating my magazine and thinking about target audience etc.

Main Task: Music sub-genres.

I looked at 3 different sub-genres and at magazine covers of those sub-genres,  making notes comparing their similarities:

                         


Hip Hop Magazines- All of these magazines have a close up of the artists face on the front cover looking forward with coverlines surrounding them, two of these magazines have the magazine title going behind their heads and the colour schemes are very basic and simple, kept to only two to three colours. The layout is neat.

                               



Ukulele Magazines- These magazines are kept as simple as possible with one or two basic colours. The photo contains a medium close up or almost full body shot but there are not many cover lines surrounding them. The titles are smaller than on a ‘hip hop’ magazine and are kept to one side.

                              

Rock Magazines- These magazines have a lot more going on. The coverlines are everywhere and some aren’t straight. The titles are all behind the artists heads and in all the photos have direct address.

 

Looking at these will help me begin to identify 'what makes a certain type of magazine'.

WEEK 9: PRELIMINARY TASK - CONTENTS PAGE

This is the contents page I created for my college magazine called 'The View', I created it using the skills I knew in InDesign:

WEEK 8: PRELIMINARY TASK - FRONT COVER

Part of our preliminary task was to create a front cover of a college magazine with a photo of a student in medium close up and use our photoshop and InDesign knowledge to edit the photo and create the cover.

This is the front cover of a college magazine I created for the preliminary task which I called 'The View' I added coverlines and brought her head over the top of the title using photoshop, I also applied the barcode and starbucks logo using photoshop and edited the photograph slightly.

WEEK 7: PRACTISE CONTENTS PAGE

Alongside our practise double page spread we also did a practise contents page, however with this we took a photo of a professional contents page online and recreated it using InDesign.


This is the contents page I chose to recreate:

This is my version of the contents page I created using InDesign:

Doing this demonstrates our InDesign skills and shows that I am able to create a professinal contents page using the skills I know.