Front Page Sketch

Here are my two design ideas fo my front cover. As you can see we haven't really developed a masthead yet but the one thing that I made important to my front cover designs is the main image. I want the main image to be big and in your face. I don't want lots of cell lines as that would detract from my main image. The reason I want my main images to big is because I want it to be the first thing my audience see when they're looking at through a magazine isle. I want it eye-catching. I want my audience to be intrigued because I decided not to have my main image look at the camera. I want it to suggests that my magazines artists aren't destracted by the camera; that they are so completely involved in their music suggesting an array of sophistication.
The inclusion of musical instruments was an interesting idea because I want my audience to believe that my artists are talented not just in singing and dancing but in playing an instrument as well. I want my audience to believe that my artists are passionate about music and not just in it for the money.
I also drew a hat on both of my main images as well to give them the sense of anonymity. I don't really want my audience to know my artists, even the the main cover line would say their name, I want to surround my artists within a sense of mystery and by keeping they're face shadowed out I believe I can achieve that.

Focus Group Questions

Focus Group Questions

What would make you buy a music magazine?

Apart from music, what else would you like to see in a magazine?

The title for our magazine is called "Smooth" what does that mean to you?

What gender or age do you think "Smooth" should be targetted at?

What do you think is the most important feature of a music magazine?

Questionnaire and Results

Questionnaire
Tick or circle your preferred choice

1) Gender
• Male
• Female

2) Age
• 13 and under
• 14-16
• 17-20
• 21+

3) What type of music do you like?
• Hip-Hop
• R&B
• Pop
• Grime
• Heavy Metal
• Alternative
• Jazz
• Classic
• OTHER ―――――――――――――――

4) Who is your favourite music artist or band?

• ―――――――――――――――――――

5) Do you buy music magazines?
• Yes
• No

6) If Yes, when purchasing a music magazine how much are you willing to spend? (skip if answered no or just answer for fun)
• £1-£2
• £2-£3
• £3-£4
• £4-£5
• Even more?!… ―――――――――――――――――

7) If you did buy a music magazine (just for fun), what sort of features would you like to see in the magazine? (Tick/Circle desired choice(s)
• Gossip
• Fashion
• Gadgets
• Interviews
• New Artists
• Info on Concerts/Events
• Competitions
• OTHER ――――――――――――――――――――――
Thank you for time

Questionnaire Powerpoint

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Magazine Ideas

Genre/Type of Music Magazine: Jazz, Soul, Gospel
Target Audience (Gender, age range, class, lifestyle/interests/ethnicity): Male and Female, 21+, working/middle class, casual lifestyle, enthusiastic about music, maybe even play an instrument, their ethnicity could be mainly of black ethnicity, also the younger white ethnicity
Possible titles (masthead):
"Divine" (too religious),
"Spirit" (too religious),
"Vitality" (sounds like water),
"Essence" (sounds like a perfume ad),
"Essential" (sounds alright, doesn't convey jazz/soul genre, it's more...party disco or pop related),
"Soul" (pretty good, too plain though),
"Smooth" (i like this, the word 'smooth' connotes easy feeling and that's we want our magazine to convey)
Front Page main image: Person playing the saxaphone or guitar, maybe the person just holding the guitar by his side
Main Cover Line: Tyler Stone, Ricky Jones (made up jazz/soul musicians)
Additional Key Images: Additional bands (The Honey Bears, Mamma's Gun)
Possible Puffs:
"Real Music. Real Smooth." - Repititon of 'Real' sticks in mind. Soul music = Real music. "Real Smooth" = Pun but also makes magazine/genre sound smooth.
"Love Soul. Love Smooth." - If you love Soul music, you will love the magazine. Repitition of 'Love' implies Soul music is about Love (make you fall in love with a person and with the genre)
"Love Life. Love Music." - Life is all about music. You can't have a life without music, music is everywhere. Again 'Love' repition.
"Love Smooth. Love Soul." - Love our magazine and love the genre itself.
Typography (style, size, colour of copy): Small letters (maybe no capitals), Medium size (not too big, my audience is quite mature), Black, Red, Yellow, White, Blue, Silver, Gold
Background colour/image: White, Gray, Black, plain colours that don't overshadow the main image
Technical considerations (equipment, setting, props, costume, lighting): Instrument (Guitar/Saxaphone), set in a Studio or maybe even taken during a gig, or the artist is just casually playing the instrument in the park (natural, can relate to the audience - famous musicians are just like regular musicians)

Front Page Analysis - NME and Q comparison

The two music magazines "Q" and "NME" use very unique mastheads.
The colours red and white are both used for the masthead. Red suggests their music is strong and dynamic. NME is a rock magazine and rock music is also a strong loud genre. The white around the NME logo promotes professionalism. It also enhances the boldness of the font. The font itself is big and chunky. It suggests that this kind of genre (rock) of music is masculine and that this type of magazine is more targeted for a male audience.
You can compare this to "Q's" masthead, It also uses the colours red and white but the word itself is coloured in white and the block behind is in red. I believe it makes the magazine stand out more. The type of typography is more stylish like a signature suggesting "Q" is more of a mature music magazine and a lot more sophisticated.

The main cover line for "NME" is supposed to represent the main image showing the best band this week/month and this weeks/month the main cover line band for "NME" is "The View" written in huge typography and is in black and white which is probably the traditional colour scheme for rock music since the rock genre can be quite heavy and dark and black can be connoted in the same sort of way. It's big and chunky making it eye-catching and attracting fans of this certain band.
Comparing it to the "Q" main cover - 'The Song Writers' already you can see a major difference from the "NME" main cover line. 'The Song Writers' is placed on the left hand side of the magazine and is much smaller than 'The View'. This may suggest it is more sophisticated because it doesn't need to be big to catch audience attention and the added fact the colour of the main cover line is in gold connoting wealth, luxury or even experience suggesting that "Q" magazine are experienced in targetting their audience and not using over-the-top methods like "NME".
You could also mention the font style of "Q's" main cover line is fairly basic implying that "Q" is sophisticated because it isn't using crazy font styles because it wants to maintain it's mature audience.

The cell lines are there to allow the consumer to know what sort of bands the magazine is going to interview. "NME" shows it's cell lines as very loud very colourful, lots of pictures, big typography and lots of tie-ins. These are all put on the cover on purpose because these are the sort of features that attract a young audience who "NME's" main target audience. You also are able to identify the colour scheme from the cell lines (Red, Yellow, Black, White) simple, eye-catching colours nothing to complicated, again used to target a young audience because of the fact it's not too complicated, young people like easy things, fast.
"Q's" cell lines are a little different. There are no pictures and the font is a lot smaller in comparison. The artists are in plain, simple list with occasionally popular artist highlighted in gold because they're probably popular in the charts right now and highlighted them would instantly catch anyone’s attention. All of this again shows sophistication, they don't need pictures to attract their audience because their target audience is a lot more mature than that. "Q" even includes a superlative to make their magazine seem like they are the only magazine with these artists giving even greater reason for a consumer to want to buy their magazine.

The main image is huge compared to the cell lines to draw attention to the reader because the images are looking at the camera trying to directly address the reader. It is clear “Q” magazine is trying to appeal to older audiences because of the main images they used are of adults as opposed to “NME” using younger artists for their main image suggesting NME is targeting a younger audience. What “Q” have decide to make their main images wear is very important; it very formal dress with a tie and a shirt and a dress. This is the stereotypical dress style of mature adults therefore “Q” is strengthening its representation. “NME” on the other hand have made their main images wearing casual clothing with things like jeans jackets and having long hair and wearing black. This is stereotypical of what young audiences of teenagers wear. Having long hair and wearing black is stereotypical of your conventional rebel child. Young audiences can also relate this band because your teen years is when you start to fully appreciate music and start playing the guitar or whatever and young audiences may aspire to be like the View.

Front Page Analysis - XXL

The masthead for XXl is a unique selling point. The typography is big and chunky suggesting it is a masculine magazine. The block behind the typography is red which connotes luxury - the red carpet for instance - suggesting wealth and fame.
The typography itself is made of diamonds which suggests wealth and luxury and the genre of the magazine is R&B which identifies with the bling craze Hip-Hop artists are now adapting.
Another thing about the red background masthead is that the red is a dynamic colour. It's very appealing from afar - it's interesting and eye-catching.

Moving onto the main coverline. The typography used is also big and chunky suggesting masculinity. The font itself resembles the particular font used in army films also suggesting toughness and masculinty which will link on to the main image.
The "&" in between "Baby" and "Lil Wayne" is also in red but the font is more stylish like handwriting inviting a sort of sophisticated feel.

Under the main cover line the puff reads "Survival of the fittist" this is highlighted in a red box. This colour connotes blood and the word 'survival' further implies that it's toyugh for young rappers to make it big in the music industry because they lead tough lives. But with the main image showing Lil Wayne and Baby wearing expensive it proves to the consumer that the young can make it big.

The cell lines feature a variety of different music artists specific ro the genre XXL is trying to establish (R&B/Hip-Hop) and shows interviews from artists such as Eminem and Kanye West. The wide variety of rap artists gives choice for the consumer, if one magazine reader doesn't like Kanye but loves Eminem they'll buy the magazine for that specific interview. It widens the target.

The image portrays Baby and Lil Wayne in an arm lock looking tough. They are both wearing jewels and chains to show off their bling. This 'bling' also links to the font style of the masthead.
They're covered in tattoo, it shows how tough they are but it also suggests that the two are pretty wealthy.
But we can also see that they are half naked, they're body language suggests toughness becauwse they are brave enough to make themselves look vulnerable.
However the fact that Baby's arm is over Lil Wanye's shoulder suggests homo-erotic themes and is subversives of the stereotypical Hip-Hop culture but somehow also serves as a purpose to widen XXL's audience to the gay community to boost their sales. But it can also be interpreted that Baby is a paternel figure to Lil Wayne as a sort of comeradery.

Front Page Analysis - Hip-Hop Soul

The masthead is large and chunky making it stand out and eye catching for the consumer. The colour of the font in black and white which connotes purity suggesting that soul music is pure or easy to listen to.

The main cover line is a link the main image (R. Kelly). The typography used for the main cover line is also big and and sort of stylish in italics which suggests that this artists music is "cool" or stylish. The main cover line also gives off that sophisticated feel to it implying that this magazine is trying to attract a more mature audience. The reason the main cover line is big is because it attracts consumers to the magazine. R. Kelly may be their favourite artist and would initially buy the magazine for his interview.

There is also a little quotation from R. Kelly saying "Music is my shield." which implies that hip-hop/soul music is a sort of relief from the stresses of life, it is a "shield from reality" as a for of escapism. This serves as a purpose to attract audiences also as many people (although the Soul genre may be niche) are fans of this genre and a quote from an actually artist they listen to saying something they can actually relate makes that person feel special and a sort of empathy is created.

R. Kelly may be the main cover line an interview for this issue but there are several cell lines available on the page stating interviews from different artists. So if the consumer doesn't really like R. Kelly they can always read about another artist within the magazine, maybe Amy Winehouse or Joss Stone. So the range of artists provide choice for the consumer because all the artists interviewed are of the soul/jazz/blues/hip-hop genre which allows the consumer to broaden their artist favourite list maybe discovering an artist they had never heard of before. The artists name is also emphasised in a bold font to make it further stand out.

Now to the main image which depicts R. Kelly and a girl hugging him. The way he postured sort of portrays dominance suggesting he runs things and the girl follows which if sort stereotypical within the Hip-Hop genre where woman are almost illustrated as sex objects. This is further emphasise by the fact that we cannot see anything other than her head and arm, perhaps she's naked. However it can also be argued that the way she hugging him with her eyes closed also suggests that the music genre of soul can be soothing and calm and easy to listen to.
R. Kelly is dressed almost entirely in white which links to the colour scheme of the masthead and also further connoting the hip-hop/soul genre as pure and easy listening.

His posture with his hands crossed like that can also be mistaken or interpreted as religious maybe crossing over to the Gospel music genre further widening their audience.

R. Kelly also appears to be wearing long chains and a shiny watch or "bling" which can be stereotypical of the RnB/Hip-Hop genre. These jewels imply wealth and luxury also typical of the Hip-Hop genre. R. Kelly himself is black or African/American. The majority of Black artists are mainly involved within the Soul/Hip-Hop genre so the consumer can instantly spot this cover from a mile away and identify what genre this magazine is selling without even looking at the masthead.

To conclude, the various different techniques this magazine is using these include the use of Black artists, the cell lines, the clothes and jewellery and the masthead all serve a purpose to attract different types of audiences thus gaining a grand consumer output and maximising their profit.