Research and Planning - Music Magazine Masthead Draft

The bold red matches the indie/rock  theme and emboldens it from the rest of the magazine (or it will do when it comes to putting it on). I chose the name 'leet' because it's short and snappy and will be remembered by most people, and also it does sound quite youthful and has that jagged attitude with it. The font is unusual as well, considering the T at the end, it catches the eye.

Research and Planning- Music Contents Page Analysis

 Genre -
The genre that is shown throughout this contents page is quite indie and chilled/laid back. It's also quite soft rock and retro. The bands featured on this page fit into this music sector as these bands don't usually feature in the R&B charts or such, they're usually on channels that are suited to this type of genre only. The 'band index' that takes up the left hand side of the page also shows this.

Target Audience
This target audience for this magazine shown through the contents page would be around a student still in college or high school and a university student.  The age group would be from 15 to around 25ish depending whether they are into this genre, but this genre usually applies to this age. You can tell this buy this colours as well and the content used within this page. I reckon they'll be middle-class as well because the fact that this magazine holds a lot of information about all the key bands implies it might not be cheap considering it is only a magazine.

Layout

One whole side is taken for the band index which would probably be the main attraction for  their audience as they'll be interested in all the gossip on their  favourite bands, but then the layout changes so that one main story has a picture and a large heading giving it dominance. The whole magazine is just basically sectioned into three columns and then the last column features more subheadings which are the main information probably, within this magazine.  Stories which are featured in these main headings are listed to give an over-view to the reader whether it's  going to be interesting.

Representations

The people featured in this magazine is a band that's a main story on the contents page.  Their percieved as a successful band that are playing in gigs and have that type of indie attitude as it's represented in their clothing.  The fashion for 'indie/soft rock/retro' follows this fashion and the band/s fashion style fits into this,  

Media  Language

There's only two pictures on this contents page and  they're both long shot, to give  the impression and assure the readers that they're in a gig or a concert of some sort.  It suites the magazine as gigs are part of the contents and appeals to the audience.  You can also perceive their attitude through long shot, by the way they're standing etc but they just seem focused on their music.

Research and Planning - My target audience

Age

The audience I'm looking to attract is for later aged teenagers around 16 till around 25ish, as the genre in this content is a wide range of music that's been brought out only recently, and is quite 'youthful'.

Gender

My magazine will probably most appeal to males due to the fact the colours will be quite bold as well as the font including the bands and stories that will appear on the page.  They'll be quite upfront and masculine, however different content of  the magazine will attract females as well.

Occupation

The audience will most likely be students or people in high school that will be interested in this magazine. Any person who is above that sector might like it too, but the percentage is probably really low compared to students of such.

Class

Middle-class people will be reading this, as they're most likely to have an interest in this type of music, as well as other classes but considering they're students and they're looking for a bright future plus paying a lot for their university fee's or still going through college - then this gives off a 'middle-class' impression.

Wealth

The price of this magazine will possibly be around £3 or so, and I suspect people who're willing to pay this as they'll have a big interest in music will possibly pay this so they're pretty average or higher classed on their wealth.  However, students who have a huge interest in music and literally have no money will buy it.

Interests

People attracted to this magazine will probably prioritize their music interest and it will play a huge roll in their younger ages.  They'll be interested in gigs, bands  they're devoted to and the random gossip that is spreading around, about new bands and old bands and also between them.  It'll supply everything this age group will be interested in and will want to know.

Outlook for future

Depending on the age, if it's the lower sector of the age group then they'll possibly be in university in 5 years time, or just leaving which will mean they could probably still be interested in the magazine still, or something similar  towards that interest. Although the current higher-aged sector of this age group will be students and maybe leaving, they'll probably be in a big career within this 5 year gap.

How are you going to reach them?

I will attract the audience by providing them with information on the front about all the latest and popular gigs upcoming, and the front cover will also feature bands that have the most gossip about them which will appeal to them more, or a band that is supposed to be doing well. New songs and albums that are released from  the ultimate bands that apply to this genre will also be put on display. I'll also feature in bold colours that will stand out from the rest & also the fonts will be attractive and dominant. My price range won't be too high so this will ensure that my target audience will be able to buy this without hesitation as well.

As NME feature a lot of different genres in their magazines, this one contains 'rock' content as you can tell from many things, hence the colours, picture and stories around it which I will go into detail with:
The photograph contains the famous band 'Paramore' which will appeal to the audience of this paticular genre especially, and the shot that they've formed is a midshot for the main singer and the rest behind her, so it's like a mastershot but capturing all their expressions due to them being close up (medium shot). The attitudes they give off are quite stubborn and fierce which suites this genre and theme. They don't have a smiley look, or a happy look, it's just bland and very eye-catching, especially with the female as the colours of her hair and makeup stand out and express her emotions more - not forgetting her hand gesture.  Clothing used within this picture is black, to fit into the three colour theme, and promote it so that it fits in with everything. They're also bland clothing, and just colourised so the front cover doesn't look too busy and drag the attention away from the actual main stories - it just gives the background a bit of colour and theme.
Fonts are used in all different sizes here, but none are small, so they all stand out and as usual the NME follows the theme of the main story having the largest font, appealing to their audience for this paticular content in the magazine this time. Both bold colours red and pink contrast paticularly well with black backgrounds as the clothing of the  band making it stand out.

Research and Planning: Music Magazine Analysis

The genre of this magazine is 'indie' type which has a mixture of everything.
The main band  is the main picture which appeals to people who like this type of music and scenery, as the main story is about them and is larger than the masthead grabbing the audiences attention to make it seem 'important'. The sub-story text is possibly the second largest piece of text giving it an affect of 'read me'. The photo used is also a mid-shot showing the stance they're in expressing themselves as a band.
The colours used in this are bland suttle colours but this stands out from the background colour and the main photo making it more appealing. These colours also give out a 'chilled, laid back' kind of theme which is what most of the indie theme is, and is for mid-aged teenagers and some adults. The main masthead which is 'NME' is red which is the main bold colour within this whole cover.  This is because the 'NME' have a great reputation which draws peoples eye to that magazine and then go on to the read the next largest thing on there which is about the main story. Fonts on this front cover are all bold and simple, nohing fancy which suites the genre because swirly text would suite something like classic music.
The stories on this aren't boring either considering the main one goes out the people who actually read this, which are their 'fans' or just people in general who aren't their fans, which intrigues readers either way.

Research and Planning-Evaluation of College Magazine

Likes
-The background design, which matches all the colour scheme which is he following colours: red, orange and then a black which also incorporates within the picture.
Dislikes
-Layout looks a little bit cramped, within the writing and also the photo shopping on the main picture isn't perfect.
Fonts
The fonts I chose suite the whole theme of a college magazine, and is kind of laid back and upbeat. The masthead stands out and with it's bold red difference in the two lines it's set out in, make it attractive and appealing to it's audience. The subtitles to go along with the stories also follow the same font as the masthead but have a difference in colour not making it all the same and boring. The mini story text changes in font to something more plain but jagged, yet still a bold colour that stands out, obviously black. All the fonts match together with everything else that is on the main cover, including the 'spray splodges' that make it appeal to teenagers as it gives off the 'upbeat' vibe.
Three Colour Rule.
I have stuck by this  rule so  that it catches the eye, and also doesn't make it too stuffy with  too much content and overload of colour on the cover, which wouldn't make it as attractive as it could be with just 3 colours. I chose red and orange as  the main colours as they aren't dull and boring and red gives a non-subtle output, so it's "in your face" whereas orange is quite a subtle vibrant colour which makes a perfect match for 2 colours. I then chose black because it gives the main 'boldness' on the front page, as well as the red but black goes well with everything and also matches the picture. I decided to stick with a white background as white is a fresh colour and will stand out from a magazine that has a black background or any other colour, more due to it's light - hence the fact there is no overload of text on there it doesn't drag down the background making it noticeable even more, whereas if there was, you wouldn't be able to tell much and this colour choice wouldn't of had the same effect.
Photographs appropriate?
I do think the photograph is appropriate as it's of a student, doing her work which fits well within the whole 'college' theme, but then she's pulling a kind of "what" face, giving off the typical teenage attitude when it comes to things they're not particularly fond of. This gives off a kind of connection to other teenagers who see this and intrigues them into looking more. The colours on this picture also match the theme, with the orange in the hair matching the font and also  the black and orange top.
Stories on front cover
I find the stories on  the front cover totally appropriate as they relate to college things that students are interested about and not the usual bickering gossip that would drag down the magazines potential. They consist of things that everyone would like to know about, and not just one person like just for boys, or girls and even teachers.

Can you tell the contents page is from the front cover?
Considering the fact that the same font is used throughout the front cover and then onto the contents page I do think that you'd be able to tell it's from the same magazine. However, the colour scheme still should of changed on the contents page to match the front cover more, instead of just black.