Original magazine ideas

By February, I am aiming to have planned, drafted, designed and completed my final music magazine. To accomplish my intentions, I have made assumptions and planned the outcome of who my target audience is, what colours I would like to include in the magazine, the pricing, the title of my magazine and the style of font, to name but a few.

To begin this task, I studied the current music magazine trends and their techniques of producing a product that is worthy of purchasing. By virtue of the magazine industry being either aimed for males or females, I decided to state my magazine as suiting both genders to enable as much circulation to occur as possible. Suiting both genders meant that the genre of music I chose has to entice both without overpowering one predominant gender. I felt that understanding what age group my target audience will be would help me choose the genre of music. After acknowledging that I knew more about my generation, I felt aiming my magazine at 18-28 year old's would mean I would know more about their interests and be able to create a reliable magazine. As addition to this, I chose to focus my magazine around a specific genre of music that I am most familiar with. Having acknowledged that I play two acoustic instruments, guitar and ukulele, I felt that my magazine would be acoustic based, including indie, pop and folk music. 

Including colours that are most striking will mean that the young audience will find it most persuasive to pick up the magazine and open it up to view other features. I plan to include one bold colour that will dominate the page and then use other, easily read, less illuminating colours such as white and black to show professionalism and and help to show  the social class that it is targeted towards as addition to still being visually appealing. Designing a magazine that looks sophisticated, clear and simple is my main aim. 

Three font experiments

Vintage Hummingbird For my first font idea, I chose a sans serif technique “Lucida Handwriting”. Due to the artistic flicks at the end of each letter, I feel this font creates a unique, adventurous appearance at the same time as looking professional with the neat, joined up handwriting. I feel that this font will suit my target audience well due to it not suiting a particular gender more than the other. As a result of the bold font, I feel placing this overlaying onto the main image will be clear and easy to understand.

VintageHummingbird For my second choice, I decided on a similar sans serif font, “Bradley Hand ITC”.  Although this font is slightly too thin, which may be hidden by other overpowering elements on my front cover, I particularly like the curved, flicked style that emphasises the “individual” people for my target audience.

Vintage Hummingbird The third font that I experimented with for my front cover was a serif style, “MV Boli”. Due to the large, bold letters, I felt that this font would suit my magazine well, considering it was very much similar to my other two.  As addition to this, I feel that this font is much easier for the audience to read, whilst still being eye catching and enticing for a young target audience.

Overview of the magazine industry

In the magazine industry today, publishers, editors and directors are creating unique, interesting, enticing and exciting magazines for society. After 14 years of extreme concern with the magazine industry, publishers were suffering from lack of circulation purchases. Beginning in 1996, with the “Stamp sheet subscription decline” and “Wholesaler Consolidation”, the chaos followed on with the “tech bubble”, “Audit Bureau Rule Changes”, “The Competitive Threat of Search and Social Media”, “The financial bust” and “A shift towards female publications” to name but a few. Due to this, the magazine growth fell by 14% in 2006 and since then has had a large effect on the availability of magazines.

In the UK, it is said that 3.7 million magazines are sold per day, having 2,400 sold a minute. Due to magazines such as “the stool pigeon”, “Properganda” and “DIY magazine” being given to the public for free, the original circulation has decreased to the point that it is having a sudden effect on the magazine industry and the amount of magazines sold. In 2009, magazine publishing became a popular career whilst bigger magazine titles were being introduced to society, over powering the older, smaller brands. Through much disagreement, smaller brands began to create more appealing magazines that included all of the latest, important information, pictures and gossip to entice their target audience.

Having four major classified labels including "consumer", "business", "customer" and "newspaper supplements",  the magazine industry also provides the public with smaller labels, "part works" and "academic journals".

Through research, I have found many top listed magazine companies with the different kinds of magazines they published. Some of these companies include “Bauer”, “Conde Nast”, “Hearst” and “Time Warner”. Along with the companies, magazines such as “Cosmopolitan”, “Marie Claire”, “Entertainment Weekly” and “Soaps in depth” were created. It is said that in 2012, the most popular music magazines are both produced from the same company, Bauer. Both Q magazine, 1986, and Mojo, 1993, have a circulation of over 80,000 people each year, whilst producing magazines focusing around the latest music, radio, film and reviews.

Director of Bauer magazine mentions, “Bauer's influential music brands continue to dominate in the UK, underlining the loyalty of our highly engaged audiences and our commitment to delivering the best content in a 360 experience. Our magazines sit at the heart of our multi-platform music brands, which have never been more connected with their passionate and influential audiences in print, online, radio, events, TV, podcasts, social media and our world renowned awards."

Since the upgrade of technology, magazine publishers have had to create magazines that include unique, valued information to keep the circulation going. Other technology such as mobiles, radios and social networking give the target audience the information that is likely to be written within the magazine for free, acknowledging the fact that the magazine will lose their likely fans. The popular magazine, NME, has said to have decreased its circulation by 14.3% in the first half of 2011 to the circulation of 29,020 people. Although the magazine brand is being published in many different methods such as mobile, TV, radio, live events, social media and the magazines, “IPC” have mentioned that it is still recognised as a multi-platform media brand.

For the future, it is said that due to the sudden rise of magazine producers, new technology and bigger companies, methods such as organising structures, improving the “Circ quality”, improving app technology due to the rise in people purchasing smart phones, investigating in data development and becoming more familiar with the target audience are ways in which magazine companies can become stable.

Music magazine Case Study

Introduction- 

“Billboard” music magazine was first founded in Cincinnati in 1894 by two salesmen, William h. Donaldson and James Hennigan. At the beginning of their publishing creations, both men designed the magazine, “Billboard Advertising” for printing and selling posters. They began their career selling the magazines for 10 cents a copy each week, presenting the public with eight pages of news about outdoor amusements, upcoming carnivals, fairs and live entertainment. 

It wasn’t until 1936 that Billboard advertising became a well-known brand by society. As soon as the Jukebox became a well-known music playing device, Billboard included the most popular music charts into the magazine and soon after devoted many pages to the coin-operated vending machines and jukeboxes to publicize the new craze. It was now 1961, and the magazine’s title was renamed, “Billboard Music Week”. Only three years later, it changed again to “Billboard” and has stayed this way since. In 2005, the publishing of Billboard changed from weekly to monthly and the “Billboard TOP” publicised the high selling music albums such as Mariah Carey, Rihanna and Kelly Clarkson. It was soon after that the magazine price in the U.K increased to £5.50 due to the importation from America. In 2008, Billboard achieved the circulation of 18,385 people.

In 2007, Billboard received an award for “Technology Choice Award Winners” as addition to “Design Excellence Award Winners and Finalists”.

The magazine content-

At the beginning of the Billboard music magazine entertainment, it was mainly based around pop music, rhythm and blues and country and western. Considering Billboard is now one of the greatest trade magazines in the world, it has now progressed to having no specific genre found within the magazine but just the latest, popular chart songs. Due to this availability, contents such as the latest news, issues and trends across all of the music genres, specific downloads; sales and box office grosses are included as minor features that keep a wide range of individuals happy by depicting a variety of music related interests into the magazine, suiting the target audience. Major contents such as radio, motion pictures, recorded music and contents on the growing entertainment industry are the main persuasion for the viewer to purchase the magazine due to the exciting articles that informs the audience on celebrity’s lives, latest gig and concert tickets and detailed photographs, showing the real lives of celebrities and their families.

The publisher of the magazine-

Lisa Ryan Howard, born November 24^th 1963, is a New York publisher currently supporting Billboard magazine. Lisa was a student at the University of Georgia who mainly studied Multimedia, sales and marketing, later on working in a variety of areas such as account managing, advertiser directing, director of sales and a chief revenue officer of “Fairchild fashion group”, before becoming publishers for “Conde Nast” and later on Billboard magazine. After 2 years of working for the Prometheus Global Media, Lisa received a Mid-career achievement award through successfully working in Media for 10-20 years. In 2007, Lisa’s name was include in the Advertising Age's annual "40 under 40" list of young “noteworthy” individuals in the media industry.

Due to Lisa Ryan Howard’s commitment, Billboard magazine is published mainly in North America but also operates businesses in Brazil, Greece, Japan, Korea and Russia.

Billboard is mostly funded by the main featured artists in the magazine such as “The script”, “Katy Perry” and “Rihanna”. The donations usually take place at live events such as gigs and concerts that are in aid of Billboard magazine.

The typical reader profile-

Along with the Grammy awards and the American music awards, Billboard music awards is one of the biggest music ceremony’s that lasted from 1990-2007. Due to this major event that took place each December, Billboard magazine gradually became a world-wide sensation whilst slowly gaining more and more entertainment such as Billboard magazine, Billboard.biz, Billboard conferences, Billboard bulletin, newsletters and Billboard.com. Whilst typically aimed at both genders from a wide range from 25-54 year olds, Billboard focuses on all genres of music, catering for the majority of people’s music tastes, leaving the general circulation for the magazine at 16,327 people. The typical audience for Billboard magazine will be people who are interested in the latest music entertainment, the singles in the charts and what order they are currently placed at.

Layout trademarks of the magazine (house Style)- 

Within the magazine, Billboard has included specific information, pictures and appearances that are presented throughout the magazine to create unity. Each month, the magazine would be presented with these layout trademarks for the target audience to visually see that the magazine is Billboard without having to read anything. These features help to advertise in stores, as individuals will acknowledge the trademarks and instantly have an interest in purchasing it.

On the front of each issue is a music artist, placed central to the magazine. Depending on the cover star of each issue of the magazine, determines what kind of person will be purchasing it. It is usual that the artist on the cover on each issue is holding a certain prop that links in with the contents of the magazine.

The main feature that I find is most relevant to be called a trademark is the masthead. Placed upper central, “Billboard” is
written in bold black letters, having the three primary colours, red, blue and yellow as addition to the secondary colour, green, to fill the circular shapes within “b”, “o” “a” and “d”. In different issues, the black masthead changes to white, depending on the main colours used on the front cover. As addition to this, the artists name is usually overlaying the main image or placed beside the image in either black or white so that the audience can identify who the articles within the magazine are about.

The colours used in the magazine are usually contrasting colours put together to make each minute piece of information such as the headline, sub-heading, dateline, sell line, masthead or pictures eye catching.

The contents of the magazine will usually be stated on the cover of the magazine. Sub-headings such as “Dave Grohl – I’M NOT DEAD” and “Arctic Monkeys present their favourite worst nightmare before Christmas” give the audience the information they need to understand what they will be reading about and whether they would like to, whilst using specific terminology to entice them.

Does the magazine reflect the values of its audience?- 

Considering Billboard.com receives over 4 million visitors each month, the magazine is publicised through social networking to then intrigue the wide variety of target audiences.
To enable them to keep 16,327 people happy each year, Billboard uses correct technology that the wide range of target audience will understand whilst adding personal information that attempts to relate to each person.
It is clear that each person who is purchasing Billboard magazine is interested about the current music entertainment. Due to this, Billboard keeps up with presenting the viewer with the information they want whilst enticing them with gossip about their favourite bands and celebrities. Along with this, the magazine provides “reviews of CD's, concerts and music news.” I feel that this is informing the viewer and giving intellectual guidance towards their hobby of music playing and visiting concerts. 

The terminology used in the magazine is written to suit a wide range of people. Considering somebody at the age of 25 could be reading the same magazine as a 54 year old, the words used are professional, intelligent and convenient.
 

Music magazine analysis

Introduction

When analysing a magazine of my choice, I decided to choose a magazine that linked in with the theme of my own. To do this, I studied the popular music magazines that were situated in the country that my target audience predominantly lived, America, but were also available in many others for publicity purposes. After research, I found that Billboard music magazine featured many celebrities who I believe would be interested in acoustic music who mainly lived in America. Considering the target audience for Billboard can range from 25-55 year old's, I feel Billboard magazine is a great magazine to analyse to gain knowledge on the ideas, intentions, their methods of engaging the audience, eye catching appearances and history to then create a successful magazine. Although my magazine will be based around acoustic music, the majority of music artists listed in Billboard magazine are there due to being in the current charts, which makes me believe that they have the ability to expand their imaginations and develop their skills of writing and creating acoustic music.  For my next piece of research, I have found a recent Billboard magazine that was published on October 20^th 2012 that I will be analysing. Billboard magazine, 1894, is weekly published magazine, owned by the company "Prometheus Global Media". With a circulation of 16, 327, Billboard magazine features all of the acclaimed, notorious artists currently trending all over the world. 

Front cover
On the front cover of this particular issue of Billboard, is a flirtatious, explicit photograph of “Kesha”. As mentioned before, the masthead has been kept to the same font, position and design, however, the colour of the main letters have been altered to white to complement Kesha’s outfit. Overlapping the masthead is the main, and in this case, only image. In this particular magazine, the mise-en-scene used is important in the sense of producing a unique, eye catching and enticing front cover for the persuasion of the public to purchase the magazine. The setting that Kesha has been captured in seems to have a peculiar feeling evoking from it. Although the majority to objects kept within the photograph are pleasant subjects to view, a few small skulls have been placed between other colourful, random objects such as tin cans, flowers and wood. I feel that the publisher of this magazine is trying to portray a nauseating photograph that shows plenty of obscene, oddly placed, mixed objects in the empty spaces to create a front cover that has plenty to explore. I would suggest that the use of subject matters such as skulls, flowers, candles, striped materials and rocks have been included to create a textural photograph that is visually intriguing.

The appearance of Kesha is both, flattering and quaint. Although her clothing and make-up have been kept to a natural, refreshing look, the style of the clothing is less than ordinary. With a big slit running down the entire dress, (revealing the flesh of her thighs whilst her upper body has been covered with ruffles and extra flowers on her white clothing),I feel that the image is contradicting itself by the use of bold, bright and un-natural coloured flowers surrounding her. Due to this, I feel the viewers, including myself, feel unsure on the final result of her appearance and how the whole nature of the photograph feels as if she has been copied from another magazine and been placed on this one.

Although the contents within the magazine is initiated by the main focal point being Kesha, we are not given any hints from the background as to what the articles within the magazine may be about or other advertisements included. To gain knowledge of the further information and contents of Billboard magazine, sub-headings, selling-lines, listed websites and cover lines are used as hints and enticements. On this particular issue, “Kesha, works pop voodoo, new single ignites at radio. Can she do it again?” is written beside the main image. This selling line is giving little information about the particular gossip that the target audience will have an interest with. This makes the viewer want to purchase the magazine and read the article on the subject. Other small boxes have been sectioned off into their own areas on the magazine for the ease of the viewer finding the information they would like to read and what page it is on. These headings include, “Apple after Steve Jobs”, “Opening Pandora’s box” and “Who’s No.1”. All of these are the most popular and intriguing articles within the magazine. 

Due to the presentation on the front cover, I would suggest that this issue would be predominantly aimed at females between the ages of 18-30 that belong to the Lower middle social class.

Contents page
On the contents page of this particular issue, like always, Billboard has organised their layout into different sections of the page to present the audience with simple, professional information to help them find what they are looking for.

On the left side of the page, a vertical line has split a quarter of the page from the rest to organise the current music listings in the magazine and their page numbers. This column differs in position depending on the main subject matter. Sub-headings such as “Artists”, “Songs” and “Albums” are highlighted using a bright yellow font colour and being presented in bold. This sections the sub-headings from the following lists by showing change in appearance. Both, “No.1” and “Contents” have been written in a black, bold font with vertical and diagonal slices cut out of the letters, leaving gaps between the single letters. Billboard magazine have used this font throughout every issue. Creating this appearance each month presents the sense of unity within the magazine.  The font used is different from the one on the front cover. I feel that this keeps the magazine interesting, whilst introducing a more professional approach to the contents page than the front cover. As addition to this, unlike the front cover, three photographs have been used to publicise the typical celebrity included in the magazine articles and advertisements. Three of these images are aligned professionally in a row with the page number that they are spoken about more in depth overlapping the image at the bottom. Underneath these photographs lay the fourth that has been increased, 9 times the size of the others, creating the sense that this image has a higher priority than them. The information surrounding this photograph summarises the features and photographs on the contents page, giving the viewer a clearer understanding and approach to reading articles, new singles and latest gossip.

The Billboard logo is placed at the top of the page, minimized to a smaller size than usual. Although the viewer will already have recognition that the magazine that they are reading is Billboard, it is being presented for personalised purposes.

The font used in the contents page has been kept to a normal style. This creates the feeling that the publisher had the intentions of creating a straight to the point magazine that is easy to read and large enough to read by people of all needs. Furthermore, the colours of the contents page have been kept to a minimum of three main colours. These consist of black, white and blue.  Unlike the front cover, the page that consists of much more writing has been altered to an easily read, clear and understanding standard with blank spaces left, instead of filling them with unwanted images, colours or small prints.  

Advertisements
Within Billboard magazine, there are music related advertisements, publicising specific downloads, festivals, clothing or albums. In this issue, I found two of many advertisement pages that were specifically included due to the target audience. On the first page, three promotional adverts were included in separate boxes, filling the entire page. I feel that two of these advertisements are mostly aimed at the male gender whilst being appropriate for an individual in their mid-40. However, including an advertisement within the magazine such as subscribing to the Billboard magazine, is intelligent in the sense of informing the viewer that they can get easier access of the magazine by subscribing and getting the magazine within having to leave their homes. The website to enable this transaction is listed in bold, yellow writing overlapping a black strip at the bottom of the page.

On the second advertisement page, I found the main image very enticing by the use of red, usually associated with danger or love. The quote overlapping the subject reads “We don’t love music, we live music.” Under this quote was the publicised product, earphones. Whilst acknowledging that the target audience for the product will be people who have a passion for music, the publisher has specifically put this advert into the magazine for the audience to be enticed. As addition to this, I feel that the image of both a male and female has suited the intentions for the magazine to be aimed at both genders of all ages.  The important brands, attractive models and expensive looking products have all been included for the purpose of presenting the viewer with the desirable lifestyle.