Saturday, 31 March 2012
Contents Font
I have limited my selection of contents fonts to these which convey creativity and youth with their childish style. I will conduct a short survey to find out which Contents font they are most in favour of.
My focus group decided by a land-slide that the bottom font was a clear winner, with further comments of:-
"The bottom option gives a more intriguing feel to the overall look of the magazine."
"It gives a textured looks rather than plain and flat page"
Decline of Sales Figures
The ABC figures show a vast decline in the yearly circulation of NME
magazine by 17.6% from 56,000 to 18,000. This appears to be a trending event
throughout all magazines with Q magazine fell by 20% respectively. As of 2012,
the biggest selling music magazines Mojo’s
circulation also fell by 2.4% to 85,000.
This correlation of falling magazine sales and the distribution increase
of free title magazines such as Fly to
108,827 copies displays the trend in which magazines are going, relying upon
advertising rather than selling to the public.
Title
|
Publisher
|
Jun End 2012
|
Yr / Yr Change
|
Empire
|
Bauer Consumer Media
|
167,096
|
-2.3%
|
Total Film
|
Future Publishing
|
68,897
|
-4.1%
|
Mojo
|
Bauer Consumer Media
|
85,149
|
-2.4%
|
Q
|
Bauer Consumer Media
|
64,596
|
-19.7%
|
Uncut
|
IPC Media
|
63,003
|
-4.5%
|
Kerrang!
|
Bauer Consumer Media
|
40,203
|
-6.6%
|
New Musical Express
|
IPC Media
|
23,924
|
-17.6%
|
Due to my magazine focusing on a different, niche market I will continue to sell my magazine for a trial period of 1 year but if the magazine fails to meet the circulation figures, switching to a free magazine will be more practical in terms of cost and creating quality content.
Audience Profile and Convergence
Audience:
- 15-20 year old teens; this is the most predominant age in which music is most influential and important in their lives which raises the importance of my magazine. If regarding this is the view of Uses and Gratification it too raises the importance of my magazine as a social aid in being a creator of social interaction and a route of escape.
- ABC1/2 Social classification; this makes sure that my magazine is adequately priced and affordable for my target audience. This social classification is generally the most inclined to buy magazines too, so in turn, this makes sure my target market is of an appropriate audience.
- Mixed gender; this opens up my magazine to target more audiences and increase sales.
- Social networking is of high importance; as seen, this will aid my interactions with my audience to find out what aspects of my magazine they like and dislike to make my magazine a more successful venture and this will also aid in reaching audiences who are not my specific target audience.
Rolling Stone Convergence:
The traffic which RollingStone.com receives shows the importance of convergence. Reaching 2.7million unique users a month via computers alone shows the vast audience it unlocks, especially when scaled against its 68,000 monthly readership. Social extensions alone offer up major advertising opportunity with Rolling Stone having 567,000 Facebook fans and a total of 1,640,000 Twitter followers as of June 2012. Having such a wide audience at such a constant source of interaction is a major advertising opportunity and also gives an aspect of interaction with their audience to further their knowledge of their chosen audience and increase interactivity with this audience.
Friday, 9 March 2012
Unfinished Two Page Spread Comments
I decided to try out some of the ideas that the people suggested for my Two Page Spread. First was the red and black idea:
This did look good but I felt it was too rocky, especially with the colour connotations from the red and black, so I ultimately decided not to go with this idea.
Next was the white, torn notes option:
I liked this idea a lot, I agree the yellow was too harsh and it wasn't set out in a visually pleasing manner. The white constrasts with the black and white background and aids in the house-style I tried to create.
Contents Pages Analysis
I now know the common conventions of a magazine and these will help me in making a readable yet unconventional and recognisable magazine.
Kerrang! Convergence
This shows the importance of media convergence, that a magazine may attract readership but without dominance of all media platforms, the magazine will not reach a great height. This will help me while making my magazine as I will have to think about other ways to attract readership outside of just the magazine industry.
Sources used:
http://www.kerrang.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrang_Radio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrang!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrang!_TV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrang!_Awards
http://nataliedownmedia.pbworks.com/w/page/46889925/Kerrang-%20Synergy%20and%20Convergence
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Mock ups
I have created a mock of my ideas in order to give myself a feel of the overall look of the magazine and decide if urgent things are out of place or missing. While doing this I have made numerous changes but I am now happy with the overall look of the magazine and subsequent pages but if the feedback is negative or I feel after making the actual product things are still out of place I am willing to change certain factors.
Sunday, 8 January 2012
How is the magazine industry regulated?
Levison Inquiry
The Inquiry will examine culture, practises and ethics within the media
in order to establish whether or not the British press has too little
restraint. There are 4 modules of inquiry consisting of:-Currently the only regulation in place in terms of magazines and newspapers is self regulation. The Levison Inquiry calls this into question with Lord Justice Leveson saying on the 14th November 2011, “The press provides an essential check on all aspects of public life. That is why any failure within the media affects all of us. At the heart of this Inquiry, therefore, may be one simple question: who guards the guardians?” but this could backfire in the face of free-speech and could impede upon accurate reporting.
When creating my magazine I must take into account these factors that I will have to be self-regulating my content; with the Levison Inquiry further and solid regulation could in be in place in order to have strict guidelines on what content is included.
National Union of Journalists
"Ensure that information dissemination is honestly conveyed,
accurate and fair"In purpose of creating my magazine strict editorial guidelines would be in place to ensure the upmost respect for the magazine but also to protect the interests of the reader.
Sources used:
http://www.pcc.org.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Complaints_Commission
http://www.asa.org.uk/
http://www.ppa.co.uk/
Questionnaire and results
I attempted to cover a wide range of questions which would reflect on my magazine I am creating. I did not wish to leave things too open ended as I would not get a definitive answer, thus I coloured the letters regarding the colour scheme so the people completing the questionnaire clearly understood my intentions.
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Key Theories
This will help me in making my magazine as I have a firm idea on what exactly genre is, which is integral into knowing how to portray it in a magazine. I also have key theories on how people engage with media platforms, this will help me in making the content of my magazine speak to the audience and create a magazine they will find pleasing. Dyer's star theory will also help me significantly, as now I know how to represent my models to make them a successful construct interms of their genre.
Sources used:
'Media Studies AS & A2', Jacquie Bennett, Longman Press, 2005.
http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts
http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/Music/music.php?pageID=popstar
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