Target Audience

A typical reader for my magazine would be someone probably in the lower classes of society but has enough money to spend on concerts of these artists involved and of course to buy the magazine itself. However, the music would probably suit lower class and teens better than it would of those in the higher classes and older ages. I would not seclude them completely as some might but would not be my first choice to target. I would stay away from the A and B side of demographics which therefore makes my audience fairly narrow but there is always going to be enough teens to be interested in this typical magazine. The sort of interests a typical reader would need is about the urban music industry and there will be some topics about entertainment, culture and lifestyle. The socio economic classification would definitely be lower occupations, you can tell this just by looking at the typical magazine cover. 

Plus by looking existing magazines, looking at the products advertised you can tell that this magazine is for the younger generation, male and females.

These particular magazine target 18-34 year olds and therefore my music magazine will be targeting the same.

Analysis of existing magazines- Front covers.

The VIBE: an example of a Hip Hop magazine.

The title is very catchy and it could be associated with anything, not just hiphop and that's what the magazine want. They want to cover more than one genre in the urban music sector. From cover 1, it proves that they don't just cover music but also views from president, may be important news?

VIBE is an emotion as to is music.

The main title is sans serif (most popular) but the sub titles and texts have used serif, which is also common.

The colours together are very vibrant, which helps to catch peoples eye. The colours are very fitting depending on who is on the front cover, red being related to women and there is famous lady singer on front and blue and black as well for the man.

Vibe magazines aren't consistent, as their titles change size and colour each issue.

It uses a lot of listing in the front cover telling you what's involved in the magazine, which makes it informal.

Vibe is the premier destination for urban music, entertainment, culture and lifestyle for the aspirational 18-34 year old.

The pictures, pretty much tell you who it is targeting. The fact that there is a posed naked singer and Obama trying to win over the influences of younger people as well as the older ones.

1) This picture of Obama would attract people older than their target audience, which could bring more people to buy it. Plus the picture is of half of his head and this makes it more imposing and seriousness of the topic.

2) She is proving that she is 'American Beauty' as well as a good singer, this will invite a lot of men to pick it up, even some women. She is not looking at the camera, all part of the pose and proposed message.

There covers vary between males and females depending on the news that past week/month.

The main sells... the same as any other music magazine except the second is special as its been done with nudity too, can be quite rare. It would also include what's included in this specific issue, i.e. 51 best myspace rappers.. and this would appeal to some.

This particular magazine doesn't have the date, issue number and the price isn't readable. However, there is a rather distinctive barcode in the bottom left.

On the main flash, they are advertising new and well known artists and their new singles. There are also articles on particular topics to do with the music industry. They may not mention interviews on the main flash, however letter from Obama is an important part of this magazine.

Introduction to Music Magazine

For this task, we have to create and design our own music magazine for a target audience of our choice. I have decided to do a Hip Hop genre (which will also cover rap, Rn B etc.) for my magazine and this will probably target teens, however anyone could be interested in Hip Hop. I have chosen this because I know a lot about the music involved and I am part of the target audience.

This task is also a development from the preliminary task and here is the link: http://sdcmediaasalexroberts.blogspot.com/

Evaluation

I think my contents page is very good, however I feel my front cover could have been better. I could have done this by looking at other styles of magazines and now I've learnt this I can incorporate this in my real coursework. By styles I mean, the layout and the way I've done the columns, although I did like the idea about three photos, one for each of the target audiences.

Flat plans

These are my flat plans. 

Fonts: I have chosen two fairly well-known fonts for the titles, sub-titles and texts. I have used Arial bold for the title and sub-titles as it is san-serif and therefore more effective as a title. I have used Times New Romanfor the main texts because it is serif and when altogether it is more readable. This will suit any target audience. 

Unfortunately, on the flat plans I haven't added colour but you will see from my final design where I wanted to colour to go and why. 

The texts are fairly formal in some areas depending on which part of the target audience are being targeted but for example when talking about Freshers, it isn't. 

Instead of just having one photograph, I decided to pick three, one of each of the target audience so it shows that it involves them and may make them want to read it more. 

I have included which term and which issue it is. 

The contents page is not just one long list of what's involved in the magazine, but it has been set out with a separate column, separating again the target audiences and has many other photos showing previews to what's inside. 

Photographs

Here are the photos needed for my front cover.. Teacher, Parent and Student. I have got 2 of each and will pick one of each in due time.

These were taken by me and on a digital camera. 

I decided to use the standard straight on angle for the preliminary task as it doesn't need to show much of a message in this instance. 

With all three of the images together, it would really stand out to the target audience because it shows who it is targeting. 

Introduction to my student magazine- Set task

For this task we have been asked to re-design our college's magazine. It needs to include a front cover, contents page and evaluation. The magazine cover must include a digital photo taken by me and a new title made up by me. My target audience is students, staff and parents.