This is my typical target audience that I would like to address for my magazine, this is the similar style that I would like to attempt to portray inside the magazine. I have included some bands and band members that had influenced my decision by their style, the way they dress and their music type, this will appeal to a majority. I have also included some of the brands I would like to show in my magazine aswell.

My music questionnaire

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L6KSMGY

Click on the link to see my survey.

Kasabian double page spread analysis

GetFile_ashx dps 4, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Click on the photo for my analysis.

Q contents page analysis

Q, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Click on the photo for my analysis.

NME front cover analysis

untitled, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Click on the photo for my analysis.

Mojo doublepage spread analysis

mojo dp spread, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Click on the photo for my analysis.

Q Contents analysis.

Q Contents, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Click on the photo for my analysis.

My magazine ambition

For my music magazine that I must design myself I would like to make it a Mod-style 80's magazine. My inspirations for the style of this magazine was Oasis, The Jam, Blur, The Specials, Madness and other bands of similar style and taste. I am heading for a Brit-pop/Punk style magazine, I would like to include a band that is local and into this 80's-90's style of music. It will be a very British magazine and orientated around the British genre of music. I would like to build my style of magazine around the old NME style magazines but with my own unique ideas included to make it my own, I feel that this style is unique to what everyone else will be choosing in the mainstream era of music and will make it stand out as a front cover.

I am aiming for my magazine to be based towards people the age of 19-24 who express a passion for the same style of music that I am trying to show in my magazine, I will try to make my target audience as wide as possible to ensure that people will like and read the magazine that I design.

I would like to include a big title at the top and a good, catchy main story line across the middle of the magazine to ensure that my magazine will grab the readers' attention and make them want to read on further. I will attempt to make the magazine enjoyable to read as well as telling them about the latest music from the bands included in my magazine. I am planning to put an interview in the magazine so readers can get to know the main band featuring in my magazine a lot better and see the fun side of the band as well as the serious side.

NME: Beady Eye cover analysis

NME BD, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Click on the photo for my analysis.

Magazine case study - Rolling Stone

The Rolling Stone is a magazine devoted to music, liberal politics and popular culture, its published every two weeks and was founded in 1967. Its circulation is 1.4 million in the U.S, however it has been criticised by some of the public for being too biased towards certain artists in the music industry. The magazine first became known in the 1970's for its political coverage, and still to this day it produces in depth political stories and See's its circulation still increasing. The magazine is keeping up to date with the current media state as well by producing their own website called http://www.rollingstone.com/ and providing information about their company on there and what will be in their next issues, however it still leads to be one of the most popular magazines worldwide to this date.

The layout of the Rolling Stone magazine is very neat but basic, this is what i like about the layout is that it isn't in your face but it catches your eye, the Masthead is very basic as well but designed very well, in my opinion this is what attracts readers towards picking the Rolling Stone magazine over other magazine's available today.

How the magazine industry has changed over the course of 50 years

1960-2000:-The golden years of the magazine industry
All of the advertising was going very strong, circulation levels were high and generally magazine companies were very profitable.

2006:-Social media threats
As technology rose, the Internet began to threaten the sales of printed magazines as they offered magazines to be available to read from the Internet. The expansions of Google and Facebook meant new opportunities for publishers to reach and attract new readers; these two websites became serious advertising competitors for consumer attention.

2007:- iPhones
And the iPad which was released in 2010, could let you read magazine, newspaper and book content. These new alternate media platforms proved attractive for audiences, they both became a big threat for publishers.

2008:- The financial crash
Ad revenue and circulation declined further. Circulation in the U.S dropped 20% from 2000 to 2010.

The big get bigger
The bigger magazine companies have bought into the smaller magazine companies. In the U.S, four of the biggest magazine publishers now are: Time Inc., Meredith, Hearst and Conde-Nast. All combined they own 50% of the U.S magazine market. For the small and middle magazine market it is proving a lot more difficult to survive.

Shift toward female-oriented publications and away from male ones
Newsstand sales are slowly decreasing but weekly magazines sold at checkouts have increased and it has a rise to the female-oriented magazine. Men have been seen to be more likely than women to read a magazine online rather than pay. This involves reinventing the industry.

2009:- Shift to consumer orientation
There has been a move from ad-centric publishing to consumer-centric publishing. Magazines must deliver their ideas and content over multiple platforms and compete with the Internet companies for the media attention and the advertising. The consumer magazine industry is becoming smaller than it used to be and is proving to be a lot more difficult to survive for the smaller companies.

How can magazines survive?

· Invest in digital enhancements and initiatives.
· Keep your company efficient and lean.
· Recruit staff that possesses new media skills.
· Keep up to date with what the audience want to see.
· Develop new ideas and applications to deliver the right services and content.

I asked a member of my class to assess my college magazine on a scale of 1-10 and to answer some basic questions on my magazine that I had designed. Overall he marked me 9/10 for the overall design and was satisfied with the details that were needed to be included in my front cover such as the masthead, price, barcode and other important features. Overall I was happy with my magazine but I feel I could have done better with my photoshoot as I thought I rushed the process and didn't get the photos I wanted to reflect my magazine, some of my fonts could of been better as well to make the magazine stand out more as a whole.

College magazine layout

College layout analysis, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Photoshoot

DSCN3232, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Photoshoot

DSCN3233, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Photoshoot

DSCN3234, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Photoshoot

DSCN3235, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Photoshoot

DSCN3236, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Photoshoot

DSCN3237, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Photoshoot

DSCN3238, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

Whats Up-College Magazine Contents Analysis.

whats up contents, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

This is the contents for my college magazine that I have designed. I have annotated it to show you they key points that I feel will make the magazine more enjoyable to read.

Whats Up-College magazine annotation

whats up magazine surface blur, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

This is my college magazine that I have designed, I have taken ideas found from other magazine's and formed them into my own magazine to hopefully create a magazine that people will want to read

The National Student Magazine Analysis

The National Student Magazine Analysis, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

This is my analysis for the magazine The National Student.

C.U.E College Magazine Analysis

C.U.E College Magazine Analysis, a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

My analysis for the college magazine C.U.E.

Audience Research-Response answers

We did research in a group of 5 of what type of ideas the public would like to see in our college magazines, these were the results, from these results we could determine what would be popular with the readers and what we should not include.


1. What would you like in your college magazine?
a) Sport 3
b) Music 10
c) Jobs 5
d) Discounts 8
e) Other (please write down if other) News and Facts 1

2. What style/colours do you want on the front?
a) Pink 4
b) Black 8
c) Yellow 1
d) Green 0
e) Blue 4
f) Red 3
g) Other (please write down if other) White, Silver 2

3. What do you want on the cover?
a) Boy 5
b) Girl 6

4. How much would you pay for a college magazine? 50p 3, 20p 2. £1 1, 10p 1, 0 3.

5. How often would you like a magazine?
a) Weekly 4
b) Monthly 6

6. What themes?
a) Serious 0
b) Fun 8
c) Cool 5
d) Other (please write if other) Quirky 1

7. What would you like the style to be?
a) Sporty 3
b) Musical 5
c) Girly 0
d) Other (please write if other) Random 1, Quirky 1, Individual 1, Variety 1.

8. What discounts would you like? Food 6, Shops 2, Clothes 2, Bakery 2, Morrisons 1, QD 1, Future Magazines 1, Keith’s 1, W.H. Smith 1.

9. What type of adverts would you like to see? Cars 4, Fashion 4, Parties 3, Jobs 2, Trips 1, Local deals 1, Music 1, Discounts 1, Sale adverts 1, Games 1, Sport 1.

10. Would you like a ‘what’s on’ guide? Yes 10, No 0.

Student Magazine: Soup.

Student Magazine: Soup., a photo by Isaac Reeder on Flickr.

This was a magazine that I have annotated and illustrated, it is a student university magazine.

To read the annotations click on the image to be taken to Flickr.