Feedback Time!

So today in class, we did a Foundation Portfolio Peer Feedback Session.  It was actually really helpful and I got to see my own project from different perspectives.

My group was helpful when it came to ideas for articles. One of the girls in my group, Mariana, said that music magazines tend to have stories about how bands and artists first got their shot to stardom.  If the artists are already well established, then the articles will be about how the artist is making a comeback or activities that the band does to keep their name out in circulation.  Since my band doesn't have their own music video and aren't really well known to the public, I should do an article about how the band first formed and how they got to the point they are at today.

One thing that I hadn't realized was that I had to take myself out of the band in order to take photos and do the interview for the magazine.  Since I am in the band, I didn't really think about not being in the interview and the pictures, but it makes the most sense for me to remove myself from the band (at least for the purpose of the magazine) and take the pictures myself.

Another aspect that my group brought up was the issue of how I am going to do my photo shoot.  I don't really have access to a professional studio, taking my pictures will become really hard.  Before today's session, I really wanted to do a shot like the cover of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.  I wanted my bandmates to stand in a line, surrounded almost completely in darkness.  After feedback today I realize that even though I might have put a lot of thought and planning into my magazine, my choice may not be practical in real life.

"I would kill for you, that's right. If that's what you wanted" - By OneRepublic

My Audience

As I've mentioned before, I want my magazine to be about Alternative/Indie/Rock music.  Therefore, my target audience is going to be very segmented. However, my target audience is most likely within the ages of 15-24 years old, which would be considered the young adult/adult audience. I don't want to limit my target audience anymore by trying to target a certain gender because my market is already limited to people who are interested in this specific music genre.  Also, my case study research that I did about Kerrang! indicates that both males and females are interested in reading this music magazine so I won't be at a disadvantage by not targeting my magazine towards a specific gender.


While researching target audiences for music magazines, I found this website on SlideShare. It was really interesting to look at someone else's primary research and see how that affected how they positioned their magazine.  I plan on looking at this research to influence what I put in my magazine. For example, the research indicates that the target audience reads about information about new and old bands.  the target audience also appreciates information about upcoming band gigs and a look at how bands/songs are performing on the weekly charts.  The research from these sites also indicates that Indie/Rock magazines are priced reasonably so that a wide variety of people can afford to purchase the issues.

For my magazine issue, I plan to utilize the research that I found by making my content about old and new bands.  Readers also tend to appreciate a look at the weekly charts to see a song's popularity over the week, so I will try and include my own chart in my issue.  The band/artist who is on the main cover tends to be an up-and-coming artist who has a song that is rising in the weekly charts, which is perfect because that is how I plan to position my own band, the Fluorescent Adolescents.

Layout

Layout

Even though I have looked at multiple magazines before, I don't see a specific layout that music magazines tend to use when making their layout. In general, music magazines tend to follow that same trend, so I'm left with a wide variety of layouts to choose from in order to make my magazine.

I found a great article about magazine layouts in general.  Fresh Ideas for Improving Your Magazine Layouts included a variety of tips that help catch the reader's eye and keep their interest as they are flipping through my magazine.  One of the main messages that I got when reading the article is that the magazine is not all about the cover page.  I've been putting a lot of thought into what I want my magazine cover to look like that I hadn't really thought what I wanted my table of content and double page spread to look like. This article reminded me that it is not all about the cover.  Yes, the cover has a lot of importance because that is what the reader is going to first see and it's what they use to determine their decision to keep reading the rest of the magazine, but the article and the design of my double page spread are equally as important.  I need to make sure that my magazine keeps the reader's interest until they reach the very last page.  Therefore, this article helped me refocus on the importance of the magazine as a whole rather than individual parts.


So after reading this article, I decided to head to Pinterest to see different images of music magazine layouts.  These are my favorites out of all the images that I found.




The picture of Mark Ronson is big and bold, along with his name printed along the top of the pages. Based on the picture and the enlarged title of Mark Ronson's name, I can guess without even reading the article that this story is going to be an anecdote about Mark Ronson.  The title is placed in an unconventional way that forces the reader to look all over the spread in order to read the whole title.  The placement of the title is interesting because it is not your standard title that goes across the page from left to right.  I think that unconventional title placement catches the reader's attention quickly and piques the readers' curiosity in order to get them to read the rest of the article.




I like how the band photo takes up the majority of the double page spread.  They are featured prominently, right in the centerfold so that readers who are flipping through know that the band featured is so important.  The structure of the actual article is easy to read and has a logical flow to it.  Majority of the room on the page is given to the picture and the article is there as support.  It is clear that the main focus in this spread is about the band, not the article, which I would argue is exactly the opposite of the Mark Ronson spread above.



I like that the quote is prominent.  It's also ambiguous enough to interest the reader to look at the rest of the article to understand a better grasp of what the title is trying to convey.  Unlike the spread above about The Vaccines, the quote is enlargened to draw attention and show importance to the reader. Focusing on the quote rather than the band conveys that the magazine is focusing more on the band's lyrics or the messages that they are trying to convey through their songs.

What do I want to do?
I like the unconventional title placement from the Mark Ronson double page spread.  It makes the spread more interesting to look at and it is a quick and easy way to draw the attention of the reader.  I think I want the double page spread to be promotional and introduce the band to the rest of the world.  Therefore, I am going to put a lot of effort into the photos and make sure that the band is placed prominently.

Resources
“5 Pro Tricks to Instantly Improve Your Magazine Layouts.” InDesign Skills, Designlisticle, 27 Mar. 2018, www.indesignskills.com/inspiration/magazine-layout-design/.
“Pin by Jamison Franzen on ART 3204 Audit | Pinterest | Magazine, Magazine Design and Editorial Layout.” Pinterest, in.pinterest.com/pin/478507529145381655/?lp=true.

"Everyone know I'm in over my head" - Over My Head by The Fray

Status Update on Me... I'v been a little busy

Hey, blog! I'm sorry I haven't been posting for the last few days.  Since Thursday morning, I've been at the state's conference for my business club, DECA.  January through April is considered to be DECA competition season and this year I placed 1st in the District and had the opportunity to go to states.  I have competed in the same category of Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making with my partner, Taylor F., for the last four years.  We had gone to States three times and Internationals twice but never placed internationally so this was our last year to make it count.

For the competition, I had to take a 100-question marketing test and do a business role play with Taylor.  For the role play, we were given thirty minutes to come up with a solution to a problem at a company and present it to a judge, who is suppose to be the president of said company.

Guess what...WE WON! Not only did we win, but we placed 1st in the State. AND both Taylor and I were recognized as having the highest test scores and role-play scores out of all those who competed in our category at states!!! I'm so happy and proud of us! Talk about ending Senior year with a bang!

Anyway, the reason why I am mentioning this is because even though I was hard at work competing, I was also working on magazine research over the weekend.  However,  I did not have time to post so I am about to go on a posting spree. ENJOY!

"Wish we could turn back time to the good old days when our momma sang us to sleep, but now we're stressed out" - Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots

Let's Plan it Out

I've been looking at a variety of music magazines and honestly, I'm a bit overwhelmed.  The covers of these magazines are so busy and look like they require a lot of work.  Not to mention, I'm going to have to write the articles for my magazine and I have no clue what I'm going to say.  All in all, I'm stressed!

I told myself last week that I would make a plan in order to make sure that I stayed on track.  I've decided that I need to break this magazine down for myself so I can finish small portions of the magazine at a time.  

• Genre Research
• Title
• Article Topics
• Cover Image 
• Photos to include inside the issue
• Layout & Color Scheme

The purpose of my magazine is to introduce and elaborate on artists of the rock genre.  The main focus of my magazine will be on the photos that showcase the artists and the brand image that the artists present to their consumers.  Since a music magazine technically falls under the Arts genre, my design and layout need to be creative and enticing for my readers to look at.

Okay! I feel better now and a bit more organized!  More research to follow in the next post!

"Never enough for me" Never Enough by Loren Allred

Music Magazine Research

So this is what research I could find about Music magazines:

Kerrang!

   


Target Audience:
The Target Audience of this magazine is predominantly male (Average Age: 22).  The consumers tend to be heavy rock fans.  Since this magazine is a British publication, the most popular ethinicity that buys this magazine are Briitsh.  The target age is in the range of 17-24 year olds.  Based on the age range, I can tell that this particular magazine is marketed towards teens and young adults. T

Content:
Since the magazine is geared towards teens, the magazine has to put artists that are current within the rock/pop genre.  The main concentration of this magazine is a focus on punk, rock or metal bands that may be new or old.  Kerrang! projects the image of a 'new' rock magazine rather than a classic rock magazine.  They do this by featuring newer, current artists rather than rock classics, such as the Rolling Stones

Production Techniques:
The cover image prominently showcases the artist(s)/band that the magazine has decided to highlight that week. The close up shot of the artists indicates to the reader that they are going to get detailed and maybe even personal information about the artist.
The logog for Kerrang! tends to be white block letters, encased in a red box.  The color red is a bright and stimulating color fo the human mind.  Red envokes excitement within the reader.  The juxtaposition of the white letters against the red background make the logo stand out and makes it easily recognizable.


How I Plan to Use My Research:
After looking at a few music magazines, I know that I am going to need to pick a sub-topic within the field of music in order to be able to create my magazine and be able to market it to the appropriate target audience.  Since I am in a rock/pop band, my magazine will likely be a newer rock magazine, much like how Kerrang! is.
One marketing tool that Kerrang! used that I liked was that in their Media Pack, they included a variety of ways music can be streamed through their platforms in order to reach their consumers.  My target audience is going to be ages 16-25, so I am going to need market my magazine on different platforms and make sure to include that information in my issue.
In order to appeal to my target audience, I'm going to make my font in bright and bold colors in order to draw attention to it.  Through their colors, Kerrang! was able to convey that they are not a clasic rock magazine, but in fact a newer facet of the rock genre, which is exactly the same message I want to convey to my audience.
I also realize now that my cover image needs to be a close up, because I want to embrace genre/production conventions. I know how difficult it is to do photoshoots based on past projects that I have had in this class, so looking at these magazines has made me realize that I need to start getting my photos together sooner rather than later.  Next week, I am going to make a schedule for myself to make sure that I stay on top of the project work and ensure that I have a great final product!



Resources
“Kerrang!” Bauer Media, www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands/kerrang.
“Target Audience of Kerrang! Magazine and My Plans.” Samnmediablog, 4 Nov. 2012, samnmediablog.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/target-audience-of-kerrang-magazine-and-my-plans/.
Alexandria, Asking. “#Kerrangmagazine - Twitter Search.” Twitter, Twitter, 8 Aug. 2014, twitter.com/search?q=#kerrangmagazine&src=typd.
Kiraan123 Follow. “Music Magazine Research.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 2 Nov. 2010, www.slideshare.net/Kiraan123/music-magazine-research-5648309.

"My mind is wide open and I'm ready to start" - Ready to Start by Arcade Fire

Day One!

Hello again! It's been a long time since I last posted, so here is an update about what's going on...
This week, we are officially starting our work for our Foundation Portfolio Project.  Although I did some research on Health and Food magazines earlier on in the year, I'm still not certain about what kind of magazine I want to make.  Right now I'm leaning more towards a Music magazine because I love music.

I also think that producing a music magazine will be easier for me since I am really interested in that magazine genre.  Since I have my own band, I would be able to my cover page about them and write an article about them as my main story. I want to my article to talk about the formation of the band.  It would be an exclusive interview with a new "up-and-coming" artist.

My band formed over four years ago.  We all took classes at The Hit Music Studio, learning different instruments.  The studio then organized us (Gabe, Soleil, Estefania, Braina, Sarai, and me) into a band and we have been performing together ever since.  We get to pick the songs that we perform but the studio gets final say over what we play at the concerts, making sure that the songs are appropriate.  Sometime, the studio pushes us into performing popular songs that people are hearing on the radio but majority of the time, we are let up to our own devices.  All of my band mates love alternative rock genre, which is why I am leaning towards making my magazine.

Even though I'm not sure what direction my project is headed in, I'm excited to see how it goes!
Until next time!