The document summarizes the author's process in designing and developing their own music magazine. Some key points: 1) The magazine takes influence from other music magazines like NME and Mojo and focuses on indie/alternative music. 2) The magazine has a clean and simplistic layout with one main image and small sections of spread out text. 3) Distribution would likely be through major publishers like Bauer who distribute similar niche magazines. 4) The target demographic is indie, alternative, and rock music fans from teens to mid-30s, especially students.

1. Evaluating My Music Magazine
By Izabella Tulip-Parkin

2. My music magazine takes major influence from NME,
The FLY and Mojo. After researching music magazines
such as Mojo, NME and Q and the industry I choose a
genre I was familiar with and knew well which
alternative/indie genre was. A key way in which my
music magazine challenges the conventions of most
media products is that my magazine is free. Which
means it is open to a wider university/student based
audience as anybody could pick it up and would be in
expensive. After dissecting the front covers and contents
pages of magazine like Mojo and NME I decided I want a
clean and simplistic layout, which looks modern and
quite arty as that is the direction I want my magazine to
go in.

3. With my chosen music genre of alternative/indie which
includes such bands as the Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and
Vampire Weekend which I based my layout and design on. My
layouts are simplistic by this I mean my page is note cover in a
large range of images and massive clumps of text, but instead
one main image surrounded my small sections of text spread
across the page. They follow a theme and colour scheme of
black, red and deep purple with some grunge undertones that
is promoted by the front cover image. These themes come
through also in my chosen logo which looks like an old
fashion typewriter style text and font type used on my front
cover and the key idea of using a simple layout. I think this
reinforces the ideas that I aimed my magazine at the more
indie music lovers and arty students. But overall the most
prominent way in which I target my social groups is by what
music I include in my magazine.

4. I if were to have my magazine distributed I would imagine
media institutions such as Bauer and Times Inc. would publish
my magazine as they distribute in the UK. They publish such
magazines as NME, Q, Kerrang and Mojo. I have chosen these
distributors as they publish magazines that are major
influencers of my magazine and I feel it would be a magazine
that’s fits in some of the niche magazines they already publish. I
would want my magazine not only to be stocked in newsagents,
but also galleries and indie clothing shops e.g. American
Apparel, Vintage Boutique in Brick Lane, Topshop etc. I want
my magazine distributed in a range of shops as I feel it means it
spreads out to a wider audience, but still targeting my niche
groups of alternative, indie and rock music fans. Also I know
that this were my target will go and be so would be great
publicity.
My demographic is indie, alternative and rock music fans from
the late teens up to mid-30s. Also a key group would be students
from secondary to university. I have this target audience it has
been found that teens and students are the people who read the
most music magazine. Also I feel that my magazine would appeal
to them most, as students are the largest niche group of indie
and alternative music fans.

5. The first thing and the most important part of a magazine is the front cover, which is
what I thought about most as the magazine is the first the reader sees, and what draws
them most to the magazine. I experimented with a range of fonts, as I need different fonts
to create different effect and need to match different themes. The front cover image is
bright and bold which thinks I think is eye catching and would draw the reader to the
magazine as the in the center of the image is the main story ‘Billy Rose’ who is portrayed
modestly, but you still get this idea that she is a strong minded women and . Then all the
other elements on the page I made sure worked well the complement the image that
makes it look stylish and sophisticated. For example the tagline and title of the images
the two fonts compliment the image and are relevant and add to the grunge/rock tone of
the image. Also the colour scheme and font sizing of the tagline lines work effectively
together and look quite stylized. I kept my contents and article layout simplistic as it
looks elegant I feel fits in perfectly with the indie and alternative genre. For instance the
content page I kept the background white and all text in black, but worked will with the
vibrant images which I used. I followed the idea of the left third which is where I listed
my tagline to each page reference which I varied the size and font type between. Also a
key element on the page was my used of lines as I found it made the pages easier to read
and follow through , but also made the page look more clean and spacious. For the layout
of my double page spread article I had one page which had an A4 size picture of ‘Billy
Rose’ and then the tagline I made sure stood out, but complimented the main image. The
article itself was a simple column layout so is easy to read and I used a range of size and
colours so that you could see the change in paragraph and point. When writing my
article I not want to use overly complicated language to scare my audience, but to target
my niche group by using language that will make most sense students and specially indie,
alternative and rock music fans. Using terms that are only relevant to my niche group
and make it seem as if I am speaking directly too they not will formal language, but being
opinionated and being very informal almost like I am having a conversation with some.

6. I learnt how to use adobe software more effectively and skill
fully such as InDesign and Photoshop. Such as I know how to
design an layout a double page spread article or a front cover
and how to change and create taglines and titles or organize
an article. Also on Photoshop I can cut a figure from a
background and place on another background. I have
explored a range of Website I can create presentations on. It
has shown me how much time and skill goes into designing a
magazine and given me idea of how to create other thins using
this software. Given me a taster of what it could me like to
work in the media industry.

7. I found the research into the industry incredibly interesting
looking at the media industry and how it has been affected by
the economy over the years. Also it has been interesting to see
what sells and how you to develop a product and what sort of
research you need to do to most successfully establish and sell
a magazine. I have enjoyed the designing aspect of creating the
magazine and thinking about what is most appealing and
when designing think about what layout works best
dependent on your genre. Also how you can create a front
cover and other pages where all the elements on it inter lock
and work well besides each other. Overall I have enjoyed the
process of creating a product and researching the media
industry and is has encouraged me to consider what sells in
the music magazine industry and what isn’t out their yet. Also
after getting feedback from friend and other class members
they could pick out the genre of music I was aiming towards
from the front cover and like the images and found the article
enjoyable to read.