The document summarizes the key learnings from analyzing various magazine covers, contents pages, double-page spreads, and conducting audience research. Some of the main techniques identified for effective design include using large images of famous artists on covers to draw attention, sectioning contents pages clearly, balancing images and text on double-page spreads, and incorporating a variety of music genres and interests to attract a wide audience. Market research revealed that the target audience prefers magazines monthly with a price of £2-3 focusing on music news, reviews, and interviews.

1. Front cover reflection<br />For part of my research I had to complete an analysis of 10 magazine covers ranging from a variety of music genres. The magazine covers I analysed were; Billboard, Vibe, Q, NME, Kerrang, Rock Sound, Spin, Rolling Stone, XXL and Blender. From the analysis I found a lot of useful information such as the typical conventions magazine companies uses to attract target audiences. This includes slogans, mast heading, sky lines, cell lines, a main image etc. I found that all the mast headings were in the largest copy. This is so the audience are drawn to it. The name of the magazine is important because it may be the unique selling point so needs to be seen. All the magazines I analysed had a very large image as the main focus. They were all images of famous artists, I learnt that by using famous artists on the front cover it draws more audiences to your magazine. This is because if people glance at your magazine and see a well-known artist they like, they will most probably look at the magazine further. I could apply this to my own magazine I am going to make because by having a USP (in this case the famous artist) it will attract more audiences. Another aspect I learnt is where to position the barcode, every magazine I analysed had a small barcode positioned at the bottom of the page. Another aspect I learnt was to use ‘buzz’ words on my cover. Buzz words are words that draw the audience in, for example ‘exclusive’. From the magazines I analysed I found only a few used the buzz line ‘exclusive’. When I was looking at the magazines I found that I was drawn to these words, therefore I will defiantly use a buzz word in my magazine cover.Another aspect is cell lines, from the magazines I analysed I found the cell lines that were in a bold copy were more effective catching our attention. I think by having too many cell lines can be off putting from some magazines I looked at. (like the ‘Rock Sound magazine). Therefore in my magazine I will use a few bold cell lines. Finally I learnt that the house style is very important. From magazines I analysed I found that the magazines that kept to a few colours were more effective in drawing the audience in. Some of the magazines I looked at had no house style it was a mash of colours that didn’t look attractive. For my magazine I will keep to one house style of about 3 colours.I also learnt the important of copy. The most effective magazines I looked at were the ones that kept to one font. It kept it all consistent and looked attractive. The magazines I analysed that had different fonts looked quite off putting.<br />Contents page analysis<br />From analysing 10 contents pages I found what makes a good contents page. The contents page is a very important aspect in the magazine as it navigates the reader around the magazine. One aspect I found that makes a good contents page is how the actual contents is split up. For example, ‘NME’ ‘Rolling Stone’ and ‘Billboard’ all have good contents because they have split it up into sections such as ‘reviews’ ‘gossip’ features’. This is very effective because it allows the reader to easily find a specific page. The magazines ‘Spin’ and ‘Rock Sound’ did not do this well as they had not sectioning, this made it difficult to find a certain page as you have to read every single line.I will apply the sectioning to my magazine contents page because it is a very efficient way for the reader to find a page.Another aspect I found was that the better contents pages were the ones that positioned everything around a main image. For example, ‘Karrang’ had a main image and three graphic features, everything was fitted around them so nothing overlapped. I found this good because it didn’t look overcrowded and it looked organised. ‘Rock Sound’ had a main image as the background and positioned the contents over the image, it made it difficult to read the words and did not look attractive. The images are very important because it will draw the audience in, I will apply the positioning everything around a main image to my own magazine because I feel it will be more appealing.Another aspect I found was the use of graphic features, by this I mean small images that symbolise an article in the magazine. I found that these were quite effective because it was an attractive way to show what is in the magazine an alternative to lots of copy. I think young adults will enjoy seeing more images as it looks more interesting. The magazines I analysed that made good use of this was ‘Rolling Stone’ and ‘Kerrang’. I will defiantly be using this aspect in my own magazine.From the magazines I analysed I found the importance of copy. Most of the content page’s I analysed had subheadings in the contents, these were usually in a bold typeface, then underneath was normal copy. I will use this idea in my own magazine because it clearly separates everything. Also the reader is automatically drawn to the bold copy, if the who contents was in normal copy it would not attract attention while the bold will.<br />Overall I found the most effective contents pages were the ones that were clearly set out, ones that were not over crowded with images and copy and the ones that sectioned the actual contents up. I think this because it makes it look more visually appealing. Content pages that are overwhelmed with images and copy are off putting, this is not what I want my magazine to do, therefore I will use the aspects I picked out to try and make my contents the best it can be.<br />Double page spread reflection<br />From analysing 10 double page spreads I now have a good idea of what makes a good double page spread. In my magazine I will include one double page spread about a music topic for my audience to read.<br />One aspect I learnt from analysing double page spreads is the use of pull quotes. I found these were very effective because once you read them you want to read the whole article. The copy these pull quotes were in were usually a bigger typeface to attract attention to it. Most of the pull quotes I saw were also in a different font, again attracting attention.<br />When analysing the articles I found the most appealing ones were the ones that had a main image. For example, NME and XXL had a main image that took up a whole page, I think this was good because it looks more interesting and attracts the reader. I also like the double page spreads that had little images at the side that refer to parts in the article. It makes it look much more interesting something young adults like to see. Billboard had an image that took up the top width of the page I found this was quite effective because it stands out. I will defiantly apply this to my own double page spread because it is an effective way to use images making the overall look more interesting.<br />One major thing I learnt from analysing double page spreads is the importance of copy. For example, Billboard’s double page spread is basically all text and an image. When you first look at it is quite overwhelming. The volume of copy is quite off putting. However NME and blender have balanced the two images with some copy. It looks attractive and doesn’t put the reader off reading it. I will try and include this in my magazine because I want to get the balance of copy and images so my audience is drawn to the article and not put off.<br />I found by analysing the double spread page ‘Karrang’ that using a background image can sometimes be a bad thing. In this article the image is quite busy, I found when I tried to read the article the image was distracting me from reading it. The image continued behind the text and mad is difficult to read. However Rolling Stone made good use of an image for the background, they positioned everything around it so the reader wasn’t distracted. I will try and apply this to my own magazine.<br />Audience reflection<br />From carrying out a questionnaire that I gave to my target audience I was able to see what they would like to see in a magazine. I found what would attract them to a magazine, they voted lots of images and an equal amount of copy and images. Therefore I will try and incorporate this into my own magazine front cover.I learnt from the questionnaire the average price that my target audience are prepared to pay for a magazine is £2-£3. This could be because students have part time jobs which do not pay a lot of money. This means students don’t want to pay over £5 for a magazine. Taking this into consideration I will definitely price my magazine between £2 and £3. I learnt from the questionnaire what my target audience want to see in a music magazine. This included aspects such as ‘UK top 40, Interviews, reviews and posters’. I found that UK top 40, and Interviews were the most popular. This will make my magazine more appealing to my target audience. I will therefore apply the results to my magazine. From my questionnaire I found that my target audience usually or would like to buy a magazine monthly. From this result I will base my magazine on a monthly basis.I also learnt that my target audience would rather see a mixture of music genres in the magazine and not focus on a specific genre. I will apply this to my magazine because it will attract a mass audience. If I focussed my magazine on one genre I would be narrowing my audience to a limited number.<br />From the ‘Find my tribe’ analysis I found that different areas in the UK have different interests, this means different audiences for media products. From the results from ‘find my tribe’ I found that the south east and eastern England had different tribes. This may result in different interests in music magazines. Because of this I will try and cater for most of these tribes and interests to attract a mass audience.<br />From the ‘UP BEAT’ reader profile I created a page with images of all the objects my target audience want/like/have. These objects will help me decide on what adverts I will include in my magazine. It also allows me to get to know my target audience and find out what they like.<br />