1. OCR –
Level 3 Cambridge Introductory Diploma in
Media
Unit 13:
Planning and Pitching a Print based Media
Product
P2 Evidence
Name: Sonu Johny
Candidate Number: 2069
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
Set Brief - Print
Project/Brief –
Music Magazine & Promotion
Idea Generation
2. Contents
• 1 – candidate and course details
• 2 – contents page
• 3 – LO2
• 4 – genre
• 5 – masthead ideas
• 6 – final masthead conclusion
• 7 – magazine mind map
• 8 – alternative magazine mind map
• 9 – format
• 10 – target audience
• 11 – socio-economic needs
• 12 – product analysis
• 13 – similarities
• 14 – spending power
• 15 – front cover hand drawn drafts
• 16 – alternate front cover hand drawn draft idea
• 17 – double page spread hand drawn draft
• 18 – double page spread alternate hand drawn draft idea
• 19 – inspiration for front cover
• 20 – inspiration screen grabs
• 21 – questionnaire over view
• 22 – inspirations for double page spread
• 23 – flat plan
• 24 – flat plan
• 25 – mood board 1
• 26 – mood board 2
• 27 – mood board conclusion
• 28 – masthead conclusion
• 29 – conclusion
3.
4. Genre
• The genre of my magazine will be focussed on rap, chart
music and hip hop. I’m following the same genre as Vibe
because I think that these groups of music groups are the
most popular so I will have a larger target audience that may
show an interest in my magazine. This genre will appeal to my
target audience because my target audience is a young age
group which probably would be interested hip hop because
hip hop and chart music are the most publically viewed and
broadcasted.
5. Masthead idea
http://www.dafont.com/
These are the fonts that I have narrowed down
to include in my magazines.
Fighting Spirit
I chose this font because it has
sharp edges which goes with the
name stinger.
Olympic Branding
I chose this font because it looks
very none formal and a relaxing
font. By using this type of font it can
easily indicate to the viewer that the
magazine talks openly with the
audience.
Husky Stash
I chose this font because this has wide spaces
between its letters which indicates calmness.
This is helpful to make the reader feel like we
are thinking about them and we consider the
readers feelings when reading the magazine.
60s Pop
I chose this font because the font itself looks very retro
and it looks like it’s meant to be for Pop magazines
because of it’s groovy and retro look.
Linkin Park
I have chosen this font because it is very bold
and sharp and because of this it will be easily
noticeable on shelf's amongst other magazines.
This font is also very unique with its letters being
stretched out and having sharp ends. The font is
well aligned apart from the random unusual lets
stepping out this could connote that the
magazine some times goes out of its boundaries
to get us good content because by the letters
being rebellious and stepping out of their
alignment shows that the magazine is also a bit
rebellious.
6. Masthead Conclusion
I have chosen the Linkin Park font as my final masthead design because it is
prefect for my genre which is rap and hip hop, this is because it looks a bit like
graffiti writing with some structure. The sharp and pointed edges of the some
letters which stretch out make it seem a bit disorganised, like rap because
some rap can be about random topics and uses some random words, so this
font perfectly denotes rap by only some of the letters having random spiked
edges out parts and other letters being organised and structured.
7. Magazine idea
Brand Identity
The name of my
magazine will be called
‘The 6th sense’. I have
given this name to my
magazine because the
name sixth sense will
put into the readers
head that we already
know what the reader
wants and have already
put it onto paper for
them, so like an actual
sixth sense.
Main Image
My main image will be
placed in the centre of the
magazine. The main image
will be of an artist and the
image will show half his
body from the waist up. The
main image will be placed in
front of the masthead to
show respect for the artist
and show that we aren’t
undermining the artist in
any way.
Colour Scheme
The colour of the
Masthead will be a
pail yellow like such
Vibe used for on of
their magazine
covers. I will have the
background black and
white but with certain
parts of the artist with
colour such as if the
artist wears a hat ill
have the hat and
parts of his clothing in
colour and the rest of
him black and white.
Main Headline
The main headline will
be at the bottom of the
page in size 54 text with
Bondi MT Post font. The
main headline will be
placed in front of the
artist so that it can be
easily noticed and read.
cover line
The cover lines will be placed around the image so
that the audience feels that we are revolving
everything around the artist although some words
will be on the artist. Another reason why I want it
surrounding the artist is because I want the front
cover to look professional and neat, because if I
have lots of thing s over lapping each other it will
look to chaotic. So when things seem to chaotic and
disorientated on a front cover a reader would only
get repelled away from the magazine rather than
towards it because there's too much to look at. Also
it wouldn’t suit my target audience because my
target audience although are teenagers they are also
young men which means we shouldn't focus just
toward on end.
Promotions
My cover will also contain
promotional advertisements such as
for apple, Hugo Buss and other
brands. This is a great way to attract
readers because if apple fans see an
apple product on a magazine they
will go to it and have a look at it
which might encourage them to buy
the magazine after having a gaze
over it.
8. Alternative
Magazine
Ideas
Masthead
The masthead will be similar to VIBE
magazine and will have the name of
the magazine in a large font and will
be on the top of the magazine.
Colour Scheme
For the cover of my magazine
the colour scheme will be a
mixture of dark and light to
contrast each other and make
the important things stand out
more than the others.
Brand Identity
The name of my magazine is called
Stinger.
Masthead
My magazine will have a large
image of an artist such as Bruno
Mars in the centre with the
Masthead over the image, this
conventional because this is
what similar magazines in my
genre have.
My magazine will also have an
advertisement of a competition to
win an iPhone 6 in order to appeal
to the materialistic needs of the
reader.
I have chosen this name
because the name stinger
sounds a bit fears and violent
which is kind off what most
rap is like violent because of
the artists fears facial
expressions. So the name
‘stinger’ will connote to the
reader that the magazines
genre is mostly rap, R&B and
hip hop.
Also the verbal code stinger may
connote to the audience that the
magazine gets strait to the point
of things and won’t mess around
by putting in irrelevant articles to
fill in space.
Main Headline
The main headline will be
positioned at the bottom of the
page similar to Vibe. The main
headline will be in a slightly
smaller font than the Masthead.
Logo
My logo will be of a bee to go
with my brand name stinger.
My logo will be placed on the
top left.
Frequency
My magazine will be released
weekly because I want to keep my
audience wanting more and more
of my magazine without having
them wait so long to get it. Also by
selling it weekly we will keep the
reader interested in our product
because if we have large gaps
between our releases people will
forget about how good our
magazine and wont go through
the trouble of buying it
Main image
The main image will go in
the centre of my magazine
over the Masthead and the
Main headline. This is
because I don’t the main
image to be the centre of
attention. We will give the
artist importance by
keeping the image big but
will put the masthead in
front to show of the brands
status and put the main
headline over as well
Alternative Idea
9. Format
• My background of my magazine will be grey with by
Masthead being pale yellow so it can contrast with grey. This
will make the masthead stand out really well and seem like
it’s the most important thing on the page. Vibe has used this
technique because all the covers of VIBE uses they either
tinted colours or they use a darker tone of the same colour.
By doing this can help determine your target audience to
your buyers without even look at the content because if the
colour scheme is too dull and you use colours like dark green,
you are more likely to old people and if you use bright and
bold colours you will be attracting young children. So it is
important that my magazine is between both because my
target audience is for young adults so it needs to be bright
bold and little dull at the same time through pale colours.
• My font style will be Linkin park font, this is because I want
my font to be unique so that when someone starts reading it
they don’t think that it’s the same old font all magazines use.
So then when they start reading my article they will be like
oh look it’s a different font I can’t believe that the publisher
has put in so much effort even make sure the font is a bit
unique and stands out.
Size/Dimensions of the
magazine:
A4 size with 7 1/2″ W x 10″ H
dimensions
10. Target Audience
The genre of my magazine is going to be focused on rap and hip hop. And the target audience for
this will be age range between 15 to 30 so mainly teenagers and young adults.
Hartley's 7 subjectivities
Looking at Hartley’s theory my magazine will be focused on age range between 15 to 30 and it will
be targeted at both male and female genders. My main reason for choosing this age and gender
group is because this is the main target audience which is typically common to have an interest in
reading music magazines and also competitor like XXL have a similar target audience so this will be
perfect to challenge my competitors by having the same age range and having similar content. My
magazine wont look at ethnicity or nationality fro it’s target audience cause the wider the reach the
bigger the profit.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
My target audience according to Maslow’s theory will include people from the explores and social
climbers because these categories consist of people who would show an interest in other celebrities
lives and follow trends visualized in the magazine of their celebrities wearing. This is a good target
audience for my magazine because my magazine will contain lots of pictures of celebrities and will
have brand endorsement, so by having these two categorise will mean that my advertisements will
be paid attention and people will follow certain trends displayed by the brand endorsement.
Katz’ uses and gratifications theory
My magazine wont commonly have educating factors because it is targeted at a young audience
and usually young people read magazines to escape from something and relax. This means if
students come home tired and went to read a magazine they wouldn’t want to read something that
would be educating them about something because they have already just been through it came
home to get away from it. So by feeding them more educating information will only either bore
them or agitate them, then by this stage they would probably stop reading our magazine. This is
why I will include information about celebrities which they will have an enthusiasm in to know
something about and so there for carry on reading
11. Socio-economic needs
• The target audience for Vibe magazine, much like my
own, looking at the Socio-economic needs will fit into
the categories C1 and C2 because the magazine uses
somewhat formal writing and the layout is neatly
arranged together. So someone who is semi employed or
un employed are unlikely to read such magazines.
Another reason why my target audience fall in these
categories is because the magazine itself is quite flashy in
a way because it advertises expensive and designer
products which people who are unemployed or studying
will not be able to afford.
• The magazine also goes into a lot of depth when it has
it’s main interviews and it is a lot to sit and read which I
think people who are perhaps a bit young would not be
quite interested in.
• The main reason why I think is because SpinMedia has
lot’s of pictures of teenagers rather than adults or
people of a higher or lower ages within their products.
This indicates to me that they have a set target audience
which are teenagers due to there pages being felled with
teenagers having a good time.
12. Product analysis
Psychographics
My target audience is stereotypically targeted at
black people due to some rough slangs used
within the music magazine and that fact that it
usually only has black artist on it. Another reason
why I believe this is because it usually has
statements referring to white people such as
asking the audience if their racist and because a
black person is saying it e.g. Kevin Hart, tells you
that it’s aimed at black people. It’s also trying to
mock the opposite ethnicity as well by
questioning if they are racist or not. Also usually
all their colours are either tinted or darkened
which could indicate that they are targeted at
black people. I think my magazines target
audience consists of aspirers and explorers
because they will like lots of flashy pictures and
at the same time they will also be explorers looks
for new pop artists and new music to listen to
because my magazine will contain new young
stars whoa are bringing new music into the
industry.
13. Similarities
• My magazine idea has taken a lot of
inspiration from VIBE magazine and adapted
some of it’s features that were a draw back in
my eyes that VIBE had.
• My magazine will have it’s masthead and
main headline will be positioned similar to
vibe. The reason for this is because it leaves
• Like VIBE magazine has done I will include my
logo on each page so that the reader
becomes more used to seeing it and can
easily recognise it the next time.
• Like VIBE has done I will also place the cover
lines on the sides because I want lots of
space fro the main image to be clear.
• Also like VIBE I will not include any secondary
images because it draws away the attention
from the main image and I want all the
attention to be on the main image. This is
because the artist on the main image is the
one that the main story is going to be about,
so I don’t want to upset people who might
like the artist in the secondary image and
rather read about them than the artist in the
main image.
14. Price and spending power
My magazine will by sold for £3 because I feel that this is a reasonable price
due to the fact that my target audience will consist of middle classed people
with average jobs. The age range of my magazine is people between 15-35
and will consist mainly of people with white and blue collar jobs such as
nurses and teachers. Also because my age range is between 15-35 it means
that I am also aiming at teenagers and £3 for a average teenager is more than
affordable.
£3 is a good price to place on my magazine because it is easily affordable for
my target audience as well as attracts my target audience when they see a
something for only £3 they will be interested to buy it because it looks flashy
and interesting, and its cheap.
15. Hand drawn drafts
Masthead
The mast head is placed over the artist to show the of the brand
and still have the artist being shown of as well by filling half the
page with their image.
Background
The background is a pale blue because it is a unisex colour and so
this will appeal to both genders, it also makes the image of the
artist and the masthead stand out more because they have more
sharper colours.
Cover line
The cover lines revolve around the artist and don’t touch him to
show the artists importance and to show that everything in the
article is based around him.
Main image
The main image is zoomed in so that you can see only his top half of
the body, this is because I wanted to show the artists hand gestures
as well as his facial impressions so that the audience clearly knows
the artists emotions and expressions.
Main Headline
The main headline will be at the bottom of the page and in red text
over the artist to make it more clearly visible because it is at the
bottom of the page and so if it is in a normal colour and hidden
behind the artist people are more likely to ignore it so I have made
it more visible by giving it these features.
16. Alternate Hand drawn drafts
Masthead
The masthead will be located at the top of the page in
a pale yellow colour and in a large font.
This is to show of the grand and for people to instantly
recognize is where ever they see it.
Main Headline
The main headline will be placed in front of the
main image to show that the main story is based
on the artist. Its also to make the headline seem
more important than any of the other cover
lines.
Cover line
I have placed the cover lines on and off
the artist because I wanted the cover to
look a bit disorientated because teenagers
are fund of things being a little messy and
so this will be appealing to my target
audience.
Colour scheme
The colour scheme of the background will be grey with
the cover line and strap line being black and only the
masthead and some parts of the artist will be in colour.
This is to really highlight what's more important and to
maturity and prosperity through using bright bold
colours and dull black and white.
17. Draft double page spread sketch
Main header will be on a separate page to with
the main image so it stands out from all the
other content
Main image will be placed on the left page of
the DPS because I want it to have lots of room
and need to be big so that the reader spots it
straight away an d gets drawn into the article by
the image.
A quote of the artist will go on the same page
as the main image to show that its from the
artist.
All of the content of the interview will be
on the right page of the DPS because I
want the left page to be covered mostly
by the image and therefore will no have
much space for the content. The web link to the publishers website will be
shown at the bottom of the page.
The logo will also be at the bottom of the page
so that it doesn’t get in the way of anything but
also so that it can be recognised instantly when
they see it.
Question and answers will be within the
content of the interview.
Page number
18. Draft double page spread sketches
Main image is place in the middle
DPS because this will make the
page look more unique and show
that both pages are connected to
one topic about the artist.
Logo will be placed on right page
of the DPS at the top so that it can
be recognised easily.
Advertisement of a product the
artist promotes will be shown on
the side of the right page on the
DPS.
The content will surround the
main image and will be on both
pages.
The main header will be on the
left page of the DPS and on the
left hand corner so it will be the
first thing they read.
A quote of the artist will be
displayed next to the main image
on the left page of the DPS.
Page number
Question and answers
will be within the content
of the interview.
20. Inspiration
I took the inspiration for one of my
front cover drafts from this Vibe front
cover, because I felt it had a simple
but effective appeal to it. Both my the
draft front cover and Vibe’s front
cover have their mastheads over the
artist and both have straplines which
slightly go on top of the artists but still
keeps clear of the artists face.
Also both have the barcode at the
bottom right hand corner this is
because it keeps away from the artists
face and creates more space for the
res of the content. Furthermore the
main headline is placed over the artist
and at the bottom in both because it
will be easily noticed, because usually
the first thing a reader notices usually
the main image as I have gathered
from a survey I conducted, which can
be seen on the next slide.
21. Review
This question asks the
audience what catches their
eye first when they look at a
magazine an the majority
said the main image. I asked
this question to see which
area of my front page I
should focus the most on to
get the most amount of
attention for my magazine
22. Inspirations
I have been inspired by this Vibe DPS
to create one of my own hand drawn
DPS’s. You can see that I have placed
the image of the artist on a separate
page to most of the content like the
Vibe DPS and also I have placed it on
the left hand side age like the Vibe
DPS because it will be the first page
they see when they will see of the DPS
when they flick through the magazine,
and I wanted the artist to be seen first
rather than a huge lump of text which
may demotivate the reader to read all
of it. Also my right hand side page
consist of only content and no images
like the Vibe DPS.
27. Mood board conclusion
• On my mood board I have collected images of artists who I am thinking of covering on my magazine cover
for future editions of my magazine. I have collected a range of artists who mainly focus on hip hop and rap.
I have done this to go with the genre of my magazine and also because the artist who I have picked are of
high popularity and admired by many. This can give my magazine a boost just because these iconic stars
just being on the page could create a USP for the magazine over my competitors.
• I have also included pictures of products which my magazine will advertise such as expensive watches,
perfume glasses and many more. This will also attract people to buy more of my magazine because it has
flashy items which people will want to see them wearing and by getting celebrities to advertise these
products will only increase the wanting of these products. Also by having these products advertised is
perfect for my target audience when looking at the Maslow hierarchy of needs, because my target
audience fits into the ‘social climbers’ demographic so by advertising products will attract them and only
help distinguish and attract my target audience.
• I have also put popular brands on my magazine because that way if people don’t recognize my magazine
because they have not bought it before, they can see the other famous brand who will pay me to advertise
their product on my magazine and then from people seeing these other brands can then be more
comfortable with advertising their products in my magazine.
• Also there are models who also advertise products which some people will feel better with because they
might not like the pop star. So by having normal models might influence people to buy them more,
because they might feel more comfortable seeing a normal person wearing it instead of a pop star. When
they are the same products on a normal person the viewer will feel like they can buy those products as
well because a normal person is wearing it meaning it’s affordable for normal people.
28. Masthead
• The masthead is very well aligned this could connote that the
magazine itself is very organised and gets its information out in a
very orderly manor. Although it is still in alignment there are some
rebellious letters which stick out of the perfectly aligned letter such
as the ‘N’ and ‘R’ in the masthead ‘STINGER’. This could connote
that the magazine can some times extend further than its limits to
get the audience the best quality information as possible.
• Another aspect I like about this font is that its spacing between
letters are sometimes varied such as the gap between the ‘E’ and
‘R’ have different space width to the ‘T’ and ‘I’ this makes the
masthead look a bit more unique because from a quick look it looks
normal but when you look more closely into it you can tell the
difference, this could reflect on the magazine about how by first
glimpse it may look like an average music magazine however once
you start to read more deeply into it you can tell the difference in
quality and great standard of the information displayed.
29. Conclusion
• The idea for my magazine has lots of inspiration from the original layouts of the
VIBE magazine and have also edited some features of vibe which I though where
not as well dispelled such as usually the cover line text is really small on most Vibe
magazines. While this is a great idea to draw more attention to the masthead by
the cover line being to small makes it feels as if the they aren’t as interesting as
the main headline. This makes people want to skip over the short stories and only
read the main story all because the text was to small. So that is why I am keeping
at size 16 and the masthead at size 34.
• Another key feature I am adding in my magazine is advertisement of a competition
which will draw people in because they would can’t to win the price. This will be
presented in the form of a Puff/Promotion.
• My main article will be an interview write a background story about an artist by
researching about that person and displaying it as a story.
