Fonts

I have now created a rough draft of my magazine cover and contents page so I have chosen fonts that I am fairly sure I am keeping for my final copy.

For the title of my magazine I have used the font '28 days later'. It is a block print, sprayed effect font that looks intentionally messy and rough. I think this suits the magazine name 'envy' and it will resemble my target audience of women in their 'freedom years'.

A font I'm using throughout my magazine for titles, headings, ect. is called 'LeviBrush'. This is similar to '28 Days Later' as it has an edgy, messed-up feel, except it allows lower-case letters to be used. It also has more of a brushed/splattered effect. I chose this font as it reminded me of a font used on the cover of the re-invented version of Company mag - one of my style models.

A font I have used for the name of my cover star is called 'Sunshine In My Soul'. I chose this font because it looks like handwritting, as if the cover star has signed the font cover of the magazine.

Final Idea

 My magazine will be monthly. It will be themed around house music, but also will encorporate more popular artists.

• Target audience: After deciding in my initial ideas I wanted a more feminine unisex magazine, I have since decided it will be a women's music magazine. I made this choice as I feel it would be easier for me to appeal to women, having read lots of women's magazines and being a woman myself. I also notice that most music magazine's have a primarily male audience demographic. The audience are aged 18 to 25, so they are just entering the adult wold and taking advantage of all the new freedoms and opportunities they have, such as clubbing and festivals. They aren't likely to be married or have children. They will be interested in house music, but also current popular music.

• House-Style: My house-style will be messy and look care-free, to reflect my target market. I will acheive this look by using suitable fonts, colours and content. The colour scheme will chance each issue, like magazines such as Grazia, Company or NME do. I'll have a basic scheme of black and white every issue, then another colour such as pink, blue or red will be used with it. This adds excitement and a defferent theme to each issue of the magazine.

• Cover: My Cover is going to generic in the way it will have the title as the masthead in the top left hand corner. The cover-star will be stood in the middle, slightly over-lapping the title with a slogan across their shot. There will be other features from the magazine along the right hand third.

• Contents: I want my contents page to reflect the care-free nature in NME, with the pictures and page numbers, but also the amount of information included in Q - as my magazine will be a monthly release, so will have much more content than NME.

• Double-page spread: This will be inspired by my company magazine double-page I analysed. Two-thirds of the page will be covered in a picture from my photo-shoot and there will be a interview down the right-hand side, which I will indicate that it continues onto the next page.

Initial Ideas

Q Magazine Analysis

Q magazine is a unisex music magazine aimed at people aged 25+. It is quite an expensive magazine as it is a mothly magazine with a substantial abount of information. The cover stars and feature stars are all very established faces within the music industry, such as Adele, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Shakira, who have made some sort of contribution to music today. You wouldn't find Rebecca Black or Conor Maynard in the magazine.

 

 

NME Magazine Analysis

The cover, contents and double-page analysed here are from NME, I chose to do this one specifically as a it is a music magazine. It's audience demographic is primarily male, with an average of 77% of the readership being men. It is also read mostly by those aged 18-25, however readers ages ranges from 18 to 65+. A survery also shows most of the readers do not have children in the household.

 

NME covers all have the same house-style. The title 'NME' is printed in the top left-hand corner of the page and there is a banner along the top with a caption relative to the content. For example, 'GOD SAVE US FROM WILLS&KATE COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE', this issue was published around the time of the royal wedding and the magazine has references to the wedding and the royals throughout. All covers have a cover star or band, usually with a quirky quote from the interview with the star alongside them. The use of the picture and quote together draws the reader in as it gives them a idea of what kind of interview they'll find inside and what kind of person the star is. Unlike other magazines there aren't any side stories shown, it is focussed fully on the star, there are a few names of people featured throughout the magazine but it doesn't give anything away.

The contents page is different as it doesn't have a long list of what can be found throughout, big stories are listed with pictures and quotes. There is a small list, 'PLUS', to show extra features. This may be because it is a weekly magazine so it is not got as many features as a monthly magazine, as they only have a week until the next release. I like the way it has been presented.

 

This spread is similar to the Company double-page and most others of its kind. A picture covers two thirds of the page and there are two columns up the right-hand side. This technique gives an artistic look.

Company Magazine Analysis

I have decided to analyse front cover, contents page and double page spreads for the same magazine, as then I will be able to see how house-style is continued throughout a magazine and how the cover and the content draws in the selected target audience. Company magazine claims it is 'for your freedom years' which suggests it is for women aged between 18 and 25 who are just starting out in their careers and haven't yet settled down into their future adult lives; marriage, children ect. 

This cover really sums up the content of the magazine, it lists the best features inside the magazine and probably the ones that will best attract their reader. Such as 'obsessed with hair' with bullet points underneath expanding on what will be found within the feature. The cover star, Jade Thompson, had just won BINTM, a show heavily supported by the magazine throughout its showing as Company's editor worked closely with the show and probably watched by the reader, this means they would be interested in her feature. Especially as Company were the first magazine to get a photo shoot and interview with the model.

I could not get a good picture of a Company magazine contents page, however I had analysed one from my own copy of company. This was a more recent version of company so the house style was slightly different as the magazine was re-launched at the start of 2012. The contents were spread over two pages, the first had a background featuring a model and Rizzle Kicks from a photo shoot used within a fashion feature in the magazine. Along the right-hand side is a pink box listing the contents. On the next page the contents list is continued, along with photograph with page numbers in them, referencing them to different articles listed on the page. This is good as when deciding whether or not a magazine is worth buying the potential buyer might flick through and look at the contents page, a picture supposedly speaks a thousand words and when in a rush you are more likely to take notice of pictures.

This is a Company double-page spread. Most of the space is take up by the picture, but this is along with the caption 'attitude? what attitude?' looks really good and gives the feature character and oomph. There is a column of writing introducing the interview which carries onto the next page. The picture has obviously been taken for the purpose of the article rather than just snapped by the paparazzi outside a club or while the celeb is doing their own day to day activities. This shows the star is in favour of the magazine, even though she was paid to be their, it gives the magazine a edge and encourages the reader to be a part of their readership.

targeting a audience

My style model is Grazia magazine which is aimed at middle-class women, aged 25-44, who are interested in fashion and celebrities. This audience is targeted in many ways, firstly by the content; celebrity gossip, current fashion, beauty tips and real-life stories. However there is more to it than that. Celebrity gossip is very specifically chosen, the magazine features stories about Victoria Beckham, Brangelina, Kate Moss, Kate Middleton... A list celebs the readers aspire to be like. You wouldn't see the likes of Kerry Katona or Snooki or the cover, as they just don't fit the classy, successful demographic posed by Grazia to the reader. Fashion pages won't be filled with primark and George @ Asda clothing, brands that frequently pop up are ASOS, Topshop, Whistles and Kurt Geiger. These names fit with the target audiences bank balance and give off a classier look than Primark. Similarly with beauty pages, you are more likely to see MAC cosmetics, Max Factor and Clarins than 17, Collection 2000 or Boots Own Skincare range. Competitions within the magazine offer bundles featuring accessories from the likes of Louboutin, Chanel and Stella McCartney which will appeal to the target audience as it's the kind of brand they would like to be seen with however it may be a stretch on their budget.

Another way the audience is targeted is by the new technologies used, such as the GRAZIADAILY.CO.UK site, that is updated everyday with the same kind of 'news' stories featured within the magazine. It also gives a sense of belonging to the readership if they are able to check a site everyday. Having a website also appeal specifically to their demographic as typically many of them will have very busy lifestyle, with new technologies readers will be able to quickly browse the site at work or get it their smartphones whilst on the go.