Focus group

My focus group contains the following people;
Adam Pollock, Jordan Hanratty, Oliver Braithwaite, Marcus Bell, Emma Shield and Sam Kirby.
I will now write what i asked my group and the replies i received.

What do you like to find within a music magazine?

Adam Pollock - "The current top 40 single and album charts as it is all ways interesting to know who is currently number one. I would also like to read about interviews from high profile names."

Jordan Hanratty - "Free posters of featured bands and band information"

Oliver Braithwaite - "within a music mag i would like to see details of upcoming music tours by famous artists and i would also like to find interviews."

Emma Shield - "i like to read music magazines with lots of images and interviews."

What are your favourite clothing Brands?

Adam Pollock - "River island, Topman and Nike"

Jordan Hanratty - "Dunlop, donnay and diadorra"

Oliver Braithwaite - "SuperDry"

Marcus Bell - "Adidas, Kangol and Lotto "

Sam Kirby - "River Island, Topshop and New look"

What is your favourite music genre?

Adam Pollock - "Indie"

Jordan Hanratty - "Rave"

Oliver Brathwaite - "Reggae-Rock"

Marcus Bell - "Hip-Hop"

Emma Shield - "R'n'B"

Sam Kirby - "R'n'B"

What is your favourite drink alcholic/non alcholic?

Adam Pollock - "WKD, Coke"

Jordan Hanratty - "Carling, Dr Pepper"

Oliver Brathwaite - "WKD, Coke"

Marcus Bell - "Carling, Dr Pepper"

Emma Shield - "Stella, Fanta"

Sam Kirby - "Fosters, Coke"

Questionaire results

For my audience research i asked 20 people to do my questionaire, to keep the results fair i asked 10 male and 10 females.
The target audiences age for my magazine will be 16-21
I will target both males and females and will try to keep the magazine open for both genders.
The bar chart to the right shows the result of my questionaire for most popular music genre, each person who filled in a questionaire chose one music genre so the result is out of 20. The most popular music genre is Hip-Hop with rock, R'n'B and Drum and base coming a close second, and the least popular genre is pop. After finding these results out i am considering making my magazine based on the Hip-Hop genre with a twist of rock.




This graph shows the results of my researcjh questionaire onto who's is the most popular artist. I asked 20 people to pick their favourite 4 artists/bands out of the list, you could only select the same artist/band once, the result is out of 80 votes.
Joint top with 9 votes are; Enter shikari, Black Eyed Peas and Linkin Park, Tupac came a close second with 8 votes. 3rd place was Tinchy Stryder. From this graph i have found out that the artists/bands most popular are from the rock/R'n'B/HipHop genre.
From my questionaire i have found that 75% of the people who completed my questionaire preffered bands to solo artists. The most popular answer for the question "How often do you read music magazines?" was 'sometimes' recieving 40% of the votes. 90% of people like lots of images within music magazines and the maximum price they would pay for a music magazine would be £4.
The most popular answer for the question "What would you like to find wihin a music magazine?" was interviews, new band information and tour information. 50% of people buy music 'often'. Also the most popular shop for males was Republic and the most popular for females was River Island. Also 40% of males put Carling as their favourite drink while 65% of females put WKD.

Primary research - questionaire

This is a scanned image of my questionaire, the questions are listed below;


Age: Gender:

Out of the following which genre do you prefer?

Rock Pop Hip-hop R’n’B Indie Metal Dance Trance Rap Drum’n’Base

Out of the following artists/bands who do you prefer?(4 max)

Papa Roach Enter Shikari Lady Gaga Cheryl Cole Black Eyed Peas Tupac Prodigy Take That Jordin Sparks Taylor Swift Tinchy Stryder Queen Darren Styles Paolo Nutini Linkin Park Goldie Lookin Chain

Do you prefer bands or solo artists?


Bands Solo artists

How often do you read music magazines?

Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very often

What is the maximum price you would pay for a music magazine?

£1 £2 £3 £4 £5 £5+

In music magazines do you like lots of images?

Yes No

What do like to find within music magazines?

____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

Do you buy music often?

Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very often

Secondary research - Uncut

Uncut magazine;


Uncut is a magazine made by the same people as NME, it has nicknamed itself, NME's cooler, Older brother. The magazine mainly focusses on modern indie, classic indie and rock.
The pie chart on the right shows Uncuts readers gender, the green section is 86% of the chart and is male, so only 14% are female, this tells us that the main audience for Uncut is males. The average age of their readers is 37 so this tells us their target audience is middle age men. The advertisements inside the magazine willl be aimed at this age group, and since 86% of uncuts readers download music weekly compared to the national average of 32% and 46% of readers listen to the radio regulary, this tells the advetisers what the readers are interested in so they can advertise products they want and are suitable for them.

Secondary research - NME

NME Magazine;

NME's readers are mainly male, with 69% of readers being male, because of this most of the advertisements are aimed at men, so are the articles. Since only 31% of the readers are female, their main audience is males. The average age of the readers is 24.

The graph to the left shows the percentage of NME readers occupation, the green section shows the amount of readers in full time work this is the biggest section at 52%, the yellow section is at 29% and shows users who are students and finally the purple section, 7%, shows readers in part time work. This tells us that NME aims at readers who are mainly in full time work and aged about 24. Another fact about NME readers is that 94% of readers use the Internet and spend on average 2.4 hours a day on the Internet, facts like this help develop NME's understanding of their audience.

Analysis of a double page spread

This double page spread is from the magazine, NME.
The main focus of the article is the image of the artist on the right hand side, the image covers the whole right hand side of the page so this tells us she is important. Her tartan shirt, which is normally warn my men, this shows her masculinity however she is stood with her hands on her hips with her underarm showing, on the right arm you can see her tattoo, this tells us she is quite rebellious and along with her pose it suggests she is strong and demanding attention.
The artists eye line is at the same with the main focus of the left hand side page, the large text at the top of the page, this could be to represent her saying it. The font looks good and attracts the readers eye as it stands out well against the simple white background. Also the artists tartan top matches the colour scheme as only black, red and white colours are used.
i think this page works well as the text stands out well with the image dominating the right hand page this tells us she is a dominant figure. The simple background makes the article easy on the eye which appeals greatly to me as from the customer point of view i wouldn't want to read something which is hard on the eye and difficult to read.

Analysis of a double page spread

This is a double page spread from the magazine Classic Rock.

This double page spread is appealing to be as it looks old school, the lack of colour looks good. The black and white picture on the right hand page looks good, this image goes well with the article as of the background and black text on the other page, since they are wearing tuxedos which are already black and white, the picture looks good, men on suits is not something you expect to see on a bicycle, so this goes well with the black and white style.

The overall article looks quite old school, the font of the text looks old and the traditional black and white makes it look like its from a newspaper.

The dash of red at the top of the page stands out well, this read could represent danger, and the words 'for our latest trick' back this up.

I like this article because of the old school feel to the spread.

Analysis of a double page spread

This double page spread is from the magazine Classic Rock.

I really like this double page spread as it simple, but it works well. There is only 3 colours used in the whole spread so it is consistent and a good scheme. Also it is very easy on the eye. The black, white and red work well with each other and the text stands out good.

The first thing you look at when you open the page is the large image of the artist from the band Kiss on the left hand side of the page, you look at this image first as you read the magazine from left to right so the image comes first, however even if the image was on the right hand side then you would still look at the image first as the simple colours and large pose draw the eye. The simple colours work well together as they are easy to view. You instantly recognise the artist because of the way he is dressed and the make-up he is wearing. I like the pose he is standing at with him pointing the guitar towards the camera. The medium close up works well.

The right hand page is the article about the artist featured left, The large black star at the top of the page is easily recognisable as the symbol of the featured band, Kiss. The simple background colour is inviting and the white text stands out well against the simple dark red. The black at the top of the page also stands out well and sticks with the three colour scheme.

This double page spread appeals to me as i think the simpleness of the article is great, it is easy to read and easy to identify the artist and what the article is about. I love how the simple background colour contrasts the text easily and makes it easily viewable, as the one thing i hate about magazines is if the text is hard to read against the background, this article is easy to read so this is why it appeals to me.

Analysis of Kerrang contents page

This is a contents page from the magazine, Kerrang. Kerrang focuses on the rock genre.

There is a lot happening on the page and its quite confusing to start off with, a lot of images are on the page and cover most of the page. This contents page is quite chaotic, just like the rock genre.

There are two main images on the page, one in the bottom right of the page which is of a band and the image that stands out the most is in the middle left, the sell line says 'Reading and Leeds' on a yellow background and a picture of an artist wearing yellow, this stands out as they text and the picture stand out bright against the background. The bright yellow stands out well as the page has not much colour in general as the background is just white with images and text put onto it. The white background could suggest cleanliness. Also the words 'Leeds and Reading' are very appealing to rock fans as there is are two big music festivals at Leeds and Reading, so this is very appealing to rock fans.

The smaller pictures are of less importance, this is because they are pictured at the sides of the page and are much smaller, the pictures are of album covers or of bands performing and they contain little text.

The contents section on the right hand side of the page is full of highlighted text, this is to show the most important text and the most interesting.

This contents page doesnt interest me much but he thing i do like a lot is at the top of the page where the author of the magazine has written a little bit about whats in this issue, i think this is very good and i will try to include it in my magazine when i create one.

Analysis of Vibe contents page

This is a contents page from the magazine vibe.
The first thing you notice when you look at this page is the artist picture towards the bottom of the screen. You follow her legs up to the bright white writing at the top of the page, her legs act as the guideline to where you should start to read. The background colour works well, with a créme background fading into a dark background towards the top of the screen. The clothing the artist is wearing matches the background colour and helps her stand out. This page is particularly attractive to male readers of the female to male readers as of the females lack of clothing, however it attracts female readers as she is wearing nice fashionable clothing, the jewellry looks posh and expensive this helps attract the readers eye and build up the thought she is a classy artist.
At the top of the page the word 'contents' is written in a fashionable way, this catches the readers eye as it is in bright white text that stands out when against the dark background. The hollow letter V in the top right hand side of the page, when you first spot this, I think it looks like strings holding the artists legs in the air, but when you look at it more carefully you realise its a V, representing the name of the magazine, Vibe.

The text talking about what is in the magazine is on the right hand side of the page, in small text, this suggests it is not as important as the image of the artist.

I like this page as it is simple, it doesnt contain many colours, its easy to read and the colours work well. Also the image stands out well on the page.

Analysis of Vibe contents page

This is another contents page from the magazine, Vibe.

The main focus of this page is on the artist centred, his image covers about 2/3Rd's of the page so this tells us that the main focus should be on him. You can tell that the artist is from the R'n'B/Hip Hop scene just by looking at him, his gold chains and teeth reflect this. You can see tattoo's on his body and lots of 'bling', this backs up the point he is from the R'n'B/HipHop genre. Also the necklace the artist is wearing, the one of the traditional African mask, goes well with the background colour, as their both maroon/brown, this helps build up the picture of an African war tribe.

Once again their is a large V in the top left hand side of the page, this is a shade of brown and doesn't stand out brightly, this might be so it doesn't distract the readers eye from the image and it shows it is not that important. When you see this V you instantly recognise it as the logo for Vibe magazine.

Just like in the other Vibe contents page, the word 'contents' is written in a fashionable way in the top right hand side of the page, this is in bright bold white text and stands out well against the dark background, this contents page is similar to the other Vibe contents page as it has the V and 'contents' in the same place, i would like to try and recreate this consistency when i start mine.

Textual analysis of Billboard magazine

This magazine front cover is from an American magazine called Billboard, it covers all music genres and concentrates on the top 100 songs of that week no matter what genre. It is considered a reliable source for music and unbiased.
I think this cover works well, the first thing you notice about the magazine is the masthead, your eyes are drawn towards the colourful masthead as it is on a black and white background this stands out well. You easily identify the magazine from the masthead as it is in the same recognisable font and colour every week also it is bright and colourful unlike most magazine mastheads. In addition, the artists head covers some of the masthead blocking some of the letters, even though you cannot fully read the title you still identify the magazine from the coloured in letters at the end of the masthead.
Once you have identified the magazine your eyes move towards the artist featured in the left hand side of the page, from the image you can identify that the artist is from the R’n’B music genre, you can identify this from the items of clothing he is wearing. The image is set over a lake, the artist is sat on the side smoking a cigar and looking out across the lake, with scenery in the background. This image works well as the colour contrast well with each other, the white of the water and the dark clothing. The black and white background is used to try create an old school theme. The text in the sell lines to the left stand out well against the black of his clothing, white on black, this makes it easy to read and more likely to attract the reader. Also the sell lines on the right stand out well against the black and white background, red on white.

The text at the top of the screen reads ‘INDIE ROCK BAND’ this tells the reader that the magazine covers many different music genres not just the one suggest by the picture centred. Also one of the sell lines talks about Lady Gaga, this backs up the point that the magazine contains news on many different music genres.
This front cover has inspired me to design one similar to this, the background works very effectively with the colour scheme and the text stands out well so it is easy to read. The background picture creates an old school feel about it and I would like to try and recreate this. My favourite bit about this cover is that because of the black and white background the colourful masthead stands out well, i would like to create my masthead to be similar, colourful and easily recognisable.

Textual analysis of Vibe magazine

This is another front cover from the magazine Vibe.
The first thing you look at when looking at the magazine it the medium close up of the artist, your eyes then get dragged towards the magazine masthead as the text is in large, bold black writing and stands out against the light background, once again the artists head covers some of the masthead but since vibe is a well known magazine we recognise it from the font and position of the masthead. After you have identified the magazine your eyes move towards the strap line as it is large bright pink text, this stands out against the masthead. The colour pink also collaborates with the artists clothing as it is the same colour and is the main focus of the magazine. Also the sell line at the top of the magazine matches the bright pink text as the word ‘Hollywood’ is also in the same colour and font, this word is used bright text as it attracts the reader.
The background for this cover is plain white and fades darker towards the bottom on the page, this is an easy background on the eye and makes the writting and the image easily stand out, the dark colour text can easily be read. The lack of other images on the page show that the main focus is on the artist centred. The clothing he is wearing tells us that he is an artist from the R'n'B/HipHop genre, also his top his open revealing his body which is full of tattoos and his gold necklace which looks like a bag of coins, suggests he is successful.
The image is layered as if the artist is standing in front of masthead and the right hand side sell lines, the text to the left of the page is layered so the text is on top of the artist meaning it is important. Also the writing at the top of the page looks like it is on the same layer as the text on top of him.
The image is pictured in the middle of the screen so the reader automatically thinks he is the centre of attention, this is one of the reason why this page has inspired me, the main reason is that I think the colours work well together, the pink writing stands out and matches his clothing with suggests the pink writing is the most important and you look there before you read the other text.

Textual analysis of Vibe magazine

This is a front cover from the magazine called ‘VIBE’, the magazine focuses on music genres R’n’B and hip hop.

The front cover fits in with this theme as the colours contrast well, the black background makes the text stand out well, since the magazine is about the hip hop genre, the gold colour text could represent the fact that most hip hop artists wear a lot of gold jewellery.

The artist in the centre of the magazine is wearing dark clothing which goes well with the back ground. As the text around him talks about him being new on the music scene, the jewellery he is wearing around his neck is silver, this goes with the text above his head and below him, this suggests he is new to the scene and not as experienced as the other artists so he wears the silver jewellery and not gold as he has not made it to the top yet.

The masthead is slightly blocked out by his head, this doesn’t matter as vibe is a well known and popular magazine so people will recognize the magazine by the style of font the positioning.

The sell lines around the picture of the artist are in bright gold and are in bold, this makes them stand out, this helps engage the reader. They contain words such as ‘Exclusive’ as this attracts the reader as they know what exclusive means, so they will only find it within this magazine.

Located on the middle right of the page is a danger/hazard sign, the colours match with the text and sell lines. The colours and font, along with the medium close up of the artist straight away tell us what that the music genre is for hip hop/R’n’B as the colours look quite grimy and they are not suitable for a pop magazine as the colours are dark and contrast.

This magazine front cover has inspired me and got my attention as it is a music genre I am interested in and the colours are bright and contrast well with the background, i want to create a similar colour scheme as it attracts the eye well.