Focus group

My questions start at 2:00 and finish at 3:34

From the focus group I found out that not many people currently listen to pop-punk but have come across at some point in their lives. I found out that Blink-182 is the dominant pop-punk band. I also found out that most people download music and people find bands out through social networks and gigs. 

Appropriate fonts

Potential titles

Panopticon
Title
Abstract
Dynamic
Jamie's beard

Digital mock up/reflection

I asked my friend Lydia for some feedback on my digital mock up and she said that it was very good but some of the text was too small and some of the text was squashed together which I'll fix for my first draft.

Demographic research

Demographics - a section of the population sharing common characteristics, such as age, sex, class, etc.

It is important to understand demographics because you need to know what your audience wants or needs. Demographics are used to understand a certain type of audience so that the magazine can include certain features so that the certain audience you are targeting will buy the magazine. If the magazine did not include features that the audience want they would not buy it and it would affect the consumption of the magazine. Kerrang!’s A, B and C1 profile is only at 49.8% so that means the majority is C2, D and E so they would target the skilled working class, the working class and the lower grade workers. Kerrang!’s gender ratio is 41% female and 59% male which means that Kerrang! will focus on male demographics rather than female demographics. Kerrang!’s age range is 69.5% 15-24 which means  that Kerrang! will focus on their demographics rather than 65+ demographics.

My demographics will be similar to Kerrang!’s because my magazine will have similar contents and similar music genre. My demographics will be aimed at males between the ages of 15-24 who fall into the C2-D class.  

Music inspirations (Videos)

Kids in Glass Houses - Matters At All (Live-Hit The Deck 2012)

Muse - Panic Station (Live-Later With Jools Holland 2012)

Lower Than Atlantis - Scared Of The Dark ft Dear Prudence (Live-The Changing Tune Sessions)

Focus group

Questions:

1. Have you ever listened to pop-punk?  What do you think of it?
2. When I say pop-punk what's the first thing that comes to mind?
3. How do you get a hold of your music? Digital download/buying physical copies
4. Where do you find out about new music? 

Reader profile

Kerrang! is actually really young with a median age of 22. Having a younger profile is a big advantage as traditionally this age group is elusive (and expensive) to reach. As well as music releases this makes Kerrang! perfect for film and games, and also mobile technology and government messages.

Jim, 22, lives and breathes rock music: it informs his choice of friends, his hobbies, leisure time, attitudes, fashion sense and lifestyle. Above all he is fanatical about THEIR music. He engages with music 24/7, from the minute he wakes up ‘til the minute he falls asleep: when he is not listening to music or watching music TV, he is talking to his friends about music, attending  gigs or playing instruments and dreaming about rock stardom. He is plugged in, sharp, has a strong moral code and rejoices in his individuality. He is a fashion trend setter in his peer group but he is heavily influenced by musical icons and scenes. Like the bands he supports he is extremely loyal to the brands he trusts. The way he looks and the clothes he wears is integral to communicating ‘his identity’ to the world.

15 - 24	25 - 34	35 - 44	45 - 54	55 - 64	65 +
69.5 %	12.8 %	9.3 %	6.3 %	1.6 %	0.5 %

Gender ratio;

Male: 59%

Female: 41%

ABC1 profile: 49.8%

Circulation

42,203 (Jan - Jun '12)

Readership

378,000

Influence

Black XS

Kerrang! partnered with Paco Rabanne to promote Black XS with a cross media campaign to give readers the chance to enter their bands to win a recording deal with Search & Destroy Records. This generated 500 entrants, a huge spike in Kerrang.com traffic and culminated in the final 4 bands fighting it out at a live gig at the o2.

Kerrang! scores 69% for influence versus bauer Act

tracker: 15-40. which is made up of the

following statements:

·         Talks to me in my language.

·         Is the authority in its market.

·         Has stuff I talk about with my friend.

·         Makes me feel more knowledgeable.

·         Like to be seen with this magazine.

·         Believe what I read in this magazine.

Pop-punk mood board

Brief

To design a front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, a minimum of four images must be used.

Evaluation

I started out by looking at conventions of different magazines and identified that the most used conventions are; the masthead, the Skyline, the main cover line, the selling line, barcode, the cover lines and the main image. Taking from my research, I decided to use these conventions on my college magazine.

In my planning I suggested that my model should be a student who is smiling and holding a folder/has a bag, I used this because this is the classic stereotype for a modern day student so when looking for my model I followed these classifications.

My audience would be anyone who is looking to join or already has joined Wyke College and wants to know more knowledge about the college/staff.

To appeal to my audience I used a model that fits into the same age group and using the word ‘welcome’ makes the reader feel like the college is happy to have them there. During my research I took out a survey to find out what people would like to see from a college magazine.

I took my photos of my model using my camera and loaded the best one on to Photoshop, using Photoshop I resized the image by using the ‘Ctrl+T’ shortcut. I then used the text tool to put the masthead, skyline, selling line, date line, and main cover line and cover lines. I then took a barcode from Google images and placed it onto my cover. The text was difficult to 

see on top of my image so using the blending options I used drop shadow to make my text easy to see over my image.

L – The image is a MLS of a student with direct mode of address. She is stood against a locker holding a folder which connotes that she is a student at Wyke College and is ready of a day of learning. Most magazines use a model with direct mode of address which inspired me to do the same on mine. I used the standard conventions of a masthead, skyline, selling line, date line, main cover line, cover lines and a barcode to make my magazine look realistic and make it actually look like a magazine and not a newspaper or poster. I used the college’s colour scheme to connote that this magazine belongs and is about the college.  I repeated the name of the college over and over again to show that the magazine is about the college. My skyline shows that this issue is a special edition issue and shows it’ll talk to people who have just joined/want to join the college.

I - I made this myself so it would be a small company and would only branch out to students/staff of this college or people considering joining the college.

I - The ideology of my magazine is to promote the college to people who want to join and for the people who have just joined to learn more about the college.

A - The audience is anyone who is looking to join/has already joined the college.

R – The model is represented as a student, she is stood within the college next to the lockers, holding a folder, these are stereotypical things you would see a student doing which connotes the ideology of the magazine.

Final front cover

Initial ideas

Original images

Examples of framing

ECU

CU

MCU

MS

MLS

LS

High angled shot

Low angled shot

Dutch tilt

Contents page draft

Front cover drafts

Hand drawn

Publisher

Examples of college magazines

These examples of college magazines all include a medium long shot of the model with direct mode of address with the model's head going over the masthead which both include the word 'College' in bold upper case text.

Contents page analysis/LIIAR

L: Language completed in image.

I: The institution is Kerrang!. Kerrang! paid for Tay Jardine, who is a large and successful artist, to be on their front cover which shows they are a big magazine and can afford to pay for big bands/artist to feature on their covers.

I: The magazine focuses on a rock/alternative/metal genre of music.

A: The target audience of the magazine is teenagers who are interested in rock/alternative/metal music.

R: The images saying "Pop punk's not dead" shows that the issue is going to include a pop punk theme for example the safety pins which is a great example of old school punk.

Mood board

Survey feedback

Front cover analysis/LIIAR

L: Language is completed on photo

I: The institution is Kerrang!. Kerrang! paid for You Me At Six, who are a large and successful band, to be on their front cover which shows they are a big magazine and can afford to pay for big bands to feature on their covers.

I: The magazine focuses on a rock/alternative/metal genre of music.

A: The target audience of the magazine is teenagers who are interested in rock/alternative/metal music.

R: The images on the magazine represent the genre of music because the bands make the said genres of music, they are also wearing dark colours which connote to the genre it represents. The masthead looks like it has cracks in it which could connote to the genre.

Front cover conventions