Music Magazine Research Task One: NME Magazine Case Study

For my first research task I am going to analyse NME Magazine's front cover, double page spread and contents page, the next post (the post above) will feature Q magazines . All of these posts will gain my understanding of what a magazine will do to draw readers in, how well it is presented and how the cover relates to the double page spread, or section of the magazine that it it trying to sell.

Front Cover

The front cover features the Arctic Monkeys, which is a theme I have tried to keep with both magazines because looking at two different magazines and the same artist can give me an understanding of how the two different magazines produce articles, contents pages and a cover to suit the artist/group.

In this front cover there are several techniques, there are the obvious conventions of the bar code, date, the masthead etc. But there are some things used in the cover that may make this cover stand out. The first thing that comes to mind is looking at the band and the way each of them are dressed, for example Alex Turner in particular, the lead singer (middle left) has been given quite a vintage look with the aviator sunglasses and the hair style, as well as all of them being given or them opting for the vintage short back and sides look with their hair swept back. The font used, the main coverline, the bands name, matches the look in the photo, it isn't to garish and isn't an outragous font, with obscure colours, it matches the rest of the page with a similar font to the rest of the coverlines and tag lines on the page.

The box at the top of the cover also with the style of the box and the fonts used within them are almost like a banner from a 1960's American bar, advertising the next band, which in a way the coverline is trying to do ''Blur Exclusive... another crack at America''. this fits in well with the theme of the whole page, the way that it all fits in would suggest that Arctic Monkeys are being represented in the magazine like they are going back to the roots of popular music, as if the magazine itself was going for a vintage cover look.

Contents Page

The contents page of NME is fairly simple, and fairly uniform every month, all of the smaller titles have the same black box with white writing inside, like a black highlight on the white page. the title itself has the same effect, with page numbers in red, coverlines in black with a slightly bigger and more bold font than the description of each article, the text isn't to big and doesn't jump out at you, giving every part of the magazine a fair chance over the rest. The image in the centre of the page related the cover to a part of the magazine, in this case page 45, I hope to achieve something like this with my magazine as it will make my magazine flow.

apart from the obvious conventions that NME have used there isn't a lot that is out of the norm. The only other things to note is the fact that they have a box at the bottom of the page in the centre that describes how to subscribe to NME magazine, of which I feel that this box is probably in the magazine frequently a lot as well, this is a good bit of self advertisement and keeps it on the mind of the reader whilst they read the magazine.

Double Page Spread

This double page spread in NME magazine, of the Arctic Monkeys is a fairly simple design, with the image on the left, stylised, artistic writing, which could have also been an image, with the text below having an Initial (larger capital letter to start the various paragraphs). 'The Joshua Code' relates back to the fact that at the time of this NME article Arctic Monkeys had either just recorded or were about to record in Joshua Tree, California, which was where Josh Homme was born, the lead singer of Queens Of The Stonage, and a producer for many of Arctic Monkeys songs, and the album Humbug.

In the top right hand corner of the page it has the band name, it is highly likely that this is a covention throughout the magazine, and is something I am tempted to use depending on what I do for my magazine and how I set it out. I feel that this is a nicely layed out intro page to an article, with the colours not being too 'in your face', the page isn't to cluttered but gives you all the information you need with simplicity in mind.

Preliminary Task: Final Cover, Contents and Evaluation

Both of the images above are the final versions of my front cover and contents page if you hadn't already guessed! After all of the planning and drafting I finished my magazine cover and contents page for the preliminary task. On the whole I'm quite pleased with it, there are several things that if I did it again I would change, for example I spent a lot of time trying to work out what to use to link the image with the text in the contents page, and I also forgot to include the page number in the top image, the best I could come up with was arrows for the link, but I don't think that this worked that well. 

As far as the front cover goes I think I met my standards and was unusually creative with the cover-lines and choice of font. I don't think there would be much I would change with the front cover, maybe the shape of which the cover-lines formed. Overall I think that this preliminary task was a success and has let me have a snapshot as to what to do for my Music Magazine, the final task, and then what to avoid.

Preliminary Task: Draft of Magazine

The two images above show the front cover and the contents page for my College Magazine for my preliminary task. I feel that the front cover is almost complete, with several things that need changing, like the font for the date and issue number, I think they should probably be the same front as the the rest of the coverlines, Nova, rather than the same font as the masthead, Brain Flower, also I think the colour should be orange to contrast the masthead, this will mean they stand out.

Another thing, again which is a small thing I think I should tweak with the front cover of the magazine is the masthead, I think the shadow should be orange to make it stand out more, the orange will contrast the turquoise and make the magazine stand out over other things that are available round college.

With my contents page I'm planning to redo the whole page, I feel that there isn't enough text and not enough images on the page, this is due to the layout, so for my flatplan I will show how I want the contents page to look. I'm thinking of putting an image relating to something on the contents page at the top, then having the contents title to be the same font and same colour scheme as the masthead on the front cover. Then I will seperate features and regulars into different sections, with an image taking up a 1/3, and then 2/3 writing, this will take up about a quarter of the page each. The colour scheme of the writing will be the same as it is here.

Overall I think that both will turn out to be fairly successful with changes that I plan to make, and I also think after these changes the magazine will look professional and meet my standards that I expect from myself.

Proposal Of My College Magazine

I have a few initial ideas for my college magazine, overall the general idea for my magazine will be to make an individual, unique magazine that will stand out and appeal to the my target audience, teenagers who attend south downs college.

• COLOUR SCHEME: As far as colours go I think that I will use turquoise, orange and white, fairly similar to 'College Magazine' featured in the last article. I hope that the orange, being in november will symbolise autumn, which is the season we are in!
• FONTS: For the Masthead and Contents Title I am thinking of using 'BrainFlower' a font that is occasionally used in day to day life, but isn't overused, I think that it will give a fairly modern feel to the magazine, and be the kind of font that teenagers are familiar with, for the coverlines, date etc. I will use 'Nova Bold' which I have never seen used before, which makes me more inclined to use it, as I think both fonts together may not seem like they go at first but I think that they may compliment them if I use them in the right context with the correct font size. Another font I want to use, but more in the contents page than anything else will be 'Asmat 2007', I will use it for the title of the sections - regulars and features and the page numbers, I think that this will compliment the Nova font I will use in the main bulk of writing, giving the contents page a more professional effect.
• COVER IMAGE: I will use a portrait I have taken of one of my friends Jack, a photography AS student, as he is a model student of this college (haha). Also it related back to the main coverline I have in mind as it will be about the AS photography trip to Kew Gardens.
• IMAGES IN THE CONTENTS PAGE: As the magazine will feature a lot about photography of nature and it is spring I propose to use several images from the kew gardens trip and one that will look forward to next month - December, this will mean something Christmasy and something that will make the page featured stand out and make people want to turn to that page and read it, which is essentially what I want to happen with everything I do, but more so with contents with images. 
• CONTENTS LAYOUT: I think initially it will involve more about playing around with various layouts rather than sticking to one idea, one of my ideas is to have a title and a small underline, then have a list of features and regulars below, with an image at the bottom.

Hopefully all of these factors will meet the targets of the task as well as meeting my expectations of what I am capable of. I will work to what I think is a fairly high standard for myself as I want this piece to be successful, but also something that I enjoy working, so it will incorporate a lot of my work, and also incorporate a lot of things that interest me, and what I think will look effective and create a well thought out and well presented college magazine

College Magazine: Research

before I start planning my college magazine I have to do some research, for this I will take some examples of college magazines that already exist, one from America and one from Britain, both will show how the culture and how the people who attend the college affect the magazines design and content.

my first example of a college magazine that I will research is 'The LC' which is the magazine for Lewisham college in London. The general design of the magazine is a standard format with the title and the coverlines all being in the same place, all the same colour. In all of the editions of the magazine, in this case Autumn 2010 they feature a main coverline in bold, with a smaller regular description to go with the coverline, this may be a different font but it works with the rest of the magazine cover. Below this is the rest of the 'highlights' of the magazine, ie. the other coverlines. I think I might use something similar for my magazine as it gets the message of the magazine cover across and is quite effective.

Another thing I may use is something similar to the title because it stands out, people know what it is, and if you go to the college, which is the magazines target audience then you will know straight away what the magazine is and who it is aimed at, I hope that mine will be as clear cut.

The next magazine I will research is College magazine, which is an american paper format magazine with a fairly large web presence, created by students for students it has a professional layout and big stories for it's target audience, unlike most college magazines it is for college goers in general, not just for one specific college, with a lot of stories challenging problems that teenagers have, which makes the magazine more personal than a standard college magazine that will just inform the target audience of what is happening at their college. I think that main point is one that I will try to use in my magazine as it is a strong selling point of the magazine, and makes it more appealing to the audience, in both my magazine and this magazine is for teenagers.

The font used for the title and other things such as the colour scheme suit the photo and the clothing used in the portrait of Mike Posner in this case, this will be a useful thing to use in my magazine and will increase the appeal of the front cover, as far as contents go it will be a similar as far as the layout but will have more writing than photos.

Overall I think that both magazines are very appealing and have features that I can use for my magazine, of which all will increase the appeal of my magazine and make it stand out on the shelf from other items on the shelf. I hope that what I will put into my magazine, which will be explained on the next article, will make it appeal to the target audience and be a unique college magazine cover and contents as well as meeting the set criteria of this task.

IPC Media

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To What Extent Should Magazines Be Held Responsible For The Social Ramifications Of The Representations They Offer?

"Our magazines are made for entertainment purposes, and shouldn't be taken as a guide to teenage girls living their lives" a quote from a spokesperson from a well known magazine, aimed at women. With these magazines there is always a catch line, for example 'Cosmo Girl' '50 WAYS TO GET SEXY HAIR', these kinds of statements give the target audience of this magazine a reason to buy it, instantly it interests a 'typical teenage girl' how to get 'Sexy Hair' or whatever the catch line may be, if it can draw the attention of the target audience then it is doing it's job, but how does this affect the people that read the magazines? are these magazines entertaining or bordering on becoming a guide for girls lives?

The way that these catch lines are written, even though they are someones opinion still suggests that they're the law, for example 'Sugar' with '63 thing you NEED to know about YOUR boobs' it is a command, you must know the information being offered, and the fact that it is made personal by talking about a physical asset women have and aren't very confident about. Another catchline example is again, from 'Cosmo Girl' - 'What he tells his friends after you hook up' this is suggesting two things, one is that you trust this magazine more than you are meant to trust your partner, and also it suggests that all of these celebrities and everyone else is 'hooking up' which twists the thoughts of the target audience to think that if they're not doing it it isn't right.

The main feature of all of these magazines is the celebrity on the front cover, who are all airbrushed, and lit up from the background to get the target audiences attention. The average age of the target audience for these magazines will be 11-16, and at the youngest age a girl is maybe at her most vulnerable and most influential, which is where in my opinion it is wrong for these magazines to advertise sex, and what is essentially being an adult to children.

All of these magazines are like peer pressure publications, because unlike another human being, you can judge their personality, and a trust is built, but with a book or a magazine there is a false sense of security, because it is seen as an authoritative figure, because it is all set out perfectly, for example in Sugar it says 'Your Summer Style...' as if to suggest if you don't dress like the way Sugar says, you won't look good this summer, which almost forces teenagers to g out and buy the latest clothes, makeup etc.

In conclusion I think that magazines of this nature should be held responsible for what they do, because even though they may defend their message it's clear a lot of young girls and teenage girls are affected by these magazines and other forms of media, but on the other hand it is also fair to say as a magazine publication it isn't the law, just like every other magazine, it is someones opinion on a fact, for example all of the style tips will be on what celebrities are wearing most, and someones opinion from the magazine.