MUSIC MAGAZINE PRODUCTION TREATMENT

INTRODUCTION

Preproduction of my Media Studies Foundation Portfolio had me carry out research into existing music magazines and how each of them presents the information they publish through front covers, content pages and double spread articles. Analyzing the font styles, different music genres and photo types, I have learned how to combine each of these in order to create a magazine. My research has helped me towards designing and developing my music magazine in order to appeal to my target audience.

EXISTING MUSIC MAGAZINES THAT INSPIRE ME

FRONT COVER INSPIRATION

REVOLVER MAGAZINE FRONT COVER INSPIRATIONI like the style of the masthead because it is such that it attracts the attention due to the white color that is used. White color put a contrast to the background image. The background image being dark relates to the music that I listen to and by that attracts myself.

The main image is Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, which is one of more popular hard rock bands and also one of my favorite bands and Lzzy being my favorite female singer.

Because the dominant part of the target audience is male, therefore the main article is focused towards the male audience. The main article also uses slang which is easily understood by the target audience, the article is also in the center of the magazine and on the eye lever, which makes it easily read.

In overall, all details on the cover, whether visual or textual are highly related to the music the magazine displays.

The simplicity of the cover makes it more attractive to me since it displays the natural beauty of rock music.

CLASSIC ROCK FRONT COVER INSPIRATION

The whole front cover being dark applies to the kind of music that it displays and helps in attracting the specific target audience. The white color of masthead makes it stand out as it is the one big white area, this helps to attract the fans of the magazine. Masthead as to stand out since it is covered by the main image of a famous guitar player Jimmy Page of the Led Zeppelin, who are also the theme of the main article.

The red color for the main articles is used to attract the attention of the target audience.

The target audience for this magazine are rock music listeners, to attract them, the front cover consists many band names related to rock.

The main article is in the center of the front cover, which makes it noticeable and the red color helps it be more eye catching.

The overall look refers to artistic trend of that time and pop art movement especially Andy Warhole who was greatly collaborating with rock scene of that period especially with Velvet Underground. The vintage look refers as well to the birth of punk movement.

CONTENT PAGE INSPIRATION

CONTENT PAGE INSPIRATIONThe content page does not have any complicated themes or details, which is one of the features that I like and inspires me. The simplicity of content pages and clear display of the content looks attractive.

The color scheme of the magazine is natural wood color, which can be immediately related to the guitar players reading the magazine and the picture of Jacoby taking half of the content page helps in in determining that this is a music magazine about rock, metal music.

The shady color of the content side has a bit of resemblance to the metal music.

The informality of the language used is once again connected to the music that the magazine talks about, which is one of the features that I also like on this content page, every detail of it is related to the metal, rock music.

Overall, the simplicity of this content page is what I really like about it. It is simply, readable and every part of the content page relates to the music that it talks about, the bright and dark side of that music.

CONTENT PAGE INSPIRATIONAs the previous content page, this is once again very simple and very straight forward content page. The color scheme is different, this one being white and more bright. Still, the simplicity of it is very attracting to the eye.

On the right part of the content page is the contents of the magazine, which are displayed very clearly and are easily read. Under the contents of the magazine is the prize of the competition that one can enter after this magazine is bought.

On the left side of he magazine content page is the one of the famous music bands together with the cover story of the magazine ,which is about them. The left bottom corner features an article talking about interviews, which can attract even more target audience.

The language used in the content page is informal, in the article about prizes it is written “Led Zep” instead of “Led Zeppelin” meaning that the magazine creators are expecting the readers to know what they are talking about. Part of the target audience of constant buyers of the magazine.

DOUBLE SPREAD ARTICLE INSPIRATION

DOUBLE SPREAD ARTICLE INSPIRATION

There is no title to this double spread article, only a full A4 photograph of Lady Gaga, who is the main theme of this article, and her name displayed in the upper right corner. This helps readers to determine whether they want to continue reading about her in the magazine, or not.

The right part of the double spread article features the text of the article, with a big red letter L, which makes readers to immediately connect the L to Lady Gaga.

The photo has been digitally edited from color to grayscale. This means that the whole double spread article focuses around threes main colors, white, red and black. The double spread article is simply and very directly made to suit target audiences'’ wishes and helps them navigate the magazine.

DOUBLE SPREAD ARTICLE INSPIRATIONThe double spread article has a very simple color scheme, red and black ,with a little blue showing up. The overall look of these colors combine gives a very dark impression to the audience and helps to connect with the music that the magazine is writing about.

The look of the double spread article is very simple, with article being on the left and right and the main photo in the middle of the article. The photo is the eye catching part of the double spread article, since the article has a very small letters in it, so it is not very readable in the first place.

The look of the double spread article is very simple, with the title in the left top corner, the main picture being clearly visible, all of the articles being easily read and the red beginnings of each article to help the readers to distinguish the different parts of the whole double spread article

POTENTIAL MAGAZINE NAMES

Possible names for Music magazineRocker

Nihil Obstat

Carnage

Metal Core

Horizon Zero

FullMetal

Live Loud Die Young(LLDY)

Name highly relates to metal music, therefor it attracts metal music fans, who are a part of my target audience. On the other hand, there isn’t any relation to the rock music which plays a huge part in the magazine construction.

Nihil Obstat was used by the Catholic Church to stamp book that are available for use to public, it is translated to “nothing stands in the way”. The name itself is very intellectual and might discourage the target audience from buying the magazine, since they do not understand the name and are not familiar with it.

The name is long and target audience may not bother reading the magazine at all. The look of the name and its shortcut are not quite appealing and may reject the target audience. Its cliché phrase that I would not like to use, abbreviation that I wouldn’t use as well because it wouldn’t be straight forward recognition.

Carnage can be associate with slaughter and bloodbath, the feelings of people who go to concerts of death metal band. It also can be connected to the comic super-villain Carnage, who has originated in the Spider-Man comics. The name is highly related to death, which can be discouraging.

BeatSlayer

BeatSlayer sounds cool and the slang used in it makes it look attractive. The name itself does not resemble any specific genre, but does indicate that music is involved in it.

Gives idea of the heart of metal music, which can easily attract the metal part of the target audience, but same as “FullMetal” it does not attract the rock part of the target audience. This is highly disadvantageous, since rock part plays higher role then the metal part

Very generic and common name which does not makes it attractive and does not related to the metal music. Straight forward and direct as the audience is immediately aware of what type of magazine this is. The appearance of the name is very appealing. It does not indicate anything about music, but the appeal of it can attract the target audience and even people who are not in it. The sound of the name being pronounced sounds relaxing and acoustic. This name sounds the best and it is memorable and catchy, but once I consult with my target audience I will decide.

MAGAZINE NAME TALLY CHARTFor my magazine name I have asked 20 music fans to participate in a questionnaire and answer which anime they liked the most.

Carnage ////Live Loud Die Young /FullMetal //BeatSlayer //Metal Core //Rocker /Horizon Zero //////Nihil Obstat //

MAGAZINE NAMEHorizon ZeroThis name was the most popular among my target audience, most probably because it does not directly connect to music, but in a way it sounds good for the name of a music magazine. This was also my favorite name for the magazine as it reminds me of infinity, endlessness and relaxation, and all of these three words remind me of music, as music is endless and infinity, it will never seize to exist and it is relaxing to the ear. The audience that was interviewed maybe thought the same way as I did or maybe the sound of it was what made them choose it. I think that the name “Horizon zero” is the most suitable to be the name of my music magazine, as it is appealing to the eye and ear, looks catchy and can be related to music in a way.

MAGAZINE FONT RESEARCH

FONT INSPIRATION

NME is a music magazine that uses a bolded sans-serif font for it’s title. This font has some additional effects added to it, so it has become a unique font for this magazine. It’s boldness and simplicity makes it very recognizable and very eye catching because of the red color being the main color of the title.

Wicked magazine uses a mix of sans-serif and serif font in it’s magazine title. These fonts contradict the colors of the fields that they are put on. This helps the title to be more eye catchy. The contrast of the colors is used to attract more attention the this magazine.

Revolver has a very simple magazine title, the font used is a sans-serif font with black color and additional digital effects. Effects such as breaks in the letters and the white color which makes additional black part of the letter look like an outline. These additional effects make the title more attractive than the simple title and help them in attracting their target audience.

POTENTIAL FONTS RESEARCH

Horizon Zero - This is a very simple sans-serif font. The name of the font is Arial Black and it’s simplicity and defectiveness looks very attracting to me.

Horizon Zero – Gabriola, a very attractive, but reduced in size serif font. It’s curves on this magazine title make the title look more attractive on the outside more sophisticated.

Horizon Zero - This is a very childish font and the title of the magazine does not look attractive at all. Maybe this font would make the title more attractive if the title was different. Snap ITC is not a title that I will be using for my magazine.

Horizon Zero – Vijaya, this font resembles the Gabriola very much, but the difference is that Vijaya is tilted to the right and that does add a certain effect to it. It will be in a competition with Gabriola.

CHOSEN FONTHorizon ZeroI have chosen Gabriola font for my as I feel that this

font’s simplicity and the attractiveness of it’s serif curves will help me achieve the target audience that I am aiming for. It’s swiftness looks attractive to the eye and hopefully the mix of this font and the title will help attract the music listeners. The elegance of the font add a additional effect to the title’s infinity of music and makes it more musical.

POTENTIAL MAIN IMAGE RESEARCH

IMAGE RESEARCHThe photograph has Axl Rose, the singer of The Rolling Stones on it. The image has been stripped of color and has became black and white, this makes it looks more appealing to rock listeners. It’s black and white color scheme makes the photo very simple, with only a few colors dominating it. These colors also help fans connect to their music, if it is either rock or metal music. The dark wallpaper represents the darkness of the music and the contrast of Axl being white represents the brightness and inspiration of this same music.

The simplicity of the photo, its colors, its details makes it very attractive and pleasant to the eye. Its every detail can be connected with the theme of the magazine and it can make the readers connect with it, with the magazine and the articles in it. It can help every music fans connect with other genres of music, as it is both white and black, it is in contrast of colors, so there can be a contrast of music in this photo. There is a rock band singer in a black, metal background, it connects metal and rock genre into one.

IMAGE RESEARCHThe photo includes The Pretty Reckless’ singer Taylor Momsen, she is in a burning house with a lighter. This background may indicated about depression, which is a theme of many rock, metal songs. Her outfit and makeup make it even more depressing then it is supposed to be. Her dark color and fire’s shadow in the background give additional effect of depression and tough suicidal life. This can be easily related to metal music and its fans may be attracted to it.

A female singer on the main image may attract more target audience, since most of the target audience is male and a female’s sexuality may make them more attractive to the magazine, as Taylor Momsen is the first thing that they see.

The photo’s depression and female’s sexuality can be a helpful detail in attracting a part of my target audience, but it is also risky since the target audience is not only metal music and only male population.