A2 Media Magazine Research

By Sally Paskins

Introduction

I have done some more research into music magazine covers. This time I have looked into the popular music magazine ‘Q.’ Q Magazine covers a variety of music genres and it is the UK’s biggest music magazine and keeps up to date with worldwide music news.

Q Magazine appeals more to an older, mature audience and the majority of my target audience will be older people. This is apparent by the basic, plain colour schemes used on the front covers. The photographs also suggest more mature content in the magazine. Below are issues from 2010 and 2011…

These are issues from the 80s…

These are some of the special editions of Q Magazine (both older and more recent). As you can see a slightly different design has been used.

Mojo magazine (a worldwide music magazine) also appeals to an older audience. The most recent magazines contain dark colour schemes and in some, a black and white effect. These are some 2010 issues…

However looking at the special editions of the Mojo Magazine, we are seeing brighter colour schemes on them and once again a slight difference to the standard Mojo design.

Although, not special edition, these colour schemes on some of the 2006/2007 designs particularly caught my attention…

The bright colours and cartoon/comic style of these covers stand out from other designs of Mojo magazine. The style of these designs may influence me when creating my new magazine design.

My design…

The magazine cover I am producing, I think needs to be a special edition, as the special editions of both Q and Mojo have something slightly different about the design to the standard magazines they produce. To make my magazine recognisable of the 80s, I need to use bright and vibrant colours on it. Therefore the design is likely to appear different against other modern magazine designs.

Normally, my ‘Groove’ magazine will cover a range of music genres but mainly focusing on contemporary RnB/Soul artists, as well as Pop artists. The standard design will use plain and more basic colour schemes like Q and Mojo. However, because I am making a statement that the 80s style in music is coming back with the brand new music video and album by Michael Jameson, I need to create a front cover that is appropriate to the magazine’s content.

‘Bright colours’ is the theme I want that will link my three products together. By using bright colours on my magazine cover, will hopefully make it stand out as a special edition. The colourful ‘retro’ look I will create on my magazine will hopefully make it instantly recognisable of the 80s, therefore appealing to my target audience.