By Harrison Wheeler

How “Turbulence” uses, develops and challenges conventions of music magazines.

Cover lines run along the

bottom of the page in a menu, allowing more room for the main image.

Provocative/ Rebellious Image with enticing pull quote.

“Turbulence” as masthead to reflect the turbulent, riotous lifestyle portrayed by pop-punk bands. This rebellious representation will appeal to the values, aspirations and lifestyles of my target audience. This is also represented in the electricity like brushes I used throughout the magazine.

Free Posters: Mimics other similar magazines such as “Kerrang” and “Big Cheese”.

Minimal flashes and cover lines in the middle of the page.

Bright coloured main article title to catch the readers eye. Vivid contrast to white background reflects the general aspiration to stand out in the crown which is expressed by my target audience and pop-punk bands.

This pose was chosen as I saw similar poses from similar bands in similar magazines. And it shows the laid back, “I don’t care” attitude.

How “Turbulence” uses, develops and challenges conventions of music

magazines.

Although not present in all magazines, I used a band index to make it simple for people to find articles and information on the bands they like. This is also present in the magazine “NME”.

I used a lead article list as well as some people in my first survey said they enjoyed enticing interesting articles.

Kept primary house font for the “contents” heading and included the masthead above. The reoccurrence of the masthead is used in most magazines.

I included images on my contents page and used a secondary house font. Again image is extravagant and rebellious.

I, again continued the lightening-like brushes to become a house image/ shape within my magazine.

The “R” from the masthead it continued in the page number icon at the bottom right of the page.

How “Turbulence” uses, develops and challenges conventions of music

magazines.

To represent the messy, unorganised aspect of punk-pop music I used a cut out effect on the main image.

In the article I decided to express the band as fun, bubbly energetic characters. I used traditional features such as a drop cap to draw the reader in and bold questions and a stand first to differentiate where the magazine is talking and where the band is.

As this band I created are supposed to be a new band I decided to find a different way to introduce the members to the reader. The use of a photo booth style shoot reflects youths.

To reflect the bands rise to fame shown in the article I used a star brush on a scattered effect and in different sizes in the background.

Unlike most magazines which have a page or two of text. I decided to have a larger photo and a half page of text. I used a larger image as in my audience feedback they said they liked posters so this image could be cut out and used as a poster.

Social GroupsI concentrated on my reader profile to think up how to represent my target audience. Inspiration from the

in your face cracking effect of the loud rock magazine “Kerrang” helped me with the creation of my masthead and electricity effect.

The general interest in loud music and bands such as Paramore, you me at six and artists such as lady gaga inspired by bright, eccentric theme in my magazine.

Alternative

Unconventional

Energetic

Partying

Social Groups

To fit my music genre and target audiences interest I picked two of the top bands from my initial research (Paramore and you me at six) and found two similar poses which inspired my final picture.

I also took photos of hand gestures related to the pop punk genre.

From my feedback survey on www.surveymonkey.com I found that 17 out of 21 people agreed that this magazine represented their interests. The people I asked were people I know who are particularly interested in this genre of music (my target audience) and people who took my previous survey about their preferences in music magazines to get a fair representation from my target audience.

Who would distribute my magazine?

• I think, because of the rising appeal to this new generation of music and the large majority of youths becoming interested in it, “Turbulence” could be quite a widely distributed magazine.

• Could be distributed by IPC/ Bauer Media• More likely Bauer because it concentrates on

more contemporary music brands such as “heat” “big city” and “match”.

• I believe there is a gap in Bauer medias signed brands as although they produce “Kerrang” and “Q” magazine, “Turbulence” is less dark and heavy than “Kerrang” which portrays bands such as Trivium and HIM. “Turbulence” is a new magazine concentrating on the new upcoming music and bands and is a “happy medium” of “Q” and “Kerrang” when it come to audience and genre.

• IPC sticks to more traditional magazines such as TV guides and lifestyle magazines.

Target Audience

• My target audience is youths ages 14-19 interested in alternative/punk/pop music.

• Both boys and girls• I believe that this particular edition of

“Turbulence” could appeal more to the females of this group because of the female lead singer on the front page. However, if she was portrayed in a more provocative way, it may attract more males. To ensure that males were still enticed by the magazine I included a more masculine secondary article.

• Also when I wrote the article I considered the language teenagers use when the bands speech was presented to relate again to the target audience.

How I attract and address my audience.To attract the readers I initially

thought of using bright bold colours and images. This proved to have been attractive to the reader in my reader feedback.I added in the pull quote “I was on the edge of breaking down” this addresses the audience because youths in their teens often go through emotional development which may mean they could sympathise or relate to this artist.My cover image also proved to be attractive to the readers, this was also the most liked image in the magazine which is good because the cover has to be the best looking page to attract the reader,I believe my contents page was not as effective as the other pages as it had minimal colour and the images proved not to be as popular in the feedback survey.

How I attract and address my audience.

In my article I used language for the artists which would appeal to and address the target audience I used words such as “go on” and “cost me a bomb”

The results from my feedback survey show how the main interest of the readers is pictures and bands. In my magazine I concentrated on using less writing on pages as the target audience notices pictures and band names more than text.

TechnologiesThe rise of internet usage as led to magazines being available online as eMagazines. This also allows a wider range of consumers as the magazines are more accessible.

I have learnt lots of new skills in using Photoshop and how to create different effects. To begin with I was very anxious to experiment with different tools and effects on this incase I made mistakes.

From exploring the software I was able to learn how to create scattered brush effects on my DPS, how to adjust the colour of my models eyes, how to remove blemishes and smoothen skin tone and how to rotate and arrange brushes effectively.

I have learnt from my initial music magazine survey that music magazines are not as majorly popular. This could be because of the rise of internet applications such as YouTube and iTunes in which bands can post “vlogs” and “podcasts” about their progress and keep their fans up to date for free which means that people do not have to buy music magazines for articles on their favourite bands as often.

What I have learnt since my Preliminary Task.

Since my original pieces of work I have found that less is more.

In my CD I did not like my background and did not use the space effectively.

In my College magazine I removed the background but over used text and brushes.

In my final music magazine I found it important to keep the front pages tidy and organised to ensure it is easy to read and navigate for the reader.

I found making flat plans a lot more useful in the production of the music magazine and experimented with ideas replacing some with others rather than cluttering the page with lots of ideas.