Research and Planning: Comparison of two magazines

NME

Brief History

• was first published in the March of 1952
• it became the first newspaper to publish a singles chart
• it was initially published in a non-glossy tabloid style

Typical Content

• music charts
• music reviews
• concert dates
• music news
• upcoming bands/artists
• albums and reviews
• movies

Typical Reader

The typical reader of NME magazine is, through analysing data found on NRS (national readership survey), is a male between the ages of 15 and 44 within the socio economic group ABC1. The readership is largely male.

Housestyle
NME magazine has a ypical housestyle which they follow each issue. The front page layout always consists of a large NME in red lettering in the top left corner, which makes it instantly recogniseable. The typical style of the front cover also consists of a one main image of a band or artist with a large headline over the bottom or middle of the image. Taglines are placed all throughout the main page but are mostly placed on the left of the page with then just a few on the right hand side of the page, which can mainly consist of the introducing new acts or competitions.
Inside the magazine the main double page spread that can be seen is a large one side image of the band, artist or depicting the topic, the ight hand side page will then have the article, usually an interview or story about the topic.

Social Groups represented in NME

NME has a very much male following however 26% of the readers are female. Each reader is normally of about 23 years old and are normally huge music fans, they tend to be loyal fans of the magazine and the bands that are normally discussed in it. The readers also seem to be influential people that follow trends or are part of the small groups that influence others.

The general reader of NME got to gigs and live events, and according to a NME reader profile they are huge money spenders; spending £684 on clothing and shoes and £541 on gaming and other items of technology.

Kerrang!

Brief History

• was first published in June 1981
• it was initially a supplement for "sounds" newspaper
• AC/DC was the first image on the cover of the first issue
• United Newspapers sold Kerrang! to EMAP in 1991

Typical Content

• interviews
• new releases
• gigs
• competitions
• music charts
• bands personal views
• fans letters

Typical Reader

The typical reader is a male between the ages of 15 and 44 within the socio economic group ABC1. The readership is largely male.

Housestyle

On the front cover of Kerrang! there is usually just the once large images and the title of just one article, possibly suggesting that they feel no need for more than one main article. There is also just a few tag lines.

The inside pages of the magazine usually have one large image and then the article spread around the page on the left and right hand side of the pages.

Social Groups represented in Kerrang!

The Kerrang! readers are proud of their individuality and typical of modern youth culture they are avid games, music and movies consumers. The average age that reads Kerrang is nineteen.

I managed to obtain the information for this task through using the internet. The readership figures I found were from the national readership survey website (www.nrs.co.uk). Other information was found from ISSUU.com, this website allowed me to see a double page spread explaining and giving details of what NME feels their readers are like; one problem with this is that it is fairly stereotypical.

Genres of Music

A genre is a type of music. Sub-genres are types of music that belong to the main genre. Music is not only about the music however, many people see it as a lifestyle. The music that is listened to in today's life is mainly regarded as a major part of each persons lifestyle; usually this can affect the was somebody dresses, thinks or acts. this style of the persons life is often derived from the artists or other individuals that they listen to or admire.

Audiences can be divided in different ways. Music can generally be aimed at a specific target audience or demographic. To sell music and the merchandise that comes with it, such as magazines and DVDs, there needs to be some appeal to the audience. The media companies like to know the groups of people they are selling their music to, this helps them to market effectively. The type of groups of people that the media companies base this advertising on is called their typical consumer. Although this is true it also means that not every generalisations will be true, and their will be some exceptions.

Many genres of music can also be categorised by different aspects such as gender, race, sexuality and age. These however are also not always true, as with the typical consumer generalisations. For example age does not necessarily mean that a fifty-year old woman would dislike R'n'B or that an old couple in their seventies would enjoy classical music. However some people do fit with these generalisations, with Kylie Minogue always having a fairly large gay fan base. Social class or a persons socio economic group can also affect stereotypes of musical preferences: for example people in a ABC1 bracket are stereotyped to prefer classical, opera or jazz music.

Examples of School magazines

Below are some examples of school magazines which have previously been designed and published, I am using these ideas to give me inspiration into the final front cover of my preliminary task magazine.

This magazine cover shows a close to mid shot of the student working, it shows who the magazine is about along with the taglines which are strategically placed so as not to hide the picture but also to hold the attention of the audience.

This magazine cover is simple yet effective. It has a small colour pallette yet the picture is placed simply, in a prime postion to catch the audiences attention. Unconventionally the headline is slightly obscured by the pictures and there is also only one tagline.
These two magazines have given me some ideas for my final preliminary task magazine and I will try to incorporate similar ideas into my work.

Our preliminary task: progress

For the preliminary exercise so far we have:


-Looked on the internet and in the library at other existing school/college magazines to look at inspirational ideas for our own magazine.
-Taken our medium close up picture to use for our front cover image.
-Considered in our group, some headlines and text to also go on the front cover.
-We are now aiming to start putting our front page together with the final headlines and text we choose.

Preliminary Coursework Task.

My preliminary task is to create a front page of a new school magazine.

the advantages of doing this opposed to a filming task will be:
-it is less time consuming
-easier to amend the mistakes made
-it is more readily accessible to work on
-plans can be changed at any point
-easier to edit
-you experiment with different techniques
-you can work on it at home
-it doesn't need concern about sound
-it means anyone can be photographed.

Terminology for Magazines

My AS media coursework requires me to create a music magazine.

Terminology for Magazines.

Within my AS media coursework I plan to include the following within my magazine:

Balance-the design principle that one side of a layout must be given equal weight compared to another. Balance is acheived through the placement of type and graphic elements.

Banner-the placewhere a magazine's logo, along with it 's motto or subtitle, appears.

Body Copy-the main text of an article.

Brand-the magazine is a 'brand', in the same way or Levis is a brand. with the growth of synergy, a magazine might have spin off productssuch as a radio station. TV channel. clothing line or merchandise.

Bullet-a circle or dingbatbefore each item on a list.

Byline-the name of an article's author.

Callout-the explanation of a specific area of an illustration or diagram.

Caption-also called a cutline.

Consistency-the principle that a magazine should retain some elements throughout an edition of a magazine and also from month to month. Inconsistency in typeface, design, layout etc can confuse and even alienate readers.

Contrast-the priniciplethat importantelements are given emphasison a page through the use of size, colour, teture or placement whilst less important elements are minimised.

Copy-this is the written text.

Cover-this can be divided into the OFC (outside front cover) and the IFC (inside front cover).

Cover lines-can also be known as sell lines. These are the lines on the front cover that advertise the contents.

Crop-this is to cut or trim an image.

Deck-is the text below a headline that summarises or provides a lead in ot the article.

Display Type-this is type that is larger than the body copy, such as subheadings and pull quotes.

Drop Cap-the large letter, like illuminated writing, sometimes found as the first letter of an article.

Font-all the sizes and styles of a typeface family.

Four F's-format, formula, frame and function.

Glossy-a magazine with glossy pages. This can also refer to a magazine which follows the standard sizes of 8 by 11 inches to 10 by 13 inches.

Graphic-the visual elements of the magazine like illustrations and photographs, as opposed to typographic or copy which refers to fonts and words.

Grid-an invisible structure that guides the placement of graphics and text on a page.

Logotype or Logo-the name of the magazine, this could also be known as the flag. It is usually found in the banner space, but can be repeated elsewhere throughout the magazine.

Margin-the measured white space at the top, bottom, left and right edges of the text. If anything goes over the margin it is said to bleed.

Montage-the assembly of several photos or illustrations into a single peice of art.

Pagination-the process of creatin complete page layouts and putting them in order using DTP software.

Palette-a set of colours that can be used in a magzine, defined in advance to ensure a consistent look and brand from issue to issue.

Pull Quote-an excerpt from an article, often a quottion from an interview, that has been pulled out, enlarged and used as a design elementto break up body text.

Sans serif-this is a font without feet.

Sequence-the design principle that the designer can choose the order in which readers look at items on a page, using size, colour, shape and placement.

Serif-this is a font that has feet.

Slab Serif-this is a typeface that uses heavy and even serifs.

Subhead-a short headline used to break up paragraphs within body copy.

Subtitle-a heading beneath the logotype that acts as the magazines motto.

Typeface-a style of font or type.

Unity-much like consistency, this consists of a similar design stle throughout the magazine.