Aims and Introduction

My target audience is both genders aged 16-25. This is because, these young adults will be the one most interceded in reading about music and the bands/artists. They will probably have their own jobs but the pay might not be that good. And as these people might be living on their own in a small house, my magazine can’t cost too much or they will not buy it. My magazine is going to have a glossy finish so that it will help get their attention. My magazine will be close to NME magazine, as they use lots of bold colours and sticking designs. It will also be a bit like Mixmag as they have a more laid back design. The price of my magazine will be mid-range so that my target audience can pay for it or maybe subscribe if they want, but they can still keep on with their life style.

My inspiration came from one of the earlier issues of Mixmag. I studied five different music magazines (Mixmag, Q, Rolling Stone and NME) and only NME and Mixmag appealed to me. This was because of their design and layout, making them easy to read. I classify my magazine as one that looks at the old and the new with a fresh set of eyes and a new way of thinking. This means that the cover lines will talk about new and old artists, and be angled on the cover in different ways to other magazines. The issue is based on the music itself and just mentions who wrote it and who sung it. I am going to ask some of my friends to posse as an upcoming band, and this will be my main focus. This will appeal to my target audience I think as this band will be in there age range. But we don’t really make music so I am going to say that we write music in the techno genre.

For the front cover I might use a photo of the small band (me and two friends) standing in the middle of a big open space. The one further back is going to be looking out of the photo at the reader. The one on the left is going to be looking at her violin as she plays a melody. And the one on the right is going to be me, and I am going to be throwing paper up into the air and letting fall back down again. I am going to use these models as they are my friends and because I think that we look like a team. I was thinking of taking the shot in the hall of my college but if this can’t be done then I might take it outside. I choice these two places as they are two wide open spaces that I wanted for my photo. I will use naturalistic lighting because I want this photo on the cover to show that these three people made their dream come true in a few years and that they didn’t have much help, so to do that I am make it look as natural as I can. The models will wear lots of black to go with the part Gothic theme of the magazine, but they will also have some bright colours thrown in, e.g. one of the models will have some highlighter green on their black top. My final shoot will be like my other shoots, realistic. This is so it all will fit together in the magazine. I will select my favourite shot by looking for the one that I feel shows my message of anyone can achieve what they want, if they try. My main article will show the reader what the group went through to get where they are now, and say about how the idea all started.

My cover will only have three or four cover lines on it, and the full colour scheme with be used on this page. The contents page will also use the full colour scheme, but the text will be in one column on the left hand side of the page. The double page spread will have one added colour and the colour scheme, this is different to what other magazines do but I think that it will work well. The writing for the article will be mostly on the left hand side with one or two photos and on the right hand page will be lots of photos and not much text. The colour scheme will be the same one that was chosen but my target audience which is: dark blue, black, white, and maybe purple. But I have decided on what the added colour will be.

The title of my magazine will be ‘Darkened Tech’. I have chosen this title as it works with the three main genres of music that I chose, Gothic, Techno, and Nightcore. ‘Darkened’ goes with the Gothic and both Techno and Nightcore use technology to make their music. It suits my target audience as it is easy to remember (if they want to buy another one next month) and tells them a bit about the music genres that are in the magazine before they read anything else.

Research on publishing houses of magazines

The two main successful magazine publishing houses are IPC publish Rock music magazines and EMAP that publishes Pop music magazines. But there other publishing houses for example, Future publishing which publish Rock music magazines, Development Hell publishes Dance music magazines, and there are many more different publishing houses that do other genres of music.

 



- IPC logo, they have published magazine like Uncut and New Musical express.

  - EMAP logo, they have published magazines like Smash hits, and Kerrang.

 





 - Future publishing logo, they have published magazines like Classical Rock and Metal Hammer

 

- Development Hell logo, they have published magazines like Mixmag.

IPC publishes magazines under the genre of Rock; they stay true to this genre and to their audience by the magazines that they publish. This is shown through their magazines that they publish as they use the colours, for that genre. This is shown there the magazines that they have already published because of what the magazines feature plus the sort of articles they use, which is shown well in NME. But they also they show a lighter version of the Rock genre, they do this because they also like to get the attention of the young target audience, which is shown through Uncut. This makes them suitable for ‘Dark Tech’ even though this is partly of the Gothic genre, which can be darker than the Rock genre. But it is the contrast between the light and the dark of the Rock that makes it possible that they will consider ‘Dark Tech’, as the genre of Goth and the genre of Rock are not that different. And the genre of techno is lighter than the genre of Gothic.

EMAP also like to publish magazines with the genre of Rock, but they like to have magazines that are very dark Rock. This is shown through the colour schemes that are used by their magazine e.g. Kerrang. It’s because of their magazine Kerrang that I think that they will be willing to publish ‘Dark Tech’ as the Gothic genre can be darker than Rock. And they also aim for the same young target audience that I am hoping to reach with ‘Dark Tech’.

Future publish magazines of the Rock genre, but they are more to the metal Rock genre which is shown in their colour schemes of their magazines and in the names of some of them. And as this genre is more different to either of ‘Dark Tech’s genre’s them this publishing house is not suitable. And they aim for a older target audience than what I am trying to reach.

 

Development Hell publishes magazines more to the techno/dance genre of music. They aim for the right age group with their target audiences with their magazine e.g. Mixmag. But I am not too sure if they would be suitable to publish ‘Dark Tech’ as Techno is only half of the genre.

developments/inspiration

At this point in time I think that I will go will my first idea on my Magazine Idea 1 mind map. This is because I like how it brings all of the music genres together into one magazine that I feel, that everyone will want to read.

Mood Board