Flatplan evaluation: UpFront

After analysing my flat plan with a critical eye, I have come up with ideas for what I could do better, as well as picking out points which I like and want to keep.
Looking at my front cover I am unsure about the banner (featuring posters) along the bottom as it will be difficult for me to capture different realistic band images which are not my DPS feature due to time and availability. Instead I will lower the artists name to create this banner effect on the front cover. However I like both the main image and masthead on my flat plan so these would be two elements I would keep when creating my actual magazine front cover.

My contents page was a difficult part of my flat plan for me, this was because the contents page is not usually something I would take notice of when I read a magazine. However after analysing  Kerrang! and Q's contents pages I can see the conventions that are a regularity for this page in the magazine. Something I would like to change about my contents page is adding the masthead to the top right hand corner of the page. This would create a greater sense of continuity and link the contents page with the front cover. I like the use of the blue bar at the bottom of the page which does the same job.

The DPS I am the least happy with. I don't think the layout gives a close up feel towards the artist, so I came up with an idea of having an image of Danni, lying above the article, pointing down towards it. This would not only create a sense of intimacy but it would pull both the pages together also. I would use the same font for the artist name on the DPS as on the front cover this is to show that the artist is the artist and nothing will change that. Columns are a key element for text in any magazine, they must be an equal width and length to meet conventions. I would like to write my interview in question and answer form so that my reader knows exactly what is being said by both the interviewer and interviewee.

Overall I believe that by creating this flat plan I have helped myself to develop my ideas for my magazine and picture my final product. My next step will be to create and carry out the interview for my DPS.

UpFront Flatplan

I have decided to name my music magazine "UpFront". This idea came from the style and personality of an indie rocker. the typical view of an indie rocker is that they don't care; they are not afraid to say what they want to say and there proud of who they are. This means that my magazine title is focusing on the reader entirely as well as giving my readers (who in theory should be mostly female) the confident feminine "be yourself" boost they need.

FRONT COVER:

Details:

 central cut out image is a medium close up of Danni

the cut out image is layered over the masthead

button placed on the right just below the masthead

bar code is positioned in bottom right hand corner

Black background

blue and white text

CONTENTS:

Details:

"contents" header in top left corner

pull quote from DPS story in top right corner

long shot of Danni under the pull quote

Editors not in bottom left hand corner (black writing on white background)

blue bar along bottom of the page to lock in front cover

black background

numbering: blue

text: white

pull quote: white

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

Details:

"Danni" large in top left hand corner

stand first (white text) just below Danni

columns for interview on left hand page below stand first

pull quote in top right hand corner (white text)

long shot of Danni with guitar on far right

large image of Danni (medium close up) on inner right page

Analysis Overview

From looking at both Q and Kerrang!, I have picked up on conventions which will help me to create my own music magazine for example the need for continuity with font, colour scheme and layout is a key convention which all magazines follow. As well as looking at elements used in other magazines such as editors letter and buttons. This has been a key part of research as it allows me to see how the "competition" targets the audience I am aiming my magazine at. I have noticed that language is a key element to targeting audience as both magazines talk to the reader with a friendly, informal tone where as initial i thought the language would be formal.

Contents page analysis: Q

For my final magazine analysis I am looking at how Q magazine target their audience by using their contents page. Here we can see the use of continuity and colour scheme clearly as well as how Q push the conventions to give the magazine a sense of individuality.

A good point I picked up on was that the DPS image did not have an eye line directed at thew reader, instead the eye line of the subject was down towards the right hand side (if facing the page) which could connote many things. a few thoughts where it is to represent secrets revealed within the DPS, that the eyeline of the image sugests to look at the rest of the contents page or that the subject is looking at his story on the contents page.

Contents page analysis: Kerrang!

Here I have analysed the contents page of Kerrang! magazine. I plan to use this analysis to get ideas for my own contents page.  Kerrang! use a regular layout for the contents page in each issue of the magazine however the colour scheme on the contents page does not follow the fornt cover or DPS but has the same colourscheme as other issues concerning this page. This could be to create familiarity with the reader around this page so that this page is clear each time the magazine is brought.

Q: double page spread analysis

I also decided to look into Q's double page spread and see how the magazine target their audience. Here they use the typical "answer:Question" format that an interview is usually performed in. This may suggest that the audience they are aiming at like to read and like the experience of almost being there at the interview. The format used suggests an older more sophisticated reader due to its newspaper like look and constant colour scheme. Overall i feel that this DPS is not aesthetically pleasing due to its lack of colour and boldness.

Kerrang!: double page spread analysis

To get and idea of how my opponents target their audience within their magazine, I have analysed Kerrang!s double page spread from the latest issue(1348). My initial reaction to this double page spread was "there is not allot of writing", However when fully looking into the double page spread you can see that its more about the band their image and their message they want to give. There is no "faddy daddy" writing to fill out the page; the story is the story. This suggests the readers want the story upfront and don't want the magazine to beat around the bush, also the impression i got was that the fans are all about the images. This I will keep in mind when i create my magazine.

Target market front cover analysis: Kerrang! and Q

As my target market are most likely to read Kerrang! and Q I have looked into how they present their magazine on the shop shelf, in other words their front covers. This exercise is to help me think what these magazines do successfully in targeting their audience and adapt this to how i can target my own audience.
Here is my Kerrang! analysis: 

 Here is my Q cover analysis:

From this research I can see that my audience like to read more about the bands and artists they like as well as collecting posters of these bands. Keeping things fluent such and colour scheme and fonts brings the cover together and makes it stand out and become noticeable to its readers. Placement and layering is also clearly important as it creates depth to the cover as well as making the story's featured clear for the reader to see.

Market research

 For my market research I created a questionnaire to discover what my target audience would like in a music magazine. Using the information gained from the questionnaire, I can plan and aim my magazine to target and appeal to my audience directly through factors they want and like.  For example I used the questionnaire to find out what colour scheme my target audience would want in a music magazine. To make the results of my questionnaire relevant i aimed to ask people within my target audience to give me there answers.

The first question I asked was "What age group do you fall under?" ; Possible answers are as follows:....12-17,  18-22,  23-28 and 28+. Here are my results in the form of a pie chart:

This shows that my results are relevant to my market research as all the people who took part in the questionnaire fall into my ideal target reader.

The second question I asked was "Which music magazine are you most likely to be interested in reading?". The possible answers to this question are as follows:.....Kerrang!,  Q,  Metal Hammer and Other (meaning the person in question can add another music magazine they read to the list). Here are my results in the form of a pie chart:

This pie chart shows that most of my target audience read music magazines such as Kerrang!. To help me aim my magazine at my target audience correctly, I should analyse Kerrang!'s conventions and methods used in creating there magazine. The results given for other were NME.

The third question was "Do you prefer Reviews or Interviews?". The intention of this question is to find out what my readers would prefer for the story's featured in my music magazine. To display the results from this question, I will use a pie chart. Results are as follows:

This pie chart shows that my target audience would prefer to read an interview rather than a review. This result will help me to decide what i feature in my double page spread.

The fourth question in the questionnaire was "Which colour scheme would attract you to a magazine?", this is a crucial element in deciding how my magazine will look. The results from this particular question are as follows in the form of a pie chart:

The results show that more people prefer a Black, White and Blue colour scheme to the other colour schemes I suggested. Therefor I will use this colour scheme in making my music magazine as it is what my target audience would like to see on the magazine. However the "other" results given where Black, Green and Red as well as Purple, Green and White.

The fifth question was "What would you like to be featured in the magazine?" and the results were as follows:  Fashion  (where to get the latest fashion pieces for bargain prices), Free band and gig posters, promotional CD's, Gig line ups, Gossip on celebs and artist relevant to the magazine type and Other. The results are as follows:

The results show that my target audience would prefer Free Posters to be featured in the music magazine mostly, followed by promotional CD's then Gig line ups. This is a key factor when choosing what to display on my contents page.

The sixth question in my questionnaire was "What artists would you like to see featured in the magazine?". As I left this question for the people to write in answers, I will list the results instead of using a pie chart.

• Paramore
• Green Day
• Kings Of Leon 
• The Killers
• The Kooks
• FallOutBoy
• Avenged Sevenfold
• Muse
• Elliot Minor
• Kaiser Chiefs
• Biffy Clyro
• 3OH!3
• My Chemical Romance
• Blink 182 
• Jonas Brothers 

 These bands will be kept in mind when planning and thinking about what I will feature in my magazine. Also it gives me and idea on what band I should use for my double page spread.

The final question was "Any thoughts on what else you would like to see in a music magazine?". This is for me to see directly what my audience want. This is a crucial element in targeting my audience. the comments/results given are as follows:

• The use and focus of new bands not just existing/successful bands.
• Albums which are soon to be released or have just been released (reviews, band comments)
• FREE STUFF!
• Competitions and prizes to be won.
• Internet exclusive articles and features on particular bands.
• Stickers.
• The latest gossip on artists and what they have been up to outside the world of music.

Market research has helped me to see exactly what my target audience would like from the music magazine I am  going to be creating. This not only means that the people who are likely to but the magazine will be pleased with that magazine, but it also gives me ideas into what they want as well as layout, design and story ideas for my front cover, contents and double page spread.