Feature Article Draft

Contents Page Draft

Front Cover Draft

Font Mood Board

Font Mood Board

This is my font mood board which are possible ideas of the type of font I would like to put on my magazine front cover. I have chosen to text ‘music magazine’ as I am currently still deciding on what I would like to choose as my mast head. The fonts I have chosen are mainly ones which have a different type of style to them. This will make the magazine have a different qwerky style to it which other magazines would not have. I have also chosen some fonts which have a traditional and simple style to it in case when I make the magazine it needs a simple touch to it, so it doesn’t make it over the top. In this mood board I haven’t added any colour to it as yet as I am not too sure of the colour for my mast head. My target audience is females aged 13-25 as it is a charts magazine I will need to choose a font which would be appealing to them. So possibly a more traditional look or one which is very classy would attract them to the magazine more.

Colour Mood Board

Colour Mood Board

The colours I have chosen to place on my mood board are different shades of black, blue, red, white, green and pink. I have chosen these colours as these where the feedback I received from my questionnaire which I posted on survey monkey. My target audience Is teenage girls aged from 13-20 so the use of black, white, red and pink will defiantly be the colours I feature on the magazine cover but the uses of green and blue will be able to tone it down. As the magazine I am creating is a charts magazine it will feature different types of music but mainly pop. The blue will look really well as I am having a male model featuring on the front cover. Giving it a cool feel to it. I want the front cover to be eye catching which is also why have picked bright colours as well as black. I’m not so sure on the dark side of the colours but this will all depend on how the front cover picture is taken and if it is in dark or light shading. Once I have done a practice on the front cover this will give myself a clearer view on how I use these colours in my music magazine.

Questionnaire Analysis

Questionnaire analysis

I posted a questionnaire on survey monkey which would give me advice on what the public would want when I design my music magazine.

The first question I asked was ‘what is your gender and age?’  The age range I mostly got responses from where around 17- 20 years old. 84 % where females and 16% where males who responded to the questionnaire. This shows that my main target audience will be females aged in the teens.

The second question I asked was ‘How much are you willing to pay for a music magazine which will be published weekly?’ 31% said that they are willing to spend £1.50 and then close behind was £2.50-£3.00 which is what 21%. £1.50 is a very reasonable price for a weekly magazine.

The third question I asked was ‘What genre of music are you mostly interested in?’ which majority of 63% said pop. This will fit in really well with my theme of charts music as majority of music is pop in the charts.

The fourth question I asked was ‘Do you keep up to date with the music charts regularly?’ 58% said yes they do keep up to date with the music charts and 42% said no they don’t. My magazine is going to be based around the music charts so I am glad that a lot more people said yes to this question.

The fifth question I asked was ‘Do you download music or purchase the CD?’ 53% said they download music and 47% said they purchase CD’s. This gives me a clear idea of the type of advertisement to put in my music magazine.

The sixth question I asked was ‘Who are your favourite artists at the moment?’ the five top artists that got the most comments was Matt Cardle, Sam Smith, James Bay, Ed Sheeran and Little mix. This shows me that Male solo artists are what people are most interested in listening to at the moment.

The seventh question I asked was ‘Rank the features in order which you would mostly like to see in a music magazine?’ there was seven options and the order received was: 1. Concerts, 2. Interviews, 3. new releases, 4. Top 40, 5. Quiz, 6. Album/single reviews, 7. Competitions. I will be taking this order into consideration and making sure at least something on the top five is in my music magazine.

The eighth question I asked was ‘What would attract you to the front cover of a music magazine?’ which 79% said a famous person. Which shows that when making my magazine placing a singer on the front cover will make it attractive.

The ninth question I asked was ‘What colours attract you to magazines?’ the six top ones we received where black, white, red, yellow, pink and blue.  This gives me some colours to consider when making my magazine.

The tenth question I asked was ‘Do you like to see advertisement in a magazine?’ 50% said yes and 50% said no. so In my magazine I will be putting advertisement.

Original Ideas Statement

Original ideas statement

The type of magazine I have chosen to make is a charts magazine. My target audience will be girls aged 13-25. The age where you are still at school and you talk about the latest bands up to the age of a young adult where you still go out and party. This means that the genre of music I will be focusing on will mainly be pop but will have other genres included. I have chosen to pick this type of magazine as I keep up to date with the music charts, they are the biggest solo artists and groups making the charts weekly. Many people are interested in the music charts and everyone likes to keep up to date with the newest music. Inspired me was music magazines such as Top of the Pops but would want to make it more adult’s versions but teenagers could still be interested in. 

Questionnaire Results

Target Audience Mood Board

Target Audience Mood Board

This is my target audience mood board which I have placed what sort of things my target audience would like. So my target audience I mainly females between 13-25 years old. On my mood board I firstly placed the type of celebrities and singers they would be very interested in. My magazine is all about the charts so I have placed the biggest artists in the music charts at the minute. These are One Direction, Jess Glynn, Olly Murs, Sam Smith and many more. I have also placed other celebrities such as Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner who have fashion blogs which many young girls look up to. Teenagers are very interested in you tubers so I placed Zoella and Alfie (Pointlessblog) on here. Technology is a huge part of a teenager’s life as they are always on their phones or their iPads, keeping up with their social Medias. I have placed the type of clothing that many teenagers wear which is black leather jackets, converses, river island, Hollister and Topshop clothing. The jewellery they wear is expensive watches like Michael Kors and Pandora jeweller. The Car that they would drive would be a Fiat 500 as that is every girls dream car. My target audience is really into music so they would listen to kiss and capital fm. They will be interested in the music charts which they are also interested in reality TV shows like keeping up with the Kardashian, Towie and Geordie shore. They are really into fashion and there favourite restaurant is Nandos. This is a basic outline on my target audience and the things they are interested in, in their every day lives.

Advertisers Mood Board

Advertisers Mood Board

This is an advertiser’s mood board which shows the type of companies I would advertise in my music magazine. I have picked companies/brands which fit with my target audience of 13-25 year olds, which are mainly females. I decided on the big companies which are fast food such as KFC, Burger King, McDonalds and Subway. Teenagers are always keen on fast food and are using these places as there hangouts. This also applies to Starbucks and Costa as it is also a hangout place. I also placed social media sites like twitter, Tumblr, Depop, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Teenagers and young adults spend their lives on their mobile phones finding out what their friends and favorite celebrities are doing. I placed technology brands as everyone likes to keep up with the latest technology from apple, Samsung, Android, and Microsoft. I placed the basic high end brands which a lot of teenagers and young adults are obsessed with like MAC makeup, Pandora, vans, Miss Selfridge, ASOS, next, converse. This allows the magazine to have an edge of fashion, jewellery and makeup. I also added concert/festival companies as at the age of 13-25 you are very interested in music and always listening to the radios. So on this advertisement mood board I have aimed at brands/companies which many young adults and teenagers know of very well and relate to some part of their lives. 

Information on Magazine Publishers

Bauer publishers

Bauer is a publishing company who has eight management team running the company. The first is Paul Keenan who is the CEO. The second is Dee Ford who is the group managing director radio. The third is Rob Munro-Hall who is the Group MD magazine media. The fourth is Abby Carvosso who is the group MD of Advertising. The fifth is Anne-Marie Lavan who is the marketing Director. The sixth is Sam Jones who is the group MD for digital. The seventh is Sarah Vickery who is the group finance and strategy director. The eighth is Sarah Barnes who is the HR Director.

Bauer Media is a private owned publishing group which has over 300 magazines in around 15 countries. They have also spread their market wider by having a TV and radio station.  They joined the Bauer Media Group not so long ago in January 2008. So they have many companies in the radio and magazine divisions. Their business is said to be built up on the listeners and readers being engaged in their products giving them excellent content.

The magazine division started back in 1953 with the launch of the Angling Times, followed by the Motor Cycle News in 1956.

The success lead in 1994 when purchasing the magazine ‘For Him’ which is now the bestselling international multi- [platform magazine renamed ‘FHM’.

They launched closer in 2002 and GRAZIA was launched in 2005 which was Britain’s first weekly glossy magazine.

Bauer magazine is the sister company of H Bauer Publishing which publishes Take a Break and Bella.

Publishing magazine audience for January-July 2015:

Celebrity Weeklies

1.        ‘Closer’ Women’s magazine hits 283,608 in print and digital

2.        ‘Heat’ Women’s magazine hits 185,3555 in print and digital

Women’s Glossy Market

1.        ‘Grazia’ Women’s Magazine hits 143,818 in print and digital

Film Market

1.        ‘Empire’ Men’s Magazine hits 144,653 in print and digital

50+ Market

1.        ‘Yours’ Women’s Magazine hits 272,603 in print

Gardening Market

1.        ‘Garden News’ Women’s Magazine hits 40,084 in print

2.        ‘Garden Answers’ Men’s Magazine hits 22,607 in print

Health and Wellbeing Market

1.        ‘Top Santé’ Men’s magazine hits 48,545 in print and digital 

Time Ink UK

Times Ink UK is a publishing company who is ran by three men called Marcus rich, Sam Finlay and Adrian Hughes. Marcus Rich is the Chief Executive Officer of Times Ink UK, he joined the team in 2014. Sam Finlay is the Managing Director of Advertising, he joined the business in 1995 and has hold many roles prior to his role as Managing Director. Adrian Hughes is the Managing Director of the Marketforce and was appointed this role in October 2015, he has been with the business since 1997.

Time Ink UK states that they are the leading publishers for print and digital magazine content. They have more than 60 brands which including some big brands such as Country Life, NME and what’s On TV. They have a mainstream women’s brand which include top magazines for women such as Now, Chat, Women and Goodtoknow. They also publish the top TV magazine brands called what’s On TV, TV Times. They also include magazines in the wealth of leisure brands such as Horse and Hound and Rugby world. There is also Lifestyle magazine, Fashion Magazines, Luxury Brand Magazines and Home Interest Brands Magazines. So Times Ink Magazine have a lot of different brand magazines which could fit anyone’s interests as it is such wide ranged.

Times Ink UK have a monthly print audience of around 120 Million, They have over 50 websites which attract around that target audience to promote the magazine brands they are publishing. They also celebrate events and publish in the magazines such as Fortune 500, Time 100, Peoples Sexiest Man Alive, Sportsman of the year and many more.  They also have live media events throughout the year which hundreds and thousands of people attend.

Times Ink UK formally known as International Publishing Corporation Media was formed in 1963 which was brought together by three publishing magazine business called George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications who came together with the Mirror Group. The in 2001 was renamed to Times Ink UK.

Publishing history:

·         1853 – ‘The Field’ newspaper launched

·         Late 1800s – Country Life, Horse and Hound, Shooting Times, Yachting World, Amateur Gardening, Cycling Weekly, Amateur Photographer and The Railway Magazine were launched.

·         1920’s- Ideal Home was launched.

·         1926- Women and Home was launched.

·         1932- Woman’s Own was launched.

·         1937 – Caravan, Stamp Magazine and Prediction was launched.

·         1952- NME was launched.

·         1955- TV Times was launched.

·         1969- Shoot! Was launched.

·         Late 1960’s- Rugby World, World Soccer, Angler’s Mail and Family Circle was launched.

·         1970’s – Aeroplane Monthly, Sporting Gun and SuperBike was launched.

·         1988- Marie Claire was launched.

·         Late 1980’s -  Essential, Motor Caravan, Eventing, Chat, Mizz, Wedding and Home, Country Home and Interiors, Classic Boat, Model Collector, Motor Boats Monthly, Practical Parenting, Volks World and Bird Keeper was launched.

·         1991- What’s On TV was launched.

·         1994- Loaded was launched.

·         1996 – Now was launched.

·         2004 – Nuts was launched.

·         2005- Pick Me Up was launched. 

·         2005 – TVeasy was launched.

·         2007- Look was launched

·         2010- Style at Home and Goodtoknow Recipes was launched.

Conde Nast

Conde Nast is a publishing company which is an international company, it is run by managing director Nicholas Coleridge which has twelve magazines which are multi leading brands and these are:

·         Ars Technica - this is Conde Nast’s first digital publication which was launched May 2015. The name is linked with Latin and means the art of technology. It’s about reviews, trends and has some journalism on technology, science, law, medicine and motoring. Main target audience are business leaders and key-decision makers. There unique users are 909,902 and page views are 2,602,851.

·         Brides – is a best-selling bridal magazine which is was launched in 1955. It is a very inspiring and driving magazine for people who are planning their wedding with a guide to getting married. Its readership is 222,000, circulation 45,483, monthly unique users 230,268 and monthly page views 1,859,248

·         Conde Nast Johansen’s – publishes about the best hotels, spas and venues in the UK, Europe and America. This was launched around 30 years ago and inspires people on places to stay. Its readership is 8,900,000, monthly unique users 59,389 and monthly page views 230,885.

·         Conde Nast Traveller – publishes about the new age of were to explore and about luxury travelling and was published in 1997. It explains events which happens around the world and targets audience which are influential and curious. Its readership is 335,000, circulation is 78,067, monthly unique users 830,352 and monthly page views are 3,477,792.

·         Glamour – is a women’s magazine which was published in 2001. This is a lifestyle magazine which is one of the biggest selling in the UK and Europe. Its readership is 781,000, circulation is 370,012, monthly unique users are 2,997,805 and page views are 34,066,176.

·         GQ – is a men’s magazine which was launched in 1988, which is one of the UK’s most contemporary stylish magazines around. It has Journalism, Fashion, Glamour, Lifestyle, Entertainment and Glamour. Its readership is 399,000, Circulation is 121,085, Monthly unique users is 1,435,542 and monthly page views are 9,324,982.

·         GQ Style – is a men’s fashion magazine which was launched in 2005. Covers every trend you can think of in the market. Its readership is 234,000.

·         House and Garden – shows the most nicely designed and decorated house and gardens from all over the country. It was launched in 1947. Its readership is 572,000, circulation is 113,047, monthly unique views is 943,951 and monthly page views are 4,388,372.

·         Love – is a fashion agenda magazine which gives ideas to people. It was launched in 2009/. Its readership is 400,000 and monthly unique users is 80,000.

·         Tatler – is a magazine which has a mixture of glamour, fashion, society, features and fun. It was launched in 1709. Its readership is 190,000, circulation is 84,383, monthly unique users is 272,768 and monthly page views are 2,655,057.

·         Vanity Fair – is a magazine which looks for new stars, achievements and scandals. Its readership is 217,000, circulation is 88,009, monthly unique users 780,446 and monthly page views is 1,388,247.

·         Vogue – is a fashion magazine which was first launched in 1961. It is a magazine which you discover new trends. Its readership is 1,204,000, circulation is 200,058, monthly unique users is 2,251,553 and monthly page views are 33,617,696.

·         Wired – explores the ideas and some innovations which are changing our world right now. It was first launched in 2009 and has won many awards. Its readership is 290,000, circulation is 54,057, monthly unique users is 2,062,701 and monthly page views are 3,908,752.

·         World of Interiors – is a magazine which inspires people with a passion to design. It was launched in 1981. Its readership is 139,000 and circulation is 58,066.

Overview on the Magazine Industry

Overview on the magazine industry

The magazine industry has been developing for a long period of time being one of the biggest sources of media out there. In statistics 54% of the population read a weekly magazine, with 63.5% being households which buy the magazine and they pass round for each other to read. They have predicted that the middle classes are the biggest drive for the consumer magazine revenue. The magazine revenue will be an upwards curve until 2019, but the revenue will be no higher gain that 0.55% in any forecast year.

The top magazine in the UK is TV choice, they earn around £18 million in profit a year as they have sold an huge 1,276,045 magazines a year. The second top magazine in the UK is TV choice which earns a estimate of £30.5 million a year. They earn more due to the magazine cost being higher than TV choice. They sold a huge 1,010,798 magazines in a year. This shows that the TV Listing magazines are the popular magazine to buy on the market. The third top magazine in the UK is take a break which earned around £27.1 million a year, the magazine sold 602,674 copies a year. This shows us that the biggest target audience is women as take a break is a women’s weeklies magazine. Looking at the top 10 magazines they all fall into the categories of women magazine and TV listings such as slimming world, glamour, new!, closer, Radio Times and chat being up in top 10.

The magazine which had the biggest fall for 2014 is readers digest which fell 38 per cent to 133,469 sales a month which is a huge fall. But the most successful magazine is forever sports which has a huge success with their launch with has a paid for circulation of 62,277 a month. Magazines aimed at children at pre-school age are continuing to do well. For example a new magazine called Peter Pan has a circulation of 34,487.

In the music magazine industry the biggest performing magazine is Q which is followed by Rolling stones and Entertainment weekly. They are all high performers with different type of edge to them. They are based at different audiences with different content.

Music Magazine Analysis

Analysis of a music magazine

Q magazine

 

The magazine which I have decided to look into with more detail is Q magazine which is a music magazine. It was first published in October 1986. It has a sister magazine called ‘mojo’. Originally it was meant to be called ‘cue’ as they wanted to link it with cueing for a record but decided on ‘Q’ so they wouldn’t be mistaken for a snooker magazine. The founders of Q are Mark Ellen and David Hepworth who believed that there wasn’t a magazine out there for the older generation who were still buying CD’s. Their aim was to publish ‘Q’ monthly and making sure that the photography and printing was at a much higher standard than other magazines. In 2008 ‘Q’ revamped its image which they began to focus on smaller text and even larger focus on the subjects not linked to music.  The main genre for Q is rock and roll.

The magazine covers content of new releases, reissues, music compilations, (film, live concerts, radio and television) reviews. But mainly most of the magazine will feature interviews from popular music artists. They have promotional gifts which are sometimes given away which are CD’s and Books. They make their magazine unique by each issue published of ‘Q’ will have a different message on the spine which will give readers a clue of what the content may feature inside the magazine. The magazine has a close connections with Glastonbury festival which they produce a free magazine daily on their site and a review magazine at the end of the festival.

‘Q’ launched its first radio station in June 2008, but you could only have access to it on digital Television. They also had their own music channel which was called Q TV. Its circulation figures are 52,781 from July to December 2013. Most of ‘Q’ magazine readers are male being 66.2%, 83.8% of readers are between the age of 15-44. The cover price for ‘Q’ magazine is £4.00 but if you subscribe you can 6 issues for only £15. ‘Q’ magazine has 116 K followers on twitter, 104,416 likes on their Facebook profile and 5,117 followers on Instagram.

The target audience for ‘Q’ magazine is mostly based at the older generation between 30 and 40 years old. They are more interested in the music and that is the reason they purchase the magazine.

College Magazine Analysis

College Magazine Questionaire

College Magazine Questionnaire

(Circle the answer relevant to you)

1.      Do you read the college magazine?  

Yes / No

2.      How much are you willing to pay for the college magazine?

Nothing / 50p / £1 / £2

3.      How often would you like the magazine to be published?

Week / fortnight / month / half term

4.      Would freebies encourage you to buy the magazine?

Yes/ No

5.      What would you like in the magazine? ( choose your top three )

Student tips and advice / subject advice / problems page / music gigs / sports / local events / technology / fashion / film releases / college events

6.      What image would you like on your front cover?

Student / Teacher / Students work / Technology / Nature

7.      What would you like the magazine to be called?

8.      What colours would attract you to the magazine? ( select three )

9.      What fonts would you like for the front cover?

10.  Would you like people to advertise in the magazine?

Yes / No

11.  Would you be interested in an online version of the magazine which you could subscribe to?

Yes / No

12.  Would you like a jobs page?
Yes / No

questionnaire results analysis

I recently conducted a questionnaire which is suitable for college students aged 16-19 years old about what they would like in our magazine. From the results I have collected I am able to see what the students would like. The first question asked was do you read the college magazine. The feedback we got was that 90% of our audience said no which means that our magazine was failing and wasn’t working with our audience as they wasn’t reading it. The second question asked was how much are you willing to pay for the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was 85% were willing to pay nothing up to 50p. This gives us a clear view that we need to either have the magazine as free or charge anything up to 50p to attract the audience to read it. The third question asked was how often would you like the magazine to be published. The feedback we received from the audience was 60% said they would like it either fortnightly or monthly. This gives us two options to consider when we re create the magazine which the audience would prefer. The fourth question asked was would freebies encourage you to buy the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was a clear answer which was yes. The sixth question asked was what would you like on the front cover as the main image. The feedback we received from the audience was 75% wanted to see either a image of a student or students work. This gives us two clear pathways to consider when we create the magazine as that is what the audience wants. The seventh question asked was what would you like the magazine to be called. The feedback we received from the audience was that they didn’t mind but we had a few suggestions which had ‘EN’ on it which is a short pronunciation for our college name ‘East Norfolk’. So we still need to think of a magazine title. The eighth question asked was what colours would attract you to the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was the six top colours being red, black, white, pink, purple, grey. When making the magazine I will pick around three or four colours as the theme out of the six. The ninth question asked was what fonts would you like on the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was that they didn’t mind which font but we have decided on a modern font as we are aiming at students.   The tenth question asked was would you like people to advertise in the magazine. The feedback we received from the audience was that 60% said yes, so we will need to find people to advertise which could take time. The eleventh question we asked was would you like a jobs page. The feedback received from the audience was 95% wanted a jobs page. 

college magazine front cover and contents page