Music Magazine – Inspiration Board

Click the image for the full board.

In this task, I created a moodboard which I felt reflected the genre of my magazine and the brand I was hoping to communicate. I included photos of Indie artists, the main colour scheme of my magazine, other magazine covers which inspired me, clothing, fonts, and some other images which I felt I could draw inspiration from. This board will aid me in visualizing how I want my magazine to look, and what impression I want it to give overall.

Below is a slideshow I have created, containing research into my target audience, a dating profile of my ideal text receiver, and an outline of Stewart Hall’s receptionist theory.

A Star Image is the idea which is created surrounding a star. This is incredibly important to consider when designing a magazine, as the construction of the overall image of the star can hugely effect what audience are reached, and if they are reached effectively.

I have created a presentation which studies in detail the meta-narrative of one of my favourite Indie artists, Tessa Violet. My analysis covers her usage of social media, PR appearances, her music and lyrics, one of her music videos, her appearance on the cover of Narrow magazine, as well as other aspects of how her brand is composed.

Star Image – Tessa Violet

When I’d completed this, I moved on to create a slideshow about how I’m going to construct my star, using my knowledge gained through my research and my knowledge of the genre as whole.

Designing My Star Image

I will build my overall star image with these features in mind, so that I am able to convey the Indie genre to my audience in a way which is decodable.

My music magazine is going to be called Violet. I chose this name as the Indie music genre is conventionally known for being artsy and colourful, and the colour violet could be seen as aesthetically pleasing, another ideal reflected by this genre. I therefore think that this is an effective and suitable name for my magazine.

I have chosen the indie genre for my magazine as I have a personal interest in it, and I predominantly listen to artists of this nature. The lyrics are often emotionally driven, something which I am very keen on, and I like the independent feel of it. I have created a wordcloud of words that I feel reflect the Indie genre.

Indie Wordcloud

My Mission Statement

‘Violet‘ is a magazine focusing primarily on indie music, but also style. We feature top stories from your favourite indie artists, including exclusive interviews, details of tours and events, and brand new photoshoots. We even create playlists of our favourite tracks and artists, so you can discover all that the genre has to offer. ‘Violet‘ strives to inspire positivity and individuality in its readers, and we’re fueled by the support that we receive. With an aim to encourage self-expression, we provide only the absolute best of indie.

Textual Analysis of a Professionally Made Front Cover

Over my analysis of this cover, I discovered that the main demographic of this magazine were around 20-30 years old, middle class people, with quite a high disposable income.

One element of this cover that I found interesting was the bold, block colours. As general, Millenials are known for their confidence and desire to stand out from the crowd, and the choice of bold colours could entice them due to thsi desire to be different and strong. I feel that this reflects that Mixmag know who they’re appealing to, and are highly aware of how to do so effectively.

Another thing that intrigued me about this cover is that the masthead is in lowercase letters. I found this interesting because, while it may be slightly unconventional in magazines, many young people type in lowercase letters, and, therefore, I feel this is a successful decision, which demonstrates a clear understanding of their demographic.

When I create my music magazine, I will take into close account the need to appeal to the audience, and take into consideration their age, class, interests, and other key features so that I can appeal to my demographic as effectively as possible.

For this task, I used the YouGov website to analyse what type of people would typically read a certain magazine, in this case, Mixmag. Mixmag is a dance music and clubbing magazine which reviews music, festivals, and club nights, as well as covering dance events. In my research for this magazine, I found that the general reader is is there 20s to 30s, making the demographic generally Millenials or Generation Z. It’s about equal in popularity between men and women, and the audience are generally middle class.

Music Magazine – Annotations

It is hugely important to understand your audience and how they think when you create any piece of Media. Identifying a target audience means that the people who are the most likely to consume the Media are more likely to be interested. I feel that the bold features accurately represent the desired target audience, mostly Millenials or Generation Z, as strength and boldness are traits generally associated with that demographic. For example, the cover star, Carl Craig, takes us a large amount of the cover, and his photo even obscures part of the masthead, implying that he stands out from the crowd. Individuality is a trait which is valued amongst Millenials and Generation Z, and therefore suggests that Mixmag have a strong grasp on who their target audience are and what they believe. The colour scheme used further emphasizes this, as the colours are bold, implying confidence and strength.

Magazines covers often feature certain conventions. The main features are:

• Masthead
• Plug
• Pug
• Inset
• Main Cover Line
• Main Cover Star
• Captions
• Cover Lines
• Issue/date
• Price
• Barcode

They also often feature only a few main colours. Sylvie and I annotated the magazine cover below with the relevant design features.

Conventional Design Features – Annotated

I will ensure that I include all of these features when I come to create my own Music Magazine, as they are vital to creating an effective cover overall.