Music magazineresearch

Genre

I chose pop music as my genre because there isn’t many pop magazines around meaning there is a gap in the market due to the cancellation of “Smash hits!” magazine. Also I am a fan of pop music which will help me make a suitable magazine as I have inside knowledge of the genre.

Audience: 11-14 year old girlsMusic genre: PopPublisher : EMAP MetroReleased: BiweeklyFirst issue: 1978Final issue: 2006Extra info: The magazine had to stop publishing due to a lack of profits because of competition from the BBCs music magazines, It’s Hot and Top of the Pops. Though it did return for a one off tribute to Michael Jackson.

CoverColours:

The colours are girly and eye catching

Pictures:

The main photo is of a popular band which many “tween” girls look up to and are fans of and there are smaller pictures of other stars that the readers may be interested in. The main picture looks welcoming and fun to draw people in.

Text:

Mostly bright pink or white with a matching font (apart from the logo), which makes it stand out against the blue background. The word “McFly” who are the main feature in this issue is made to make it look like it’s moving like the car, making it stand out and make it the most noticable.

Main feature

Colours:

Nearly all pink, representing romance as well as it being a girly colour. The background of the actual interviews text is white to make it easier to read and the main quotes background is darker to make it stand out as it would make girls want to read more

Pictures:

The picture of the band takes up nearly half of the page with them relaxed and looking happy. The two in the centre are looking at the camera to make the interview seem welcoming.

Layout: the photo of the band take up the whole top half of the page, along with the main quote so readers know who is being interviewed straight away and the interview itself is small and only takes up the bottom half so the reader will see the picture before the interview.

Audience: 9-12 year old girlsMusic genre: Pop, tween popPublisher : BBCReleased: monthlyPrice: £2.10Stopped publishing: May 2007Extra info: only on of it’s type on the market, comes with a free

gift every issue, contains and added 26 page cartoon magazine called Extra! Which contains 10 exclusive photo/cartoon stories including popular bands like McFLY. McFly was one of the most common bands to appear in It’s Hot due to their popularity. Compared to other magazines of the same genre, It’s Hot used pastel colours compared to Smash Hits which used brighter colours.

It’s Hot

CoverIt’s Hot often did ‘collection covers’ where there would be more than one cover for one issue, it would normally be for bands with each cover having a different member in the foreground and a different quote as well, one from each of the members.

Colours:

Apart from the yellow background the colours for this cover are mostly pastel colours.

Photo:

this photo was one of four possibilities for this issue, one member is in focus in the foreground whereas the others are blurred in the background, the other pictures are small and not a noticable as they only refer to smaller parts of the magazine

Text:

Apart from the title and main quote the text is quite small. Danny Jones’ quote is the most noticeable bit of text on the cover as when read the audience will want to know why he thinks girls don’t like him and as a result buy the magazine.

Main featureColours:

The colour scheme is a continuation of pastel colours from the front cover (apart from the yellow) making the interview

Layout: the photo and main quote are the main focus points of this double page spread as when the reader sees this band they will want to read more the interview itself is spread out around the band, making the dark colours of there clothing stand out against the pastel colours of the page.

Photos:

The only photo on this double page spread is of the band itself, which takes up more room than the interview, this is to draw people in as at the time of this issues publication people wanted to know as much as the could about McFly.

Audience survey

I conducted an audience survey asking 20 people what they are looking for in a pop star magazine. 80% of the people I asked preferred a pastel colour scheme over a bright one. 75% of the people I asked thought a female cover girl would be better over and male one and 90% preferred hearts over stars. I am aiming to refer to these results throughout my design.

Audience ProfileMeet Izzy, she is an 10 year old girl living in Croydon. Izzy is currently in year 6 at Downsview Primary School and has lots of friends. She loves bands like The Jonas Brothers and Mcfly. She has a crush on Nick Jonas from The Jonas Brothers and wants to meet him one day. Izzy likes being popular so she wants to stay up to date with the latest trends and gossip so she can be ahead of her friends and worries that she may fall behind. She loves pastel colours, in particular blue and pink and likes going shopping with her mum as well as going to sleepovers. Izzy enjoys watching movies with her current favourite being ‘UP’ and she is a fan of most pixar movies.