Masthead Research

 

This Masthead is taken out of the 'Spin' Dubstep Magazine. The font is very plain and bold with white letters against a light green background. Since this font looks laid back and very straight forward, it makes the readers remember their magazine because it only has four letters. The colour scheme is also incredibly simple, salad green and white meaning that it is very easy on the eye and it is also quite noticeable. The font has no outline or a specific design to it because again, it is created to be as simple and as eye-catching as possible, however it is all in capital letters to create a slight enthusiasm. The connotation behind this masthead is that the green is a gender neutral colour so it appeals to any gender and the font is white so it is clearer to read and notice.

This Masthead is for 'RollingStone' Magazine which features different kinds of genres for rock and also Dub-step. This masthead appears to be as a single word because there is no gap between 'Rolling' and 'Stone'. However, it has two capital letters and the masthead connotes with a piece of rock rolling down a hill or any other surface.That makes the readers imagine the action and associate a rolling stone with this magazine. This masthead is also red which is a very sharp and noticeable colour, the font appears thick and pointy. The black thickness makes the masthead appear three dimensional meaning it pops out from the page and grabs the reader's attention. There is also a white outline in front of the black 'shadow'to separate the colours and add a unique design to this font which also makes it easier to read.

This Masthead is from a magazine called 'ROCK SOUND' which is a rock magazine that features electronic music. The font is very bold and slightly curvy, they are also all in capitals which makes them appear loud to the reader which connote to loud music which is rock and electronic. The masthead also possesses a logo which is on the first letter 'R', the letter itself has a gap in the middle and on the outside of the letter, there is a splatter effect which makes it look like spray paint meaning it can connote to rebelling, creativity and fun. The masthead has two separate words which clearly says 'rock' and 'sound' indicating that this magazine is in fact, a music magazine that are looking for a specific range of target audience. The colour of this masthead is red, which is a gender neutral colour, however other Rock Sound magazines have same mastheads but their colours differentiate each time which means that they might change colour to fit in with a particular topic they are doing for the magazine or to fit in with the colour scheme .

This masthead is taken out of a dubstep magazine called "Woofah". The font seems to be very stylized, uneven and even dangerous because there is an effect right in the middle of it. This effect slightly resembles broken glass or black spears which makes it more interesting to look at as well as more recognizable as a magazine. It is also white in colour against a black or dark blue background which makes it stand out and capture the viewers attention because they are completely opposite in contrast. The background itself has a slight gradient of dark blue to slightly lighter, this colour makes the viewers think a certain way because black (or dark blue) is slightly moody, unknown and even dangerous. This masthead is also the biggest text on the cover which also makes it stand out compared to everything else around the magazine.

I have experimented with different fonts to see which one would match my chosen genre the most. I believe that Bauhaus 93 which is the 12th font from top to bottom as the best font which matches with dub-step and beats because it looks quite modern compared to other fonts. In my opinion, the worst looking font in probably the third one from the bottom, I believe so because it does not match with my chosen topic and would match more with a furniture or a fashion type of  magazine, it also looks slightly old-fashioned.

Questionnaire

Please underline your chosen answer

Q1: Are you a male or a female?            

    male                      female                 other

Q2: What is your age?         

    >17            18 - 25           26 - 30              31 - 40             41<

Q3:  How much are you willing to pay for a magazine?

   >£1               £2 - £5             £6 - £10               £11 - £20              £21 - £30             £31 <

Q4: How often do you read magazines? 

  Never     Once a Month      Once every 2 months     Once every 2 weeks     Once a week     Everyday

Q5: What is your favourite dub-step Genre?

  None    Classic    Chillstep    Drum & Bass   Breakbeat    Brostep     Glitchstep      Rock     Ragga

Q6: Would you prefer a thick magazine or a thin magazine?

                             Thick                    Thin

Q7: What free offer would interest you more?

        CD         Concert Tickets        Vouchers           Posters   

Q8: Whats your current favorite magazine?

  None      Rocksound       Mixmag         Woofah     Rolling Stone      Other

  

Q9: What magazine topic would interest you more?

  Interviews         Artist's personal life        Fashion         Gossip        Other

Q10: Do you follow a magazine company on social media?

  Yes                No

Q11: Would you like a magazine to follow a certain theme?

  No                    Not concerned                   Yes

Q12: What is the first thing that captures your eye in a magazine?
  Nothing             Title              Image           Masthead        Other

Q13: Do you prefer to have more writing or images in your magazine?
  Writing                    Images                   Other

Q14: What colour would stand out more?
   Cyan         Magenta         Yellow         Black       White      Other


This questionnaire was answered online instead of in person because social media gives us an easier access of the amount of random audience that could answer my questionnaire instead of in person. The reason why I chose to collect online data was because it was easier to get people to answer my questions since I would've have to print out 20 questionnaires in order to question 20 people, instead I asked 20 random people on a social media permission to answer my questions, then I sent them an attachment of this questionnaire. Lastly, judging by their answers I tallied it out on an Edexcel document to sum up my answers in one sheet.

This questionnaire was answered by 20 people 

Conclusion: I have found out that the majority of my target audience will be male with mostly ages varying from 17 and under to 25 years old. My target audience will also likely buy a magazine once every 2 weeks to once every two months. I have also discovered that people are willing to pay from £6 to £10 for a magazine meaning that it does not have to be made out of bad quality and the profit per magazine would be rising. Fortunately, My target audience has also chosen Chill-step as their preferred sub-genre of dub-step following by Drum & bass meaning that I could include it in my magazine as my secondary main topic. The viewers also prefer a thick magazine over a thin one because it has more content to choose from.

I will most likely include free tickets and posters in my magazine because it will attract most of my audience since the questionnaire stated that 6 people close free concert tickets and 7 people chose free posters. This means I could include posters from different popular artists and bands that could appeal most to my target audience, more likely the posters and the tickets will be connecting to my chosen sub genre which is Chill-step.

The audience also has favorite magazines and I have discovered that most people like Mixmag, followed by Rocksound. This suggests that I need to make sure that my magazine will be slightly similar to Mixmag and Rocksound to fit in with my target audience criteria. This means that I have to include their style in my front cover and contents page. I would also need to include articles about Personal lifes of popular music artists and hopefully have an interview in my magazine as well which I'm hoping to have as my general magazine content. The audience is also highly interested into fashion which could mean that I can include that in my magazine as an extra topic.

Most audience would also like to have a certain theme to the magazine whilst other large amount of people do not care about the theme. This could mean I can make a specific theme which could match with my target audience, however I will not include it in my product because changing the theme would cause too much work in a span of  2 weeks which is when the audience reads and buys their magazines most often.

I am also planning to make my main image of the front cover as eye catching as possible because the audience believes that the main image of a cover should be what catches their eye first following by a big title with a thick font to capture the readers attention as that is the second most noticeable thing about the magazine. The audience prefers to have more images rather than more writing meaning that I have to variate my images throughout my issues. Finally, my colour scheme is likely to include yellow and cyan as they are most noticeable colours stated by my target audience, these colours also match with my genre because they look 'futuristic'. I believe these colours could attract more audience to look at my front cover. 

Most of my target audience follow magazine companies on social media. Fortunately, This means that I could make a social media account for my magazine to advertise and expose it to a larger variety of audience which will attract even more viewers. I have chosen to feature these bands because I believe that they meet the criteria of 'chill-step'. These bands are also very popular according to YouTube views.

Research Into Potential Target Audience

The Title of the Magazine above: Rock Sound           Source: Google Images

The magazine states that 55% of their audience is female which is quite surprising because this genre is generalised as the male music. Their target audience is quite young aged from 15 to 26 years old with a quantity of 715,000 people.  Their target audience is also very interested in fashion and concerts because they spend £250 million on gigs/concerts and £265 million on fashion of their choice. However, their target audience discover new music and change their music preference very frequently meaning that the magazine has to keep up with new trends and music in order to keep their target audience and their potential new customers because their friends buy based on their recommendation.  On the other hand, more than half of their target audience follow them on their social media and buy their new prints frequently.

The Title of the Magazine above: Mixmag                  Source: issuu.com

This magazine states that the top countries that buy their content are United Kingdom, United States and other. Their target audience is mostly male which is 59% compared to 41% of female audience and people with ages from 18 to 24 are most likely to buy the magazine meaning that they also have young viewers because the magazine states that the median age is 24 years old. Mixmag's most popular social media is Google+ followed by Facebook, Soundcloud and Twitter which is quite surprising because Facebook is the most frequently used social media. The magazine states that their target audience also spends most of their income on nights out, clubbing, music, latest mobile phones and tech/DJ Equipment with a majority living in the city and are single. They also state that their audience is loyal because nearly 80% do not buy or read another music magazine and spend little time watching TV. This means that the magazine needs to find new ways to advertise their content, instead of advertising it on TV, they could use posters or online advertising.

My Target Audience:

I would describe my target audience and young adults of both genders, most likely a majority of males  aged between 16 to 15 years old living in a city.

Their interest may include: Clubbing, Social Media, Gigs/Concerts, Fashion and latest mobiles. These factors could help me in my magazine development, I could grab their attention by including their interests on my front cover such as giving away free concert tickets or CD's if they buy my magazine.

Research evaluation and Magazine Plan

Doring my research, I have found two magazines that match my chosen genre which is called "Dubstep" in order to analyse them. The chosen popular magazines that are called Mixmag and Rock Sound. Moreover, I have found out that dubstep magazines usually feature other music genres such as rock, hard metal and electronic dance music in their articles as well as front covers. These two researched magazines have a very unique content and design which other magazines which an ordinary fashion magazine does not have.

                                                         The Rock sound Magazine

I have discovered that this magazine has a huge title in the middle and the Title is behind a medium shot of a single artist called Skrillex which is what I noticed first. The title has a slight shift to the left and has a splatter effect on one of the letters. The second thing I have noticed about this magazine is the huge stylised masthead which has also has a platter effect for their logo. The magazine also had graphics, a nice blue, yellow and white colour scheme and cover lines to feature the content inside. For my magazine, I believe that i would use a large title to capture the audiences attention and make the title look quite stylised in order to create a professional feel to it.

 The other magazine that I've researched was called Mixmag, I have found out that this magazine looks very busy and uses a smart colour palette which is yellow meaning that it is bright and very visible. I also like the fact that the main artist looks quite enthusiastic which has an impact on the audience.I believe that this is something I would like to feature in my future magazine. 

After doing an analysis on my researched magazines I have noticed that both of them seemed to follow a pattern. They followed the main genres which was dub-step, rock and electronic music. Which has inspired me to have a big title scattered in the middle of the page with a slight shift. I also would like to have an exciting model in a medium shot format because I like how it changes the mood of the viewers. Additionally,I will have a bright yellow colour palette for my font because I want to capture the attention of my audience since the colour 'yellow' is considered as the most noticeable colour in the colour spectrum.

I believe that I will do Chill-step as my main magazine topic since it is still a popular genre that is slightly out of the ordinary. Chill-step is mostly sang by females with bass and beats meaning it could attract both genders of audience since both genders would be willing to listen to 'easy music'. For example, males would be attracted to the sound of a female voice because it is an opposite gender and females would be willing to listen to the same gender because females have similar voices which makes them relate to the singer. The age of my target audience would be mostly adults followed by teenagers because it is a new type of genre in the music industry.

2 Magazines

Prelim products and reflection

 I believe that my front cover turned out great because I have included everything necessary conventions of a magazine, for example I included the barcode, masthead, cover line and a date. I tried to have a pink/blue colour scheme in my magazine because it goes well with the image, the image’s background is blue and the person is wearing a pink cardigan. I did not struggle at using any Photoshop tools, I corrected the colour of the main image as well as made an iris blur so the audience focuses on her face rather than the blouse pattern. However, I struggled with layout and the topics of the magazine, which doesn’t make it quite professional. The Masthead could also be better or more eye-appealing.

I believe my content page was also a success. The font is very easy to read because it is outlined with a white colour and the dots after the letters help the audience find the page number as easy as possible. I also think that the page matches my cover by colour scheme, for example it has blue and pink. The featured images are nicely presented on the right hand side and there is a big image underneath the contents. The contents are also divided into three sections, which makes it even easier for audience to manage. However, I dislike the fact that the images on the right hand side look transparent which was a Photoshop mistake.

This was my initial idea on how to lay out my magazine, I have kept some ideas such as the font style, the layering and the models. I also used my ideas for my articles and put them on the finished product. However, I changed the placing of the date and I also changed the amount of information on the front cover because I believe that the amount that I have now is better to lead the viewer to buy the magazine. In other words, I've put less information on my cover and more information on my contents page. I have also decided to use the blue as my main colour scheme. I believe that I should have added the teacher on top of my masthead to make it look more interesting and professional. 

To improve this work, I should research and look at how professional magazines to improve my layout. I would include things such as graphics and puffs in my main cover page and also advance my skills on Photoshop to avoid small mistakes such as transparency or a bad Masthead. I could also improve on my composition regarding the front cover and the contents page.

Prelim Research

Genre Research