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Whatever You Want, Whatever You Want, Whatever You Want. http://formspring.me/jamesparker1994

Questionnaire Analysis

College Questionnaire:

1. Would you read a college magazine?
2. If yes why? If no why?
3. What would you like to see in a college magazine?
· Sports
· Music
· College events
· Jobs
· Competitions
· Promotions
· Fashion
· Other specify


4. How much would you be prepared to pay for a college magazine?
5. How often would you like a college magazine published?
· Fortnightly
· Monthly
· Half term
· Termly
6. What is your favourite thing about college?
7. Would you like an on-line version of the magazine?
8. Would you subscribe to the magazine?
9. Would you be interested in working on the magazine?
10. Would you like a formal or informal styled magazine?

To research my college magazine I designed a questionnaire. I circulated this around college and have gained information about the style, content and how much, and how often to publish the magazine. I have discovered that 50% would not actually read a college magazine so this limits my audience to start with. The reason for this is that the current magazine is dull and boring so doesn’t appeal to the majority of the students.
The content that my audience were interested in most were music, sport, events and jobs. This gives me a good starting point for things to feature in the magazine. I could review and show when sports competitions will be on and have a “Gig Guide” showing local bands and festivals to let students know what is going on in their local community.
Many said that they would pay up to £0.50 but not much more for a college magazine and I also found that many students would not subscribe to the magazine. From this we thought that firms such as taxi firms, local restaurants could advertise in our magazine.
From my questionnaire I have found that people would like the magazine published fortnightly with 80% of the audience asking for this. I have also found that the ideal place to sell the magazine would be in the dining area as many people said they enjoyed the breaks most.
Surprisingly 70% said they would not like an online version of the college magazine. Unsurprisingly 100% of my audience said they would like an informal approach to the magazine and have a relaxed style.
This research has been useful for me to find out what my audience want and how they want the magazine to look. Also it has helped me find out the content that they would like.

College Magazine Cover and Contents Page

College Magazine and Contents Page

Planning Materials

This is my mood board that i have produced for my own magazine "SHREDDAGE". I have included the apple logo as my target audience of between 14-25 year olds would most likely have an ipod, or some form of apple product. Also i have included the HMV logo as this would be a shop that my target aurdince would go to, to by music. I have included a sausage roll as this is the sort of snack that my audience would enjoy as it is quick and simple to make; easy for students. School of Rock was my film of choice as it includes music and is a comedy. It was rated well by one of my competitor magzines on an audience poll too. Burger King is also common as it is a fast food chain that students often visit. Jimi Hendrix is the idle of many young guitar players there fore he is important influence of my audience. I have included a guitar as most people who would by my magazine, would own a guitar. Dr Pepper is also a favourite drink of many of my target audience and is common amongst musicians. Also i have included the Scuzz logo as this is the television channell that most young musicians would watch.

Mood Board Analysis
The demographic profile of total guitar magazine consists of the wide age range of 16-40. This is because it is a specialist magazine so attracts a wide audience. The typical stereotype of reading this magazine would be a white British or American student, studying at university who plays guitar and listens to rock music. They would most likely be single living a student lifestyle, eating fast food and going out drinking for a social occasion or going to gigs.
The stereotypes interests would include bands like Iron Maiden and Pantera as these are often featured in the magazine. Television they watch could include music channels such as Scuzz, and films like ‘the boat that rocked’, or ‘school of rock’. The price of £4.99 suggests a middle class, although they would probably live in a flat if they were a student.
The typical reader of total guitar would listen to Kerrang radio, and probably read ‘the times’ according to their background. The typical student wouldn’t necessarily drive a car but if they did it would most likely be a starter car such as a ford fiesta.

Questionnaire Analysis
To research my college magazine I designed a questionnaire. I circulated this around college and have gained information about the style, content and how much, and how often to publish the magazine. I have discovered that 50% would not actually read a college magazine so this limits my audience to start with. The reason for this is that the current magazine is dull and boring so doesn’t appeal to the majority of the students.
The content that my audience were interested in most were music, sport, events and jobs. This gives me a good starting point for things to feature in the magazine. I could review and show when sports competitions will be on and have a “Gig Guide” showing local bands and festivals to let students know what is going on in their local community.
Many said that they would pay up to £0.50 but not much more for a college magazine and I also found that many students would not subscribe to the magazine. From this we thought that firms such as taxi firms, local restaurants could advertise in our magazine.
From my questionnaire I have found that people would like the magazine published fortnightly with 80% of the audience asking for this. I have also found that the ideal place to sell the magazine would be in the dining area as many people said they enjoyed the breaks most.
Surprisingly 70% said they would not like an online version of the college magazine. Unsurprisingly 100% of my audience said they would like an informal approach to the magazine and have a relaxed style.
This research has been useful for me to find out what my audience want and how they want the magazine to look. Also it has helped me find out the content that they would like.

Reviews
Adam Black – Orien
When I saw the price tag of this master piece I thought I was mistaken. I wasn’t. This beauty is just about the hottest thing you could buy for one month’s gigging. The Adam Black comes in alternate colours whether you want white, black, white or black, white, black it looks as good as you bed after a tour.
This under-priced god send comes with a full alder body and a set maple neck which plays like a dream. The ebony fingerboard will be like playing on frozen velvet and the hilariously named ASBO pickups gives a harsh crunch or a mellow clean depending on your preference. The cherry on the cake are the black nickel hardware that top the whole thing off.
Become a rock god and spew riffs all over the mosh pit at your next gig with the unbeatably priced slice of heaven from the new kids on the block, Adam Black.
Whether you’re into slayer, bb king or just starting out this IS the one for you!

Linkin Park – 02 arena
Sitting backstage in an Buddha themed room at what is Britain’s top music venue, the 02 arena; Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda sit in front of me wearing jeans, shirts and trainers looking as cool as cucumbers considering they are about to play a sell-out show in their second best venue. To warm up Chester munches on a Chinese and mike paints an unexpected hello kitty style canvas. It was a privilege just to be backstage with one of the most successful artist of the century but the biggest surprise was yet to come...
Linkin parks personal assistant walks in and casually says to Chester and mike that slash was coming down to see the band. Picking my jaw up, I asked Chester how this was and he started to tell me about his “Small side project” with slash. He told me that many artists come down and jam with them in a small rock covers band that play in London and New York. Some of the named artist’s include, Joe Satriani, Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx, and many more artists that make you want to pump your fist.
At this point the boys gave me my VIP pass to go and watch them sitting behind the sound desk. As the venue filled out the lights went down and the atmosphere rose to the point of explosion. The voices silenced and the signature sound of the new album filled the room. As they knocked out some of the best sounding songs of the century the faces of the fans grow happier and happier. They played songs from their whole career including old favourites such as “Crawling”, “Faint” (featuring two of Linkin Parks biggest fans who were lucky enough to accompany the band) and “In the end”.
The gig was a huge success and the entire band were over the moon with the ecstatic crowd reaction. Definitely make the effort next time if you weren’t there this time!

Overview of Industry
IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, with our print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men – almost 27 million UK adults – while our online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month.
IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.
Our men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME.
Our mass market women's division (IPC Connect) comprises famous women's weeklies including Look, Now, Chat and Woman; TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TVTimes and TV & Satellite Week and, online, the goodtoknow network.
Our upmarket women's division (IPC Southbank) comprises luxury fashion brands including Marie Claire and InStyle, lifestyle brands including woman&home and essentials and home interest brands including Ideal Home, Livingetc and housetohome.

This information taken directly from their website (www.ipcmedia.com) proves that the biggest magazine publisher do categorise their audiences. This shows that IPC media reach a mass audience and that they target their advertising towards the target audience.

2010 IPC Media Statistics

IPC Media
Total circulation: down 3.3% to 5,738,111
Biggest rise: Essentials, up 12.9% to 115,432
Biggest fall: Loaded, down 26.3% to 53,591

Kerrang Full Analysis

Kerrang! magazine was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in The Sounds newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the noise made when smashing an electric guitar, Kerrang! was initially devoted to the new wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts such as AC/DC who appeared on Kerrang!’s first cover. Launched as a monthly magazine its high demand meant it could then be printed fortnightly and eventually weekly.
Here in the United Kingdom the magazine is published by Bauer Consumer Media and has become the world’s biggest selling weekly rock magazine.Starting out their company in a small printing house, the Bauer Publishing Group has grown into a worldwide publishing empire. They first entered the UK scene with Bella magazine in 1987 and now have 6,600 employees and an annual turnover of 1.79 billion Euros. Managed by four generations, the Bauer family own 238 magazines including some of the UK’s biggest sellers such as FHM, ZOO, Closer, Heat, Grazia, Take a Break, Kerrang!, Mojo and Q as well as TV and radio stations worldwide in 15 countries.
During the 1980s and early 1990s the magazine placed many thrash and glam metal acts on the cover (like Motley Crue, Slayer, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Poison, and Venom) but later discarded them when grunge acts such as Nirvana rose to fame. Readers often criticise the magazine for repeating this process every time a new musical trend becomes popular.
Kerrang!’s popularity rose again with the hiring of editor Paul Rees at the turn of the millennium. At this time, the nu-metal genre, featuring bands such as Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, were becoming more widespread. Unfortunately, the nu-metal wave did not last long and in 2003 Kerrang!’s sales went quickly into decline. This meant a new format needed to be established in order to sustain readers. With the emergence of emo and metalcore, Kerrang! Magazine began to heavily feature this new musical trend within its pages.
However, the revamp was not welcomed by all readers and many complaints were received about Kerrang!'s sudden emphasis on emo and metalcore music. The magazine continually printed issues with My Chemical Romance on the front cover for several weeks, following the release of their album (The Black Parade) causing a slight alteration in readership figures.
The magazine appeals to a specific niche audience because it concerns topics and themes that are relevant to people who listen to and are interested by rock music and its background. Kerrang! identifies its audience as ‘individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty’. Kerrang distinguish their identity as a world ‘where Jackass meets Playstation and Skate culture meets ipod’ In the period 01-Jul-2008 to 31-Dec-2008 Kerrang!‘s circulation sales in the UK and the Republic of Ireland were at a high of 50,128 insuring it remained the market-leading music weekly. These figures display that Kerrang! is a successful magazine despite its audience being one demographic entity.
This devoted audience of rock fans is made up of 60% males and 40% females with Kerrang!’s demographic fall into social class D-C. The predominate ethnicity of the readership is white British with a target population of 16-24 year olds. The magazine’s psychographic is defined as ‘people who aspire to be respected among other people and people who wish to have a high paid job.’
It is evident that the magazine is aimed at a young audience, through the use of graphics, fonts, layouts and presentation. Kerrang! is aimed at the youth and their lifestyles. It has a contemporary and up-to-date look, making use of modern typefaces and a down-to-earth feel. The magazine even accommodates the young readership by using advertisements that relate to their interests.
Kerrang! includes full page advertisements for music companies such as HMV and Play.com as well as promoting other retailers such as Virgin, Playstation, xBox, alternative clothing and jewellery manufacturing and concert ticket lines.
Kerrang! aims itself more at a male audience and appeals to them by using content such as hard rock and metal iconic male bands on the front cover pulling angry faces or violent expressions. Female readers are targeted by the use of male bands on free pull out posters and feature interviews.
The edgy, underground and individualistic style appeals to rock readers and draws them in, this is a crucial element of any successful magazine.
It is also essential to include key words on the front cover that will attract a greater audience; three words in particular are believed to have the greatest effect - free, win and sex. If all of these words appear on the cover of any magazine it is more likely to increase sales. Kerrang! uses at least two of these words on every issue.
Due to the large circulation of the magazine, readers are given the opportunity to interact by writing letters and reviews that may be published in the magazine.
Pages of letters, drawings and photos, reader’s polls, gig reviews, editorial team recommended entertainment, competitions and the Kerrang! diary of upcoming gigs all give the readers a chance to respond and share their views and opinions. The ‘letter of the week’ receives feedback from the magazine editor and a £50 music voucher. It is these kinds of interactions that make the audience feel more involved with the publication they are buying and less like a sales statistic.
Another strategy that Kerrang! have adopted in order to attract a greater readership is through synergy. As Bauer also own Kerrang! Radio and Kerrang! TV they are able to use these channels to promote their magazine. This is an example of cross media ownership and means that Kerrang! can systematically promote their products in several broadcast mediums. Due to Bauer owning several music magazines they are able to use this to their advantage too. Q magazine and Mojo often advertise subscriptions for Kerrang! in hopes of maximising sales and attracting readers they may have been unable to reach previously.
When attracting these new audiences it is vital to include lots of strong imagery and key words on the front cover of the magazine as this is what any buyer will see first. Kerrang! uses a significant colour pallet, the main colours are white, black, yellow, red and green. These enable the magazine to be eye-catching and it allows certain cover lines to stand out. These basic colours are continued throughout the 70 pages creating a dark and moody ambiance.
The main image on the magazine features a different band every week. The angle of the image is always a close up shot. This is used to attract the audience causing a sort of eye contact to form through the photo. Like the background the clothing worn by the featured band are usually dark but also casual this may form the image of the magazine being relaxed and casual, this can bee seen by all the images used on the front cover. Kerrang! alsocosts only £2.20, making it easily affordable to its target audience.
Nearly half the profits of Kerrang! now come from the magazine’s advertising and circulation revenues. The largest share comes from the broadcast interests with online and mobile also contributing. Kerrang! also have a very clever system called ‘fly text’. This is where Kerrang! send text messages to the subscribers telling them when and where their favourite bands are playing.
One survey showed that 83% of readers of Kerrang! bought an album as a direct result of an article in their magazine. This shows just how much of an effect advertising has on the demographic audience.
Kerrang!‘s website is dedicated to finding out more information to do with the magazine and also the latest information on the readerships favourite bands and upcoming events. The website hosts Kerrang’s! online shop, podcasts, message board, TV and radio segments ensuring even more opportunities to sell associated merchandise and products.
With such a strong online, TV and Radio presence, Kerrang! remains a powerful brand. Recently hosting a sell-out 16 date tour of the UK it only validates that the trademark has a firm hold on their target audience.
Kerrang! pride themselves as the UK's premier multi-platform music destination ‘bringing the best in rock online, on the radio, on TV and in print’ and it is clear that they use many successful methods in order to attract their key demographic audiences. If they are to sustain their title as the worlds biggest selling weekly rock magazine they will need to continue developing their publication. With technology, society and the music industry constantly changing it is vital to keep improving.
Strategies such as the use of graphics, colours, font sizes, anchorage text, advertisements and imagery can prove successful in capturing the attention of the audience but it is important to continue creating these fresh ideas. If the magazine allows itself to become monotonous or out of touch with its target audience it poses the risk of losing readership and more importantly revenue.

This is the layers bar where I can pick layers to edit; this is really useful for selecting each individual layer to edit separately. This feature helps save time and also enables me to hide the layer temporarily to see what different layouts would look like. Also I can rearrange orders of layers so certain layers can overlap others.

This is the tool I used to cut out the background of my main image. This is useful as it gets rid of any eye distractions so the audience look directly at the subject and look where we want them to look.

For most of my work throughout this topic I have used my macbook pro. I have also used some of the computers at college.

For some of the work throughout the topic I have used Microsoft office to help me present my work.

To transport work from college to home I have used my memory stick.

To take the images for my magazine and college magazine I have used my Nikon D5000.

To present my work online I have used Blogger.com.

To do all of my editing and layout design throughout this topic I have used Photoshop CS5.

For my magazine front cover and contents page i have used a bright colour scheme (yellow, magenta and black) this will attract my target audience as they will be youthful and attracted by appealing colours.

Also i have included a photograph of someone who is 17, this is my key target audience. This will appeal to them and let them know that the magazine is targeted at them.

I have also used key words, so that the audience do not get bored trying to read my cover, this means that the message is received in allot less time and makes the magazine appealing to them.

Primary research is research that is completed by the person who needs the information. Primary research is more reliable because you know where it has come from, although primary research is usually more time consuming and costs more. Secondary research is research that has already been collected by another person, and used by somebody else. Secondary is less reliable because you haven’t collected it, but it takes less time and is usually cheaper.

I found it useful to research my competition because then I could see their ideas and adapt them to use for my magazine cover. This research was secondary. I could also see about how much they charge, this was useful to put a price on my magazine, in relation to how many they sell per year/month etc. I found this information useful because then I could look at aspects of the front cover to see how well they sell. I noticed in 'Total Guitar' that they use a main picture that is usually a guitarist or two from a band and usually not the whole band which I found useful when I was creating my own cover. I used this information in my front cover to make my magazine more visually attractive and look more professional.

I found it very helpful to do a detailed analysis with annotations of a magazine cover. This was primary research. I could then understand what all the different components of the front cover were and then use these in my front cover. This was also helpful because then I could label each part and write a brief description of the purpose of the component to help me understand how this component helped sell the magazine and attract the target audience. I was analysing the sections of the magazine such as the tagline, banners and left third etc.

In this analysing, I found that the front cover was heavily created around the target audience. This was linked to the denotation (what the audience directly sees) because the audience a lot of the time choose what goes into the magazine and dictates the content and even the layout. As well as denotations I analysed connotations (what the audience feels when a particular word or image is used or the message that the audience gets from an image of words). I found that often the connotations are used for a humour e.g. A word with two meanings would be used. I chose not to use this in my front cover but if I was doing a whole magazine I would have included.

Researching this has affected my magazine cover because I have learnt some 'tricks of the trade' by research and detailed examinations into my competition. I have found some aspects of creating that magazine companies use to pull in an audience and attract them to their magazine.

As part of my research I completed a questionnaire, this was primary research as I completed it. I found it useful to get some input from my target audience as this would dictate what went into my magazine cover. I used a title from one of my questionnaires and also named my magazine 'Shreddage' which from one of my questionnaires. In my questionnaire I used open and closed questions to get a variety of answers. I used open questions when I wanted more information, and I used closed questions when I wanted the audience to pick from a list. The information has dictated my magazine cover and I have designed it around the target audience.

I have used my research to help me design my front cover and contents page, and found it very useful. If I did the research again I would change my questionnaire to have more specific questions to my magazine rather than just a general music magazine. I think that I could have researched more deeply into my competition into finding other not so well known magazines and finding out about them. I think I annotated my front cover well and have used my research to my full advantage.

Institutions

If I were to publish magazine professionally I would go with an independent publisher as this gives me the advantage of keeping editorial rights and keeping all control over the content of my magazine. This also means that I wouldn’t have to include as many adverts which I feel are mostly irrelevant to the audience. The disadvantage of publishing independently is financial. But due to my product being successful I would hope that the target audience of guitarists would pick it up quickly and spread the product through word of mouth.

To address my audience i have used the style of images that they would be used to, here is an example in comparison to a real magazine..

I have selected these to images to compare. My image (Above) and an internet picture of the same subject (Below). The subject is the lead guitarist from “The Undertones”; I took the picture at a festival that the undertones played at where I worked. I decided to use this as a live shot in my magazine, as the picture has good live emotion and feel. In my picture the subject has allot of expression on his face which I like, whereas the internet photo has more of an “action shot feel”.