Target Audience Interviews

List of Possible Front Page Features

Final Magazine Pages

Front Page Construction

Evaluation Question 3 (Script)

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Global Group (This Global Limited) are the media group that own the radio station XFM, which was launched in 1997, as an Alternative/Indie Music radio station. As there is currently no magazine that goes hand in hand with this radio station, it is my thought that there is a gap in the market here, so I must first find the similarities between my audience, and the audience of XFM. Looking at the front page of the XFM website, I notice that the bands on the front are similar to my music magazine’s acts. On the Xfm website, I saw an article about The Libertines having a big reunion gig at Hyde Park, and I wrote in my research that The Libertines were very influential over the music I put in my magazine.

When I went to the ‘Artists’ page, which lists all artists played regularly on XFM, I could see Jake Bugg, The Stone Roses and David Bowie all clearly listed, which shows the similarities between my audience and theirs as they are the acts with article advertised on the front and contents page of my magazine. The pictures on the website are also quite bright, and while this may not appeal to the hardcores and emos in my target audience, it does work very well in attracting Skaters and Hipsters to the radio station and website.

When looking at the recent changes to the radio station, I found that there have been several expansions and some downsizing to the radio station in the past ten years. In 2006-7 the radio station was expanded to have branches in Scotland, Manchester and South Wales. The branch in Scotland was soon rebranded to Galaxy Scotland and then Capital Scotland. The South Wales station was then sold and became Nation Radio. On the 7^th April Real Radio XS will be rebranded to XFM. This is to swap from taking Real XS Manchester’s networked shows to XFM London’s. These many changes to the company both increasing the station’s reach and decreasing it show that Global Group are always interested in making more money. XFM itself even started out as an independent London station until they were bought by Global in 2000.

My idea is that as there is a shared demographic between XFM and my magazine, Global Group would definitely be interested in expanding XFM once more to get publishing rights over PICK magazine, as it is an altogether new way for the radio station to spread awareness of it’s existence, while being a strong brand to put on the front of my magazine.

How House Style is Established

To establish a house style, the first thing you need to do is come up with a colour scheme that will closely be followed throughout the magazine. This house style must be one that reflects the feelings and emotions of the magazine's target audience. For example, a metal magazine would be likely to have lots of browns and reds and blacks as they are all colours that would suggest anger. An electronic music magazine would be more likely to have bright colours like pink and blue contrasting with darker shades to show the wide variety of emotions displayed in the music of the bands. For my particular magazine, I am targeting an Indie Rock audience, so I have decided to go with a red, black, yellow and white colour scheme as Indie Rock has several artists who associate their music with relieving stress.

As we can see from this copy of Kerrang! magazine, both the contents page and the front page share the same colours of fonts and background colours, with the occasional reversal of colours (i.e a white background instead of red)





The second thing to consider when it comes to establishing a house style is the consistency of your fonts. The most important thing in creating the correct image for your magazine is the font used for your masthead and headings. For example, if you use a font that seems fancy and is reminiscent of  calligraphy then you are unlikely to attract the attention of a metal fan. Once you have decided upon the desired font for your masthead, it is unlikely that you will move away from this style as it can lead to the page looking disproportionate.

 This is an example of how NME have similar fonts
across their masthead and their headings on the front page.
This will most likely carry over to the contents page and the double page
 spreads as well. 

The cover lines of NME also show yellow and white font that is an easily readable san serif font. 

A font similar to this is used on the contents page to show consistency in the design of the magazine. 

Initial Brainstorm for Research

Here is a brainstorm I drew up that explores my initial ideas for the direction I wish to take with my research

Contents Page (Final Piece)

Secondary Target Audience Research

According to Wikipedia, my main target audience are those from ages 14-35 who listen to bands such as The Stone Roses, who are big in the indie rock industry. In order to find a formula that gets a lot of attention from this target audience, I searched on google for magazines that made articles regarding the Stone Roses in a positive light. The first result to come back was NME, showing that it is the most popular magazine searched for on the internet in association with The Stone Roses. I have selected my basis to be upon this band in particular as they have a wide reach amongst multiple generations. As I could not find any specific target audience group on the UK Tribes website, I have decided to target all subcultures included in the "Alternatives" category, which includes Emos, Hardcores, Young Alts and Skaters as each of these subcultures listen to a wide range of music in the rock/indie genres. On the UK Tribes website, they are described as "Taking inspiration from the indie band culture", with keywords associated with them being "Independent" and "Rock".

Emos

As Emos are associated with teen angst, taking inspiration from the 80s punk rock scene, it is key that the writing within the magazine article withstands a certain amount of anger and perhaps even hatred towards the mainstream music scenes. Based upon this, it may be a good idea to involve some form of rivalry between my main artist and a real life artist from the pop scene.

Skaters

As skaters are viewed to be the current major influence on music culture and fashion across the world it is important that my magazine appears to be influential and almost ahead of its time in the views that it throws out, in order to attract the like minded Skater scene to read it.

Hardcores

On the UK Tribes website, punks are mainly associated with the heavier forms of punk rock, which when conducting my research into a brief history of indie rock, I had found to be one of the key routes in the formation of modern day indie rock. Therefore, it is key that this demographic of my target audience is not ignored. Whilst they are associated with being angry and depressive people, punks and hardcores actually tend to be quite joyful people with strong views on the class systems. It is for this reason that I maintain that my magazine is best to have a light hearted tone to most, if not all of the article.

Young Alts

UK Tribes' idea of Young Alts is that they want to avoid the mainstream and continue to listen to songs by independent artists. It is for this reason that within my magazine I am choosing to avoid any interviews or exclusives with artists that may be considered of the pop genre as it is the most mainstream genre of music in the eyes of many.

Summary

From what I have read on each of these demographics, it is key that I avoid writing too much about mainstream acts, that are dominant in the music industry and focus more of my writing on being about music having deeper meanings but most of all about having a good time in general. It is for this reason that I wish to have bright colours throughout my magazine, however it is acceptable to have a contrast to darkness at some point. I think that, if I choose to have a darker page, this will be on the double page spread.

Double Page Spread (Final Piece)

Title and Font Ideas

 

This font is called 'bombing!' and it was originally my intent to use this font with the 'IND' title as it gave an interesting city graffiti twist to the magazine masthead. My target audience research however showed that IND was not a suitable name as it was too obvious and simple for the complex indie market. The graffiti style of 'bombing' was also more commonly associated with hip hop magazines and would drive away my intended audience. 

This font is entitled 'Bandung Hardcore GP' and I chose it due to the american college style. My reasoning for this is that Indie Rock music originated from college rock bands such as R.E.M. This, along with the strong boldness of the letters creates a clearly visible and attractive theme for the target audience to approach. My reasoning for choosing the name 'PICK' is that the main instrument used in Indie Rock is a guitar and a pick is used to play it. 

I liked this font for similar reasons to the 'Bombing!' font. 'Planet Benson' shares the graffiti style of 'Bombing!' but again lacks the correct style for an indie magazine, although the serif style indicates a sense of intrigue about the font, which links with a feeling many fans of Indie music have that suggests it is in some way 'mysterious' or 'unique'.

This font called 'Friday Night Lights' is similar to the 'Bandung Hardcore GP' font as it is similar to the design of the typical american college font. However, this font has a larger feeling of showbiz about it and therefore makes the magazine more glamorous and attractive to the eye. It is for this reason that this is the font I have chosen to be on my front cover.

The 'Road Movie' font is very basic and easy on the eye, but I did not feel it was impressive enough to be used as the title font for my magazine so instead I decided to use it as the font for my headings of each sub article.

Magazine Front Page Final

Double Page Spread Draft

Magazine Contents Page Draft

Pricing and Page Number Research

I am now taking a brief look at the page numbers and prices of several popular rock music magazines that would be associated with a target audience similar to my own. This is to get a firm understanding of the price range that competitors use compared to the quantity of material they provide for their clients.

In Kerrang! magazine, there are around 63 pages in each issue. As the magazine comes out weekly, we can see that this is an acceptable number of pages for their audience and this is also reflected in the price of the magazine, which stands at £2.20 per issue or per week for subscriptions.
Q magazine on the other hand is a monthly magazine, which is why it costs £3.90, ranking in at a considerably higher price than Kerrang!. This can also be shown by the larger quantity of pages, of which Q has 166.
Similarly to Kerrang!, NME is a weekly magazine and only costs the consumer £2.20, however NME has a total of 70 pages. This means that NME offers more content to their clients for the same price as Kerrang! which shows the competitive market between these two magazines.

Magazine Front Cover Draft

Types of Shot Used

The type of shot used on the front cover and inside the magazine is key to the image that you wish to portray to your audience as different audiences will have separate reactions to certain shots and it is imperative to get this shot perfect for your target audience.

Profile Shot
The profile shot is usually a mid close up shot of one subject taken head on from the subject and at eye level. This is a common shot used for solo acts in magazines and presents the idea of them being independent with their music, which is seen as being an important aspect when contributing to an Indie magazine.

This cover of Q shows a profile shot of David Bowie.

Group Shot

The group shot is a picture of several subjects and is usually taken in the form of a medium close up shot in order to include all members of the band. It usually also shows the frontman of the band in front of the other members to create an impression of importance. This also draws in the audience as they are usually the well known member of the band that people can recognise. 

Here is an example of a group shot of the Smiths

Low Angle

If the photographer wants to create a feeling of intimidation or power from the subject they will normally take a shot from a low angle as it creates the impression that the person is quite tall or big. This is commonly used in rock magazines for bands that create music that contains a lot of anger.

Indie Rock - List of Artists and Bands (Iconography)

Kasabian

The style that Kasabian choose to take varies a lot, but here we can see all members of the band wearing skinny jeans and boots. They are also all seen to be wearing an over coat of some form. i.e. blazer, jacket, leather jacket and an open front shirt.

Foo Fighters

This picture shows the Foo Fighters to be wearing fairly ordinary clothing, although it could be seen as being slightly dressy. Three of the band members are wearing shirts over their tops and one of the band members is wearing a bright red top. The colour range of the band ranges across a spectrum of dark colours. 

Klaxons

This image of the Klaxons shows them wearing bright clothing. Once again, two members of the band are wearing some form of overcoat. A notable aspect of this picture is the hairstyle of the band's frontman, which is quite scruffy and out of place.

 The Libertines

This picture of The Libertines shows two members of the band wearing coats of the Queen's guard as an ironic statement because they were known for being involved in minor misdemeanours, which also contrasts with the ripped jeans that one of them is wearing.

The Smiths

The clothing in this picture of The Smiths shows them wearing shirts and black jeans. Their style is much more formal than most Indie bands but their hairstyles remain similar to more modern examples. 

Nirvana

The image shown puts the band members in three very different outfits, which contrasts widely with other Indie bands. Kurt Cobain on the far left is wearing a shirt over a top, with belted up jeans, whilst holding a glass of wine. The man in the middle wears a black top with white trousers/jeans and Dave Grohl on the right is wearing dungarees which are commonly associated with the deep south of America where as the other clothing is associated with the rest of North America. 

Arctic Monkeys

The clothing worn by the Arctic Monkeys tends to be fairly up market clothing but it ranges in style. For example the lead singer wears a bright yellow jacket but the drummer wears a checked blue and white jacket. While the lead singer and drummer have similar styles of hair, the guitarist and bassist both have different hairstyles to this, one having long hair and the other having shorter hair. 

Some other Indie Rock artists:-

• Jake Bugg
• R.E.M
• Editors
• Bloc Party
• Primal Scream
• The Stone Roses
• Jet
• The Black Keys
• The Wombats
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers
• Rolling Stones
• The Killers
• Kings of Leon
• The Hives
• The Strokes

Magazine Analysis 2

Magazine Analysis 2

Curtis Rutherford Original Photos

Curtis Rutherford Original Photos

Here you can find my original photos that I took for my front cover, contents and double page spread.

Brief History of Indie Rock

Indie Rock started in the 1980's, formed around the pre existing genre known as college rock, which included pioneering bands like REM and The Smiths. As a new genre, Indie Rock inspired many new bands to be formed such as The La's and Pixies. Shortly after the arrival of Indie Rock, yet another genre came about that was derived from Indie Rock known as Indie Pop. Indie Pop was first seen in the UK and was the result of the popularity of bands such as Primal Scream and Orange Juice. New Order, a band created from the remaining members of Joy Division after the death of lead singer Ian Curtis took a different direction with Indie Pop, focusing on experimentation with Techno and House music. The other major movement in Indie Rock in the late 1980's was the nationwide Madchester scene lead by bands like The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses who mixed Acid House Dance music with Northern Soul and Funk. This means that within the first decade of its arrival, Indie Rock had already become one of the most diverse and wide ranged music genres known to the mainstream. 

The 1990's also brought about major changes to the Indie Rock scene and this was the first time that alternative music made it clearly into the mainstream, with the introduction of Grunge. Lead by bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Hole and Soundgarden. The introduction of angry teenage vibes in Grunge allowed the bands to top the charts with several new releases and many of these bands are still popular among the indie scene today. In the UK, however this coincided with the arrival of Britpop bands such as Oasis and Blur, who abandoned the 80's Indie Pop which tended to focus on political ideals, usually in protest to the policies and views of Margaret Thatcher's government. 

The 2000s saw the revival of stripped down Indie bands that played in a back-to-basics style which hit the mainstream faster than anybody could have expected. The movement was led by four main bands; The Strokes, The Hives, The White Stripes and The Vines. The commercial success of these bands inspired many more to take up Indie Rock in a second wave of new bands. From the US these included The Black Keys, Interpol, The Killers and Kings of Leon. The UK revealed bands such as The Libertines, The Fratellis, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs. The most prominent of British bands was Arctic Monkeys, who were the first band to owe their success to the use of internet social media. The first single they released was "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" with a music video that was one of the most basic, yet recognisable of the decade, as it was a clip taken from their first performance on Later... with Jools Holland. 

The success of Indie Rock died down towards the end of the 2000s but many new bands and artists continue to have large amounts of success in the Indie Rock genre four years into the 2010s. This includes artists such as Jake Bugg, Two Door Cinema Club and Strypes.

Double Page Spread First Draft

Double Page Spread First Draft