Google mock up ideas

Double page spread house styles

 

 
For the double page spread of metal hammer more dull colours are used as black and white are associated with the genre of metal. This gives the magazine an overall metal style rather than using bright colours which you'd normally see in a pop magazine. Once again the pictures dominate the page like with the contents page and takes the audiences attention. Different fonts are used for each artist featured on the double page spread and this gives each artist a different style. 

 

Contents page house styles

 

 
Throughout each issue the same style is used in terms of photos and the fonts used as well as the colour scheme. The page is always dominated by a picture of one of the main stories and at the bottom it features a picture of a woman as the magazine is targeted at men. The majority of the page is covered in pictures with the page numbers to the stories associated with hem on the bottom making it easier to find certain stories. This all created the convention of letting the pictures dominate the page and taking most of the attention from the rest of the page which features more dull colours.

Colour scheme ideas, Name ideas and feature story ideas

NAME IDEAS
Metal music is known for being raw and heavy so using the name RAW is snappy and fits the genre.




Metal is considered to be the opposite of pop so naming as such could be a good idea.


Some people who listen to metal are considered outcasts so to add something extra it should be spelt with a K rather than a C.


Many metal bands and songs are focused on the idea of hell so the magazine could also be focused on this.


Metal music is closely linked with screaming within the songs and so it would be good iconography to name the magazine the same way.
                                           
                   











FEATURE STORY IDEAS
Royal Blood- As they were mentioned the most in my survey it would make sense to have them as a feature story in the magazine.
Slipknot- They are an iconic band in the metal genre so again it would make sense to include them.
Topic of the stories- For the bigger bands I could mention a world tour and for the artist(s) that will appear on the front cover it could talk about their rise to fame. It could also talk about a new album/single release that has found success.
Motionless in White- They are a band that is growing in popularity at the moment and so using them would work well.
Bring Me The Horizon- They have recently released a new album so a feature story could be used to talk about that.

Metal Hammer magazine uses a colour scheme of red black and white as those are the main colours associated with the metal genre. This then made me think of making my magazine have a similar colour scheme. For example using the red, black and white or using darker variations of other colours like yellow or blue.

-From looking at exiting products show some colour swatches of successful colour schemes and decide on the colour scheme you will use for you product and explain your choice. -Choose a variety of name ideas (at least 12) for you magazine and explain your choices. State what your final choice is for the name of your magazine and the reasons for this. -From looking at existing products state a variety of cover stories and content features that you think will appeal to your target audience.

Mise-en-scene location and prop ideas

Two of the props I would like to possibly use is guitar or a mic. This is just to show what the person on the cover's role is in the band and also to fit the genre. They are also the most likely props to see in a metal magazine.

In terms of locations I'd rather use a background rather than taking the pictures in a specific location. This means the pictures will primarily be taken in front of a white screen and later a background will be added. This is so I can give the magazine an overall theme and create a style that suits the genre a lot better. In a lot of metal magazines this is done rather than a normal photo-shoot in a chosen location.

Costume designs

Create 3 costume looks for your artist that really demonstrates the genre of your magazine. Explain why you have chosen these outfits and explain why it will appeal to your target audience.

The first costume is a mixture of black jeans with a chain attached and a denim jacket to accompany it. This combo is seen a lot within the genre and will appeal to the target audience as many groups associated with the genre wear it.

The second costume is the combo of ripped jeans and a leather jacket as both of these are also closely linked to the metal genre.

The third costume is a mixture of a flannel shirt and jeans. It's very simple however it seen a lot in both the rock and metal genre in many different bands.

 

There are also multiple things that can be worn on the wrists as seen in the metal genre as wristbands are huge part of the style. Although it's only a small part of the costume it is seen a lot within the genre and would be a good addition to any of the outfits.

 

 

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Social class & demographic of my product

The social class I'll be focusing on is the middle class as that is the usual demographic for magazines in general as well as metal magazines. I will adhere to their needs by taking about tours bands will be going on and the albums that are being released. The audience would want to know what to look out for so they can buy it and the middle lass are more likely to spend money on it. This means the overall price of the magazine should be around £3.99 as that is an average price for a magazine and is one that can be easily paid for by the middle class audience. The free gift included will be a CD as my survey showed that it is the most desired by the audience. The social class table will help me in deciding the feature stories as a middle class audience has more leftover money to spend on things such as concert tickets and new albums so I would be better to focus on that audience

Style/ iconography of my product

In terms of the style of a metal magazine I will get inspiration from the style of Metal Hammer magazine.     The use of colours closely represents the style of the genre as does the imagery on the front cover. The artwork of the artist represents the style of the genre and works well with the magazine and the artist.       For album covers i thought of some of the bigger bands in the genre such as Metallica and this album cover which shows a dark theme.I also thought of Slipknot's album called The Negative One which also has a dark style and theme for the cover.                    For posters i'm taking inspiration from Slipknot again with this poster.                  It's easy to see that the same colour schemes are used as there are never any really bright colours involved in the genre other than red. This is definetly a sign that these colours should be used instead of any brighter colours.   

My reader profile

3 Demographic questions
Age?
Gender?
Income?

7 psycho graphic questions
How many times do you do to live music event a year?
What is your favorite rock/metal band/artist?
What kind of free gift would attract you to buy a magazine?
How many hours a week do you listen to music?
What is your favourite brand?
How much money do you spend on music per year?
How do you listen to music?

For my first question of 'How old are you.' I got 100% of people saying they were between the ages of 14-18. This meaning my magazine should be focused on that age range and should feature iconography associated with that age group

For my second question of 'What is your gender' I got 66% as female and 33% as male. This will influence my magazine to make it more focused on female rock fans rather than males.

For my third question of ' What is your minimum income a month at the moment?' the majority said they have no income however the remainder was £80,£200 and £2000

For my fourth question of 'What is your favourite Rock/metal band/artist?' I got a mixture of results and only two were the same, that being Royal Blood which could be one of the feature stories on my magazine front cover. The other responses were Deuce, Avenged Sevenfold, Led Zeppelin, Falling In Reverse, ACDC, Of Mice & Men and Bring Me The Horizon which all appeared only once. Considering most of them are bands my front cover will feature a band rather than a solo artist.

My fifth question was 'How many times do you go to live music event a year?' where 77% said between 0-2, 11% for 3-5 and another 11% for 6 or more. From this I'll add a story about music event dates and information.

My sixth question was 'What kind of free gift would attract you to buy a magazine?' the responses were CD's which appeared 4 times, vouchers which appeared twice, posters that appeared twice and perfume which appeared once. The free gift with my magazine will then be CD rather than anything else as it is the most wanted.

My seventh question was 'How many hours a week do you listen to music? ' and 22% said 0-5, 55% said 11-15 and 22% said 16 or more

My eighth question was 'What is your favorite brand?' and the responses were Adidas which appeared twice, Topshop, Apple, Asylum, Drop Dead, Converse and Vans. I will be sure to use these brands for my magazine.

My ninth question was 'How much money do you spend on music per year?' and the responses were 6 people saying they sent less than £100, and three people saying they spent between £100-£200

My final question was 'How do you regularly listen to music?' and 88% said phone while 11% said other.

Reader profile research

 

 

 



E is normally people who are retired, students or unemployed. Working class are people who normally clean, work on a building site. Skilled manual workers are people such as electricians and brick layers. Lower middle class workers who are usually supervised while middle class are the average jobs you see day to day. Upper middle class are jobs such as lawyers and doctors. Middle class have much more disposable income.

 

Demographic Information

Hard data e.g age, gender, income, location.

 

Psychographic information

 

What music genre do you like?

What bands and artists do you like?

How much money do you spend on music concerts per year?

What is your favourite brand?

How do you consume music?- download, stream, radio, CD, vinyl

How many hours per week do you listen to music? What devices do you use to do so?- phone, CD player, radio, mp3.

Here is a link to my survey for my magazine
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GZXBV9Q

Genre research

Summary of conventions

The front cover of a music magazine uses a plug to bring in readers however some magazines use the plug in a different fashion such as this one which places it at the top, making it the first thing you see when picking it up.

 As well as using a plug at the top they use a skyline just below it,which has another feature story. The magazine name is then placed below that so the plug is the first thing you see that could bring you in and then a feature story featuring a big name artist followed by the name of the magazine, this then places the potential selling points above the title to draw in new readers. The front cover then also has a world exclusive on the main image which is another plug. Below this there is the main story and the feature stories which stand out on the main image. The term "world exclusive" is a term usually found on magazines to make the magazine seem unique and to grab the readers attention when they pick up the magazine.


The contents page uses a wide range pictures of several artists and summary of all the stories found in the magazine. Many contents pages contain a message from the editor to the reader making it a common convention. With the magazine in question this is what their contents pages normally look like:

 

The convention seen with the metal hammer magazine is that they always feature a girl at the bottom of the page in stereotypical metal fan fashion. This due to the majority of the audience being male. Another convention of these magazines is the split between regular stories and feature stories to make some stories easier to find for the reader. Most of the page is taken up by the pictures of artists with the page number attached, making it even easier for readers to find certain artists.

 

For the double page spread they normally look like this:

 

 

 

 

The picture normally takes up one page while the interview takes up the other one. This is a common convention of music magazines as are the quotes from the interview/story that are enlarged and focused on. The main title of the story is normally the biggest writing on the page followed by the quotes from the interview/story. The double page spread picture has the person in question looking at the camera while sitting and looking tough/aggressive. This is to fit in with the genre and to make the artist look gritty and edgy. He's sitting on a throne to imply he's a king because of the fact he's been in the business for a long time, this adds character to the picture rather than just have him standing looking at the camera. 



Conventions analysis double page spread

 

Continuing with metal genre this double page spread features a well known band that the readers would be interested in reading about. With this double page spread, half the page is covered by a picture of a band member. The clothes he's wearing show the style of the genre and the magazine as does the skull he's standing on. As mentioned before the magazine is made by a company that also makes a rock magazine. So the band focused on here would be a bigger focus in this magazine as they are a metal band rather than just a rock band. The interview with band let's fans of them know about what happened to them and what they're going to do next. This means its need was to inform fans of the situation at the time and it fulfils that need. As mentioned before, the font suits the style of the magazine and the genre and sometimes used with the band featured.   

Conventions analysis contents page

 

 

The colour scheme is the same as seen on the front cover, which keeps with the colours that are associated with the stereotypical readers of this magazine. Also the pictures shown and the overall style of the font fits the genre it's representing which is heavy metal. The type of people that read the magazine are represented by some of the pictures used in the contents page. These pictures are also of the featured stories and these can peak the interest of the reader which is what the contents page is used for. What a contents page has to do is to list all the stories in the magazine and to summarise what the story will contain to make it easier for the audience. The use of the rock hand symbol also represents the metal and rock genres and therefore shows how metal fans are represented. The contents page also shows regular stories and the feature stories, making it easier for readers to find the artists they want to read about.

Conventions analysis front cover & brief

Brief:

To design a front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, a minimum of four images must be used.

Sky line also used as a plug. It is the first thing seen by the reader as the red colour stands out amongst the black main image.

Main image is black to suit the style of music it’s representing. The person in the main image is seen as attractive to the type of people that would read the magazine.

Feature story given a title in a different colour to stand out and show that it’s exclusive.

Main story is in white to fit the colour scheme with the black main image.

Footer is the same colour as the sky line to stand out and also shows the other stories feature in the magazine.

The media language of the magazine is to use the main colours associated with the metal genre which are red, black and white. This makes it stand out to people looking at it on the shelf and also the main image is used to attract the metal crowd, and in this case women in particular.

The ideology of the magazine is to show which artists in metal are popular at the time and to advertise them further. By doing this they can bring in fans of the artists to the magazine to read about what is currently happening gin terms of their favourite artist/artists.

Metal Hammer is a metal magazine published in the UK by a company called TeamRock. It focuses purely on the metal genre as well as sub-genres of metal. This means they don’t directly compete with rock magazines such as Kerrang as they focus on one genre in depth. TeamRock also focus on the rock genre but publish a magazine on metal to attract that specific crowd and focus on the talent in that genre.

The audience it focuses on is metal fans, both male and female however the majority of readers would be male. The magazine focuses on a specific audience so it wouldn’t attract many people from outside of that. This may limit their potential readers but this way more stories that this audience want to know about can be featured.

The metal crowd is represented by this magazine by the colour scheme it uses and what the person in the main image wears. Metal listeners are often seen as people who wear black, have long hair and tattoos. The person is represented in the main image in a way that he is seen as attractive by female readers. This is an example of the stereotypical metal listener.