How Everything Has Helped Me Develop My Ideas

The masthead is the main title of the magazine, and is the name of the magazine too. It is commonly based at the top of the front page, this is so readers can identify the magazine. I will be following this convention as without this, my audience will not be able to easily identify my magazine. As my audience would not be able to easily identify my magazine, this could be a barrier for them to buy it and result into them choosing one of my competitors. However, following this convention, and having a big and attracting masthead will increase my audience as this will be eye catching for them while my magazine is in stores.

Cover Lines are usually down the side of the front cover of the magazine, and this tells the audience what the magazine features inside such as stories and interviews. I will be following this convention as the audience will know what will be inside of the magazine and what it will feature, which will encourage them to buy it. Also, having cover lines could promote exclusive content my competitors may not have in their magazines, which again, will encourage my audience to buy the magazine as well as creating a wider audience as my competitors audience will chose my magazine as we will have information and features they do not have. Without cover lines, this could be off putting for my audience as they will not know what is featured in the issue of my magazine, and they will not know if it is worth their money too.

The main image is the largest image on the front cover, and the masthead will either overlap the image or lay under it, the way the masthead is can determine how important the image is too. For example, if the main image overlaps the masthead, this could be representing the main image is very important and significant. I will be following the main image convention and be having various artists each issue. I think having a varying main image each issue, will result into a wider audience as the fans of the artist will by the issue.  If I only had one artist each issue, and they were constantly the same, this is limiting my audience and receiving a wider audience.

The barcode of the magazine is a machine readable code in the form of numbers and a pattern of parallel lines, I will be following this convention as without the barcode, you will not be able to buy the magazine.

The issue date is the particular week or month the issue is sold and will be sold throughout. I will be following this convention as this will help my audience identify which issue they would have read already. Using an issue date will be also an advantage of new readers which begin reading the magazine, a short time after it has already been released. If the magazine is a big hit, and has a lot of word of mouth promotion, the audience will become bigger and for those who begin reading it after some time, this will be easier.

Looking into the conventions of magazines have helped me develop my ideas as it has helped me decide what I want to include on the front of my magazine, and why it will be effective.

While a regional magazine is distributed around the city or a part of a large city, a national magazine is a large distribution network which can be found outside your own local area. I have decided that my magazine will be national magazine as it will have a wider audience spread around the world instead of one designated area. This will increase the sales, and with a wider audience, it will attract more people to buy the magazine. 

One of my main competitors that I will be up against in the market is 'billboard'. Billboard has a wide fan base and is a very popular magazine. Billboard magazine received a total audience of 115,000 people worldwide, reaching both genders. Looking at this, makes me want my magazine to reach as many people as possible, and deciding to make my magazine unisex creates a more possible wider audience which i'm trying to achieve. The magazine consists of various content which I want in my magazine too, as the same content will bore my readers. Using exclusive content, such as content 'billboard' uses, I think will also widen my audience. This will be due to my magazine having content other magazine may not have which could introduce more readers to my magazine, creating a bigger audience. 
I have also looking into various ways that our magazines will compete in the market, for example, one of these factors being price. I think a lower price will be more attracting to my audience, and I think a lower price will create a bigger audience as well. While creating my magazine, I want a big audience to target at and find every way possible to get more readers encouraged to read my magazine compared to my competitors. 

Competition

I have decided my music magazine will be a national magazine, so I will need to look into other national magazine competitors which could have a negative input onto my production as my own might not be as popular as my competitors.

Billboard
Billboard is an entertainment media brand owned by The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, and publishes news, video, opinion, reviews, events and style. It is known for music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows.

This could be an issue for my production as Billboard has a very wide fan base and is obviously very popular. In 2015, Billboard magazine received a total audience of 115,000 people worldwide, reaching both genders, but males significantly more as 77% of the readers are male but only 22% female. The magazine consists of various content, and the first page of the magazine highlighting the top songs before leading to the rest of the chart. Other content also includes; a look at the week's headlines and happenings, the 'pulse' of music right now including industry gossip and a look who's saying what in music, style, and features including exclusive interviews and profiles featuring beautiful original photography as well as reviews and charts.

I understand that it will be an issue against this competitor as of it being highly successful already, however, through various strategies I will be able to overcome this obstacle. For example, I will meet all my expectations I think my audience needs, such as finding out what matters to my audience the most in a magazine. Is it lower price, more flexibility, the latest products featured? I will give my audience good reasons to by my magazine compared to my competitors by making my magazine stand out and be different through differentiation.

We would compete through various factors such as the price our magazines, as a lower price seems to be for advertising for a audience, especially a young audience who are mostly unemployed. Another factor our magazines will compete with would be the development of codes and conventions of a typical magazine. While having similar content in the magazine, my magazine will have more content which will keep my target audience more interested than a magazine with less content. I could also offer freebies, which Billboard doesn't do for its audience, however, this will be attracting for my audience if I offered them, for example free posters. I think this will be more suited for my audience too, as well as it will being more attracting maybe gathering a bigger audience.

The front cover of Billboard is very varied, as one issue is brightly coloured while the next would be black and white. However, with my magazine, my front cover will constantly be brightly coloured which I think will be more noticeable to my audience as well as attracting. This will also give the audience a sense of confidence in the magazine, with a continued colourful front page which can easily be seen. Not only will it constantly be a bright and colourful, but my magazine will also feature exclusive material which Billboard will not have, which should attract a larger audience than my targeted audience.

Institution Research - National and Regional Magazines

National Magazine

Pick Me Up
'Pick Me Up' magazine is a British weekly women's magazine, it went straight into the ten most popular weekly women's magazines in just six months selling more than half a million copies.


Regional Magazine
Sunset
'Sunset' magazine is a lifestyle magazine in the United States. 'Sunset' focuses on homes, cooking, gardening, and travel, with a focus on the Western United States. This is a monthly published magazine.

Difference Between Regional and National Magazines

The difference between a regional and national magazine is the regional magazine serves a region such as a city, or part of a large city. However, a national magazine often have large distribution networks, and can be found outside their normal areas e.g OK magazine.

How Everything Has Helped Me Develop My Ideas (Inspirations)

Looking at various fonts, has helped me develop my ideas into a clearer view of what I want for my masthead. Looking at the first font, this seems to be my favorite as it would fit into the layout I have planned as well as it being bold resulting into it standing out no matter what the colour scheme and background was as long as it is bright in which I am thinking about bright colours anyway which will reflect the casual yet mature vibes of the magazine I think.

Looking into the hair, costume and make up, I wish to follow 'billboard' magazines example of using stereotypes throughout their front cover. I think using stereotypes will attract a bigger audience than using counter-stereotypes. I think the audience of my final magazine, will be able to relate more and find it easier to read and understand if I used common stereotypes. Although using counter-stereotypes would be a more unique idea, I think my target audience would dislike the idea as of them being young adults and thinking in a more stereotypical way.
Looking into the magazines which inspire me the most, they are all casual looking magazines but some more mature looking than others as of the varied target audience. I think 'billboard' magazine fits best for my audience, and looking into these inspirations has helped me develop a more mature idea for my magazine compared o 'we heart pop' as this seems more childlike and aimed at a younger audience of young females as of the constant use of pink throughout the front page. I do not want my music magazine to be gender based, and I will be following more along the lines of 'billboard' as this is more of a unisex magazines as there is no consistent use of pink or blue creating a more gender aimed front cover.  

Magazines That Inspire Me

These music magazines inspire me as they're neither to serious or to causal, however they all target a different audience, but I could use this to my advantage of what I think my target audience would enjoy and not enjoy. As my chosen audience is young adults, I think they will enjoy a more mature theme compared to a childish theme, for example using a lot of primary colours and basic layouts.

Costume, Hair, Make Up, and Prop Ideas

The costumes in these 2 examples of 'Billboard' magazine, which is my main inspiration for my final production, are casual and fit to each artists genre. For example, Eminem is a rapper and has very stereotypical clothing on for thee hip hop genre of music. Rappers are usually seen in very informal and casual clothing which is demonstrated here. He seems to be wearing a hooded top and basic style shirt which is commonly seen in artists of this genre as they are made out to be less mannered than other artist in other genres such as pop, and lower class compared to other artists too. However, Bruno Mars who is a well known pop artist is stereotypically represented as how all pop artists are, which is higher class and more pampered and looked after. He seems to be wearing a smart yet casual shirt, and high end sunglasses. Compared to the Eminem front cover, Bruno Mars seems to be more of a higher class and more sophisticated as pop artists usually are represented. In my production, I also plan to follow these conventions and stereotypes as well.

Eminem hair and make up seem very low key and low maintenance, this may be due to the representation of rappers being a lower class and more informal compared to pop artists. However, Bruno Mars is the opposite and seems very high maintenance in his hair and make up appearance. This may be due to the common representation of pop artists looking after their appearance more than rappers and due to pop artists being a high class too.  I plan for my music magazine to be of the pop genre, and I also plan for it to follow these pop artist stereotypes as well. It think this would target 'billboard' readers to my magazine which I plan to call 'Fusion'. This will give me a bigger target audience.

Masthead Magazine Ideas

I am looking at various ideas for my masthead. Below, I have a range of ideas in which I could possibly use for my final music magazine and what I like and dislike about them.  

I like this font, as it would fit nicely with what I have planned. As it is bold, it will stand out no matter the background and catch attention and this is what i'm aiming for. However, I think the masthead could be improved to attract more attention, but the black should rebel against any bright colour resulting into it standing out. Because of this, I will look into a bright colour scheme.

Instead of having a black font and white background, I have found a font which is reversed to see what it would be like. Although, it will stand out from whatever background and colour scheme I may have, it may look out of place due to the black background of the font.

Taking into consideration of my comments upon the fonts above, I have found a font in which may be more suitable and fit into the front page of my final product more as the font doesn't have the black background which I thought would stand out to much and look out of place, and has the black bold areas which will stand out and catch attention to my targeted audience.