Research Into Similar Products

I have decided to base my magazine on indie ones such as NME, Therefore I have decided to use a 4 piece boy band like Peace and Arctic Monkeys and my target audience it teens and young adults (15-21). I going to follow the usual codes and conventions of an indie magazine therefore i will use some of the techniques used in this magazine and hopefully set out mine so it looks professional:The features on this magazine front cover are:

• Recognizable Left Third
• Skyline 
• Main Text
• Puff
• Pug
• Screamer
• Direct Address
• Secondary Picture 
• bar-code
• URL
• Price 
• Date Line 

I Hope to use all these features in my magazine to ensure that its successful.

Research Into Similar Products

Today I am going o talk about how this issue of NME uses many different features to ensure that not only is their magazine noticeable but that it also entices the reader.

Firstly, A recognizable Left Third is used so when shelved, the public can easy notice the mag due to the famous red 'NME' masthead.

Secondly,A Pug is used to give the audience a reason to buy it

Next, Main Text is used the grab the readers attention and immediately let them know who/what is going to be in the magazine. Behind the main text 'Radio head' There is a rainbow running across the cover of the magazine this is a pun because the artistes new album at the time was called 'In Rainbows'

Fourthly, Direct Address is used on the main picture to make the target audience think that he wants you to buy the magazine.

.Lastly, A Puff is used to catch the readers eye when looking at the magazine.

Research Into Similar Products

This is a front cover from the well known magazine NME it uses many features to engage the target audience. A blue background is used and all 6 artists on the front cover are seen in either black or white. This is used to show a very basic side of them but also to contrast the blue and make them 'come out the page. This front cover is full on Indie Stars on the front cover to cover a large audience and if people spot one of there favorite artists on the front it will engage them therefore by including 4 different artists it allows people to choose on which bit of the magazine which they want to read about. A recognizable left third is used so that when shelved people can easily recognize which magazine it is even with the unusually colored background.  Overall this is a successful magazine cover as it features all the codes and conventions such as bar codes and a Main text to make it recognizable.

Research Into Similar Products

In this blog post i am going to be taking about genre crossovers and Band Name ideas. As you can see from this cover it features Rap Star Jay Z on the front of Indie Mag NME this is an example of genre crossovers as we can clearly see 2 genres being portrayed. As a fan of both types of music i am hoping to incoperate both Hip Hop and Indie music in my mag. One of the main ways i Can do this is though my band name. I put a variety of things into a Rap/Indie Band Name generator and these are the example which it came up with. Im hoping to use one of these names in my final piece

1. Throughout Black
2. Black Nelson Of The Gaming Test
3. Gruesome Black And The Geek
4. Black Sound
5. Black Box
6. Love Bath
7. Love Of The Vessel
8. Sway Love
9. Impossible Love And The Residential
10. Democratic Love

Research Into Similar Products

This is a copy of NME and features famous band 'Blur' on the front cover, I shows them in a variety of poses all using direct address to engage you and make you think that they want you to buy it. Unlike most NME magazines the left third isn't recognizable as the Masthead is placed in the center. A bright yellow background is used to contrast the bands clothing and make their facial expressions more noticeable and come off the page a bit more. There is a wide range of colors used to make the mag stand out when being sold and also to make the band stand out in their bland clothing  A rhetorical question is used in the screamer to make you think about the magazine in more detail, A Puff "Classic Interviews" is used to leave you in suspense about who the interview is with.

Overall I believe that the magazine has been successful with its features and i would like for my magazine to be of a similar quality to this using the same techniques and genres. 

Research into similar products

From my blog post regarding questionnaires I have decided to conduct a separate one regarding the types of magazines people would like to see. I asked 20 people how often they read magazines and what genre. I asked this question to people of 16/17 years of age and the answers were:

18% don't read magazines

35% read pop magazine

40% read indie magazines 

7% read rnb magazines

With 6/20 people reading the genre of magazine I will base mine on I believe that the indie genre is ideal for my target audience therefore my final decision is that I will make an indie magazine with a target audience of young adults

Research into Similar Products

 

This magazine cover is from the well known mag, NME. the magazine features Pete Doherty in a close up to suggest he is interacting with the reader to try and convince him to buy the mag so we can see why he is on the cover of the magazine. The mag has a clearly recognizable left third as you can see the NME sign. It features a popular indie singer from the Libertines. This is one of my favorite bands and i am going to use similar bands when creating my magazine because I am exploring the indie culture. As well as a popular artist the editor uses a pug to draw in the reader and give them a reason to buy it as they may think that they will get something out of spending their money. 

Research into similar products

In This blogpost im going to be talking about the band Foals and completing band profile about them, I believe this will inspire me to come up with ideas for my band and delve deeper into the similarities with the ideas I have for my band 

Name-Foals

Members-5

Genre-Indie

Gender- All male

Ages- 20/30

Similar bands - Drenge,Peace and Wolf Alice

I will have similar facts to Foals expect the ages maybe different and I may mix up the genders to make it less stereotypical 

Research into similar products

This is a magazine cover from the extremely well know mag, NME the front cover features stone roses lead singer, Ian Brown and the famous rnb star Jay Z therefore this post is about genre crossovers between hip hop and indie which are some genres I'm considering. As you can see Ian Brown is looking up to Jay Z and Jay Z is looking straight at the camera. This could show the stereotypical cockiness of RnB superstars and the very little limelight indie artist get. 

Many techniques are used in this cover such as

Left Third

Puff

Pug

Screamer

These are all used to gain viewers and also it features two well known artists therefore both sides of people who listen to that genre can buy it gaining a bigger target audience

Working With Layout and Conventions (Self Assessment)

 This is a cover of a magazine 'M' it shows Rap Star Drake i have chosen to use a red text as it matches to masthead, I have used a big bold text  to make the stereotypical 'RnB' Style. I have included a Pug (a free giveaway) and have used a gold square to grab the audiences attention with a black circle in the middle with contrasts the white background, intriguing the audience to buy it. The color of this circle and square also matches the skyline so there is a constant color scheme of red, white and gold from his t-shirt to the main text. 

 This magazine featured an unknown band which we had to name and personally i thought Diskonnekted suited there style and genre. I replaced the c's with k's and reversed them given the magazine a feel of individuality. Once again, i added a pug to grab the audiences attention and give them an incentive to buy it. I also added an 'Inside Exclusive' from another bad to give the audience a taste of whats inside and inform them on the genre.

 Thirdly, This magazine features 'Bjork' and as you can see she has a classic 3D effect with the blue and red running round the face therefore i decided to use a red and blue font to suit the house style. Also the 'X' from Music_X has a red luminous glow so therefore the red text fits in nicely with the color of the Pug and the Skyline.  The Pug 'Free CD' makes people want to buy it 

 This Magazine is called Pitch and features Marilyn Manson on the front cover, This immediately tells us the genre and if you didn't know who was the black hair with the white face would allow us to see what music it is.  I added a patchy text for the main text giving it a unique edgy feel. 

Lastly, SounD magazine has a very big focus on the band the Kings of Leon as it is an exclusive issue about them there i added an interview with the lead singer, this is so people are intrigued by it, Then for the main text i added a quote from his interview once again, p[people want to find out more on what he has to say, I did this is white text to stand out against the black background 

Research Into Similar Products

Band Profile 

Name:Still Unsure (See Previous Blog)

Amount of People: 4 Piece

Genre: Indie Rock

Gender: All Male

Ages:16/18

Influences: 

• Arctic Monkeys
• Stone Roses
• Libertines

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults 

One of my main influences is The Arctic Monkeys as you can see they are a 4 piece band and i want to copy their style to show the genre of my magazine and you can clearly see there is a front man and i will hopefully have someone in my who is recognizable. 

Research Into Similar Products

I have been looking into different names in which i can call my band which will suit the style of magazine. Some of the bands i have been looking into have either 1 or 2 words with only 2 syllables so it is snappy and easy to remembers. Some Influences are;

• Peace
• Swim Deep
• Dumb
• Drenge
• Stone Roses
• Arctic Monkeys
• Wolf Alice
• FIDLAR

Some of names shown above are the one which will inspire me and the names with i am going to use might be;

• SWISH
• Ding
• Smash
• Pear Trees
• Mouldy Apples
• Smlly Dung
• qwerty
• INTERNET
• connection