Front Cover, Contents and Double Page Spreads Flat Plan with Rationale

Colour Usage: For my masthead I have decided to use black for the text then for counter (inside of the 'P' and 'R') I have decided to change it to red and blue as I liked the idea when I seen Billboard magazine do it for their counter. I will have a plain white/plain background as this is what they usually do in music magazines so as not to draw your eyes away from the image or text. I am using a limited colour palette; red, black, blue and white so it isn't too over the top and as it is for young adults it needs to be kept to bold, basic colours. I will mostly use red, as it appeals mostly to women, however it can still be liked by men, just like my magazines target audience. I have also used these colours as music magazines generally tend to use black, red and white for their colour palettes.
Image Usage: I wil be using a medium close up. My model will be smiling with red lipstick on as it will keep in with my colour palette and it will make her stand out against the rest of the front cover. It also has connotations as my model will seem inviting and open to the audience. It also has connotations of it being personal/intimate as it is a close up image of my model, so it will give connotations that the article of her will be personal/intimate. However she will also have a strong/tough expression which will give a linker age/anchorage to the text as it will be a pull quote on her journey to fame.
Text Usage: My text will be informal as it will be for young adults, so it would need to be simplistic for them to understand and not too elaborate or formal as they may feel intimidated. Will use artist/band names as it draws the reader into the text, as they will want to know why the artists/bands are in the magazine, and what the magazine says about them, which makes them want to buy the magazine for the articles. For the front it will have sell-lines and a masthead as this is what usually makes up a music magazine. It is also simplistic, which gives connotations of it being for a older, more sophisticated audience.
Layout and Font: My fonts will be quite simplistic and will look quite similar to my masthead as it will give it a professional look to it, because if you use too many fonts it may look amateur and like a child's magazine. My sell-lines won't be placed in elements of diagonals as it gives connotations of a more child-like magazine and I want my magazine to have a more grown-up connotation as it is an inspirational magazine that will inspire people to get more involved into music. The key focal points within the text will be the main sell-line as it will anchor the image and these are things that will be the main selling point for the magazine. To create this effect I have put the masthead at the top, the sell-lines down the left hand side and the bar code and essential information at the bottom right to frame the main image and main sell-line.

Colour Usage: I have decided to use black for the text so that it gives the magazine a house style, makes it flow and look professional. I will have a plain background as this is what they do usually in music magazines so as not to draw your eyes away from the image or text. It also means that it gives the magazine a house style so that when the audience turn the page, they know that it will be the same magazine as it has the same colour palette and layout style. I am again using red, black, white and blue so it gives the magazine consistency. I will use red as the main colour, however for the main body of the text it will mostly be black as this is what they use in music magazines, however some of the text will be red, blue and white as it will make you draw your eye to certain areas of the contents page.
Image Usage: For my contents page I will use a long shot, as this is what they usually use for a music magazine and it will have a blurred background as it allows the audience to focus on the person/people in the image. It gives the connotations of that the audience needs to look at the image as they need to get close up to distinguish the artist/band in the image. It also gives connotations of confidence as it suggests that they don't have the need to be up-close to the audience, that the audience will find them on their own. This is done to show that if the person/people in the image has confidence in themselves so can you.
Text Usage: My text will be informal, and the words will have denotations and connotations of something positive but most importantly words which will inspire the audience to become motivated and involved in music. There will be still some teasers/enigma codes alongside artist/band names as it will entice the reader to want to read on. I will also use a headline, a masthead and cover lines as these are the main conventions of what you need to include in a music magazine. The image for the coverlines will have linkage to the text.
Layout and Font: I will again use simplistic fonts and fonts that are similar to my magazine as it will give it consistency to my magazine. I won't use diagonals for my text as I want my magazine to look simple yet sophisticated. I will use lines as it will frame the main image, splits the page up and makes you focus on the main image. The contents will be simplistic as it won't have too many things happening on the page, so it make it look professional and sophisticated, however, the text and images that I do use will be positive, inspirational and will make the reader want to turn the page.

Colour Usage: For my double page spread i will use red, black, blue and white as it is my house style for my magazine, which will give it consistency and will allow my audience know that these two pages are from my magazine. The connotations for the colours I use will be that it is powerful (as I use bold colours), that it could appeal to both genders and the red gives it a passion (for music),  danger as getting into music is a risk but when it pays off, it is good and determination (to follow your dreams). The black gives the magazines the connotations of the unknown (as the bands/artists are unknown), authority, strength and elegance. I used these colours as they are usually used in music magazines and when they are put together they give a good contrast of colours.

Image Usage: I will only use one image because my magazine is all about being simple, which gives the reader the thought that things are going to be simple. I also only use one image as the text will be the main focus, where I will give inspirational, positive pull quotes that will give off a positive energy, whilst the image is just emphasising this fact. 

Text usage: My text will be informal as interviews are usually informal, when you are talking to people as it makes people in the interview feel relaxed. However it will also be serious as this is where must of the inspirational pull quotes will come from as this is will show exactly what my magazine is all about: inspiring young adults to get into music and showing the achievements and benefits to choosing this career choice. 

Layout and Font: I will use the same style fonts as my masthead and the rest of my magazine as it will give the magazine consistency as this is my house style which will show the audience that this double page spread is from my music magazine. The pull quotes, pull the reader in to make them want to know why they said what they did. I have also put the image on the right page and the text on the left page as this is what they do in music magazines, also when it is done this way, it makes the magazine look uncluttered. The image is emphasising the text, however the main focus is on the pull quotes. 

Audience Research and Analysis of Data

Before I created my music magazine I needed to know that the magazine that I was creating was going to appeal to my target audience so i went on SurveyMonkey and created a survey, which asked questions which would help me define who my target audience was and what they would like, the questions and analysis can be seen below.

For this question the majority of people who answered my survey was 14-16 year olds.

For this question the majority of people who answered my survey were females.

From this question I found that over half of the people I surveyed don't read music magazines and that only 1 person read a music magazine 3 times a month.

From this question I found that 54.5% of the people I surveyed, would buy a music magazine if they didn't recognise the person/people on the magazines front cover. I found that most who would buy the magazine would do it just to find out what genre of music the artists/bands were and what held the 45.5% back was that they didn't know if they liked the artists/bands. To make the 45.5% of people who wouldn't buy the magazine, want to buy this magazine, I could put on who I would compare my artists/bands to, so that they knew what genre the artists/bands were from and could determine if they liked them or not. I could also put in my music magazine other artists/bands alongside the undiscovered artists/bands, so that my music magazine would appeal to the existing fans of the discovered artists/bands.

From this question I found that 2/3's of the people I surveyed would subscribe to a music magazine that showcased undiscovered artists/bands, because it 'Gives new artists a chance to showcase themselves', however 1/3 of the people I asked said that they wouldn't subscribe as they 'needed to hear them first, otherwise I might be wasting my money. To make the 1/3 of people I surveyed want to subscribe to my music magazine I could make a link that allows them to listen to the person/people who are in my music magazine at the time, which makes them able to listen to the artists/bands and decide for themselves if they like it or not. 

From this question I found that in my music magazine my target audience would generally like to have more than one genre as 'If there is only one music genre it narrows the range of undiscovered artists you will hear about.' To interpret this answer into my music magazine I will put in artists from different music genres, so it appeals to my target audience.

From this question I found from the people I surveyed, they would like to have an interview or review of the undiscovered artist/band, which they want to contain 'new album releases/ promotional tours/single charts', which shows that my target audience will want information that will keep up to date with undiscovered artists and also they want it to include 'what their background is and maybe some interesting facts about the band or artist', which suggests that they want to know the band/artist in detail, from the beginning of their career up until now and what they are planning in the future. To interpret this into my magazine my double page spread will include an interview of an undiscovered artist/band that will contain background, present and future notes about them.

From this question I found that 63.6% of people do look for undiscovered artists, which suggests that my music magazine does have a market. However I found that many people today are finding these people online or on the television, which suggests that I may need to link my music magazine to a website, where people can find undiscovered bands/artists. 

From this question I found that from the people I surveyed (who are my target audience), that people would pay for a music magazine that is specifically designed to showcase undiscovered artists/bands and inspire people to be more involved and have a career in music would usually pay around £1, but some would pay up to £6. This meant that I could sell a magazine, that people wanted buy for a price that was the same as a normal music magazine, which had on artists that had been discovered. This showed me that not only is there a market for this type of magazine, that people will pay for it but that it could go up against normal magazines like 'Billboard' magazine, which could sell for the same price, if not more.

For this question the majority of people who answered my survey were 14-16 year olds, and they said that they would buy my music magazine, and that people people above their age range would too. This suggests that my music magazine could have a wide age range as it could appeal to 14 year olds, just as good as 21 year olds. However, just like my target audience estimation, they agreed that it should be for young adults (14-21 year olds).

Overall; I have found from doing this survey as a whole is that many people have different opinions on what they like or dislike in my music magazine. So to solve this problem I could have a space in my music magazine where it shows a website link where the readers can post comments on what they like about the magazine, what they disliked about the magazine, what they would like to see more or less of and a space to show who the audience have discovered, which the magazine hasn't talked about yet. By doing this I am allowing my audience decide what they want to read, which makes it more appealable to the target audience as the magazine won't ever stay still, but will ever be changing to suit the target audience, who are also ever changing.

Proposal Task with Potential Problems

For this task I looked at all the possible ways my magazine could go wrong, and by identifying the problems before they occur I can eliminate them all together.

Front Cover and Contents Page Images

For my images the model(s) I have chosen may not want to do it any more  – To solve this problem I would choose a different person to model in my magazine (to make this problem even more easier to solve I would have a backup model who would be willing to have photographs taken of them).

Another problem may be that the images may not come out how I want them to – To solve this problem I would have other shots already taken along with the others so that I wouldn’t have to arrange times and dates for my model to come in for another shoot.

Another problem may be that the image doesn’t go with my layout or magazine as a whole – To solve this problem I would either rearrange my layout to suit the image whilst still keeping in with my intended look or use different images so that it does go with my magazine look. 

The image may also use the wrong colour which doesn’t go with my colour palette, or have too much shade/light – To solve this problem I would check as soon as I took the photograph to make sure it does, but if it got past that stage I would either retake the shots and arrange another shoot or change the photographs on Photoshop so that the images look how they are supposed to.

The images may also come out looking unprofessional – To solve this problem I would have to make sure that the image has a good backdrop so that it is easier for me to Photoshop and when I Photoshop it I will have to use the correct tools accurately. 

Article Inside Magazine

Problems that may arise for my coursework is that the text is too long – To solve this problem I would either take out parts of the text so that the page doesn’t look too detailed, or change the text size whilst still making sure that the text is a reasonable size so that you can still read.

The text may have a different language technique/style which might not match my magazine – To solve this I would make sure at the beginning that it went with my magazine but if I passed that stage and I found that problem I would change the language technique/style so that it sounds more like my magazine style by using inspirational adjectives and upbeat quotes.

I may find that there is too many/little number of columns for my text – To solve this I would make sure at the start, when I am writing it that it fit the right amount but if I got passed that stage I would either change the text or take/put in existing text to suit.  

Images to Accompany Article

Not having the right/amount of image – To solve this I would make sure that when I was taking the photographs that they had a specific purpose and place for my magazine so that they fitted in so that I would have the right amount as they would all have purpose and they were the correct type of shot as it would go with my plan. Another problem is that it might not be the correct shot – To solve this I would either create a new photograph that was the correct shot type or just zoom in on the image so that it was the correct type of shot.

It may have the wrong colour(s) that don’t go with my colour palette for my magazine – To solve this I would either go on Photoshop or edit out the colours I don’t want in or take another photograph that held the colours I do want for my magazine.  

Institutional Research

For my research I decided to look at different institutions what they publish and what type of magazines they publish. I have found from doing my research that the institutions have different types of magazines as they will appeal to different target audiences. Usually the institutions have women’s magazines, men magazines and teen’s magazines. However there are exceptions as some of the institutions have magazines about Health, Science, Food or Construction. 

Institution	Details
Emap	Emap International Limited, which is also known as Top Right Group and is a British media company that specializes in the production of business-to-business magazines, and the organizations of events and conferences. ‘EMAP’ is an acronym, which stands for East Midland Allied Press. The magazines that they publish include Retail magazines like 'Retail Week', Health magazines like 'NurseandTimes.net ', Government and Environment magazines like 'LGC', Construction and Engineering magazines like 'Construction News', Architecture magazines like 'ar The Architectural Review' and Media magazines like 'Broadcast'.
Condé Nast	Condé Nast, a division of Advanced Publications is a magazine publisher. It is in the US and produces 18 consumer magazine which include ,'Vanity Fair', 'Vogue' and 'GQ'. It also produces 4 business-to-business publications as well as many website mobile apps and tablet devices apps.
Natmags	Natmags is abbreviated for The National Magazine Company and is a British magazine publisher that in mainly based in London. They have published 19 magazines including 'Cosmopolitan', 'Reveal' and 'Men’s Health' (UK only).

IPC Media

IPC Media is a British publishing company, which is formerly known as the International Publishing Corporation. IPC Media is for the American publisher 'affiliated with the Communist Party USA'. It produces consumer magazines and is a digital publisher in the UK, which include 'Good to know Recipes', 'Look', 'Ideal Home', 'Shooting Gazette', 'Teen Now', and many more from other different genres.

Future Publishing

Future Publishing is an international media group that has operations in the UK, US and Australia that creates over 200 specialist publications, apps, websites ad events but is based in the UK. They publish magazines like 'Classic Rock', 'Tap!' and Official UK PlayStation Magazine' and many more like it.

Bauer Media

Bauer Media Group is a multinational media group, which has its headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, and there it operates 15 countries worldwide. The magazines that they publish are Celebrity/Entertainment ones like 'Intouch', Life&Style, Women's magazines like 'Woman's World', and 'First for Women', Tweens and Teen magazines like 'M', 'twist' and 'J-14' and Science and Technology ones like 'iD'