Questionnaire

I carried out a questionnaire to find out what my target audience (young people), would like to see in a music magazine. I covered genre, layout, and colour schemes to help me make popular decisions when I come to actually make my music magazine.

My questionnaire which I handed out to my peers:

What Makes A Successful Music Magazine Cover?

View my Prezi presentation about my research on creating a successful magazine cover:
http://prezi.com/g9fnheo1r6hq/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Plumtree

Emily, you have some good research here and your prelim task is quite effective. Look at how little blank space there is on the music magazine pages and think how this might inform your own work as you move forward.

Magazine Double Page analysis

NME Double Page Spread

The main feature of this article is '50 New Albums you need to hear this year'. The artist 'The vaccines' are in the featured picture, which covers two pages. The photograph is from a professional shoot, with the the band members positioned with their equipment. This adds relation between the people in the photograph and the music they create, because it has a 'behind the scenes' effect. The black and white picture filter, adds a retro feel to the band too. The main colours in this article are red and white, again reflective of the NME logo.

The captions are used to label the names of the band members, and inform us that the picture was taken at 'Music Bank rehearsal studios'. Captions are also used to give a more personal feel to pictures. The artists are described as 'risking their lives' to deliver this album, which suggests that they work very hard and this is intriguing to the reader. 

The drop cap in this articles is a black triangle, which shows us the start of the article. The triangle  resembles a play/ start button on an IPod. This is an effective drop cap, as it compares the beginning of this music article to starting a song. 

The columns of this article are positioned in the standard way around the featured picture. However the writing is intersected by a separate rectangle, that lists facts about the band. This allows for quick reading as you can quickly see information about the album, and the tracks that stand out on that album.

Lastly, the double page spread uses a range of language techniques, to appeal to the reader. The article uses direct address: 'You need to hear'. This is an example of an imperative sentence, as it is commanding you to listen. This suggests that the music is too good to miss, so your being forced to listen / keep your eyes open for release. The language of the article is colloquial, yet informative. The article is still telling you about the band, and persuades you to listen by mentioning their achievements. However it takes a colloquial style - as there is taboo language in the piece. This is used as a way of selling 'The Vaccines' as a rock group, as it is appropriate with their image.

Magazine Contents Page analysis

'Inside NME' is the contents page for the magazine. The page is split into three column: 'Regulars', '50 Albums for 2015' and a 'Band List'. This structure allows for easy reading, and the content of the main featuring article is clearly visible to the reader. 'NME', 'Regulars' and 'Band List' have all been highlighted with the same shade of red on the cover. This is used for branding- these titles all resemble the NME logo. These titles also always feature in the contents page, so help the reader find the traditional articles featured in NME.

Articles of interest have also been highlighted in black and have been written in capital letters. This helps the page numbers stand out better against the white background, and fits the colour scheme (adding continuity to the magazine).

The contents page also includes a picture of the 'Palma Violets'. NME always use a band picture on the contents page. This adds more visual interest for the reader and is intriguing because the reader will be drawn to the article relating to it.

Lastly, the contents page features a 'Shameless Plug' which advertises a January Sale Subscription to the magazine. This is beneficial to NME as they get money upfront for the magazine, and will already be able to tell the initial number of magazines that will sell. Subscriptions will also benefit the consumer, as they will receive the magazine at a discount price.

Magazine Front Cover analysis

'NME 2015 Album Special' Annotation

Context:
New Musical Express (NME) is a British music magazine which has been published since 1952. In the '14th November 1952' edition, NME became the first British newspaper to include a singles chart. In the 1970s, NME was the best-selling British Music Newspaper. The newspaper slowly made a change to a magazine format between 1980's and 1990s. More recently, the online version of the magazine is the worlds biggest standalone site for music - with seven million users per month.

Visual style and overall design:
The visual style of this magazine is quite bold. Red and Yellow are contrasting colours, and are effective in getting your attention, especially to look at the magazine leads. The magazine cover also has a very clear structure to it, the text is layered over the images, and the main cover line is clearly visible to the reader. The text boxes use the same colour as the background, this layering over the image create a relation to the image and the background, avoiding awkward-blockiness. The colour red connotes ideas of strength and high energy. As a result appealing to gender ideals: men should be strong and dangerous. This suggests the magazine has a typical male readership, furthered suggested by the featured artists being all men.

Pictures:
The Cover image consists of 5 very different artists put together, to advertise the '50 New Records' feature. The artist pictures would have come from different professional shoots, and combined to advertise the diversity of music in the article and save money on a new photography shoot. The artists represents the range of different music featured, by the way they are dressed. We see a smart mod suit worn by Paul Weller to a leather jacket worn by Brandon Flowers. This helps to expand the intended audience of the magazine, because a variety of genres are featured. NME has also combined old artists like Weller with newer artists, to expand the targeted age of the reader.

Other features:
NME also uses other typical magazine features to advertise other stories included in this issue. On the right, the artists 'Royal Blood' and 'The Manics' are mentioned, an example of a sell line. Sell lines serve as a way of drawing your attention to other areas of importance, in this case additional possible articles of interest. Another feature used by NME is a Puff, a feature used to provide information about the content of a magazine. On this issue, the puff : 'In the studio, In the Know' is included. This creates ideas of exclusivity, because the magazine is at the front line of music creation.