Audience Demographics

Audeince analysis is the starting point for any music magazine. You would need to figure out your audience demographics, they would be: how old they are, how much they earn, where they live, whereabouts they work and anything else thats appropiate. The more that you understand your audeicnes the better chance you have of capturing there interests. The success or failure of any music magazine hangs on the interests that you build in your audiences. This can then only be accomplished by knowing who they actually are with the following process, its essential to developing your magazine content that will capture and hold the audiences to focus on it. This creates interest in the media product and can determine how well it will be. When creating my media product i will use questionnaires or poles for my target audeince and find out their exact preference, in order to find out the success of my media product.

Uses and Gratitfications Theory

The uses and gratitfications theory has an audience with a hands on approach. The theory is that it is centered around the audience by seeing what they do with the media, rather that just seeing what media is doing to the consumer.
This then allows the audience to take a active role in finding out what the media is and how it is affecting lives. The theory makes the audience responsible for chooseing the type of media that meets their needs, with an example of a consumer enjoying Indie music, they then would'nt go out and buy a girly magazine, this means that they can choose the genre of magazine by the image of a celebrity, font, colours and the text sizes on the cover. The approach suggests that people use the media to furfill the specific gratitfications, so this theory would then imply that the media compose against other information for the viwers gratitfications. It shows me how effective a front cover of a magazine is to the audience and this will help me in designing and creating my music magazine.

Maslows Hierachy of needs

Maslows Hierachy of needs

Maslows hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper, a theory of human of motivation.  Maslow then subsequently extended the idea which included his observations of humans curiosity.

Maslows Hierarchy was represented in a pyramid, with the largest and lowest needs at the bottom and the need for self actualization at the top, also the needs for people.  the lower four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called the 'deficiency needs' if these needs are not met then the body gives no physical indication.  Most of the media advertising is based around this.  This will give the audience what we need, which is shown by the top 3 sections of the pyramid, showing that whatever we are looking at what looks creative and not tedious, we need to be shown something busy and creative to find it very interesting.

Kerrang Double page spread

Kerrang Double page spread

With the layout of this magazine it is linked well with its kind of genre. Again with the magazine there are a lot of pictures, which also shows that thee readers of the magazine are more interested in looking at the pictures than reading long articles and complex text. Their is not much different colours on the background and on the text. The colour you can only to see is on the pictures and this makes them stand out as well. This could then mean that they are the main part of the double page spread and could mean that the editor may want these to be the most important part of the page. The language used in this article is quite informal not very complex at all, this could then link in with the target audience which could be teenagers and people who are into the rock music.

Q Double page spread

Q double page spread

This article has a persuasive way to it, they use big words in the article. With the articles formal tone of writing this could reinforce the audience who the article is looking to attract and it is unlikely that a 15 year old teenager will want to read long vocabulary and complicated sentences. The writing is quite persuasive as they describe the band as being 'Thrill and Thunder' of the rock industry. The audience will immediately become hooked on this as they could be excited to see such a big band that is so wild. The article with the heading of 'Born to Run' is in a bold font with the punk colour of black. This again links to the punk rock band theme. There are also random stars that are splatter around the page these are in red and blue, these show the american side that the band are but it is still a punk rock band. With the colour scheme being quite basic the form of it is still readable for the audiences. With the reason of the font being in times new roman which is still a basic test. Then throughout the magazine the same font is used as well. With the pictures and the text are quite evenly spread out on the page. On the left hand side of the page there is a feature of the band and this then gives the audience a better understanding of the band. they also want us to become aware of the bands presence and lead us into a introduction to them, it also shows who the audience is. With all the piercing and tattoos the band has, it enforces the genre for Q magazine towards the audience of punk. The other page opposite is mainly test based, this shows the audience that is unlikely to be teenagers, so Q looks into attracting an older audience who appreciate a story about an up and coming music band.

NME Double Page Spread

NME double page spread

With the magazine layout it is very effective, because the bright colours and bold writing really attracts the attention of the reader. It reels the reader and attracts them and keeps there attention on that page, and also it makes it all easier to understand. The editor of the magazine usually likes to see the bits that people would like to read the most in a big bold font. The layout is tidy and neat and is to navigate around on the page. The page also comes across as being trendy and it comes in good with the audience that is aimed at for teenagers with this magazine. The colours on this page make the more important headings stand out more. With the two different contrasts of the black and light blue it looks cool and modern as it links back to the audience that they are aiming at, also as well as linking it with the music genre of the music magazine which is mainly aimed at Indie fans. There is only 1 large picture used on the right hand side of the page, this means that there is not much text that can link to the type of audience. The young audience may not like an article with 2 much text in it, they may prefer if it has more pictures on it and less writing, as they can quickly read the important stuff in the article and scan over the pictures instead of just wasting time in reading the text.

Kerrang Front cover Analysis

Kerrang front cover

With this front cover of 'Kerrang' it is very well layed out and it is tidy and very easy to read. With the title at the top of the magazine this gives it an effect as the title looks rough and metal like which can relate to the type of audience that would read this magazine. Also with the 'Kerrang' title sounds quite rough is linked the the genre of rock music. The main background picture is very striking and bold which stands out on the page. The picture is of a music artist who has a feature inside that issues magazine. This picture can attract the fans of this artist and then maybe a way of attracting them to buy the magazine.  The picture is a close-up of the artist and shows all of his features.  On the left hand side of the page there are smaller pictures of artists who feature in this issue of magazine.  This then allows people to see what the main features of the magazine are without looking through it.  The colours on this magazine are used well on the front cover, they are used to make other things stand out more, such as the white text 'FREE POSTERS!' on a red background, this makes it stand out much more and can catch the readers attention.  This is somthing in which the editor wants to do so they can attract as many readers as possible, and try to get as many people to buy it for the free posters.

Kerrang contents page

Kerrang contents page

At the top of this page the title "Contents" this is in a big bold font. It is in a black box with bright yellow font. This will make it stand out more on the page and make it more noticeable to the reader, and evidently clear to show you what the page is about. With a small font there is a line underneath showing the issue number and cover date, this is used to remind the reader of the issue of the magazine, even though it has been printed on the front over as well.

With many magazines they use the section were the editor writes a quick note, this is located in the top right hand corner. This is next to a picture of the front cover. The editors quick note has language that is chatty and quite informal, with the quote "We Heart Biffy Clyro" these are using taboo words here. This is effective because it can relate to the target audience and it can offer a more personal approach to the reader as hey then feel that they can connect and relate to how the editor is writing.

The contents page is there to inform the reader of what's going to be included, by using text and also images. On the right hand side of the page there is a long column that shows the highlights of this issues's magazine. With small sub-headings used these are shown in bright yellow font.
This is to show the importance of the sub-headings being used and dividing the page up so it is easier for the readers to navigate around the page. This is an important part of the contents page, as readers dotn want to waste valuable readin time in finding the specific article they want to read. therefore the way they are divinding it up they are getting rid of any confusion.
In the bottom right hand corner of the page, there is a red box highlighting to the reader that they can get "K delivered to their door" underneath this phrase is a number for the readers to suscribe to this offer. The reason they have used the bright red is to attract the readers to read and to sign up for this offer.

Q contents page analysis

Q contents page

The contents page of this magazine 'Q' is very well laid out. It is layed out in a very orderly way and allows the reader or navigate around the page easily. Down the left hand side of the page it has been split into different sections 'features' and 'every month'. The 'features' section shows readers what is in this issue that wont be in any other issue of Q. The 'every month' shows regular readers where they can find that are in every issue. In the 'features' section is a smaller part dedicated to the 'Oasis special'. This special is its own separate section of the features column and is written in gold written to emphasize that is is a 'special'.

On the other hand the gold colour goes against the rest of the conventions on the contents page, which are white, red and black. So the gold colour used to write about the 'Oasis special' shows that this is an issue which includes something that no similar magazine will include.

NME Contents page anaylsis

Contents page analysis

This contents page is separated by under the different headings; including the news, radar, reviews, live and features these are placed on the right hand side. down the left hand side there is a there is a 'band index' this helps readers to find specific band inside that magazine.

to find something that is placed on the front cover there then is a small red arrow pointing at the stories that are mentioned on the cover. with the title of the article and the page numbers are clearly separated by two different colours which are used to write in each of them-red for the page number,black for the title. the NME logo is situated in the top right hand corner, to keep the contents page similar to the front cover.

At the top of the page there is a title that says 'this week' in a large bold font, this then reminds us(audience) that this is a weekly magazine. In-between the two contents columns, there are two large pictures with a small story underneath. This gives the audience a taster of what the rest of the magazine will offer inside. This then marks that this isn't a strict contents page as it has a small story on Oasis who are one of the most recognizable bands in Britain. Adding this story then might make the page more interesting and it fills up the gaps which are left between the two columns. If the story wasn't there, the writing would have to be bigger, this would go against the common conventions in NME.

Also down the middle of the page is and advert that boasts NME's subscriptions offers,'subscribe today' is written in bright yellow colour which grabs the audiences attention which makes it sure that they have seen the offer.

NME front cover analysis

Analysis of NME front cover.

This magazine;s target audience is both for male and female.

The colours are the same of red,white and some yellow. The layout of the magazine has been used since the first ever magazine was published. The fonts are very big and bold, also the layout is very front-on and in your face. With having the big picture of the striking band it places the writing smaller around it. The large photo of the band is used to focus on the lead singer-Beth Ditto as she is the bands main attraction. The pictures of her and her band mates look like to be all single pictures of one another which have been put onto the magazine with Beth Ditto mainly taking up all the space with her picture on top of both of the boys.

The picture looks professional and looks to be studio shot of each member this could show that the band have had their photos taken especially for this magazine. The clothes they wear are linked to the kind of music 'scene' which relates back to the magazines specific audience. With the main artist 'Beth Ditto' wearing black, the white and red text used 'The Gossip' and 'sex,skins and standing in the way of control' really stands out and makes it easy to read.

This layout is very stereotypical of NME as it is completley aimed at this type of audience, some magazine front covers of NME have not kept to the house style and have gone off course with how they want there magazine to look to the rest.

Analysis of Q front cover

Analysis of front cover.

The main colours of the Q magazine are red, black and white. the red makes it look sexy and angry looking. the black gives it that gothic or indie look, and also makes it sexy, with the white it makes it contrast to the black and makes it stand out.

The main image on the front is cheryl cole, this image is very striking when you look at it. The words and images on the front cover have some theme that matches with it very well, the 3 lines of the title, all have very different styles as well.

The side headings on the side of the page are in the font of times new roman.

The close up of Cheryl Cole makes it an interesting look, as people know her as a beautiful woman with a good personality and people aspire to her. But in this picture she has a different style from when people normally see her, this makes the audience interested into seeing her in this way.

The way her make up and style is created, with her licking her ring this gives it that sexy look and the red lips enhance this feature as well, with her white skin it then makes her features stand out more.

The words used on the cover are the name of her album '3 Words'. The word Rocks stands out in with the font of large times new roman, in red. This clearly shows that the magazine is the genre of 'rock'. With the slogan of 'The biggest music magazine' this makes the magazine sound professional and to a good standard. The words and the pictures of the front cover would stand out on a shelf, and catch peoples eye when looking to buy.

This magazine is very appealing only mainly because it is due to the fact of the style of Cheryl Cole. It makes you want to read on and see more pictures inside. This magazine appeals to Cheryl Cole's fans, but people who had not of originally liked her, may have moved to like her because of her new style.