Target Audience and Pricing

As the majority of Pop magazines are aimed at young teenage girls, I wanted to take my magazine a little bit away of the conventional target audience.
My plan is to have a target audience of approximately 14 - 21 which widens my target audience and doesn't focus more on the younger generation. Because of this I need to make sure that my magazine looks more mature than a lot of other Pop magazines do, and so I will also have to think about articles that will interest the older age groups too. 
I also want to appeal to both genders rather than just teenage girls, and so my plan is to use a colour scheme which is not gender oriented. These colours will include bright colours such as green, yellow, purple etc.
The price of my magazine won't be too expensive because my target audience includes students which will have a lot more studying equipment and college equipment to buy. Because of this my magazine will be £1.50. This is a reasonable price for a weekly magazine. 
This magazine will have to be weekly because this genre of music within the music industry is constantly changing and if it were monthly a lot of other magazines would get this information out quicker and the magazine would not make a profit.

The Pop Genre Research

Pop Genre Examples

Some examples of pop artists would be:

• Britney Spears
• Taylor Swift
• Justin Bieber
• Demi Lovato 
• Lady Gaga
• Beyonce
• Spice Girls
• Rihanna
• Katy Perry
• Pink
• Bruno Mars
• Adele
• Miley Cryus
  
  
  

My Chosen Genre

David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as "a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, and folk musics". Although pop music is often seen as oriented towards the singles charts it is not the sum of all chart music, which has always contained songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz,rock, and novelty songs, while pop music as a genre is usually seen as existing and developing separately. And so "pop music" may be used to describe a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as a softer alternative to rock and roll.

The conventions of the pop genre:

• Artists are normally found to be dressed in fashionable, stylish and mainstream outfits and are portrayed as individuals who are generally happy and content with life.
• Their song lyrics are usually based around love, relationships and heartbreak. 
• Often, the artist express unity associated with teens, which is the target audience for this specific genre.
• This genre is usually conveyed through the video dressing and setting.
• Pop magazines are often themed with bold and bright colours which are mostly associated with a positive vibe.

I chose pop music because I know that it is a very popular genre and has a target audience that I have use previously and so have an idea of how to appeal to them. 

Conventions of a Music Magazine Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread

Front Cover

• Sell Lines
• Masthead
• Skyline
• USP
• Barcode
• Date
• Price
• Thumbnails
• Colour Scheme (House Scheme)
• Main Image
• Headline
• Teller
• Header 
• Footer
• Issue Number
• Banner

Contents Page

• Main Image
• Featured Articles
• Regular Articles
• Page Numbers
• Vocab
• Letter from the Editor
• Previous Editions
• Main Story

Double Page Spread

• Title
• Stand First
• Drop Cap
• Main Article
• Text in Columns
• Page Number
• Masthead
• Main Image (Takes Up The Page)

The Brief

Main Task

Produce the front page, contents and double page spread of a new magazine. All images and text must be original be original, produced by you - minimum or four images. 

Presentation of Your Work

The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take form of any one, of combination of two or more, of the following:

• A presentation using slideshow software such as PowerPoint;
• A blog;
• A podcast

Final Magazine

L.I.I.A.R Analysis of a Magazine Front Cover

Spider Diagram Planning

Mood Board

Existing Products Research

Each of these college magazines that I have found follow the codes and conventions of creating one. They each have an eye-catching masthead which, after looking at different editions of each magazine, doesn't change. They also all keep to a certain house style, or colour scheme, which makes it appear to be more organised and a lot of the time, more colourful too. Each of them also have a USP, which is used to appeal to their target audience.

Potential Photos For My Magazine (Location and Model)

Possible Names and Featuring Articles For My College Magazine

So far, I have thought of only a few possible names for my new college magazine. These possibilities include:

• Wyke Weekly
• Wyke News
• The Student
• Honor Student

I wanted to keep the title of my magazine original so that it would stand out amongst the rest of the college magazines. 
This magazine is not going to be as original as I'd hope compared to any other college magazine because of the limitations of target audiences and featuring articles and so I need to choose articles that make it obvious to the audience straight away that this is a college magazine and not a different genre.
The target audience for this magazine is the students of that specific college and possibly their parents depending on the articles inside. For this reason, I will be adding in an extra few articles on the contents page specifically for parents only (just so that they can keep up to date with the college as much as possible). This will include an insight into what their child/children are doing in college during lessons, lunch times and study periods etc. along with statistics (exam results from previous years to show what their child should be achieving with their GCSE score and coursework grades) and important dates such as consultation and open evenings. 
For students, there will be regularly featured articles such as a Q&A with one of the students in the college and featuring articles of that week such as how to apply for university, ten top tips for a job interview, college couture, how to achieve more ucas points, parties and events etc. it will also cost on £0.50 so it won't be too expensive to buy for students during college.

Magazine Front Cover Planning

For my preliminary Media AS work I have to produce a College Magazine. In order to do this I need:

• A Magazine Title/Name
• Featured and Regular Articles
• Personally Taken Photographs (Models and Location) at Medium Close-up

My ideas for the main image are either a sports student in the gym or a student working on a desk in a classroom. I will be taking the photos during my own time and study periods so that I can produce my final magazine front cover in class. 

To the right is a lay out of how I would like my final piece to look. I am hoping to have at least 2 or 3 thumbnails, plus approximately 6 featured articles, a masthead, skyline and a main image. All of these being conventions of a magazine. In order to separate my magazine from others I will choose different USP's and articles to include in order to appeal to my target audience (16 - 18 year old students, male and female). 

As I am using Wyke as my college for this magazine I have decided to keep to the colour scheme of the college. This means I will be using the following colours:

• Dark Purple (#5C3F8A)
• Lime Green (#ACD137)
• Dark Green (#2E7206)
• Light Grey (#BDAD8F)
• White

Conventions of a Magazine

Masthead
The title of a newspaper or periodical as it appears across the first page, front cover, or title page of each issue. Also called nameplate

Skyline

A type of banner across the top of the page, just above the masthead. Used to make the information within the skyline appealing to the magazines audience. Usually found to contain USP's or any other selling techniques.

Headline
Usually the largest text on the front cover minus the Masthead and the Main Image. Used to tell the audience what the main feature of the magazine is. Helps to appeal to the target audience.

Main Image

The background image of the magazine. Usually includes a male or female model around the same age as the target audience or someone well known in the genre in order to appeal to them. For example, on a rock magazine aimed at teenagers you would most likely find a figure such as Green Day or AC/DC.

Bar code/Date
The bar code and date is a convention used for the institution the magazine will be bought from. It tells the store that this specific edition of the magazine is now not in stock. The date is used to tell the audience when it was published so that they know when they are buying the most recent publication.

Thumbnails
The thumbnails on a magazine front cover are small images next to the sell lines which show previews of the stories inside.

Sell Lines
The sell lines are a convention of a magazine cover used to tell the audience the feature articles in the magazine. This is so that when they are looking for a type of magazine to buy, it will appeal to them more when they know what they will be reading. If there is something interesting inside then they are most likely to buy it over any others.