Planning Task Three: Masthead Design

 

I've designed my masthead and strapline to be bold, allowing my magazine to hopefully stand out to readers when looking for a magazine. I believe all of these mastheads have an eye-catching effect, however, my chosen design is the bottom design, this is because I believe it stands out to readers without an overly harsh effect which may draw more attention. As the strapline is a thinner font, i think it connotes an element of class and subtleness, allowing readers to deeply recognize the vast range of artists and songs that can be found within the drum and base genre. 

Planning Task Two : 60 Second Pitch

 Script:

Hello, my name is Maisy and I am here to pitch 'BEATZ', a new music magazine aimed at a 16-25 year old mainstream audience. This is a magazine focusing primarily on the drum and bass genre, this is due to drum and bass being post popular as I analysed my target audience research. 

'BEATZ' will first be launched at £3.50 to encourage my target audience to buy the magazine, starting in January 2025. However, this price will increase to £4.50 when the second edition launches. 

The strap line to my magazine is, 'Enter the new realm', which would hopefully encourage my audience to introduce themselves to a new genre. The readers of my magazine can expect to find interviews with names known world wide, including Hedex, dates to upcoming events including festivals/DJ sets and many competitions to win things such as free tickets or discounts to your chosen event.

I will make sure that my content is appealing to my audience through using bright colour schemes and images featuring well known artists and events to encourage my audience to buy each edition.

Thank you for taking time to listen to my pitch. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/y18I50dc-so?si=3_rW6KzTIT_MzeCS

Planning Task One : Magazine Title and Strapline

 For my music magazine I have chosen the masthead 'BEATZ', this is because from my target audience research, most of the replies submitted were more interested in the drum and bass genre. For the target age group, this is the same opinions as many other people, I know this because of social media. Many people are interested in new and upcoming artists such as Pawsa and Sosa. In my opinion the masthead 'BEATZ' reflects the young and exciting music that my target audience may be enticed by. Furthermore, I have chosen 'Enter the new realm', I feel like this is not only an intriguing strap line but it also describes the introduction of a newly popular genre.

Research Task Nine : Target Audience Research And Analysis

In order to conduct my research and analysis, I completed an online forms questionnaire for both my friends, school mates and family to complete, this allowed me to gain an understanding in what they would not only expect in a music magazine but also the genres, artists and events that they are most interested in. As I was able to send it out to my friends and family, I have gained information from a middle-market audience with a range of ages, from 16-25. This allows me to have a wider understanding about the type of music particular ages prefer, finding specific trends of music, genre and events depending on a younger or older age demographic. 

My results have allowed me to infer that the slightly older demographic, ages ranging from 20-25, listen to more chill, easy listening to music. this can show trends within the ages as this age group may have grown up listening to this genre of music. Furthermore, the response show that they find out more about music through sources such as radios and TV, this follows the generic conventions of this age group as they are less likely to be on social media compared to the younger audience. In addition to this, statistics show that 99% of 16-17 year old's used social networking sites in the last 12 months compared to a slight decrease of 87% 25 year old's using social media. This adds a further understanding that younger ages are more likely to find out about music through social media instead of other factors such as radio and Television. 

Moreover, from my research I have understood that not many people buy music magazines, this is because they either simply don't want to but also they can find the information that they want to know about on social media. This links to the fact of print magazines' circulation slowly decreasing due to digital platforms gaining more popularity. However, my responses cover the same topics, if people were to buy editions of a music magazine they would want upcoming artists, famous artists and events to be included. Therefore, my research allows me to gain an understanding that people are interested in new topics in music, but also, they would be more inclined to buy a music magazine if the front cover and contents pages entice readers and stand out to audiences. This includes bold typography, eye-catching images and colours, allowing magazines to stand out from others. Leading on from this, people decided they would pay a price ranging from £2.50-£5.00, this follows the generic conventions of prices when comparing to other magazines. 

In conclusion to this, my research has allowed me to discover the differences between a ranging age group and music interests. It has also given me advice on how a specific target audience would feel more inclined to purchase a magazine based on the appearance. 

Here are my results:

                 

Reflection Point : What Have I Learned About Independent Music Magazine Websites?

During my research of Independent magazine websites, I have noticed more similarities than differences between the editions I have looked at. Furthermore, this involves the layout, the organization, the contents included but also allowed me to see the generic conventions of independent magazines.

Throughout my research I have noticed that all the magazine websites bar 'Blues and Soul' which I have looked at contain their normal mastheads, the same as what is shown on both physical and digital editions that they release. As the independent magazines do this, it provides readers with a sense of familiarity across all the magazine brands' editions and online platforms. In addition to this, most of the magazines include a simplistic and easy website in order for readers to navigate around the page to read their chosen topic, this involves clear typography, less color but also hyperlinks. Hyperlinks, I believe, are a huge factor I have noticed while researching websites, these links provide not only organization for the website, but also clear guidance for the reader, allowing them to discover their chosen topic without having to look through the whole website. Moreover, these websites use hyperlinks not only for navigation but also to interest readers. I noticed that all magazines provided snip its of their best stories in their editions, along side a picture. Hyperlinks are the further used if readers want to read more specifically on a story, cleverly, the links can take readers to a 'sign up' page, increasing the chances of people subscribing to the independent magazines. 

Furthermore, independent magazines produce many adverts on their websites, mostly advertising their physical copies of their magazines but also the subscriptions that they offer. Due to the adverts being there, I have noticed, personally, that people may feel more inclined into buying editions or subscribing to the independent websites due to the magazines intriguing in their target audiences. Leading on from this, I can  understand that most of these websites have a wide ranging target audience, this is because the genres might be more recognized within an older generation, however, younger artists are being recognized, festivals and gigs are being more advertised but also, the independent magazine's social medias' are included, allowing the independent magazine websites an inclusive page. 

Research Task Eight : Research Into Other Independent Music Magazine Websites

 

Research Task Seven : Independent Music Magazine Websites