(Research) Styling & Fashion within my chosen genre

Four words can some up rock fashion, black, leather, long hair. When you look at 90% of rock bands, they all have long hair, are wearing some type of leather whether it be a guitar strap, trousers, top or jacket, and almost always dress in black. But like i said, Rock has many sub-genres like glam rock and heavy metal, and I want to combine all of these into my magazine to reach my target audience. And we must remember most of these rock bands, of at least the once who have influenced me, have been around for decades and have changed there look and style various times. But to generalise it, black, leather and long hair are usually associated with rock music. For example take the band Motley Crue, they started off in full leather clothes, but 6 inch stiletto heels, long puffy black hair with make up, but over the years it has been toned down, keeping the long hair and leather. And again KISS, one of the most influential rock groups of all time. Started off in their comic like but now iconic make-up and fantasy based costumes, but over the years took off the make-up and stripped it all back for a more raw look. These bands like KISS, Motley Crue, AC-DC and many more will help shape my magazine, the style, the look, and mainly the photo's I take. I will try my best to resemble the aura and look they had with the resources I can get a hold of.

(Research) 20 songs that have influenced my magazine

In order to create a music magazine, in this case a rock based magazine. You must have bands or songs to help style and create your magazine. Here are 20 songs that will help me shape my magazine.

1) Strutter - KISS

2) High n' Dry - Def Leppard

3) Bad Boy Boogie - Motley Crue

4) One Way Street - Aerosmith

5) Get it Hot - AC-DC

6) Still Take You Home - Arctic Monkeys

7) Rango - Catfish & the Bottlemen

8) Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry

9) Twenty Flight Rock - Eddie Cochran

10) Helter Skelter - The Beatles

11) Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy

12) Slumville Sunrise - Jake Bugg

13) Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult

14) Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth) - Metallica

15) Peace Sells - Megadeth

16) Respectable - The Rolling Stones

17) Train in Vain - The Clash

18) Bodies - Sex Pistols

19) Iron Man - Black Sabbath

20) Spirit of the Radio - RUSH

Though these songs span from the 1950's right through till the present day, they all still fall under the rock genre, due to many sub-genres and niche genres in rock. But most of these artists are still active today, for example Chuck Berry, one of the pioneers of rock music who was in his prime in the 50's, is still active today.

(Research) Target Audience Research

Detailed target audience:
My rock magazine will appeal to a very wide category of people from ages 16 to about 50. This is because the rock content can stretch back to the 50’s to modern day so there will be a wide range of people that the magazine will appeal to. And in this blog post I am going to create an ideal reader of the magazine to show who I am trying to market this product to.

Name: Darren
Age: 29
Race: White
Socio-demographic: C1
Gender: Male



This is Darren, he is 29 years old and enjoys classic rock music. Darren lives in a one bedroom flat in Sheffield with his dog Terry. He listens to rock bands like  KISS, Aerosmith and Motley Crue and has seen many classic rock acts like Def Leppard in their prime back in the 80’s so he has grown up from birth listening to this kind of classic rock music. This type of music also effects the way he dresses, leather jackets, ripped black skinny jeans and leather boots. Also when he was younger he had long black hair like the bands he idolized and still idolizes. He works a 9-5 job, working in a call centre and rock music is his escape from the boring reality of work. He has an AC-DC live photo pinned in his work cubicle and a Megadeth cd in his car stereo. Darren also likes to keep up with technology buying things like I-Pads, I-phones e.t.c. He is also a keen TV and movie fan and watches at least one movie a day when he gets home from work. His claim to fame is that he watched the entire breaking bad series in one day. Darren also enjoys fast food like McDonalds, Chinese and Burger King and has various empty food dishes from these restaurants lying around his flat. HE is very loud, outspoken and says what he thinks, this can often lead to fall-outs with friends or drunken fights in bars. He also enjoys socializing with his friends like going out for a drink, going to gigs or going bowling and playing snooker.

(Research) Magazine Moodboard

This is a collage of different bands that I like and the kind of bands / style that I want to include in my magazine. As you can see it is a rock collage but there is a sharp contrast when you compare some of the photos. That's because of the variety of rock acts, at the top of the collage is some classic rock bands like AC-DC and Def Leppard who look far more stripped back compared to the bands on the lower half like Motley Crue and KISS. They all produce the same type of music but due to the many sub-genres in the rock category there are lots of different styles and looks. I want to make my magazine as accessible as possible but also keep a specific and detailed target market, which I believe I can do with thorough planning and research into different target markets. But by also asking my peers, I am currently planning to create a questionnaire for my class mates.

(Research) 10 Magazine Masthead Fonts

Magazine names

• The Grind
• GR!T
• Pyromania

These are the three magazine names I have created, but I must narrow it down to one. The name I have chosen for my magazine is “The Grind”, I have chosen this because I believe it matches with the dark, gritty, hard rock theme I am going for. These are also the three magazine fonts I have chosen, as of right now I'm not sure which one to use, I'll narrow it down to one when I begin to create my front cover. There are various different styles ranging from an urban tone, to a more simple smarter tone.

Fonts for the masthead:

Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: All Ages

Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: Urban Jungle

Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: Headliner No. 45

Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: OuterVerse

Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: Dent

Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: Spike-o

Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: Brush lyt







Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: Eroded Plain








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Website: www.fontspace.com
Font Type: Pull Grit

(Research) KISS image Deconstruction

(Research) Motley Crue image Deconstruction

(Research) In Design, article layout test

This is my first attempt at using a different software to create my magazine. In-Design is a piece of software by adobe that can be used to create posters, flyers, magazines and much more. For my preliminary task I used pages which is still effective but is far more simple to use. In this case I didn't make a front cover I was just testing out the software and decided to make a mock article template. I found it hard to use at first but I began to get to grips with it, as you can see it is a very simple design but like i said it was just a first test. It's more of a newspaper layout. The thing I liked about In-Design was the way I could crop the photo, as you can see I got a photo of Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, cropped out the background and just used the photo of him and fitted the text around him. I believe this will be a good piece of software to create my double page spread and my contents page, I am considering using Pages to create my front cover but I will decide that nearer the time.

(Research) Magazine cover's and Influences, including Title analysis

In order to make my magazine the best it can be, it is important to thoroughly research multiple different music magazines to take inspiration and influence from. The three magazines I chose to look at were The Rolling Stone, Classic Rock and Q. The Rolling Stone is, perhaps, one of the most iconic magazines of all time, in worldwide circulation since 1967. It focuses on various types of music, primarily rock, but also dips into other genres like hip-hop, blues and others. The reason I chose Rolling Stone is because of the simple but effective layout. The main images is usually a head on shot just showing the artists face. The articles are neatly placed around the cover with the big bold red masthead situated at the top of the page. Classic Rock has a similar layout, simple colors, not too elaborate, but has a-lot more on the front cover making it look a little messy but that fits with the rock genre. Classic Rock primarily focuses on rock music, which is a big genre with many sub-genres that fit the rock category. And the final magazine I chose to look at was Q, like the Rolling Stone it primarily focuses on Rock music but again dips into other genres like hip-hop, blues and pop. The layout is similar to the Rolling Stone, simple colour scheme with the artist's face usually making direct eye contact with the reader. But it's similar to Classic Rock in the fact that all of the articles are spread out across the page giving the cover a full effect. My plan is to combine the aspects of all of these magazines to help make mine look professional and that you could actually picture it on a store shelf. The most important factor of any magazine, is the title, whether you want an long elaborate title, or a short and snappy title. The Rolling Stone is a metaphor for Rock n' Roll, a very smart metaphor at that which is a nod to the magazines rock roots. But do not be fooled by the title, like I mentioned earlier in this post, Rolling Stone covers different genres and does not isolate itself to one. There is no meaning behind the Q, it is meant to be short and snappy. (Not to be confused with the snooker magazine Cue). But it doesn't matter on the length of your title, Q is still one of the most recognised magazines in circulation, generally in the UK. But has come under recent criticism for and  I quote "losing it's edge". And Classic Rock is pretty self explanatory, it focuses on classic rock music. I like this title because it is specific and can be easily applied to a nice target audience, but that can be a problem if you are trying to appeal to a bigger target audience. I do not want to confine myself to a very small audience.

Q

                                                            Classic Rock

(Research) Kerrang Deconstruction

This is an issue of the rock magazine Kerrang from the early 90’s and it features Motley Crue bassist, Nikki Sixx on the cover. The masthead of the magazine reads ‘KERRANG’ in big, bright, bold and fuzzy letters. It immediately catches your eye and it matches with the whole rock genre of the magazine. The main image is Nikki and he is bright green and seems to be shouting with his mouth wide open, this suggests he is loud, enthusiastic and outspoken. He has also been painted or digitally colored in green, this also catches our eye and makes us think why is he colored in green, his personality? Or just for effect? And on his jest reads ‘Vince’ with a large ban symbol over it, Vince is his former bandmate so we can infer from this sly dig at Vince that there is   some form of turmoil within the band and this will make us want to pick up the magazine and read the article. The magazine cover itself despite the main image is very eye catching and there are many things on here that jump out at you. The article heading, “WORLD EXCLUSIVE! MOTLEY CRUE! THE NAKED TRUTH!” sits next to the main image in bright white bold letters an jumps out at us, it seems very loud with all the exclamation marks and when I read it in my head it seems to shout. Also the heading “BLACKMORE GOES BONKERS” is clearly visible when you see the front cover due to its bold yellow writing, this appeals to us because of the word bonkers, we want to read on and find out what made him bonkers. And it is even more appealing because it is a celebrity or someone famous in the music business. The background of the front cover is red and red connotes anger, hate, rebellion and loud, so this matches with the rock theme of the magazine and goes well with the rebellious Nikki Sixx featured on the cover.

(Research) Magazine Genres, Rock + Pop

Rock Music:

Rock music has been popular for many years and still goes strong today, some may argue that though. But it it no doubt that rock magazines are still swept of shelves religiously each week. The most appealing thing about a rock magazine is all of the genre’s and sub genre’s, you can get so many different bands, cultures and content in a rock magazine due to its wide and varied content. But with my music magazine I would like to concentrate one a specific type of rock music, particularly 70’s and 80’s rock. This is because it makes it easier to create a target audience.

The target audience for my Rock magazine:

Age: 16-50

Race: White

Gender: Male + Female

Hobbies: Interested in music, uses social networking and electronic devices. (I-pad, I-phone, Laptops etc)

Pros:

• Lots of content to use.
• Can appeal to a wide range of people.
• Rock music in general is the biggest pioneer of music, so there are years and years of content to choose from

Cons:

• Restricted to a certain time in music.
• Many of these bands not around anymore.
• Could be recycled news due to bands retiring and getting old.

Pop music:

Pop music is like rock, in the sense that there are many different types of pop music. Many different artists could be classed as pop. Pop was originally big in 50’s America and it was an abbreviation for ‘popular music’ but like i said, it now has many sub genres like synth-pop, rock-pop and many more. This could be a good thing though because of how it can relate to many different sub genres and artists it may appeal to more people, but again you should try and stick to one genre / sub-genre so you can create a specific target market.

Pros:

• Pop still popular, limitless new news.
• Appeals to a wide audience.
• Many artists to choose from.

Cons:

• Target audience will be very limited e.g girls, teenage.
• Many other pop magazines being published.
• Tough, competitive market.

(Research) Using Pixlr

Here is a photo from the 80's heavy metal band Motley Crue. The Photo on the left is the original copy, and the one on the right is the version that I altered in Pixlr. I used various different airbrushing tools to get a different effect, a darker grittier tone. Better fitting with their heavy metal genre. I dimmed the overall brightness to make it darker and used an air brush tool to darken their eyes and their lips. I believe it has been very effective on changing the syle of the photo but I'd like to try out various other photo editing software, for example the most popular Photoshop. Which, to generalize it, is a-lot more complicated to use, but in the long run it would be worth it for there is a-lot more you can do to change a photo.

(Prelim) Preliminary Evaluation

For my preliminary work i created two pages for the school magazine. The front cover and the contents page. I used all of my own ideas and content. The images I used I took myself, I went around the school grounds inside and out taking them and I had permission to take photos of the content and people in the photos.

In order to create the magazine I conducted questionnaires and asked people what makes a good school magazine. We asked multiple teachers what content they would like inside, would they like the questions to be conducted by students, what colour scheme would they like and just general content. I also asked fellow students what they would like inside, after all they are the people who are most likely to read it along with parents. Also I'm trying to keep it readable for all ages, keep it smart and simple but still appealing. Obviously the quality of the photos and the work will be better in the real project, because this is just the preliminary work to show how much i have improved and what I have learned.

I believe that the preliminary work I have completed is a very good starting point to base my real work off and I am looking forward to expanding my ideas and using new software to create my school magazine.

(Prelim) Preliminary Contents Page

This is my preliminary contents page that I created on Microsoft Publisher. Like the front cover it lacks detail and that professional look, but again that's the point in the task. To see the improvements. There are key things that aren't on here, page numbers, word from the editor, and general detail overall. I was restricted to how much I could do on publisher for it is not really the best creative software to use, the content looks un-professional and not very smooth.  I am looking forward to starting my real magazine and using different software, learning how to use it, but I am yet to decide what the genre for it will be.

(Prelim) My Preliminary Front Cover

This is my preliminary task. I created this on Microsoft Publisher because I'm not very experienced with other software. When I make my final piece I am planning to use Pages or In-design to get a more detailed and realistic looking finish. The photo I used for the main image was taken on one of the schools flip camera, as you can see the quality of the image is very poor. So when I start my final product I will use a better quality camera and put more effort into the actual content of the photos. Besides the preliminary task was made in one two hour session and the whole point of the exercise is to show the improvement in media and software skills. I am currently working on the preliminary contents page.

(Prelim) Preliminary Planning

 believe it takes a number of things in order to make an appealing and successful school magazine. Firstly the cover should be smart, and in some way be promoting the school. For example if there are two students on the front their uniform should be exactly to the school code. Top buttons done up, ties by the top button, shirt tucked in and the real uniform. After all they are representing the school and you want to send off the positive message.

Also the cover as-well as the inside of the magazine should be bright, colourful and eye catching, but staying smart and simple at the same time. You don’t want a magazine that is black and white or very dull colours, you want one with vibrant, bright colours so it catches your eye and has a more positive look about it. And on the front cover should be relatable headlines that students or parents can relate too and will be interested in, for example the other magazines I have read have relatable articles and story headlines on the cover. For example “GCSE Stress” and “DECREASE your workload” so for students who read this, in this case GCSE students, they can relate to this and will want to pick up the magazine and read this article. Also the word decrease was in big capital red letters because it was the command word of the article and it was supposed to catch your eye, and it really works.

I also think it would be a good idea to have interviews in the magazine, with teachers and students. This is a good idea because people will read this and hear first-hand what the school like because they are the ones who experience it every day and I’m sure people would be interested to see what people really think of the school.

 Names for my school magazine:

·         CBA Today

·         CBA Piper

·         The Academy View

As-well as coming up with ideas for a name I also thought of some articles or features I would like to include in my magazine. Like I previously mentioned, I would like to include interviews with teachers and students, they are the people who experience life in the school first-hand every-day and it would be interesting to see what they have to say about the school. There would also be a lot of interesting questions to ask the head teacher, Mr Henrys. I would also like to have an achievements page, I believe the hard workers in the school who do not get the credit they deserve or the recognition should be featured on this page as role models to others, also it is a good promotion for the school for when people read it. This kind of ties in with the interview idea, but I would like to create a page were we ask students and teachers a specific question each week/month and get there answer and put it in the paper, like a question to do with the school or current affairs, something that has been in the news recently. And another thing I thought would be a good idea is to have a “Peoples page” where people good ask the magazine editors to put an post/article in the magazine for them, this page is for anyone in the school and it can include anything. A good piece of artwork, a good story, a joke or a problem they have within the school.

(Prelim) Questionnaire

Questionnaire:

1)      What kind of colour scheme would you like?

A: Clear and consistent colours.

A: Nice bright colours

A: Stick with the school colours.

2)      What kind of articles would you like?

A: Something about reading, we are trying to get the pupils to read for pleasure. Also current affairs, not just CBA news, but news from Corby and everywhere else.

A: Student success stories.

A: The school senate, GCSE results.

3)      Would you rather have real writers, or students writing the columns and articles?

A: I think it would be good to have student articles, it gets them more involved and may get the other students to read it.
A: It depends, I think a real writer would have a better quality article, but at the end of the day it is a student magazine and it's their voices who should be heard.

4)      Should the front cover be professional/ formal or informal to show its run by the students?

A: A more formal looking cover looks smarter and represents the school better, but you don’t want it to look so serious that it intimidates readers.

A: Yeah definitely student articles.

5)      What kind of images should be in it?

A:Images relating to the topic of the article or page, no celebrity photos, photos of students and the school.

6)      What general content should be included?

A: general student work, showing the good aspects of students work like art or a good story.

A: Student, a page to show and celebrate students good work.

7)      Informal or formal content?

A: A bit of both, maybe towards the back have a more informal section.

A: Formal, but not so much that you bore the students.

A: Formal, it’s a senior school. Not a primary school.

(Prelim) CHS (School Magazine Deconstruction)

This is the CHS magazine. As you can see it features a female student on the front so straight away we know it is aimed at students. It also features lots of bright colours which immediately catch your eye. Also there are many different sub-headings on the cover page which students can relate to, and this is why they have featured them on the front. For example the title “GCSE RESULTS: why we’re the best” is good because GCSE students can relate to it. “New to school?” is also relatable because many students will be worried about starting at school and they could relate to this and find sanctuary in others people’s views. And “Teenage stress” another relatable heading, teenagers who are stressing out and worrying can relate to this also. So the CHS school have tried to make this magazine as relatable as possible with all of the subheadings and also tried to make it eye catching and appealing with the bright colours and big bright, bold font

(Prelim) Wilmo Weekly (School magazine deconstruction)

This is the magazine for the Wilmo School. This cover looks very cheap and just thrown together in my opinion, but the way they have coloured the font is very smart. The subheadings and titles they have included on the cover are relatable for students, like “Maximise your concentration”, “Decrease your workload” and “3 easy steps to a healthier mind”, these are all problems that students have and this magazine would relate to their issues. Also they have coloured the headings with the command words in red because they want it to stand out. Like “MAXIMISE your concentration” is in capital, bright, bold, red letters because they want you to see it first and because it is urgent, and red represents importance and urgency. But the masthead seems very cheap to me and isn’t very clear, the black squiggles inside the font make it harder to read and there is just a general clash of colours throughout the whole cover.