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
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