Magazine Feature Article Draft

This is what I would like my feature article to look like in my magazine. This layout however may change slightly when I get into the production process.

Magazine Contents Page Draft

This is a basic outline of how I would like the contents page for my magazine to look. However, like my front cover and feature article drafts, the layout may shift and change around when I am in the production process.

Magazine Front Cover Draft

This is roughly the layout that I would like my front cover to look like. However, as I construct it, it may turn out to look a little bit different as things will fit in differently depending on things such as the main image size.

Original Ideas Statement

In my magazine, I will be including both music and fashion. These are topic areas that appeal to my target audience of 16-19 year old females. My audience would be interested in the new trends and fashions, but also the new releases of music. However, there is a vintage aspect to their personalities, so there will be a ‘roll back’ area of the magazine, which has old bands and artists that my target audience would be interested in- for example, The Beatles. Likewise, the fashion that is included will be high-street fashion that is affordable. This is because, my audience will most likely be in further education, so would not be able to afford expensive designer branded clothing. Also, due to the fact that the audience will be in further education, my magazine will be used as an escape from their hectic lives, and college work. The type of music that I will cover in my magazine will be slightly alternative, main stream music, which people of this age group would enjoy listening to. There will be the music charts included in my magazine, as 16-19 year olds are interested in knowing what is popular and they like being in the know. 

Overview of Magazine Industry

There are more than 8000 magazine titles that are published in Britain. They can be categorised into 7 different divisions:

1.    Consumer General and Specialist- sold in newsagents and available online

2.    Business/ Trade/ Professional/ B2B- for people at work

3.    Customer magazines- organisations give to their customers as a form of marketing

4.    Staff magazines- inform staff about the company

5.    Newspaper supplements- come free as part of a daily/Sunday paper

6.    Part works- a set number of issues builds up into an ‘encyclopaedia’ on a specific topic

7.    Academic journals- for university: level discussion of topics

Out of all of these categories, consumer magazines sell the most in newsagents around the UK. Consumer General magazines are wide-ranging titles that aim to entertain and inform the reader. Examples of these magazines are ELLE, RADIO TIMES and HEAT. Consumer Specialist titles are focussed a specific interest of hobby. Therefore the reader would buy the magazine, to find out more about one particular interest of theirs. Such as CAR, TOTAL FILM and GARDENERS’ WORLD.

There are four big consumer magazine publishers: Bauer Publishing, IPC Media, BBC and National Magazine Company. The leading publisher is Bauer Publishers with 25% sales. Close behind is IPC Media with 20%. The least sales publisher is National Magazine Company with 7.3%.

In the UK today, there are 3,300 different consumer titles, compared with 1,383 in 1980. There are 1.4 billion magazines sold each year, compared with 2.1 billion sold in 1970, and 1.2 billion in 1992. This shows that that the sales of magazines decreased between years 1970 and 1992, but is slowly increasing to the present time. 85% of the population read a magazine, and advertisers spent 745 million, on advertising in magazines in 2008. On average, consumers annually spend 2 billion on magazines, and an average of 500 new magazines have been launched every year in the past decade. However, only three in ten titles last for longer than four years.

Out of all the magazine brands, there are five most popular women’s monthly magazines. They are Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Yours, Women & Home and Good Housekeeping. These are all stereotypical female magazines, which feature aspects of gossip, fashion and the home. All of which are dominant representation of what women want to read about. Likewise, there are the top five children’s and teen magazines. They are Moshi monsters magazine, Fun to learn- Peppa Pig, Fun to learn-Friends, CBeebies Art and Top of the Pops. These all appeal to the younger audience, as some help with learning and cartoon pictures, however the magazine that appeals to the teenage market, features celebrity gossip, ‘boyfriend troubles’ and fashion tips. These are all things that teenage girls would want to find out more about. Along with this, there are four top men’s lifestyle magazines: Men’s health, Nuts, FHM and GQ. The magazines such as Men’s health don’t include gossip and fashion (which women are more interested in), however, they are more informative and suit the male target audience. 

Magazine Colours Mood Board

The first colour scheme is commonly found on female magazines such as 'Q' and 'Now'. It adds sophistication in the minimal colours used, as the black and white are smart and professional, and the red adds a feminine touch to it. This is the same with the 3rd colour scheme. The pinky/purple one is appealing to my female target audience. The dominant representation of it is a female colour, opposed to a masculine one. The last colour scheme portrays a very girly and feminine touch to the magazine, which would appeal to a younger female audience, age range 12-15. This is not my target audience age group; therefore, I don't think I will be using this colour scheme.
The colour scheme which I chose will depend on the colour I choose to incorporate in my magazine front cover main image. I may choose to use the second one down, if my main image has the light blue shade combined in it. This would make my front cover seem more slick and stylish. Also, by only using three (or four) colours, the front cover will look a lot more elegant and tasteful, rather than piling loads of different colours on, and making it look cluttered and tacky. My favorite ones are the first, second and third ones.

Magazine Text Fonts Mood Board

I have included these six fonts, as I believe they all look professional and stylish. Likewise, I think they all have a feminine aspect to them, which suits my magazine target audience. The first one, 'verve', I particularly like, as it is quite slick, but also stands out from a simple, basic font. Also, it has a vintage look to it. This also appeals to my target audience, as they will be into style and the more artistic look. Moreover, I like the font 'motown motel'. The boldness to it allows it to stand out, and it would be a good font for my mast head. The fact that it's in italics makes it seem more feminine, once again appealing to my target audience. I also like the font 'femoralis'. Like 'verve', it has an arty look to it, and is very feminine. It may work well as the font of the titles on the cover lines. 'georgia' is also a feminine and girly font. However it is quite plain and basic, so doesn't fit in with the arty theme of my magazine. 'Agency FB' is quite a basic font that is easy to read and be understood by the audience. This is why I believe that it would be a good font for my front cover, to use on the cover lines. It looks like quite a modern font, which also appeals to my target audience's expectations of the magazine.
The font which I least like is 'forte'. This is because it doesn't flow very well, and I believe it would better suit a male music magazine due to the abstract nature of it. It looks like the font that would be found in a Kerrang magazine.

Magazine Advertisement Mood Board

On this mood board, I chose to include the Galaxy, Guylian and Cadbury logos. This is because, women are known for their love of chocolate, therefore, these brands, will want to advertise in my magazine to that they can reach a larger mass market and get their brand across to everyone who would buy my magazine.
I have also included the brands, Boots and Superdrug. These are both chains of chops that sell cosmetics. My audience would be interested in make-up, and other cosmetics from shops like these. Therefore, they would be interested in advertising in my magazine, as it will, once again, boost their sales if the people who buy my magazine see the shops in my magazine. This is the same with the brands like Bare Minerals, Maybelline, and Rimmel. If someone were to see something advertised, it has been proven that they are more likely to buy it, rather than just going out and seeing the products on an off-chance.
River Island, Topshop, Vans and Ted Baker would like to advertise in my magazine as they are all popular shops and branded clothing/accessories for my target audience. My audience would be interested in purchasing things from these brands, as they are in trend at this current moment in time. Therefore, by showing these brands to the audience of my magazine, the sale figures may go up, as they are being reminded that these brands are out there.
Giraffe and The Waffle House would most likely to be interested in advertising in my magazine, because people are always looking for a lovely place to eat, so when they find one they like, they tend to stick with that one. Therefore, by advertising in magazines, restaurants can reach another mass customer market, who maybe wouldn't have though of going to these places and trying the food. Likewise, if they are a small business, some people may not have heard of them. so, by advertising, they can make themselves known to new customers.

Magazine Target Audience Mood Board

On my mood board, I chose to add in the social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter. This is because young people of my target audience spend a lot of time on these sites, getting the gossip and seeing what everyone is getting up to in the world. They also symbolise the Internet. It has been proven that young people are becoming more reliant on the Internet and getting things quickly. Therefore, the use of these on my mood board, shows that my target audience are technology reliant and spend a lot of time using the social networking sites.
I have also included the Mini and Fiat 500 cars. These are seen as feminine cars, as they are dainty and cute. They would stereotypically suit a female more that a male driver due to their appearance. Saying this, these cars are also relatively new in brand, so are up-to-date with the trends, showing that my audience will be in touch with the latest releases.
Likewise, the shops that I have included are River Island and Topshop. These are popular shops, that are well known for their fashionable clothing ranges. Also, River Island has a range by the current singer Rihanna. My audience will be interested in looking the best they possibly can. They will want to shop in the stores that are well-known for their fashion and well established as good clothing products that are in-trend.
I have also included on my mood board a camera with pictures, nail varnishes, and perfumes. These are all stereotypical female objects. Women are seen to have more over flowing emotions about belongings and memories. The camera symbolises this aspect of my audience's personality. The nail varnishes amplify the thought that women care a lot about their appearance, and how they can look more feminine. The perfume adds the sense that along with looking good, they also want to smell appealing.
Women are also well known for having a sweet tooth. The chocolate, hot chocolate and Jelly Tots cover this aspect of their personality. They show a cuteness and innocence to my target audience.

Publisher research

IPC Media-

This is a Time Warner company publishing more than 60 iconic media brands and creates content for many platforms throughout print, online, mobile, tablets and events. It is seen as the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher, will approximately 26 million UK adults as the audience. This number includes two thirds being female and 42% male. The portfolio of websites collects over 25 million users globally every month.  IPC Media work in partnership with the consumers (customers and people who read/ purchase magazines), advertisers and business partners.

IPC Media have three publishing divisions: IPC Connect, IPC Inspire and IPC Southbank. IPC Connect has a mass market of Women, and produce well known women’s weeklies such as NOW, CHAT and WOMAN. They are appealing to the stereotypical female target audience, who are interested in celebrity gossip, and the world of cooking. Likewise, the IPC connect are involved in the publishing of TV entertainment brands including WHAT’S ON TV and TV TIMES and TV & SATELLITE WEEK. This division of magazines are read by 9.4 million women, (49% of all women) and the digital brands reach over 5.3 million users, collection 35 page impressions every month.

IPC Inspire produces a male collection of 38 brands, which focuses on leisure brands, wealth and sports of magazine, such as COUNTRY LIFE, HORSE & HOUND and RUGBY WORLD. Likewise, there are lifestyle brands including NUTS and NME.

IPC Southbank is an upmarket women’s lifestyle publishing department, which focuses on luxury fashion braded magazines including, MARIE CLAIRE and INSTYLE. Also, this publishing division concentrates on home interests and brands such as IDEAL HOME and HOUSE TO HOME. This suggests that the stereotypical upmarket woman is interested in the finer things in life, so would look to see what’s popular in the magazines to take ideas for their homes and wardrobes.

IPC Advertising allows agencies and clients to buy advertising solutions from all of the brands and across some of the platforms and market force. Market force is the UK’s leading magazine sales, marketing and distribution company.

Condé Nast-

It was founded in 1909, but BRITISH VOGUE published it’s first issue in 1916. This became the basis of Condé Nast in the UK. It is a worldwide publishing company based in New York City. The company attracts more than 164 million customers, with the 14 UK media brands, in print and digital media. Some include, GLAMOUR, VOUGE, GOLF WORLD and ALLURE. The company started Condé Nast Entertainment in 2011, developing film, television and digital video programming. Therefore, this company are appealing to their audience, as they will know that people who chose to buy their magazines, will also be interested in watching programmes and films, which appear to conform to the similar styles of production. Likewise, Condé Nast owns ‘Fairchild Fashion Media’ which analyses fashion and the news surrounding it. The company provides a portfolio of wide-spread fashion journalism brands, including BEAUTY INC. and STYLE.COM. This shows that they understand their audience is interested in their appearance, and finding out about what is going on in the world of fashion. It is seen as the dominant ‘upmarket’ publisher in the industry. Condé Nast works with aspects of fashion, interior design, bridal, travel and technology. This shows that Condé Nast are providing the types of information that their higher class target audience wold like to know about. They would be more interested in these areas of the media, rather than the celebrity gossip that you get in some other types magazine. Condé Nast International is seen as a leader in the publishing of digitally enhanced editions of magazines. The pocket-sized GLAMOUR (developed in Italy, but had been copied across the industry) enabled GLAMOUR to reach a larger mass market through the use of technology. It allowed Condé Nast, and GLAMOUR to capture market leadership in various markets.

Bauer Media Group- 

This is a worldwide publishing company, offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries. HEAT, CLOSER, YOURS and KERRANG are an example of some of the media brands this publishing company produces. They are all magazines that appeal to the people who are not ‘up-market’. They would be interested in celebrity gossip (would read HEAT/CLOSER), would like to know about ‘real-life’ every-day women’s situations (YOURS), or interested in a specific type of music (KERRANG). It also has online, television and radio stations for it’s work. The two main divisions are magazine and radio. The history of this publishing group stretches back to 1953, with ANGLING TIMES. Overall, Bauer Media Group spans over 80 brand names. The radio success had come from the purchasing of KISS FM and MAGIC. These both possess the target audience of a younger audience of 16-25, who are into dance music. This audience are seen as listening to music all of the time, so Bauer will have reached a wide audience by going into this field of media. This company also came into collaboration with Channel 4, in a small scale venture into TV. This has grown into a seven channel joint venture TV business. Channel 4 is also predominantly has a younger, trendier audience, similar to KISS FM, and the readers of Bauer’s magazines.  

Full Magazine Analysis- NME

NME- Full Magazine Analysis

NME magazine first edition was out on 7^th March, 1952. It has a readership of around 247,000 people, and the circulation of the magazine being around 23,049 copies it distributes each issue. The target audience of NME magazine is predominantly student males, with the age of 25. Out of all NME readers, 75% also read about music online at least once a week. Likewise, a third of the readers download music at least once a week as well, 53% of these people being between the ages 16-24. 58% of NME readers say that the adverts for new music and new bands in the magazine influence how the learn about new music. This figure rises to 68% in the audience of 16-24 year olds. It could be seen that these people, would have the most knowledge and expert judgement to their peers and would carry and lead the conversation about music and upcoming artists, rather than just follow it. The weekly cost of NME magazine is £2.20. This magazine is published by IPC Media-Inspire.

Online

NME has an online version that has approximately 6,035.336 users in total. This online edition allows the techno-friendly users stay up to date with the goings on whilst they’re online. With 27,894,080 page impressions, the website is seen to be very popular. The target audience of the magazine tells us that they are broadly using technology all the time in their lives. Therefore, an online site to go with the magazine, is appealing to the gadget reliant audience of this generation.

Social networking sites are one of the most, if not the most, popular sites that are used on the internet. NME have acuminated 229,000 likes on Facebook and 434,000 followers on Twitter.

Advertising

Due to the fact that NME magazine is such a popular and well established magazine, it is quite expensive to advertise in it. NME is the longest published and seen as the most respected music weekly in the world. The cost ranges from £12,456 for a double page spread, to £698 for a quarter of a page advertisement. The magazine would only let adverts be included, if they are in the keeping with the type of magazine NME is.