NME Contents Page

This contents page if from NME music magazine. It consists of a simple colour scheme and easy to read fonts which helps the words stand out. There are two images of artists performing on stage which corresponds with the extarct of the story underneath. By using part of an article on the contents page it gives the reader a taste of whats inside and entices them to buy it. The fact that all of the stories are numbered and alinged to the side of the page makes it easy for the reader to find what they're looking for. They are also spilt up into sections of news, radar, reviews, live and features. I looked at few copies of NME over different issues and found that the contents pages have a fairly similar layout and style from one to the next, this is a very common convention of magazines.

Vibe Magazine

Another magazine I chose to analyse was vibe. The name vibe blends into the background but it is still clear which magazine it is because it is so well known. The colour scheme is a simple red and black which stands out against the faded background. Ciara is used in the photo and it is particularly sexual, she appears to be completely naked apart from a pair of black heels, it is a long shot which shows off her whole body. I think they have used red font for her name becuase red has connotations of love and love ties in with the sexual image. The barcode, date, price and website are all together at the bottom of the page as to not detract the attention away from the rest of the magazine. All of the hooks and celebrity names in the cover makes the magazine sound exciting and full of interesting stories.

Blender Magazine

Blender is another popular music magazine it covers a wide range of music, the name blender suggests that there is a mixture of lots of different genres. Most celebrities which appear on the cover are attractive female artists. They use this because a theory created by Naomi Wolf states that by using attractive women you can sell more magazines because women buying it aspire to be like them and men like to look at them. This particular photo of Alicia Keys is very sexual, the parted lips and inviting smile draw the reader in. Also the fact that she is wearing minimal clothing gives off the sexy vibe. Although part of the magazine name is hidden by the photo it is still clear which magazine it is, this is a common look for magazines to have the picture over the top of the title. The hooks for the stories inside are justified down each side to keep the cover looking tidy. Its a common convention of magazines to put information about whats inside on the cover so that the audience will want to buy it. Blender, like NME only uses three colours to keep it simple and make the text stand out.

NME Magazine

NME is one of the most well known music magazines and covers mostly music influenced by gutair but receantly other artists such as Jay Z have began to appear on the cover after their successful performances at festivals like Glastonbury. The main photo is a medium close up.The pose of the photo shows that there is a relationship between the two because Ian Brown is looking over at Jay Z. The fact that Jay Z is wearing sunglasses makes him more mysterious. NME is known for its colour scheme of red, black and white. The darker colours against the white background makes the font stand out. Another thing to notice is that there is no text over the faces to prevent the picture from being spoiled. The text bar at the bottom of the page tells us about what else is in the magazine. Most magazines have text bars but as well as this they have hooks all over the cover, this particular issue of NME does not. To avoid making the text look too cramped or busy they have only used two different fonts. I will use this idea when I construct my magazine. NME is a weekly music magazine priced at £2.30 and has an extremly loyal audience however because of the current economic situation I have decided to make my magazine a monthly issue so that people will be able to afford to buy it. I am going to sell my magazine at £2.50 because it sits in the price bracket preferred by people asked in my questionnaire.

Questionare Results

-These are the pie charts to show the results of my questionnaire.

Questionnaire

In order to find out which type of magazine to create I have conducted a questionnaire to see what people think. These are our results:

1) Sex?
(15 male 15 female)

2) Age?
13-16 (7 people) 17-25 (21 people) 26+ (2 people)

3) What genre of magazine would you prefer?
Pop
Rock
R&B
Jazz
Other
(18 said pop, 9 said R&B, 2 said other, 1 said rock)

4) Which type of music magazine do you think the market needs?
Pop
Rock
R&B
Jazz
Other
(15 said pop, 10 said R&B, 4 said rock, 1 said jazz)

5) How much would you be prepared to pay for a music magazine?
£1.00
£2.00
£3.00
More than £3.00
(22 people £3.00, 6 said £2.00, 2 said more than £3.00)

6) How often do you buy a music magazine?
Every week
Every two weeks
Once a month
Rarely
(19 said once a month, 6 said every two weeks, 3 said rarely, 2 said once a week)

7) Which name would you suggest for my magazine?
Melody
Lyric
Harmony
(19 said harmony, 8 said lyric, 3 said melody)

8) What sort of things would you like to see in the magazine? (Choose 4)
New bands
Old bands
Real life
Celebrity
Interviews
Free concert tickets
Posters
(The top 3 came out as new bands, celebrity, free concert tickets and interviews)

9) Where do you currently buy you music from?
I Tunes
CD’s
Downloads
(18 said downloads, 6 said I Tunes, 6 said CD’s)

10) How do you listen to your music?
Music channels
Radio
MP3 player
I pod
CD player
(10 said I pod, 6 said MP3 player, 7 said music channels, 5 said radio, 2 said CD player)