There are many similarities between these magazines, that I would like to also include in my magazine, such as:
- The house styles of the magazines are both very clean, stylish and bold, especially Rolling Stone, which is famous for its iconic front cover images.
- Both have a similar target audience, and I have decided to cater for that type of consumer. This is an audience of either gender, between the age of 18-40, with a deep interest in music. Although the audience would use the magazine for light news on other subjects, such as sport, films or politics.
- Include a focus on well known and established band/artists, this is because it attracts the fans of those bands, for example if The kings of Leon had a exclusive interview in Q magazine, the fans are more than likely going to buy that issue especially.
My target audience for my new music magazine is music enthusiasts between the ages of 20-40, that are interested in the music industry and popular and established bands/artists. This social group would be the type of consumer that would enjoy going to concerts, buying unique Cd's or DVDs to feel superior towards peers with a similar interest.
I decided to go for a more serious music magazine, where the focus is much wider. It doesn't settle for just one genre of music, it looks as the music industry as a hole, which would therefore achieve a bigger audience. Although the magazine is mainstream, certain bands would not appear in the magazine. An example of this would be a teenage boy band, and since fans of the boy band would not be reading this type on magazine, it would be unlikely for the group to feature in the magazine, unless they were stating a comeback and are popular between various audience, Take That would be the prime example for this point.
I planned to stay within the norm and conventions of music magazines, using an obvious layout, which would include typical features, such as a master head, cover line, central image, and combined styles and details that I like in other magazines.
I started first with the front page because it was a suitable starting point to create the house style. I already knew I wanted it to be bold, mature and stylish, so naturally I went with classic colours: red, white, black and grey.
Although red has the connotations of love and danger, it also has the connotations of passion and power which I like to think refers to the readers and their passion for music.
The connotations of black are very much how I want my magazine to be represented, sophisticated, serious and somewhat mysterious.
One of whites main connotations is purity which would be a complete contrast to some of the content in the magazine. However in advertising, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness and charity, which are positive connotations of white.
The name 'Bridge' was first inspired because it has connotations of both: the bridge of a guitar, and the bridge of a song. It also suggests the magazine is a bridge, between the reader and music.
I decided to use an image of Jimmy Hemmings one of the band members of Izzy Gomez on the cover because they are the band I used in my double page spread, and are an unique selling points for this issue of the magazine.
The image I took of the band for the cover is a casual and nonchalant picture of the Jimmy practicing/performing, which portrays the magazine to be somewhat laid back and not continuously formal. The images are not particularly styled and we're not made to look like they were taken in a studio, I did this because I wanted the interview and photo shoot to feel more genuine and personal, which would most definitely appeal to the readers.
In the magazine I have told the readers that they are releasing their third album and are back from a recent tour. Since the magazine is mainstream, I thought I should use a band that I thought would be popular in the industry now. And made sure that the band would be a typical band to appear in such a magazine, and appeal to many audiences.
I used other USPs like 'win Glastonbury tickets' and '50 top rock bands of the 80s' to hopefully attract my target audience.
The contents page I kept pretty simple and straightforward, keeping with the house style, and using the same colours and style as the front cover.
I only used two images on the contents page because I wanted them to be the central focus on the page. I used typical and conventional features of a music magazine in the contents page like questions and answers for a band/artist, subscription page, reviews page.
For the double page spread I decided to create an interview on the first page and a enlarged photo (from a photo shoot) for the adjacent page. I wanted to create reasonably straightforward questions, and seeming as the band would be well established so general information about them would already be known by the public. So I produced questions that would ask them about their current situation and future expectancies. Because the first page is almost all writing I decided to use a contrast to that page and on the adjacent page place on large image of the band on a suggested photo shoot. I also enlarged a section of the text, a reply to a question, to attract the audience to read the whole interview.
On the contents page I decided on including a band index, which I made obvious and eye catching so the reader would be drawn to it. I also only used two images, this was primarily because I didn't want to distract the reader too much from the text and the content of the magazine, so I've used to images to entice the audience. These images were both used because of the similar style of the image and how well it works with the house style of the page.
I used Maslows theory of hierarchy of needs to help me make decisions about magazine. I believe that being a consumer of 'bridge' magazine it would help satisfy some of those needs, such as self-actualisation and esteem.
I also referred to the uses and gratification theory by Blumler and Katz, the theory suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. Users take an active part in the communication process and originate that in their media use. Some theorists say that the media consumer finds a media source to best fulfil their needs. Uses and gratifications assume that the user also has alternative choices to satisfy their needs.
Since I believe that my target audience are highly interested in the music industry, my magazine would perform as an escape from their daily grind, and allow them to be distracted. It would also be informative and allow the reader to use the information as a conversation piece when in social interaction.
I decided to use a range of programmes, Photoshop, Publisher and Paint.net and alternated between them for different styles and production tools. I am reasonably pleased with my finished product, if I could do it again I would concentrate more on the contents page because I think that page need the most adjusting. The double page spread is my favourite piece of the magazine, on the basis that it looks the most realistic.
'Bridge' magazine would initially be aimed at social groups from A-C1, for a maturer audience between the ages of 20-40. It would be a monthly magazine, due to the content, audience and price. 'Bridges' advertising and distribution would be mainly advertised over the Internet, radio and television to attract the target audience. Although the conventional advertising for that age group may be through tabloids and newspapers, I considered the fact they would possibly be on the Internet to follow the music world as well as reading music magazines, and most definitely watching the television. So I would air the advert on music channels, such as MTV & VIVA.
Radio would be an obvious advertising choice for the target audience with a particular interest in the music world. And would be on a range of different radio channels.
