Questionnaire 2, Layout

Questionnaire 1, Target Auidence

Questionnaire 1- Target Audience

1) Are you male or female?

Male  [ 4 ]

Female  [ 6 ]

I chose to use this question to show what gender of people are answering the questions. I purposely tried to get an equal amount of girls to boys as I wanted to get a non bias result and also really see what both males and females want to see in a magazine.

2) How old are you?

16  [ 8 ]

17  [ 2 ]

18  [ 0 ]

19  [ 0 ]

20  [ 0 ]

This question shows the age range of the people that answered my questions. Most people I asked were college students which is why they are all 16-17 years old. I want to create magazine pieces for this age range so I think that this age range is suitable.

3) Which genre of music interests you the most?

Heavy metal  [ 0 ]

Rock  [2  ]

Punk  [ 1]

R &B  [ 0 ]

Pop  [ 0 ]

Emo  [ 0 ]

Indie  [ 6 ]

Other  [ 0 ]

I chose this question to see what genre of music is the most popular as I was unsure what genre of music to base my magazine on. From this and the textual analysis of the indie magazine, I can see that it's a good and unique genre to choose.

4) Do you prefer single artists or bands?

Single artists  [ 6 ]

Bands  [ 4 ]

I wanted to ask this question as I'm going to use photos throughout each piece so I wanted to know what would work the best and what people would want to see.

5) How much would you pay for the magazine?

£1.99  [ 5 ]

£2.99  [ 3 ]

£3.99  [ 2 ]

£4.99  [ 0 ]

There's a wide variety of prices throughout popular magazines in Britain. If a magazine is under priced, the company would make a profit. If it's over priced, people aren't going to buy it so you need to find a price in which you'd make profit but people would think suitable and appropriate as well. I chose this question to see how much the people I asked would normally pay for a magazine.

Understanding genre in music magazines

In music, there's a wide variety of genres such as: Indie, Emo, R&B, Hip Hop, Punk, etc. The way a genre of music is portrayed on the magazine needs to relate exactly to how the music makes you feel. For example, a Pop music magazine would have bright, vibrant colours with the connotations of happiness and models would have lively poses and happy facial expressions. The magazine wants to make you feel happy, the same as the music it releases.

   I will be looking at Emo, Punk, Indie, Rock and Heavy Metal.

Emo: Whereas some genres of music are simular, Emo is very individual and unique- although the appearance of the people are often confused with goth. It is one of the strongest genres of music to stereotype due to the black clothing and heavy, black make up the boys/girls wear. The way in which Emo bands dress and look make people stereotype them and assume the way they are going to act and sound. Additional stereotypes link to the behaviour of the people and often link to depression and self harming. The lyrics of the music connote a lot of upset and confession.

Punk: Punks are very unique and different also. They often wear black clothing, such as leather jackets, black jeans but they also use bright colours. In this photo, you can see the lady is wearing black, black nail varnish and has a black tattoo but her hair has various different colours dyed into it. Punk music magazines often have a a mixture between dark black colours and very bright colours. A lot of  punks are very individual, express their attitude through clothing, have unique hair styles and have piercings and tattoos.  The way they dress causes people to stereotype them.

Indie: Indie music magazine covers are often very colourful which make them stand out and look individual against a magazine such as emo and heavy metal. Indie music (individual music) wants to be unique, so the way they dress and sound is the way they want people to think of the genre, which is why they dress with so much colour. This magazine cover is  simple, so you can see the model better. Her hair is various bright colours, along with the headband and glasses. This connotes happiness and energy which is what I think that this genre want to portray, without being simular to a genre such as Pop.  

Rock and Heavy Metal: Rock and heavy metal are different genres of music but are simular due to their dark appearances and loud music. People in rock often wear dark clothes with a colour in it such as electric blue or hot red. People in heavy metal reflect anger and aggression through their lyrics due to the way that they sing it and the lyrics that are sung.   

Codes and conventions of magazines.

All magazines try to be different, unique and independent in a way that attracts and persuades people to buy and read what's inside. However, codes and conventions are carried out in all magazines to make it easily understandable. There 3 different categories for codes- technical, symbolic and written. Technical codes are to do with the photography side, such as the framing, lighting, exposure and positioning. Symbolic codes look at the connotations, such as the colours, body language, facial expressions and clothing. Lastly, Written codes is about the language of the text. Common codes and conventions of magazines include:

A mast head- this is the name of the magazine. It is normally located at the top of the cover to make it easily found in stores, where there would be many other magazines. It is normally bold and bigger than any other text on the cover. Also, as the mast head is the name of the magazine, it will stay the same on all issues so again, it is easily recognised. It is unusual for a masthead to use letters that aren't in capitals- this is again due to needing to stand out. Billboard is an example of a magazine that uses a masthead without it all being in capital letters.

A main image- the main image is normally an iconic sign, relating to the main cover story. For example, if the main image was of artist Cheryl Cole, there would be a large cover line about her. Also, on many magazines, a model quote is used.
   Most magazines use photography studios to get shoots in which the model would be against a white background. As well as looking more professional, this gives a clear background to use for cover lines and over conventions. The connotations of an image have to be looked upon as it will need to relate to the cover line and how the model is supposed to feel and the expressions they should show. For example, if the cover line description said that an artist had won a good award, the facial expressions would most likely connotate happiness, also giving a positive energy.

Cover lines- cover lines tell the reader what stories are going to be in the magazine. This is an easy way for people to find out what is inside without flicking through. Normally, if a person isn't interested in the cover lines, they wont buy it so they have to be worded and made the most interesting they can be. Cover lines usually have a bigger subtitle in a different colour. Underneath this, a short sentence telling more about the story. Both of these could use language techniques such as a pun, repetition, rhythm etc. For example:
Chase and Status:
''Twisting the face of drum and base''
The sub title and description are both extremely small worded but the description uses a rhythm with the words face and base which make it more fun.

A date line- a date line usually goes at the top right hand corner or by the bar code to make it easily found. This shows when it made made for.

Advertisement- there is normally some type of advertisement within the cover which attracts attention to the magazine. It could be a 'Win big!' which makes people want to buy it and read more. Images are often used with this in a boxed text to stand out from the rest.

Bar code- on every cover there's a bar code and the price is next to it.

Magazines often find the best layout and stick to it to make it constant as it will go with the theme of the magazine and link to the genre of music they want to display.

Textual analysis, Double page spread 5

This double page spread is spilt up in two as the page on the left is full with an image and the page on the right is the article. This doesn't make the two pages flow and look as one. However, there are various techniques that the magazine have used to relate them both together. The most obvious one being the letter J covering the page on the right. The J stands for the first letter of Jay-Z's name (the man in the photo) so it automatically becomes relevant without reading the article. Also, the colour scheme throughout the two pages work well together only using a small variety of colours, red being the main one. 

   The page on the left is only used for the iconic sign, photograph of singer, Jay-Z and a small section for text. Being able to see eyes in a photo usually is the main way to express feelings and a look that the magazine want the photo to portray. However, in this photo he's wearing sunglasses so his eyes are covered- this makes it less obvious to who it is and a more definite expression but the pose he's doing still gives a sense of attitude. Also, red conotes danger so by using the colour red in the photo, it could link to this meaning. With half of his face being red also, it reminds me of evil and devils and the J in the right page looks like a tail so altogether, it's giving an 'dangerous' look. This could relate to the genre as well as it's rap and the stereotypical rap singer is 'dangerous'. The layout of the photo is simple due to it spreading across the whole page, fitting to the edges and not showing any excess page.

   On the photo, there's a small amount of writing. The biggest being a quote from the article, a logo of RapRadar and a small description including the words 'better red than dead'. This links to the the red colour scheme and the connotations of the colour red. On the second page, there's a lot of writing separated by 2 columns and 3 paragraphs. The openings of the second and third paragraph start with a huge letter. This seems to break it down more and make it look as if there's not as much writing as it would look not having the big letters. The letter J covering the page is bold but you can still easily read the text thats over it. Also, the singers name 'Jay-Z' is on the top of the second page in red, tying in with the other red fonts and parts around the two pages.

Textual analysis, Double page spread, 4

Due to an iconic sign spread across the first and part of the second page, it makes it more obvious to who the article is about. The name of the band, 'The Black Eyed Peas' isn't big or bold on the page so unless you knew who they were, it isn't obvious from looking only. The third person standing, Will. I. Am, is opaque and bold whereas the other three people have been faded so they look as if they are more part of the background- this could conote the importance of WIll. I. Am in comparison to the others roles in the band. It could also imply that the article is going to be more about him than the others in the band. Linking to this, the boxed text "will he wont he?" shows that it's only going to be about him, using the word 'he'. The words 'will he' is in a gold font, the same as the colour of part of wills suit. This again, makes WIll. I. Am seem like the most important person. The colour is also used on the two arrows on the second page.
   There is only one column, making it look like there's less to read. However, the font is small and as it's an interview, the questions will be straight to the point and interesting.
   In the middle in of the interview, there's a quote, highlighted in black and in a black font. This is the opposite of the other text so makes it stand out even more than just a bold font.

Textual analysis, Double page spread 3

Due to the bright, vibrant colours, the largest image stands out the most on the page- as the double page spread is black and white (excluding the two pieces of blue text), it's also the most colourful part on the page.

   There are 7 smaller black and white images spread across the width of the page, all in which the girl is in the same outfit but doing different poses; they all look quite fun due to the lively poses. In between the 5th and 6th one, there's a much larger scaled image of the same girl but in colour. This one isn't as 'fun', it's more posed and serious.

   There are four columns of text to read, 3 being on the left page and 1 being on the right. This separates the two and makes it seem like there isn't as much. It also allows the larger image to be more in the middle, rather than at the end.

    The text is in a silver/grey colour. This makes the image not as bold as if it was black but look more gentle- it also is the same colour as the greys in the smaller images.

    In the subtitle, the name 'Solange Knowles' is in an electric blue, automatically standing out from the title and the rest of the text. This is the same colour as the 'Now' at the top of the page also. On the second page, there's also a separate column in which is just a quote. This is in a bold font, so it makes it stands out more.
   The connotations of the images could be happiness and fun due to her smiling and looking lively throughout.