magazine industry- tablets, kindles, iphones...

1. Explain the significance of new technological hardware for the magazine industry in light of the downward trend in audience numbers for traditional print editions.

As everybody nowadays is keen to switch to advanced technology such as iphone apps and the kindles, the fact that consumers are being offered a chance to read their favourite magazines digitally shows that the production companies of these magazines realise that they need to update the way the consumer can read their magazine in order to keep up with the ever changing market. However, it could cause the sales of hard copies to decrease even further, which would be terrible.

2. Read the TimeWarner press release from July 2001.What did the purchase of British publishers IPC Media bring to the existing portfolio of TimeWarner companies?

As IPC is the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher, when Time Warner bought it, they bought approximately 100 brands including popular magazines such as NME, Loaded and Marie Claire.

3. Find out how many copies of NME (New Musical Express) were sold each week in the 1960s and 1970s (see Wikipedia article on the magazine).

In the 60's NME was selling about 300,000 copies a week. However, in the 70's, it lost ground to The Melody Maker as NME failed to keep up with the ever expanding music market. Nick Logan, former assistant editor was made editor, and sales began to rise again, reaching 600,000 copies a week.

4. What is the current circulation of the magazine?Now read the second TimeWarner article and then visit NME.com.

In 2008, NME relaunched to a less poppy style and aimed at an older more authoratitive audience. Ever since, circulation of the magazine has fallen continuously since 2003. In the second half of 2009, the magazine's circulation was 38,486, 47% down on a 2003 figure of 72,442. However, the editor says that via the different media platforms such as NME radion, the online magazine, the iphone app, the brand NME reaches over a million readers a week.

5. How does the website attract its audience?

As you can see, The NME website is jam packed full of features of famous popular artists, that the reader would want to look at. The line 'First for music news' would make readers think that they will be ahead of others in terms of musical knowledge if they read the magazine and the online article. They have a variety of pictures and features, and they also advertise things such as the actual magazine, t-shirts and concert tickets.














6. Why might people still want to buy a hard copy of the NME magazine?

People sometimes feel that a hard, tangible copy is better as it is a treat, and that readers can indulge themselves, whilst learning about the best music around. Also, the hard copy can always be kept, compared to an online article, which would require you logging on to a website to refind the article. A hard copy can also be read anywhere, on your travels, in the bath, and if you drop it in the bath, its not a big deal, compared to if you dropped your iphone or kindle!

how can you recognise it's a magazine?

I have my main title, which is ON, which is in a larger and different font, and makes the magazine easily recognisable.
I have the features displayed on the front page, so readers instantly know what is in the magazine, and they know whether they would want to buy it.

moodboard...

my mood board i think represents the younger generation as well as the older one.
I have band Mumford and Sons as well as Lady Gaga, but I also have an older edition of Smash Hits with Madonna on it, so that targets the older market. I also have magazine titles NME and MOJO as well as social networking sites Facebook and Myspace. The drums and guitar represent people who are in bands, as well as a bottle of jaigermeister.

how does your project represent particular social groups?...

I don't really want my project to target any particular social group. This is because in my audience research, I found that most music magazines only look at rock style music. As this is popular, i definitely wanted to include this genre. However, i thought it was very important to include different features in the article which would appeal to all audiences, making it even more popular. So, in the contents page, there is a variety of music types displayed, including oldies like Elvis and Marilyn, main stream artists such as Alicia Keys and Pixie Lott, as well as alternative artists such as Mumford and Sons.

However, on the double page spread, i target teenage girls, who lack individuality. This page is supposed to represent the social group of mainstream style teenage girls who all follow the same fashions. Here, i am taking on the persona of alternative groups who criticise them.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?...

Obviously, i hope that my magazine would be intensely popular, and because of this I would like one of the big publishing companies to take on 'ON'. IPC media, which is part of US media group Time Warner, is one of the largest UK consumer producers. All productions of IPC are popular, such as NME. The magazine is one of the best around, and the online website was voted Interactive Consumer Magazine of the Year 2009.

I would also look at the following things...

• The influences of the company.
• What the production company does
• what the distributor does
• where the money to support the magazine could come from

who would be the audience for your media project?...

This is Matt. He is 21 years old, and studies medicine at university. Despite being very hard working, in his spare time, Matt plays the guitar incredibly well. His passion for music is followed through to finding out about new bands, and the coolest ones around at the moment.

Matt likes going to gigs, and sometimes plays alongside band 'the stiff dylans'.

Matt works in city pub The Kings Head in his spare time, where he is a barman. He is incredibly sociable, and has vast music knowledge.

He is 'ON's target audience as he is relatively young, he has a keen interest in music, and he is willing to try new things out, such as new bands and new types of music.

How did you attract your audience?...

First, i did audience research, in the form of interviewing people and asking questions like 'what is your favourite magazine?' and 'how much you be willing to pay for a monthly music magazine?' by these questions, I could find out the type of content that people wanted in a music magazine, and i have put that in my magazine. Because most of the people interviewed didnt want to see a normal chart star, they preferred rock alternative, so choosing a Gene Simmons look alike was a good choice as he is easily recognisable!

Then for my actual magazine, I have made sure that my front cover looks attractive, and that it would attract the reader's attention. The front cover image is similar to that of Gene Simmons, meaning that people would immediately understand that this was a music magazine, and that this issue contains something about iconic musicians.

Also, the name of the magazine 'ON' is catchy, and sounds on trend, so people hoping to find out things about new bands may be interested. Because it sounds up to date, I'm hoping that will attract a teenage audience, as well as older reader who want to know about recent music.

Also, the black, red and white colour scheme on the front cover continues to the double page, and i believe makes it look a bit punky and would attract a wide audience.

feedback video...

this video is of fellow pupils in my media class, who gave me their feedback of my whole project.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?...

I have learnt so much throughout this project, in terms of technology. I have used how to use the video cameras, when I did the research of what people like about magazines, and then my overall feedback of all of my magazine.

Also, i have learnt how to use photoshop and indesign, so that i could create the effect i wanted for my project. the two programs enabled me to make the magazines look professional, and typical.

An SLR camera was used for the preliminary and main project, and because it is an extremely accurate camera, it allowed me to take a precise picture, which looks great on the front cover. I knew how to change the resolution of the pictures, to change the amount of pixels, and stop it from being blurry.

Blogspot has allowed me to post all of my blogs, and display all aspects of my project. I uploaded videos, pictures and articles onto my blog, and because of that, all of my work is displayed nicely in one place.

Throughout my project, i used MAC computers which had all of the softwares i needed, and allowed me to go through my project easily. Also, because the computers are very quick they were really easy to use.

I used facebook and my mobile phone to contact the models for my photoshoots, so that i could arrange when i was going to take the pictures, and dress them up.

I used the NME online website to look at their layouts, and how they did their articles.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?....

I think if I had not done a preliminary task, there would be no way that I could complete a whole project. During my preliminary, i did a photoshop and indesign workshop, and that really helped me to use the programs properly, and enabled me to create the effects that I thought would be good for my magazine.

My preliminary task allowed me to go to the next level with my main project, and gave me more awareness of the colours and fonts that would go well together, so that for my main project I could create an attractive looking piece.

Also, for the preliminary, i used the school's SLR camera, and learnt the different settings and how to upload the pictures onto the computer and use the adobe programs with it. For my initial preliminary, i did lots of editing on photoshop, with the colour and the sharpness of the image. However, as i had to re-do my work, the picture i have now used had to be taken well, as i had very little time to do editing, so i used a blank background, so it had a nice gentle shadow which looked very good.

left to do..

by the end of this week, i am hoping to completely finish my project. the only thing that needs to be done is my front page, just to put the main title in, but in a special font, found on urbanfonts.com. During this week, i will just do my evaluation, and i will be finished!

preliminary front cover...

the name of my preliminary magazine is called tremolo, which is a musical term for on and off, which is supposed to reflect pupil's attitudes towards school life.

I think that this picture is perfect for the front cover of a school magazine, as it looks interesting, and makes you want to engage with the front cover star.

The font on the cover was called 'chalk duster' and I liked it because it looked like writing on a chalk board, which was appropriate for a school magazine.

my preliminary contents/editors letter...

the double page spread for the preliminary contains a letter from the prefects, as well as a copy of the front cover, with the details of what was inside.

my editors letter and contents page...

the double page spread i think has worked really well. Instead of having a plain white background, i went for a grey colour, as it would tie in with the colour scheme, as well as not being too over powering for the reader.

The word 'on' behind the article provides a fluency throughout, and it looks as if could be a trademark thing.

The poloroid style picture of me adds a personal touch, as readers usually like to see who makes their favourite magazine.

The contents page i think works really well, and it looks professional, as the contents are broken up into sections, and a small copy of the cover looks like a typical contents page.

my double page spread

my double page spread has to be my favourite piece from the whole project. The black red and white colour scheme ties in with the colour scheme on the front cover and on the blog.

The black information boxes are a nice contrast to the red background, and they stand out, which will make people want to read them.

The main title I think works really well with the nature of the article, as it is a font which is very different to the fonts that you get on programmes such as microsoft word. The outlining of it too makes it bold.

The poloroid pictures work extremely well with the article, and make the article come alive, and stop it from looking flat. I used a trial and error approach to position my pieces on the page, and then found the best layout, and kept it.

The main article is written in a colloquial way, making it seem fun, and easy to read, and as if someone was just having a friendly conversation with someone they knew.

MAJOR DILEMMA!...

After losing my memory stick the day before the last day of term, I realised that I hadn't backed up the files on the MAC i had been using, meaning that I had lost all of my files. As i had always used the same computer, the only things left on there were poloroid pictures for my double page spread, and screen shots for my contents page. I then did four hours of constant work on thursday the 31st and another two hours yesterday, and somehow managed to catch up. I managed to re-do my front page and contents page for my preliminary task, but using another picture, as the picture I had originally taken for my preliminary was lost. Then for my main project, I redid the front cover, as the picture luckily was still on the SLR camera. I also redid the contents page, alongside the editors letter, and the double page spread. I don't know how I did it, but now all that needs to be done, is just putting in the main title of 'ON' onto my front cover, which i couldn't do on the MAC i was using as i didn't have permission, meaning that I can complete it either one day in the holidays, or on the first day back.