Research into different music magazines (Contents Pages)

Today i have had a look at some contents pages of some different music magazines. I have looked at Pop, Rock and Indie music magazines as this is going to be one of the genres that i will probably choose for my own music magazine. The magazines i looked at were NME, Q and Kerrang. All with different target audiences but all portraying the same sort of message to their target audiences.

I have found that different genres of magazines use all sorts of layout for their contents page. But Rock magazines liked to use as many images as possible on the contents pages where as a Pop magazine would only use one or two main images and have some text that really focus on these images. 

All the magazine contents pages that i looked at used similar fonts and very simple colour schemes so that they are targeted at both males and females that are interested in that genre.

I found the layout of a contents page within a music magazine is very similar throughout the music magazines that are on offer to buy, As they all seem to have their contents pages presented in a column like format. Keeping it this way makes it easy to read and understand and shows what the magazine has to offer.

The magazine contents pages that i studied were all very similar with the way in which they are laid out and the type and size of font that has been used.  

I will go on and research some double page spreads within the same sorts of genre so that i get a really good idea of how i am going to present my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Research into different music magazines (Front Covers) and Genres

I have had a good look across the internet at some different genres and different styles of music magazines that are on the market. I found the most popular magazines that i came across a lot were R & B and Pop magazines. From the beginning of the practical task i had always thought about doing a pop music magazine, or a genre of a magazine that i would be able to get together some people to take photographs of that would fit in with a well known genre.

I have analysed a few music magazine front covers to give me an insight into music magazines, i will soon go on to look at some contents pages and double page spreads to widen my research even further.

I created a mind map with some genres of music magazines and then went on to add in some pictures of magazines that fitted in with each of the genres. By doing this i can see the range of different images that have been used on the front covers of the magazines so it gives me an idea on the type of images that have been taken and are used for each different genre.

 

Mind Map Into Magazines- Research

I have created a mind map to show the genres that are on the market at the moment so I can then research further into the genre that I am going to choose to base my magazine around.

My mind map shows different genres and some front covers of these genres so that i could have a look at the type of images that are used as a main image. I found that a rock magazine e.g. Kerrang would pack lots of pictures and text on the front cover of the magazine whereas a Pop/Indie magazine would use just one main image and maybe one that could look right on the front cover of the magazine and match the conventions that the genre of magazine are trying to follow.

By looking at some images that are used for different genres of magazines will give me a rough idea of what sort of images i will need to take for the front cover of my magazine, contents page and double page spread.

magazines- genres, audiences, images used

Introduction

On Friday 21st January i created myself a Gantt chart for me to follow as a basic plan for completion of my rough copy of my magazine by the 4th March. I have planned to look at different music magazines, genres and audiences that my magazine could be based around. To begin with i have decided to research some different music magazines on the internet and analyse each of them thoroughly so that i can get a good idea of what features need to be on the front of my magazine.