FONT TYPE FOR MAGAZINE MASTHEAD

Now, after choosing the masthead, I must choose a font. The font is one of the key features within the masthead and the boldness and style of it need to suit the genre and attract new readers.

I have collected all my fonts from www.dafont.com

I used the mastheads for Kerrang! and Vive le Rock in order to compare them and analyse similarities that relate to the punk genre:

FONT 1 - 'i tell you all my secrets'

This first font seems to have clear correspondance with the 'Kerrang!' mast head. The fact that it is shattered, distorted and rather bold, connotes the idea that the genre is uncontrollable and raw. I like the overall look of the font but if I were to use this, I would only use it for the masthead as it is not bery clear and will not attract the reader to the other information on the front cover.

FONT 2 - 'Chinese Rocks'

I feel that this font is a strong contender for the mast head due to the fact that the square, bold letters are easy to read meaning that the magazine will have the ability to pull the gaze of the readers to the mast head. Despite being rather straight, if you look closely, the typeface is slightly distorted which subtly connotes the punk genre as explained in the font above. 

FONT 3 - 'American Captain'

This font is one of the boldest which means that it has the potential to be the most visible. I feel that the simplicity and style of this font makes it a clean and usable one. However, the style of the font does not connote the punk genre. A font like this in my opinion would be used in mainstream pop magazines.

FONT 4 - 'Old Press'

This font is rather similar to font 1 due to the distorted theme on the typeface. However, This font is wider and seemingly more bold. I feel that this font would be appropriately used as the mast head due to it's clear relations to the 'Kerrang!' masthead. However, due to the fact that the letters are almost 'eroded', it looses the effect of being bold and does not stand out as much compared to other fonts alike font 3.

FONT 5 - 'Deadliner'

This font is both distorted and bold. The subtle use of distortion in the letters evoke the idea of the punk genre whilst it is easy to read due to the bold font and reasonably sized letters. I feel that this font has all the characteristics of the fonts above combined which is why I will use this for the masthead.

So after all the planning, I can now move on to the production of the magazine. 

BEGINNING OF THE MAGAZINE

After completing my research, I decided that the best place to begin was determining my magazine name. To decide the masthead name, I feel that I should take influence from other punk magazines. A strong example is 'Kerrang!' Features of this name is that it is onomatopoeic and sounds like a strum of an electric guitar. This directly relates to the key characteristics of the genre encouraging the audience to feel immersed in the narrative as it conveys the beliefs and values of the genre. Another example is 'Big Cheese'. The title immediately stands out due to the fact that it is rather irregular and does not directly associate to the punk genre. However, deep connotations of the name explain that it could highlight the craziness and individuality of the punk genre that the audience would pick up on and internalise. From this secondary research, I have formed three names to choose from:

The Pick
A plectrum is what is used to strum the strings of a guitar with. A common alternative to plectrum however is 'Pick'. The audience will understand this as it has strong links to key ideas within the genre. 'The Pick' also is a double entendre. It could also mean that the content is the best as it is 'the pick of the bunch'. This makes the audience feel as if the content is professional and created by people that share similar ideologies.

Sound of Hysteria
Green day used this lyric in one of their most popular songs, 'American Idiot'. This means that there is a large possibility that the audience will recognise the song quote and feel more immersed in the magazine. 'Hysteria' also is used as it conveys the ideologies of the punk audience as they commonly are stereotyped as being crazy and detached from a mainstream life.

Punk Off
'Punk Off' is a pun for 'F*** Off', a commonly used curse word used in anger. This means that the mast head will be direct address which is important when it comes to attracting audiences. This play on words is a use of humour and due to the fact that it denotes foul language, can be seen as controversial. Controversy is a key belief in the genre of punk and the music was extremely bad mannered and controversial back when it became a genre. Due to this, I feel that this mast head is a strong contender for being chosen.

I feel that after analysing all the names, 'Punk Off' will be the masthead as it is short, powerful and conveys all the appropriate ideas of the punk genre

RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS - SECONDARY

After finishing my primary research, I decided to undergo some secondary research in to the punk genre. I decided to do this by using the internet.

From further research I found out that:

- Typical instruments in the genre are the electric guitar, bass and drums

- Controversial and modern when it first came out

- One of the most sub-genres in a genre

- Kerrang is the most popular punk magazine and even has a channel on TV

- It is stated that the typical american Punk wears a motorcycle jacket and jeans

- Was not until the mid 70's until it became a genre

- Typically fast paced music with three beats

- Not as common in the modern day youth

Now I have completed my research, I can finally move on to the production  of my magazine. From my research I have defined my target audience. The age group will be focused around 16-25 year old people with a psychometric rating of C-D. I also feel that I will center the narrative to represent the key beliefs of sucseeders and reformers as these were the two most popular results in my research. 

RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS - PRIMARY 2

PRIMARY RESEARCH - (Interview)
Another form of primary research is interviewing the audience. I decided to interview my friend Robert as his favourite genre of music is Punk and he has a good knowledge on the genre. I found that the information he provided me was extremely important and has the potential to have a great impact on my magazine.


J - How old are you?
R -16
Important information as he fits in to my target audience.

J - What would you class yourself?
R - Reformer
Interesting information as the punk genre is commonly depicted to be an audience of reformers as large artists use the punk genre to 'get at the government' and they sing about corruption and inequality. 

J - Three most popular punk artists/groups right now?
R - Anti-nowhere league, Exploited and GBH.
I can use these bands in my magazine as they have a greater ability to attract new readers due to their popularity.

J - Most well known punk group ever?
R - Sex Pistols
Information can be used due to the same reason above.

J - Best punk related prize under £1000?
R - Tickets to Rebellion Festival
He explained that the festival is the most popular Punk festival and most people that follow the genre know about it. Due to this, I could use it as a pull factor for the reader.

J - How would you stereotype a Punk fan?
R - Not mainstream, scruffy, chains, spikes however they are usually just normal people
This information helps me with planning my mise en scene and what costumes the models should wear

RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS - PRIMARY 1

I then began collating the data from my research. From analysing the results, I began to notice some issues that I will address in this blog.



PRIMARY RESEARCH - (Questionnaire)

What is your age?
Everyone that completed the questionnaire were either 16-25 years of age. I was going to focus the magazine on a target audience around this age. This means that the information from the questionnaire will be of great use to me.

Can you name three punk artists?
The minority of the people that filled in the questionnaire were able to name three punk artists. The majority could name one or two. These artists were mostly 'Green Day' and the 'Sex Pistols'. This explains to me that the genre of punk is not very popular in the youth generation. However, I will use the artists that they could name in my magazine so that I can appeal to the target audience as they know them.

How much would you pay for a music magazine?
Over half of the people picked £2-£3 so judging from this, I think that I will price the magazine around this area.

What would you class yourself?
It was difficult interpreting this data as the responses were rather mixed. Despite this, the clear winner was 'Sucseeders'. I feel that this result is due to the fact that young people usually have great expectations and are influenced by celebrities to become like them in a sense. Because of this result in the Psychographics section, I will model the narrative around the key beliefs and values of the audience.

What colours do you find effective?
Most of the audience chose black and white and red and gold. A few said they thought that yellow stood out as well. So I will mainly base my colour palette on these colours.

Which picture do you find most effective?
The majority chose the third option:


Because of this, I am greatly considering using a low angle of the band sitting down for my double page spread.

If there was a prize to be won, what prize would you like to win (under £1000)?
Because of the large amount of possibilities, I gained a wide array of answers. Examples were a DSLR, iPad, iPhone 7 and £1000 in cash. I am still undecided on what to choose but I feel that I will choose £1000 in cash as this is a gender neutral prize and the winner can spend the money on whatever they desire.

QUESTIONNAIRE LAYOUT

I then created my questionnaire, here is an example of what it looked like. I managed to receive about 30 responses from the questionnaire.

PROBLEMS WITH REASEARCH

Whilst creating my questionnaire, I encountered some problems. One problem is the whole ethnicity question. I was considering to include a question in my questionnaire about ethnicity but I decided against it as everyone available in my research were white British. Also, I feel that including one of these questions would just evoke a large amount of racial stereotypes. I then encountered problems when connecting the data together. All the people I asked to complete the questionnaire were of a similar age and position in education. This is a problem because it could mean that the information I collected might possibly be biased and the results may not comply with the ideas of another social group. Consequently, my media product will not convey all the ideologies of the punk audience and will instead, convey the ideologies of the people I interviewed. In order to change this, I could go and interview more people from different schools and social classes. Another problem is the majority of people interviewed do not have a large interest in the punk genre. I debated wether to include a question on Psychometrics but in the end, I decided against it as I felt that everyone I interviewed were of a similar social class and the difference between lowest social class and highest was small enough to ignore.

Because of this, I have decided to undergo more primary research and interview some people that have more of an interest in the Punk genre. This information will be more use than the questionnaire. 

RESEARCH IN TO THE GENRE

PRIMARY RESEARCH- 
Primary research is research carried out by the researcher. This could be in the form of interviews, questionnaires and other first hand methods.


SECONDARY RESEARCH-
Secondary research is the collection of primary research created by other people. Secondary research is commonly collected online in the form of articles, experiments.


I have decided that I will create a questionnaire to try and interpret the demographics, psychographics, psychometrics and other important information about the target audience.

These are the questions I decided to ask the people I interviewed and the reasons I chose the questions:


What is your age? 
The age is important to determine as the demographics of the audience can influence the content. 


Can you name three punk artists?
This question helps me understand the popularity of the punk genre.


How much would you pay for a music magazine?
Asking this question will help me pick the right price for the magazine so it will sell. I can also incorporate secondary data in to this question and research the common price of punk magazines.


What would you class yourself?
I will put a tick box in my questionnaire and ask them to tick which option they would most associate themselves with. This will help me pick specific content/adverts that relate to the audiences attitudes and values.

Sucseeders - People that are successful in what they do and because of this they are self confident
Carers - People that have a social conscience
Reformers - Seen as caring people that do not have brand conscience.
Aspirers - People that just get on with life.
Mainstreamers - Conformists that buy branded products in order to stay safe

What colours do you find effective?
I will place some colours on the questionnaire and I will ask the audience to tick box which they find the most appealing. This will help me determine the colour palette of the magazine.


Which picture do you find most effective?
I will find different pictures of punk bands and will create a tick box. This will help me understand what kind of picture to take and what should be included in the mise en scene.


If there was a prize to be won, what prize would you like to win (under £1000)?
This will help me understand what to put as the competition on the front cover. 

GENRE OF MY MAGAZINE

As most editors believe, specifying a genre is the most important part of creating a magazine. With the genre determined, the content of the magazine can be sculpted in order to convey the appropriate ideologies of the target audience. As explained in previous posts, different genres have different stereotypes attached to the audience. I feel that is essential for me to determine the genre of my magazine so that the magazine can display content related to the target audience. This therefore increases the amount of readers due to the fact that that the magazine appeals to their norms.

It took me a while to think about which genre I should use. I narrowed it down to three genres:


Punk                           Pop                             Grime


PUNK-

Characteristics:
The punk genre was created in the United States during the mid 1970s. The genre was originally named 'Punk Rock' due to the strong link with rock music. However, the sub-genre of rock soon developed in to a genre in itself. The genre blew up and became extremely popular in the 1980s. Despite losing popularity in the 21st century, the genre is still extremely popular and well recognised in the music industry with large bands like Green Day and blink - 182. Stereotypes of the genre is crazy hair styles, tattoos and leather jackets. The target audience ranges from 16-35.

Reason why chosen:
- The genre has a large amount of sub genres attached to it. Examples are garage-punk and beach punk. The sub genres all have various stereotypes attached on to each one. So creating a magazine highlighting the whole spectrum of the punk genre means I have a greater chance of gaining the readers interest.
- Punk has a massive audience.
- I can use the sandy beaches of the island to portray beach punk and surf punk.
- Personally, I enjoy listening to the punk artists and this experience will help me create an accurate representation of the magazine.


POP-

Characteristics:
Pop music or 'Popular' music is the most common form of music. It promotes a mainstream audience of 7-18 and stereotypes the audience as white, British and mainstream. The genre has adapted since it first became apparent and nowadays, the music is usually from single artists and the beat of the music is usually electronically created. The artists are also attached to the oligopoly of record labels that promote their music.

Reason why chosen:
- For me, the main attraction to this genre is the fact that it is the most popular genre. This therefore means that the magazine has the ability to attract the largest audience.
- Like most people my age, I am most familiar with this genre and listen to it regularly through the radio, TV and other technologies.
- The majority of the magazines I have analysed convey the pop genre. This means I am already familiar with the layout of the magazine.


GRIME-

Characteristics:

Grime originated in London during the early 2000s. It was negatively looked upon by the media due to the fact that the lyrics were raw and honest. The music also contained a large amount of racist/ negative lyrics that were controversial. The genre has recently exploded and some songs have made it in to the charts. Artists like Stormzy or Skepta have grown a large following similarly to the followings of pop artists. The audience characteristics include being a 'chav' and dressing in a tracksuit. The target audience age has significantly decreased due to the growing popularity. It is now around 15-24 year old people.

Reasons why chosen:
- Grime is increasing in popularity and the magazine has the potential to sell.
- The audience seem to be extremely dedicated to the artists and the community seems to be very tightly linked.
- I am familiar with the genre.
- There are not very many grime magazines and the production of one could be very effective in drawing an audience.



After taking note of all the positives and negatives of each genre, I have decided to go with the Punk genre due to the reasons listed above. I will now start my research to determine what content should be included in the magazine.

TIME MANAGEMENT (OUT DATED)

Due to the fact that the task yields a great quantity of work, I feel that it is appropriate to create a plan to manage my time so that I can meet the tight deadline of the 26th of January.


RESEARCH-
9th December - 18th December

PLANNING FOR MAGAZINE CREATION-
18th December - 27th December

MAGAZINE PRODUCTION-
27th December - 12th January

EVALUATION-
12th January - 26th January


By creating deadlines, I feel that I will have more motivation to produce blog work and it will also expand the amount of work out in to a manageable time period. I am now going to begin my research stage



*DEADLINES WERE CHANGED SO I THEN ALTERED THE DEADLINES SO THESE DEADLINES ARE OUT DATED AND DO NOT MATCH THE TIMES I FOLLOWED IN MY FINAL PRODUCTION*

MUSIC MAGAZINE RESEARCH CONCLUSION

After researching different magazines, I managed to familiarise myself with the appropriate forms and conventions that music magazines of different genres portray through the narrative. I have discovered that most of the magazines convey different techniques related to the page type depending on the genre. For example, I have discovered that the rock genre conveys the ideologies of the target audience using bold fonts and lots of different images and text. This is common in most rock magazines. Another example is pop music using popular celebrities as main images. Most of the time they are female and are dressed to suit the stereotypes of the mainstream audience.

From this, I have decided that after determining my genre to base my magazine on, I will need to research the common forms and conventions magazines of the genre convey. I will also research the audience and the stereotypes they link in with.

I feel that I have the knowledge necessary to move on to the production and planning of my music magazine.

MUSIC MAGAZINE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD DECONSTRUCTION 2

The title takes up little under half the page and is in a red, bold font. The colour connotes power and love which greatly contrasts the rest of the grayscale colour palette. Rita Ora is a popular artist that became famous due to her contribution to the genre of pop. Pop music stands for 'popular'. This means that the target audience of the genre is a mass audience and the editor has to keep in mind the various sub-genres and different ideologies they contain and how they are portrayed in the magazine. For example, young children listen to pop music. However, creating a magazine for young children will not appeal to the older audience that listen to pop and therefore, the magazine will not sell. To combat this issue, the editor has to create a magazine to represent the mass audience and their different ideologies. I feel that this magazine has achieved this due to the content it includes and the design. The background model is Rita Ora and this directly relates to the narrative. She is placed on the floor next to a wall. Her position connotes a sexual feeling due to the amount of tanned skin on show. This appeals to the male gaze making the male audience involved in the article. Also, the model relates to the female audience of the pop genre as they would take Rita Ora as a role-model and base their aspirations around her. The whole mise en scene especially the clothes directly relates to the pop genre as they are fashionable and relevant. I feel that the image was taken in the location for various reasons: the most important idea, is the fact that the brick wall behind her connotes the sense of realism. A normal celebrity would be depicted to be living in luxury. However in this circumstance, the model appears to be 'on the streets' which links to the audience of middle class people. This therefore creates a bond between the audience and the article encouraging them to read on as they feel that they have a connection with the celebrity. Another point is the fact that her sub-genre of pop connotes the ideas of music from the streets. This is explained in the location of the photo. The narrative of the double page spread agrees with the forms and conventions of the magazine. The way that it is structured in to columns and ordered in to boxes. However, the layout is in 'Q&A' format (Question and Answer). This idea is extremely common within social media. The youth audience immediately recognise the Q&A layout and will connect with the article. This appeals to the youthful audience. In conclusion, the layout of the double page spread, connects with the audience of the pop genre due to the forms and conventions it portrays through the narrative and the background image.

MUSIC MAGAZINE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD DECONSTRUCTION 1

From first glance of the double page spread, the reader would be drawn to the large, bold title 'MARK RONSON'. The title stands out from the white background due to the contrasting colour palette of black and white. Black and white are used as they are corporate colours of double page spreads and they convey the formality of the magazine. Mark Ronson is appropriately used in this example due to his growing fame in the genre of funk music. However, I feel that the double page spread does not accurately represent the genre of funk. Stereotyping 'Funk' music would evoke the idea of classy and vibrant artists the USA. Due to the simple colour scheme and the outfit that the model is wearing, the  ideologies of the funk genre is not accurately represented to the audience. Despite this, the use of the mise en scene with the broken trumpet connotes that Ronson may be destroying or changing the look of the genre. This is supported by the secondary title 'THE REVENGE OF'. Due to the narrative, the funk audience may be confused as to why Mark Ronson is depicted to be changing the look of the genre and will read the article to find out more about this. The structure of the magazine agrees with the forms and conventions of a music magazine double page spread as explored in my last post. The article is structured in to two columns which are broken by the use of a quote by the celebrity. The quote is probably from an interview by the magazine so the audience would see the quote and due to the fact that it probably would be the first time they had seen the artist say this, the narrative encourages the reader to read on and find out more about the celebrity. The tagline under the mast head is placed there so that the reader, after reading the mast head, will be inclined to read this section. It contains information that inclines the reader to read the rest of the article and commonly contains puns and comedy to create the feel that the editor creates a relationship with the reader.

MUSIC MAGAZINE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD CONVENTIONS

I decided to deconstruct a double page spread to familiarise myself with the forms and conventions represented through the text, pictures and layout.


Main Image
There is commonly just a single image on the double page which is located at the far left, far right or the center. The rest of the space is taken up by text. The image is usually either a mid-shot or full body shot of a celebrity in the music industry. The celebrity relates to the article on the page. In the example, the celebrity is from the band, Blink-182. This is used as the band is extremely popular in the rock genre and the picture of the celebrity will attract the reader.

Title
The title of the article is usually takes up a similar amount of space than the main image and is in a large bold font to draw the reader to it. The title commonly is short with various techniques enlaced within it. For example, it might have puns or might reference information that would relate to the genre. The title is one of the main attraction points for new readers.

Quotes
Quotes are usually placed on the double page spread. They come from the celebrity in the main image and they are written in a different font in order to stand out. The quotes are usually from an interview taken prior to the creation of the article. The quotes also are used to encourage people to read on as they may see the quote and want to read on and discover why the celebrity said that.

Content
The content of the double page spread is what is included within the article. Commonly, the article is organised in to columns to add formality. At the start of the article, there usually is a paragraph in bold or a larger font. This paragraph highlights what the article is about and engages the reader to read the full article. A capital letter in a different colour and size is placed before the paragraph start. This is common in all media productions and used to emphasise the text after it. In some examples, the article is split up by the use of quotes and pictures.