Coursework-Planning Magazine Brief

Magazine Brief

I wish to create an identifiable magazine, one which is instantly recognisable to people everywhere. I am aiming my magazine at young teenagers who are aged between 13 and 19. This six year range enables me to capture a wider audience and appeal to a larger group of readers. I want to construct a music magazine directed at females only; my reason for this is simply since it is rare to find music magazines which target females alone. As I fit this category, being a young teenage female, creating a magazine suitable for my gender won’t be too challenging.

I researched into a variety of music magazines in order to understand exactly what my audience will expect. I researched into popular magazines such as NME and MOJO. NME especially took my interest. The magazine is Britain’s weekly music guide. It features the UK’s most comprehensive gig guide, shows reviews of the hottest gigs, tracks and albums, and displays fiery comments from some of the most opionated writers. This is the magazine I wish to use to help me create my own music magazine.

A young target audience will allow me to use vibrant, youthful colours and be creative with my design. I wish to create a really feminine approach to my design scheme. Exaggerating the use of a typical “girly” pink suggests immediately that the magazine is directed at females.

By looking at already existing music magazines, I wish to follow some of the codes and conventions used such as a pull quote from my main article which will highlight a fundamental aspect of the article, this additionally will add to my design as well.

My images will be my first priority as this will be the base of my music magazine. A good photograph is a necessity for my front cover especially as it is the first thing that the audience will notice. I am thinking a considerable amount about which type of image to use. Either a fun, lively photograph of my sister and her friends wearing pink tutus, as they fit the age category this would be a perfect image or perhaps using a shot of a single person of a teenage boy or teenage girl as both would appeal to girls. I believe a camera shot of one person will be more effective on the front cover than a group of people since it directs focus on just one person and therefore I can use a long shot of the individual without deducting detail since it is a reasonably close shot of them. I plan to take many photographs in order to pick the best few and have a lot to choose from, this will be one of the essential parts of my planning as the images of my magazine will play a fundamental part in conducting a successful overall media product. I must take into account the clothes, makeup and jewellery being worn by my chosen model for my photographs since this will play an important part in interesting my target audience. I wish to create an image which both inspires girl and which girls can relate to, so therefore most likely a cute dress which young teenagers wear today but which also music celebrities would wear.

I want to create a detailed magazine, one which considers most of the codes and conventions used by music magazines but which also does not look squashed with information. I want my layout to be organised and for my images and writing to be positioned in the best possible way since I think the placement of words and pictures has an overall effect on whether the magazine is successful and whether it is suitable for the target audience it is directed at.

Using real life will tolerate young teenagers to relate to certain topics and inspire them to perhaps reach their goals in life. I intend to write an article narrating the life of just an ordinary teenage boy or girl who has reached their ultimate goal of becoming a pop star. I think this article will be appealing to my target audience and inspire them greatly to try and achieve their aims throughout life.

My magazine will contain many images so therefore these visual features will attract the audience almost immediately drawing them into what is seen before what is written. Large, bold headlines on the front cover will also capture the reader’s attention. I wish to include an iconic letterhead for the magazine, one which has a certain style which will be immediately recognisable. I have ranged from ‘Tomgirl’ to ‘Pixey’ and from ‘Daisychain’ to ‘Confidentiality’. I believe that it must be a name which is diverse and so therefore I think I should use a name which best describes my target audience. I plan to use ‘Rebel’ as my music magazine name.

I would like to apply a quiz to my double page spread to involve readers even further. From past experience I have realized that quiz’s are greatly effective and produce a fun element to the magazine. It is not entertaining to just read pages and pages of gossip and articles. Including at least one quiz which occupies the reader and allows them to take part engrosses them significantly. However if this idea doesn’t seem to work, I will consider creating my own pop star and conducting an interview with him or her on my double page spread. In a different way will just as easily engage readers.