I now have added a first draft of a Masthead for my publication "Modern World". From studying other magazines such as Q, Mojo & NME I have noticed that generally, Mastheads follow a certain pattern: bold, prominent (along the top of the Cover) and placing an emphasis on colour. I have therefore used some of these ideas when drafting ideas for my own Masthead.

 

Today I began my Cover for my Music Magazine. I began by taking some preliminary shots inspired by the Beatles images shown in previous posts. I inserted a header and footer bar so as to begin to create the initial layout inspired by industry conventions.

Above, is the Album Artwork for "The Beatles: Abbey Road". One of the most iconic images of pop culture, being recreated many times over the decades by numerous famous faces including The Simpsons and One Direction. For this reason, I aim to reproduce this image in my article, due to it's iconic status.

Above is the Album Artwork for the album "The Beatles: Live at the BBC Voolume 2". I intend to attempt to recreate this on Contents Page, and have selected this articular image as it shows the band in full, and highlights the suits and mop haircuts that became famous thanks to the Beatles. This backs up my decision to include the fashions of the era that these legendary musicians came from, a point highlighted on my moodboards that, often, it was about more than just the music.

 

 

 

Above is the first draft article for my music magazine. Much like any other conventional article, I have placed an image on the left hand page, and the body of the article on the right hand page. In keeping with the Beatles theme of the band I will attempt to recreate the famous Abbey Road image from their 1969 Album of the same name. Beneath the band on the zebra crossing I could possibly place a Pull Quote from the article. This would be possibly controversial to spark the audiences interest. On the right hand page, a two line introduction to the band would be placed atop the page, below an eye catching title. The title suggested on my first draft reads "BIGGER THAN JESUS? HELL YES!" and pays homage to a famous John Lennon quote. The main body of the text is split into two block columns with a large capital letter to begin and a pace for a Pull Quote on the right hand block. I felt this added a sophisticated touch to the article.

Above is the first draft for my Contents Page. From my research into Contents Page used by other magazines such as MOJO and Q, I found that a simplistic layout was often used, which I feel is done to be more ascetically pleasing to the target audience. With this in mind I've placed the actual Contents on left hand side, clearly divided into numerous sub sections so that the magazine is clear to understand, and takes a no nonsense approach. An image of the front cover is placed in the top left hand corner of the page, which I found is often reciprocated in numerous other publications, of any genre, hereby giving my music magazine a more professional touch. An image of the cover artist is used as a back drop to the contents page to reiterate their importance in the issue. Finally a Pull Quote from the main article concerning the band covers the bottom of the page to maintain the audiences interest in reading further into the publication.

Here is a first draft of my front cover design for my music magazine. I have included all the conventional areas including a Masthead, Pull Quotes, Sell Lines, a Barcode, a Splash and finally, a Pug. I have decided to go ahead with my original idea of trying to re create the album artwork for The Beatles Red/Blue Compilation Albums with an imaginary band, as this is an iconic image which is immediately eye catching for a potential reader. To compliment this, my Splash will be a title of a famous Beatles song to be in keeping with the theme set by the Main Image above. "HELP!" is merely used as an example in this scenario.

The MOJO reader.

Gender Ratio

26.9% 73.1%

ABC1 profile

59.5%
% of ABC1 Profile

Age Range

15-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+
24%	17.1%	17.2%	28.8%	10.4%	2.5%

 

Above is the Reader Profile of another inspiration for my Music Magazine; MOJO. Here w can see that the ABC1 Profile is smaller percentage (60% approx.) than that of Q's, with an even greater male readership (73% approx.). It is here then, that perhaps MOJO's more nostalgic approach is shown as the music covered mostly include artists and bands that grew in the 60's and 70's from working class backgrounds, such as The Kinks, The Clash, The Who and The Jam and so their loyal followers from a similar era and background prefer a publication that champions their successes. This point is supported by the Age Range data, which shows a wider range of ages in MOJO's Reader Profile, and includes greater percentages for the more "mature reader" than that of Q, which favours a far more contemporate approach to music.

Source: NRS January 2011 - December 2012

The Q reader.

Gender Ratio

31.7% 68.3%

ABC1 profile

70%
% of ABC1 Profile

Age Range

15-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+
35.5%	26.3%	19.8%	13.9%	3.1%	1.4%

 

 

Above is the reader Reader Profile for Q Magazine, one of the publications I have used as a model for my music magazine. We can see that over two thirds of their readership are male, with their

audiences mainly (70%) falling into the ABC1 Profile of income. This shows that their audience is largely an affluent male populous who can afford to not only purchase the magazine, but indulge their musical tastes in other areas such as music festivals as well as downloads of their music. Q has therefore expanded itself to a TV and Radio station, as well as a popular website, live concerts (including supporting Glastonbury) and an annual awards ceremony, which has grown in prestige since it's inception with artists such as U2, Adele, Sir Paul McCartney and Oasis attending previously. This is all been done with an aim to cater for the need of the music enthusiast status of the average Q reader.

Source: NRS January 2012 - December 2012

For my general music board, I have chosen to portray on the iconic eras and bands I wish to focus on in my music publication, and their relationship & influence on society and the people who followed them, who potentially form a large group of my target audience. I have chosen to do this in order to examine why they are so legendary, backing up my decision to focus on them in my magazine, rather than contemporary artists. The moodboard is organised so the American influences are on the left, and the British down the right.

 

 



• 1950's - images of fashion in the 50's and an early McDonald's have been used to show an explosion in style at this time. A similar change occurred in music, with Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley used to display this. This was largely down to the young people wanting to rebel against the older generations, and become more expressive and free. The characters in the 1978 film "Grease" display this. McDonald's and Ice Cream Parlours, along with the main characters from the previously mentioned "Grease" display the clothes worn by the youth at the time, and the places they hung out. This lead to....

• 1960's - Music now exploded in both the States and Britain, with the emergence of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. However, music was now used as a powerful tool to express distaste at a number of Political situations at the time, such as the Vietnam War. This music influence combined with a major social movement known as "the hippy movement", in which large groups of people both sides of the pond championed peace over death and drestruction, and it is here, the iconic Peace Symbol was born, originating with the CND (Complete Nuclear Disbarment) movement. These changes to society are so great they've entered Pop Culture, and have influenced the world since, even engulfing The Beatles during the later stages of their career as a group. The next major music development came during the....

• Mid 70's and Early 80's - In America, artists such as the Jackson 5 and their increasing popularity meant that more ethnic artists had more air time on popular broadcasting. This came to a spearhead when in 1983 Michael Jackson released "Thriller", which became so popular (the biggest selling album of all time) it opened doors for black artists and their music on MTV and other such programmes. Meanwhile in Britain, artists such as the Jam aired the grievances of the down trodden working classes against social injustices, which often wen hand in hand with such events at the miners riots and the Brixton Riots. The Red Wedge were a group of musicians whose music was focussed on bringing down Margaret Thatcher and Social, Moral and Economical injustices. The Union Jack was used as an symbol of unity by such groups as the Mods at this time, and is still used greatly in fashion, with the company "Rimmel" taking great influence in their advertising, which is why it is placed with such prominence on my mood board.

Overall I have used this moodboard to display how much music and it's great artists (of which my publication will focus on) have affected society and have cemented their place in history, and how their popularity is as fresh today as it as ever been, justifying my decision once again to champion their music. This is personified by my use of up to date images of Sir Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones, some as recently published as last year for a 50th Anniversary tour, rather than images of them in their "heyday", as such, to show just how popular they are in today's market.

 

 

As part of my audience research, I have created a moodboard focussing on the Mod scene. Although I previously stated the magazine was not specifically a cult magazine, I felt that as much of the classic legendary bands covered in my publication originated in the British Music Scene (some from the Mod era), it was important for me to do extensive background research into the Mod scene. Below is a list of the things I am portraying about this cult, in my moodboard.

 

 

• Style - The Mods were all about their image, the way they dressed, where they metM how they got about etc. For these reasons I have used a number of images of Brighton Pier, Scooters (including key brands) and focussing on the iconography of the suits. These are huge symbols of the Mod Scene, and were a way of Mods identifying with one another and speaking out about injustices they faced, showing that it was more than just the music, which is something I would like to champion in my Music Magazine (the style), from the Mod era and beyond. The imagery of the festivals and Brighton back up this point that being a Mod was a way of life, summed up by the Paul Weller quote; "I was born a Mod, they'll bury me a Mod".

 

 

• Culture - Music from this era, spoke out about many social injustices, and in particular, anger at the establishment, which is largely down to the fact that most bands of this era were from a working class background, symbolised by the use of a 1960's image of Woking. Images of riots show clashes are used show both musical and social influence, with not only Rockers (the big rivals of the Mods) but also the Police, displaying moments that have gone down in history, such as 1963 Mods & Rockers rioting on Brighton Seafront and the miners riots of the 70's. Bands such as The Jam and the Kinks show championed these causes in particular, and the phrase "Working Class Hero" was an idea used by the lower classes, as a symbol of hope. Vicky Pollard was used as a comical way of portraying the working class.

 

 

• Influences - Images of The Beatles, John Lennon & Chuck Berry, show how followers of the Mod Scene, were influenced stylistically by older artists from outside their cult group. Ska imagery also show the effects other influences had on other areas of the Mod Scene.

 

 

• Unity - As previously mentioned, Mods dressed and spoke in certain ways, hung about in certain places, rode certain scooters etc as a way of identifying with one another, and making a public standard against inequalities that oppressed the working classes at the time. The images od Mod gatherings, festivals, and groups of men show this.