The Preliminary Task

In order to make sure I could complete my music magazine task, I completed a Preliminary Task which I designed a magazine front cover and contents page, for a sixth form magazine which was aimed at year 12 and 13. I had to design the front cover of the 6^th form magazine on Photo Shop, after doing this task I felt confident using Photo Shop and I learnt the codes and conventions of a contents page as I did not know. 


Target Audience Profile
My magazine will be aimed at sixth form students that attend The Douay Martyrs school who are taking there AS/A2 level and are aged between 16-18. 
The sixth form students have a part-time job or looking for a part time job. Their personality is cheerful, fun, sociable, mature and kind. They have a good sense of humour and are friendly. They are into the latest fashion, sport such as; football, swimming, going to the gym. 
They are out going, like to go to parties with friends and they often spend their Sundays with family. After school evenings they relax and do some homework or coursework. They work hard at school but occasionally they tend to be lazy and laid back. However, since they have started there AS/A2 levels they are keener to work hard and hard working to achieve the best grades that they can.


The use of media text that the magazine includes are the following: twitter, facebook, myspace, YouTube, television programmes such as; soaps, movies, x-factor. Many of the students use these websites especially the social network-facebook as they can interact with friends, family, there is an online chat and photo updates. The students also use YouTube as it has the latest music updates and videos of various things. The students also use twitter as they can follow there celebrities and get a daily update from there favourite celebrities.  


Mission Statement
My sixth form magazine is going to be called ‘Free Time’ I have named my magazine this because when the student has frees or in their spare time and they nothing to do they can read the magazine and catch up with gossip, fashion and gain advice from reading the magazine.


 My magazine will be issued only once a month as the sixth form students would not have enough time to read the magazine as they have so much work and whoever is producing the magazine would not have much time to make it too regularly as they are a student of AS/A2 level as well.


The students who read this magazine will get tips and help on varies different topics such as; revision, relationship problems. The magazine is aimed at sixth formers, so inside the magazine it will include about study, revision, tips on the subjects they are taking (5 different subjects each month), UCAS points, life after A-level whether they would want to take a gap year, get a job with the qualifications they have or go to university, relationships advice this will relate to the gossip section of the magazine, EMA, student discount, oyster card, tips to get rid of stress, fashion social life such as; clubs, raves, concerts and pubs and taking driving tests. 


The style which the magazine uses a several of different things. The magazine uses bright, warm colours to lure in the target audience. The magazine is informative with information about studies, universities and many more on the other hand, it also includes fun, gossip and interesting stories that the target audience will be interested to read.


Front cover mock-up

Target Audience Profile

Target Audience Profile                                                                   

The reader of 'Sparkle' is aimed at females between the age of 12-18. They are out-going and their personality is cheerful, fun, sociable, mature and kind. They have a good sense of humour and are friendly.

The readership of the magazine believes in keeping in good shape of her body and always having a healthy diet. She goes to the gym during the week to keep her shape the way she wants, she likes to swim and goes on jogs in the morning before she attends school or university. 

Music is an enthusiasm of hers. She listens to music everyday when she is going to school, coming back from school, while studying, and any other time she can fit it in she listens to music. However, depending on what she is doing her music changes such as; when she is studying she listens to calm music like classical to make her concentrate on what she is doing, but she prefers to listen to pop most of the time.  She enjoys listening to bands, and solo artists if they have good music that she will get into. Nevertheless, the older target audience are into going to clubs which play pop music. 


My target audience is aimed at an older age that pop magazines are usually aimed at because at this time everyone at any age likes pop music, therefore I decided to go for an older target audience. Pop is not only targeted at young girls but are targeted at older girls who want to grow up being successful as some female artists such as Cheryl Cole.

Mission Statement

Mission Statement

Sparkle is a new and thrilling music magazine. It has been written for bands and artists both female and male which have achieved within the big music industry or young female and male who have one competitions such as; x-factor. The music genre which will be featured in the music magazine e is pop. Pop is the content which is part of the magazine which is pop music and the word is short, sharp, and explosive sound. The word pop also suggest recorded music, often oriented towards a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple love songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.

The magazine will be distributed each month and will sell at a price of £3.10. It will be found in newsagents, supermarkets, music stores, stationary stores such as; WH Smith fashion stores. The readership will also have access to the magazine by either ordering it off the internet and will be received by post or accessing the magazine website and become a member of www.sparkle.com

Sparkle is essentially a music magazine and it will be reflected throughout its content. The magazine will also include album, concerts/tours which are around, singles, interviews with young artist both male and female which are successful and the target audience will look-up to them. The readership will also enjoy reading about different artists which they like in the genre of the music, young teenagers who want to become professional music artists.

As a magazine, it will include many rewards which the target audience will make use of. Each month which the magazine is issued the magazine will be provide free gifts such as; free CD with the latest songs, free downloads of new songs which are out, poster featuring bands or artists, beauty- make-up and many more. There will also be competition for teenagers to enter by doing this they will be able to get tickets to tours of their favourite artist/band, free concert tickets and to meet there actual artist, however by doing this they will have to be a member of the magazine and they will have to answer a question correctly to win the prize. The readership will also have a free access to the magazine’s website which they can get a daily up-to-date of their favourite artists and the latest songs which our out and on the chart and it will also be up-dated with fashion tips and the new style of the season. 

The style which the magazine uses a several of different things. The magazine uses bright, warm colours to lure in the young target audience, as they are young teenagers who are interested to read about young artists who have been successful, the magazine is informative with information of artists and how they became a singer or a music write on the other hand it also includes fun, gossip, fashion tips, make-up and different hairs of artists that the target audience will be interested to read. The readers will find it sophisticated, current; however it is also friendly which features a selection of articles. The reader can also relate to the magazine and enjoy reading it. 

Profile of my reader

What she looks like?

The reader of my music magazine are young, feminine, pretty and fun. They are always up to date with their fashion and like to look good no matter where they are going.

Some photos of my music magazine readership:

 

What she listens to?

 Where she shops?

Where she hangs out?

Questionnaire and Questionnaire analysis

I produced a questionnaire, and gave it out to my target audience so I could see what they would like to see in my music magazine, and how it would make them to purchase the music magazine. 

Questionnaire

Questionnaire Analysis

I gave out 20 questionnaires to young females aged between 12-18 as they are the target audience for 'Sparkle.' Two young females aged between 10-13 answered my questionnaire, nine aged between 14-17 and nine aged between 18-22 answered my questionnaire. 

After asking my target audience 'How often do you read a music magazine?' I found that even though music is featured  in 10-16 year olds life they do not purchase  music magazines.

After asking my target audience: '

How much will you pay for a high quality magazine?' I found out that the price which they will be willing to pay is between three pounds and three pound fifty pence, based on this result I decided to charge my magazine at three pounds ten pence. 

After asking my target audience:

'Which of the following are your favourite type of music?' Sixteen people said that pop was their favourite music genre and four people said R&B were their favourite music genre based on this I decided to feature R&B artists in my music magazine.

The purpose of this question was to see  what the target audience of the magazine listens to other than pop.

After asking my target audience:

'On a magazine front cover what gender model would you prefer?' I found that sixteen of the people would prefer female model and four of the people prefer male model. Based on this result I decided to have a female model for my music magazine.

After asking my target audience:

'On a music magazine front cover what grabs your attention first.' Nineteen of the people I asked said that the model is the first thing that they look at and one person said that the first thing they looked at was story-lines. Based on this I decided to make my model stand out by putting on make-up for her, doing her hair, and wearing a nice white dress.

 After asking my target audience:

'How often do you attend concerts/gigs?' I found that all of them attend concerts only, therefore on my contents page I put an article about winning tickets to see an artist on their tour.

After asking my target audience:

'Which of the following articles would you like to be featured in a music magazine?' Six people I asked said they would want to read about artist or bands fashion tips, ten people I asked said they would want to read about an artist successfulness and four people I asked said they would want to read about the new song out. Based on this I decided that to include some of these articles on my contents page.

After asking my target audience:

'Are you a big music fan?'I found that all my target audience are a big fan of music.

After asking my target audience:

'Do you sing or play an instrument?' I found eighteen people sang only and two people sang and played the instrument.

After asking my target audience: 

'Explain how music is featured in your life?' Most people said that they listen to music everyday wherever they go. 

Front cover analysis

Top of the Pops masthead is lower case, which appeals to the young target audience as it is simple, easy and it could also apply to the way they write in school. The masthead is positioned in the same place every issue with the same style and font this creates brand identity which the target audience will be able to recognise the magazine. Therefore, it is easy for them to find the magazine. The only thing that changes every issue is the masthead colour, but the style and font remains the same. The colour, which the masthead uses in this particular issue, is hot pink with a glow of white behind the masthead. The use of pink reflects the target audiences as a girly person, and the white glow reflects that the target audience is calm and innocent personality. The masthead is written in a bubble font which reflects the target audience as youthful, fun and bubbly personality. The masthead is written in bold which makes it stand out to the target audience and when they see the magazine each issue they will recognise it straight away. The name of the magazine ‘Top of the Pops,’ tells the target audience what genre of music is presented in the magazine. ‘Top of the Pops’ is also a BBC programme which all the successful and top artist are presented this suggest that the magazine also contains the top pop artists.

The main image of this issue of ‘Top of the Pops’ is a medium shot of Cheryl Cole. She is very popular artist to the target audience and is presented in ‘Top of the Pops’ regularly. She is a role model to the target audience as she’s beautiful, successful and talented. Cheryl Cole is also judge on ‘The X-Factor,’ which is one of the target audiences’ favourite programme. She has an amazing personality, down to earth and is known as the nations sweetheart. This appeals to the target audience as they want to achieve this and they will look-up to her as she came from a working-class background, lived up to her dreams and changed her life around and now she is successful. Cheryl is smiling and she is looking directly at the camera, which suggests that she is smiling at the readership which makes the target audience want to read the magazine, as they feel that she is directly talking to them, acting as a friend. Cheryl Cole's head is slightly in front of the masthead this suggests her power and it also suggests that even if its placed in front of the masthead the target audience will still recognise the magazine.


The brand identity that Top of the Pops follow is by maintaing the layout of the front cover by keeping the masthead in the same position and font, but each issue the colour changes into feminine and girly colours which reflects the target audience. Some of the colours which they use are: yellow, pink, blue, purple

Second front cover analysis