Masthead Font

The feedback I got from the focus group was that they preferred the RIOT! font for the masthead. When I begin designing the cover I'll be able to see if the font works or not.

Rough Sketch

This is the rough sketch I have done for my cover. I took inspiration from the feedback I received from my Facebook group.

Designing Cover

I've been looking at Clash and Kerrang! as my two magazines, and from audience research I have decided that I'll use a similar layout to Clash but with the bright colours of Kerrang! 


As my photoshoot will be taking place in Perry Woods I decided to research any magazines that use models in woods on their cover. My sister introduced me to 'Lula' magazine, a hipster fashion magazine. They have a couple of covers where the models are in woods:

This should help me when creating my cover.

Font

Considering using RIOT! font for my masthead. I'll run this past my target audience later as I have the font on my laptop at home.

Location

I made a prezi for my location and risk assessment.


My friend Steph and I scouted the location on Tuesday 13th December at around 1pm.

Location on Prezi

Props

There aren't many props I want/need, but if I were to incorporate any into the shoot I would probably choose:


An acoustic guitar

My Dad has two acoustic guitars and will let me borrow one for the shoot.

I may also include a microphone

I have a microphone at home so I can use that one.

As I'm planning on making the shoot more editorial - more fashion magazine-esque, like 'Lula' magazine, but with the hipster, vintage feel - props may not be required, although the acoustic guitar may work.

Costumes

I'm not too fussy when it comes to the clothes as long as they're in the style of my target audience. This provides a wide range of clothing choices. I have yet to talk to my models about what clothes they own in this style, and I'll also be looking through my own wardrobe to see what I have, but here are the examples of what I'm looking for.

Fair isle or patterned jumpers, jumper dresses and cardigans such as:

I know that one of my models, Cassie, has a lot of jumpers in this style and she also dresses in a lot of Topman clothes. I chose her because her style suits the magazine and its audience.

Shorts coupled with tights, like in the image above, fit my audience's style. Patterned tights/leggings also work, as well as knee-high socks, such as:

Shoes wise, I'm looking for boots, brogues or converses, such as:

Also, Drop Dead is a clothing line that's favourited by my audience, especially because it's the clothing brand of Bring Me The Horizon vocalist Oli Sykes:

For jewellery, I'm looking for vintage, kooky and slightly edgy jewellery:

Overall, there is definitely an emphasis on knit wear and the look is quite vintage and kitsch, with edgy connotations from the rock influence.  

I'll most probably make another blog post on costumes when I've conferred with my models on what clothing they have.

Focus Group Feedback

I set up a focus group on Facebook and invited 11 friends to join who I knew liked alternative rock music and photography. 


I asked them what they liked and didn't like about Clash magazine and Kerrang! magazine.


Feedback for Clash: 

Feedback for Kerrang!:

From Clash magazine I can deduce that the bold title is liked and I should aim to include a clear, bold title on my own magazine. The cover photograph for the splash is also liked, however the muted colour isn't. 

From Kerrang! magazine I can deduce that the bold font and colours are liked, however the magazine cover is too busy and the title not legible. 

I was originally planning on having a cover more similar to Clash magazine than that of Kerrang!. I can still use the 'hipster' photography style, however, I'm not going to desaturate the colour, at least not a lot. I've also found that the style of Clash is preferred by girls rather than boys. In this sense, my magazine is going to have a more female-oriented audience, with fashion and photography. 

However, my focus group obviously prefer the bands featured in Kerrang! magazine. As a result, I would like my magazine to have a similar style and layout to Clash magazine (minus the muted colour), with photography and fashion, but with the music featured in Kerrang!. 

Models

Just sorted out my two models, my friends Anna Turner and Cassia Herbert. I'm thinking about taking the photos in some woods, so I'll need to scout the location soon.


Cassie:

Anna:

Prezi

I've made a prezi outlining the interests of my target audience:

Target Audience Research on Prezi

Photos

Two of the things I've noticed that the photos I've been reblogging from blogs in my audience is that they mainly focus around hairstyles or nature, such as:

As a result, I think the photos I'll be taking will need to be outside, and that particular attention will have to be paid to the hairstyles of my models.

Facebook

I've set up a facebook group, adding my closest friends outside of college who I know are interested in the genre of music of my magazine. People in college are a lot easier to get hold of when I need feedback on work, whereas my friends from high school can be a lot harder to contact, which is why I've set up this group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/300405836665812/

Groups

I already have 2 followers on my tumblr. 

They're followers of my main blog but it's early days yet. One of them is sinfulwhispers, a blog I'm using as an example of my audience. It's a personal blog run by Ren, a girl I've grown to be friends with thanks to tumblr. I'm considering using her as a potential model for my magazine, as she has the right look. I've also been considering my friends Cassie and Anna, as they too have the right look for my magazine.

Set up a tumblr

I have a set up a tumblr to conduct audience research and get feedback on my work.


http://just-like-wild-fire.tumblr.com/

I chose the URL name 'just-like-wild-fire' because it's a lyric from 'Crash' by You Me At Six, a band that's favourited by my audience.

Prezi

Also going to make a Prezi on the research I have acquired on my target audience.

Tumblr 2

Considering creating a tumblelog on tumblr (a branch-off blog from my main blog) centred around the photography and interests of my target audience, where I can also post ideas and carry out audience research.

Tumblr

These blogs are examples of my audience:

• iamj0shfranceschi - blogs a mixture of hipster photography and bands, primarily You Me At Six, but also includes film and TV.
• thev0iceinsidemyhead - although this blog hasn't updated in 2 months, it's still a good example of photography and likes a range of music - from You Me At Six to Mumford & Sons to Lostprophets. 
• sinfulwhispers - blogs a variety of photography, music, film, TV and humour. 
• meetyouatthecemeterygates - blogs mainly hipster photography.

Time Plan

This is the basic structure of my time plan.

Initial Magazine Research

• Target audience buy Kerrang! magazine only when a band, or bands, they like are featured, resulting in them generally ignoring the rest of the magazine and focusing only on the features they want to read. This recent issue of Kerrang! I know was a particular favourite among my audience as the splash featured Josh Franceschi and Oli Sykes from You Me At Six and Bring Me The Horizon respectively, two bands that are well-liked among my target audience. 
• Also included a special subscription to the magazine whereby you would get a t-shirt from Josh Franceschi's clothing range (Down But Not Out) if you subscribed to the magazine. These two features attracted many people from my target audience.
• Bold, bright, block colours which connotes a more youthful feel, and also appeals to a more male-oriented audience.  The sans serif font also connotes the youthful, male feel. Kerrang's tag line of 'live life loud' coupled with the bold font and colours would appeal to its audience who's genre of music is rock. 
• Expect to see: interviews, reviews and posters as the main features. 
• Bands attract the readers and not the writing, so all articles are focussed on a band. Very rarely does an article not predominantly feature a band. 
• The magazine relies on attracting readers by featuring a large number of bands. This is why, on this particular issue of Kerrang!, there are fourteen bands mentioned on the cover, even though there are only half-page articles focussed on many of them. For example, in the 'news' section of this issue there is only a half-page article on The Prodigy, even though they're featured on the cover as a headline.
• Kerrang's publisher Bauer Media Group, a large German publishing company who publish a number of other magazines, including Q, and hold stakes in British music television. Having such a large company for a publisher allows Kerrang! to use cross media convergence via TV, radio and the internet, and are able to publish in other countries. 

Two bands favourited by my audience.
Block colours.
Sans serif.

• Clash magazine is a favourite of the hipster audience. 
• Features more 'indie' bands, such as The Arctic Monkeys and Bon Iver, it also features bands such as The Prodigy, found in this issue of Clash and the above issue of Kerrang!. 
• Unlike Kerrang!, Clash has a heavy focus on hipster photography and designs, such as Lomography. This can be seen clearly on the front cover, with muted colours and the photograph of the splash being the predominant feature. This contrasts to the busy, colourful cover of Kerrang!. In the audience research I have conducted so far, I found that the cover of Clash is preferred by my audience because of the photography and design, but they prefer the bands found in Kerrang!
• Like Kerrang!, it features a string of bands as a running head at the bottom - attracts more readers.
• Unlike Kerrang!, also features fashion, something my audience would be interested in.
• Clash magazine is its own publisher - cannot reach as wide an audience as Kerrang!.
• Clash readers are interested in music, film, photography, fashion, art and literature.
• Both magazines use a writing style that is informal and natural.
• Muted colours connote sophistication while the design connotes eccentricity.  

Muted colour.
Splash is main attraction.
Eccentric.

Deciding Genre and Audience

The two magazines I have chosen to initially research are 'Clash' and 'Kerrang!'. I have noticed that there is a contemporary subculture of my generation known as 'hispters'. These hipsters are usually associated with 'indie' acts and have taken an interest in a blogging website known as 'tumblr'. Having had a tumblr for over a year now, I began to notice that the blogs I followed, due to them having similar music taste to me, all seemed to be a part of a growing hipster subcategory whereby they were fans of alternative rock and metal acts, but were still interested in the fashion and photography of the general hipsters. I found that this subcategory read the rock magazine 'Kerrang!' but only when a band they liked was featured. I then began to research 'Clash' magazine, known for being a favourite of hipsters. This music magazine has begun to include a few heavier music acts, but still focuses on more mainstream bands and hip-hop artists. As Slate writer Brandon Stosuy noted, "Heavy metal has recently conquered a new frontier, making an unexpected crossover into the realm of hipsterdom". As a result, I have decided to focus my magazine on the subcategory of 'hipsterdom' who like alternative rock and metal, as this category is rapidly growng in size and is in abundance on the tumblr website, which now caters for 6.8 million weekly visits, its users focusing on fashion, photography, film and music.