Becca's similar product research 'Mixmag Issue Feb 2008' front cover

The black background makes the group dressed in white stand out. Also the masthead is eye catching because it is white on a black background. The orange and yellow writing are the titles of the cover stories that are in the magazine. The group pictured on the front of the magazine are Deadmau5; the picture has been used of them as the magazine are giving a free Deadmau5 cd out with the magazine. The san serif font is used throughout the front cover which makes the magazine seem more modern and useful which fits in with theb target audience on the magazine. The orange writing appeals to both male and female readers so I will use orange as the colour for my masthead.

Becca & Poppys research on 'Q' music magazine

About Q
The UK's biggest selling monthly music magazine, Q is the arbiter of quality music. The magazine sits at the heart of a cross-platform brand that discovers great music of substance for its consumers. The Q brand has developed a worldwide reputation as a trusted and premium quality voice of musical authority amongst fans, musicians and the music industry alike - one that is founded upon Q's unrivalled access, world-beating exclusives and outstanding production values. This reputation is extended not only through the magazine but also across online, radio, TV and on into Q's unique events, which encompass exclusive, intimate live shows with major stars and the world famous annual Q Awards.
Platforms

• Q Magazine
• Q Radio
• www.qthemusic.com
• Q TV - Sky 364 , Virgin Media 338
• Q Awards
  

Q's Audience

Q's audience is composed of passionate, engaged and open minded music fans driven to discover new music and to discover and to influence their friends. The audience is split 75% male to 25% female.
Location
Endeavour House, 189 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JG
Telephone: 020 7437 9011
Q Radio
Kerrang House, 20 Lionel Street, Birmingham, B3 1AQ
Telephone: 0845 053 1052

Becca & Poppy, What have we learnt?

Some of the skills we have learnt since the beggining of this course are:

1. How to manipulate the shutter speed on a camera to get a good quality picture

• High Speed - Good quality
• Low Speed - Poor quality

2. How the Apeture of the cameral controls the amount of light that is channeled through the iris of the lense. the ammount that the iris is open is called the f-stop and the larget the f-stop the less amount of light its allowed to channel through. The smaller the iris the larger the depth of field.

• High f-stop - slow shutter speed
• Low f-stop - fast shutter speed

3. How the ISO effect the detail and colour of the image. 

• Bright day: 100 ISO
• Cloudy/Movement: 400 ISO
• Indoor/ Low light: 1600 ISO

Adobe

What we have covered:

• How to choose text styles to suit the title and magazine content.
• How to work with different layers of the magazine.
• How to Liquefy text (select text > Filter > Distort > Liquefy)
• How to simplify the text so that it becomes easier to edit. (right click on layer > Select simplify layer)
• How to fill letters with colour and images. ( Select text with magic wand > outline) or (Paste in image > Simplify Layer > paste into selection)
• How to edit gradients, apply shadows and outline text.

Becca & Poppy's Bauer Media Research

Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. It is a worldwide media empire that offers over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media joined the Bauer Media Group in January 2008, the Group now employs roughly 6,400 people. Bauer Media reaches over nineteen million UK adults across multiple media channels. Bauer Media is a UK-based media Group which has many companies around two main divisions, magazines and rado, which are widely recognised as being industry innovators.
Their business is built on media brands with lots of personal relationships with readers and listeners. They want to connect audiences with fabulous content through their broad brand platforms.
Their wide portfolio of brands gives them a great advantage over pure play magazine or radio competitors. Their magazine heritage goes back to 1953 with the launch of Angling Times. In 1994, the company bought a small magazine called 'For Him Magazine' which is now the core of the best-selling international brand FHM .
In 1996, they acquired digital music TV channel 'The Box', as a way into the small screen business, which has grown into 'Box Television', a seven channel TV business with Channel 4. Today, Bauer Media has over 80 brand names covering a range of interests including 'Heat' – the must have weekly celebrity mag. Bauer Media is a sister company of H Bauer Publishing, publisher of the UK's biggest TV listings, Take a Break and Bella.

Becca and Poppy's Contents page analysis

BBC music mag:

The colours of this magazine are kept minimal to emphasise the simplistic qualities of distinctive music. The language of the contents page is much more formal in comparison to the register of the Dj Mag issue showing its different approach to music. Numerous live photography has been used, suggesting that the magazine stories havent been manipulated therefore the reader knows what they are reading is of some truth and the magazine is much more reliable. The font style is classy and simple, representing the company as a whole, and many people are aware that the BBC is well known for its sophistication and class. Again the stories have been numbered and the adverts left to make navigation through the magazine much quicker. Musical features such as the dots on the three like on a base clef is a great way to remind the reader of the style of magazine they are reading. This would not be a style we would want to use as it would not appeal to our target audience and would not sell as well to the youth.

'Q' magazine, Issue May 2008 - Becca's front cover analysis

The masthead is placed in the top right corner of the magazine and the white 'Q' on the red background makes it stand out and is appealing to the readers eye. The house style is red, black and white. The black background makes everything on it stand out. Also the white writing is very clear to read. There are banners across the magazine advertising what is inside, and the top features of the magazine are all on the front cover, reeling the reader in. 'Britain's Biggest Music Mag' is used as the sell line which would also make the reader want to buy the magazine as it is 'Britain's Biggest'. A sans serif font has been chosen for the text. Madonna's name has been written in capitals, which makes it stand out as it is the main feature of the magazine, Madonna is also the face of the magazine in this issue. A puff has been used where they have adressed the audience by saying they voted for 'The 50 Best British Albums'. Also on the cover down the left hand side there is a list of the music artists that are featured in the magazine which also helps to attract the reader to buy the magazine if they are artists they like.

Poppy and Becca's Contents Page analysis (similar product research)

Dj Mag (No. 70 February 2009 issue)

The language and register of the magazine appears casual and informal for example 'Up yours!' used as a story headline. The representation of the magazine is clean cut and modern which is emphasised by a posed picture of the rugged but stylish Josh Wink. There is a large range of images used, such as live content and designed photos to sell the stories inside the magazine. There is a wide range of colours used to divide the contents page into its main topics helping to navigate around the page much faster. The layout is well constructed and clear to read, this is aided by the simple and catchy font style selected fitting in with the style of the magazine itself. The main stories have been numbered to state the stories from the adverts helping readers to jump straight to the content that interests them. This is the style of contents page most suitable for our initial magazine ideas as it would be most appealing to our target audience and is in keeping with latest music trends and interests.

Initial Ideas for Music Magazine - Poppy

  Magazine name: 'Beatz'. We have chosen this masthead as it appeals to our target audience. Also the use of 'z' instead of 's' is a display of slang used by our target age group creating a much more modern and causal style to increase the amount of attraction towards the mag.

The letter 'B' will have headphones around it which links nicely to the key idea of a music magazine.

House Style: Black, white and metallic purple with silver as part of the masthead

Target audience: the age we have decided on is between 16 and 20 and is aimed at both genders of this age group. A specific age has been selected in order to help with the specialising of the content of the magazine to suit this range.

Magazine content: Chart hits from Radio1 official top 40, we will then narrow this down to the most popular and most played top 15 and top 3 albums bought. As well as their amount sold and money made from their sales. This will be updated monthly and contain 2 interviews, one from the artist with the number one song and the other from the artist with the number one album.

Music magazine, Initial Ideas - Becca

Initial ideas for music magazine.

Magazine name: we chose ''Beatz'' as our masthead because it appeals to our target audience. Also the use of 'z' instead of 's' makes the title more youthful and modern which will attract the attention of our target audience. Around the letter 'B' will be a pair of headphones, this links to the type of magazine which is music.

House style: Black, white and metallic purple with silver headphones as part of the headmast.

Target audience: 'Beatz' is suitable for either males or females. Our target audience are teenagers from the age of 16 up to 20 as this is the age who are more likely to check the top charts on Radio 1.

Magazine content: Chart hits from Radio 1's official top 40 UK chart, we will then narrow that down to the most popular and most played 15 songs! Also we will check out what the top 3 albums bought are around the UK and how many were sold of each album. Their will be two interviews in the magazine, one with the artist with the top song, and the other from the artist with the top album. An issue of the magazine will be released monthly.