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G321- Foundation

By Gemma O’Donovan

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Main Central Image(Star appeal)

Star Appeal

Masthead

Puff/Promotion

Exclusive, engages the audience

Barcode

Title

Date/ price

+Analysis

The NME magazine has many conventions to help the audience engage and be attracted to the front cover etc. The conventions are very appropriate to the genre of magazine. For example, this NME magazine has a main central image with ‘Star Appeal’ (Richard Dyer). This is effective because the audience are automatically engaged into the magazine if they see their favorite singer/celebrity on the front cover because we know there will be a big story about them in the magazine. The ‘Star Appeal’ in this is The Arctic Monkeys, and therefore the target audience will be boys and girls aged 14-20.

They haven’t replicated any magazine, its very original and they have made it their own. For example its masthead isn't placed in the middle of the page/centrally.

+NME Genre Research

NME magazine is an ‘Indie Rock’ magazine that focuses on stars such as ‘Jake Bugg’, ‘Artic Monkeys’, ‘Bastille’ and also ‘The 1975’. It’s a weekly magazine which has a circulation of 19,491 and its founder was Theodore Ingham. It’s current editor is Mike Williams and he has been the editor since June 2012. The first ever issue was on 7 March 1952.

+Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs The target audience for NME magazine can be denoted as having a ‘personal relationship’ (Katz) this is because the audience can build up a personal relationship with the stars that are spoken about in the magazine. We learn so much about them and enjoy the characteristics that we see. We could also be seen as ‘Social Climbers’ ( Maslow ). This is because we climb the social ladder to attempt to make ourselves be like the stars and celebrities we see in the magazines. For example if we read about how favorite singer playing a certain instrument, then it might make us, the social climbers, want to start playing this instrument. Another example is if we see our favorite singer wearing something really nice, we might want to go out and buy it, this is a good example of being a social climber.

What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific conventions/stories from you research From the research completed into this media product, I think the USP is the ‘Main central image’. My reasoning for this is because when I see magazines in the shops, the first thing I see and the first thing I want to look at is the main central image because its likely going to be the main story in the magazine. If it’s a singer or band I really like then I'm more likely to buy the magazine. I also think that a USP is the masthead, the masthead must be big and bold. A masthead is also another big thing that we notice first when we look at a magazine. The masthead must be big and bold so the name of the magazine sticks in our head so we can then remember to pick up next weeks issue or even recommend to friends and family. This is important because the more and more people that get told about the magazine, the more sales meaning the circulation will rise rapidly.

+Established

There are different codes and conventions which are missed out on the magazine front cover and contents page. On the front cover on NME (my example on first slide), there is no convergent. Convergent means the links to twitter, facebook and many more social networking sites. This is a bad quality because it shows that it has no linking networks, if it did, they could get more subcribers etc, it shows that its less established than some other magazines.

Another convention that is missing is an editorial, an editorial is an introduction on the contents page that most magazines should have. It’s a brief introduction from the editor which makes the audience feel welcome and create a friendly environment for them to read in. It also introduces the stories and exclusives that will be included in that certain issue.

+Publisher research - NME

New Musical Express, popularly known by NME, created by Theodore Ingham, is a British weekly music magazine, published since March 1952. It is associated with rock, alternative, and indie music. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. During the period 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism, then became closely associated with punk rock. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s and 1990s, changing from newsprint in 1998.

+Elektro– Publisher research

I researched “Elektro” magazine and I found very little information on their publisher and target audience therefore I looked at more general information on the chosen music genre. Electro and deep house is a newer genre of music and its target audience is around 16-25. Because it’s a fairly new genre, this may be the reason for the lack of information on it. Elektro, is a very unique kind of magazine, and doesn’t repeat the wheel.

+Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs The first genre of music I focused on was the indie rock kind of music genre. I looked at Elektro and have realised its focusing on many different kind of people. In hartley it aims to target both genders throughout the age group of 16-25. It’s a very electro and deep house music genre. With Katz, Personal relationship is caused because the audience look at their favourite stars (Richard Dyer) and build up a relationship and bond with them as they get to learn more about their music and lives. With maslow, it aims its products at social climbers, because all the audience will again look at the stars used in the products and want to climb the social ladder and aspire to be like people in the magazine.

What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific conventions/stories from you researchThere are many unique selling points on my NME magazine of inspiration. For example, the main central image, is normally an image of the star who is being used on the double page spread. This is very effective because the audience and consumers that are looking into the magazine, will see the big stars being interviewed on the main front cover, and it will encourage them to buy the magazine. I think that this is the main unique selling point because this is what sells the magazine overall.

Magazine of inspiration-NEEDS IMAGES TOO

+Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs With my magazine, I’m going to do a very similar things to what the magazine ‘Elektro’ have done. Hartley would show that my target audience is also the same which is 16-25 because this is the average age of people who would want to read this magazine because this genre of music normally attracts young people of around this age. Katz would say that people would personal identify with my magazine because they enjoy the music that is being written about, therefore they can identify with the music genre that they like to listen to. Maslow would say that social climbers would be the target audience because they want to climb the social ladder and aspire to be like the stars in the magazine.

What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific conventions/stories from you research average. The unique selling point of my magazine will be the masthead because I’m going to make it look bold and stand out against everything else on the page so the name of the magazine will become very popular and established. Another unique selling point will be the main central image of the model I will use. Its going to be big and fill up the page using star appeal (Richard Dyer).

My Magazine

+Audience Research evidence.

I interviewed around 20 people regarding what they looked for in Dance Electro style magazines. This took place in a speed dating format and I found it very informative as to how I would incorporate the numerous things that they looked for in a magazine of this type. The questions I asked centered around style and appearance of the magazine and also additional elements that would attract the gaze. The results were to follow on the next slide.

+What colours do you look for in an Electro magazine?

What do you think is the most USP of an Electro magazine?

BluePinkRedOrange

Main central imageMastheadCoverlinesConvergence

I chose a baby blue colour as I feel as if it would fit in with the unisex theme because it isn't just a masculine colour because its pale and would fit in with the electro and progressive deep house theme.

I think that I will focus on my main central image being my unique selling point because it was the most common and popular answer and I feel as if the main central image is the focus that will attract the audience the most.

+Do you think the main central image should take up most of the page?

Do you think the Masthead should be bolder than all the rest of the writing in an Electro magazine?

YesNo

YesNo

I have chosen that my main central image will take up most of the page because when Electro fans see their favourite artists on the front cover it will make them want to buy the magazine.

Yes was the most common answer therefore I chose to make the masthead more bolder than all the other rest of the information and writing on the page so that it will become more established and well known.