house style ideas

        I will use two main colours in order to create a house style for my magazine. I have created this to show some possible colours that I could use, however some colours may be more suitable for my particular genre than others. I think in order to reinforce my genre I think the most suitable colours to use would involve black because it connotes death and darkness and maybe red also because it connotes danger but also passion and I believe that the music involved creates passion for the genre.

1st Draft Double Page Spread

       This is my first draft for my double page spread I have given space for the main story title to make sure that the reader knows which story it is and is attracted to the headline. Again I have given space for a quote from the text to allow the reader to understand the importance of the specific quote given. 
       Main stories generally have a lot of writing to go with them to allow a reader a larger understanding of the story and what it means. I have left space for some small images as well however I think in future drafting I will space the smaller images out a bit more because they may look slightly crammed in the bottom corner.

1st Draft Contents Page

       This is my basic plan of a contents page, I will include more images on here than on the front cover because I think that if a front page has lots of pictures on it deters people from the sell lines because they are so focused on the images and also it looks unprofessional and crammed. The layout will be fairly neat, however will still give the impression of a kind of careless attitude to reinforce the genre. I have also included space for a quote of some sort, probably from the main story on the front cover to reintroduce the main story and allow it all to link together. 
       I have also included space for an advertisement which links with institution because the magazine will be paid, price variable depending on popularity, for putting an advertisement in their magazine, especially on the contents page.

1st Draft Front Cover

       I have used the generic conventions for the cover of my magazine because that way customers know where to look for each convention, such as the masthead, which is in the top central area which is where people generally look for the masthead. I used an old gothic style font to create the idea that rock may be slightly more old fashioned in the sense that many people see rock as 'rock and roll' which is generally more 70's and 80's than now, but also to state that rock may be slightly old but it's still around and will be around for a long while.

       I simply searched in google band sketch to find the picture that I copied just to get a slight idea of where my main image will be and to show how the magazine will look when it is complete and has all of the conventions involved. 

       I used a plug to advertise a competition to entice customers further to purchase the magazine. This is another particular convention of a magazine that people may look for when planning to purchase a magazine.

Reader Profile

Contents page L.I.I.A.R Analysis

Contents page:
Language- The purpose of a contents page is to tell the reader what is going to be in this issue of the magazine. The colours all compliment each other and the pictures used all show what the magazine is about. The magazine is aimed at drummers because it issues things about famous drummers and how to reach the standards that people could be at. The layout is fairly neat and tidy which contrasts with the genre and purpose of the magazine. The headline is still on the contents page which is a convention of a music magazine. 

Ideology- The attitude of the magazine would be fairly rock style and careless, however this is not reflected in the layout of the contents page because the contents page gives a fairly neat approach. It keeps up to date with modern trends because lots of people have started drumming recently due to the increase in popularity of rock music as a whole. The beliefs would be that the magazine would attract people to begin drumming and maybe help drummers improve. 

Institution- Establishing a brand name is an obvious source of profitability because customers develop a reliability and trust to these brands. Another source of profitability would be to add plugs to the magazine as a whole because people like to see competitions and free things to do when they buy a magazine. The contents page could also include a phone number for a drum school or something also because this would attract drummers.

Audience- The audience of this magazine would be drummers, obviously and maybe people who are interested in drummers. Famous drummers could be featured on the contents page, people such as Travis Barker (Drummer from Blink-182) which could then add a few things about band drummers which would introduce bands which would maybe attract more people.

Representation- The colours are representational of the rock genre which is the particular genre that drummers belong to. The positioning of the pictures and the writing on the page is fairly neat which contrasts with the genre of the magazine itself. The white background makes the pictures stand out because they have a dark colouring to them so the colours contrast in an effective way to compliment each other and make each other prominent on the page. 

Target Audience

This powerpoint slide explains who my target audience is and how I will entice them to buy my magazine. I have explained the actions I will take to entice these customers and the conventions of other magazines which I will take into account to improve my own.

L.I.I.A.R Analysis Front Cover NME

Language- The content of this magazine is quite obvious in that the main image is clear and the headline is also clear and overlaps the main image so is the first point of eye contact. The colours, just like Kerrang, are red which connotes danger and black which connotes death which both reflect the rock genre well. Also there is a tear design down the centre of the magazine and also the word 'WAR' accompanies the connotations of the colours used. NME as a magazine usually appeals to Indie rock fans, however this issue expands further because My Chemical Romance and Panic! At The Disco, are pop punk bands so this issue would appeal to further than just Indie Rock fans. The models are placed on opposite sides of the magazine so this reinforces the headline 'War on Emo' this would also attract customers because everyone loves an argument in the press, it is a main story for people to be intrigued in. The models are not looking at the camera so the desire for customers to be drawn in by eye contact is not there but this is reinforced by the headline.

Ideology- The attitude again is quite careless and unorganised which attracts the correct target market for this genre. It keeps up to date with modern trends because the clothes that the front men are wearing are trendy and would appeal to the target audience of the average age of an NME magazine reader which is 25 years old. Also these clothes could be what the audience want to wear or find attractive on a person. 70% of NME readers are male so they could want to look and dress like the front men, on this particular front cover. This magazine would appeal to probably more working class people than anyone else as there are two cluster groups which are: Young Socialites who go to gigs and live events and First Time Earners who still go to gigs because music is a vital part of their lives.

Institution- NME is a well known, established brand which is an obvious source of profitability, however in order to reach the target market of the target audience, they would need to promote the magazine to ensure that people see it. According to the NME Reader Profile the NME readers' favourite TV Channel is Channel 4, their favourite newspaper is The Guardian and 95% have access to the internet. Therefore advertising in these places would be a good source of profitability because the target audience would see the advertisements and would then go out and buy the magazine.

Audience- The average age of NME readers is 25, 70% of readers are male and the other 30% are female. This would give the magazine editor an idea of how they should advertise/market the product in a way that would appeal to the target audience in order to enhance profitability. The design is quite similar to that of Kerrang which is a kind of clustered design which reflects the personalities and genre of the bands/artists and the magazine itself. 

Representation- The colours again connote danger and death and the word 'War' accompanies these colours well because danger and death both belong to the semantic field of war. This confirms that the magazine is quite well thought about because the language of the cover show similar connotations to one another. Both front men are wearing black which is a typical gothic colour to reflect what the readers would wear. Also when someone sees a sub heading such as 'Whose side are you on?' It makes them want to read about what it's actually about and what is happening. Both front men have their arms in the air as if they are protesting or something. This could entice the target audience because they want to hear both sides of the story.