My Own X-Factor logo

For my magazine cover, I included a a coverline about the X-Factor. I wanted to include a picture with this particular story to attract the audience and so decided to create my own X-Factor logo. As you can see on the right, the picture in the top left corner is the original logo, and the picture lower down is my replication of that logo.

Font ideas

Here are some different fonts that I experimented with to decide what sort of font I would want on my magazine cover. I quite like the third one down, and also the fourth one down.

Kerrang Article Page

Article Page
Originally uploaded by Kate Pritchard

This is an analysis of a Kerrang feature article.

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Kerrang Contents Page

Contents Page
Originally uploaded by Kate Pritchard

This is an analysis of a Kerrang contents page.

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NME Contents page

NME contents page
Originally uploaded by Kate Pritchard

An analysis of an NME contents page.

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Props, Cast, Setting, Location Report for Magazine

I am planning to use natural pictures on my magazine, I am going to take pictures of live performers as I think it will relate, and attract my audience more. The people I will use in my images will be actual bands/artists, as I plan to write my article on a particular event organiser; The secret handshake club. I will attend as many of these events as I can, and take pictures of the bands playing. The first gig that I went to was one at the Lowestoft football club.

Mood Board for my magazine

Mood Board
Originally uploaded by Kate Pritchard

This is a mood board for my magazine, it gives a representation of the type of audience my magazine will be aimed at.

The target market for my magazine are males between the ages of 17 and 30.

My target audience appreciate music in different ways, many go to gigs or live concerts also many of the readers like to keep up to date with news, and regularly check the internet.

Readers of my magazine are likely to be males that enjoy indie style music, and whom also appreciate listening to new bands. My readers don't appreciate mass market music, but like to stick to their own style.

My typical reader:
Male 72%
Female 28%
Average age 25
ABC1 73%

Demographic Profile      

The age of the audience for my magazine is between 17and 30. The gender for the magazine is primarily males. The marital status would most likely be single due to the age group of my readers, but for older readers could even be married. The social status of the readers would probably be in groups A, B and C1; group A being upper middle class people, who higher managerial or are professionals. Group B being the middle class, intermediate management or a professional, and group C1 being lower middle class, supervisory and junior managerial or professional.

Psychographic Profile

                The majority of readers will probably be Individuals. They will probably be passionate about music, and around 50% are interested in taking a music qualification. The readers enjoy attending concerts and gigs, and 80% say that music is an important part of their lives.

Lifestyle Subsets

                Most readers are probably students, but could also include young people with a part time job, or a full time job. The reader will attend many gigs, concerts, music events etc, and may even be involved in music personally, such as being in a band. The readers are young males, and so probably enjoy a good time, and spend a lot of time going out.

In my mood board, I included many images to represent the type of people who this magazine targets, I included the shops that the audience may shop at, the food they might eat, the products that they might use, and just general information about the type of person, what they wear, what they look like, what they watch, how old they are etcetera

Institutional Data- Overview of industry

IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, with our print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men – almost 27 million UK adults – while our online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month.

IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.

Our men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME.

Our mass market women's division (IPC Connect) comprises famous women's weeklies including Look, Now, Chat and Woman; TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TVTimes and TV & Satellite Week and, online, the goodtoknow network.

Our upmarket women's division (IPC Southbank) comprises luxury fashion brands including Marie Claire and InStyle, lifestyle brands including woman&home and essentials and home interest brands including Ideal Home, Livingetc and housetohome

Initial Ideas

I recently attended a local gig, organised by someone I knew. I decided to take many pictures of the bands that played and the crowds. I plan to use these pictures on my magazine, possibly on a feature article talking about the event organiser. I might even be able to use one of these pictures for the front cover of my magazine. I am also planning to attend another gig organised by the same person. I could also take many pictures of this gig to use in my magazine. An issue that I bought of NME had a picture of an artist on the front of it, the artist was singing into a microphone, and appeared to be a live shot of him doing so. I could recreate this with my own images, and hopefully attract the audience the same way that NME attracted it.

NME Magazine- Full Analysis

NME is the longest published, and the most respected music magazine around. Each week it gives its readers authoritive coverage of contemporary music, with reviews, interviews, and more. The website (http://www.nme.com/) launched in 1996 and has grown to be the biggest commercial music news site in Europe. The magazine is priced at £2.20 per issue, and is released weekly. The magazine, according to NME themselves has around 410,000 readers, and has a higher percentage of male readers compared to female. Male being 73%, while female being 27%. The average age of an NME reader is is 25, and around 73% of the audience fit into the ABC1 social status category. NMEs target market, are males, between the ages of 17 and 30.

80% of NME readers consider music to be an important part of their lives, and over half of them are interested in studying a music related course. 72% of readers, have a broadband connection at home, but the occupation of the average reader, is a little less clear. 34% are working full time, 18% are working part time, and 26% are full time students. This also supports the fact that a majority of the audience fit into social status's ABC1, NME is targeted at primarily middle class people, who will either have a job or be studying, rather then doing nothing. Also, readers appear to attend many festivals and concerts. They claim to enjoy the atmosphere of being at a live gig and that TV just doesn't compare.

The audience are technical enthusiasts, 93% own a computer, 96% have access to the internet, 72% have access to the internet at home. 56% claim to visit the NME website every few days, or everyday.

However, according to the circulation figures, NME has not been very successful, and has lost readers repeatedly over the last few years. According to a source, NME are at risk of cancelling the magazine, although the website would still be up and running. Due to this possible risk, and the dropping in figures, this allows me to potentially steal NME's audience with my own magazine. The audience appear to be losing interest, thus I could create a better magazine that would capture their attention.

Journalism Practise for Music Magazine

To practise writing my article for my music magazine, I wrote two reviews of one product. I wrote about Toy Story 3 in two different styles, one of an informal style that would suite the magazine NME, and one of a more formal style that would be suited to Music (BBC's classical music magazine).


Toy Story 3- NME magazine

June 18^th, 2010 and we join our old childhood friends Woody and Buzz for their apparent last adventure, in surprisingly 3D. Good old Andy has finally grown up, and is heading to college, and so do we reach a possible end for all of his forgotten toys? His mum suggests that he give them all to the day-care centre, but Andy, being the sentimental guy, can’t face throwing away his true best friend… He decides to take Woody to college with him. The others, well, they are supposed to get shoved upstairs in the attic. But uh-oh, plot twist… They think they are going to the bins, panic, Woody goes to reassure them, they end up relocating to the day-care box and off his mum takes them and… Well. Basically they all end up at the day-care centre, including Woody. But wait a second? Hasn’t this happened before? I certainly recall Woody and Buzz almost getting left behind when they move house in the first film? And now Woody has gone missing again?! Hmm. So we arrive at the day-care centre. At first, the main character there, some sort of bear called Lotso whom runs the place seems nice enough. We soon learn that the day-care place is evil, and run by the disturbed Lotso bear. The characters attempt to escape, we learn why the bear is evil, the toys want to return back to Andy, a few problems along the way… etc.

Overall, it was a pretty good movie. A bit of classic adventure following from the first two, a couple of new characters that are quite amusing. A Spanish Buzz. I have to say though, that the 3D effects were rather disappointing. The only thing that the 3D did was add a bit of depth, it was like looking through a window. If I wanted to look through a window, I would do that for free at home. I suppose that’s just Pixar’s style, but I had certain expectations. The film ended with a Spanish version of ‘you’ve got a friend in me’ which was quite a highlight. I personally didn’t find the film sad, a couple of people said they cried. But really, it was what you’d expect from Toy Story. A pretty good movie, but obviously couldn’t beat the first one.

Toy Story 3- BBC Music magazine

On the 18^th of June, 2010, Toy Story 3 was brought to 3D screens around the UK. We learn at the
beginning of the film that the character Andy is attending college, and so is packing his belongings. He is unsure as to what to do with his toys, and thus decides to place most of them in the attic, except from his favourite toy Woody whom he will take to college. His mother suggests that he donate the toys to the local day-care centre. Unfortunately, the animated toys conclude that they are going to be thrown away, and so they enter the box dedicated to the day-care. Andy’s mother takes the toys, including Woody who tries to console his friends and tell them to go into the attic instead, to the day-care. Our first impressions of the day-care are marvellous. The neglected toys are supposedly played with each day, and it seems an exciting life for the toys. However, Woody seems unimpressed by the information, and remains loyal to his owner. Woody concludes that he should return to Andy, and sets to leave. Woody is actually taken by a young girl outside the day-care home. He meets her toys, and they converse about the day-care. Woody learns that the day-care is not how it first seems, but that the day-care is run by the corrupt ‘Lotso’ bear. The film continues to show how Woody and his acquaintances escape the day-care, and return to their true home.

In conclusion, the film had rather a weak plot, but still relates to the audience in a way that we feel like Woody is our toy, and we cheer him on to be successful with his pursuit. The film was released in 3D, in which the 3D effects added depth to the image and made it more realistic. However, this is not as obvious as most of the 3D used in upcoming films, and was somewhat seen as a disappointment. The picture was most definitely not as good as the first.

Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Music Magazine Cover Analysis
Originally uploaded by Kate Pritchard

This is an NME magazine cover, I decided to analyse this magazine because this is the magazine I would like to recreate. It is useful for me to identify the particular conventions of this magazine and the type of graphology used for preference on my own magazine.

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Institutional Data- Music Magazines

Circulation Figures

UK music magazines, figures to December 2009

Year on Year percentage changes:

BBC Music -5.2%
Classic FM -8.9%
Classic Rock +1.5%
Computer Music -4.5%
Future Music +0.0%
Gramophone -6.7%
Hot Press -5.1%
Kerrang -21.3%
Metal Hammer -16.9%
Mixmag -13.4%
Mojo -2.0%
NME -20.6%
Q -8.0%
Terrorizer -15.6%
Top of the Pops -10.2%
Uncut -13.3%
Word -22.5%
Empire +0.1%
Sight and Sound +0.6%
Total Film -4.7%

July 2010 Circulation figures

Classic Rock +0.0%
Kerrang +1.8%
Metal Hammer -4.3%
Mojo -6.2%
NME -17.3%
Q -10.7%
Uncut -3.2%

As you may see by the circulation figures, NME the magazine I plan to recreate has decreased a lot in the last few years. This tells me that the interest in that magazine appears to be dying out, and even after a relaunch the magazine still fails to attract its audience. Therefore, if this magazine does stop, there will be a gap in the market for this particular audience, which I plan to fill with my magazine.

Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Music Magazine Cover
Originally uploaded by Kate Pritchard

'Music' is a classical music magazine, it uses a simple and sophisticated style to attracts it's audience. I decided to analyse this particular magazine, because it is contrasting to the magazine I am recreating. (NME).

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Mood Board for OK Magazine

Demographic Profile      

The age of the audience for OK magazine is between mid-20 and late 40’s. The gender for the magazine is primarily females, and most probably relate to women throughout the UK. The marital status could be both divorced and married, but for younger readers could possibly be single. The social status of the readers would probably be in groups E, D and C; group E being people with benefits, pensions, widowers, or just lowest grade workers. Group D being the working class, semi and unskilled manual workers, and group C being skilled manual workers and lower middle-class.

Psychographic Profile

                The majority of readers will probably be either Mainstreamers or Aspirers. OK magazine is a magazine about celebrity lifestyles and so Aspirers that want the luxury lifestyle will read about it and Mainstreamers that generally have an interest in this topic will also read it.

Lifestyle Subsets

                The type of people that would read this magazine are most probably women with children, who are in their 30’s, and are working class and without many hobbies; Stereotypically known as housewives, although maybe not as conventional as once known. For example, they could be divorced or married, have children with multiple fathers, and may have a part time low paid job. This magazine is targeted at people who have a life that needs enriching, with a lot of time on their hands, and whose interests extend to the misfortune of others (mostly celebrities).

In my mood board, I included many images to represent the type of people who this magazine targets, I included the shops that the audience may shop at, the house and car they might have, the products that they might use, and just general information about the type of person, what they eat, what they look like, what they watch, how old they are etcetera.