Magazine inspiration

Below is a collage that I made of all of the magazines that inspire/inspired me for my magazine. This includes music magazines such as, The Rolling Stones, Billboard, Wonderland, Remix, Q, Vibe and Clash.

Typography and text sizes

For a magazine, you can have a variety of fonts and each font can be interpreted in a different way. It is important to have a font that reflects and suits your style of magazine. The fonts and text sizes I use will create a conventional magazine front cover, contents and double page spread. Below are some examples of different fonts and an analysis of  them.

This font represents art, drawing, doodling, teenagers, school, art book and a comic.

This font expresses sport, video games, masculinity, futuristic and modern.

This font equates to street art, graffiti, creativeness, funky, artistic, urban, cool, skateboard parks, illegal, crime. 

This font represents boldness, simplicity, childish, plain and basic.

This font expresses something important, classy, sophisticated, professional, formal, serious, sharp, newspapers, plain, formal and posh.

You can also get 2 other fonts called 'sans serif' and 'serif', which are very popular. 'Sans serif' is commonly related to masculinity and 'serif' is related to femininity.  

If you were to put in order the different sizes of text on a front cover, it is likely going to start with the masthead as the largest, then a main cover line that references the cover image, then other subheading cover lines and then tag lines under the cover lines.

Font size can create a "hierarchy" or a sense of order on a page. E.g. the contents page would start with a heading, then underneath would be a subheading and then underneath that would be the page by page content.

For example, below you can see both 'Q' and 'Vibe' music magazines start with a big title at the top and the writing gets smaller as you get further down the magazine. 

Regulations

Editors' Code of Practice

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), as regulator, is charged with enforcing the following Code of Practice, which was framed by the Editors’ Code of Practice Committee and is enshrined in the contractual agreement between IPSO and newspaper, magazine and electronic news publishers.

1. Accuracy 

- The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or  images, including headlines not supported by the text.

- A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and — where appropriate — an apology published. 

2. Privacy

 - Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.

- Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent. 

- It is unacceptable to photograph individuals, without their consent, in public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

3. Harassment

- Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit.

- They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals once asked to stop; nor remain on property when asked to leave and must not follow them. 

4.  Intrusion into grief or shock

- In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. 

5. Children

- They must not be approached or photographed at school without permission of the school authorities.

- Children under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child’s welfare unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents.

6. Children in sex case

- The press must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16 who are victims or witnesses in cases involving sex offences.

- In any press report of a case involving a sexual offence against a child, the child must not be identified.

7. Hospitals

- Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from a responsible executive before entering non-public areas of hospitals.

8. Reporting a crime

- Relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless they are genuinely relevant to the story.

10. Subterfuge 

- The press must not seek to obtain or publish material acquired by using hidden cameras or by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls, messages or emails.

11. Victims of sexual assault

- The press must not identify victims of sexual assault or publish material likely to contribute to such identification unless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so. 

12. Discrimination

- The press must avoid reference to an individual's, race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.

-  Details of an individual's race, colour, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental  illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.

14. Confidential sources

- Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information. 

Magazines drops in sales

This chart shows the purchase of magazines by adults in a year. We see that Kerrang! has decreased in sales by 7, NME has decreased by 33, Mojo has decreased by 26, Top Of The Pops has decreased by 19, but BBC music magazine has increased by 11.

This chart then shows magazines brought by males and females in a year. As you can see, all of the music magazines brought by males have decreased in sales. Kerrang! has decreased  by 12, NME has decreased by 40, BBC music magazine has decreased by 3, Mojo has decreased by 16 and Top Of The Pops has decreased by 21. This shows that within a year, the amount of men buying magazines went down.

However, all of the music magazines, but one brought by females has increased. Kerrang! increased by 5, NME has increased by 7, BBC music magazine has increased by 14, Top Of The Pops has increased by 2, but Mojo decreased by 10. This tells us that more women buy magazines than men.


I got these results from the NRS, the National Readership Survey.

Questionnaire results

Here are the results I got from my questionnaire:

The  results I achieved helped me gain ideas for my magazine and helped guide me to create a good magazine. The majority of music people listen to was pop, so the theme of my magazine will be pop music. Most people said that they would pay between £2-£3 for a magazine, therefore my price will be £2.50. For features included in the magazine, most people picked all of what was on offer, which was exclusive interviews, album reviews, posters and photos, latest fashion, celebrity gossip, latest music, up & coming artists, gigs and concerts and events. Therefore, all of these will be included in my magazine. Most girls wanted vouchers as a freebie in the magazine, so this will be presented on the front cover. Most people said that they thought a magazine should be published weekly, so my magazine will be published every Saturday morning. Almost everyone said that they wouldn't participate in competitions, consequently, I won't put any competitions on offer. Just over half said they use the internet to read magazines, so my magazine will be available online. Almost everyone said that they listen to the radio and that they watch music channels, so my magazine will hold it's own radio and music channel. 

Music magazine questionnaire

****MUSIC MAGAZINE QUESTIONNAIRE **** 

 Q1. How old are you? 

 14-16 

 17-20


 Q2. What is your preferred music to listen to? 

 - Rock

 - Rap 

 - Indie 

 - Pop 

 - R&B 

 - House 

 - Hip Hop


 Q3. How much money are you willing to spend on a music magazine? 

 - Below £1 

 - £1 - £2

 - £2 – £3

 - £3 - £4 

 - £4+


 Q4. What colours would you like to see be used in a music magazine? 

 - Red 

 - Blue

 - Orange 

 - Yellow 

 - Green

 - Pink 

 - Purple

 - Grey 

 - Black 

 - White 

 - ALL 


 Q5. How often do you buy music magazines? 

 -Daily

- Weekly 

 - Monthly 

 - Sometimes 

 - Never 


 Q6. If you don’t buy music magazines, why not? 

 - Too expensive 

 - Not interested 

 - I don’t read/buy music magazines 

 - Other – online // No time 


 Q7. How often do you think music magazines should be published? 

 - Daily

 - Weekly

 - Every other week 

 - Once a month


 Q8. What features would you like to see in a music magazine? 

- Exclusive interviews  

- Album reviews 

 - Posters and photos 

 - Latest fashion

 - Celebrity gossip 

 - Latest music 

 - Up & coming artists

 - Gigs and concerts 

 - Events -

All of the above


 Q9. What freebies would you want in a music magazine? 

 - CD’s

 - Posters

 - Make-up -

 Vouchers 

 - Other – None 


 Q10. Would you take part in competitions? 

-  YES 

 - NO 


 Q11. Do you use the internet to read music magazines? 

 - YES 

 - NO 


 Q12. Do you listen to the radio?

 - YES 

 - NO 


 Q13. If yes, which radio stations do you listen to? 

 - KISS 

-  CAPITAL 

-  MAGIC 

-  HEART 

-  RADIO 1 


 Q14. Do you watch music channels? 

-  YES

-  NO

TV and radio

Billboard and Rolling Stones magazines both have their own radio that can be accessed on the radio, online and they have their own apps that can be downloaded from the app store onto iPhones, iPads and laptops. On the TV under music, you can also find their radio/music channels.

BILLBOARD ONLINE

BILLBOARD RADIO APP

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE APP

ROLLING STONES ONLINE

ROLLING STONES MAGAZINE APP

Social media

Social media has seen a surge in popularity in recent years. Initially, sites like Facebook and more recently Twitter were viewed as tools for personal communication, marketing, advertising and publicity by organisations keen to get their message out to the widest possible audience.

These social media sites is a way to give a fast update of news, sell related items, allows fans to write on their pages, current affairs, celebrity gossip, latest fashion, latest music and recent events. They update their sites with various photos and videos.

Nowadays, consumers are buying fewer magazines at newsstands given the availability of plenty of free reading material online. Newsstand sales of U.S. consumer magazines dropped 12% in the first half of 2014, while paid subscriptions declined 1.8% and digital editions continued to expand their presence in the industry. 

Q, NME and and Uncut suffered double-digit year-on-year sales declines in another torrid period for the music magazine sector in the second half of 2011.

Uncut magazine was the biggest circulation faller among music magazines in the second half of 2011. The IPC Media title shed 14.2% of its circulation year-on-year and 5.6% compared to the first half of 2011, to 62,305.

 NME reported a 14% drop year-on-year, to 27,650 sales – a 4.7% decline compared to the previous six months. Q saw its circulation fall 12.1% year on year, to 77,522. Mojo remained the best-selling paid-for title in the music market, with a 0.3% period-on-period lift in sales to 87,555. However, the title fell 7.5% on the second half of 2010. Q fell 3.6% compared to the first half of last year, to 77,522 – a 12.1% year-on-year decline. The rock title Kerrang! fell slightly on the period, loosing 2.2% of sales to 42,077 after an impressive first half of 2011. The title fell 2.1% compared to the second half of 2010.

Daily Mail have reached social media sites such as, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

SNAPCHAT

Rolling Stones music magazine has also reached Facebook and Twitter.

FACEBOOK 

TWITTER

Billboard magazine has also reached social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM