Research
What is Genre?
A class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content or technique.
P
O
P
Pop, an abbreviation for the world 'popular', describes a widely distributed, commercial genre of music commonly known as 'chart music.' Pop derived as a development of softer rock and roll around the 1950's which was encouraged by many styles such as 1920's jazz and 1940's r'n'b and gospel rhythms. It was essentially the music listened to by the largest population of listeners making it a mass media form. After The Beatles influenced the entire world with their new pop/rock dynamic during the 60's, hundreds of pop records were being produced annually. In 1981 as pop was rapidly taking over the music industry, a multimedia platform named MTV was founded which became one of the biggest stepping stones of Pop's everlasting global presence. Soon after came the early 90's in which we discovered 'bubblegum' pop - typically 'cheesy' and catchy tracks strongly represented by white people in western society. Connotations of the music were associated with being 'cool', cheeky and cute, promoting ideal role models and somewhat slanted innocence such as Britney Spears with Time and Christina Aguilera with Genie in a Bottle. Ideal for a target audience of children and teens! A great example of someone who played a major role in bubblegum pop is the pop queen herself...
With advances in technology over the years and the mass media becoming a huge part of day to day life Pop has grown to be the biggest genre of music currently around, creating several pop hybrid genres. Millions of pop records are now played and
Radio
Tv &
Internet websites - youtube, spotify
These media outlets all play copious amounts of 'pop'ular music and are involved in our every day life. Due to this we as consumers aren't given a great deal of choice in the music that's around us in relation to common media outlets. This will have a huge impact on our musical taste, especially if we're conformed to listen pop from a young age. Being such a mass market in the industry, does pop solidify us from day one? Or do its many hybrid forms allow us to branch off and explore within other music styles?
Such as urban pop...
Developed by artists such as Beyonce, Rihanna and Ciara coming into the early 2000's and on going today...
Ciara
Beyonce
All hybrid genre's of POP:
Pop-(soft)rock - 1950's onward
Beatlemania - 1960's
Punk-pop - The 70's
Dance/Commercial pop - 'The King of Pop' - 1981 onwards
Bubblegum-pop - early 90's
Urban-pop - Late 90's/2000's
Hip-pop - Middle 2000's
Indie-pop - Later 2000's
Electro/House-pop - Later 2000's
Electro/House-pop - Later 2000's
I have decided to produce my music magazine in the genre of Commercial Modern Pop! Being a frequent listener of Pop myself, I will be able to identify what my target audience wants and needs in a pop music magazine.
As a buyer of pop music magazines I know that they are regularly distributed from convenience stores and petrol stations such as; Spar, Nisa and Tesco.
Cosmopolitan magazine - £3.50
Top of the pops - £4.99
Billboard - $5.86/issue on a subscription base fee
From this information I can assume that these highly priced magazines highlight the ability publishers have to exploit the popularity of the genre as people will buy the magazines regardless of the price. Sold so frequently in such regular everyday stores we can see the popular demand made by consumers for what seems to be an 'essential' rather than a luxury. Taking this into account, it is important I produce a magazine fit to stand in the competitive, high growth market.
What is a 'target audience?'
A particular group of people indentified as the intended recipient or customer of a production or message - usually specifically targeted consumers for a media text due to age, gender, race or occupation.
Audience theory
Hypodermic needle theory - This dated theory focuses on the receiving audience of the media being passive and accepting the information transmitted via media texts without any challenge or thought process on their behalf, basically unmediated. Essentially like the transition of fluid from a hypodermic needle into the body. However this theory arose when the mass media had just begun and was later developed into the two step flow theory...
Two step flow theory - A development of the hypodermic needle theory, the two step understands audience better and explains that the information from a media text does not flow directly into the minds of its audience unmediated but is actually 'filtered' through 'opinion leaders' who challenge and interpret the media then communicate it to less active associates. In turn they have influence over these associates who mediate the information given by the media via the thoughts and feelings of 'opinion leaders'. Therefore it is not a direct process as once though but a 'two step' flow.
In light of these theories I can understand how to approach my audience when creating a media text; therefore I can target the target audiences uses and gratifications of the music magazine.
Uses and gratifications - In short uses are why audiences read a media text which could be reasons such as: diversion, personal relationships, personal identity, and surveillance. And gratifications are what the audience get from the media texts, in relation to why they've read it, gratification could be: escape from everyday problems and routine, emotional and other interaction, finding yourself and learning behaviour and values from within a text or information which could be useful for living such as financial news or weather reports.
By analysing my target audience and highlighting their key characteristics I can apply this information to the theories I've researched in order to help me in my production to create a successful magazine. By understanding how my audience will receive and interpret the information given and engaging their uses of the magazine I can aim to offer them gratification.
Who is the target audience of POP?
Who would buy my magazine?
Questionnaire of demographics:
Statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it
I handed out a questionnaire to random members of the public in order to find out who the target audience of 'pop' is. Once I found this I could gather knowledge of who the target audience is for a pop genre music magazine - who am I aiming at?
AS media research - Musical preferences survey
Please circle or state where applicable, thank you for completing
How old are you?
5-12 13-18 19-25 26-30 31 or over
Which gender are you?
Male Female
Your occupation?
Student Employed Unemployed
Ethnicity? Please state ........................
Regional identity – Where about in the country are you from? ..........................
Sexual orientation?
Heterosexual Homosexual Lesbian Bisexual
Economical status - optional
Are you earning EMA? Yes No
Are you receiving any government benefits? Yes No
Which genre of music do you listen to/ prefer?
Pop Rock Indie Dance Electro Folk Cultural Classical R’n’b HipHop
Do you listen to the UK’s chart music either on radio or TV?
Yes No
The statistics came out at an overwhelming rate of 78% being either POP fans or listeners of UK chart music played on generic media outlets such as TV or radio.
Common traits shared by pop listeners were:
A wide yet young age slot of 13-25
Mainly female consumers
In education - students
White British
Heterosexual
Earning some form of government benefit or EMA
And regular listeners of the radio or chart music TV shows
P s y c h o g r a p h i c s
Psychographics: The study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria, esp. in market research
The common demographics of my survey will determine the psychographics of my target audience, what type of people are they?
Survivors? Like security and routine.
Social climbers? Like material wealth and status symbols.
Care givers? Believe in 'caring and sharing'.
Explorers?Interested in personal growth and social change.
I can gather that my target audience are predominantly young female students looking to better themselves and their environment through education; therefore my target audience for a pop music magazine are psychographic-ally 'explorers'.
Due to this study of the target audience I can build on interpretation and assume the audience will be looking for/usually indulges in generalised and informal conventions within media texts as appose to publications such as Vogue, which has a niche audience.
To be certain of these statements I will have to target my audience via an audience profile and ask their personal concepts...
Audience profile
My target audience is -
YOUNG - teenagers to young adults of about 25.
FEMALE
STUDENTS - secondary, sixthform or studying a degree.
WHITE BRITISH
HETEROSEXUAL
WORKING CLASS
Personal concepts
What would you want on a POP music magazine front cover?
What would make you buy it? Why do you buy them?
Megan Butterworth - 'Pretty colours, make it match.'
Hayley Sanderson - 'A good picture, something really eyecatching.'
Rebekah Bromley-Derry - 'I buy the one that stands out the most.'
Maggie Asbury - 'I don't want skinny girls on the cover; I buy the music magazine with the best pop artist on it.'
Faye Brooks - 'A good magazine needs interesting sell lines relating to current stuff, then I HAVE to buy it!'
Ellie Scott - 'A full image spread across the covers a must; it looks ugly with more, smaller pictures.
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Front cover deconstruction
I am planning to annotate and deconstruct four music magazine front covers. Two of which are typical pop genred magazines to understand the generic features of a pop front cover and two of which are known to be best selling music magazines to understand why they sell so well and what features they excell in; in order to help me in my project.
1. Generic pop magazine - Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops is a typical ‘bubblegum pop’ magazine, a famous institution in music media, it formerly had its own TV show with over 15 million views every Friday night. Class as a traditional in the trade its generic conventions within its media platforms were the beginning foot of all POP magazines - hence why to some it could seem a little too traditional and even dated due to its less modern representation.
The main image on totp's front cover is a mid long shot of pop icon Britney Spears placed on the right hand side of the page; leaving the left hand side room for plenty of sell lines. Britney Spears is well known for making pop in the early 90's onwards, using a well know pop artist on the front cover would attract many pop fans to pick up the magazine. In the main image Britney is shown wearing a purple top which matches the magazines colour scheme therefore subliminally associating Britney Spears with Top of the Pops, this makes the magazine more iconic and appealing. Britney's stance in the image looks very powerful, by holding her arms up to leave her elbows facing the consumer, it connotes dominance and female power; targeting it's primary audience through the non verbal codes of the image as well as representing the magazine as a strong and powerful media source. The image stands out on the page with help from editing, its bright lighting attracts audience attention making it very eye catching.
The second most important feature of a cover page is the masthead. Top of the Pop's mast head is laid out in a square shaped box similar to a CD to symbolise its purpose as a music based magazine. The words TOP and POP are emphasised greatly within the mast head. This is because 'top' means number one, highest and biggest, and 'pop' denotes the genre of magazine it is. The use of rhyme in the masthead is appealing to younger audiences as its fun and easy to say. The words TOP and POP also jump off the page at us in bold because the institution wants its readers to know it’s a pop magazine affiliated with POP-ular music and current POP-stars. As an audience we then link pop and Top of the Pops by association.
The cover is marked out in pink, purple and white – stereotypically very 'girly' colours to attract its primary target audience. The bright and bold pink connotes femininity where as the subtle whites give an implied sense of innocence representing the magazine as young teen friendly and very suitable for a female reader. Using deep purple for the outlines and the famous pop star connotes a warm feel, making the reader feel welcome and drawn in.
Placing the masthead to the left strays away from the common masthead layout we usually see marked out across the top of the page however this leaves a large space dedicated to imagery. In this case Britney Spears! This strategically sells the artist instead of the brand or publication. This would suggest Top of the Pop’s have used the power of their layout to increase sales. On the other hand drawbacks of this layout and masthead combination could be its typically ‘tacky’ presentation. Often busier looking layouts relying on extreme colour schemes and gossipy content can tend to give a more informal impression to audiences.
The covers content is formed mainly of gossipy sell lines such as 'Which pop star was a school misfit?' rather than music or artist related information. This is because the magazine is aimed at females who stereotypically respond to gossip, it's busy secondary leads entertain the eyes of teens with simple and cheap features such as rumours about S Club's 'Jon'. Simple sell lines like this will intrigue mainstreamers living in ordinary lifestyles because, to them, scandals like this could be very outgoing and fun.
At nearly £5.00 a copy Top of the Pops displays its power to exploit this popular genre and its features. Although to some Top of the Pops may look cheap and dated, to others it will always be a traditional and historical land mark within the pop industry and mass media.
2. Generic pop magazine - Smash Hits
Smash hits, again a massive pop institution owned and published by EMAP, has its own music channel including the official UK top 40 as well as weekly issues. The broad and multi-plat formed company EMAP was founded in 1978 and has had ongoing success with Smash Hits Magazine; a young females/children’s pop magazine ever since.
Smash hits, again a massive pop institution owned and published by EMAP, has its own music channel including the official UK top 40 as well as weekly issues. The broad and multi-plat formed company EMAP was founded in 1978 and has had ongoing success with Smash Hits Magazine; a young females/children’s pop magazine ever since.
Pop-rock star Avril Lagvine featured on the front cover of Smash Hits gives the magazine a hybrid versatile edge. A brightly lit up, slightly low angle mid/long shot of the artist sports her looking fresh faced and innocent - connotations of which bubblegum POP can be commonly linked to. The subjects 'cute' facial expression with squinted eyes and an emerging smile non-verbally connotes femininity and gentle nature. Smash hits used this on the cover to create an angelic image, child friendly and sweet - making mums want to buy it over other pop magazines for their daughters. This represents Smash hits as an example teenage/children’s magazine.
Smash Hits rigid yet subtly italic mast head grabs attention by using the bright colours of white and yellow. White connotes innocence which relates to the cover as a child friendly tween pop magazine and yellow connotes energy and warmth which could be seen as a representation of children who buy this magazine. However the font’s ridged formality tells us it's a no-nonsense publication, strictly what it appears to be - subliminally certifying mothers that it's the perfect pop magazine for their children.
Its secondary leads can yet again be linked to the conventions of typical bubblegum pop as their full of features on artists such as Cheryl Cole and Mcfly; who are both very generic and similar pop artists for tweens and children. Therefore this would further reinforce Smash Hits primary audience of young girls, who would be easily drawn in by the eye candy of a children’s boy band and want to read about the ex lead singer of alternative girl band Girls Aloud. Both puffs are associated with the colour pink which explodes 'girly' connotations and childish, simple content. This is clearly Smash Hits selling point. An example of this obvious targeting would be the anchorage text 'girls rule' written across the main image informing the audience of the magazines bias towards females, allowing us to conclude who this magazines for.
Seemingly bias to one gender Smash Hits has used an equalized blue and pink colour scheme, this could be to not fend off a secondary audience of young boys as we associate blue with males. Blue is often used in nurseries of young boys so the audience interprets this equal colour scheme as a fair non exclusive magazine again connoting to us it's an example magazine although we can interpret that it is mainly aimed at young girls.
A generic feature of pop magazine layouts, the cover is very busy. Although it does have a generic mast head placement along the top of the cover, making it that little bit more spaced out than Top of the Pops. Due to its plentiful secondary leads bordering the magazine, Avril (the main image) has been squashed to fit, making the cover look unplanned or designed last minute. However smash hits can probably get away with this as its entertaining a young audience with an approach the busier the better!
Selling for £2.99 an issue this pop magazine is considerably cheaper than most others, most likely because it's aimed specifically at children and tweens who arent going to be recieving any income. This affordable girls magazine is a better choice economically and child friendly wise.
3. Best selling magazine - Billboard
Owned by Prometheus Global Media, Billboard is America's largest music magazine going, often crossing borders to Europe for weekly issues on a subscription based fee.
Owned by Prometheus Global Media, Billboard is America's largest music magazine going, often crossing borders to Europe for weekly issues on a subscription based fee.
The contrasted and shadowed stunning mid/long shot of Rihanna spread across the cover is iconic and bound to attract attention. Positioned on her hands and knees the main image is very suggestive... Along with her sexy squinted eyes and slightly open mouth, the image connotes lust and sexuality which would imply this magazine is not a children’s magazine and better suits an audience of maybe adolescents and adults. Using such a raunchy well known star would tell us Billboard is extremely well known and successful to have Rihanna modelling for them. It also indicates they're a very outgoing magazine; raunchy covers aren't an issue for them. The most eye catching feature of the main image would be Rihanna's extremely bold red hair, red connoting danger, we can see she's a bit of a bad girl which Billboard obviously promotes again telling us this magazine is for adults/adolescences. This attention seeking imagery manipulates consumers into buying the magazine, it also implies the magazine is variable and alike to the stars they drape across the cover to enhance sales.
Billboards classic and well known masthead hasn't changed for years - always symmetrically placed at the top filling in its circular letters with the colours red, yellow and blue. Quite a thick font, the masthead implies the magazine is plentiful. Also surprisingly dressed in white the masthead further connotes purity and freedom - maybe implying it has the freedom to promote as it pleases, raunchy or not. The different colours within the letters suggest variety as a music magazine. Similar to the primary colours the cover could also suggest Billboard has grown from child to adult as a media outlet as we associated those colours with childhood and growing up. This would give us the understanding that Billboard is now a successful, adult magazine dominating the market of music magazines.
The covers secondary leads are laid out very formally; listed in black and white in a rigid, symmetrical, boring font. The use of capitals in this 'serious' font would suggest it's secondary leads are very important and urgent, making the reader want to flick to them and find out all about it. However the colours black and white are very formal and suggest sensible and classy content for a middle class audience - unlike our typical pop magazines. The actual content of the magazine displayed by it's puffs and leads is all music related and in-depth, for example Pitbulls multiform, multimedia take over - we're expecting to be highly informed as it seems so urgent by the text and Rihanna 'Re-re makeover' suggests they have the latest inside scoop on which direction iconic pop star Rihanna is heading. Rather than gossipy sell lines, the content sells itself because it's interesting and looks thoroughly planned.
The colour scheme of this issue is black white and red, red being the colour associated with Rihanna which tells us each issue of Billboard is differentiated to each star. The red we see in the magazine as mentioned earlier connotes danger, this subliminally tempts the reader to pick up the magazine. Red is also associated with sex and lust which would interest an adolescent or adult audience, intriguing them in. The black and white of the front covers colour scheme promotes formality, contrast and class which would represent Billboard as a middle class magazine.
Instantly recognisable, Billboards layout starts as always with a generic masthead running horizontally across the top. This gives a sense of familiarity as the magazine tends to be very diverse and variable in issues. Having Rihanna as the main feature of the cover laid out directly in the middle suggests as with most magazines, they're selling the artist rather than the brand, also implying stars like Rihanna are in the middle of their priorities/features as she is centred on the page.
At $5.86/issue on a subscription base fee, totalling up to $70.32 a year plus a deposit Billboard magazine is one of the most expensive music magazines around yet manages to keep outstanding sales record. This suggests the magazine is for middle class adults who have a higher disposable income.
4.Best selling magazine - Q
Q is an extremely popular rock music magazine owned and published by Bauer media group who own and publish 281 other magazines in Europe, China, Russia and the USA. Based in Germany it sells over 38 million magazines a week. However Q is a monthly issued magazine distributed in the UK only.
The main image of this front cover features a close up of Cheryl Cole, a typically preppy pop artist, in a new sexy light associating her with the rock genre and dangerous reds. The image shows Cheryl dripping in the rain with smoky black eyes opening her mouth seductively touching a metal pointed finger to her tongue. All of which are extremely suggestive and seductive features implying this is a men’s magazine. The 'wet' imagery of the rain connotes 'slippery' imagery, lust and see-through clothing. These are seen as 'dirty' implications, which would tell us this is a heterosexual men’s magazine as this would appeal greatly to them. Her stance non-verbally communicates her sexuality, willing and confident nature further identifying promiscuous connotations, therefore the target audience would definitely be adults. Eye catching and suggestive, this magazine would most likely be placed on a higher than middle shelf in a stores news rack to target its adult audience and be kept away from innocent minds.
The Q masthead is well known in terms of colour and shape. A white capital Q giving the magazine some innocent connotations on its cover placed on a bold red square suggesting danger and anger - linking with the covers rocky feel. It represents the magazine brand as edgy which is appealing to the male audience who tend to like action and suggestive women. The square shape of the mast head is similar to a CD following Top of the Pops idea to link with the identity of a music magazine giving the impression its specialised in the market of music magazines.
Q's secondary leads all seem to be features or informative pieces on music artists differentiating from other magazines who more commonly use secondary leads to sell gossip or imagery such as bands/stories. Using no other pictures but the main image, the secondary leads seem easily readable rather than busy and messy like most pop magazines. This gives it a sense of formality and a higher level of content in its magazine displayed by classy secondary leads such as, Muse, The best new acts of 2010 etc.
However there doesn't seem to be much variation in terms of font on the cover which can come across as dull, especially as the font is typically boring due to its plain 'times new roman' look. Plain black and white writing may give connotations of class however a variation is needed in terms of attraction on a front cover.
Seen again the black, white and red colour scheme makes the magazine look formal but bold. The usual and conservative formal colours of black and white allow the beaming red on the cover to stand out which it does. An example of this would be the 'ROCKS' anchorage text associated with Cheryl Cole, our main feature which allows us to view the artist in a new edgy rock light due to the bold blood red colour of the writing. Almost speaking out to us to say ‘don't be fooled by the black and white - we're here, we're bold’. The only other massively bold attraction on the cover is the red mast head drawing the brand of Q in with all the connotations mentioned above - promoting the brand.
Its layout follows conventional features such as lists of puffs/secondary leads. This suggests it's plentiful with content as there's enough to list both right and left of the main image - this persuades readers to buy it because they feel they're getting their moneys worth, especially at the prices of music magazines today. However as a front cover selling the whole magazine and brand to the audience, it can be seen as generic because of its dull format of listing, an easily recognisable placement of the masthead and a slogan to inform the reader of Cheryl Coles feature. Are readers going to pick this magazine over another? Is a raunchy image and bold red colour scheme enough?
Cheaper than Billboard Q magazines subscription fees are £34 per annum, it works out at about £2.80 a magazine, which is considerably lower than all the magazines/covers I’ve evaluated. However you are a constant consumer every month.
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After deconstructing front covers of pop and best selling music magazines I have grasped an idea and structure for my own 'pop' magazine cover by evaluating what works well and what doesn't placing myself in the consumer's position.
After deconstructing front covers of pop and best selling music magazines I have grasped an idea and structure for my own 'pop' magazine cover by evaluating what works well and what doesn't placing myself in the consumer's position.
I want to stray away from young children's bubble gum pop and focus more on commercial modern pop fitted to the age bracket of teens and young women of my target audience. I will take the familiarity of best selling magazines and enhance it by creating something fresh and less predictable - less of usual gossipy sell lines and more of quality content.
Remembering that my audience are young women I plan to form something classy and interesting for them to develop their tastes yet keep it real, affordable and suitable to their needs.
Although I like the idea of a subscription magazine, realistically it isn't the best financial plan for young students and 'benefitted' consumers in a 'low' social class. Taking that into account I want to price my magazine fairly as well as keeping it less raunchy so it can be placed at the eyelevel of young women rather than out of the way producing a better, more economically beneficial music magazine choice.
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Planning
Draw up of the layout for my music magazine
In terms of layout I decided to stick to a classic and easily recognizable design to be easily identifiable as a music magazine, choices indicating these would be the iconic masthead plastered at the top reading horizontally with a main image spreading across. However in terms of secondary leads, I've broken them up on the cover to stray away from a generic list formation that they usually take. I did this so the cover didn't look too busy or 'messy' and so it was easier for my target audience to take in the cover in smaller sections rather than long, 'boring' text appealing to more mature class segments. Using the sense less is more, I’m creating a classier looking pop magazine leaving just the image and anchorage text to dinraw consumers.
m a i n i m a g e
Magazine sales rely on information, telling the public something they don't already know. Therefore a music magazine relies on in-depth interviews and features to tell the consumer something about the artist they don't know, another side. The main image is what will capture attention over anything so it's important to use a personal, audience grabbing close up shot on the cover. The use of inspirational images, connoting power and happiness can often persuade readers to pick up the magazine, therefore by using an inspirational female on the cover, my target audience will want to buy it.
This is the main image I have chosen to present on my front cover for my pop music magazine. The mid long shot of 'Ellie-Daisy' promotes confidence and strength; we can grasp this from her predominant posture within her attention grabbing pose. Shown with her arms up in the air the image symbolises that Ellie's carrying/lifting something; this links with the magazine feature story of her rise to fames and personal life story through strengths and weaknesses. The image has been edited to complete a perfect representation of a young female pop star. Ellie's skin has been airbrushed to create a flawless effect promoting health and beauty which is inspiring to a young female target audience.
Mastheads/Fonts
Possible names:
Tune up
Pulse
PopUP
I decided to call my magazine 'Pulse' due to its musical related connotations - 'pulse of the music', 'hear that pulse'. As well as its lively implications linked with the pulse of our hearts and bodies. I feel this is the best choice in terms of context and purpose as it is an easy read title. I chose it over PopUP to stray away from typically 'cheesy' children’s pop as the name connotes fun/ child’s play like a 'pop up' book.
Now that I’m sure of what will be written I need to search and discovered possibilities as to how it is written...
1.
Now that I’m sure of what will be written I need to search and discovered possibilities as to how it is written...
1.
This large font is simple and very easy to read due to its standardized text layout rather than a daring or outgoing choice. The thicker outlines of the letters make it easier to comprehend what is written as well as it being a very noticeable font due to its size. It's 'rubbed out' blank effect gives the font a sense of originality which is what a brand needs whilst it's distorted effects connote informality and nonconforming approaches to text, almost like it's an unfinished sketch which promotes the wrong image about the magazine and its approach to production.
2.
This bold font incorporates a skyline into its text which is visually stimulating as well as appealing to the young 'cosmopolitan' students, more likely to be situated in urban areas than rural with less disposable incomes. The cosmopolitan 'city' effect will inspire young women in education not earning a great deal, giving them a classy formal feel on a low budget. It's starry effect on the texts upper half adds a hint of femininity from the idea of a 'sparkly sky' appealing to the female audience. The font’s thick width suggests it's a plentiful magazine.
3.
I decided to choose number two as I felt it best adapted to the purpose and effect of both the magazine and target audience. Not only is it attractive and bold to turn heads on the magazine rack but it draws in both factors of femininity and inspiration yet it's still commercial with it's cosmopolitan feel.
Colour Schemes
I interviewed some peers who fit the quota of my target audience in order to get their opinions on possible colour schemes for the magazine.
1.
The first colour scheme i've looked at is hot pink, light baby blue and a soft yellow.
'The pink you've put on there is really nice and I think a lot of girls will like it. Although its a stereotype girls will respond to pink as we're used to the colour being used to advertise things we may be interested in.'
'Blues typically associated with boys however the shade of blue makes the difference. Baby blue is a very light blue often socially related to babies having cute and neutral conotations. I think it would give the magazine a cute edge and stray away from pink girly madness seen on bubblegum pop magazines.'
'I really like the yellow! Yellow connotes warmth and happiness. Its a youthful colour associated with sunshine which is a positive aspect.'
2.
'The colour red connotes danger and anger which isn't something commonly associated with pop, although it could be viewed as 'cheeky' with its dangerous and lustful features the genre usually takes more of a moral high groun associating itself with softer connotations.'
'Black is also an odd colour to incorporate into a pop music magazine due to its dark connotations. Black connotes impurity and guilt; very much the opposite of white. This could have a negative affect on the reader and cause them to buy another pop music magazine instead.'
'Purple is the only positive and feminine colour within the scheme. Connoting peace and warmth, its also typically 'girly' which would appealing to the target audience. However the purple doesn't match the red or black and is infact the complete opposite, this could suggest an unbalanced magazine which doesn't represent its brand positively.'
3.
By analysing the previous colour schemes, I decided to put forward a new scheme consisting of four colours, baby blue, white, pink and yellow. This is because I noticed my target audience were not happy with dark or negative connotationed colours such as red and black. Therefore I used all four positive colours to create this.
'The pink you've put on there is really nice and I think a lot of girls will like it. Although its a stereotype girls will respond to pink as we're used to the colour being used to advertise things we may be interested in.'
'Blues typically associated with boys however the shade of blue makes the difference. Baby blue is a very light blue often socially related to babies having cute and neutral conotations. I think it would give the magazine a cute edge and stray away from pink girly madness seen on bubblegum pop magazines.'
'I really like the yellow! Yellow connotes warmth and happiness. Its a youthful colour associated with sunshine which is a positive aspect.'
Mock up: Front Cover
Testing
Final: Front Cover
Mock up: Front Cover
Testing
'You should place something on the cover that has a more feminine touch to really appeal to women.'
'I love the colour scheme, it works really well with this genre and imagery.'
'You need more structure in the layout, the sell lines are everywhere.'
'Wow the image is great! Really empowers women.'Final: Front Cover
