Research Methods

There are 4 types of research that are used in the magazine industry. These are:

·       Primary

·       Secondary

·       Qualitative

·       Quantitative

Primary

Primary research is first hand information which you have gathered yourself. This is an advantage as it allows the information to be completely up to date, but can be costly and take a lot of time to collect the information together.

This form of research can be used in interviews and questionnaires, and can be used anywhere from the streets to social networking sites

Secondary

Secondary research is information which was collected previously by other companies or opinion survey organizations. While it is cheaper and quicker to get this information, the information may be out of date or not as true as it was, which makes it not very useful for use on modern music.

Secondary research is easily accessible, as much of it is available from books, the internet, newspapers and even census results could hold some useful information (how many people live in an area where your magazine is selling well etc)

Quantitative

Quantitative research deals with numbers. For example you could research the number of magazines of a particular genre bought in a week, and break that down to see how your magazine is doing compared to its competition. This type of research can also be used for looking for patterns in the numbers obtained in Primary or Secondary research methods.

Qualitative

Qualitative research is research that is based on words or interviews rather than numbers, for example an interview with members of the public would be qualitative. These can be useful if you want to gain an insight into popular opinion of your magazine rather than look at sales figures. These normally take the form of surveys or questionnaires

moodboard

This is my mood board of ideas. The images I used are the result of research into the music I wish to cover in my magazine. I have included various camera shots, as well as magazine covers, titles, double page spreads and sell lines. I have also included layout styles, graphics and house styles. 

I used images which show the grim and dark style of the genre of music I am using for my magazine. There are colours in this which would link to this, such as blacks, reds and blues for contrast. I also showed a electric guitar, which is an instrument associated with rock music. I used images of bands in the genre of music  that I am using, such as Motionless In White, Get Scared, AFI and others to show the variety of individual styles in the genre. I will use some of these bands in my piece, for example a chance to win merchandise or tickets to see them, or I could use them as an interviewee. By using quotes from songs in this genre, I have shown how the songs can be fuelled by any emotion, ranging from anger to depression or love, often using violent imagery in the songs. I also used the quotes to explore different types of font that I could use for the magazine.

Overall the mood board has allowed me to see the conventions associated with a music magazine, and allowed me to compare the various methods of doing these. I feel that it has been very helpful and I will try to stick to these conventions during the creation of my piece.

History of music magazines: Kerrang! magazine

Kerrang! Magazine is a rock music magazine that first appeared in 1981 as a piece in the newspaper sounds. Initially devoted to the British metal scene, it has since changed to fit the market of popular rock music of the time, going through the thrash, glam, grunge, industrial and metalcore sub-genres to become what it is known as today.

The magazines name is meant to be onomatopoeic of the sound that is made when power chords are played on a guitar, as these sort of chords are normally used in the type of music in the magazine.

Contents

Within Kerrang! magazine there is a large range of information. There are reviews of new album releases from bands that the editors think the reader would be interested in. There are also reviews of the latest live concerts by bands, and interviews with bands or specific members of them. There are also poster pages for fans of bands, which may help convince people to buy the magazine if a band they like is in the poster section.

Typical Reader

Kerrang! magazine is generally aimed at a younger audience, and shows this with their change in focus on types of music over the years. To stay fashionable to younger audiences they have supported different sub-genres of music more than others at different times. They would also probably advertise this magazine to a more male audience, as the images on the front cover can be very vivid or angered, causing women to probably not buy the magazine as much. This idea is mirrored in the NRS data for the magazine. The NRS shows that 321,000 people aged 15-44 buy Kerrang! magazine, while only 39,000 people aged 45+ bought the magazine. There was also a large split between males and females buying the magazine, as 222,000 males bought the magazine in comparison to 137,000 females buy the magazine.

House Style

Although the colours on the page and the placings of the story can vary with each weekly release, there are certain areas that are kept the same every week, to promote continuity and make it easier for the fans of the magazine to find it. One of these is the masthead, which is placed at the top of the page in large, bold font which normally has lines going through to give it a 'shattered' effect. this effect is instantly recognizable, making it easy to find if on a shelf with other magazines. Often the main image on the page goes over the title of the magazine slightly, but in some cases the title is put in front, as is shown in the images above.

Media Terms

for the task of creating a media magazine, I had to research terms that are used in magazines.

Title - The name of the magazine, usually placed at the top of the page

Banner - a strip of images or a phrase across the cover

Sell Line - a catchy phrase used to attract the reader 

Splash - written across the front cover of a magazine, to attract the eye  

Menu Bar - these are at the sides of the cover page, informing the reader

Burst - a shape, usually in the corner of the page, with information included in it 

WOB (White On Black) - white writing on a black background

Puff - a short snippet of text to attract the reader quickly

Ear Piece - a piece of information, presented in the corner

Call-Out - part of the front cover that shouts out at the reader 

Barcode - a machine-readable code, defines the price

Tag-line - a memorable phrase 

Boost - the biggest sell line, to increase sales

Dog End - a pretend fold in the page, usually to present the page number

Direct Mode of Address - when the information talks directly to the reader, using pronouns. Eye-contact from the model on the front cover could also be seen as a direct mode of address

Evaluation of prelim

While I think some parts of my preliminary were done well, I think that some aspects could have been improved, for example:

FRONT COVER

Conventions

On my front cover I used many conventions that are used in magazine production. I applied a 3-colour scheme, which uses the schools colours of red, white and black. I did break some conventions however, as I did not put a barcode on the piece, seeing as it was pointless for a magazine that would not be on sale. I also had the title running down the side of the page, breaking the convention of the title being at the top of the page.

Title

I placed the title of the magazine down the left hand side of the page for my front cover, where it is written in a bold, sans-serif font. While I like the look of the title being down the side of the page, I will not repeat this style on my music magazine, as I feel it takes up a lot more space in comparison to the title being at the top of the page.

Image

I tried to stick to the idea of having a single picture on the front page, using the image as a border for different aspects of the page. I think that the use of writing on the image for the corresponding story makes it stand out from the other stories by being larger and more central to the page rather than around the sides. I also used a small image of the school logo at the top of the page to confirm the magazines affiliation to the school

Text

While I like the use of white text on red background, and the reverse, I feel that the black text on a red background is more difficult to read and stands out less than the white text. I will try to avoid this problem in my music magazine by deciding exactly what colours I want and using colours that will be readable on that colour.

Blocks of Colour

I feel that the blocks of red along the right hand side and bottom of the page, while showing an obvious place to advertise stories inside, can draw attention away from the rest of the cover as it takes up a lot of space and draws the reader’s eye to it. I also feel it doesn’t match with the rest of the background, because on the left hand side and at the top of the page there is a white background. I feel that I will not be repeating this idea in my music magazine for the above reasons.

CONTENTS

Text

I think that having the page numbers down one side of the page opposite the information of what is on that page is a good effect, as the entire contents looks more organized. I would be very likely to continue to have this style on my music magazine, as I think it works well and gives the magazine a more professional look as everything is in the same column.

Text Colour

The use of text colour on the contents page is good I think, as having the text red stands out from the rest of the page and helps to draw the reader’s attention to the information in question.

Images

While I think that the use of images as a border for the contents is a good tool, I feel that I could have placed the images better, as they overlap in some places, or there is a small line where they don’t quite meet. I would use smaller images if I used this on my music magazine, and have them placed so that they don’t overlap, but fit well together.

Prelim cover done!

I finally finished my preliminary work's front cover today, after having several issues with minor details (also known as being a perfectionist). Although in my earlier post about my sketches for this task I had 3 very distinct ideas, I ended up using an amalgamation of all 3 for this task.

Without further ado, here is the completed preliminary cover!

I tried to stick to the 3 colour scheme conventionally used in magazines, using the schools colours of white, red and black and I think they look good, but the white definitely stands out more on red than the black does, which makes it easier to read. I would of put a bar code in the top of the magazine, but as it is a school magazine I felt it would be unnecessary, due to the magazine not being on sale.

I also finished my contents page, which uses images to border the details of the pages.

I like the use of red text on white background, as I feel it stands out. I think the images could of been more creative, but i was limited for time as the deadline was drawing closer and closer

Prelim sketches

For my Preliminary task I made 3 sketches of ideas for the front cover and contents page. Each sketch consisted of a different ideas which I thought were potential designs for my pieces. Each front cover centred around having an image in the centre of the page, but with other aspects like the masthead and other stories in the magazine being in different locations in each one. The contents pages all follow a similar pattern of text accommodated with images, but in some the images are linked to the stories, while in others the images are used to show separate stories.

In this sketch I had the main image taking up the entire of the front cover, with a small bar explaining the main story. I would then use the space around the model to show different stories inside. With the contents page I put the pages and explanation down one side of the page, with images running down the other, with the intention of making the images correspond to the page it is next to.

In the second sketch I made I intended the image to again take the entirety of the page up, having a small box to explain the story behind it embedded in the image. I also planned to have the other stories in the magazine in a box at the bottom of the page. For the contents page I have images in the top half of the page and the written contents in the bottom half. In this I put the images as separate stories to those that are shown in the written contents.

In my third and final sketch I had an image again taking up the entirety of the page, but had several small sections of stories embedded around the central figure. For the contents page I have the page numbers and information written on one side, with images creating a border around the information. I would make the images correspond with stories in the contents, and have the page numbers shown below them