This evaluation looks in detail at my Media Studies coursework which took the form of the front cover, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine called Past Masters. The magazine looks at rock and pop artists that it perceives to be a legend or a legend in the making.
In what ways did your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My initial idea when I found out about undertaking this project was to base my magazine on music from a previous generation and build my double page spread and image selection around a chosen ‘legend’ of rock or pop from the 20th century. Forms and conventions of media products are vital to the success of the publication in a market where things have to push at the boundaries whilst fitting in as well. One of the most important conventions and the first place to start is the title and Masthead. When a new magazine is produced this has to be displayed in a prominent position, with that in mind I chose to stick with uniformity and spread it right the way across the front cover without anything obstructing it. By doing this and making sure the title and the selling line were completely exposing these two key features I was able to convey the most important thing was the magazine and not anything that might feature in it. Another vital feature to consider when putting together the front cover is the layout and formation of the cover lines. These have been split into two categories which in turn allowed me to conform with the convention of using the left third to show-off the content of the magazine even when the full front might not be made visible. This was considered because of the popular space-saving tactics used by newsagents and retailers in which the magazines overlap on the shelf. In the left third I displayed 3 of my key articles within the magazine in an attempt to entice the reader. These cover lines came in the form of play on words such as “PM meets the PM” playing on the initials and a play on the title of a song in the line “Elvis isn’t dead… or is he?” I also name-dropped with a view to conveying the magazines links to famous and influential people such as the late Elvis Presley and the prime minister. The other set of cover lines were arranged in a two colour list on the other side of the magazine, it was a list of names of people featured inside the magazine. These were selected on importance to the magazine in an attempt to avoid leaving dead space on the cover next to the main image. The two colours were chosen purely on the grounds of fitting in with the chosen house-style and separating the featured artists and the magazines columnists and writers. There are two images on the cover, the main image featuring an actor posing as John Lennon which is paired with my main cover line. The image was chosen very carefully. Looking at other publications involving a single person as the main image I chose to use a medium-close up image giving a shot that shows the audience body language and facial expression and avoids leaving dead space in the way a medium or long shot might. The personal touch that a medium-close up image gives delivers the aura that surrounds Lennon in a mysterious and mythical way. The main cover line that accompanies the image is set apart from the 3 other larger features. The line and the blurb below are both aligned to the right of the page and made larger in a bid to make this feature stand out from the rest. Using the left third advertising to my advantage, I decided that the unique selling point of my magazine would be a free CD, the cover of which I featured on the left hand-side of my strip. As well as moving the USP to the bottom with my dateline and barcode I also made sure that the image of Lennon’s CD could be seen when my main image might not be. This was designed with marketing and retail in mind with a view to encouraging potential customers to pick this magazine out from the crowd. With the contents page I was determined to conform with the house-style created with the front cover whilst pushing the boundaries and including a multi-coloured theme that could be recreated with the background in my double page spread. The way I attempted to do this was by highlighting important features such as titles and section dividers in my main colours of blue and red and use the other colours in the different sections, such as features and regulars. Looking at the layout of my contents page I can conclude from the comparison between this piece and my preliminary task that following a standard contents design achieves a more aesthetically pleasing result at the same time as it allows the reader the chance to navigate the magazine with ease. When designing my double-page spread my first decision was to spread my article into a columnar layout maximising the space available for images between the text. I also chose to fit the red and blue from the two previous pages in prominent positions for important pieces of text and borders.
How does your media product represent different social groups?
The target audience of my magazine as a social group is a working man with a music oriented past. The main social issue for this audience is a lack of time for their music now they’re relied on both in their profession and as a family man. The way the magazine attempts to represent this social group is by highlighting particular features that maybe of interest to them and displaying the content in a layout they can function with. The vast percentage of the artists that the magazine features are from the 70s and before allowing the reader to feel his era lives on and endear the magazine to him as a little piece of his own history. The colour scheme of the double page spread is used as something for this particular social group to relate to. The psychedelic colour scheme is associated with the late 60s where The Beatles, Peace and Free Love were prominent. The particular social group I’m aiming for is not full of people that need to look after how much they are spending on their music but at the same time they are weary of being ripped off. A monthly publication costing £3.00 is very good in market terms and will act as encouragement for the regular buyers. In essence this group is represented as a section of the public that require a release from the stresses of day to day life and the magazine goes a long way towards offering that release with it’s light hearted layout of bright but not overbearing colours and well chosen content. The picture of the columnist on the contents page shows that the staff don’t take themselves too seriously whilst being determined to entertain the readers.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Distribution and more importantly correct distribution is key to success in all media industries. Film, television and radio have slightly different issues to contend with, but the ideas behind them are the same as magazines and other print media. The different media organisations are run in a very sensible manner, and because of this they will not publish two magazines with the same social ideas ad target audience. This magazine is however in a fortunate position regarding its social group and target audience. Rock and pop magazines are plentiful but this is as far from mainstream as is in existence in the magazine industry today. Because of this then, my magazine could appeal to any institution willing to take a punt on a new and different title. The least likely of the well-known institutions is E-map, now owned by Bauer Media. Their magazine Mojo is the closest currently in production to Past Masters. If IPC Media were willing to take the obvious risks associated with new products then this could allow them a firm gip on that corner of the market where nobody else has this type of publication. However, I think the most likely solution to this issue would be a smaller, independent company such as Development Hell. These types of companies would be more willing to break from the mould used by today’s music magazines and go out on a limb for something a bit different. The main advantage for a smaller company is they will almost certainly not be entering competition for their own products and can therefore only be benefiting from the production.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
As stated in the user profile, my target audience is quite a wide one which helps when the magazine is off the wall like Past Masters. When tying down a particular group though, the issues concerned look to be aimed at a man of 40 years or more. The magazine is designed for this purpose and to allow different people to relate to it for different reasons. The magazine is aimed at people who now have a gap in their life that music used to fill. During their younger years their music was their life, but with the development and change of music as we moved out of the 20th and into the 21st century, music died as far as they were concerned. The reason I chose this as my target was, on reflection of the current market I saw a gap that needed filling. A huge part of the history of music is based on the greats of the 60s and 70s and because of this their names will be remembered even when the music is forgotten. But with the target audience missing their music and their past, a publication with their musical idols gives them the opportunity to relive some of the past and the institution that distributes it the opportunity to corner the market with magazines about the stars from recent history.
How did you attract/ address the audience?
With the audience chosen the next step was to offer them something to encourage them to choose this publication. At this stage the market doesn’t offer any realistic competition from other magazines. So the issue is not offering more than the rivals but just offering enough to persuade these men, and in some case women, to part with £3.00 a month. The colour scheme for the double page spread and contents page doesn’t require a strict rule of three. This allowed me to aim at a late 60s audience by using a combination of several colours in a psychedelic theme. The artists featured are also vital to the luring of the audience. Using John Lennon as the cover story and USP for this particular issue is the biggest incentive in existence for this particular target audience. Lennon had hero status in life and legend status in death, because of this anything about his mysterious life, or devastating death would be of interest to this area of the public. But in this issue I have gone one better by uncovering something previously unknown by the public which I have used as my USP. As a selling feature for the target audience, 5 never before heard tracks by John Lennon goes a long way to eclipsing anything ever offered by a magazine. Little things such as the font and sensible layout chosen allow the reader to feel un-patronised by his product. Insulting the intelligence of your readers is a mistake that must be avoided. The language choice is a development of this theory, by choosing a sophisticated vocabulary the reader feels challenged but at the same time they are not made to work hard by tiring use of unnecessarily inserted words that don’t develop or enhance the text as a whole.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
The magazine industry was one that interested me before my media coursework began. Having had a little taster of the effort that goes into the production of a magazine whilst designing and making my 4 pages I can safely say that what is achieved regularly by all of these institutions charged with publishing a product is an outstanding achievement even with the best software and highest of skills. Before this project began I knew I would be relying heavily on basic skills with picture editing software learnt in my earlier years at the school. As my preliminary task was finished and my final piece was taking place however, Macromedia Fireworks, my chosen software for this project, became a programme I knew inside out. My ability to manipulate images in a way that gave them a totally different context to that they were taken in gave the enhancement of the pages required of them that. Before this project and my improved editing skills this would have been far from possible. The key thing that I have learnt during the production is that the better you know your programme and the longer you take to prepare, the better the result. Allowing for this I spent an awful lot of time experimenting with the pictures I took for my front cover and double page spread in particular, and using them in different ways as well as playing with the background and features like the models hair.
Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When the comparison of finished products took place between my final piece and my preliminary task, it really hit me for the first time, how much progress I had made in the last two months alone. From knowing very little about the ins and outs of magazine layout and content I was able to produce my own house-style and centre-fold article. This was based on practising and trial-and error and an awful lot of time well spent. One thing that I learnt an awful lo about during this process was the skill involved in taking a good and usable picture having discarded many of the photos I took and holding 3 photo shoots before I was satisfied. The basic nature and low preparation of the preliminary task hit home just how much work had gone into the final piece and this was the difference that shocked me the most. With the preliminary task there was a feeling of ‘playing at being an editor’ where as the motivation for the final piece and making it as good as possible turned it from ‘playing at being editor’ into producing my own music magazine and to a standard I was happy with. As a perfectionist in nature it genuinely surprised me that my product lived up to the high expectations I set it, even more so when looking at my back-to-front background with huge areas of dead space that was the cover of my school magazine. The main areas in which I have learnt things from this project include the need to think things through and consider all options though. With the school magazine it was very much designed in the first way that popped into my head and stuck with. However, in the final piece I was happier to look at the forms and conventions used by other magazines, note where they were successful and use them as a basis for my own publication.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Reader Profile
Past Masters
The reader of Past Masters is someone who still lives decades in the past and is damn proud of it. They know times have moved on, and are more than happy to go along with the new technological world of today, but music to them is something that died in 1979. They have an iPod, but the most recent addition was Phil Collins’ greatest hits and the re-release of ‘A Little Less Conversation’.
During their youth, they spent hours of the week, listening to the latest music with their friends, and thinking the great times they were witnessing in the music industry would last forever. Eric Clapton was god and Elvis was the king. The Beatles were ruling the world and everybody was swinging.
As they grew up, the world started to turn on their music. Elvis was struck down at his prime, the Beatles were tragically parted and the genre of pop music faded and went in many different directions. Fortunately for him, he was prepared for such an event! All of his LPs were stored well and transferred to compact disc, he was safe in the knowledge that he would never have to buy another piece of music, unless the good times came back.
Today though, he is in a high-income bracket of £50,000 per annum and upwards, and because of this he is still used to having a large disposable income and using it extravagantly. His £80,000 Mercedes doesn’t excite him anymore and his continuing love of the music from his past requires some stimulation.
His life was turned round for the better when he first found Past Masters because this was everything he had hoped for in a music publication. This allows him his monthly opportunity to escape from middle-age and head back to his youthful days of the past.
The reader of Past Masters is someone who still lives decades in the past and is damn proud of it. They know times have moved on, and are more than happy to go along with the new technological world of today, but music to them is something that died in 1979. They have an iPod, but the most recent addition was Phil Collins’ greatest hits and the re-release of ‘A Little Less Conversation’.
During their youth, they spent hours of the week, listening to the latest music with their friends, and thinking the great times they were witnessing in the music industry would last forever. Eric Clapton was god and Elvis was the king. The Beatles were ruling the world and everybody was swinging.
As they grew up, the world started to turn on their music. Elvis was struck down at his prime, the Beatles were tragically parted and the genre of pop music faded and went in many different directions. Fortunately for him, he was prepared for such an event! All of his LPs were stored well and transferred to compact disc, he was safe in the knowledge that he would never have to buy another piece of music, unless the good times came back.
Today though, he is in a high-income bracket of £50,000 per annum and upwards, and because of this he is still used to having a large disposable income and using it extravagantly. His £80,000 Mercedes doesn’t excite him anymore and his continuing love of the music from his past requires some stimulation.
His life was turned round for the better when he first found Past Masters because this was everything he had hoped for in a music publication. This allows him his monthly opportunity to escape from middle-age and head back to his youthful days of the past.
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Music Magazine Questionnaire
Music Magazine Questionnaire
1. Which of the following age ranges do you fit into? (Please Circle)
Under 15 15-24 25-34 35+
2. How much money do you get per month?
______________________________________________________
3. How much money do you spend on music per month?
______________________________________________________
4. Do you own an iPod or another mp3 player? (Please Circle)
Yes No
5. How do you acquire your music (circle as many of the following as applicable)?
CD Online music sharing iTunes or online shops
6. How would you best describe what music means to you?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. How much money do you spend on magazines and reading material per month?
_____________________________________________________________
8. How often do you go to gigs/ concerts? (Please circle)
Once a year 2-4 times a year 5+ times a year Never
9. (If applicable to you) How did you find out about the last Gig you attended?
10. When reading a music magazine, which of the following do you expect to be included? (Circle as many as apply to you)
Interviews Upcoming events Album Reviews
Features on upcoming artists Other (please state below)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11. What is your favourite Genre of music, and what do you think makes that genre stand out from the rest?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Other than your favourite genre, would you enjoy reading about any others?
(Circle) (If yes please state which below) Yes No
_____________________________________________________________
13. What colours do you think fit well with your favoured genre of music?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
14. Which of the following matter the most to you? (please circle one)
Interviews with current Chart Topping Artists
Discovering the next generation of Stars
15. What do you think a magazine, designed for your favoured genre of music should be called? (List as many names as you can think of)
_____________________________________________________________
16. How often would you like the magazine to be published? (Circle One of the following)
Weekly Fortnightly Monthly
17. On top of your current purchases, how much would you be willing to pay for a new music magazine? (Select one of the following)
Under £1 £1-£2 £2-£3 £3-£4 £4 and over
18. Who are your favourite 3 artists recording today that come under you favoured music genre?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
19. Who are your favourite 3 artists that are no longer recording?
_____________________________________________________________
20. Do you have any more views to share on the creation of this music magazine? (Please use space on the back of this page if yes) Yes No
1. Which of the following age ranges do you fit into? (Please Circle)
Under 15 15-24 25-34 35+
2. How much money do you get per month?
______________________________________________________
3. How much money do you spend on music per month?
______________________________________________________
4. Do you own an iPod or another mp3 player? (Please Circle)
Yes No
5. How do you acquire your music (circle as many of the following as applicable)?
CD Online music sharing iTunes or online shops
6. How would you best describe what music means to you?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. How much money do you spend on magazines and reading material per month?
_____________________________________________________________
8. How often do you go to gigs/ concerts? (Please circle)
Once a year 2-4 times a year 5+ times a year Never
9. (If applicable to you) How did you find out about the last Gig you attended?
10. When reading a music magazine, which of the following do you expect to be included? (Circle as many as apply to you)
Interviews Upcoming events Album Reviews
Features on upcoming artists Other (please state below)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11. What is your favourite Genre of music, and what do you think makes that genre stand out from the rest?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Other than your favourite genre, would you enjoy reading about any others?
(Circle) (If yes please state which below) Yes No
_____________________________________________________________
13. What colours do you think fit well with your favoured genre of music?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
14. Which of the following matter the most to you? (please circle one)
Interviews with current Chart Topping Artists
Discovering the next generation of Stars
15. What do you think a magazine, designed for your favoured genre of music should be called? (List as many names as you can think of)
_____________________________________________________________
16. How often would you like the magazine to be published? (Circle One of the following)
Weekly Fortnightly Monthly
17. On top of your current purchases, how much would you be willing to pay for a new music magazine? (Select one of the following)
Under £1 £1-£2 £2-£3 £3-£4 £4 and over
18. Who are your favourite 3 artists recording today that come under you favoured music genre?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
19. Who are your favourite 3 artists that are no longer recording?
_____________________________________________________________
20. Do you have any more views to share on the creation of this music magazine? (Please use space on the back of this page if yes) Yes No
Sunday, 2 November 2008
School Magazine Analysis...
Evaluation of Front Page and Contents
When deciding on the format and shape these 2 pages would take I had to call upon my expanding knowledge on magazines and the results of my questionnaire. I had to remember the rules for house style, font and images for the front cover, and make my contents page fit the front-page’s theme.
I decided to use 3 colours to go with my background image because this would allow white and black to contrast with the help of red. These were the most popular combination chosen during the questionnaire process.
The other main feature of the cover was the cover image. To analyse the image I had to look at the positives and negatives of what light it showed the school in, the model in and the magazine in. The image fits well with the cover story as it shows one of the students in front of a sign for the school cafeteria. However the image was not well planned and the picture had to flipped over to fit the magazine cover, leaving the writing on the sign back to front. The cover model wasn’t given time to prepare for the image as it was sprung on her out of the blue. So the result was her not really knowing how to pose for the picture.
The cover lines are all in the same font and style with the size and casing of the letters. This allowed the magazine to keep a sane and sensible feel to the cover even though with the full page image there is a lot going on.
One issue with the cover is the dead space that is left. In an ideal world the model would be filling up a bit more of the page filling the dead space above her head and the cover lines would fill all of the space on the left hand side of the cover.
The contents page lacked a proper design. The idea of boxes to separate the articles works in theory and the page numbers can be found at the bottom of each box. The idea of the boxes works well to separate the articles from each other but that’s about as far as the positives from this design style go. The order of the boxes was non-existent, and because of that the page becomes useless as a contents page in the normal sense.
In the music magazine, a more traditional style would better serve my magazines needs, and I’ll use less boxes, more organised information in future contents pages.
The other thing this page lacked due to the lack of images was some colour. The white background is only at it’s most effective when it has images on the page to compliment it. With more time and experience the articles could have gone with an image each to highlight exactly what was going on in each.
Other features that I missed out on include the barcode and USP on the front page. Having a free gift as a USP would have helped 3D stand out from other magazines.
In conclusion, this being my first go, I'm not downhearted by the mistakes that have been highlighted or i have seen myself, because they will help me move forward and hopefully help me improve by the time my Music Magazine is completed.
When deciding on the format and shape these 2 pages would take I had to call upon my expanding knowledge on magazines and the results of my questionnaire. I had to remember the rules for house style, font and images for the front cover, and make my contents page fit the front-page’s theme.
I decided to use 3 colours to go with my background image because this would allow white and black to contrast with the help of red. These were the most popular combination chosen during the questionnaire process.
The other main feature of the cover was the cover image. To analyse the image I had to look at the positives and negatives of what light it showed the school in, the model in and the magazine in. The image fits well with the cover story as it shows one of the students in front of a sign for the school cafeteria. However the image was not well planned and the picture had to flipped over to fit the magazine cover, leaving the writing on the sign back to front. The cover model wasn’t given time to prepare for the image as it was sprung on her out of the blue. So the result was her not really knowing how to pose for the picture.
The cover lines are all in the same font and style with the size and casing of the letters. This allowed the magazine to keep a sane and sensible feel to the cover even though with the full page image there is a lot going on.
One issue with the cover is the dead space that is left. In an ideal world the model would be filling up a bit more of the page filling the dead space above her head and the cover lines would fill all of the space on the left hand side of the cover.
The contents page lacked a proper design. The idea of boxes to separate the articles works in theory and the page numbers can be found at the bottom of each box. The idea of the boxes works well to separate the articles from each other but that’s about as far as the positives from this design style go. The order of the boxes was non-existent, and because of that the page becomes useless as a contents page in the normal sense.
In the music magazine, a more traditional style would better serve my magazines needs, and I’ll use less boxes, more organised information in future contents pages.
The other thing this page lacked due to the lack of images was some colour. The white background is only at it’s most effective when it has images on the page to compliment it. With more time and experience the articles could have gone with an image each to highlight exactly what was going on in each.
Other features that I missed out on include the barcode and USP on the front page. Having a free gift as a USP would have helped 3D stand out from other magazines.
In conclusion, this being my first go, I'm not downhearted by the mistakes that have been highlighted or i have seen myself, because they will help me move forward and hopefully help me improve by the time my Music Magazine is completed.
2 Reader Profiles
Reader Profile Analysis
The ‘Reader Profile’ of a magazine is there to entice people into reading them. If somebody sees the magazine and is unsure about whether to buy it or not they may look at the magazines website or do some research into the content. Whilst doing this if they come across the reader profile they have found the single most useful piece of advertising issued by the company, advertising the magazine to a particular group of people and generalising the reader into a positive peer group. The profile can come in various formats, either in the form of a block of descriptive text such as ‘Word’ or in bullet points with images such as ‘NME’.
Not only does the reader profile allow whoever is reading it the chance to relate to this ‘character’ it is describing, but it subconsciously offers this person the chance to become one of these people. Everything mentioned about ‘the reader’ is positive and shows the average reader of the magazine as somebody you would want to be. Anybody reading this therefore, is likely to be thinking, one of the following; “That sounds a bit like me”, “I Fancy a bit of that”, “Impressive people buy this magazine so I will”.
Word’s profile focuses on the income of the reader, their job type and how they spend their money on the music industry. It shows the reader as someone who is well off and spends plenty of their disposable income on music, DVDs and other technology. Anybody reading that, as a prospective buyer of the magazine will clearly want to be associated with people like that, whether they’re actually in that mould or not.
The 2nd paragraph however is the part that’s designed as something to relate to. The past of ‘the reader’ isn’t going to entice people who can’t relate to this particular youth like they might be enticed by the prospect of being perceived as rich. A music filled youth where any possible identity struggles were covered up by their particular genre of music or an unwavering addiction to a particular band of your era was what made you, you, however could be the reason someone buys this.
The next paragraph goes on with the personal theme, but this could entice people on a wider scale. Anybody who had a love of music when younger and is now developing into this world of technology with varying degrees of success where different devices work can relate to this to a point, but it really applies to people who are keeping their love of music alive whilst juggling work commitments and a family.
The last paragraph however goes back to describing the reader generally by showing them to be flexible and adaptable to modern life, while remembering their music based roots. This is how deep the magazine company feel they must go to achieve the best results from their reader profile.
NME have used a very different approach to their reader profile. Their aim is to show their reader as a very down-to-earth person, part of the ‘in-crowd’ and cool. There is a collage of images depicting an awful lot of every day items, often used by people who are aware of the modern world, such as hair-gel, an Xbox 360 and an iPod. People with these items and who shop in the shops show, for the labels highlighted are clearly in a position where they are attempting to create an image for themselves. NME feel by doing this, they’re adding their magazine to the list of must have items already mentioned.
It also throws some statistics at the readers; by saying how much the readers spend on clothes and shoes, as well as technological items such as Cameras and DVDs thus associating themselves further with things that are very much part of mainstream Britain today.
Whereas Word are trying to give people something to relate to in their reader profile, NME are attempting to show their magazine as a vital accessory for those with any sort of image to keep up.
The ‘Reader Profile’ of a magazine is there to entice people into reading them. If somebody sees the magazine and is unsure about whether to buy it or not they may look at the magazines website or do some research into the content. Whilst doing this if they come across the reader profile they have found the single most useful piece of advertising issued by the company, advertising the magazine to a particular group of people and generalising the reader into a positive peer group. The profile can come in various formats, either in the form of a block of descriptive text such as ‘Word’ or in bullet points with images such as ‘NME’.
Not only does the reader profile allow whoever is reading it the chance to relate to this ‘character’ it is describing, but it subconsciously offers this person the chance to become one of these people. Everything mentioned about ‘the reader’ is positive and shows the average reader of the magazine as somebody you would want to be. Anybody reading this therefore, is likely to be thinking, one of the following; “That sounds a bit like me”, “I Fancy a bit of that”, “Impressive people buy this magazine so I will”.
Word’s profile focuses on the income of the reader, their job type and how they spend their money on the music industry. It shows the reader as someone who is well off and spends plenty of their disposable income on music, DVDs and other technology. Anybody reading that, as a prospective buyer of the magazine will clearly want to be associated with people like that, whether they’re actually in that mould or not.
The 2nd paragraph however is the part that’s designed as something to relate to. The past of ‘the reader’ isn’t going to entice people who can’t relate to this particular youth like they might be enticed by the prospect of being perceived as rich. A music filled youth where any possible identity struggles were covered up by their particular genre of music or an unwavering addiction to a particular band of your era was what made you, you, however could be the reason someone buys this.
The next paragraph goes on with the personal theme, but this could entice people on a wider scale. Anybody who had a love of music when younger and is now developing into this world of technology with varying degrees of success where different devices work can relate to this to a point, but it really applies to people who are keeping their love of music alive whilst juggling work commitments and a family.
The last paragraph however goes back to describing the reader generally by showing them to be flexible and adaptable to modern life, while remembering their music based roots. This is how deep the magazine company feel they must go to achieve the best results from their reader profile.
NME have used a very different approach to their reader profile. Their aim is to show their reader as a very down-to-earth person, part of the ‘in-crowd’ and cool. There is a collage of images depicting an awful lot of every day items, often used by people who are aware of the modern world, such as hair-gel, an Xbox 360 and an iPod. People with these items and who shop in the shops show, for the labels highlighted are clearly in a position where they are attempting to create an image for themselves. NME feel by doing this, they’re adding their magazine to the list of must have items already mentioned.
It also throws some statistics at the readers; by saying how much the readers spend on clothes and shoes, as well as technological items such as Cameras and DVDs thus associating themselves further with things that are very much part of mainstream Britain today.
Whereas Word are trying to give people something to relate to in their reader profile, NME are attempting to show their magazine as a vital accessory for those with any sort of image to keep up.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)