Research - Front Cover research 1 Q magazine March 2009

Pictured to the right is the first front cover I analysed as part of my research. This is issue for was released back in March 2009, and was published by Bauer London Lifestyle LTD.

The masthead is red and white in colour which makes it stand out against the grey background and grab the attention of the reader, positioned in the top left corner behind an image of the subject, in a san serif font which is less than a quarter of the page in size, it is also the housestyle as it is the same on every edition of this magazine. This follows the conventions of other music magazines as the masthead is placed behind the subject. Even though it is behind the subject, due to it being just under a quarter of the page it still attracts the readers attention as the logo is big, bold and recognisable, however it is not overpowering.

The feature story in this magazine is about Brandon Flowers, the front man of rock band "The Killers", an image of the subject is central yet it covers all of the page and it is from a low angle, he has a very central, whole screen position allowing him to spread on the cover. His makeup is dirty but there is not a specific reason as to why and I find this very intriguing as many readers would want to know why. He is wearing dark clothes which is relates to his genre of music which is following a convention, however, he is wearing a pink shirt and this relates to the colour scheme on the front cover. His hair is quite dark however it is not extreme and that breaks a convention linking him to the genre of music he performs. Representation shows the cover subject trying to look dirty and rugged which also shows relation to the genre he performs.

The main article is very large on the front cover as it is intended to draw a lot of attention as there is a lot of content related to the subject in the magazine. The colours are red which is the housestyle for Q magazine however, there is a new colour scheme involving greys and pinks which is related to the subject attire on the front cover image and the fonts on this are san serif.

This has influenced my planning and creativity as I have picked out elements of this front cover and it gives me more of an idea of how I may want to layout my front cover and the type of codes and conventions I may want to use to attain a higher grade. I liked the way the colour of the shirt the subject was wearing creates synergy and links with the text that gives references to other articles on the front cover. 

Selection and rejection

I think this photo is not ideal for a magazine cover as it is clearly very poor quality, as is the background, the reader would clearly not be attracted to the magazine as the front cover is the first thing you see and it reflects the readers opinion on purchasing the product.
To improve the model of the photo simply has to stand still.






                This would be my ideal photo for my cover as the quality is good, it has a background related to the top (sixth form college), the camera angle is medium close up which is expected and the model looks is showing facial expressions showing approval of the college which draws the readers attention.











                                                                                                    This photo would also not be very ideal for a cover as you can barely see the models face, also the camera angle is not high in quality and the background does not really relate to the topic.






This post has influenced my planning and creativity as I now have a good idea of what bis good for a front cover image and what is not, this will highly benefit me when it comes to doing my music magazine as I can capture and then pick out a high quality image.

Media institution research

Bauer Media Group is a European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany run that manages a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world.

Bauer Media is a multi-platform media group, with locations across the UK. Following their purchase of Emap in 2007, The Bauer Media Group acquired a collection of media brands. This includes heat and Grazia as well as a radio portfolio of national radio brands such as KISS FM UK and Magic, and regional radio brands across major UK cities. In 2013, Bauer Media also acquired the Absolute Radio Group from Times of India. Bauer Media also broadcasts TV music channels including The Box TV, in a joint venture with Channel 4. In the UK Bauer Media is the sister company of H Bauer Publishing, who publish titles including Take a Break. 

Kerrang! is a brand that specialises in rock music. It originally began as a magazine and in 2004 Kerrang Radio was launched. A Kerrang TV channel also exists. As of 2005 all of Kerrang TV's programme content is music videos the majority of which is open scheduled for text requests from their playlist, so it is clear to see that this media group has developed massively and its growth in finances just from profit has been huge due to the success of their magazines, television programmes and radio shows. Kerrang is a very teenager age bracket, it uses slang and language that adolescents can relate to and they branch out on social media which of course teenagers are always on, so effectively teenagers are the perfect target audience because there are so many different direct ways to share the music and material with them.

Another part of their digital empire is magic FM which play different genres of music, they tend to go for number 1 hits, they could be old or they could be new, so due to this they have a broad target audience as there is a vast variety of music from different decades that can be played, however it also introduces people to music they wouldn’t normally take an interest in which then opens new doors for one’s musical variety if they’re then into many different types of music.



This has influenced my planning and creativity as I now know a lot more about media institutions and looking for gaps in the market which I can then base my magazine on a genre that has a gap in the market.

Preliminary task front cover

This is my final college magazine front cover, to create this I used Adobe Elements 11, using tools to add layers and text. This has influenced my planning and creativity as I have now learned how to use a new method of technology related to media.

Technology, slideshare and flickr

Today i joined slideshare and flickr. I also learnt how to embed a ppt.

This has influenced my learning as I now have more resources to do my media work enabling me to attain a higher grade.

Research conventions 1

Codes and conventions from RyanFrankish7

Response to brief

I am very optimistic about this project, as a musician making a music magazine seems like something I can be very creative in, I mainly listen to rock, metal and some indie music which are very popular genres however they are not as popular in my age group so this music magazine can be quiet unique.

OCR G321 Print Brief

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the program.
Main: the front page, contents and double-page spread of a new music magazine.