Primary Research

Front Cover -

For my research task I have used the internet to gain a wider perspective upon what is already existing in the market, this would give me a better understanding on what is already out in the market and what my magazine can include to add a diverse feature upon my magazine, using other aspects such as my questionnaire that i have created I can make my the magazine to please my target audience which would be according to my questionnaire is around 16-17 years old. When looking at the other magazines I can find online I must look at the format of the magazine, so how it would be presented. From this particular magazine I can see that the company is called Vibe and has a very basic theme when it comes to colour, Blue,Pink and Grey is mostly used on the magazine front cover. I believe that there so lours have been used as the would not be gender stearotyped so there would be no bias towards buying the magazine from either man or woman. I will incorporate this into my magazine as the magazine will be multi gender to gain consumer maximisation. The colours of
my magazine would be similar in the fact that multiple colours will be used however not only to gain popularity from both genders but also to create the magazine to be more eye-catching and would be creative, i would need this as my magazine would have to stand out on a shelf and I believe that using bright colours will create interest particularly with a strong picture such as the one shown on "VIBE" magazine.

The photograph is a close up of Kanye West  this is a very striking photograph as there is no expression on his face and his skin colour would be in contrast with the background, this would make his head stand out, His clothes is also taken into consideration as his clothes are the same colours as the text around the picture, this would make the magazine cover look very professional and would also entice the reader to be more impressed as more time time has been taken with the photography and therefore would be more enjoyable to read as more time would have been taken with the making of the whole magazine. I can also see that lights have been used on Kanye's face, this would show professionalism and would also make the consumers to think that more time was invested into the magazine. I have used lighting previously in my preliminary task and therefore can use the equipment quite easily and effectively when shooting photographs for my own magazine. The school also has a very professional camera which could be used to make the photography very sleek and very clean.

On this particular magazine cover a different type of typography has been used effectively, the font type for billboard magazine is quite slim, this would be in order to fit the title in and still make it look

professional. There has been two colours used in this cover with the letter A and D being filled in with the colours blue and green respectively. I can use this level of creativity in my own magazine to ensure a high level of standard in my work. A high level in standard would mean that my magazine would be one of the highest quality. The Text would have changed the the left hand size of the magazine, this difference would show diversity and styles of text, the creator of the magazine has used a different size of text of the top of the subheading "Bruno Mars" this would show that I would be able to conserve space like this on my own magazine allowing my text to be legible and also be very creative and effective in allowing me to input more into my magazine front cover by overlapping text.

 When comparing these two these two magazines both created by billboard I can infer that the front cover text is different this means Billboard use a large array of typography not just for the subheadings but also for the main headline of the magazine, I can implement this into my own magazine by not being afraid to change my typography throughout my magazine to prove that i can use Adobe in design and show my skills and creativity when making the magazine. From comparing I am also able to see that the magazine has once again edited the text to conserve space on the front cover, This time the text has neatly been placed in the middle of the "O". From looking at both of these magazines I can infer that form my magazine cover I will definitely use some of these features in my own magazine cover, I can also see that manipulation may also have been used when editing the photograph different colours are on J.Cole's face from the front cover we are unable to see weather or not this is from the lighting in the room or weather or not this is a use of photoshop after taking the original photograph. I will be using Photoshop as my photo manipulation tool, this would help me make my front cover of the magazine look very professional.   

This particular magazine has allot of text by the side of the main picture of Ed Sheeran, This text would be beneficial as it would enable to show what is inside the magazine, The text and typography of the side of the magazine cover shows other additional exclusives that are inside the magazine, for example this magazine would show that Pink Floyd, Kasabain and Neil Young are all in the magazine without opening the magazine to the contents page. I can use this in my own work as this would allow my consumers to have a better understanding of what is in my magazine and it would allow them me to share other aspects of the magazine that would not be shown until opening the magazine. I can also see that the magazine would have a feature that shows the top 50albums of 2014. This would be an added insentive to buy the magazine and gain access and hear what are the best albums of 2014. Having these extra features would be very beneficial to me and my magazine as this would improve the sales of the product and also give people something to talk about my magazine, exclusive interviews would also increase the magazines popularity and would be a good unique selling point (USP) this would mean that more and more consumers would purchase the magazine if they feel they are getting first had information that can not be seen anywhere other than this particular magazine. 

Contents Page - 

From the contents pages I have researched I can infer that depending on the genre of music the contents page would differ, for example this cover of Kanye West is very basic however the simplicity would make the contents page very clean cut and would be very aesthetically pleasing. I can see that the colours are quite dark once again maybe to contrast the skin colour of Kanye himself, the typography used is very complex however could be done in Adobe indesign relatively easily, For my magazine I am hoping to take inspiration from this magazine cover and create my own contemporary contents page. From reading the contents I can see that this particular magazine has fashion involved in the magazine, this would be good as they are expanding the target audience to gain a larger market ultimately interesting more and more people, This is something I can implement into my magazine to offer a variety of different features and not only music, however I have to ensure that i stay close to the marking criteria and put my main focus on the music of my magazine. This particular contents page is very easily legible and is very clear, the main image is not to large allowing the reader the easily read the text next to the image also the text is neither too small or too large, also the font of the text is very easy to read although they have changed the text of the subheading's that could lead to some confusion although it seems very easy to read and looks very professional with that particular font.

Double Page Spread -

This double page spread is very professional in my opinion, the picture is very modern and nice by using lights and also the use of sunglasses creating mystery upon Jay-Z. The double page spread is majority taken up by the image and a quote on the bottom of the image. The spread uses very unique and amazing typography on the text section of the spread, The large red "J" that is taking up the majority of the text it seems is actually transparent and text under the "J" is completely and easily visible. This would be very hard to implement into my magazine due to the complexity of the typography however a similar idea could be used instead and would have ultimately the same effect. The double spread also has a small little story at the beginning of the article to allow the reader to make sure that he would actually want to read.