Magazine Name

So, I had decided that my magazine would be called 'Underground'. There are many reasons for this, the main one being that it was the most voted name in my survey.
The rationale behind this name however is that my magazine genre is underground music, so therefore anyone who see's this magazine on the shelf will understand what genre it is from. Another reason for the name Underground is that many of the artists that would feature n my magazine are living, working or studying in London, and London is the only place to have the famous Underground Trains, so its also a clever play on the original Underground in London.

On my masthead, I would like to make the font quite blurry as if its moving so that it creates the effect of an underground train moving, and could also connote that Underground music is growing in this movement. I would also like to fill in the letters 'G, O, and D' in the title, with the colours that you would generally find in the London Underground stations. These colours may also become part of my colour scheme, on top of a dark background.

Here are a few examples of the types of fonts I would like to use on my masthead;

Hopefully I will be able to manipulate these fonts using Adobe Photoshop to suit my magazine. 

Used-To-Be-Underground Artist; Ed Sheeran

This is an SBTV video, from two years ago, of the newly popular artist Ed Sheeran. He appeared on SBTV on 28th Feb 2010, and since then has become very popular.

Main Image Feature

On my front cover, I plan to put the main image of the artist in the middle of the page.
Examples of this are;

Each of these front covers also have the artists image in front of the masthead, which is an idea that I would also like to feature on my magazine.
The image of the artist is a close up, and this is also the type of shot that I would like to use on my magazine cover.

Another Underground Artist; Courtney Bennett

Draft Drawings, Flat Plans and Shot Lists

On the side there is a few drafts of a front cover and and a contents page.

This is the draft version of my double page spread.






Flat Plan

This is the flat plan for the front cover of my magazine. The title 'Underground' is a the top of the page but behind the main image of the artist. The title will have a font which will look as if the words were shaking; this would relate to the actual London underground where everything sounds as if its shaking when the train comes. Along the sides there will be cover lines, and on top of the main image there will be the name of the artist and a caption under it. A bar code and a QR code will be placed at the bottom as well as the price of the magazine and which issue it will be.

This is the flat plan for my contents page. The layout sort of goes against the conventional layout of a magazine, as instead of their being a list of words showing what pages the articles are on, there's polaroid pictures with captions under showing which page the article is one and what the picture is about. In the middle it will say 'Contents' page, which will be written in a non-traditional way. I got this idea from the Vibe Magazine.
In the middle, there will also be the editors letter.

This is my double page spread. Along the top of the pages there will be photographs of the main artist. Under this their will be the actual article with a quote in the middle of it. On the right hand side of the double page spread, there will be a larger long shot image of the artist, and a tiny box which would the artists upcoming events and shows.



Shot List
The types of shots that will be featured in the magazine are close ups, long shots and mid shots. On the contents page there will also be some extreme close ups and establishing shots. Below is a samll shot list, of the types of shots that I will be taking.

I plan to let the artist wear his own clothes but specifically jeans, a hoody and some trainers, so that his target market can relate to him. I want his hoodie to be brightly coloured as his target audience normally wear bright colours too - These colours will also form the colour scheme for my magazine. I got this idea from some music videos that my target market would have probably watched - This is an example of one music video that my target market would be familiar with. In this video the artists Chris Brown and Big Sean are either wearing hightops (trainers), and jeans. Their tops vary from jean jackets to hoodies and jumpers. This is the type of clothing that my target market would also wear, so it is important that the person on  my front cover wears the same types of clothes, as it would attract the right audience to the magazine.

I also plan to take the pictures around Vinceness Estate, the estate where me and my main main artist live, so that people will know what he came from and how much his life has and will change when he becomes more and more famous. My artist is a rapper, and most rappers rap about where they used to live (which is mainly estates), and how their lives have changed since they got famous and started earning money.

I plan to take pictures near and above brick walls, near gates and some in the middle of the road. I got this idea from other famous Underground artists and their pictures; these artists include Rita Ora and Tinie Tempah.

Even mainstream artists such as Chris Brown and Busta Rhymes take photoshoots near brick walls, which is why I think its important to implement a brick wall somewhere in my magazine.  



Reader Profile

 Laith Hakeem is a 19 year old student and a musician from Clapham. He is currently in uuniversity, studying English and Art. He plays quite a few instruments such as the piano and the guitar, and has a vast amount of  knowledge on how to use the equipment in a music studio. Laith is an aspiring solo artist, and a spoken word poet, and is gaining recognition in the UK and the American Underground scene.
He likes to draw, act, sing and dance, as well as playing instruments and creating youtube videos in which he shows his poems and drawings etc.
Laith generally listens to hip-hop, rap and RnB and his main music moguls is Michael Jackson. He doesn't really like to shop much, but whenever he does he shops in Superdry, JD and Hollister. In his free time he likes to draw and regularly ice skates at Brixton Ice Arena, and acts as a frequent Ice Marshall.
This magazine would be very beneficial for Underground artists such as Laith because it would keep him updated on what is happening in the Underground world and could help him in his conquest to be more known. It will also give him some ideas of the types of people he would like to collaborate with to make music, and in turn make himself more known.

Laith has a twitter account and a Tumblr account as well as a Youtube and Twitter account.

Below is one of the videos which showcases one of his talents;

Enjoy.

Types of Underground Artists

This is an example of the types of underground artists that would feature in my magazine. In this video there are three artists, Zion, Crafter and Simone, who have come together to do an acoustic cover of Frank Oceans 'Thinking About You'.

A lot of Underground artists have turned away from creating beats in a music studio to cover or make new songs, and now use real instruments such as guitars.

Zion, Crafter and Simone are the types of artists that I would like to feature in my magazine.

Magazine Survey

To know what my customers wants and needs are, I conducted a survey to get some resulst. 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TJTWZ75

In this survey I decided to use both open and closed ended questions so that I can get a mixture of answers which would include some figures and opinions. 

Here are the questions and my results;

This was my first question. I asked this so that I could find out what gender the majority of my target market was. It turned out that most of them were male, however there were a significant amount who were female too. This would help me in the design of my magazine, so that I could use colours and components that would cater to both genders. 

This is my second question. I asked this also to help me figure out what my target market would be. From this question I found out that the majority of target market were within the ages of 17-20, and 21-25. This result would help me with the types of images I could put in the magazine, and the type of language in which the text would be written in. This result would also help me with the colour scheme that I would be using within the magazine, and the types of freebies/vouchers that I could give my customers with this magazine. It also in some ways helps with the pricing as most of these people would be students and therefore some unemployed, or they would have part time jobs, so I would need to make the price affordable for these types of people. 

This is my third question, and the first open ended question that I used in this survey. I asked this question so that I could figure out exactly what type of person would be reading my magazine. All of the answers were worded and there was a variety of answers, however, the answers that were common in most is that they were students, enjoyed listening to music, dancing, some played instruments and had been to or used a music studio before. They like to go to concerts and gigs. This answer would help with the types of articles that I could write about such as upcoming events around town etc. 

This is my fourth question and this is to find out how often my customers buy magazines. The answer would show me how often my target market buy their magazines, therefore telling me how often I should release and issue. From this question I found that most of my customers buy their magazines once every month. This is how often I will be releasing every issue of my magazine (monthly). 

This is my fifth question and I asked this to find out where my customers would normally get their magazines from. The answer would show me what types of places I would need to distribute my magazine to, and how many copies I would need to print, or if I would need to make on-line versions. From this question I found that most of my customers get their magazines from shops, and some from subscriptions (which are then delivered to their homes). This would mean that I wouldn't have to make an on-line version of my magazine. 

I asked this question so that I could find out which way was the most convenient for my customers to get/receive their magazines. I found that the majority of them would like to get their magazines from a store, and some would also like a subscription method. So, I would distribute my magazines in retail shops, and well as sending magazines to those who subscribed for them. 

This is my seventh question which asks how much my customers would pay for a magazine. Considering its aimed at young people, it would have to be affordable for students and unemployed people. The results are that people would be willing to pay £3-£4, and some £2-£3. I will then try to create a suitable price using these results. 

This is my seventh question which asks where my customers would normally find out about underground artists. The results were that he majority of them found artists from the internet on websites such as Youtube and SBTV, as well as on TV (music channels such as channel AKA) and concerts and gigs. These results would give me an idea on what type of articles would be suitable to feature in my magazine. 

My last two questions were open ended questions which would result in many different opinions. From these questions I found that the customers would like a magazine to be bright and bold, but unique and true to the genre. They also said that if the magazine was dull and didn't have many interesting articles listed on the front, then it would maybe stop them from buying a magazine. A magazine that is overly priced or too cheap would also stop them from buying it, as if it were too cheap, it would suggest that the magazine isn't really good enough, and if it were too expensive, then it would suggest that its for a different target audience who earn money. 

From this survey I learnt a lot which would help me in the design and production of my magazine, and well as the types of customers that would be buying and reading my magazine. 

Analysing Semiotics and Polysemic Meanings

So we recently learnt what semiotics and polysemic meanings were.

Here is what I found whilst analysing the front cover of a vibes magazine:

When you look at the main image by itself you see two men, wearing 'gangster' clothing, chains, jewellery and hats. If the picture was on its own you would assume that the two men looked dangerous. The text on the front cover then changes your view on the picture and shows that these two men are '50 Cent and Eminem' (two rap artists), and their article is about power, paper (money) and perseverance.                                          The magazine used semiotics (which is the science of the life of signs and sign systems in society), of two men who looked dangerous on their front cover. However I also realised that they used the polysemic meaning (which is the way that some signs can mean lots of different things to different people rather than assuming the sign means single things to everyone); the people who the magazine maybe isn't targeted at would think that the men looked dangerous and horrible, whereas the magazines target audience who most likely know who the men are would know that this is not the case. 

The text on the cover also anchors the picture as it tells you the meaning of the main image and who the article is about. 

The main piece of text on the front cover also has a different coloured background to show that is it the most important piece of text on the cover (as well as the title of the magazine). The cover has more cover lines which are in two different colours, showing the importance of each article within the magazine. 

From this research, I now know how and when I should use different coloured pieces of texts and what semiotics and polysemic meanings are, which I can successfully use in my final magazine.