The institution that owns Q magazine

The institution that Q magazine, the magazine I am using ideas from for my own magazine, belongs to a company called Bauer Media Group, a German publishing group which operates in 15 different countries around the world. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week.

Including Q magazine, the institution owns and publishes many different magazines. The main categories of magazines they own are women’s weekly’s, TV listing magazine and music magazines. Some magazines include Takeabreak and TV choice. The other music magazine they publish along with Q is Kerrang.

As the Bauer Media Group has a few different kind of genres of product, means they can gain different types of advertisers to interest the different types of products they publish.

Q for example has also been expanded from a magazine to TV and radio which can also be used to advertise for profit but also advertise their other products they own. The magazine also has a website which informs people with news and also has a shop and links to other products.

The music area is a big part of the institution as they have a stake in many music video channels, such as 4Music and Smash Hits TV. These TV channels will contain many advertisements between its videos which gain much profit as they are popular channels for the younger audience, which most advertisements will be.

The institution can control its distribution so, for example a magazine is advertised in their other media products plus on main channels. It’s sold in big stores to so the magazine has to try and appeal to as many people as it can to make more profit. The products have to media conventions so people can easily recognise the product and continue its popularity and keep its regulars who buy/watch/listen etc.

All these media products that are part of the Bauer Media Group will gain most of their profits from the advertisers they get to appear in their media products.

Ideas for masthead and the completed masthead

These pictures show my original idea of the masthead and then the completed masthead created on photoshop.

I believe I have recreated my idea well with slight changes to colour choice and size/font of the letters.

Permissions of actors for my music magazine photo-shoot

These are the completed permission forms by each of the four actors (including me) who appeared in and took part in my music magazine photo-shoot photos, they understood the terms and conditions of the day and agreed to take part (with a great out-come).

 

 

Risk Assessment/Location Report Forms for Photo-Shoot

These are the completed forms for the risk assessment and location report for my music magazine photo-shoot:

Ideas for music magazine (M2U drawings)

Front Cover idea:

 

 Contents Page Idea:

 Double Page Spread (1st Idea):

 Double Page Spread (2nd Idea):

Primary Research for music magazine - Questionnaire - Analysis

An example of a completed questionnaire:

Analysis of the results:

I created a questionnaire which would help me understand what a reader interested in a particular musical genre would want from a music magazine.

25% of the people I asked read Q magazine regularly which showed me that these people are serious about their music as it is a magazine more for an ABC1 readership and Q magazine takes a more serious approach to music which my magazine will have to follow. However 75%, the rest of the people asked, said they read NME regularly. This shows they are interested in what’s happening in the music scene as it’s a weekly magazine, once again also must really enjoy music if they are buying it most weeks. This information tells me that my magazine has to have a serious approach to music and appeal to readers who enjoy a grown-up view on music.

My next two questions focused on what a reader would be interested in seeing within the magazine. With high results saying that they are interested in images inside their magazine and going to tours/gigs which would indicate sections in a magazine on this subject would interest them. Another high response was interviews in the magazine. For my own magazine I will be including an interview with my cover stars, so based on the questionnaire results this is what people would want to read in a music magazine.

Information was also collected on the cover of the magazine. The main part of a magazine is the cover as it’s the first thing you see in a shop, so I asked what would interest a reader most on a cover and an amazing 100% of the people I asked said a ‘good cover star’ which means the star has to look interesting and the cover has to capture a good moment, even if a reader isn’t a fan a good cover star image that looks good will make people buy a magazine. This is why I have taken many photos for my own magazine cover so I will be able to select the best one to catch the reader’s eye.

The next two questions talk about the contents page of a magazine, an important part of any magazine to give all the magazine contents across in an interesting way. I firstly asked what people expected on a contents page, with many saying text but my next question asked what they would want on a contents page in their opinion and many decided to explain what they wanted in the short space provided on the questionnaire. They said they would ‘want more pictures added to the contents page’ however keeping text still on the page but ‘laid out in an interesting way’.

The last question focuses on the cover of the magazine asking whether they would be bothered if a cover star took up most of the cover, based on earlier results of a ‘good cover star’ the highest answer was ‘no they wouldn’t be bothered with the star taking up most of the cover’. Another result I will use on my own cover with the stars taking centre stage in my magazine.

From my results I have gathered, a high amount of interesting information has been gained. I will use this towards my own magazine so hopefully my magazine will interest the target audience it is intended for.

Double Page Spread Analysis

The double page spread I have analysed is from Q magazine on an article with its cover stars of the month ‘Beady Eye’.

The magazine colours and layout follow the house style of the magazine with its red/black/white colour use throughout. The headline of the article incorporates both the band name and a quote together, with the name standing out in a bigger font and different colour. The quote is an outlandish statement to get the reader’s attention and may be taken out of context to gain maximum impact on the reader. Near to the headline a smaller longer amount of text is provided on what is discussed and covered in the article, this provides more information so the reader knows what to expect or is enticed by subject matters that are said to be covered.

A main image fills most of the page and the background is plain to show seriousness and how the focus is only on them and no-one else at this point in the magazine. The stars themselves are also expressing a serious look to continue theirs and the magazine’s serious approach to music. The image idea follows suit on the next double page spread where a band image takes up half the page. This time however, boxes are near each person that provides a small amount of information on each of them, like a quick round-up of the person for people who are interested in their work so far. These boxes and text continue to follow the house-style of the magazine in red and white.

The other half of the spread is part of an interview with the band covering many different subject matters. The use of a dropped capital is also used at the start of the interview plus to distinguish who’s talking in the interview their initials are used before they speak to tell the reader they are talking. The questions asked are also put in bold so that it stands out and the reader an easily scan the page and see what questions are asked, following suit the text is on a white background so the text is easy to read.