Market Research

 

I have been researching many different front covers, contents pages and double page spreas from different pop music magazines. Blender Magzine (front cover) have used similar colours to the Top of the Pops magazine with the blue, white and grey I think this is because the aqua blue stands out promptly from the white and grey/black colours used in the magazines which would attract us to the magazines. All three magazines have used very well known artists too which will be recognisable and role models to many readers across the world which will attract the reader to buy the magazines/ The Q magazine contents page is again running with a theme throughout as it used black, red and white on all of its pages this white writing is always made to stand out by a filled red or black background behind it, they use big bold numbers instead of the word page and have different sections for example 'every month' 'review' 'features' and 'women in music' this divides up the contents page as well its almost a long story short and gives us a glimpse of what that sections of the magazine will be about which makes us read on. I like this idea and may even use it for my own contents page. All three magazines use pull quotes which I am going top use when producing my magazine front cover, contents and double page spread as well as different fonts and sizes.

 I then looked at Billboards magazine front cover,Top of the Pops contents page and Q magazines double page spread. Billboard and Top of the pops have both used electric colours which instantly stand out to me. The billboard front cover uses electrifying red and I like how the girl is covering the end of the Billboard title but we still know which magazine it is due to it being a popular magazine which I could try out on my front cover. The different font colours and layout of the font on the front cover makes everything stand out and we can instantly read specific words that entice us to read on, also the way it is all on the left stacked on top of each other catches my eyes but different stories are separated by faint grey lines which I could use when producing my own magazine front cover. Top of the pops have used a specific layout that is used in every magazine. They have placed the front covering the contents and drawn arrows to the stories from the front cover and just placing page numbers which are big and bold to help us find the stories but then also added sections again like the Q magazine from about placing stories that relate to each other in a specific section. I am also going to take in account that have used images relating to other articles on the contents too. Q magazine have been very clever in this double page spread, again using their usual colours of red black and white with all the image relating with the font colours as Shakira is wearing the same colours too which I could take into account with my images but I like the cleverness of the font and that it is placed on a white box slant but its as if we're reading a magazine within a magazine due to it being on the slant and not filling the bottom half of the page. Like the top of the pops contents it has used a thumbnail image instead of using the one image.



The front covers of all the magazines I have researched are generally women which I have taken into account when I am going to produce my own magazine and are always the sexy looking pictures not fun pictures even on WE <3 POP magazine which is a target audience of children from around 8-13. When I looked at this front cover the artists name instantly stood out at me which they have used font bigger than any other on the front page which I could use as an idea for my magazine. It is a very busy magazine due to it being targeted at children this could show how busy and full packed the magazine is going to be if thats only the front cover which could be a key element to selling my own magazine this is unlike other magazine front covers which are for an older audience as they are less busy sometimes but more mature and simplistic. Fonts are highlighted and pull quoted have been used which is also used in the Blender magazine double page spread. Thumbnails are also used on the front page of WE <3 POP as well as the Billboard contents page. The front covers layout of the font is all over and even over the middle part of the picture as we recognise Katy Perry straight away. The contents page text is all laid out the left of the page and again just used numbers with a bigger font and bold which most magazine contents I have researched have used which I think I will use with my own magazine contents. Billboard have also put their name and the date of the issue in the top right hand corner which I like reinforcing themselves again to the reader. Red is a very dominant colour in magazines as I have noticed over my research which I may use in my own magazine as you can see this on the contents from Billboard and the Double Page Spread of Blender magazine. On the double page spread the image and large tect is very dominant and the text is more towards the bottom right hand corner which I like again with the re-occuring theme of red, white and black which is like the Q magazine. The atrists name 'Florence Welch' is in blue which instantly stand out to us too as it is the only text in blue on the whole page this is another idea for my own magazine.