Genre Colour Schemes, Audience and Language

Colour Scheme:

The colour schemes that feature on alternative/indie rock magazines are varied and don't follow a strict convention. Black, white and red are popular colours and are normally paired with another complementing colour such as orange. The white is commonly used for the less important text that the editor wants to help drawn the attention of the viewer away from the dull backgrounds while not taking it away from the brighter red colours which are usually used to make the masthead or main titles to help drawn the viewer's eye by contrasting against the rest of the colour scheme.

The colour scheme that I have chosen resembles the conventions of the example magazine covers, it includes more monochromatic colours such as grey and white which will be used to both contrast with contrast with each other and the rest of the colours while not taking the focus away from them. The light and darker greens will be used to add colour to the page by using it throughout the background, I also chose this as the colour isn't commonly used on magazines of the alternative/indie rock genre meaning that consumers would be able to easily distinguish between my products and others. The gold colour may be used for important information or headlines although it may not be complementing with the rest of the colour scheme. Within my cover page I incorporated all the colours which I tested except for gold, this is because when I used the colour, although it didn't contrast the rest of the colour scheme, it would still draw the attention away from the main image and the rest of the cover which I didn't want.


Audience and Language:

The audience for my product is primarily aimed towards is very conventional of the alternative/indie rock magazine market which is typically males between the ages of 15-25 years old, I chose this as from the group of 25 people which I was able to recently survey, I asked questions such as "Do you listen to alternative rock or indie rock?", "What age are you?" and "Are you in full time education?" I found that 17 (70%) of them were males, most of which were still studying either in school or sixth form and that they listened to this genre of music on a regular basis as they found that it was "calming and suitable for any time or mood" which they may be in.

The language which I am using in my product is both formal and informative which directly links to the more mature audience which I am catering for as they would buy the magazine to get quickly up-to-date with the latest news and gig information between their busy work and education schedules. In addition to this I also catered for this audience by including headings for more recent bands such as "The Beach", "Florence and the Machine" and "Imagine Dragons" which are less likely to be known and therefore listened to by older audiences which are above the target age range.

Photoshoot example images

                                                 

I took a range of photos in two different locations which I chose as they fit the theme and allowed me to more easily edit them afterwards, I first took photos for my front cover in front of a plain wall inside my house as this would be easier to remove later on using the tools on Photoshop. I also took some photos under a bridge against a brick wall as this allowed me to choose between photos in the light and darker ones without visiting again. The photos that I did take had the background removed and replaced with a previous image on bricks which I had taken as they were easier to edit the lighting of and colours were more visible and had more of an effect.

Some of the images didn't turn out as well as I wanted them to as they were either blurred due to movement or the lighting was too bright meaning that some detail was lost, however this didn’t have as big of an effect to the image when it was edited to be monochrome. I chose the monochrome t-shirt that is shown as it fit into the monochromatic conventions of the chosen genre while also
not having too much detail which could draw attention from the face of the model.

Photoshoot plans

Photoshoot plans

The first shoot that I will take will be in my house against a plain wall which will be easily edited out; the clothes which I will wear for it will be dark as I plan to use the image on the contents page for a featured band, lighting will be positioned to ensure that the images that are taken are high quality and suitable for a cover page.

I chose the location for my second photo shoot as I feel that it fits with the darker, grittier conventions of the alternative/indie rock genre which my product is based around, I will take photos here twice at different times of the day to get both brighter and darker lighting conditions which I can choose between depending on the quality and how well it works with the rest of the page. I will use an old background wall similar to the one which was used in the Classic Rock cover page, although it will likely be cropped out and replaced by another image depending on its quality. The costume which I have chosen for the subject was done so as a baseball hat and hooded shirt fit the stereotypical ideas of the genre due to their dark colours and styles.

Music Magazine Title Ideas

 

These are the ideas I had for titles and fonts which I came up with for my music magazine project. I used fonts which could be associated with an alternate/indie rock magazine. I liked the name "tipped" as it is short and can quickly read and could be referring to the exchange of information, which the magazine would give or how the news within the magazine is in front, on the tip, of media when talking about the latest updates and news, the font that is used is clear and simple but bold which would help it stand out against the rest of a masthead.

The title “altered” relates directly to the alternative/indie rock genre that the magazine will be based on. Like the font that is used in “tipped” the font here helps to drawn the reader’s eye straight to the title as it is clear but bold this would make it quickly recognisable. Although the other titles, “shattered” and “smashed” can be easily related to the alternative/indie rock genre I think that they were too long and therefore wouldn’t gain as much attention as a magazine which a short and catchier title would have.

The small survey that I carried out on a group of 50 people (shown above) helped me to choose the title of my magazine showed that the most popular was "tipped" as they found that it looked both simple and clear while not being over complicated like the other options, the "Traveling Typewriter" font of "ATLERED" being the second more popular but was thought to be too minimal for a main title.