Final Magazine

Front cover

Contents Page 

Double Page Spread

Mock ups

I chose to draw my mock up covers rather than do them digitally. I decided to do this because it allowed me to change my ideas easily and enabled me to accumulate a wide range of ideas within a small space of time.

Front cover 

Contents 

Double page spread 

Intertextuality

What is it?
"Intertextuality is the shaping of a text's meaning by another text. Intertextual figures include: allusion, quotation, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche and parody."
Intertextuality can take 3 forms;
Explicit - this is when the intertextuality is obvious. It is often a homage to a character, actor, or another text. 
Implicit - this is when it is subtle. It has the ability to be missed but is normally picked up by regular fans. It often makes the audience feel 'superior' if they spot the intertextuality. 
Accidental - sometimes intertextuality is by accident, this can often be pointed out afterwards and the creators can either choose to acknowledge it or ignore it. 


This can be explicitly seen in the Simpsons. The Simpsons, and similar programs such as Family Guy, use intertextuality throughout each episode to create humour in a recognisable way.


Intertextuality can often make the audience feel clever if they pick up the reference. This creates a feeling of achievement and makes the audience more interested in the text.

 

I have made a conscious decision to not use intertextuality in my magazine. This is because, although intertextuality is important, my young demographic may not understand some references; for example, generally a young audience would not understand the Abbey Road (Beatles) reference used in the Simpsons, therefore the intertextuality would be lost. Additionally, I feel that using intertextuality in everything leads it to become ineffective and mundane.

Publishers

In order for magazines to be on our shelves they need to be published. Some magazines are published by large publishing companies such as 'Bauer' and 'Time Ink UK' (previously known as 'ICP Media'),
while others are independently published.

Institutions(Large groups)

 Bauer

Bauer is one of the largest publishers in Europe. It originated in Hamburg, Germany in 1875. It manages over 600 magazines, 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world, including Kerrang!, Q and Mojo. Bauer refers to the 'brands' it has, this is because many of its publications are on multiple forms of media. Kerrang, for example, is a magazine, a radio channel and a music channel.



Time Ink UK

Time Ink UK, formally the 'international publishing corporation (IPC)'  is a magazine and digital publisher in the UK, selling over 320 million copies each year. NME and Uncut are just two of the  magazines that are published by Time Ink UK.

Independent

Shindig

Shindig is a magazine that is independently publish by Volcano Publishing.  Shindig, much like Kaleidoscope, is a magazine that focuses on a niche audience. Shindig focus on 60's/70's music, as well as art, fashion, film and architecture.   82% of Shindig's readers are in the ABC1 category, 83% of these are male while the remaining 17% are women.  Worldwide it achieves a circulation of 26,000.

For my magazine

Typically, independently published magazines are targeted towards niche audiences and so have a lower total readership when compared with institutionally published magazines. Therefore, since my magazine is of a popular, charts based genre, it would benefit more from being published by a large publication company, such as 'Bauer'. This will allow my magazine to be successfully sold to my target audience of aspirers and therefore will (hopefully) allow my magazine to generate a reasonable profit.

USP

Figure 1

Every magazine needs a USP (unique selling point). This makes the magazine worth buying.
For example, Kerrang's USP is that it has posters in every issue, interviews with bands and features artists that are not typically seen in music magazines. By targeting a niche audience and providing free posters, Kerrang's USP allows them to sell copies to regular readers each week and therefore remain successful.

Figure 2 

My magazine is different to Kerrang's as I do not target a niche audience but instead target a large majority of people. My USP is that my magazine doesn't have a specific genre but will change as music does. For example, today the most popular music is pop music, with mainstream hiphop becoming increasingly popular ( as shown in figure 2 with Drake and Fatty Wap within the top 5 most played). However, this is completely different to the 80's where dance and new wave music was the most popular. Therefore in the 80's my magazine would have featured dance music artists, whereas now, my magazine is more likely to feature pop and mainstream hiphop artists.

Therefore my USP is that my magazine changes with the trends. Additionally my magazine will feature a range of music that is popular at the time and so can appeal to everyones individual taste.

What do existing magzine titles connote?

Magazine Logo	Connotations of the Logo and its appearance
	This is the sound an electric guitar makes when it is strung whilst plugged into an amp. This therefore connotes that the magazine is about rock or heavy metal music.     The word itself sounds loud and bash and so connotes that the content of the magazine is aggressive and ‘in your face’. This is supported by the exclamation mark; this connotes the volume of sound and is often associated with shouting.   The logo itself looks smashed. This connotes aggression and implies that the magazine wants to rebel against society.
	Mojo is a word associated with music and dance culture and so clearly indicates that this is a music magazine.   Additionally, mojo is a term often associated with an ‘older’ person gaining their ‘cool’ back. This therefore connotes that this classic rock magazine would make the read feel as if they had their mojo back.
	‘Pop’ is a word associated with sweet things, such as fizzy drinks.  Therefore this connotes that the magazine and its genre is sweet and therefore appeals to younger audiences (especially females)   The word pop derives from the word popular and so clearly shows the type of music featured in the magazine.   The logo itself connotes an informal tone that appeals to young children. The love heart in place of the word ‘love’ creates a modern feel as it imitates ‘text speak’.
	A billboard is a large display. This connotes that the magazine displays the artist and their music in a big and outgoing way.   Billboards usually advertise current brands. This indicates that billboard magazine publicises current trends and artist.     The variety of colours connotes the variety of musical artist featured in the magazine; it also shows how the trends of music are always changing and that there is no set trend.
	Vibe refers to the atmosphere and ambience. This links the title to music and connotes that the hip-hop music featured in the magazine creates a certain atmosphere or vibe.   The word vibe is now the slang word for atmosphere. This connotes that the genre has an informal attitude. Slang is also associated with the ‘streets’ which is where R&B and hip-hop originates from.

 

Title of my magazine

While researching existing magazine I noticed that all of their names are words associated with music. For example, Q (or cue) represents the action used to place a needle onto the record and 'KERNING!' represents the sound of an electric guitar. 

When considering ideas I found that it was difficult to think of original and catchy titles that were associated with music and also gave an indication to the the genre of my music magazine. Therefore I decided to focus more on titles that connoted the genre of my music magazine rather than deriving from musical dialect.  Taking this into account I have formulated some ideas for the name of my own magazine. 

Praised - derives from the word popular; this is therefore relevant to my magazine as it is a popular and in trend music magazine. It is also used to describe one's respect and gratitude towards something, especially in song, this therefore shows that my magazine not only focuses of the gossip of artists but also the quality of the music itself. 

Craze - "an enthusiasm for a particular activity to object which appears suddenly and archives widespread but short-lived popularity" As my magazine is about trends, which can also be referred to as a craze, it clearly describes my magazine. It also creates a sense of excitement and so encourages the readers to buy the magazines to keep up with the 'craze'.  

Mania - "an excessive enthusiasm or desire; an obsession."  This also does not refer to music, although it does describes the feeling that my magazine would give you. It represents the obsession that society has with modern, chart music and how we can become so involved in it, just like my magazine.    

Fix - this suggests addiction. It implies that my magazine will be the 'fix' to people's music addiction. 

Air - Charts music is around us everyday, even if we don't consciously seek it out. Popular music plays in shops and on the radio all the time. Therefore Air suggests that my magazine focuses on the music that is everywhere (just like air) and evokes the idea that it is an essential part of your life. 

Novelty - 'the quality of being new, original, or unusual'. For this I decided to focus on the 'new' definition of the word. Chart music is always changing. What is popular depends of the social attitudes at the time. Therefore Novelty connotes that my magazine focuses on what's new, and suggest that it is essential if you want to keep up with the current trends.