Magazine Industry Overview

Britain's magazine industry is huge with over 8000 titles published.
Types of magazines:
Consumer- sold in newsagents
Business/trade/professional- for people at work
Customer- magazines that companies give customers for marketing
Staff- informs members about the company
Newspaper supplements- come free with the paper
Part works- a set number of issues in a collection
Academic journals- university level subjects
Consumer magazines are the most popular form of magazines, their purpose is to entertain and inform customers on certain hobbies; there are over 3,200 different consumer titles.
People spend £2 billion on magazines annually with 1.4 billion magazines being sold. On average 500 new magazines are created each year however only 3 out of 10 survive more than 4 years.
All together 85% of the population reads a magazine.

Colour Mood Board

I will have very little colour on my magazine but I want colour to match with the pictures I use, they will be soft and feminine but I will not use pink as I don't want it to appear too girly. Text will be used for colour and the background will be white.

Font Mood Board

Top font- Castellar
Middle right font- Bell MT
Bottom left font- Birch Std
Bottom right font- Imprint MT Shadow

I've decided to use the Castellar font as my magazine name, Bell MT for all the block text in articles and the other two for the cover lines and the subheadings. I want my magazine to be a mix of vintage and modern to I chose these classic serif fonts to fit both.  

Advertiser Mood Board

On this mood board there is a mix of both big name labels and high street shops, this is because my target audience can afford pricier items but will still buy cheaper things as long as they like it.
Audley travel agency is on there because my audience like to travel with style.
Different events, museums, gigs are on there because they like to experience things to get more cultured which links to old/new music and film.

Target Audience Mood Board

I have presented a range of food, television, music, fashion, cities, movies and technology to show the overall likes of my target audience.
They like indie/alternative music from Arctic Monkeys to Lana Del Rey and they also like seeing these bands perform live; they also enjoy watching music based television shows- Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
They don't mind purchasing from different places from second hand vintage stores to high street shops to big labels; as long as the quality is good and they like the item they will buy it.
They are fascinated all the vintage eras and try to replicate it through their lifestyle.
My target audience also take any opportunity to get to travel to different cultural cities and build memories.
Music, film, fashion and all the other types of culture are very important to them.

Magazine Questionnaire

1)Are you male or female?

2)How old are you?
13-15/ 16-19/ 20-25/ 25+

3)What music genres do you like?

4)Would you be interested in reading about fashion?

5)Do you prefer to read about high end or high street fashion?

6)What shops do you go to?

7)Would discounts attract you to a magazine?

8)How often would you want a magazine?
Weekly/ Fortnightly/ Monthly

9) What is the maximum price you would pay for a magazine?
£3/ £4/ £5/ £6

10)Would you be attracted to a magazine if it incorporated vintage fashion/music with a mix of modern?

Publishers Research

ICP Media

‘IPC Media is the UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publisher.’

ICP Media owns more than 60 media brands and it creates content for print, tablets, online and mobiles.  Their brands are mainly aimed at woman as almost two thirds of the female UK population engages with their products, with brands like InStyle, several types of Womans Weekly and 25 Beautiful Homes; which is typically bought by females. However ICP Media still covers a range of different types of magazines which include lifestyle, fashion & beauty, TV entertainment, sports & leisure and music.

Bauer Media

‘Bauer Media is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.’

It is a media company that offers a diverse range of over 80 brands which includes something for everyone such as, sports websites, fashion magazines, radio stations and television channels; two of its most popular magazines are Empire and Q. Its diversity is also shown through its range of specialist magazines from Your Horse to Model Rail.

Future PLC

‘Future PLC is an international media group and leading digital publisher.’

Future PLC is a media group that reaches out to more than 51 million international consumers ever month and this year was awarded Digital Publisher of the Year. It has its own research panel so they can constantly keep up to date with their regular audiences’ lifestyle and how they can adapt their products to it. Their magazines are a lot less commercialised than other media groups and focuses all on different specialised hobbies and interests magazines, for instance photography and gaming. Future PLC has a lot of big name advertisers to keep it going, like Tesco and Microsoft.

BBC

The British Broadcasting Cooperation is a mass media industry that covers television, online, radio and magazines. BBC magazines was the magazine publishing division of BBC worldwide however it is now part of a new group called Immediate Media Company which merged with several other media companies. BBC includes a variety of different magazines from Good Food to Doctor Who Adventures. Most of the magazines that are published by the BBC link to their television shows and also have their own bit on the website, for example Good Food would feature recipes from Master Chef and The Great British Bake Off.

Condé Nast

‘Condé Nast creates the worlds best content for the world's most influential audiences.’

Condé Nast has more than 164 million consumers of its 20 big name magazines, which includes the likes of Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and GQ. Condé Nast is seen to be high class in comparison to other media companies with some advertisers paying the price of an average house just to get a page in a magazine however the products that this mass media company create are argued to be far better quality. They cover world culture through the variety of fashion, art, food, technology and travel publications.

Full Magazine Analysis: NME Magazine

The New Musical Express (NME), originally a newspaper first published in 1952 is now one of the most popular alternative music magazines in the UK right now with nearly a quarter of a million readers every week; nearly two thirds of the readers are male with the median age of 25. Frequently featured artists in NME are rock bands like Kasabian or Arctic Monkeys, the least mentioned music are commercial ‘Top 40’ artists.

Roughly 75% of readers are older than students which means this magazine is good quality and has good followers that want to spend their wages on it; which is about £3 every week. However they can actually access some of it for free electronically on nme.com which is popular worldwide with 60% of the views coming from outside the UK. They are also on Facebook (229,600 like) and Twitter (434,000 followers).

Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music, including award winning features, the latest releases, live reviews, the definitive guide to the best new bands in its Radar section, as well as a regular look back through the magazines incredible 58 year heritage'- ICP Media

Q Feature Article Page Analysis

Q Feature Article Pages, a photo by Louise Wicks on Flickr.

NME Feature Article Page Analysis

NME Feature Article Pages, a photo by Louise Wicks on Flickr.

Vogue Contents Page Analysis

Vogue Contents Page, a photo by Louise Wicks on Flickr.

Smash Hits Contents Page Analysis

Smash Hits Contents Page, a photo by Louise Wicks on Flickr.