Convention Vs David Carlson

David Carlson, the man who tried to break magazine conventions. Failed.

 

An American graphic designer and art director tried to break music magazine convention however, he failed. Although  'RayGun' are now seen as collectables, in the early 90s they only appealed to a niche audience. Compared to other music magazines on the newsstand this didn't look like a magazine but a poster. It was hard to notice they were the same magazine due to there being no relationship between each other, no logo, no house style or any similarity at all; only the convention that Carlson's magazines were unconventional each issue. With only 73 issues, Carlson's aim was not a success.

 The audience he had to aim for had to appreciate the deeper thought that went into making these obscure covers but sadly not many had the time to appreciate it's deeper meaning and rather go to a conventional NME magazine that can be spotted every month than a hard to recognise Ray Gun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most focal aspect about these two magazines is the cover images. Both may be mid-shots however the obvious contrast is the upside model on Ray Gun. NME's models are presented in a light welcoming way that stands out where as Carlson's use of light and dark contrast comes across as dark and gloomy.

NME's clear cover lines are readable and in a sans-serif font conveying a young, trendy modernised mood whereas Ray Gun's font is serif and reminds me of a ransom note.

The differences and obvious to spot as Carlson wanted to make a bold impact on the newsstand but it back fired into the audience carrying on buying their own conventional NME magazine.

In my opinion, I quite like the idea of an unconventional magazine as long as it is readable unlike Carlson's 'Ray Gun' however I like the misplaced bar codes and I love the random tomato in one of his pieces. But if all magazines had unconventional designs then we'd lose the idea of convention altogether and would create chaos at newsstands of customers trying to recognise their monthly music magazine.
 

Attracting an Audience

In order to get my audience's attention, my magazine will have to stand out. I am thinking about the layout, content, images and colour...

Content

• A main headline and article to attract the readers and make them want to read this magazine.
• Gossip and articles on the latest artists- However, I'll have to be a bit different as my magazine is about past artists so I could do articles about what they are up to now, past interviews they have had with the press and general stories they have had about them from the past and how they over came them.
• Competitions people can enter to win things like concert tickets or instruments- In my case, maybe tickets to tribute bands or vintage merchandise etc.
• Fashion- What do artists where or what was the fashion but in the 60's- flower power, rockers, mods.
•  Album releases- So this could include old advertisements from when classic albums were first released.
• Free-bees- CDs with a few songs on them, badges etc.
• Quizzes/ puzzle page

Layout

• Format- The logo, cover lines, size of the magazine, department headers and other things that keep the same copy of the magazine conventional. I'm thinking of keeping the same sort of colour scheme throughout my magazine like the watermark if needed on it.
• Frame- Margins, gutters and standard size for pages. Once margin sizes are decided, I am going to keep it the same from issue to issue.
• The title and logo will have to be catchy and easily recognisable for the audience to keep buying it every week.
• Colour- I want to use three main colours so it doesn't look too much but I still want to make it eye catching so I'm thinking of using complementary colours such as green and red or purple and yellow or blue and orange with either black or white. This was inspired by my magazine deconstruction, Florence.

Survey

In order to get an idea of what the public are attracted to in a magazine, I conducted a survey of what people in my target audience are looking for between the ages of 16 and onwards. I asked five questions but I didn't give them any multiple chose questions (except 5) because I didn't want to restrict their ideas.

1. What is your favourite genre of music?

• Indie
• Classical
• Rock
• And two for Pop

2. What do you look for in a magazine?

• Album releases
• Famous people- gossip
• free bees
• Tour dates
• History

3. What page do you go to first in a magazine?

• Two people read from start to finish
• Posters
• Gossip
• Interviews

4. What do you want in the content?

• Two said posters
• Gossip
• Fashion
• Up-coming artists
• Different genres
• Stories/articles
• And one person suggested a death page of artists

5. Cluttered or Uncluttered?

• Cluttered- 7
• Uncluttered- 3

I found that doing this survey helped me come up with more ideas especially for the content.

Target Audience

We  started to consider who would be the perfect buyer for our magazines. We started to consider things such as:

• Mass or niche audience- a large variety of people or a small group. Mass.
• Age- this can depend on the contents of the magazine e.g. vocabulary etc. And would this be a board selection of people or more specific. According to the National Relationship Survey, 73% of British adults 15 or over buy magazines online or in print. So it would be easier to choose an audience in this category. People roughly between 40 and 70 or anyone else interested in classic bands and want to understand past music.
• Gender- does this even matter or apply to your magazine? What gender is more likely to purchase magazine? It doesn't matter as much because there is more than one genre, it's more about what year of music they like. 
• Interests- Obviously music, but what genre. What else does your audience like e.g. fashion, festivals, concerts etc. Maybe old fashion from the 60s like rockers or mods. Any good tribute bands on.
• Lifestyle- what is their current situation with school, employment, retirement. Employed or retired. 
• Socio-economic group- ABC1? C2DE? However I think this sort of  category system is outdated now and doesn't really matter what class the audience is as long as they can afford to buy the magazine.
• Western culture- As my magazine is being published in the UK, so they'll have disposable income to spend on luxuries (magazines.)
• Penumbra effect- people who aren't in your target audience. Anyone who isn't interested in classic bands such as Queen, Beatles etc. However I do wish to bring them to present as music now a days is just bad singing and synthesisers (in my opinion.)
• Psychographics- I want to for all but I think the people who will be most interested will be...  Are resigned that seek survival, interested in past and tradition. Also explorers who are usually students however are interested in new cultures and investigating new things but new to them. So they may be interested in past music. 

After considering all these points I've decided on my target audience. My magazine is about past bands that were popular back in their day and age which are almost forgotten now a days but hopefully my magazine will be a success so enough to bring them back to this day and age. Magazines are getting less and less popular as more younger people such on the internet to find out what's going on with their favourite band however the older generation don't but used to rely on music magazines to see what was in the charts every week so will hopefully start reading magazines again. After some field research this target audience hasn't been considered in magazines so will hopefully be unique and popular. Therefore this magazine will give people something to look forward to each month for something to reminisce and learn about. My persona is colour coded as RED above.

As my magazine is being published in the UK and we are a western culture I started to look into Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy Needs. I thought it would also be interesting to investigate why people want to buy magazines.



 Living now in this modern day and age, most of this is already achieved however I find it a bit dated how one has to achieve these things in order. Buying magazines is in self-actualization.

Genre of Music

As my magazine is about past music, I want to cater for lots of different genres that were popular at that time, from AC/DC to the Carpenters. This means that it can attract a larger group of people as there is more variety of content. Below I have made a mind map of all the genres I have researched...

I have decided to mainly focus on the two most iconic genre; pop and rock. There are many sub-genres under pop and rock so I can still cater for different audiences. It will be more about the year music is from like 80's pop and rock than the actual genres. I choose this because it's different to the other magazines on the magazine stand therefore it will be unique.

Ideology

 There are loads of different kinds of genres in music but the two that stand out are Pop and Rock. Both of which convey different ideas that contrast. Ideology affects representation and the juxtaposition of the associated cultures of these music genres allows to make a distinction in our personal choices of style and emotional expression.

Rock

Rock music conveys the idea that rebelling against the rules is 'hip' and 'cool' and will therefore get their fans' attention and make more profit. Even though they 'don't care whether or not people like their music.' They're aim to get rich. Rock stars are known for doing drugs, sex and breaking the law; so rock is aimed specifically to an older audience. Rock doesn't necessary aim to influence people yet they 'make' people. Rock has been the origins of strength for many social movements, an example would be 'Pussy Riot' a Russian feminist punk rock protest group based in Moscow. The Rock scene was also the background of the LGBT liberation, shattering stereotypes and producing iconic figures of rebellion and non-conformity.

Pop

Pop music is presented to be child friendly however when analysing their conventions and ulterior motives we learn that Pop is manipulative and purposefully aspires to influence young minds. They also want to make profit so they make up a materialistic image of themselves to the public while trying to maintain their private life in order to keep their audience infatuated with them, therefore they are seen as good role-models. Pop uses this status in media such as magazines to exploit opportunities; creating new beauty standards suggested by celebrities which are usually unhealthy e.g: craze dieting. This 'advice' hooks adolescents attention, causing them to be involved in a viscous cycle of  purchasing artists music, then magazines with that celebrities advice that makes them feel bad about themselves consequently making them buy the pop music again that comforts their insecurities.

Deconstruction of a Double Spread

This double page spread comes from the music magazine, 'Q.' The massive red 'L' immediately grabs the reader's attention emphasized by the dull black and white. The colour red suggests love and sex which links to the seductive Lady Gaga on the left. This water mark is conventional especially to 'Q' as they always use the first letter of the artist's name in the background and have a black and white model on the neighbouring page. I love this idea and will use it in my own magazine. This conventional double spread means Q's will be expecting this double spread every week of their latest 

artist therefore Q have regular customers and make more profit.

 

 The text used is sans-serif therefore it looks more like a proper article. The sans-serif font can communicate tradition and sophistication which shows it is aimed for an older audience and the fact Q is famous for its articles about the latest artist. Also the fact it shows tradition informs the reader that these articles are consistent and conventional to this magazine so they are more likely to buy the next copy for the next article.

 

The house style for this spread is very simple with one page dedicated to a mid shot of Lady Gaga and the other is purely text giving a simplistic, formal mood for the reader. Lady Gaga is presented in a sexual way revelling more amount of flesh than appropriate which is seen as appealing by men and gets their attention however can be sending the wrong message about women being objects. It appeals to female audience through Lady Gaga's actual music. The clothing and style she has conveys her music genre, Pop. The industrial chains and dark make up she has juxtaposes with her petite, elegant figure symbolising the contrasts in her personality.

Deconstruction of a contents page

The layout is simple and easy to understand for the reader so they can easily find the articles they want from the cover lines they've read. The cover story continues to be emphasised by the fact it is separated from the other articles through it's own sub-title, 'COVER STORY.' 

This inspires me to emphasise my cover story but through different devices like the font size or through different colours.

 

The obscurely angled body shot of the model is the focal point to this page from the use of red, the eye contact he has with the reader and the intense white shine on his face. This grabs the reader's attention and is unusually emphasised through the use of 3D on the picture; it looks as if the man is standing on the page. This technique is effective as it is unique and I haven't seen it used on a contents page before.
I especially love this use of depth to the page and will try to incorporate it into my magazine.

The colour scheme to this page consists of three main colours: black, red and yellow. The black stands out the most compared to the muted yellow and red so certain words and props stand out. Such as the titles of articles, the 'MOGO' title and the bow-tie, shoes and handkerchief in the man's pocket. Having the black stand out makes the significant aspects more readable also intensified by the bold effect on the text.

The different uses of text and fonts separate the headlines from the quotes from the detail. The serif font is used in the quote to show this is someone's voice and not just a subheading and it is easier to identify what is quote and what is text. Sans-serif is used because it is easy to read and is also seen as more modern and trendy than serif.