Supporting Commentary For Print Production

The purpose of my production was to produce an authentic final music magazine front cover, contents and double page spread that use the conventional aspects of real magazine products. For this I needed to look at existing music magazines that were of a similar genre to what I wanted to create myself.
I decided to choose a genre that was more obscure than the likes of the major music magazines such as ‘NME’, ‘Kerrang!’ ‘Rolling Stone’, ‘Mojo’ and ‘Q’ which seem to focus mainly on Indie, Rock and Heavy Metal. I feel that there aren’t enough well established magazines that cater specifically for Underground music (jungle, breaks, dancehall, drum and bass, techno, reggae, hardtek etc). During my research however, I encountered ‘ATM’, ‘Mixmag’, ‘DJ Times’, ‘URB’ magazine and ‘DJmag’, which re-assured me that there is an audience for the genre of my magazine. Despite these five, I still felt that there was a gap in the market. I thought that it would be better to target this gap rather than try and replicate the content of extremely well-known magazines such as ‘NME’ or ‘Kerrang!’ as in the real world, the risk of being overshadowed is inevitable.

The readership and circulation of Electronic Dance Magazines (EDM) are minute compared to their mainstream Indie/Rock rivals. ‘Mixmag’, a British dance magazine, has a circulation of 30,817 and a readership of 276,000 (despite it only being around since 2005) and ‘DJmag’ a dedicated EDM and DJ magazine, a circulation of 32,250. If you contrast these figures with the 56,284 ‘NME’ circulation and its huge 411,000 readership and ‘Mojo’s respectable 121,746 circulation and 271,000 reader following, the gap is phenomenal.
Due to the fact that EDMs aren’t as established and well known as the magazines mentioned above, they have to have a Unique Selling Point (USP) to attract potential buyers and keep the already dedicated readers buying every issue. A good example of a USP is a ‘freebie’ (in the case of music magazines: a free CD) which comes with the issue and doesn’t cost the buyer extra. The USP for my magazine is the ‘EQ Events’ list on the contents page, boasting ‘Exclusive access for 250 EQ readers’ to the club nights listed. Readers interested in sampling live some of the music they read about in ‘EQ’ would find this useful and hopefully, it would be another motivation to buy the magazine. The events also fill the audiences ‘need’ for personal relationships as outlined in Blumer and Katz ‘Uses and Gratifications Theory’ which says that the media often provides us with a subject for conversation with others; in this case, readers will benefit socially by knowing upcoming events as it would be a good talking point among people who like the Underground music genre.

Looking at ‘ATM’ magazine, ‘Mixmag’ and ‘URB’ magazine, I made a note of their contemporary house style and the urban, night life culture represented that appeals mainly to the younger generation. From this I could get an idea of what the audience for my own magazine would be like, and how to construct my magazine appropriately to attract this audience.
My magazine is primarily aimed at 16-26 year olds with an NRS social grade (a system of demographic classification in the UK) of C2 – E (skilled manual workers to lowest grade workers or those that depend on the welfare state for income), but there is also a potential secondary audience of older music lovers who remember listening to Underground music in their youth.
Drug and club culture are featured heavily in most EDMs and therefore attract an audience of adolescents, who are at the stage in their life where they are discovering the party scene. The genres of music my magazine focuses on are associated with black and urban cultures, and the teenage and young adult community so I tried to make my mode of address and style appealing to these audiences. For example, I have used simple lexis and often the language is very spoken and colloquial – ‘Why didn’t The Ratpack make more tunes back in the day’ and ‘mainstream Big Boy Broadcasters’. I address the reader, assuming that they have been listening to Underground music for a long time – ‘You all remember it.’ Also, Evenson tells the ‘EQ crowd’ that they’re currently touring. The use of ‘EQ crowd’ (meaning all ‘EQ’ readers and fans) makes the reader feel as if they belong to a group and are appreciated/wanted, ‘I look forward to seeing your hands in the air like old times’ filling the need for personal identity, as outlined in the ‘Uses and Gratifications Theory’. This part of the theory says that people use the media as a way of developing a sense of who we are, our values and beliefs. In turn, we often choose media texts that reflect back to us the groups we identify with, or aspire to be part of.

The primary image on the cover features a head and shoulders, profile shot of the famous rapper ‘Million Dan’ who I was lucky enough to see at a club night. He made his debut back in the nineties but is still popular among young and old hip hop fans today. For the readers, he represents success, and also different ethnic groups in music, targeting a black/Afro Caribbean audience.
The image camera angle uses an indirect mode of address, making the reader feel as if they are an audience to the artist. The mid-action shot style creates a sense of movement and excitement, reflecting the busy atmosphere in clubs and at parties.
The lighting of the laser profiles the model, giving him a godly appearance and heightening his status, and highlights the ‘EQ’ logo, giving it importance and clarity. Lasers connote images of the ‘rave scene’, again attracting readers who are familiar with party culture.

Despite my magazine being about music, fashion is taken very seriously and represents a huge part of club culture, so it was essential that the models clothes reflected this. Million Dan dresses stereotypically of hip hop artists – over sized t-shirt and trousers, gold jewellery and bandanna – implying that the followers of ‘EQ’ care about their personal image.
Positioned facing towards the open end of the magazine rather than the spine, the image of the model could subconsciously encourage the reader to look inside, but primarily acts as a pointer to the puff featured towards the top right corner. Being a quote from Million Dan and him facing towards it, I thought it look as if he was saying it. I originally had the puff in white bubble writing, but there was a risk that it didn’t stand out enough so I used solid white letters instead.
The actual quote used in the puff portrays readers of ‘EQ’ and listeners of its music as energetic, lively people (‘club bouncin’) who love to lead busy lives and avoid sticking to the rules (‘We bunnn [burn] down Bristol’, ‘pandemonium’).
The name ‘EQ’ is an abbreviation of the word ‘equalizer’. I felt it was appropriate for the genre and audience of my magazine as it’s a tool associated with the electronic music genre and new technology – popular among my target audience: the younger generation.
I designed the graphology of the masthead to look more like a symbol/logo than a title. The sans-serif font used is deliberately unadorned and is similar to the writing used in graffiti and personal ‘tags’ – a type of signature used among graffiti artists and youths to illegally ‘leave their mark’. This type of art is popular among my target audience so it will make my magazine more appealing if links with it are featured. ‘ATM’s logo has similar links to graffiti – it has three lines coming down the page, simulating the drips that spray paint sometimes leaves.
The masthead has equaliser bars behind the lettering – I thought that this would stress the EDM genre and make the logo more interesting and unique. I acquired the font and graphics from Dafont.com to give a professional finish. Sometimes, on more established magazines with a dedicated readership, the masthead is covered as the editor is sure that the magazine name is already well known in the industry. As my magazine is presumably, a relatively new publication, it’s better to leave it clearly visible, to avoid ambiguity and establish the name.
The tagline ‘Giving you all the best of underground music’ emphasises ‘EQ’s aim to provide for the audience. By directly addressing the reader (‘Giving you’...) it gives them a sense of belonging and makes them feel they are important to the magazine. It also suggests that ‘EQ’ is supplying the reader with ‘all’ there is to know about Underground music – they portray themselves as experts making the information seem credible. The tagline is repeated on each page; predominantly for reinforcal but also to keep the house style consistent.
Like most real magazine productions, I’ve used a bottom strip to indicate features of the magazine. Many music magazines have a puff, bottom or top strip indicating the artists included in the current issue. I used the same typography as the puff, keeping the house style consistent, and wrote the names of artists from the world of Underground music – all of them quite different genres to attract a wider audience.
For the main article, I framed the writing to give a layered look and to make its importance clear. The faded effect gives subtle emphasis and looks more professional than a solid white text box. I’ve used this effect throughout to maintain the house style. I created a few variations on the style of frame, varying from square to semi-circular edges. I posed a survey, and the rounded edged square was most popular. The font used is second largest on the page to ensure that it doesn’t damage the mastheads’ status, but so it’s still read by potential buyers. I layered extra text overlapping the framing to advertise the article further and make it as alluring as possible.

(Above) My three different styles of framing for masthead.

For my contents page and double page spread I kept the house style consistent by repeating the layered and faded effects and keeping the corners of pictures curved throughout to give a ‘retro’ feel. I placed the ‘EQ’ logo at the top and used the same font for the contents and interview title (‘EQ Contents, EQ Interview’). I also put the issue number with the contents title – an unusual place to have it as it’s usually on the front cover near the date line or price, however, I thought it would be more noticeable on the contents page.
I felt that the information would be more accessible to the reader and easier to navigate through if it was put into categories (New This Month, Regulars etc.), similar to real contents pages.
The images, primarily advertise features of the magazine to the readers who are scanning the page briefly, but essentially they sell a lifestyle to them. The high angle, location shot on the contents page especially represents the ‘coming together’ of groups who have the same tastes – the crowd symbolizing the unity that music brings. From all the images in the magazine, the reader can see that ‘EQ’ values socialising and most of all dedication and talent; the close-ups of the DJs mixing, emphasise the ‘behind the scenes’ action, showing that there’s more to music than just what you hear and that ‘EQ’ strive to expose it to all. The images attract my target audience because they give them further insight into club culture.
The quotes overlaying the pictures are from huge names in underground/dance music, recognisable to the reader. They are artists who my audience look up to and respect, so in turn my audience will respect my magazine also.

For my double page spread, I used images from a club night I went to and invented an interview of the group ‘The Ratpack’. The faded photos at the top provide a subtle backdrop to the text while giving the page diversity.
I considered the standard interview format, and thought that it was quite dull and I wanted to challenge the conventions of typical interviews in music magazines. I decided to include information about their transformation from a basic MC/DJ duo, to a global phenomenon in Underground music, in a chronological structure, using quotes after each paragraph. I ensured that the quotes stood out by putting them in italics – this way, a reader could differentiate between background information and speech. One thing I could have done would be to break the text up more so it appeals to the less literate readers; however, the page is dominated mainly by images and large, eye-catching text, providing a focal point for the reader; I feel that this compensates for the three columns.
The references to the 1990’s targets an older audience, and appeals to them because it reminds them of ‘back in the day’, whereas hints that they are returning to the clubs (‘feels good to be back on the scene’, ‘touring again’) target a younger audience who are likely to go out more frequently.

The pull quotes/call outs grab the readers’ attention and add diversity to the pages’ layout, also acting as artful frame for the main image. They highlight the groups’ global success, listing all the countries they’ve played in, and their excitement for their upcoming tour.
The content of the article fills the audiences need to be entertained and informed (as outlined in the ‘Uses and Gratifications Theory’); it sustains the readers’ interest while giving them facts about the groups’ history and future plans.

The most likely institution to distribute my magazine would be ‘Development Hell’ – a small publishing company that currently publish two monthly magazines: Mixmag and The Word. Unlike Bauer Media, who cater for a more mainstream audience with magazines such as Q and Mojo, Development Hell aim to give readers niche publications that fill gaps in the market and are different to the larger magazine brands. They recently bought DontStayIn.com – the worlds biggest clubbing social network – and publish Mixmag (also from the EDM genre) so are likely to be knowledgeable in the EDM field.

When starting my project, I was advised to use Adobe Photoshop or Paint.net to create my real magazine and use Publisher only for the first draft. However, I felt confident about using the tools in Publisher to create an authentic appearance, so chose this for actual construction of my final piece. Manipulating the images in other programs (Photoshop) and importing them into Publisher, I was able to achieve a sophisticated finish. The images themselves were of a high resolution due to the quality of the camera they were taken with.

Overall, I feel that my magazine successfully targets my intended audience due to its’ content and style, and although it conforms to the conventions of real music magazines, it has features that make it appealing over other magazines of the same genre.