Looking at online magazine "The Fly"

Here I have looked at online magazine "The Fly" because I wanted to see what different variations of magazines there are, I have also found out that they are quite popular because the majority of them are free. The layout is very similar to what I want mine to be like because it is very simple and the band are the main focus of the magazine. I also like how the background is kept white because to me it looks a lot more modern and the band members stick out.

On the contents page it consists of only one large picture but not of the actual band who are on the front page which shows that the magazine are trying to put in as many different bands as they can to create more of a variety for different readers, they have also placed the front cover band "The drums" on page 22 which makes people have to read on through the magazine to get to the cover story. The fly have kept their contents very simple with all of the writing at the bottom in one large paragraph. The only way in which they make bands stand out is by making their name in red and the rest of the writing is in black. I don't particularly like this layout because I don't think it makes other people in the magazine stand out and the writing is too small and bunched up together

Looking at other artists

Laura Marling is an act that I want my magazine to relate to because she is quite young and is a very similar genre to what I am aiming to show. I am going to have another photo shoot to try and show a bit more of an essence of Laura Marling as she is the type of act that I am trying to manipulate.

The photos of her seem very natural and not really posed but there is something interesting to her photos.

Looking at contents pages

Here is a contents page from an NME magazine, I like how it is quite informal because the main attention are the pictures on the page, with little writing underneath describing the act. I like the layout because there are many different column sizes which makes it quite interesting. It is quite simple but bold which is what my magazine is about. This page draws you in to the main article in the centre which is effective because it makes you look at the at the artist and read what it is all about. The "Inside this week" makes it seem quite formal because it almost reminds me of a newspaper article, whereas most magazines dont tend to make the title of the page very big and make it more about what is in the magazine instead.

Target Audience

This questionnaire will help me to choose my target audience and get an idea of what other people are interested in and if they like music magazines at all. These are the questions that I will get people to answer and when I have got sufficient evidence I will evaluate all of the answers.


Questionnaire

Gender        F/M

Age            16 or below    17-20     21-25     26+

Do you buy music magazines at all?           Y/N

What type of music are you the most interested in?     
Rock   Pop   R&B   Hip hop   Folk   Classical   Jazz   Blues   Electronic   Country   Indie

Do you prefer reading the magazine online or actually owning the copy?

Do you read music magazines on a regular basis?      Y/N

Do you prefer a magazine to be-            Weekly    Fortnightly   Monthly

What is the most appropriate amount that you would spend on a magazine?  
£1.50     £2.20   £2.80   £3.00  £4.00 

What type of article do you like to read?
Interviews   Articles   MusicFashion   CD previews