Jude White
AS Level Media Studies
POTENTIAL TITLES
ARPEGGIO
Arpeggio is the type of guitar playing commonly referred to as finger picking, used for introductions to songs, solos etc. Whilst this relates to rock, it also relates to other genres of music in different ways, and as such may not be the best choice for a rock magazine. I will enquire with my target audience about their opinions on my titles.
SOLO
Solo players are responsible for some of the most memorable moments in rock songs. A good guitar solo can immortalise a song or even a band in rock history, and as such I feel this could be an interesting choice of title. However, I do not feel the title sounds 'rocky' enough, and as such I will include it in my survey to gain a second opinion.
0.26
My favourite title so far is 0.26. 0.26 refers to a thickness of guitar string sitting close to the middle thickness of strings available. As such, these strings are not too heavy and not too light; they sit somewhere in the middle. This gives the impression to customers that my magazine is accessible to any rock fan, whether they prefer heavy or light music. However, the meaning of this title may be lost on more casual fans.
Distortion
Distortion is simply a type of effect that is applied to electric guitars, and so links to the genre as a whole. However, it may seem a tad cliche' and obvious.
Phase
A Phase is simply a type of effect that is applied to electric guitars, and so links to the genre as a whole. However, it also sounds connotative of electronic music, and so may confuse people as to the genre the magazine deals with.
NoiseGate
A Noise Gate is a piece of musical equipment that removes background noise from a recording, and is heavily used in rock due to the sounds of pedals. This implies that in my magazine, unnecessary content will not be included, and that only the truly important material remains. However, this meaning may be lost on more casual readers, or could even be misinterpreted as saying that the magazine omits articles or facts.
Wah Wah
A Wah Wah is a type of guitar pedal. I originally considered this name, however upon reflection it sounds too comical to be used for a serious magazine.
SURVEY
To decide on a title, I decided to ask for help from my target audience. I used a simple tally survey to determine which title they preferred. In the end, '0.26' finished in first place, with three more votes than the second-highest choice, 'NoiseGate.' Therefore, I decided to use '0.26' as my title.
Following this, it was time to start experimenting with fonts. I decided to use font sharing websites such as 'dafont.com' to investigate which grunge-style fonts were on offer, as they are connotative of the heavy, aggressive sound of rock music.
I liked this but not as a masthead. It seemed too thin to reside in the upper corner, but too thick to be printed large in the centre.
This is the font I chose. The characters make a nice neat box to fill the upper corner, and stand out from the cover lines.
Whislt I liked this as a font, the city theme was irrelevant and confusing. As such, I did not use this font.
I liked this font, but it suffered from being too thin to be printed large in the centre, and CF Anarchy looked better in the top corner due to its box-like nature.
The characters were simply too difficult to recognise in this font, especially the '2.'
I simply felt this font was too mundane and clean for the masthead of a rock magazine.
This tilted letter effect would look better on a DPS than a front page, as it seems messy and is not very nice to look at, especially with so few characters.
There was only one problem with choosing CF Anarchy as my font; the font did not support the full stop needed to show '0.26'. I got around this issue by using a full stop from 'Base 02,' Which was not only destroyed but square, similar thematically to CF Anarchy.
Final Design
Strapline
I decided that I would also like to feature a strapline with my title, given its short punchy nature. My research showed that titles of a similar length, 'Mojo,' 'NME' and 'Q' each had their own straplines respectively. I decided that to achieve a successful strapline, I would need to analyse these further.
Q's strapline makes immedaite and obvious use of superlative, in order to set itself apart positively from its many competitors. By advertising the fact that it is the 'biggest' music magazine in the country, Q immediately shows any prospective buyers something about it which is better than other magazines. Q also mentions that it is a British magazine, which is vital, as it tells the target audience that stories inside will be relevant to them, as opposed to an American magazine, for instance. By anchoring itself to the country of sale, Q also makes its customers feel like they are getting something exclusive, which other countries will not. As for positioning, Q's strapline is placed directly below the masthead. A different-coloured box sets the two apart, making the masthead noticeable. Each word begins with a capital letter, which emphasizes the importance of each word respectively.
Mojo's strapline is actually far more simple. It simply reads 'The Music Magazine,' because this is all it needs to say. Not only are we told the nature of the magazine, not directly apparent by the magazine's title, but the use of 'The' instead of 'A' implies status. This could imply that Mojo is the only true music magazine. The strapline is written across the masthead in an arty, hollywood-style font, because the masthead is too large to place the strapline beneath it, especially as this would cover the head of the artist featured.
NME's strapline is simpler still. It simply explains what NME stands for, thus revealing the nature of the magazine to new customers. Again, this is positioned below the masthead, as the masthead resdides in the top left-hand corner of the page. The font used in this instance is serif, but this changes across issues based on the rest of the cover's hosue style.
The straplines I have analysed seem to share a common goal of briefly explaining to the reader what the magazine is about, whilst also encouraging audience enthusiasm for the magazine, helping to make more sales. The word 'music' was used for these straplines, as these three magazines deal with a range of music. However, I could use the word 'rock' to better explain the genre of my magazine. Given that I will position my title in the page's top left corner, I will place the strapline beneath the masthead. I will also use superlative to ancourage interest and enthusiasm in my magazine, ensuring it stands out from the competition.
The strapline I came up with based on my research was:
THE UK'S BIGGEST ROCK MAGAZINE
This strapline uses superlative in 'biggest,' and identifies the subject by using 'rock.' By saying 'The UK,' it anchors the magazine to the country of sale and ensures it feels relevant to buyers. The use of all-caps continues the theme of passion and aggression, which comes hand-in-hand with rock music as a genre.
Final Masthead
I chose the font 'Base 02' for my strapline, as its destroyed aesthetic was very similar to that of my masthead. However, this font lacked a comma, so I used one from a similar font, 'Defused.'
