Task 1 - Generating ideas

Learning outcome 1 (U21): Be able to generate ideas for an original media product based on a client brief (P1, M1)

Ideas (P1)

I have been given a brief in which i have to plan and deliver a pitch for a media product. The London magazine is asking me to pitch my ideas for a new online and print based music magazine for North London.



First thing i am going to be talking about is understanding and finding out the demographics and also talk about the conventions of a music magazine.

Demographics - 
Understanding the demographics of a certain magazine means being able to break down the target audience. The target audience of the music magazine that is going to be based in North London will be targeted to different types of people depending on the genre of the magazine. The magazine that is being created to meet the brief is going to be targeted to mainly young people that are most likely to be seen in the vibrant music scene that is developing locally. Younger people are more likely to be scene in these vibrant scenes rather than an older audience, because they are young and active and enjoy going out into loud environments.

The age group will range from around 16-25 year olds. The gender of these people will also be mixed because both males and females enjoy music that is happening in the live vibrant music scenes. Students are in the category E demographic group. The E group are casual/lower grade workers. The majority of people within this age group are going to be students which therefore means that they spend a lot of their money on going out and socialising within vibrant scene in London. For the students that enjoy music are very likely to spend some of their money on tickets for certain music events and concerts that will  take place. Students also use a lot of social media and tell their friends what they are doing which means that more students may also want to go these events and spend their money on the same thing.

Conventions - 
Conventions are the things that are put on a magazine to help attract and bring in the target audience. There are so many different conventions on a music magazine that help add up to create the best product possible. Everything on the front and inside of the magazine are different conventions that create the magazine. For example on a front cover of a magazine there is a masthead, main image and cover lines. All of these conventions would be created in a way that would suit the genre of the magazine and would bring in the audience when the magazine is being sold. A masthead is the main title at the top of the magazine which will make the readers become familiar with what magazine they are reading. The main image of a front cover is usually the person that is associated with the main article/feature inside the magazine. A coverline is the lines usually on the sides of the magazine that are linked to the articles inside the magazine. There are so many different conventions of a magazine front cover such as barcodes, date, price, pug, strap line and even the fonts chose on the front cover.

The colour scheme of a magazine is one of the most important things because depending on who the audience is the colours can vary. E.G if the target audience was female the colour scheme could be more female associated colours such as pinks, purples and whites, where as if the target audience for more of a gothic group of people the colours may change to blacks, greens and reds. The colour scheme that is chosen can also symbolise what the genre is. If the magazine genre was a jazz magazine the colour scheme may be red, black and gold. The colour red connotes passion, love and fire which can all link to jazz music. There are also lots of conventions that need to go inside the magazine to make the magazine as good and professional as possible. Most magazines will include a contents page, double page spread which usually contains an interview or feature article based on the person that is on the main image on the front cover. The article/interview on the double page spread will give information about the person.

Another key convention is to have page numbers on every single page of the magazine. This is just to show the readers what page of the magazine they are reading and also an indication of how to find something that they may want to read from the contents page. The colour scheme inside the magazine will usually match the colour scheme of the front cover to make it look realistic and as if it is all the same magazine. Images throughout the magazine are also used just to relate to articles and make the magazine more colourful and interesting to read.

Advertisement -
For any magazine to become popular and known they need advertisement. Usually the first edition of a new magazine will be published and then be given free. This is too bring readers in so that they don't have to pay for the first edition of a new magazine. It will get the name of the magazine around and make people talk about it. If the first edition is popular and people enjoyed reading it, the magazine will then become popular and people will start buying it regularly and maybe subscribe to it weekly.

My 3 Ideas -  
I have come up with three different ideas for my music magazine.

My First idea for a music magazine is a Gig guide. I thought of this idea because there are so many people around North London that are not sure where to go on a Saturday night and there may be people that want to get out and do something different and go to something more vibrant rather than staying in. A gig guide would give people a chance to decide where, when and who they want to see and go to. There are hundreds of gigs and concerts that would be written about. There would also be information about each concert including any support acts that are going to be featured.


This is an example of a Gig guide which is what would be inside the magazine of my second idea for a music magazine in North London. I would lat out my gig guide something like this so that readers would know and be able to easily read the dates of certain gigs and where they are going to take place. It will help people to have an ideas of where they want to go and what music they want to go and listen too.







This is one of my font ideas for my Gig guide. I felt that they are the perfect colours and back ground because it is bright and vibrant and sets the scene of a gig/ concert. The font also fits well because of the shapes inside of the letters which are guitars and other instruments. It is an eye catching font and background and is enjoyable and fun to look at.



This is another spider diagram that again shows all of the positive things about creating a Gig Guide.










My Second idea is a 'Music NL' magazine. This is a magazine that includes music about all different types of genres such as pop, R&B, hip-hip, country and many more. This magazine will have a mainstream target audience and will be a large target audience because there are so many different types of genres. Music NL will be the name of the magazine because it will be about all music in North London.


This mood board is a based on R&B music. This is just one of the many that genres that would be included inside the magazine Music NL.

This is a spider diagram that i created. It shows all of the ideas based around a music magazine in North London. There are many pros of creating a magazine that includes all genres. However there are also many cons of creating a music magazine with all different genres.
There is also a mood board below that is based around R&B music. I did this because it is an example of one genre that may be inside the Music NL magazine, as well as many other genres.




My Final idea is a jazz music magazine. I came up with this idea because it is different but also is a very popular genre of music in North London. This would be targeted towards a certain group of people which means that the magazine will have to target them very specifically. The jazz magazine will be mainly targeted towards middle aged people that may want to get out and try something different to their normal routine.

This is another Spider diagram that i created. It narrows down some of the positives about creating a Jazz magazine.














I created a survey and asked a random selection of people all different ages what they think the best idea would be and what they think would suit the client brief.

Personal Research - 
I asked this question to a boy aged 17 -
'What magazine idea to you like the look of most out of the three that i have created?' 

I like the idea of the jazz magazine because it is more focused on one genre and the fact that because i like the genre of jazz anyway it is easier me to read and enjoy at the same time. 

I asked the same question to a 23 year old female and her answer was - 

I love reading magazines that have a wide range of choice and that contain different genres which is why i would prefer read music NL. 

These are only two answers out of the many that i asked but by asking questions to a group of random people all different ages i discovered that the least popular idea was the Gig guide. The most popular idea was the jazz magazine i think because it is more precise and specific and based on one genre which a lot of people may find it easier to focus on one genre rather than a whole bunch on genres. 

After asking a few questions to the random group of people I decided not to choose the Gig guide because it is difficult to choose what to put inside the magazine as it can vary because there are hundreds of different gigs to choose from to write about and include in the magazine.  With there being so many different types of gigs and concerts within the different types of genres i decided it would be too much of a wide range choice to narrow it down and choose which ones to pick and put into the magazine which will make the whole target audience happy. Also the target audience would be such a large and wide range of people it would be easier to target and suit the needs of a smaller target audience which is a niche audience. A niche audience is a lot more specific and easier to target to because they have certain needs that can be fulfilled by creating a certain type of magazine e.g. A jazz magazine. With creating a Gig guide there were many more cons to pros which is why I decided against making it. Also with creating a gig guide, some of the readers may not be happy with the selection of gigs and concerts that would have been chosen inside the magazine.

The idea of Music NL has the same concept of the target audience being too wide and difficult to suit their needs. The reason why it may be difficult is because there are so many different genres it may be difficult to choose what ones to include in the magazine that makes all of the audience happy and for everyone to be able to enjoy the magazine. People that enjoy a certain type of music may not want to read a magazine that talks about other genres of music that they are not interested in. However it was a difficult choice not to choose a magazine like music NL because a lot of people did like the idea of being able to read about a wide range of different types of music.

The mood board that i have created is just too show and give a taste of what jazz music is like and the colours and instruments that are seen within Jazz. I chose those font styles and colours because it suits the genre perfectly. The swirly type writing gives a jazz vibe and the colours black and red also suit the genre. The fonts are bright and bold and easily seen. The whole theme of my magazine is going to connote love and passion which is also why I have chosen the genre of jazz music. Jazz music is also really popular in North London and there are many different jazz scenes such as in bars and pubs around north London and in Camden in venues such as the round house and Ko Ko.

Strengths and weaknesses of my ideas - (M1)

Conclusion - 
To conclude i feel that the idea that i am going to choose as my final idea is going to be the Jazz magazine. I feel it is most appropriate because Jazz is extremely popular in North London and also will have a certain target audience that will have specific needs. It is going to include a feature article/interview of a new and popular band in North London and it is going to have all the correct conventions of a jazz magazine to create the best outcome and bring in as many readers as possible. I chose this as my final idea because it is a specific genre magazine that has a certain target audience. It is also something that i think would be best suited to the client brief for people in North London as there as many vibrant jazz scenes such as performances in bars and pubs and also concerts at places in Camden and all around North London. I created a mood board and came up with some font ideas for the masthead of my front cover. I chose these specific colours because the colour red links perfectly with jazz as it connotes love and passion. I also chose this magazine because there will be less competition as there is a niche audience which makes it easier to target to the people that are reading it.