David Carson - Ray Gun

David Carson is famous for being a graphic designer with his best known work being in magazine designs and experimental typography. The most famous magazine that Carson had his art designs used on was "Ray Gun"(a music and lifestyle magazine) which he was hired for by the publisher Marvin Scott and on this he portrayed the typographic style he is known for. 

His designs appeared abnormal to readers as they were different to any other magazine usual house style. The title wasn't always in the same place and on various occasions, images and text have been displayed side ways, diagonal or in more extreme cases, upside down. These designs made him quite famous and he gained a wider audience who were now intrigued by his work and he was even featured in The New York Times at the peak of his fame.

I think that Carson's work is unique and therefore stands out to anyone when displayed on a news stand alongside other magazines that have a typical house style. For instance, this "Ray Gun" magazine front cover has a completely different title so readers would be unaware that this was an issue of "Ray Gun" as it could be mistaken for another magazine. 

Moreover, the image is displaying the bottom half of the model rather than the typical mid-shot or close-up camera view that most magazines tend to use. There are also no straplines or taglines or even any snippets of whats inside on the cover, which usually help to sell the magazine and this makes it unusual as this type of layout doesn't tend to catch an audiences eye, although Carson made it work.

Active vs. Passive Audience Theory (Readings)

Active audience theory argues that media audiences do not just receive information passively but are actively involved, often unconcsiously, in making sense of the message within their personal and social contexts. Decoding of a media message may therefore be influenced by such things as family background, beliefs, values, culture, interests, education and experiences.

Other theories and models are compatible with active audience theoy, including the encoding/decoding model and the uses and gratifications theory, which states that audiences are actively involved in determining what media thy engage with and how, in order to gratify specific needs or desires.

Uses and Gratification Theory
This theory tries to interpret how and why people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. It is based upon an audiences approach of understanding large scale communication. Instead of the question asked by other media effect theories - "What does media do to people?" - Uses and Gratification Theory suggests the question "What do people interpret from media?".

Encoding/Decoding Model

This is an active audience theory that was thought of by Stuart Hall
which examines the relationship between a text and its audience.
Encoding is where a text is constructed by its producers.
Decoding is where an audience reads, understands and interprets a text.
Hall claims that texts can be read in different ways by different people due to the differences in cultural knowledge and opinions.

Hypodermic Needle Model

This model was formed in the 1930's and suggests that a message within the media is directly received and accepted by the receiver i.e. the passive audience who are automatically affected by the message. This model states that the audience can be easily led by the media because at that time there was a limited amount of communication tools. As more research was made, it became more obvious that the media had selective influences on people. One of the most famous examples of this model was the 1938 broadcast of 'The War of the Worlds', which had a massive reaction of panic among its American audience. This model is discredited today due to this incident being the cause of deeper research being made by Paul Lazarsfeld and Herta Herzog, which goes against the ideas of the hypodermic needle model and Hadley Cantril stated that the reactions towards the broadcast were in fact mainly to do with the audiences attitudes and the situations they were in at the time.

'Print' Media Terms

Media terminology is essential when writing about my own music magazine. 'Print' media terms are used in magazines to make them look professional.

Bleed
This is a printing term, which refers to printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet before it's trimmed off. Bleed is on the side of the document that will allow the printer to have a small space to account for any movement of the paper or design effects such as background colours, which can stretch into the 'bleed' area. The bleed ensures that there is no unprinted edges in the final trimmed document.


MIRA
This is a textual analysis and will help me to understand what my target audience want in a magazine.

                                          M - Media form - This describes what you're analysing.
               I - Institution - This asks who made it.
                              R - Representation - Who or what does it show.
A - Audience - Who is it for.

'Pass Along Audience'
This can be family members or other individuals that share a magazine without each buying a separate copy of it meaning that more people read a certain magazine than purchase it. This means that publishers may not be able to accurately view the exact amount of readers they have because it won't be the same amount of copies that they have sold although, it will increase reading numbers.

Advertorial
These are advertisements that appear like articles. Sometimes the magazine uses terms such as "special promotional feature" or "special advertising section" to present the advertorial. These are usually printed on a smaller newsprint than the rest of the magazine.

Gutter
The gutter is the middle section of the two pages where they both join to form a double page spread.







Strapline
This is a subsidiary heading or caption in a newspaper or magazine. It is a slogan used to identify brands so that consumers know what magazine is on the news-stand because they link the strapline with the title of the magazine. I could include this into my own magazine to make consumers remember the magazine easier because it will be more recognisable.










Tagline
A catchphrase or slogan used within advertising that is often repeated to make readers of the magazine remember the product each time they see or hear the tagline.








Pull Quote/Call Out
These are quotations from an article that are usually placed on the same page to entice readers into an article or to make them more aware of a certain topic. These are good to put into a magazine because consumers are more likely to be intrigued into buying the magazine which will increase the reading numbers.

Pug

This is the small bits of text that are around the masthead and it is usually about whats inside the magazine. 

This would be a good media term to include on my own magazine front cover as it makes it look more professional and gives the reader more of an insight of the magazine making them more prone to buy it.

History of Music Magazines

Q magazine is a British music magazine which is published monthly. Its founders are Mark Ellen and David Hepworth and the editor is Andrew Harrison.
The magazine was originally called 'Cue' for "cueing a record" but was changed so it wasn't mistaken as a snooker magazine. Also, single-lettered titles stand out more on the new stands making more sales.
The first issue published was in October 1986.
It has a review section inside the magazine which covers new releases of music as well as reviews on film, live concerts, radio and television which star rates them and this tends to be added to the album ratings on print or on television advertising in the UK and Ireland.
The audience is both genders with 68.3% being male and the rest - a total of 31.7% female. In total there are 35% of readers that are between the 15-24, 26% between 25-34, 19% are 35-44 and 17% 45+. The  magazine used to target the over 25's, which allowed the magazine to be slightly higher priced as an older audience can generally afford to pay more than younger audiences. Although, now more of the younger generation read Q making the magazines audience increase. It has been suggested that Q has a niche audience because the magazines main focus is music although it can be represented as having a mass audience as it is a well-known music magazine so more people trust it enough to purchase it.





Q magazine tries to put a range of artists who perform different genres of music on the front so that it reaches out to more people. This could influence someone who doesn't usually buy the magazine to purchase it due to the person on the cover, which inevitably gives Q magazine more readers. This means that more social groups will know about Q because there is a wider selection of music genres displayed on the magazine.
The housestyle is similar on each issue with the title being in the same place in every edition. Moreover, the background colour is beige in every copy with the writing different depending on what artist is on the front. This makes it easier for buyers to find the magazine on new-stands as it will always look the same.

History of Music Magazines

Rolling Stone magazine was founded in 1967 in San Francisco, California by Jan Wenner - who today is still the magazine chief editor and the magazine moved locations to New York City in 1977. The main content of the magazine focuses on Politics and popular culture and is published every two weeks. In the 1990's the magazine changed the set up due to a younger generation having a bigger impact on which bands became popular.  The name "Rolling Stone" was originally named after the blues singer Muddy Waters song "Rollin Stone" produced in 1950. The first issue was published on November the 9th in 1967 and inside was a message from Jan Wenner which read that "The Rolling Stone is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." Print format of this magazine has changed over periods of time. The first copies (1967-72) were initially in the form of tabloid newspapers with black ink and a higlight colour which changed each issue. In 1973, it had a different newspaper size which was done on a four-colour press and by 1979 there was now a bar code on every edition. It then became a glossy paper in 1980 and by October 2008, Rolling Stone was a standard format size so decreased in size.

 Various artists have been featured on the magazine more than once and some of these covers have

become iconic such as The Beatles who have featured on the front cover over thirty times as a band and individually. It has also had appearances from political figures and actors such as Bill Clinton and Blake Lively.
The first ten issues had appearances from people like John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding
 and had an issue on the Monterey Pop Festival. The typical reader of the 'Rolling Stone' varies depending on who is on the cover. A lot of the older generation read it due to it being a magazine that has been well known for many years and the politics within the magazine reaches out more to older readers.

'Rolling Stone' magazine has a similar housestyle in every edition with the image taking up most of the space on the cover. The colours fit together and the title is always in the same place (across the top) which makes the magazine look organised.

The social groups presented within the magazine are unique and some bands that are displayed inside are only listened to by people that like a certain genre of music. They tend to put someone on the front cover who is popular at that time because that makes more people want to buy it widening the target audience.

Research Methods

The research methods that I tend to use to create my own magazine will be primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative research. 

Primary research is the research that I will carry out myself. I can do this by interviewing people and sending out questionnaires and surveys to find out peoples opinions. I can also use an internet forum to gain even more information from a wider range of people because it can be accessed nationally and further if needed.
Secondary research is research that somebody else has carried out. This means that by using search engines, books or magazines I can find information without having to carry out my own research. One secondary research method is the NRS website. It offers information on what type of people buy certain magazines. For instance, people in the ABC1 bracket are wealthy and upper classes and due to the NRS, buy more magazines and more expensive magazines such as "Grazia". C2DE is the lower classes and the NRS states that they tend to buy more affordable magazines like "Take a Break". Although, this website isn't always useful, especially if competitors of different magazines want to expand their target markets as the audiences are grouped in ages such as 15-34, which doesn't give a very accurate answer as opinions differ from a teenager to an adult.
Quantitative Research identifies patterns and trends, for instance more men than women read 'Kerrang!' This type of research can be used to verify whether something is true or not.
Qualitative Research concerns peoples ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings and could be expressed in an interview or a survey much like the primary research method. This is useful because it gives a direct answer on what someone thinks about the magazine.
Based on the advantages of these research methods, I will be able to create a magazine that I feel will reach out to a wider target audience.

Male Gaze

The theorist Laura Mulvey argued that most media reflect the male gaze. The camera acts as a 'male' eye where women are looked at and men are the 'lookers'. Women are often objectified. She wrote a report called 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. Within this she suggested that Hollywood cameras would film the women in a males perspective and this influenced other women to try and present themselves in the same way.

The Rolling Stone magazine displayed above reflects the 'male gaze' theory by showing Taylor Swift (who is usually portrayed as a teenage girls role model) in a seductive pose. The white background makes the photo stand out and her legs are one of the first things seen when the reader glances at the cover. This has nothing to do with her music and is purely for the 'male gaze' that helps more copies of the magazine to be bought. This technique could attract attention from both genders as men are fascinated by how the woman in the photo looks and women want to be like the woman. This is a positive point for the magazine as more copies are going to be sold. However, it could change some peoples views on the artist displayed and could have a negative effect on their career or possibly the magazine for putting them on the cover. This is because it might make other females uncomfortable because of how a woman's body is being used to sell editions of a magazine and not just simply the music inside.

Conventions To Include In My Magazine

The conventions that I would like to include in my own magazine would be similar to a Pop genre magazine. This is because I would like my magazine to look high-class and exclusive with a house style consistent throughout. I would prefer the colour theme to be elegant like pastel colours - light pink, green, blue - as this connotes a sophisticated audience read this magazine. I wouldn't go for the Rock genre magazine appearance as it looks too busy and chaotic and wouldn't suit the the colour themes that would go with it making it look messy which could lose the target audience necessary due to their being too much on the front cover.

Ideology of Music Magazines

An ideology is a belief and every musical genre has an accompanying ideology. Often genres divide along binary oppositions or a dichotomy. The ideology of the genre affects all aspects of its representation. Music magazines will reflect the ideology of their genres in visual style and language.

Different genres usually talk about different things in songs. For instance, rock music talks about completely different things to pop songs.

Rock includes things such as drugs and alcohol and may have political views. Pop tends to focus upon love, happiness and is usually non-sexual although some things that are mentioned can be thought of as euthemistic.

Rock music is aggressive and loud and the singers usually sound angry or unhappy as they are authentic and making a statement to get their views and feelings across.

Kerrang! music magazine displays popular rock bands on the front cover to gain a wider audience as they know that more people know of them and therefore, are more likely to buy the magazine. The background is dark and the colours used connote aggression and to want to portray an unprofessional appearance to show that they don't care about image although they probably spent the same amount of time putting it together than a Pop magazine. This immediately gives the viewers clear knowledge on what genre the magazine is. According to the National Readership Survey (NRS) more men read Kerrang! than women meaning that the colour theme is more masculine as it tries reaches out to the target audience more so than trying to get everyones attention. Furthermore, they don't want everyones attention because they want to be different and have less of a role model image so thats already losing a typical teenage girl audience.

 Kerrang! contents page has a housestyle throughout and is the same in every edition. Just like the front cover, it does appear quite unorganised and chaotic. This is the theme they want though because they need to appeal to rock fans who tend not to like obeying rules. By using images to take up most of the page it makes it look modern and less sophisticated because they have gone against the idea of just listing exactly whats on every page in black and white which represents the 'cool' and 'rebellious' image that they want to connote.

This double page spread of an article in Kerrang! is an interview with Taylor Momsen - an American actress/singer. The background of this page is the same as the front cover - black - which suggests that they want to keep a consistent 'mood' throughout. Rock magazines tend to have interviews with people who are popular at that time and have a 'rebellious' image to appeal to the target audience.

Pop magazines are very different to Rock genres as they need to persuade an audience that the singers within their magazines are good role models. Magazines such as Top of the Pops have people such as Justin Bieber on the front cover because they know that a lot of teenage girls would buy the magazine just because of them. This magazine reflects its ideology clearly by using bright colours and a professional looking layout. The housestyle of the magazine is consistent throughout and the sell line is the same in every edition of the magazine to persuade their target audience to buy it. In this case, it's teenage girls and "the ultimate fan mag" suggests that only the 'biggest' fans buy this magazine and so to prove they are, more teenage girls will buy it increasing sales for the magazine. Also, due to the high demand for singers like Justin Bieber, Top of the Pops are able to have limited edition magazines such as this one displayed because they know the sales will still stay the same if not increase and could even expand the audience as Justin Bieber fans who have never bought Top of the Pops before may decide that they enjoy reading it and continue buying the new editions.

This is a typical Pop genre contents page and it is extremely different to the Rock genre. The layout is simple and easy to understand as the target audience is teenage girls. The housestyle is unique to this particular magazine and each sub-heading helps to indicate which pages have the information relevant to that topic. The bright colours are similar to the front cover and the bold writing all in 'girly' colours portrays the ideology of the genre of magazine and gives a clear view of who the target audience is they are trying to sell to.

This is a double page spread of an interview with Justin Bieber in Top of the Pops magazine. The colour scheme is still a particular house style with a white background so that all the text and images on the page stand out clearly making the whole page look tidy and organised. They are able to use a whole page just for a full body image because they know that enough people will read the magazine because of an interview with him so they can afford to use up a double page spread. Moreover, the magazine tends to include interviews with singers seen as role models so that a younger audience can buy from them. This gives them a wider target audience as parents will allow their children to read it if theres no explicit content.

Draft of Contents Page

This is my draft of the contents page that would go with the school magazine that I created. As this is just a draft it doesn't go into detail and I have only included a few pages that would have been in the magazine. At the top there would be images of different events within the school to show the diversity of the school and the different activities that happen. Adding an image of students makes the page easier on the eye and simple to look at as it isn't just text. By having the school logos at the bottom of the page, it looks professional and keeps the theme that was originally on the front cover throughout which is generally what an actual school magazine would do.