Final Double Page Spread

Final Contents Page

Final Cover

Conclusion

I'm proud of how the final product has turned out.

From the preliminary task to end, there's been a variety of skills which have been picked up and 'Techno Beat' is a suitable magazine for the target audience.  I think the front cover will attract my audience, the main image and layout work well in the final version and follow the codes and conventions of magazine layout.  The fonts and photography suit the genre too.  The contents page and double page spread also follows the codes and conventions well too and by making the adjustments from the initial draft I think they work well and there's overall a professional style.  As part of the final blog posts, I will upload the cover, contents page and double page spread.

Research into Institutions

The first institution I looked at is IPC Media. It's the UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publisher, so digital distribution would be easier, in terms of distributing the magazine across different platforms. It publishes magazines from a variety of different categories, including Lifestyle, Sport & Leisure and Young Men & Music, showing the different audiences it targets. NME is one of the music magazines they own and is quite an iconic brand, growing into a large multi-platform media proposition and proving IPC Media are committed to representing different genres of magazines, making them a good potential publisher for my Techno Beat music magazine. The other music magazine they publish is Uncut, who target retro music fans and a more niche market showing IPC Media represent different tastes.

NME: The design of the cover looks to be aimed at mainstreamers, and targeting people aged 16-24, a suitable example of a magazine that proves IPC might be a good choice.

Uncut's cover stays true to the philosophy of the magazine of keeping knowledgable music fans who grew up on the classic rock of sixties and seventies up to date with music that connects them to this music.

Different publishing houses can be interested in different magazine genres as for example Bauer Media Group operate in 15 countries worldwide and own a wide variety of magazines, making them a dominant force in the publishing industry.  This may make some publishing groups try and distinguish themselves by publishing magazines that range across different genres or specialisms. Bauer Media Group sell around 38 million magazines a week, among these some of the best music publications including Q - a well known music brand.  My aim for Techno Beat is for it to garner a large audience, so Bauer Media Group with it's size and distribution could be ideal..

Some publishing institutions also like to design their own identity, an example being Warners Group Publications who offer specialist publishing services for niche magazines and are a family-run organisation. They make a profit of over £30 million a year and their publishing services extend beyond magazines. Warners Group Publications represent the interests of their target audiences by ranging across genres ranging from Active Outdoor to Building & Construction, helping to support magazines that have a smaller, niche audience. They wouldn't be suitable for Techno Beat as the aim is for it to try and gain a large following. They do have one music magazine in their portfolio - the "Pianist" which teaches people how to play the piano.

Example of a genre that Warner Group Publications publish:

Railway modelling is a very niche genre and this proves Warners Group Publications might not be the most applicable publishing group for Techno Beat.

Pianist is a music magazine, but it teaches people how to play piano, and piano isn't to everyone's taste, so Warners Group Publications wouldn't necessarily be able to market Techno Beat as "Pianist" is the only music magazine they own.

Of the institutions I have looked at both Bauer and IPC would have been suitable choices as they have experience in publishing music magazines but Techno Beat would fill a gap in their portfolio.  A publisher such as Warners Group Publications wouldn't be suited as their specialism is niche markets and not mass market.  They represent interests of the audience in different ways and are interested in different niche genres for different reasons.