House Style

Masthead

House Colours

I'm going to use a red, black and white colour scheme for the house style of my magazine. I feel that these colours reflect the dark alternative genres that my magazine will feature. The use of red is also a good colour that stands out and grabs peoples attention. This would be good for my chosen target market.

Font

On my contents page I will use Niagara Solid for the page numbers of each article. The tall thin look gives it an exciting energetic feel.

For the headlines on the front cover I will use Gill Sans MT Ext Condensed Bold. Like Niagara Solid, it is tall and thin, giving an exciting, energetic and loud feel. However I prefer to use this font for the headlines, as it is more simple and clean, making the words become the focus.

For text and article titles on the contents page, I plan to use a fairly simple and readable font. I will use Calibri in bold for the titles, and then normally for the rest of the text.

For the contents page, I plan to use a similar font to my masthead font for each of the headings. I will do this to incorporate the masthead throughout my house style. It will also give a rough edge to the otherwise simple layout and text on the contents.

Slug

For the slug, I plan to use a red coloured, rounded rectangle that will feature words depending on the article. Each time it will always first feature my masthead, and then whatever category the article comes under. For example - Massacre Review, Massacre Gig Guide.

Researching House Styles - Q

Q Masthead that is used in many things such as article titles and page numbers

Numbers used for the contents page numbers

Red colour and white colour scheme is used throughout

Same red colour and font as the masthead is used in feature articles

Researching House Styles - Rocksound

Below I have identified features of Rocksounds house style

Masthead - Used in many aspects of the magazine such as words and the free album

Stencil styled font for coverlines

Rounded contents numbers

Primary colour scheme (red, blue and yellow)

Masthead Development

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I really liked the original design of the masthead as I felt the style of the lettering gave the right image I was going for. However, I didn't like how tall and thin the letters appeared. I didn't think that this would look right on a magazine front cover as it would either fill up too much of the page (height wise) or too little of the page (width wise).

 I wanted the masthead to fill the width of the front cover without taking up too much of the page. To do this I stretched the design out to look how I want it to.

After I did this I also didn't like how the 'E' letter was a lot smaller than the rest of the letters in the masthead. I also didn't like how it looked like it was more raised than the rest of the letters. To improve this, I copy and pasted the image, cropping it down to the 'E' letter, and then placed it over the current E. I then adjusted the size and placement of the letter to how I wanted it to look.

I then screenshot the final base image to use in photoshop. In adobe photoshop I drew over the image to make the lines of the letters more sharp and clean.

Masthead in mid drawing

Slightly blurry original screenshot

Final Masthead design

Masthead Design

For the masthead, I first found different fonts that I felt reflected my magazine's featured genres well. I wanted something creepy or rebellious looking, but still be easy to read. I then showed a group of people the below masthead designs to find out which they thought was best. 

In the end, the 6th font was the most popular as it is original and interesting, however it is still easy and clear to read.

Final Magazine Name

To decide on the final name for my magazine I asked a group of people to choose which name they think would best suit a magazine for metal and rock music. I didn't tell them any of the meanings before hand so the votes were based on the sound of the words and their own knowledge. 

Here are the results:

Onyx -1
Massacre - 6
Raven -1
Obsidian -4
Carnage -0

From the survey I found that the most popular name was 'Massacre' . Lots of people when asked, also really liked the name 'Obsidian' but felt that it more suited a band name rather than a magazine name. I also agree with this as I feel that 'Obsidian' could sound too deep and meaningful for a magazine name. Concluding from my research and my own personal opinion, I decided that 'Massacre' would become the name of my magazine.

Magazine Name Initial Ideas

1. Onyx

- Means dark or a pitch black. Dark colours are often associated with the genres that would be featured. It is also a type of gemstone which therefore gives it a slight mystic and superior sound.

2. Massacre

- A synonym of destruction. It represents the rebellious and dangerous nature of metal and rock genres. The word 'massacre' also could relate to blood and violence which links with the horror films that the intended audience enjoys watching. Disadvantage is that written down, some people may not know how to say the word, and therefore not get full connotations of the name.

3. Raven

- Similar to 'Onyx' in that has connotations of dark and pitch black colours. The raven symbol is also often associated with ill omens and this links with lots music in the darker genres of metal and rock.

4. Obsidian

- Obsidian is a dark black rock which relates to rock and metal genres. The sound of the word also sounds dark and rebellious. A disadvantage to this name is that it is quite long and complex for a magazine name.

5. Carnage

- Similar to the meaning of massacre. Gives an idea of chaos and mayhem that may be associated with metal and rock.

Final Idea

For the final genre focus idea for my magazine I decided to go with a Rock, Alternative, Metal genre. From my market research I found that although lots of people like pop and indie music, the majority of people who actually currently buy and read music magazines prefer to listen to more 'hardcore' genres. I would also focus more on new artists but still feature some established bands. The disadvantage is that there are already multiple magazines that already cater for this type of music genre.

Summary Of Target Audience

• Aimed at fans of Rock, Alternative and Metal genres
• Equally male to female ratio
• Aimed at more 'edgy' and 'unique' personalities.
• Mostly explorer psycho graphic, however seek security within the more unique community 
• Target age range of 14-25
• ABC1 demographic
• A large percentage of the target audience like to play music or are looking to take up playing an instrument  

Jason is an 15 year old student studying for his GCSE's in art, music and drama. He hopes to become a full time musician in the future and isn't currently thinking of going to university.

In his spare time he likes to watch horror films and enjoys going to see his favourite bands in concert. He also likes listening to music with his friends who share the same music taste. As well as listening to music he also likes to practice playing his guitar and making music with his friends who also play instruments.

He receives an allowance every month which he spends mostly on music, band merchandise and music magazines. He also puts some money aside each month to save up for concert and festival tickets.


As far as clothes and style goes, Jason likes to wear skinny jeans and band merchandise. Dark colours are more appealing to him and would prefer to wear skull patterns and wristbands. He also is hoping to get his septum pierced when he turns 16.

Initial Ideas

Idea 1 - Rock, Alternative, Punk

• Genres: Rock, alternative, soft metal, punk
• Both male and female target audience with an age range of 14-25 
• Informal and friendly language
• Featuring a mixture of existing and new artists
• A busy layout with red and black being key colours
• Featuring posters and lots of images
• Typical Artists Associated: 30 Seconds to Mars, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy

Idea 2 - Female Alternative

• Genres: Alternative, indie
• Predominantly female target audience of ages 16-25 (slightly older than the previous idea)
• Clean, simple layout, subtle colour scheme
• elegant font styles
• formal mode of address
• Mixture of existing and new artists
• May feature posters
• Typical artists associated: Florence and the Machine, CHVRCHES, Flyleaf
• USP: focusing on female artists and female fronted bands

Idea 3 - Female Metal/Rock

• Similar to the idea above however focusing on more 'hardcore' genres
• Genres: Metal, rock, alternative
• Mainly female target audience again, focusing on female empowerment
• Age range of 16-25
• Feature a mixture of new and established bands
• May feature posters
• Typical Artists Associated: In this Moment, Flyleaf, Halestorm, Evanescence

Idea 4 - Established Rock

• Genres: Rock, Indie, Alternative, Classic Rock
• Mainly male target audience with an older age range 25+
• Formal mode of address
• Clean layout
• Focusing on established bands
• Typical Artists associated: Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, 

Idea 5 - Kawaii Cute

• Genres: J-pop, J-rock
• Predominantly female target audience of ages 16-25
• Featuring news about upcoming tours in the UK, the oricon charts in Japan and J-culture events.
• Pastel pink and purple colour scheme with a semi busy layout
• Informal mode of address
• Focusing on a 'cute' image
• Typical Artists associated: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Perfume, Yohio, Babymetal, One Okay Rock