1. Attracting & Addressing Your
Audience
Firstly I researched existing magazines after I had determined which genre I
would like my magazine to be. I researched Kerrang!, NME and Rock Sound
to analyse what parts and conventions of the magazines made them popular
with the audience which they wanted to attract and how it appealed to them.
I found that there are many things within the existing magazines that appeal to
the audience and so aimed to replicate some of them for my own magazine.

2. Masthead & Headline
I examined the font of Kerrang! magazine with it‟s
cracked, distressed look and felt like this appealed to the audience
because of this particular genre of music, as the fans are
stereotypically violent and aggressive and so I replicated this on I found that using a large headline attracted the audience
my own masthead for ACID by using a font called Northern into the magazine, especially if the band featured was
Territories with looked equally distressed and so I felt this would either well-known or a recently-discovered band,
best attract my audience when ACID is displayed in shops as the because from my research I have determined that the
genre can be easily identified against other genres such as pop or target audience enjoy learning about new bands as I
R&B. Also, the colour black is often associated with rock found this from my target audience survey which I
magazines because of the dark, sinister connotations it holds and produced in my research. I similarly set out the headline
so having this colour for my masthead is a convention of the over the main image so that it is easily noticed when
genre. looking at the magazine cover.

3. Images
Also for my double page I created a
'photoshoot' for my band members and
included this look in the main image as well
as smaller images surrounding it. This is
because from my research I found that the
audience for the rock genre respond better to
large amounts of images than text, so this
draws them in as they are more visual.
I made the subjects in my main cover image appear to look menacing and
„violent‟ as this appeals to the audience more as these words are often
associated with them. The guitar and microphone in the image also help to
sell the magazine because it shows a passion for music and makes the
image more visually pleasing.
Similar to:
For my double page I
created an album cover for I dressed the subjects in dark colours to
my band because I felt like connote mystery and make them appear
this would entice my sinister. Some images were formal-looking as
audience as they often like this have a more serious appearance to make
to feel as though they have the audience feel the passion they feel for
exclusive access to content music but some were candid shots which felt
that they wouldn‟t find like the audience were involved in the music
anywhere else. This is a so they felt a connection. By having the
selling technique as they „photoshoot‟ shots they audience feel like this
would buy the magazine for is something they can aspire to be like.
this purpose.

4. Colours
The colour scheme for my magazine is red, black, white and yellow. This is because I have found these four colours are often
featured heavily in already-existing rock magazines.
• I used yellow as a highlighting colour to pick out important points for the audience and the things that will entice them the most
(“EXCLUSIVE POSTERS!”)
• Red was used for the banner because it stands out well against the white background and was used throughout the magazine
because of the connotations it holds to the rock genre, such as blood, violence and passion. This helps to sell the magazine and
attract the audience as these things are associated with the fans because they are often very passionate about the music they
enjoy.
Black was used for the masthead because it stood out well
against the white background and so would be easily recognised
on the shelves in the supermarket/stores and so could be
indentified by the target audience easier. Black has dark and
mysterious connotations and so is unlikely to be mistaken for a
different genre such as pop which would feature brighter colours.
I also included a black
The sepia tone on this image from and white photo on my
Kerrang! magazine enhances the image contents page as these
and helps to draw attention to the main colours fit into the colour
title of the page, as well as making the scheme well and help to
highlights of the image stand out. This enhance the image by
is what I aimed to achieve in my own darkening a lot of the
magazine. image and giving it mood
and a certain mysterious
tone/atmosphere. Also,
the pose is relaxed/action
and so this appeals
because the audience
feel as though they are
involved in the music.

5. Posters, Cover Lines & Price
Posters: These bands are well-known and would be liked by every young rock enthusiast (who are the target
audience of the magazine) and so they appeal because the audience would often feel like they can idolize
these bands so would buy the magazine to own their images.
These covers lines would entice the audience because they are
snappy and quick to read, while also being quite humorous, and this
appeals because fans of rock aren't often as serious and so would
appreciate humour as this would make them want to read more.
The play on words used for Nine Inch Nails – “Trent Reznor
hammers in 50 quick facts” is directed towards the male audience as
this is more stereotypically likely to entice men because of the
reference to hand tools.
The use of rhyme draws the audience in as this makes the magazine
seem more entertaining with the prospect of an innuendo on the front
cover as fans of rock are more likely to enjoy sex-related humour
because of “ sex, drugs and roll „n‟ roll”.
The price is important for a magazine, especially a rock magazine
which is usually only issued once a month. I chose £4.99 as a
reasonable price for ACID because it is only published 12 times a
year and many magazines are around this price range as it is
reasonable for the audience as they are not considered wealthy
(the TA is young males).

6. Writing Style
I spoke to my audience in a fairly informal way in most parts as this better suits my target audience as they
are more used to informal language and profanities. I have shown this often in my article and also the
cover lines of my magazine.
The use of asterix covers up
the profanity but still packs a
punch to the audience as this
will be the kind of language that they are used to, and so makes them feel more comfortable reading
material in which welcomes improper language, because then it feels more edgy which the audience enjoy
as they don‟t like to feel as though they are conforming to the social norm, as it is usually considered bad
etiquette to use profanities in public.
“passion”, “rush”, “vibe”, “mosh pits” and “wild at the word “brutal” is heavily associated with the
gigs” are all specialist words and phrases that rock genre s fans are often found stereotypically
are associated with the rock genre of music, as to be more violent and aggressive than fans of
they wouldn‟t work in any other context, pop, as “brutal” has extended connotations past
especially “mosh pits” as fans of pop wouldn‟t what the band member meant and this attracts
understand this terminology which only apples to the audience as they want to hear the story how
rock concerts as these fans are more it is without it being censored.
enthusiastic and passionate.