The magazine genre I'll be aiming towards will be a rock magazine. This genre is very broad, consisting of rock 'n' roll, blues, electric, alternative and indie rock to name a few.
I won't want my rock magazine as 'in your face' like Kerrang! magazine. I find 'screamers' and the 'carnivalesque' approach to it too much for me. I prefer a tasteful, 'cool rock' magazine layout and attitude like NME. But my favourite music magazine has to be Q magazine, for it's symbiosis with the cover star and the way it invites the audience in. What fascinates me about 'Q' magazine, is that the name evolved from the word 'cue' supposing to mean the cueing of a record to be ready to play, but it can also mean to stimulate something to happen.
But as for names for a rock magazine, I've deduced my favourites to these:
THUNDER
QUAKE
PULSE
IMPACT
HARK
I prefer 'Hark' for now, it has a certain, sharp, blunt ring to it that most rock magazines would have, and means to 'listen' or to 'heed'. It also relates to 'finding your way back'. Music can be a cure to those who are losing who they are within themselves and can help them to find their way back (if I was to take it to a deeper level). I don't want the word to be too long since most magazine use a 'left-third' masthead to help them stand out when overlapped on a shelf. So a short, snappy word would both look good and sound good too!
Research into Target Audience:
In terms of the target audience being between 15-21 (like NME), sometimes the title of the magazine has to 'sound' catchy or appropriate, sometimes they don't take into notice the meaning of the word. For example, 'KERRANG!' Some may not understand what the word means but it's an onomatopoeic word describing the sound an electric guitar makes; the sound of the word is it's meaning, and the audience would understand this instead. With NME, the selling line 'National Music Express' defines what it means, but had to abbreviate it to make it more appealing to the younger audience. The very letters when said together 'NME' sounds dramatic and rhythmical. And finally, 'Q' could be the hardest to understand in terms of a music magazine's title. But it's abbreviated from the word 'cue' (cueing a record to play)--and again, the sound of the letter 'Q' sounds pleasing for a music magazine.
The audience of young people demand a title which appeals to their senses, so must sound right. HARK, as I said in the 'Drafting and Planning' section, sounds very blunt and would catch the attention of the attention of the audience from the quickness of the word. It also sounds like a shout, or a demand which gives it authority yet can appeal to the teenager's rebellious side. In this way, the magazine could become quite 'carnivalesque' from the way it shouts at the audience to steal their interest. Also, by making sure the masthead visually embodies this 'shout' like sound, I could attain the target audience's attention effortlessly, since people (of any age really) can learn a lot by the way something looks.
IMPACT
HARK
I prefer 'Hark' for now, it has a certain, sharp, blunt ring to it that most rock magazines would have, and means to 'listen' or to 'heed'. It also relates to 'finding your way back'. Music can be a cure to those who are losing who they are within themselves and can help them to find their way back (if I was to take it to a deeper level). I don't want the word to be too long since most magazine use a 'left-third' masthead to help them stand out when overlapped on a shelf. So a short, snappy word would both look good and sound good too!
Research into Target Audience:
In terms of the target audience being between 15-21 (like NME), sometimes the title of the magazine has to 'sound' catchy or appropriate, sometimes they don't take into notice the meaning of the word. For example, 'KERRANG!' Some may not understand what the word means but it's an onomatopoeic word describing the sound an electric guitar makes; the sound of the word is it's meaning, and the audience would understand this instead. With NME, the selling line 'National Music Express' defines what it means, but had to abbreviate it to make it more appealing to the younger audience. The very letters when said together 'NME' sounds dramatic and rhythmical. And finally, 'Q' could be the hardest to understand in terms of a music magazine's title. But it's abbreviated from the word 'cue' (cueing a record to play)--and again, the sound of the letter 'Q' sounds pleasing for a music magazine.
The audience of young people demand a title which appeals to their senses, so must sound right. HARK, as I said in the 'Drafting and Planning' section, sounds very blunt and would catch the attention of the attention of the audience from the quickness of the word. It also sounds like a shout, or a demand which gives it authority yet can appeal to the teenager's rebellious side. In this way, the magazine could become quite 'carnivalesque' from the way it shouts at the audience to steal their interest. Also, by making sure the masthead visually embodies this 'shout' like sound, I could attain the target audience's attention effortlessly, since people (of any age really) can learn a lot by the way something looks.
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