Magazine Name Brainstorm

I have decided to create a rock-indie-pop-punk music magazine because the most competition seems to be towards the indie/rock style of music as there are so many different magazines including these genres such as NME and Q and therefore for competition with magazines there must be popularity and therefore if my music magazine was based on the genres I have suggested it would most probably be more popular then if I did a magazine like Mixmag as this is the only well known magazine of it's genre. My magazine is going to be based more towards people in the younger age range such as teens and early to late 20's but I will also include some older artists such as The Clash as they are relevant to the genre of the magazine and could also get older people interested in the magazine and encourage them to read and buy the magazine.
Example artists/bands included in my magazine will be The Clash, Mindless Self Indulgence, Greenday, Kings Of Leon, Avril Lavigne...

The name of the magazine will be very important as it will be on every magazine cover and the public will know the magazine as this. Most magazines of this genre have short names so they fit on the covers of the magazines well e.g. Q, NME, Mojo...
My magazine name should therefore be short as this is obviously a convention of magazines and in breaking the convention, the public may not be interested in my magazine as much.
Here I will brainstorm some random possible names for my magazine and narrow my favourite names down and then do a survey on people who are in the age range my magazine is aimed at to see what they think is the best name. Doing a survey like this is engaging in the public's interests and therefore the magazine name will be suitable and well-liked with the public. Also, doing such a survey would promote my magazine before it has even been created.

Name brainstorm:

Fuzz
Zero
Splat
Damage Liberation
Bailed
Shifte
Ledge
Edge
Red
Scuzz
Rip
Wave
Dub
Influence
Acclaim
Critical
Cut
Psychotic
Alternate
Riot
Sid (After Sid vicious)
Nash
Anarchy
Sneak
United
Access
Punk
Saw
Aggress
DIY
Disguard
Attitude
Culture
Clash
Taboo
Stud
Synco
Stream
Mezz
Phase
Punk Mass

Double Page Spread Example

Like most music magazines you can immediately tell the intended audience age range by the age of the artist as most people will relate to other people who are around or the same age. The artist in the main photograph is in his 30s I would say, more towards the late 30s so I would say the magazine is aimed at people in the mid 20-40 age range. most of the double page is taken up by the photograph which consists of the main artist stood directly in front of a small church with both his arms pressed against the back of his head which could be interpreted in two ways: relaxed or stressed and aggravated. his facial expressions, in my opinion, also leave the option open to interpret his emotion in the two different ways as his face is expressionless but with his eyes closed which could suggest either emotion. the position of his arms also show his tattoos, suggesting he is an alternative/punk/rock/goth artist, which he obviously is as the title of the article is 'American Gothic.' The main artist is wearing a pale striped shirt which looks smart but also casual at the same time, also emphasising his age as people of his age and appealing to this age would wear smart casual clothes like he is wearing. His facial hair also add emphasis to his age. the church behind him adds a Gothic feel and looks very American which goes with the title 'American Gothic' which is written in appropriate decayed looking fonts to the left of the image at the top of the text column in white ( with a slight decayed black background ) and a lightish goldy brown colour. The sky which is visible to the sides and top of the church is slightly covered by two trees and is cloudy which adds to the suggestion of gothic/rock music. perspective wise the main artist is quite a bit in front of the church, making him the dominant focus in the image. the full photograph is in black and white which suggests, as mentioned before, that the age range the article is aimed at is mid 20s to 40s as it makes it seem more sophisticated and serious, and also links with the title 'American Gothic' as it gives the image a Gothic feel. the full main image leans towards the left giving it a slanted look but the column with the text in slants to the right, creating an interesting contrast and giving off a slightly rough/random look to suggest that not all the aim of the image is to create a serious/sophisticated feel suggesting that the text will be not all serious and sophisticated which could be a bit boring but, petty as it seems, having that slant there gives off a more random and un-serious feel. The text is to the left of the image and has a black background. The introductory text is medium sized and bold and mostly in white but key words are in the same light goldy brown colour the word 'Gothic' is printed in, keeping to the colour scheme. the main chunk of text is in all white and noticeably smaller then the introductory text. The first letter 'I' has been pulled out and made large which is a convention of magazines as most articles do this. Overall the double-page suggests strongly the age range and type of audience it is aimed at by strong use of image and colour and font.

Contents page examples

This is a contents page from Rock magazine. The layout of it is basic with the text on the left and the images around the text to the right and above and below the text. The text and images are straight aligned. This gives the impression of the magazine been 'smart' and could possibly be aimed at older people as the text and images have not been scattered randomly and bright colours are not used like in most magazines aimed at teenagers. However, the photographs are misleading to this point as they are of young bands such as My Chemical Romance which the younger generation would be interested in. The images are all of artists which are in the magazine as the page numbers in the corner of the images show this. The font used for the text is black and red, the red text been generally bolder. Most of the black text is hard to read as it is small but this makes the bolder text stand out even more. The text is listed down next to the page numbers which show what is it in the magazine. The background of the page is plain white which is basic and also creates a smart, organised look to the magazine. The colours used in the text and the way the photographs have been edited colour wise give off an impression of a vintage look. Overall I would say that the cover looks vintage and organised, so my impression of the magazine would be that it is aimed at slightly older people then the teenage generation.







This is a contents page from NME. The layout is still fairly basic but has a bit of a more 'random', 'scattered' look then the Rockstar contents page. The colours used are bright and so therefore stand out to the audience. The main image is of an artist from a popular indie band which reflects the genre of the magazine which is rock/indie. The background of the main image is black and white stripes which give off a punky/indie image and also looks like wallpaper and so looks as if the artist is in a room. White, yellow and black fonts are used which sustain the indie/punk genre of the magazine. The photos around the main image to the right have a white border around them and are each slanted which creates the scattered/random look. The different parts of the magazine are indicated by different bright colours listed underneath each other e.g. bright blue represents the radar section and a list of the features to do with this are listed in the blue box. Images with small text to relate to the story inside are placed underneath the main image. The type of font used for the text is a bold, rounded type font so therefore is easy to read and stands out to the audience. The smaller fonts are maybe a little too small but they emphasise the bolder fonts which are more important to catching the reader's eye.