Magazine Pitch

Dear Development Hell Ltd,


I am an Editor writing on behalf of a new company that is pitching to you 'Fusion', the latest music magazine.

As a contemporary magazine, 'Fusion' is particularly aimed at young people within the ages of 16-21, appreciating both up and coming and popular artists of today. We have a particular interest with music of the Pop-Rock genre which has been conveyed through the magazine, representing artists including Maroon 5, John Mayer, and Coldplay. 

From further research into various other publishing and media institutions, it was decided that Development Hell Ltd showed the best qualities when it comes to choosing a partner publisher for our magazine. Your previous successes with the market leading international dance music magazine, Mixmag, suggested that an experience with music magazines would offer professional business. 

'Fusion' looks forward to hearing from you and we thank you for your time.


Hannah Dickson - Chief Editor of Fusion Magazine

Initial Cover Audience Feedback

In this video I asked both Sophie Christophersen and Scott Hill for feedback, including positive aspects of my music magazine cover as well as suggested changes I could make. Using survey monkey, I also requested constructive comments that I could work from to improve my work.

From all of these responses I have decided to return to my initial cover and experiment with aspects such as the swirl drawing on the model's neck, as some people thought it to look too much like a tattoo, changing text sizes and adding to my tagline. I am happy that the feedback I received was mostly positive and generally people believed it would work well as a music magazine, and even for my chosen genre of pop/rock. 

Media Institutions

The next step for my music magazine, Fusion, was to research and investigate different media institutions so that I could decide which one to market my magazine to. 

A media institution is an organisation that is responsible for the production, marketing, distribution or regulation of media texts. They are business structures that produce media texts and regulate and structure all media activities. 

Here are just a few of the institutions/ publishers that I found:

Hearst - Hearst Magazines UK was established in 1910 by William Randolph Hearst and its major interests include magazine, newspaper and business publishing, television and radio broadcasting, TV production and distribution, and internet businesses. The company is responsible for publishing magazines such as Elle, Digital Spy, Red, and SugarScape. Positives of this institution are that it has promoted many important magazines, giving me confidence that it would be a professional company. However, the fact that Hearst has not published a music magazine suggests it would have limited knowledge on how to successfully promote one like mine.

Future PLC - The biggest guitar and music-making publisher in the UK. It is responsible for magazines that promote genres such as Classic Rock, Computer Music, Future Music, Guitar Techniques, Guitarist, Metal Hammer, and Rhythm. Although the fact that the Pop Rock genre of my own magazine is not included in Future PLC's area of promotion, leaving me the opportunity to bring a unique magazine to the business, I would feel unsure about pitching to a company that does not specialise in my genre necessarily. 

Development Hell Ltd - An independent media company based in Islington, London. They currently publish the market leading international dance music magazine, Mixmag. As this institution already specialises, or has experience with music magazines, I can consider this publisher when it comes to deciding which one to pitch to.

IPC Media - The company that promotes the famous NME magazine. However, looking at the other contacts IPC Media are with, the large amount of Home, Women's, and Garden magazines also available suggest NME is a rarity, and this does not persuade me to invest in this company with as much certainty.

Immediate Media Co. - Formerly BBC Magazines, this company publishes some of the UK's most famous magazines including Radio Times, Good Food and Top Gear. Although it has promoted music magazines such as Top of the Pops and BBC Music, the fact that the BBC mainly focuses on companies within its own organisation and programmes suggests it would not be a particularly good choice.

As a result of this research I have discovered different aspects of each institution involving the positives and negatives they may bring, and now have decided to go with Development Hell Ltd, due to its previous successes with Mixmag, which I can pitch to next. 

Stages of making my front cover

Above are the specific stages of creating my front cover which I have shown through a presentation I made on Prezi. From the completion of my magazine cover I can ask for feedback from people in my target audience and look for ways to improve.

Photoshoot Risk Assessment

This is my risk assessment which I created to consider when doing my photoshoot.

Importance of Colours

As an extremely important factor of marketing and magazines, I have decided to investigate the significance and hidden meanings behind specific colours to help me choose an appropriate colour scheme for my music magazine. Colours can be known to increase brand recognition by 80%, whilst ads are read up to 42% more than similar ads in black and white. Lastly, up to 85% of the reason people decide to buy product.

From research I discovered that what evokes a reaction from colour in one person may evoke a very different reaction in someone else as this is down to personal preference or sometimes cultural background.

Looking at the colour red, it could be associated with violence, blood and heat or the complete opposite of love and passion.  In terms of magazines, red can be a powerful accent colour, giving a strong and high-end feel; It can have an overwhelming effect if it is used too much in designs but is a great colour to use when power or passion want to be represented. As a versatile colour, brighter versions of red can be seen as more energetic and darker shades being more powerful and elegant. Not only does it draw attention, but it is also the colour that the eyes are drawn to first. 

Another colour such as yellow can be seen to give a sense of positivity or energy, therefore associated with creativity and imagination. Furthermore, purple is the colour of mourning for some people, whilst darker shades connoting wealth, luxury royalty, traditionally. Lighter purples, however, can be considered more romantic and calming. 

Black is commonly used in edgier designs, as well as in very elegant designs. It can be either conservative or modern, traditional or unconventional, depending on the colours it’s combined with. In design, black is commonly used for typography and other functional parts, because of it’s neutral effect. Black can make it easier to convey a sense of sophistication and mystery in a design.

In magazines, white is generally considered a neutral backdrop that lets other colours in a design have a larger voice. It can help to convey cleanliness and simplicity, and is popular in simple designs. White can also portray either winter or summer, depending on the other design motifs and colours that surround it.

• Red: Passion, Love, Anger
• Orange: Energy, Happiness, Vitality
• Yellow: Happiness, Hope, Deceit
• Green: New Beginnings, Abundance, Nature
• Blue: Calm, Responsible, Sadness
• Purple: Creativity, Royalty, Wealth
• Black: Mystery, Elegance, Evil
• Gray: Moody, Conservative, Formality
• White: Purity, Cleanliness, Virtue
• Brown: Nature, Wholesomeness, Dependability
• Tan or Beige: Conservative, Piety, Dull
• Cream or Ivory: Calm, Elegant, Purity

Overall, from this research into colour and its effects, I have decided that I would like to include the colours red, black, white, purple and possibly blue, and these are all appropriate for both genders, my genre, and my target audience. However, just like my flat plans, I am aware that these may change further on in the production of my magazine, and I may include various other colours which I will write about if these changes occur. 

Flat Plans

Above is a scan of my flat plan for my music magazine's front cover. This plan involves the idea of using a main image with a close up of a female looking directly into the camera to engage with the audience and draw them into the magazine. From initial research of other magazines, I am aware that it is only the most popular and famous brands that have the ability to cover most of the masthead as it still remains recognisable. Therefore, I am certain that no matter how much my plan changes from now, my masthead and tag line will definitely be placed in front of the main image. I have also decided to position the majority of my text including coverlines, the hook, and the secondary image, to the left of the main image so that it doesn't become too covered and lose its effect. However, I would still place the barcode and other smaller details to the bottom left so that it's less noticeable in front of the image. 

For the contents page I am still undecided about the image I would like to use, but I may experiment with a medium close up shot of the same person on the front cover, positioned to the left hand side of the page. This would then allow me to place boxes of text opposite highlighting important and popular articles that should stand out to the consumer. I have initially planned to put 3 smaller images at the top to advertise different features of the magazine, but I may also change this later on. 

Finally, as for the double page spread, I would quite like to take a further away shot so that it contrasts with the cover and shows another side to this featured artist. The text would then cover the remainder of the double page spread, however this will most likely be changed as I construct this.