Research - Magazine titles

I decided that before thinking of a title for my own original magazine, I needed to do some further research and analysis into existing magazine names in order to find out what makes a successful title.

I believe that the title 'Kerrang!' is a popular, inventive and successful magazine title for multiple reasons.

Through background research using websites such as Wikipedia, I found that 'Kerrang!' derived its name from 'the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar'. I believe this is highly interesting as the title aims to use onomatopoeia in order to entice and interest the audience. I also believe it is successful as people, mainly the target audience, may be able to relate to this as they may be familiar with such a sound.

The use of an exclamation mark after the title is used to further emphasise the excitement and impact the magazine is meant to have on the reader. I think the use of this punctuation makes the title memorable - which is something I would like to apply to my own title.

I believe that 'NME' is another quite successful magazine title.

It is very short due to it being an initialism - standing for 'New Musical Express'. I believe this makes the title more catchy and in turn, more memorable.

Furthermore, I believe it is very clever as a title - as by using an initialism, people who are familiar with the magazine will know what it stands for and so may believe they have a little insight and shared knowledge between reader and writer, thus strengthening the relationship with the audience.

I think that the title being short is a successful characteristic as it may be more memorable in comparison to other magazines with lengthier names.

Similarly to 'NME', 'Q' has a short title in order to stand out and be memorable.

From my background research, I found out that, in terms of deciding on a name for the magazine, 'another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands.' I believe this feature of 'Q' is mainly aimed at the target audience in terms of circulation and subscribers. Having a title that may stand out over other competing magazines and convince the audience to choose this magazine is a highly successful strategy that I may implement in my own magazine title.