Naming my magazine

Now that I've carried out research of existing covers, contents and DPS, and have an idea of conventions and techniques which are used to appeal to the target audience, I can now decide on small features to start planning the creation of my own magazine through my research into my target audience.

I want to come up with a couple of names for my magazine that I'd be happy with, then feature them in my questionnaire to see which one is most popular, and therefore which one I will use.

The only condition I have for the name, is that it doesn't sound too cheesy but still connotes popular music to the reader, especially if I'm not going to declare the genre on the front cover. However, I think this will be fairly hard and I'll have to pick a good combination of name and font to pull off a classy masthead. Or I may try to come up with a modern, contemporary name, just to give my mainstream magazine that slight edge that doesn't fit into the rest of the cover. So classy or modern, or a bit of both, I'll let my questionnaire decide.

Existing names include, Q, Clash, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vibe, Spin, Blender, Artrocker, DJ, Paste, Rock Sound, NME, Kerrang! and Mojo. Some of these seem pretty unusual to me, but the majority are one word names, and fairly short, so I think I will try to mimic this catchy effect with my own ideas. Using slang as the title is something I've considered, but may not carry out in case it seems too childish.

Possible names I've came up with are;

• Disco/ Discoball - I like this because it connotes cheesy discos, yet I think I could give it a glam edge depending on the font I use and the general style of my cover which would give a good contrast.
  
• Bolt - I was thinking of a bolt of lightening, and I think it's a strong word which people would remember, and it has strong, powerful signified meanings which could imply pop is not a weak genre.


• Wink - I think this has the perfect balance of childishness cheekiness and sophisticated flirting and again is a lovely sounding word which would stick in people's heads.


• OOH - I really like this as it's so contemporary and kitsch, but I'm not sure if it would be better for a gossip magazine as it connotes shock.


• Shizz - A slang word, and a symbolic sign of youth culture, but I don't know if it fits in with the mainstream genre.


• Jerk - As an insult as one signified meaning, a quick movement in another meaning, but just a generally individual word. Also often used in music.


• Hush - A soft-sounding word which I therefore this gives a sophisticated feel, and I also like the obvious contrast of it meaning quiet whereas music is basically just noise.


• Pumpkin - I think this is great as it's just so random, however to some it may seem more fitted to a mother's magazine because of it's use as a child's pet name.
  
• Spank - I think this would be perfectly aimed at my target audience, however may not be very appropriate.


• Jiffy - I think this is quite modern, and just a good word to be honest.


• Gong - Connection to music, something to attract attention so I hope this message would be passed through it. Also awards are often called gongs, which is a positive interpetation.


• Whistle - I'd considered "Hum", but it may be too negative with the connoation of smelling bad, so I thought whistle was a better alternative.
  

Some of these will feature in my questionnaire and then I think I will go with the most popular one as long as I think it's been picked for the right reasons.