Evaluation – Music magazine

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Masthead: The masthead is something that all magazines have and is something that stands out on the page and is always very noticeable. The masthead helps to clarify which make each magazine is. Although mine stands out it also fits in with the house style, similar to NME and Q.

Sell line: The sell line takes up the left side of the magazines front cover and I have done mine fairly large. Magazines will normally have either a large section of the sell line or just have the sell line large such as my own

Puff: The puff is another stand out feature of the magazine front cover and will usually be showing some kind of give away or special offer. The puff I have done stands out but it also matches with the colour writing of the artists top.

Pull quote: The pull quote I have gone for is similar to the most magazines with the artists name in with largest writing on the page. However I haven't used a quote like most magazines, I have used a heading for the theme of the article.

Front cover

Main image: This main image is quite a common image in terms of how magazines have the artist, with them facing straight on at the camera with a prop such as a guitar. The picture is slightly off centre which is not like most magazine main images. This was to enable to fit the other conventions around the page.

Banner: The banner is in a style which a lot of magazines use, towards the bottom so it is not taking away the attention from the main features of the magazine and the main artist, but it is still easily noticeable. The bold black banner helps to make the content of it stand out and seem brighter.

Date line/Issue number/Price line/ barcode: Each of these magazine conventions are in the bottom right of the magazine, almost out the way. This is what you would find with the majority of magazines because they may be key factors for the customer such as the price, but by having the small and out the way they will see the features of the magazine first. Therefore they will get hooked and the price might not effect them wanting to buy it. Front cover

Masthead: The masthead is something that all magazines have and is something that stands out on the page and is always very noticeable. The masthead helps to clarify which make each magazine is.

Contents title and issue number: The title of my magazine is something similar and inspired by the magazine NME, which says ‘THIS WEEK’. I changed it to fit into my house style and to make it my own. The issue number I designed to fit in with the title of the page.

Contents list: The contents list that I am doing is one that is similar to the one that NME use. The sections are in bold writing and boxes with the green and black theme which matches the house style. Contents page

Page numbers: There are two types of page numbers on this, the ones with the images and the ones on the left third of the page with the contents list. The ones on the contents list are similar to ones you see in various magazines such as NME, where the number is a brighter colour then the text is in black. The other numbers are the image ones and these are designed more to stand out from the others so you can see what article the images are linked to. This is something that is different to most magazines.

Images: the first image on this page is the main image. This image is of the artist who is featured in the magazine. This is something that magazines very often do and they will also link it to the front page of the magazine. This will be the main article so they make sure they audience is aware of that by making various pages have them as the main image. Two other images I have used or pictures of other artists. These are also important, that is the reason they have images on the contents page, however they aren't as important. Therefore they do not have images too large or images that might take attention form the main image.

Doublepage spread

Pull quote: the pull quote is something that I have picked up on from most other magazines and is something that nearly always ops up on a featuring double page spread of an artist. To make mine different I have linked it with the house style I have by putting a black background behind the green text.

Drop cap: the use of a drop cap is also something I have been influenced by from other magazines such as Q and NME magazine. It is always found at the start of a double page spread and, as I have done, will often be in the colour of the magazines house style or the theme of the double page spread.

Page number/website: The page number and web address are both in small text in the corners of the page. The web address is something that not every magazine uses but a few do. Therefore it is a convention that is quite different to use.

Heading and article: the heading is a large heading taking up a third of the page with a smaller sub heading underneath, which is almost explaining what it is this article is going to be about. They both stand out and match the house style. The article is in side by side columns which all magazines do.

Main image: this takes up a full page and has only a caption and a pull quote with it. This is something often in magazines.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Social groupsI initially got a brief idea of the kind of age that the magazines that I was researching were aiming towards and it seemed to be a high range of ages, with no real age cap on them. I was mainly researching magazines such as Q magazine and NME magazine(more so NME). However I set a range of 16 years old to 45 years old for the age gap. This was a lot down to the variation in bands and artist that were represented in these magazines. In NME they had bands such as the Arctic monkeys, which could aim at people form the bottom to the middle of the age range. Then there were bands such as Muse and Elbow in the same magazine, which are aimed more from the middle of the age range towards to the top end of it. I also felt like the magazines were aimed ever so slightly more towards the male gender.

This research enabled me to choose a style theme that would be shown throughout the magazine and that would appeal to the full range of the target audience. That I why I went for a green, that is not too bright to make it seem childish, and a black theme. This was also influenced by an NME magazine which was also the same target audience.

Here you can see two of the magazines that I have used as and indicator of what age boundaries I should be aiming at. Both of the magazines have two colours for the house style. The one on the left is just green and white with plain tops to make up the background for two thirds of the page. The middle NME magazine is also a two colour theme of dark gold and black with a plain background behind the band. Both of these have simple colours and nothing to bright. Showing that it isn't made for younger children. This is something I have tried to show as well. Apart from the puff, which is designed to be a little bit brighter and stand out, my front cover is also a two colour house style with a plain background behind the artist. This is because I am aiming towards the same target audience.

What kind of media institutions might distribute your product and why?

A publisher which I think would be likely to distribute the magazine that I have created would be IPC media, a company owned by Time Inc. the first reason as to why they may distribute the magazine that I have created is because it was similar to NME magazine but it always has content for the full range of ages from 16 to 45. Whereas the magazine NME does aim at a lot the target audience range, it is often more towards one end of the spectrum than the other.

The next reason is that because the magazine is similar to the magazine NME IPC would not want to have competition up against one of their leading magazines, they’d rather have it along side it. Also IPC wouldn’t have to change any marketing strategies when distributing the magazine as the audience are they same as NME.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

To start of the audience for the magazine that I have created will need to have a key interest in a rock/alternative style of music as that is the genre that is discussed and talked represented by this magazine. The target audience will also be the more mature people of the age group. This is partly because of the alternative style music that the magazine talks about, and it is also because of the sophisticated design and theme throughout the magazine. Another reason as to why the audience will need to be reasonably mature is because of the fact that there are some fairly ‘wordy’ articles in this magazine, rather than just loads of pictures with captions like some magazines do. Them magazine, though it is aimed at both genders, it is slightly sided towards males. This is shown by the colour scheme of quite bland colours and nothing that is bright or that massively stands out on the pages. Whereas in most magazines aimed towards women they will have bright and vibrant colours such as red, yellow or pink. Another reason as to why it is aimed at males is because of the artists and bands chosen. They are male artists or bands that, although females do listen to bands such as the Arctic Monkeys, have a male majority audience.

My target audience also has a wide age range going all the way from the age of 16 t 45 years old. This is possible because of the wide range of bands and artists who aim at slightly different ages but all relate to the same style of alternative music. There are bands such as the Arctic Monkeys who cover the range of 16 to the late 20’s. then there are bands such as Elbow and Muse who can reach out to an audience from the ages of around 25 to 45 years old. However the bands are also liked by ages out of their particular range because of people liking all bands in this genre of music. Overall I think that the target audience that I am going for is a very spread range and is a fairly mass market audience. Although it is sided slightly towards males, the age range is reasonably big at 16 – 45 years old.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I have kept a simple but sophisticated theme to the magazine with a two colour house style throughout. The green colour theme used means that it is style an attractive magazine to the younger end of the age range meaning that 16-19 year olds want think the magazine is boring and aimed towards older men. However it also isn't so bright that it becomes of putting to the other end of the age range.

Also I have listed various artists and bands in the magazine, whether it is on the front cover or contents page. This means that both the younger and older members of the target audience can feel like the magazine is aimed towards the and that they find it appealing.

I have put a very large pull quote and name of the featured artist on the front of the magazine. This has been designed in a way that it will grab the attention f the reader, but I have avoided using an bright colours that may be found unappealing to the target audience. Also then simplistic colour scheme helps to attract to higher end of the target audience as it gives it a ore sophisticated look.

How have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

PhotoshopPhotoshop is the main technologies that I have learnt how to use to a good standard and improved my skills on whilst making this magazine. I have learnt how to edit pictures, shapes and texts in order to get the best outcome for my magazine as possible. The pictures on the top right are the first example of me using Photoshop skills to change small details in the magazine in order to improve the overall look. I changed the Puff on the front cover. I was just a standard circle shape and it looked unprofessional, so I decided to use the effects and giver it a drop shadow as shown in the middle of the three images. This also gave the Puff a somewhat 3-D look about it.

Another feature of Photoshop that helped me when making my magazine was linking layers. This was something I used a lot and it was very helpful. I used it on the masthead on each page. I linked the layers of the three letters enabling me to be able to move them simultaneously across the page. It also mean I was able to change the overall width and height of the three letters at the same time.

Prezi and slide sharePrezi and slide share are two more technologies that I used in order in the process of making this magazine. These two technologies helped me to show the progress and research o have down up onto my blog. These both allowed me to easily put on what needed to be uploaded whilst giving the forms of media a variation, one being a PowerPoint and one being a Prezi.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

College magazine

Music magazine first attempt

Final attempt

What I learnt from making these magazinesThe first thing that I have learnt from making these magazines is the conventions of a magazine and the best way to present them. When I was making the college magazine I was not 100% on all of a magazines different conventions and did not include all of them onto the magazine. However when I first started making the draft of my music magazine I started to get a clear understanding of the different conventions and made sure that I would include them onto the magazine. Examples of me not including a convention on the college magazine are the date/issue/price lines. These are something that every magazine has on them and is a key necessity for a magazine. However, as shown in the picture to the right, I did include these onto my music magazine.

I have also learnt how to use programs such as Photoshop and how to use it to a good standard. With the first magazine I did I made it in publisher as I did not understand Photoshop. However through making a mock magazine and having a first attempt at the real music magazine I managed to use it well and understand how to edit pictures, shapes and texts to get the best outcome of the magazine that I was creating.