Evaluation: Skills Development

I have learnt that choosing an audience is very important to the design of the magazine and the type of article that will be included. I also needed to research existing magazines created for this target audience to learn what appeals to them, and to gain ideas for my own work. As well as this I found that I needed to know the software I was using quite well, to gain the wanted design of my magazine, and the wanted effect on the reader. I knew that I would need to seek some feedback from my target audience to see if my product had the desired effect. I feel that my work has developed visually since completing the preliminary task. I have improved my abilities to design cover and contents pages, and I am now able to design double page spreads. I have been able to learn good ways of writing an interesting article through looking at existing magazine articles. In the preliminary task I felt my work was slightly plain as I had to make the magazine appeal to everyone, however in this main task, I was able to narrow down the target audience, and so I found it easier to create an interesting and appealing magazine design.

Evaluation: Technologies

Through doing this work I have learnt new ways of creating and putting together an appealing media product using photoshop. By first planning each page, I was able to decide faster the content that would be included in my magazine, and the images I wanted to create for it. On photoshop, I learnt ways to adjust my images, to make them work better with the look I wanted for my magazine, as well as tools to improve the layout. By also taking the subjects Graphic Design and Photography at college I have already learnt many of the photoshop skills needed for the creation of my music magazine. Through taking photography I had already learnt about camera angles, shot distances and composition, which I was able to apply to my media photographs. Through taking graphic design I had already learnt about digital techniques on photoshop, such as the brush tools to create edges that looked ripped on stickers, how to create drop shadows, and how to adjust brightness and levels of images.

Evaluation: Addressing My Audience

My product addressed its audience in an informal way. I tried to connect with the reader by appealing to their interests. I used colours that would stand out to then, bright reds and yellows against black. I used images of people within the age range of my target audience, so that my audience would be able to relate easily to them. I used one main simple cover line to gain the reader’s attention, rather than overloading the page. Along with this cover line I included the names of bands that would also be featured in the magazine, as well as showing posters that will be included. In my article I tried to make the interview seem like a real conversation, which the reader would be able to relate to, and asked questions I felt the readers themselves would ask a band. I used abbreviations, exclamation marks and colloquial language to appeal to my readers’. I have occasionally addressed my readers directly with 2nd person pronouns, for example ‘you’. I have used images of subjects that my audience can relate to and have used colours, language and music that will make my target audience want to buy my magazine, through appealing to their taste in music and their style.

Evaluation: Target Audience

My magazine targets younger social groups within the age range of 14-30, both male and female. The readers of my magazine are more likely to be individuals; psychographically I have tried to represent this through my product in the images I have used, people of this particular age group, bright colours, and simple informal language. My audience listen to a wider range of musical genres including; rock, indie, metal, screamo, punk, ska, electro and others (folk, hiphop and dance). They are rather open minded and willing to try out new things. Their hobbies include; music (both playing and listening to), clubbing, shopping, movies, sport, and gigs. In music magazines they enjoy reading about; gigs, album reviews/ releases, new bands, music reviews, and interviews. Most of their money is spent on; clothing, footwear, cds, gigs, and car related payments. This would mean that these things could be advertised in my magazine, there are many things in this list, meaning that my audience would be quite an attractive one to advertisers and a large publishing company.

Evaluation: Institutions

I think it would be beneficial to have my media product distributed by a moderately well known media institution. It would mean that my magazine would be well circulated, as well as making good use of advertising to make money. However, having a well-known distributor for my magazine may affect the independence of my magazine. This could be a slight problem, as my magazine is meant for a wider audience range, and having a well-known publishing company might change my magazine. They may want to narrow down the target audience more if they feel that it would mean making more money. However, I feel that my niche market could be quite productive. Therefore, having well-known publishing and distribution companies would make my magazine more successful.

Evaluation: Representation

My music magazine represents youth through the photographs I have used. The subjects of my images are wearing stylish clothes that they feel comfortable in, and which reflect who they are, and the kind of music they enjoy. In most of the images I have used, the subjects are looking directly at the camera, this helps to make the viewer feel included, and this helps them to relate to the image. In some of the used images the subjects are smiling, this shows a representation of youth having fun, however in some of the images the subjects look slightly aggressive, showing that youth can be rebellious. I have used slang to represent the language of my chosen target audience. I have implied that youth who are interested in indie, rock, screamo, and electro music have longer hair, and like bright colours like red and yellow alongside black for schemes on their music magazine. They are interested in new music, gigs and generally having fun. I feel I have slightly reinforced some ideas of stereotypes in this way, but I do feel I have undermined representations of females, as I have shown them as being quite confident, and in one of my images, slightly aggressive, rather than the usual idea that females are shy and quiet.

Evaluation: Forms And Conventions

My magazine is genre specific. The conventions of a genre specific magazine are linked specifically to the genre of music that is to be written about. For instance, ‘Kerrang!’ is a rock music magazine, so the conventions of the magazine would be related to rock music. Language used in ‘Kerrang!’ tends to be informal, as if talking to the reader. Same with the layout of the magazine, it does not want to be stylish; it wants to stand out, ‘reflect the radical’. I have tried to stick to this style with the conventions of my own magazine as I feel it would be suited to an ‘alternative’ style as with ‘Kerrang!’.
The house style of my magazine is shown mainly in the colours used, red, yellow, white and black. I have used red bars on the top and bottom edges of my double page spread, which links to a similar use of red bars along the bottom of my contents page, and a red bar along the top edge of my front cover. This is similar I feel to the house style of ‘Kerrang!’ magazine, however this magazine often changes the colours used. I felt that this was a good house style to use for my particular target audience, as I feel the colours and layout would appeal to them.
The front cover of my music magazine has a bold masthead, which appears to have been cracked and destroyed around the edges, which could be showing that the magazine does not want to appear ‘glossy’. It could also connote feelings of teen angst or rebellion, which its readers could be feeling. The red colours that have been used on the magazine cover could also show these feelings of rebellion and anger. Fonts used for the cover lines are bold and modern looking, as I believe these are the fonts, which my target audience would respond to most. I have used yellow text and boxes of some cover lines, which could connote the idea of fresh new music, which would appeal to the readers. The use of images showing musicians appear inside the magazine helps to connote the idea of youth having fun but also being able to be serious.
My contents page follows a similar house style to my front cover though its use of colour. The use of boxes behind text could connote that the page has been put together manually, using tape. Boxes have been used around the outer edges of images on this page to make them appear to be like Polaroid pictures, which connote that they are personal images taken by the fans of the musicians, which the readers of my magazine can relate themselves to. The writing on the bottom of these images also helps this, as it appears to be hand written. The page appears to be more like a layout idea page for the contents page of a magazine, rather than the finished piece, which makes it known that the magazine is not ‘glossy’, but a rather more casual magazine, which rebellious youth can relate to.
My double page spread also follows the same house style as my cover and contents pages through its use of the colours red, yellow, black and white. The fonts I have used are simple and modern which connotes that they will be read by youth. The colours used for these fonts could show the idea of these youths being slightly rebellious, this works well with the image shown, as they look slightly aggressive, which could also connote the idea of rebellion. The pull quotes I have used are bolder than the rest of the text, which connotes the importance of these sections.
I chose to call my music magazine ‘Epic!’ as this seems to be a word, which is popular with today’s youth to describe something that is seen as being ‘awesome’ or ‘incredible’. It is often used in slang, as a descriptive word, for example ‘That movie was epic’. I felt that by using this word for the name of my magazine my target audience would be more likely to purchase it, as they can relate it to their own ‘language’.

My Final Media Products

My Original Photographs

Paper Drafts Of My Products

Double Page Spread Analysis

Double Page Spread Analysis
Originally uploaded by katiiee

This is my analysis of a double page spread from mojo. Click on the image for full analysis.

Audience Research

This is the Music Magazine Questionnaire which I handed out to various people who i thought might buy my magazine.

1. Are you…
Male/Female

2. Do you buy music magazines?
Yes/No

3. What existing music magazines do you currently buy?
_____________________________

4. How much do/ would you spend on a good music magazine?
£2.00/£2.50/£3.00/£3.50

5. How often would you prefer to buy a music magazine?
Weekly/Monthly

6. Which music genres do you mostly listen to?
Rock/Indie/Metal/Screamo/Punk/Ska
Other _____________

7. What do you like to read about in a music magazine?
Gigs/Album Releases/New Bands/Reviews/Interviews

8. How should a music magazine address its readers?
Jokey/Chatty/Serious

9. What are your favourite hobbies?
Music/Computer games/Clubbing/Shopping/Movies/Sport/Gigs

10. What do you mostly spend money on?
Clothing/Footwear/CDs/DVDs/Audio Equipment/Gigs/Hair Products

Contents Page Analysis

Contents Page Analysis
Originally uploaded by katiiee

This is my analysis of the contents page from Rocksound magazine. Click the image to see full analysis.

My Own Music Magazine; Initial Ideas

Working title - EPIC!
Target Audience (dermographic) - Age: 13-25
Gender: Male and Female
Regionality: National
Social Status: B, C1, C2
Target Audience (psychographic) - Fans of any alternative music eg. rock, screamo, indie/electro, metal. This allows me to target a wider audience, and new niche for a magazine.
Price - £2. 50 - £3.00
Weekly Or Monthly - Monthly
Content - New music and new bands, album reviews, Gig reviews, music news,
Style - Low Tech (not glossy)
USP - Aims towards a wider audience due to genres of music included, not just one particular genre of music.

rocksound magazine cover analysis

rocksound magazine cover
Originally uploaded by katiiee

This is my analysis for the Rocksound mafazine cover. Click on the image for ful analysis.

blender magazine cover analysis

blender magazine cover
Originally uploaded by katiiee

This is my analysis of the Blender magazine cover. Click on the image for full analysis.

artrocker magazine cover analysis

artrocker magazine cover
Originally uploaded by katiiee

This is my analysis of the cover of Artrocker magazine. Click on the image to view analysis.

My College Magazine Cover Analysis

This is my analysis of my own college magazine cover. Click the image to view my analysis.

My College Magazine Cover Analysis
Originally uploaded by katiiee

Planning My College Magazine

Before creating my college magazine we created a questionnaire to hand out to our target audience, the students at our college, to find out their views on what should be included in a college magazine. By doing this questionnaire, i found out that;

• most people questioned would buy a college magazine,
• people would like to see, college news, events, local band reviews and gig guides, gossip, and starsigns,
• most people would pay £1.00 for a good college magazine,
• people agree that a college magazine should be issued fortnightly,
• most people like pop and dance music,
• they would like it to be colourful and chatty.

These things helped me to decide on what to do for the cover lines and contents page of my magazine, things that would appeal to our particular target audience. I have also analysed an existing college magazine cover, to see what makes a good cover, what makes it appeal to its audience and what makes it work well as a cover. To create my own college magazine cover and contents page i looked at existing magazinesfor inspiration and ideas. For my contents page i tried, using photoshop, to recreate the layout of the contents page of the existing magazine, 'Word', which worked well and gave me ideas of what i could include on my magazine cover. To begin with i created a quick basic plan of the layout and a few ideas for my magazine cover, which i then put to use in the creation of my cover.

College Magazine: My Original Photographs

These are the images i have used in my magazine cover:

College Magazine Contents Page and Magazine Cover

This is my finished college magazine cover and contents page mock up.

I think my college magazine is quite successful due to the use of bright colours, clear lettering and use of images. These things help to make the magazine stand out to our target audience. I think the layout of both the magazine cover and the contents pages work well. The way the colour scheme of the magazine cover links to the colour scheme of the college; blue, black and orange/gold, works well. Though i think the cover lines could have been larger and bolder, to make them stand out more on the page, the images could also have been larger. I think the layout of my mock up of the magazine's contents page works well in response to the magazine i looked at 'Word'. However, i could have changed it more to suit the style of my college magazine colour, perhaps by using the same colour scheme, and text styles.

During the Preliminary Task project i have learnt new photoshop skills, as well as learning what sort of information needs to be included in a college magazine cover such as; price, date, magazine name, cover lines and images, and on a college magazine contents page such as; contact details and what is included inside the magazine, and on which pages. On photoshop i have learnt ways to move layers to best suit my work, and how to use new tools to enhance my work in ways which make it look more interesting and appealing.

College Magazine Cover

This is my analysis for this particular college magazine cover. Click the image to view my analysis.

College Magazine Cover
Originally uploaded by katiiee