2.)HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL

GROUPS?Theresa Kuhn

My magazine specifically represents indie hipsters and their genre of music. I chose colours, images bands and fonts that I associate with the stereotypical view of this genre, main looking at the positives. To show I have represented my magazine to be indie specific I will compare it to an already existing magazine and show how I have followed the same rules and impression to create a indie music magazine that reflect the social group I aimed my magazine at.

I have chosen to address the social class of D/E in the Social Grade of Chief Income because students are generally unpaid or work part time jobs in addition to studying. My magazine is a niche to indie music yet because I am targeting this audience, I have chosen to use a large amount of coverlines to attract my audience. The price of my magazine reflects the social grade I am targeting and the fact that my magazine is niche.

INDIE MUSIC MAGAZINE

INDIE Music magazine is an Austrian based indie magazine that it distributed in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, as well as UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, Poland, Malta, Turkey, USA, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, in both German editions and international (English Language) editions.

INDIE Magazine is published quarterly:Spring Issue: March 1st // Summer Issue: May 15th // Fall Issue: September 1st // Winter Issue: November 15th 

It is published thorough Plastic media.

Plastic Media is a fashion/music/lifestyle publishing house and event agency founded in 2003 by Kira Stachowitsch and Clemens Steinmueller. 

As well as INDIE, Plastic media publishes internationally renowned magazines that are distributed worldwide and available at the most important newsagents and national and international chain stores. Additionally plastic media creates and produces magazines, lookbooks and catalogues for various clients, from international brands/companies (like MONKI Magazine for Fabric Scandinavien) to independent designers (like Austrian Fashion Guide for Austrianfashion.net).

INDIE music magazine make their models appear along the same themes and trends of indie people, but add more individuality to their appearance on the front cover so it is interesting and inspiring to read. For instance on this cover they use a girl of a similar age to their target audience(which is a common feature with all their issues). They use a mid shot with the girl directly addressing the audience, positioned centre to the cover and include minimal cover lines around her so she is the centre focus of the issue. The way they address their social group of indie using a girl of the same age to the target audience. Also the way she is standing is very similar to one of a ‘selfie’ commonly taken and displayed on social media sites such as Instagram. She also holds a camera which carries the same design as the Instagram logo and so the target audience can quickly identify the genre that the magazine carries due to the relating connotations. Her makeup is more elaborate to everyday coverage which shows the magazine is breaking about of the stereotype, and is actually being more original about the appearance of the girl. The colours also reflect quite a girly audience through the use of pastel pinks and blues , showing there is a higher woman's percentage in the target audience. Finally the cover line relating to the photo seems quite ironic if by itself saying “may I shoot you?”, which in context with the magazine makes sense yet otherwise seems a bit morbid and humorous. Just reading the cover line makes it more edgy and outgoing, addressing the outgoing nature of the audience.

I feel I have considered the same elements to address my social group of 16-21 year olds who are into indie music. After thorough research into the current trends of my target audience, both fashion, social media use and general inclinations, I created three pages of my magazine that will appeal directly to them. Specifically, my front cover addresses my social group the most, with my model wearing a skater skirt and cardigan which are popular trends of indie fashion. I have also positioned her to be directly addressing the camera, standing her in the centre of the photo(very much like INDIE magazine) in a position that is casual but posing which again related to the popular ‘posed’ images frequently seen on social media site Instagram. This addresses my audience as they can relate to the picture as what they do on Instagram is not far from the images of a published magazine, making my magazine directly relate to this social group. I also used normal makeup that shows I've gone along the route of target audience indie style rather than outlandish individuality, therefore sticking with the stereotypical image of indie hipster, but portraying the positive side.

Overall my magazine follows the stereotypical view of indie people as I have looked enough into their preferences to create a product that directly reflects their social group. Although like INDIE magazine I could have branched out further against the stereotype to create my own view of indie as well as what I already have, I think my current product directly addresses my target audience which was my main concern, so staying with the stereotype proves successful.