AS Media StudiesMusic Magazine Evaluation

Olivia Lynch, 12f

Project.• For media coursework I had to produce my own music magazine. We had a

preliminary task of creating a student magazine for our school – front cover and contents.

• But for our main coursework we had to design and create the front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine. I produced all of mine on Photoshop.

Preliminary Task. 1• Using photoshop and publisher, I produced the front page and contents of a

school magazine.

• Before designing and creating my student magazine I did some research on several magazine front covers. By analysing professional magazines I was able to have some understanding of how to lay out my first attempt at making a magazine.

• It was one of my first experiences on photoshop, so as I was making the magazine I was discovering new tools and edits.

• I firstly had to decide who my target audience were. I then tried to aim my magazine at my demographic in terms of mode of address, featured articles and page layout. My target audience were 11 – 16 year olds who attended my school (William De Ferrers). So with this in mind, I made sure that my mode of address was friendly and somewhat informal. Also by using bright colours and bold fonts I feel that this would attract the age group of my audience.

Preliminary Task. 2• I took some photos for my school magazine.

I am using this image for my front page – the feature article photograph. It denotes a student putting her hand up. It connotes that she is keen and a good student.

I took this one for the school band I had on the contents page. They are all pulling serious faces to connote that they take their music seriously. The guys are at the back and two singers at the front to show how they are on stage.

Preliminary Task. 3Front cover Contents pageMasthead – bold,

red

PlugsIncolumn

Photos and ‘plus’ plugs Barcode and price

Hand covering masthead

Puff

coverline

Smaller images in a column

Mag name

Page numbers bold. Title big. Small description of article.

Brick wall background reflecting walls at school

Preliminary Task. 4• After making my student magazine, I feel I have used the common conventions of

magazines but also challenged them. I have taken the obvious things and such as mastheads, plugs and puffs but added my own style to them. E.g. Font type and colours, photos, backgrounds.

• I feel that I have targeted my audience well as I have clearly represented the magazine to students who attend the school. I have used students for the photos which immediately suggests who the magazine is meant for. I have used an informal and friendly tone to engage the younger audience and avoided using large words. I have also attracted my audience by the use of a plug “COMPLETELY FREE”. Students don’t have much money so by giving the magazine away for free immediately draws readers in.

• Through learning technologies from the process of constructing my magazine, I feel more confident in making my music magazine. I have practiced and got used to Photoshop and I feel confident with producing better quality edits and overall quality of my work.

Deciding genre and target audience.• I decided that the genre of the magazine I am going to produce is

funk/alternative. I feel that there is a gap in the market for this type of music magazine. There are plenty of rock/metal magazines like Rocksound and Kerrang, so I felt I would focus on this niche market. As I was creating a magazine that is quite unusual or unheard of, I will use conventions from other famous music magazines to enable me to reach out to the buyers. If they see some familiarity they won’t be afraid to buy the magazine and may like the thought of discovering different types of music.

• To gain a better understanding of what ideas/styles that my magazine would consist of I created a survey and asked people from ages 16 – 30 (the age group which I am hoping to make the magazine appeal to). By doing this and receiving results, I had a clearer idea in mind.

Initial research.Target Audience Survey• For my initial research, I planned to ask 25 people 12

questions on a survey I made. The questions were answered in a tally so that I could determine what my target audience would prefer.

• I asked people who were between the ages of 16 – 30. I felt that this age group was suitable because my direct competitors (NME and Rocksound) aim for this audience.

• After receiving results from my survey questions I made pie charts so I could clearly see what my audience would prefer. This enabled me to be sure of fonts, colours, mode of address and other conventions were ideal for my magazine.

• I wasn’t sure of what to call my magazine and I had a few ideas – “Rockout/A mojor/Pirate. No one voted for Rockout, 17/25 for A Major and 8/25 for Pirate. It was clear what would attract my audience (as the masthead is the first thing you notice on a magazine) so I called my magazine A Major.

• I had the same problem for the colour scheme I wanted to use. But 15/25 people voted for Grey/white/blue. I haven’t seen a music mag in the market with this colour scheme, so I planned to use this as it is not only preferred by my target audience but it is original too.

Relating to target audience.• With the help of my target audience survey results I was able to have a

clear understanding of what would attract my audience.• My target audience was from ages 16 – 30 who were interested in

rock/alternative/funk music. I will attract the audience by using a friendly, laid back tone yet I will be informative about bands/music. I will do this by using chatty language and my photos will be warm and inviting. I will use an equal ratio of photos to text as I feel too much text will bore the reader and would be too much, but I feel that too little text and a lot of photos will not be beneficial to my readers because they won’t be informed about the music industry in a descriptive way – which defeats the object of making a music magazine.

• Because my target audience ranges from 16 – 30 wanted to avoid my magazine from looking tacky. I wanted a tasteful colour scheme and the structure to be neat and accessible to read. Although the tone will be chatty, I will still use a sophisticated and informative lexis that will appeal to all age groups.

Research.Before I started making my magazine I did some research into well established music

magazine that were in the market. I was hoping to gain a better understanding of what mine should be like as these magazines I research will be my competitors.

I chose to research, study and chose NME and Rocksound as my competitors. I did this because I feel that the age group of the target audience would be the same as mine. Also the style of how the mode of address is, as well as having a fun and friendly tone in the magazines.

NME focuses on new bands and new music in their magazine, which I too will be doing in A Major. Rocksound is more conventional in the way that it features well known rock and indie bands, not so much on new material. Although my magazine will be of a slightly different genre to both, the message being portrayed is the same and the target audience I the same as mine. With the mix of the both, I was able to depict which conventions would be suitable to make my magazine.

Competitors.

Bold red masthead, covered slightly by photograph. Edited feature article photograph. Plugs and puffs at top and bottom, engaging language. Barcode, price, date bottom right. Coverline draws audience in.

Clear green colour scheme – edited backgound. Plugs left and right aligned for neatness. Coverline boldest thing on page, draws audience in. Puff is catchy and addresses audience directly. Barcode, price and date on cover.

Research of price of magazine.• Before deciding the price of what A Major will be, I did some research into the

prices of my competitors’ magazines. • NME: Price - £2.30• Rocksound: Price - £3.99• There is a large gap in price of my two competitors. It is clear that NME is

cheaper and this could be because it’s audience is younger (students) who tend to have less money than adults who are more likely to buy Rocksound.

• Both magazines have a subscription online where if you get every issue you can get a free gift. This is good for marketing and encourages its audience to buy their magazine with bribery.

• I feel that my magazine’s target audience and bulkiness of the magazine is between Rocksound and NME so my price will also be within the range of the two established magazines. I think that my magazine is aimed at a younger audience than Rocksound (16-30) so the students would not be willing to pay as much. My magazine (A Major) gives a free CD with the actual issue you buy anyway, unlike NME. Also with the results I got from my Target Audience Survey, people were willing to pay between “2.50 and £3.50” so long as there was a free gift and promised music interviews/reviews with top bands and new artists. So therefore I think my price is reasonable at £2.70.

Design BriefBefore creating my magazine, I did a rough sketch of what I wanted

my cover to look like. As you can see, it is quite similar to my final product but some changes were made as I learnt more when creating my magazine.

Creating my masthead.• I knew what colour scheme I wanted to use (black, grey, blue) and that the

background would be black. My mast head needed to be bold and stand out from the dark background.

I used grey as it stood out from the black background and I thought it would be less predictable than white. After choosing what font I wanted to use (Bauhaus 93 – which I felt looked bubbly). I thought it looked slightly tacky ( 3rd) so I added an effect on photo shop which I felt enhanced it…

Creating my puff.• I wanted a puff that would promote my magazine and attract the

audience. I originally thought of “The Funkiest of music right here right now!” – which I thought was promoting and did engage the audience but then I thought of something more effective:

Not only will A – Major will mean a musical chord on it’s own (which immediately informs the audience that my music magazine will be very musically orientated) but by having the puff as this it will read the sentence “A major music magazine that you cannot miss!” With the puff being underneath the masthead (unlike my competitor’s) and the use of ellipsis, it’s clear to the readers what the message is I am trying to portray. Plus the use of an explanation mark makes it informal and enthusiastic, again, attracting the audience.

Photography.• For my magazine production I had to use all original photos taken by me. I took

various images around the school, using ideas and conventions from NME and Rocksound. I felt that my photos had improved from the ones I did for my student magazine – they have more purpose and I thought about the connotations more so.

I noticed that many music

magazines had photos of bands.

Usually midshot/long

shot, posed. For my image (right) I wanted them to

be serious as they take their

band seriously. I had the singers at the front to

portray importance. This

was for my student

magazine.

Photography. 2After practicing taking photos for my student magazine, I was able to get

better pictures for my final music magazine.

I have noticed a radical change in the quality of my photos from student magazine and mucic magazine. I have thought more about the purpose, layout, background and positioning.

The background of (Left) is too busy, so for (right) I had a plain black curtain. In (left) I haven’t thought about the positioning very but in (right) I have ensured that nothing is cropped and the feet, shoulders and arms are all visible. I also thought more about how the band was standing and their facial expressions

Serious but not sinister facial expressions so it shows they are serious about music, but don’t put audience off – still friendly

Photography. 3• I changed all of my photos to black and white with a blue tint on

photoshop. I felt that this made the photos look more tasteful and the blue tint went with my colour scheme.

The original denotes the lead singer of “Ambient Funk” listening to a radio. The connotation is that she enjoys listening to music. I edited on photoshop by removing the colour cast and then cut around the top of the image and left part of the black background. I saw this used on a contents page in NME so I used it for mine.

Following conventions. • I took inspiration from the two magazines I researched on: NME and

Rocksound. I have used different elements and conventions from these two well established magazines and incorporated them into mine because I feel we have similar target audience. By doing this, I can ensure I am attracting the right audience as I know what they are used to and what draws them in.

• I chose to base my magazine more around NME in terms of style, as NME has a more varied music genre than that of Rocksound. But I used the chatty and direct mode of address that Rocksound use to engage with the audience. For instance, my

double page spread has text, photos and a separate section of additional information. Like NME I have presented my page in columns and clearly shown the separate sections by the use of a bold backgrounds. NME use an orange colour scheme throughout their magazine, I use red. The consistency makes the audience recognise what they’re reading.

Following conventions. 2I used Rocksound’s layout when it came to plugs on the front cover. All of their plugs

were either left aligned, centred or right aligned. This made a clear structure and made the overall layout of the page neat and tidy – easy for audience.

Rocksound: A Major:I also used the style of making the main bit of the plug a different colour. E.g. RS used green then white and used white then red.

Front Cover.•Bold masthead, stands out from background•Puff next to masthead, catchy phrase promoting magazine•Different shapes for plus (circles), shape that stands out from rest of the page•Right aligned and left aligned plugs with some images•Feature article photograph (headshot) connoting that singer is shocked by fame. Tinted blue to go with colour scheme. Slightly covers puff, as done in Rocksound.•Centred coverline – band name largest thing on cover – stands out. •Words like “plus” and “exclusive” angages audience – as done in NME.•Barcode, date and price – essential information for audience.•My magazine website bottom of page for further contacting, stands out from white on the shirt of photograph.

Contents.•Bold red header immediately informing audience of page•Same masthead as on front cover•Date of issue of magazine (as seen in NME and Rocksound)•“Inside this month” (as seen in NME and RS)•“On the cover” “Interviews/reviews” and “features” sections structured in a neat right aligned column (common convention used)•Main story largest on page and edited (as seen in NME and most music mags)•Page numbers on all photos aswell as contents.•Main topic of page, followed by small description•Smaller images scattered on page•“PLUS...” draws audience in and suggests there is more than expected in the magazine – therefore more for your money•Overall structure – clear separate sections of contents, allows audience to clearly find out what is where in the magazine.

Double page spread. •“INTERVIEW” – type of article. In blue to support front cover colour scheme. (as seen in NME)•Clear separate sections – e.g album section with red background, stands out from rest of page. •Album section includes famous peoples’ opinions, top names and other publishers give their say allowing reader to have an unbiased view.•Speech bubble from Khanyisa – connotes that she is talking directly to reader, makes them feel involved.•“Ambient funk” written as the same as cover – same style whole way through mag.•Black strips with page number and website for magazine (as seen in NME and Rocksound)

•Heading followed with small description of article (as seen in NME)•Pull out quote from interview – encourages reader to read more (commonly used convention)•Questions in red, answers in black. Clear.•Interview allows reader to feel like they are involved with the band and actually talking to them.

Comparing front cover.• Comparing my student magazine to my music magazine

After practicing making my student magazine I learnt how to use photoshop better and gained a better understanding of what conventions to use for my magazine as I had done more research. I saw a clear improvement from what my first student magazine was like and my final product of my music magazine.

The hand covering the masthead is cropped messily and badly. The plugs are only on one side of the cover, and go across the person in the feature article photograph. There is not much of a set colour scheme or style. The coverline is too small, it should be the largest thing on the page. I haven’t put the date on the magazine. I haven’t thought about the background of the photograph. My music magazine has a better masthead – looks more professional. The plugs are neatly aligned on the left and on the right of the cover. The feature article photograph I have thought about more (the connotations and background is better). I have used better lexis e.g. “plus!” and “featuring...”. I have used different shapes to make the “FREE CD” and “Best selling music mag” stand out from the rest of the page. I have made sure the coverline is the largest thing on the page. The overall style and quality of my music mag is better than my student one because of practice

Comparing Contents. The heading is “WDF” instead of “Contents”. There is no date given. The content is just in one list, not put in sections which looks unprofessional and hard for the reader to read. The pictures are separate from the text when it is more effective when it is mixed up. The photos don’t have page numbers on them either. The background is too busy – looks tacky.The overall style is more clear on my music mag one. The colour scheme goes with the front cover. Sections are clearly portrayed by the use of headings and boxes. Page numbers are used on all images. The main story in the mag is the largest photo on the contents page which draws the attention of the readers straight to it.

Using photoshop.• I have used photoshop to produce my own original magazine. I have come

along way and discovered and got used to all the elements in photoshop. From editing the contrast and brightness of photos, to adding effects to text. The main thing I have been doing is learning how to present my magazine, by using the rulers on photoshop, I have been able to measure the width and length of pages. This also helps to ensure that everything is centred and neatly sectioned. For example the double page spread needed to be exactly in half as it would be two separate pages and in half when made into a magazine. I have learnt how to use the lasoo tool to select parts of images, which helps with cropping. When creating my student magazine, the cropping was done messily. But now, after practice, I have been able to crop neater with the use of the eraser tool and magnetic tool. I have also been able to edit all of my photos and text on photoshop. I have added effects such as shadowing to texts and images to create a 3D effect (which I have seen in NME). And also to add blue tints to the pictures, which helps to go with my blue and red colour scheme in A Major. I also learnt how to make things transparent such as the box on my contents page, which adds some interesting style to the page and allows the reader to see through to the rest of the photo.

• Photoshop has been a great program to make my magazine because it had everything I needed to produce it. I feel that if I spent even more time on it, I would discover new effects and new ways of doing things, but I do feel I have improves vastly since the first time using photoshop.

Magazine publishing. • I think that A Major should be published by IPC media (The publisher of my

competitor magazine NME is IPC media.). I feel that my magazine would fit the criteria of the publishing company as my magazine has a similar target audience (age wise and similar music genres) and follow the same conventions as NME. The price is also very similar – A Major - £2.70 and NME - £2.30.

• I feel that my magazine has more to offer than NME in terms of free gifts and exclusive interviews and a wider variety of music genres. So I feel that A Major will be suitable for IPS media to publish.

Evaluating. I am pleased with how my final magazine looks. I have come a long way since my

student magazine (which was extremely amateur) due to further research into established magazines and practice on photoshop. I can notice a vast different between the two and now have a better understanding of conventions of a music magazine and how to design and produce one.

I am pleased with how it has all come together. To improve, I would have taken more time on the photos I took for A Major. I felt they were an improvement from the ones I took for the student magazine, but I think I should have thought about the connotations more. Also would have changed the clothing that “my band” were wearing. I am happy with my front cover, but I think the contents could do with more work. I feel that it needs more pull out quotes and a slightly different oreder than what I have done. The double page spread I am happy with. The first page I like, but I think the second page doesn’t resemble a double page spread well. It looks a bit scattered and I feel that if I went back to it I could make it link and flow together more with the previous page.

Overall, I am content with my final product. I feel that I have found my own style and fashion for my magazine and I think that the target audience would be attracted to and enjoy reading A Major. There are improvements I would like to make, but that is always the case for anything.

Target audience feedback.After completing my magazine, I asked for some audience feedback. I asked people who fitted into my target audience range (16-30s – males and females) and for their opinion on my front cover, contents, double page spread and the overall quality of A Major.

Person 1 – male, 16. The composition of each factor on the magazine provide a stylish and outgoing tone but at the same time present a friendly and informal mode of address. If seen in a supermarket I would be interested to find out what the magazine’s about.

Person 2 – female, 19. When I looked at the cover, contents and article I thought it looked professional. If I saw this on the shelf, I wouldn’t doubt that it is a famous music magazine!

Person 3 – male, 17. The overall tone is good but I think it needs a larger variety of photos. All of t he photos look too similar and could be found boring. However, the text is friendly and uplifting which makes up for this.

Person 4 – male, 28. I find the colour scheme and fonts compliment each other well and also the blue of the photos. The style is consistent the whole way through. I think there needs to be more of a consistency on the double page spread as it looks too separated. Other than that I would purchase this magazine (maybe lower the price slightly).

Evaluation and Analysing feedback.

• I am pleased with the feedback from people who fit into the target audience. Overall, the feedback is positive and it seems my target audience would buy A Major if they saw it in a shop – this, I feel, is a clear sign that I have made my magazine well and is a direct competitor of NME and Rocksound.

• For improvements, I would take what people said about there being too little photos. I agree that I didn’t spend enough time on the photography for my magazine. But once edited on photoshop, the images looked more impressive and interesting.

• I would also spend more time on the double page spread (I spent too long on the front cover) so therefore if I were to do it again I would manage my time better.

• I am glad I used the colour scheme I did. I feel it is different to the current music magazines that are out now, which attracts a wider range of audience as they spot something different. I feel that the black, blues, reds and greys create a tasteful style of my magazine, which I have learnt from the feedback I’ve had.

• If I were to go back, I would make my double page spread more conventional. I feel that it feels like both pages are separate whereas it should be a flowing image from one page to another. I would have done this by either continuing the interview onto the following page or just used one large image on a page to cover the entire page.

• I am pleased with my end result and can confidently say that I have come a long way since making my student magazine.