EVALUATIONCameron Tubb

Conventions In this essay I’m going to evaluate how I performed in media and how I came to my

final magazine. To follow conventions is to follow a certain genre of magazines looks and what

specific things they use which separates them from other magazines. So what I wanted to do was to try and follow these conventions so my magazine had the best chance of working and looking professional. This is so I can challenge other magazines out there, which is the same genre as mine (Dubstep) but to try and change it so it looks different but so it surprises the audience making it intriguing and interesting.

The sort of things I took into account from a music magazines conventions was the big headline which can be seen on any magazine. This is to introduce something and to catch you eye straight away. Also a main image is used on most magazines to draw you in and to show you what the main story is.

I got my idea to list content down the side from this Dubstep magazine

As you can see in all of these magazine I got the idea to have a big bold name and font to back it up but also to place my image a tiny but infront of the name. When I first did my title it didn’t look professional enough so I went back to my research and redesigned my name font and also the whole magazine as I didn’t feel it was representing my genre in a good light or professional light.

Big strong font for magazine name.

From majority of these magazine I also got the idea to have a bold plug in the middle of the page to gain my audiences attention.

For my double page spread I had loads of inspiration from a variety of magazines such as Q,NME and Kerrang etc. They all had massive impacts on what my double page spread looks like. I took many things from the magazines such as the idea to have half the page and image I saw this on majority of the magazine I saw so I followed these conventions as placed a picture on the right hand side of the page. I also took writing my content in strips going down the page separated with paragraphs. This makes it look professional and easy to read as you eyes follow it down the page. Finally I added a title to the page to gets people attention so they can get a brief description of what I will be talking about. I got this idea from a NME magazine.

For the contents page I got inspiration for the layout of my pictures from this magazine as there is one main image and a couple below I only used 1 picture below my main image as I needed more room for contents. I also placed and image in the corner of my magazine below the contents title as it brought colour to this area and made it look much more professional.

I got the idea for having my contents down the left hand side from Q as it look very clear and professional and I thought it would fit with the conventions of my genre of magazine. I then got where to position my Contents title from Q and NME and many other magazines as they all seem to have them in the top left corner.

Representation The sort of magazines I usually buy are very much like the one I created , colourful

vibrant and something which is a bit different. The typical age group to go for the magazine I have created is usually teenage years heading into early twenty’s with the odd older generation getting a taste.

The genre of music I have chosen is mainly Dubstep and a slight introduction of Dance/electro this was because it’s the fastest growing genre of music with artists such as Skrillex, Nero and Modestep getting more airtime than ever before on mainstream radio. The magazine is aimed at both male and female and any race as this is a genre of music which brings people together in clubs and differentiates them from everyone else, as Dubstep is not a mainstream genre unlike R&B/HipHop.

I feel its for both sexes as the genre of music is very appealing to both unlike 1D for example which is aimed at female audiences as they are an all male group but Dubstep is for both sexes. The information and written work in my magazine is easy for all ages to read and understand as it explains in full detail, this is so people who might be getting into the new genre will understand.

The age range I’m looking at is 14 to 25 as most people have been brought up in their own era of music listening to their own style of music and unlikely to change, but I chosen 25 as these people are still young and open to new sounds as the 90’s was the beginning of hard-core electronic music.

I also believe that the colours I have used are very appealing to the age group I have chosen as they are bold and very eye catching, the colours also stay in your mind for example Mcdonald’s you can remember as being yellow and red. I felt using the colours orange,black,white and green where great colours as they fit perfectly with the genre of magazine I have chosen, as they are vibrant and contrast each other making them stand out ,this could also link in to what genre of magazine I have chosen as Dubstep stands out from other genres.

The photos I have chosen are very much of what Dubstep artists look like performing, as most of them are standing behind a mixing desk playing the music they have created. This doesn’t leave much time to move around stage. This is the reason I chose the pictures I did.

I believe the stories which I chose were excellent as it gave insight on the artist and what he is like as an individual. But also because I need a good stories to make people to buy my magazine this means the stories need to be interesting and have a sense of purpose, for example gaining knowledge of what the artist is like. I made it very clear on my magazine so it was readable for everyone as the story is on the right hand side in clear rows. There is plenty of information about the artist and it fills up all of the space. I filled it with a lot information because people nowadays like knowing all the of the information. Overall I think I have represented my social group in a very positive way and can be clearly distinguished.

Institution There are many different institutions which could publish my magazine but some are

more likely than others due the genre of magazine they normally aim for. An example of some institutions could just sell music magazines and some lifestyle magazines. The 2 places which would be likely to publish my magazine WUB would be Bauer media and ICP.

Bauer media is a massive media company which has under its belt some of the greatest magazines out for example Grazia,Closer,FHM,Kerrang and 4Music. They are Europe's largest privately owned publishing group and have over 300 magazines in 15 countries as well as online, TV and radio stations.

There are multi-platforms media based groups with magazines and radios. Their objective is to connect audiences with excellent content through both multi touch brand platforms, whenever and however they want. They also span over 80 influential brands.

This would be a perfect company to publish my magazine as they are very interested to create connections with many different types of audience s and a Dubstep magazine would do just that expanding their music genre magazines introducing new opportunities.

My second media publisher is ICP media they have more than 60 iconic media brands they also create content for multiplatform across print,online,mobile,tablet and events. They are the UKs leading consumer magazine publisher they engage with 26million UK adults almost two thirds of UK women and 43% of UK men. They reach over 25million users each month. The sorts of magazines they publish are mainly lifestyles but they do publish the NME magazine which is possibly the UK’s biggest music magazine they also do world soccer and What Digital Camera.

This would also be a great publisher as they have many connections all over the UK and are very proud of what they have achieved I think my magazine would be a great investment for them as its one of the fastest growing genres of music and if they take this into consideration they could jump on that fact and make some money.

Overall I think that Bauer media would be the best publisher for magazine as they know more on how to advertise to the music market when it comes to music magazines. They would also be able to advertise to a niche market and advertise all over many countries as they are spread over 15 different countries.

Audience When doing my research I used many different types of magazines for inspiration.

These where NME,Kerrang and Q.These are the sort of magazines which are aimed at a mass audience as they aim towards the mainstream genres of music. Looking at these magazines I could easily tell which genre of music it was portraying and aimed towards. I could tell this by just looking at the colours and the way they are laid out and what pictures have been used.

From my research I wanted to make sure that when looking at my magazine you could tell what genre it was aimed at. This is by looking at the layout of the pictures colours and structure. Looking at the colours and decisions I chose I think I managed to do this as the name of my magazine also makes it very clear to see what genre of music it is aimed at.

Overall looking at what I have done and the genre of music I chose it is definitely aimed at a niche market although Dubstep is growing rapidly its still not as big as other genres such as HipHop .

Looking at the other magazines I was able to get an understanding of what was needed to attract and address my audience in the best way possible.

Things such as the magazine name attracts the customer as it gives them an indication of what the magazine I like and what genre it is aimed at. My magazine is called WUB straight away I can tell this is a Dubstep magazine as this is the sound (stereotyped sound) which is used in that genre of music and heard in most Dubstep songs. The colour I chose was white this was so it stood out from the green background this gets the customers attention straight away.

Makin the main image cover the whole front page also attracts your audience as you can tell what the artist looks like straight away without have to pick up the magazine. Also adding a photo story or a headline gives the image some information to intrigue the buyer so they will buy it and read on. The main image I chose was a male dressed in ordinary clothes this was so people could relate to him and he wasn't seen as some extravagant artist.

I think that I have addressed the audience extremely well as on my double page spread I have shown them some answers from an interview as well as some background information on the artist. This was so they could get to know the artist and see what he is like. I think all the processes I have done have influenced how well I have addressed the audience from the photos I have chosen and what articles I have decided to put in the magazine. This is because I feel the contents I have chose is highly interesting and gives them information about gigs,reviews,headlines and the latest gossip.I also think the way I have placed all my content on one side of the double page spread allows it to look clear and proffesional.

Extremely easy to read. It also catches your eyes as it draws you into the information. Overall I think I have addressed and attracted the audience to the best of my ability by using the correct colours and images to attract people to the genre of music I have chosen.

Use of technologyI think from this project I have learnt a lot about many different software's ,this will help me in future projects.first thing I have managed to get to grips with more was macromedia fireworks, things I have managed to become better at are things such as using different tools like the magic wand tool which can get rid of areas of a picture without having to do it all by hand. For example in my work I had to delete some parts of my photos so they couldn’t be seen. At first I struggled with this but after a while practicing I was able to delete the background without deleting the parts I wanted.

Things such as lighting I also took into account. I researched many different magazines from NME, Grazia and Vogue to pick up different techniques to use in my magazine. I managed to get my main idea of NME with my main image of someone doing a pose staring into the camera. I took this at a slightly lower angle to make it look like you are looking up at them to give him a sense of dominance. The lighting I used was there to light him up to make it look like he had a spot light was on him.Websites I used in my projects were slide share and blogger. These were used to get my work onto the internet so all my work could be stored in one place. Slideshare allowed me to transfer my power points on to the internet. At first on blogger it was difficult to get to grips with the layout as I am so used to social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. But after a while I got to grips with it and I was able to navigate and upload information with ease.

Looking back on my preliminary task I feel that I have improved dramatically and learnt many things through the process. Things I didn’t learn much about was technology this is because I have already used the programs before, I just managed to become more skilled than I was before.There are many things I have learnt in making my actual magazine, I have learnt that everything needs to be planned to enable you to get the best possible magazine. To do this I made many power points filled with different types of fonts , colours, layouts and images. I got a variety of each type so I was able to pick the best one possible for my genre of magazine. To get the best layout I made different layouts I then looked at some magazines in my genre to see which one matched the most I then chose which layout was the best.

I also did this with fonts, I had a variety of different fonts I then looked at other magazines and picked which ones looked the most suitable for my magazine. I chose my house style at the start using the colours which showed up most on Dubstep magazines. I found that I have learnt a lot from all these as I feel I am now able to take these tips into future projects.I've also learnt a lot about how to aim and attract my target market by using these correct methods by choosing the right colours,images,layout,fonts and story lines to attract the audience into reading my magazine.Overall I think I have personally gained a lot of knowledge from making the magazine and have also created a fairly good magazine as I have managed to create a magazine which follows all genre conventions and has the correct colours, fonts and images.