How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For my magazine, my target audience was those who are aged between 16 to 19 years old and of both genders. I wanted to target those who are known to be individual

and not conforming to a particular stereotype; being known for standing as independent and not conforming to the majority. So, these were these are the members of the kind of social groups that I wanted to represent to make the

magazine more relatable.

The social group:

I used models that were around 16 years old and dressed them in clothes that were not necessarily out of the ordinary compared to what my audience would be seen in. With

regards to the front cover, my model was not dressed overly formal, so that she is not seen to be pretentious but, on the other hand, she is not seen to be under dressed. This creates a level of maturity as wearing a dress connotes that she is wanting to take pride in her look as they are at an age where developing an identity is as important as music. This also links to her wearing make up and being in floral print which creates a sense of femininity and she

has some flesh exposed which is slightly enticing the audience to pick up this magazine. However, I did not want to exaggerate this image and so she is in a neutral pose without

trying to be promiscuous in any way.

Clothing and Gender

When producing my magazine, I did not want to create set gender roles. I wanted it to be more about expressing themselves through their music taste, rather than whether they are male or female.

Also, I did not want to suggest that men are to be the more powerful gender. To deviate from this, I used more female models, including the star for my front cover, so that males would not be

associated with being the more dominant gender which links to a more emergent ideology. This was the same approach with the second part of the double page spread where the girl’s name is

mentioned first “Bonnie” to suggest that women can be just as successful and well known as men. Also, on the front cover she is looking away from the camera which shows independence, as if

she doesn’t need to be told what to do. Like in the double page spread, a main part of the magazine, I wanted to make a relatively equal by having a duet with one male and one female.

There is a keen sense of equality due to neither being overly sexualised in what they wear. They are both wearing shirts, with the buttons done up to the top and they are both wearing trousers which fails to show either being overly masculine or feminine; a more emergent ideology. With

regards to their facial expressions, it is to show their maturity, as they are not overly happy with a cheesy smile, but their vague faces prevent them from looking at all raunchy or provocative.

Clothing and Gender

Title The title used is “Sixty60” to represent a decade that is influential to the social group. It

is what determined this kind of genre of music and has also help to determine their sort of fashion sense. The font style and the effects that I used on the title, also help to implement the particular ethos that they are known to follow. The sans serif font “Bauhaus 93” is slightly retro and is not pompous or overly complex. It links to the

fact that they are the kind of people who just act naturally and are not set on becoming something that they clearly aren’t. The effect used on the title made the

title look grainy which can be associated with things that are old looking and vintage. It shows that they are not focused on looking pristine all the time; which

also associates with the dominant ideology of this age range.

ColoursThe colours used throughout the magazine are not very bright or variant.

The selection it kept to black, white and a off shade of red. This links to the specific age group that I wanted to represent. Children are more likely to be attracted to bright colours that are in your face,

where as teenagers/young adults are more likely to see this unappealing and so it was something that I wanted to avoid. Keeping the colour choice quite subtle also demonstrates a sense of maturity; something that this kind of social group would have encountered by

now.

Layout Like the choice of colours, I have also kept the layout quite simple. It has allowed me to strip down to the very basics in order to create a greater impact; something that could be associated with this social group. Once again, it shows

them to not to cover themselves with unnecessary things to make them to be something that they aren’t.