MUSIC MAGAZINE EVALUATION

Hannah Patrick

In what ways does your

media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media

products?

FRONT COVER

I noticed during some magazine research that the font size of lead headlines is often large and bold, this is to grab the audiences eyes to the main aspect of the magazine. I used this idea in my magazine as it then easily indicates which topic my magazine will be based around.

This is the lead headline on the

front cover of my music

magazine. I used a bold font,

all in capitals and the colour

Purple to fit in with my house

style.

Real media

product lead

headline.

During my research I noticed typically pop magazines tend to have flash boxes, just as the one below, I decided to use this idea just as shown on the bottom left of my magazine. Flash boxes are used to advertise something that could be included in the magazine, for example, free gifts or big lines. I chose to advertise a free poster of a well known pop magazine.

Real media product flash box.

This is my flash box, I

decided to advertise a

free poster inside as

‘freebies’ always attract

more buyers.

Bar codes are common in every single type of

magazine, this is a main convention as it includes

the price of the magazine. I used this important

convention in the bottom right of my pop magazine.

A typical pop magazine will have a bold, bright masthead

to it stands out to the audience, the colours usually used

are Pink, baby Blue and Yellow. I decided to stick by this

as it's a bit 'cheesy' which is what you would expect from

pop magazines.. It gives the impression the magazine is

fun. At the bottom is a few examples of real media

products.

Music magazines tend to have a lead image, this is

usually mid shot. This is a form I have used in my music

magazine. Below is an example of a real media product.

Poptasty front cover.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

For my double page spread I didn’t know where to

start, so I done a lot of research for this before

drawing out my flat plan and going to make it on

Photoshop. I looked at a few different layouts, but

one I often came across with pop magazines was a

main image on one side of the magazine and the

interview on the second page. This works really

well and effectively as it separates the pages, but it

also brings the over all double page together nicely.

There isn’t too much text that it looks off putting as

the image breaks it up a bit.

Real media product double

page spreads.

My Double page

spread.

The majority of double page spreads in any type of

music magazine tends to have a drop cap, this is a

really good idea which I used on my double page

spread, as it brings the audiences eyes to the story

instantly.

Real media product

double page spread

My Double page spread drop

caps.

Another thing from real media double page spreads

I noticed and developed my for music magazine

was the use of pull quotes, this is an introductory

line at the start of the interview. I have developed

mine from the examples on the next slide by

changing the topic to suit my interview and the

interviewer.

Real media product double

page spreads pull quote.

My media product

double page spreads pull

quote.

A form I have chosen to develop was to change the

colour of the text between the interviewer and the

interviewee, this is so the audience can precisely

see who is asking the question, and who is

answering. If not the magazine wouldn’t be

organised at all and the readers would be confused

so the idea of this is to make the magazine much

easier to read and so it ‘flows’ more.

My media product.

Real media product.

CHALLENGED CONVENTION

A convention I have challenged on my double page

spread would be the use of images I attactched at

the bottom right of my magazine. This isn’t a typical

convention you would expect to see in a magazine,

usually it would just be to attach another image in

the centre of an interview.

Real media typical use of

images on double page

spreads.

My use of images

on a double page

spread.

CONTENTS PAGE

A convention I chose to develop in my music

magazine was a subscription, I think this is a huge

part of the magazine and is very important; most

magazines have a subscription somewhere within

the magazine, it is usually on the front cover or

towards the end, however I decided to include it on

my contents page as readers will always be on this

page at some point.

My subscription box on my contents

page

Real media product

subscription box

CHALLENGED CONVENTION

A convention I decided to challenge was to title my

features and regulars, although magazines will

have regulars and features within the contents page

I noticed during my research it is unlikely that they

will be subtitled.

My challenged media

convention

Real media product contents against

what I decided to challenge

How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

WHAT SOCIAL GROUP WAS I LOOKING TO

TARGET?

From the survey I done before making my

magazine I learnt that the majority of my audience

listened to R&B, Dance and Pop, therefore I

decided to target the R&B, Dance and Pop market.

I also thought this would be a good idea, and my

magazine would have a greater outcome as I

myself read these types of magazines, therefore I

can relate to them and know what they are about

and typically look like.

Above is a screenshot of my survey to back my previous point , I have

highlighted the key parts.

HOW HAVE I CHOSEN TO PRESENT THIS SOCIAL

GROUP ON MY FRONT COVER, DOUBLE PAGE

SPREAD AND CONTENTS PAGE?

The social group I was aiming to represent my

magazine was a stereotypical young, girly, crazy

teenage girl. My magazine represents teenage girls

as fun, young and carefree. You can see this from

my front cover as the model I have used isn’t

pulling a serious face, she looks crazy and like she

is having fun, also, the colours my model is wearing

portrays female and girly as it is a very bright Pink

which stands out.

My contents page also represents the social group

of teenage girls as I used very girly colours, such as

Pinks and Purples. These are traditional colours

associated with young teenage girls, so seeing

these all over the page will automatically portray to

the audience that it is a girly, fun magazine. Also,

the other image of the male model reflects this as it

is a young, good looking teenage boy who females

would be attracted too.

My double page spread finishes the magazine off, it

is hard to represent a social group here as the page

is always going to be based around one interview

and one story, however my double page spread still

continues to represent my social group through

again, the girly colours I have used and the general

pose of the model as its very playful and girly and

this presents the nature that the readers would like

to look up too.

Who would be the audience for your media

product?

The audience for my media product would be

teenage girls, aged between 11-16. You can tell this

from the over all design from my magazine and the

colours and images I have used. The house style of

my magazine is typically Pink font and a girly, fun

style. This is linked to young teenage girls as it’s the

colours they wear. 71% of people from my survey

believed my magazine was a pop one before

knowing, this is good as that was the initial aim I

was hoping for.

How did you attract/address your

audience?

FRONT COVER

A front cover is one of the most important features when

constructing a magazine, so it is important to make this

stylish and attractive as if this works, it will be more likely

that the product will bring in more buyers. Keeping this in

mind, when it came to constructing my own front cover I

chose to have a mid shot image of my model for the lead

image, keeping eye contact with the readers as this

would attract the audience as it makes the image much

more personal. The masthead of my magazine is also an

important aspect as it will be continuous on each issue.

Another convention I decided to use was a flash

box, I put this towards the bottom of my magazine.

This will attract readers instantly as it is giving away

a ‘free poster’ and persuade them to purchase my

magazine.

I used the effect of glow on various texts on my

front cover, this makes it much more noticeable and

interesting.

CONTENTS PAGE

I have addressed my audience in my contents page

by the glittery subscription box, glitter is a typical

girly thing therefore this is why I decided to add this

when constructing my magazines contents page.

I also attached a new kind of image, a model which

hasn’t yet been seen within my magazine. I chose a

male teenage model, this is because young

teenage girls are always looking up to new ‘lads’

that come in, for example, Justin Bieber and JLS.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

The pull quote I used on my double page spread

are in a girly, italic font and larger than the rest of

the fonts on the page. This makes it stand out and

therefore draws attention to the readers.

EVIDENCE I HAVE ATTRACTED/ADDRESSED

THE AUDIENCE

What type of media institution would distribute your

product and why?

WHY?

We love pop may distribute my media product as the product is similar to

mine, however not exactly the same, they relate in the way that the

headlines have elements of fashion and gossip, however my media

magazine shows different aspects as they also have elements that will

attract more than just pop fans therefore this could create more

purchases.

What have you learnt about technologies from the

process of constructing this product?

Uploading my work while constructing my

work has been useful as it has helped me

be a lot more organised, also, I learnt

blogger is a professional way to present

work.

I used survey monkey to send

questionnaires to people about my

music magazine, this helped me learn

what sort of things I was doing right and

what I should change on my magazine.

I had no experience in using Survey

Monkey but I have now learnt to present

a professional looking survey.

Photoshop was the programme I used the most throughout

the task. I had never used or had any experience with this

software before so I didn’t know anything, however I learnt

so many new skills, some basic ones to start with for

example, how to insert an image and new frames then my

skills slowly developed to things such as learning how to

rasterize layers, colour range and add effects on to fonts

and images.

I also learnt some skills which helped my magazine double page spread

have a better outcome, I used the grid method so I could clearly see

where my double page spread would fold over.

I learnt that social networking sites such as Face book hold

a lot of power, without Face book I wouldn’t have been able

to collect any audience research and collect answers from

my surveys.

I hadn’t ever heard or been introduced to slideshare

before starting this project. I learnt it is a professional

way to present powerpoints and that it is also easy to

access online.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you

learnt in the progression from it to the full project?

My front cover for my music magazine is much more professional looking

compared to my college magazine, for example my college magazine has

a lot of White space which makes it seem boring and not very appealing to

the audience, whereas the background of my music magazine has lots of

colours going in it but no White which brightens this up. I inserted more

advertisement to my music magazine such as the banner which increases

its style and makes it more appealing. This is an superb example to show

my skills have developed during this task.

My contents page too shows that my skills have increased rapidly, I didn’t

fill the whole of the page within my college magazines contents which

makes it look very plain, my contents page on my music magazine is much

more filled which seems as though there is more interesting things going

on.