Q 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Ans. Masthead: The title of my magazine is on the top left of the cover. The font size is the largest because it has to be eye catching and attractive on the title I have also used the logo which describes my masthead.

Main image: The main image is covering left side of the page and the theme is red and black. It is a mid-close up shot. I have use this image because It represents the inside story of the magazine.

Small image: Small image shows variety of conventions on the cover. The small image is mid close up. It shows who is mentioned in the side stories.

Side stories: The side stories are covering right side of the magazine cover I have placed the story on the corner so the magazine cover doesn’t look empty and also every magazine should have side stories to describe what is inside the magazine.

Barcode: I have placed the barcode on the left bottom of the page. It helped me fill the empty of my magazine and the main reason I have placed the barcode is that mostly magazines have barcodes for the identity of the magazine.

Title: The title of the contents is on the top and is clearly visible. I wanted to give a black and white theme to the page so I wrote the title in white in a black bar.

Image: I have placed only one image which is the main image which is related to a featured article.

Contents: Contents are written in the same conventional way first line–page number, 1 or 2 words which could be the artist’s name or ambiguous text to intrigue the reader in bold type and often capitals.

In the bottom I have mentioned the page number.

Masthead: The masthead is in the middle of the double spread page. I have used different attractive colors which match the main image of the page. I followed the usual convention by making it the largest text on the page.

Article: I used one full page of the magazine for my article. I didn’t use the common convention of columns I have used something different. It is interview of the subject so it is better this way than the columns.

Image: I have included this image because it is attractive and the costume and style tells that the subject is a rapper. I have used the medium shot because it’s a usual conventions found on double spreads. In addition the blue and purple matched my magazine house style.

Page numbers: I have also used page numbers in my double spread because they look professional and consist with contents numbers.

Q 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Ans. The social groups that are represented in my media product are in the 16 - 22 year old range because the majority of male readers which is based against females, to solve this I used a variety of images which resemble the 16 – 22 year old age group but in a way which appeals to both genders. The 16-22 year old category are usually “heavy spenders” e.g. buy the latest gadgets such as iPods, concert tickets and designer clothes. They use social networking sites such as twitter, Facebook and my space, they are more interactive and use their spare time in surfing the web, are normally involved in pop music. I believe it effectively reflects my target audience, which are 16 to 24 year old males and females. Background – my background is of a shutter of a shop of a typical Lahore street. I believe that the background helps to represent the social group of 16 – 22 year olds, as it is where the youngsters usually spend their time or “hang – out and chill”. So I believe that this will appeal to them as is resembles their lifestyles, their habits also who and where the usually spend their spare time.

Q 3. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Ans. I believe that audience for my music magazine will be the social group of 16 – 24 year old these are the older teenagers who are turning into young mature adults who are trying to build their confidence and become independent individuals. I believe that my magazine helps to aspire young artist to follow their dreams and helps others to get motivated by reading other young artist’s success stories and leading them on to become hard working , and a completely individual and different persona . My target audiences of 16- 24 age group as these are usually people who spend their money on items, like music magazines. To learn more about the reader of the magazine I produced a questionnaire and readership questions which helped me create the magazine for the developing world of 16 – 24 year olds. The questionnaire was given completed by both male and female consumers and music magazine consumers. This gave me an insight into what was needed in my magazine to attract that specific audience. In the questionnaire I asked open questions like Which artists/bands do you prefer? in response to this question many people chose “JLS” and “Justin Bieber” who are new comer artist and are around the similar age group, people also said that they related to them as they were experiencing the same teenage difficulties as any other teenager and so it was a good bonding between the artist and the reader. Who may never even meet in real life it was just the connection which inspires young teenager to become a celebrity one day.

Q 4. How did I attract my audience?

Ans. I believe I have attracted my audience though many ways firstly by using pictures, These pictures which I had used had a certain impact of what genre my music magazine is about and who is it about just by looking at the main image. I believe it reflected the true personality and lifestyle of the reader and what being a 16 – 24 year old is about. The use of pugs for free items, also attract my audience of 16-24 year olds because it offer an opportunity to gain something for free. In order to attract my target demographic, I felt that the design is the one of the most important part in attracting the audience. Magazine design was not the usual column layout and boring writing with limited images. I tried to enhanced my readers and create a different simplistic view of what an actual real music magazine should look like in order to do this, I researched many similar magazines such as Vibe and Chaser so instead of the normal columns layout I used one full page of the magazine to write the interview of the subject. I did this to attract the audience to the magazine making them feel part of this universe of celebrities making them aspire to be like the celebrities characterized in my magazine .I used the relevance of the magazine to catch the attention of the targeted audience. I used the language and lifestyle to address the audience. Using them to attract the audience into buying the magazine.

Q 5. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Ans. I think that IPC would be the most appropriate media institution to distribute my media product. Although they focus more on the women's weekly magazines like Bauer, they have been selling a very successful indie magazine since 1952 called NME. Whereas Bauer have only been publishing Q magazine since 1986. This shows that IPC have more experience dealing with iconic magazines and making them as good as they are. And as of yet IPC don’t have a pop genre of magazine, and having mine on board will add variety to their current market.

Q 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Ans. Firstly I was taught how to use a professional camera and I have used a professional camera to take the pictures which would be included in my magazine. I used two types of software to create my music magazine. For the front cover I used Adobe Photoshop and for the contents page and double page spread I used Adobe InDesign. The camera gave me the raw pictures. If I wanted to edit my photos as any point that was all done in Adobe Photoshop because I could do things such as cut-outs and make them brighter. Then in Adobe InDesign was where I pieced everything together.

Q 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full production?

Ans. Since creating my music magazine I have gained more knowledge for using the different software’s. For Example I have learned how to edit my magazine effectively without over editing them. Also I have gained more knowledge about using blogger which has given me confidence to add more posts to my account. I have also learned how to make my magazine fit with regular conventions and also learned how to use new software’s such as InDesign and Photoshop. My music magazine looks a lot professional from the image to the overall layout and from the use of consistent fonts and colors to small details such as bar code and competitions.