Completed Evaluation

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




I did a lot of research before designing my music magazine, to see what styles work best for my target audience and what codes and conventions are used within music magazines. I chose to include basic codes and conventions that you would find in all music magazines, for example including important things such as a barcode and the price of the magazine on the front cover. I also noticed from looking at other music magazines that it is common for them to include a pug on the front cover so I chose to advertise free downloads in a bubble on my front cover, as this draws the audience’s attention in. My research showed that I need to make sure my front cover is eye catching, as this will help target my audience and get people’s attention. I have therefore made the title of my magazine bold and in large font. I think the font style of my title challenges the music genre of my magazine, as the font style is quite feminine and vintage looking, which I think works well with the magazine as it is not what you would expect to see on a music magazine that features drum and base and heavier music. I thought this would help to make my music magazine look more unique, and as well as this I thought it looked quite ironic and worked well on the page, so hopefully this will help to attract my audience.



I analysed many contents pages, which helped me understand the key codes and conventions, as well as the best working parts of the page. I found that it was very important to layout my contents page into rows, usually between 2 or 3. I chose to include three rows across my contents page, as three makes the page look busier and as though the magazine is full of information. When doing my research I personally thought that two rows often looks bland, as the page has less information on it so therefore looks less professional. Many contents pages have a very simplistic style, for example Q often follows the same basic layout for each issue. A key code and convention of a contents page would be the letter from the editor, I made sure that I included this, as well as this I also looked in to how the editor’s letters are written; whether they are just basic information or show personality from the editor. I made notes of what kind of phrases are said, as a way of making the music magazine look more exciting. I also took into account where the letter is normally placed on the contents page, as it is typically seen in the top left of the page. I challenged this slightly by putting it in the right hand corner, as the readers eye will travel from right to left this should hopefully result in the letter from the editor being the first thing they see on the page. I wanted to include some colour in the page, as an important code and convention is sticking to a house style or colour theme, I therefore needed to include the colours I used on my front cover in my contents. I followed the basic codes and conventions by including the logo and title of my music magazine at the top of my contents. I then made the title of my contents page bold and in capital letters as this is a common convention for titles, as they need to be clear and easy to read. Another important code and convention of any magazines contents page, would be including a small image of the front cover and showing information about the image, for example the photographer, makeup artist and hair stylist. I tried to include as many of the basic codes and conventions as possible for this, and also experimented with tweaking certain things, as this allowed me to make my contents page slightly different as I did not want it to look too basic and boring.



For my double page spread, I found that it was common for font to bleed onto both pages of a double page. I wanted to challenge this by only featuring font on one of my pages, as I wanted to image featuring on my double page to make more of an impact on my readers, and having it separate from my text made it stand out on the page. As well as this, I also used a more modern code and convention over the text, as I layered a capital “M” behind the text, as this is the first letter of the artist who is featured. I found this convention in Q magazine when doing my research, as there is a double page spread featuring Lady Gaga and they have put a capital “L” in a bold colour behind the text. This makes the text stand out more, and will hopefully draw the readers eye to the text making them more likely to read it. I stuck to the same house style when creating my two previous pages, so it was important that I included the same colours on my double page spread, as this allowed my three pages to flow more easily and look more professional. I tried various different colours for my double page spread, but eventually decided on a pale blue as I learnt from my codes and conventions that it is important to suit the style with the artist. A pale blue was also the easiest colour to read on the page, which I needed to take into account because if my audience found something difficult to read it’s likely that they would not bother to read it.



As my music magazine is aimed for young adults, I chose to develop the forms and conventions of a music magazine that targets a similar audience. I found a successful magazine called MOJO which is similar to the magazine I was trying to create, so I then studied this magazine and learnt what worked well within it and what did not work so well. This helped me to plan my music magazine as I was learning the forms and conventions of the magazine and developing them further into my own work. I think the general house style of MOJO magazine challenges the usual codes and conventions of a music magazine, as the overall style is quite minimalistic. This gives the music magazine an edge to it, which the audience may find intriguing as it is unusual and makes the magazine stand out from others. I thought this was a clever technique and tried to develop this style in my own music magazine.



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



It’s possible to predict the different social groups that may be interested in buying my music magazine. My media product would reflect a younger generation; the house style of the magazine represents the social group of young adults as it uses colours that are young and fashionable, without being too childish. I made sure that I did not use neon colours, as this would attract younger teenagers instead of young adults. The artists that featured in my magazine generally represent an indie and drum and base genre, therefore generally speaking most of my audience will also fall into this genre. In my magazine I have featured night life, this ties in with the drum and base genre of my magazine, as most people buying the magazine will enjoy going out and want to know about new events. The genre of my music magazine will result in me having many different social groups, as it is not specifically one gender of music, instead it is a mix between drum and base and indie music. The indie genre of the music magazine would represent a strong social group, as indie music is quite popular. Generally speaking indie lovers are more laid back and relaxed compared to people that enjoy music such as rap. I have therefore represented this in my real media artefact, by using a pale tone of colours, connoting relaxation and calmness. If my music magazine was based around another genre such as rap, then I would have used stronger colours as these represent a heavier style of music and represent that social group well.



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



I found out where people prefer to buy their music magazines from my questionnaire. The most popular choice for young adults to read magazines was online, so if I was in charge of distributing my magazine I would make sure that it featured a website where subscribers could read it. Another popular choice was subscription, so I would also make sure that my magazines could be posted door to door, as this would ensure that my magazine made a certain amount of money each month. As people tend to forget to buy magazines each month, by subscribing it would ensure that they never miss an issue. The most popular choice for people to buy the magazine each month was in a Supermarket, as stores such as this are more convenient for the audience, compared to shops they are less likely to visit on a regular basis such as HMV or Water stones. It’s therefore important that I consider this when distributing my magazine, as Supermarkets are a popular choice for my audience. In Supermarkets such as this, my magazines main competition on the shelves would be indie/rock music magazines, such as NME, Q, and MOJO. I think these three magazines would be my strongest competition, as their readers tend to be a little bit older than magazines such as KERRANG!



4. Who would be the audience for your media product?



Young adults that are music lovers, the genre of my music magazine is mostly indie but also features drum and base. So my target audience would be young people that enjoy these types of music, and that also enjoy big nights out such as drum and base events. Something like this is fits in well with my target audience, as young adults are going to be more interested in events such as this. If I was targeting a younger audience I wouldn’t mention nights out, as many of them wouldn’t be old enough to go. I have tried to make my magazine look quite professional and give it a grunge feel so that the house style suits the genre of the music in my magazine, so my target audience could possibly match this type of style. A younger audience is also more likely to be interested in an online magazine, which was my most popular way of distributing my music magazine, so this would work well with my audience.



5. How did you attract/address your audience?



I looked at other music magazines and worked out what worked best when it came to attracting a younger audience. I tried to make my music magazine look edgy and up to date with the time, so that young adults would be interested in buying it, as younger audiences want something new and exciting. As well as this, I also made sure I took notice of my questionnaire, as it helped me to get a better understanding of what young adults want to see in a music magazine. It was important that I featured up and coming artists and new music in my magazine, as I found this was the most popular feature in a music magazine as well as the most popular thing to see on a front cover from my questionnaire. In my questionnaire I asked my target audience what captures there eye most on a front cover, my results showed that the image is the main thing that draws the audience in. As well as this, a quote taken from an interview with a new artist also interests my target audience so I chose to include a quote from a new artist on my front cover as a way of drawing my readers in. Another feature that proved popular in my questionnaire was featuring free downloads in my magazine, so I added a pug advertising this on my front cover.







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



I learnt how to use Serif Page Plus, which I used to construct my music magazine. Although I had never used the programme before it was very useful for this piece of coursework and I learnt a lot of new skills from it. I’m glad that I used Serif for my music magazine as it has more options and made my magazine look much more professional, compared to a magazine that has been created on a common programme such as PowerPoint. I played around with the different fonts on Serif, the option of making thing 3rd, and putting text in different shapes such as circles or L shapes for a double page spread, allowing me to make the most effective music magazine possible.



As well as this, I also edited the images I took that featured in my magazine on Photoshop. This allowed me to edit my images to follow the style of my music magazine and suit the genre of music I was including in my magazine. As my music magazine follows an Indie/drum and bass Genre it was important that I edited my images so that they suited the grunge genre. I therefore made all my images that featured in my magazine black and white as it made them look darker and more edgy, which suited the style of the magazine. I then played around with the contrast for the images of the main artist. It could be argued that this is an unusual thing to do to an image that is going to feature on a front cover, as I learnt from researching other music magazines that artists are usually airbrushed and made to look as perfect as possible as a way of promoting them. However, I wanted to challenge this when it came to my front cover, so by highlighting his bad skin instead of trying to airbrush it, it made the image seem more realistic which fitted in well with his “unfortunate background” which featured in the interview.



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



Looking at my Preliminary task now that I have completed my final pages for my music magazine, I think the Prelim looks very amateur. This could be for a number of reasons; one being that my choice of background colour on my Preliminary task is quite childish. For my final front cover I chose to make the image take up the entire page, which made my front cover look more professional. The image on my final front cover was also taken at a better angle, as the image was closer up, this showed more detail on the artist and I think the photo was more effective compared to the image I used in my Prelim which was a medium close up and seemed too distant. I think the main reason my final pages for my music magazine are much better than the preliminary task would be largely to do with my research, as I learnt a lot from analysing existing music magazines, for example the codes and conventions which I have mentioned previously. My questionnaire also helped me to target my audience and get a better understanding of what my audience want to see in a music magazine, this really made a difference when it came to constructing my music magazine. I think if I handed out my questionnaire earlier on and did my research before my Preliminary task, then it would have been good enough to use for my real media artefact. It is however, nice to see how much I have improved when looking at the Prelim to the final results of my music magazine, as planning what my audience want to see in a music magazine really makes a difference.

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Evaluation - Plan

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


I did a lot of research before designing my music magazine, to see what styles work best for my target audience and what codes and conventions are used within music magazines. I chose to include basic codes and conventions that you would find in all music magazines, for example including important things such as a barcode and the price of the magazine on the front cover. I also noticed from looking at other music magazines that it is common for them to include a pug on the front cover so I chose to advertise free downloads in a bubble on my front cover, as this draws the audience’s attention in.

As my music magazine is aimed for young adults, I chose to develop the forms and conventions of a music magazine that targets a similar audience. I found a successful magazine called MOJO which is similar to the magazine I was trying to create, so I then studied this magazine and learnt what worked well within it and what did not work so well. This helped me to plan my music magazine as I was learning the forms and conventions of the magazine and developing them further into my own work. I think the general house style of MOJO magazine challenges the usual codes and conventions of a music magazine, as the overall style is quite minimalistic. This gives the music magazine an edge to it, which the audience may find intriguing as it is unusual and makes the magazine stand out from others. I thought this was a clever technique and tried to develop this style in my own music magazine.

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

My media product would reflect a younger generation; the house style of the magazine represents the social group of young adults as it uses colours that are young and fashionable, without being too childish. I made sure that I did not use neon colours, as this would attract younger teenagers instead of young adults. As well as this, the images that I took and included in my magazine also represented my target audience, as I featured both male and female artists. The artists that featured in my magazine generally represent an indie and drum and base genre, therefore generally speaking most of my audience will also fall into this genre. In my magazine I have featured night life, this ties in with the drum and base genre of my magazine, as most people buying the magazine will enjoy going out and want to know about new events.

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

I found out where people prefer to buy their music magazines from my questionnaire. The most popular choice for young adults to read magazines was online, so if I was in charge of distributing my magazine I would make sure that it featured a website where subscribers could read it. Another popular choice was subscription, so I would also make sure that my magazines could be posted door to door, as this would ensure that my magazine made a certain amount of money each month. As people tend to forget to buy magazines each month, by subscribing it would ensure that they never miss an issue. The most popular choice for people to buy the magazine each month was in a Supermarket, as stores such as this are more convenient for the audience, compared to shops they are less likely to visit on a regular basis such as HMV or Water stones. It’s therefore important that I consider this when distributing my magazine, as Supermarkets are a popular choice for my audience. In Supermarkets such as this, my magazines main competition on the shelves would be indie/rock music magazines, such as NME, Q, and MOJO. I think these three magazines would be my strongest competition, as their readers tend to be a little bit older than magazines such as KERRANG!

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Young adults that are music lovers, the genre of my music magazine is mostly indie but also features drum and base. So my target audience would be young people that enjoy these types of music, and that also enjoy big nights out such as drum and base events. Something like this is fits in well with my target audience, as young adults are going to be more interested in events such as this. If I was targeting a younger audience I wouldn’t mention nights out, as many of them wouldn’t be old enough to go. I have tried to make my magazine look quite professional and give it a grunge feel so that the house style suits the genre of the music in my magazine, so my target audience could possibly match this type of style.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I looked at other music magazines and worked out what worked best when it came to attracting a younger audience. I tried to make my music magazine look edgy and up to date with the time, so that young adults would be interested in buying it, as younger audiences want something new and exciting. As well as this, I also made sure I took notice of my questionnaire, as it helped me to get a better understanding of what young adults want to see in a music magazine. It was important that I featured up and coming artists and new music in my magazine, as I found this was the most popular feature in a music magazine as well as the most popular thing to see on a front cover from my questionnaire. In my questionnaire I asked my target audience what captures there eye most on a front cover, my results showed that the image is the main thing that draws the audience in. As well as this, a quote taken from an interview with a new artist also interests my target audience so I chose to include a quote from a new artist on my front cover as a way of drawing my readers in. Another feature that proved popular in my questionnaire was featuring free downloads in my magazine, so I added a pug advertising this on my front cover.



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

I learnt how to use Serif Page Plus, which I used to construct my music magazine. Although I had never used the programme before it was very useful for this piece of coursework and I learnt a lot of new skills from it. I’m glad that I used Serif for my music magazine as it has more options and made my magazine look much more professional, compared to a magazine that has been created on a common programme such as PowerPoint. I played around with the different fonts on Serif, the option of making thing 3rd, and putting text in different shapes such as circles or L shapes for a double page spread, allowing me to make the most effective music magazine possible.

As well as this, I also edited the images I took that featured in my magazine on Photoshop. This allowed me to edit my images to follow the style of my music magazine and suit the genre of music I was including in my magazine. As my music magazine follows an Indie/drum and bass Genre it was important that I edited my images so that they suited the grunge genre. I therefore made all my images that featured in my magazine black and white as it made them look darker and more edgy, which suited the style of the magazine. I then played around with the contrast for the images of the main artist. It could be argued that this is an unusual thing to do to an image that is going to feature on a front cover, as I learnt from researching other music magazines that artists are usually airbrushed and made to look as perfect as possible as a way of promoting them. However, I wanted to challenge this when it came to my front cover, so by highlighting his bad skin instead of trying to airbrush it, it made the image seem more realistic which fitted in well with his “unfortunate background” which featured in the interview.

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

Looking at my Preliminary task now that I have completed my final pages for my music magazine, I think the Prelim looks very amateur. This could be for a number of reasons; one being that my choice of background colour on my Preliminary task is quite childish. For my final front cover I chose to make the image take up the entire page, which made my front cover look more professional. The image on my final front cover was also taken at a better angle, as the image was closer up, this showed more detail on the artist and I think the photo was more effective compared to the image I used in my Prelim which was a medium close up and seemed too distant.

Dolby

Olivia, which are your final pieces? Can you let me know which ones are to be marked please by labelling the final front cover, contents and double page.

Prelim task

I made this at the beginning of the year as a way of getting used to the software such as Photoshop and Serif PagePlus. This helped me to develop my skills and ensure that I was confident in using the technology for my coursework.

Images taken for my music magazine

Above are the images I have taken of the artist being interviewed and the images I have taken that will feature on my contents page. I have taken them all in black and white as I think it makes them look more effective, and having some in colour and others in black and white would make my contents page look messy and unprofessional.

Contents page final draft

I noticed one of the numbers was missing from a feature on my contents page so I added it in, as these are a very important part of the contents and it would not work without it.

Contents page third draft

I have added in another image to my contents page to break up the text. As well as this I have rearranged some of the colours used which I think makes my Contents look more effective. I have also adjusted my letter from the editor at the top of the page to make it clearer and easier to read. I have done a similar thing to the quote from "Maxwell" as it looked quite untidy going over the image and was hard to read in a light colour so I got rid of some of the quote allowing it to fit on the page.

Double page final draft

I have changed the colour to a pale green, I think this works best as it suits the male artist more, as a purple would have been too feminin. As well as this the green is much easier to read. I am happy with the layout of my double page spread, I think it look quite professional as I have used the codes and conventions of a typical double page spread found in a music magazine.

Second draft of double page spread

I changed the colour of this font to purple, as this is the colour I have used when featuring the artist on my contents page and I wanted to the magazine to look more proffessional so I thought keeping the same same colours used would do this. However, for this double page spread I don't think the purple looks very effective as it is very difficult to read against the grey background. So I am therefore going to change the font back to a brighter blue, making it easier to read. I may also change this on my contents page so that the two go together. I have also added a large M behind my text as I found this looks very successful in exsisting magazines and thought it would add a little to my page, making it look more interesting.

First Draft of my double page spread

I am happy with the image I have used for my double page spread, as it is the one that features on my contents page so it helps the magazine to flow and keeps it relevant. I think the image is strong, however for my next draft of this I may try out having another image on this double page spread. As I have looked at other music magazine's and usually there are two or more images used on the double page spread. I am happy with the amount of text I have on the page. I have moved some of the questions around on my double page, changing it from the original order I planned. However, I think this is more effective as I have ended the questionnaire with an important question about the new artist I'm interviewing, instead of asking him about other artists. This makes him seem like the main interest and hopefully leaves more of an impact on the reader. Overall, I am happy with the use of colour on my double page spread. However, I think using purple instead of blue may work better, as I have used purple when including the artist on my Contents page. So this will then make the two tie in together, making it look more like a real magazine.

Plan for my double page spread

Questions I am going to ask the artist:
1. Are you proud of yourself because of how far you have come in the space of a year?
2. As it’s known for being so difficult to make it into the music industry, how did you do it?
3. Do you think you’ve changed as a person?
4. Where were you this time last year?
5. Have you ever thought of helping out people that are currently living in the situation you were in?
6. Do you think your background has helped to influence your music?
7. What was your reaction when your album ( ) went straight to number one in the UK?
8. When are you planning on doing a UK tour?
9. Will the tour be in small venues like you used to do, or will you be cutting out all the stops now that you’re a big success?
10. Who’s your favourite artist that you have gone to see in concert?

I think ten questions is the right amount, as I want the answers to be in full detail so this amount should be enough to fill up my double page spread. I've also made sure that I ask the artist about his background life as I think this will interest my readers, as his story will hopefully make this interview stand out from others, making my audience more inclined to read it.

Second Draft of my Contents page

I think I have made an improvement of my Contents page by using a white background, as it works well with the genre of music I am basing this music magazine on. I found that a black background made my contents page look to dark and suggested a heavier style of music. I have changed my pug that advertises subscribing to the magazine, I am glad that I did this, as there is less empty space on the page and I think the bubbles look more effective.

Contents first draft

I think there are a few things I need to improve on when it comes to my contents page as my first impression of it is that it looks very busy. It might be a good idea to make some of the text slightly smaller and move a few things around to tone down the page. I am unsure about the pug I have included in the bottom left corner, as it leaves a lot of empty space around it, it might look better if I change the pug to a circle or a square, as this will allow me to put text or an image around the pug, resulting in less empty space. I will try this and see if it makes my contents page look more professional. I am happy with the columns I have made for this page, as it follows the codes and conventions of a typical contents page. I also planned ahead and knew what I wanted to include on my contents page. By having an idea of what I wanted my contents to look like I have found it easier to make this page for my magazine to a level I am almost happy with. I may play around with the background colour behind the columns, as I'm unsure about the black background behind the grey. I think it could connote a rock genre of music which is not the genre I am aiming for, so it might be better to keep the background white.

straker

I like the over all effect of your front cover, not sure the delicate colours of the texts work though -possibly too vintage, unless this is the effect you're going for.

Dolby

Avoid labelling things as 'final version' until you are really happy. Overall this is quite successful but remember that if you are promoting an artist you need their name! Also, just try and make sure that the text is clear within pugs etc and not running over edges.
The font for the masthead works well but not sure all the pale varieties of font give it an edgy enough feel for the style of music?

Final front cover

Overall, I am very happy with how this has turned out. I am going to ask people that fit in with my target audience of young adults to ask there opinion of this front cover to see if there is anything I could improve on to make it look more appealing for my audience.

Front cover third draft

I decided to do a second photo shoot for my magazine, as I was not entirely happy with the images I took first time round. I am happy with the new images I have taken and I think this image works particularly well on my front cover, as it makes the artist look slightly rebellious and exciting, which could attract readers. There are certain factors I would still like to improve on for this page, for example it might be a good idea for me to change the quote from my artist, so that it works well with the image. For example, it might be a better idea to describe the new artist as a rebel or a bad boy as this would fit in well with the image.
I also have played around with colours on this draft of my front cover as I asked people what they thought of my colour scheme for my music magazine. Overall, people weren't very keen on the idea of dark purples, greens and blues as they thought this seemed too basic and unoriginal to use for a magazine targetting young adults. So I have experimented with lighter pastel colours, as I think these colours are not stereotypically aimed for young adults, but I have found that pastels are often used for music magazines aimed at older audiences, for example MOJO magazine often stick to a paler house style. I have asked peoples opinions of the use of pastel colours for my house style and they seem to be a more popular choice, as well as this people have said they are easier to read compared to the darker colours, so I think there are more positive effects of using lighter colours.

Front cover Re draft

(Not yet finished. I will sort out order of these and write about it next.)

Front cover first draft

This is my first draft of my front cover, I have used a different colour scheme to the pastel theme that I chose in my planning stages, just to see how another house style would look. I'm glad that I did this as it has given me a clearer idea of what colours work on a front cover, I think the greens and blues I have used on this draft look too dark and connote a Rock Genre which is not the style of music I am focusing on in my magazine and therefore targets a different audience. It's important that the house style and colour scheme I use throughout this magazine matches the Indie/Alternative style of music, I therefore think lighter greens and pastel colours would do this as they are seen as more lighthearted colours and also target a male and female audience. Whereas this test draft seems very masculine due to the darker colours, I also think the use of pastel colours will look more effective because they will stand out against a dark background, this is important as the page needs to stand out against other competing magazines whereas the text on this front cover does not grab your attention.
I am happy with my magazine logo, although it is possible that I may explore with this more just to see which logo works best wih my music magazine. For my image, there are aspects that I would like to improve. For instance, I'm unsure about using a black background on my front cover, as it connotes a heavier genre of music, so it might be a good idea for me to do a second photoshoot, using a white background. I think this would also make the text on my front cover clearer and easier to read, so I will experiment more with this. I'm not sure if my front cover has enough text, as it may look quite basic and boring to my target audience, so it might be a good idea to include more on the front cover in my next draft.

Straker

Me too!

Dolby

I really would like to see some construction drafts asap.

Font

I like the style of all of these fonts as I think they look quite sophisticated, I think they could work for the title of my music magazine as they will fit with my target audience. I think my target audience would relate to these fonts because the fonts are not childish, therefore young adults may tend to prefer these fonts compared to something like comic sans. I also thought a font such as the last one (Ancestory SF) could work well for the title of my music magazine, as it could seem quite ironic. I thought this because the music for my magazine will be quite heavy, as the genre is mainly indie and drum and bass, this is then quite the opposite compared to the delicate font. It's possible that this could work quite well for the title of my music magazine, however there is a danger that a delicate font could connote a different genre of music of music, resulting in a misunderstanding with my target audience.

Images

Overall I think it is best if I do two or three separate photo shoots, as I will then have more images to choose from. This will then give me more freedom when selecting the best images and I will have more variety on my contents page which will hopefully make it look more interesting for the reader. I do however need to make sure that I don't overload my music magazine with images, as I do not want it to look too busy or messy, as this could result in it looking like a child's music magazine and I am not targeting at that audience.

Audience Feedback

It is important to ensure that I am targeting my audience correctly throughout this unit. I therefore decided to post a link to my blog up on my Facebook page, asking anyone between the ages of 17-20 to give me feedback. I posted this link with a small amount of text stating "I'm creating a music magazine for young people that are into Indie/Alternative and Drum and Bass music. If you don't mind taking a quick look and telling me what you think of my planning and research pages I'd really appreciate it! Thanks." Although I did not receive an awful lot of feedback it has made me feel more confident in my work, as most of the people that answered would be interested in reading my magazine.

"So far so good! The genre of music is unusual, I don't know any magazine that  features drum and bass so that's a good niche market you have thought of. One thing that could be better could maybe be the plan layouts of the three pages. They all look very busy and relatively messy. I think you should maybe plan them more carefully and think about where things would look best. Can't wait to see the final product." Georgie

"I love the name [Voltage] you've chosen it's really rock and roll! :) haha I looked at the different fonts you've thought about using and I like the Ancestory font best. It's quite light and feminine which could contrast well with the manly name of Voltage! The colour scheme would also look good with this too. I like the overall style you've started to create, it looks good and I like the vintage feel to it!" Becca

"The colours are unusual? Don't think they are too girly do you? I'd add in more dark colours if its for males too. Like the name though! The layouts you've planned could be better, I'd go over them a bit." Dom

"I disagree with Dom, the colours look sweet! Should look cool with a grey background like you've planned. Stick with it! You've got a good eye for stuff like this anyway :) I would definitely have another go at the layout for the double page spread. There is a lot going on there and you need to sort out what's going to look best where." Rob

"I'm not sure on the Voltage fonts, you should try and find something more retro that fits in with the vintage pastel colour scheme you've planned. I think that could work really well." Matt

Overall, I have learnt from my Audience Feedback that I should redraft the construction plans I have made for all 3 pages. As my target audience were not impressed by my first attempts at this as they thought they looked too messy. I think I could do a better job at planning my construction by redrafting these pages and organizing what I will feature on each page. For example, my contents page will look more effective if I redraft the plan by organizing what I topics I will include on the page and where they will go in order for the contents page to look more professional.

Straker

I like your thinking, but you need to remember the other connotations of the names : Fuse and wire suggest a magazine for people into electronics and Rush is the name of a hairdressing salon! Is Motion too close to Motown? Just a thought.

Name ideas for the music magazine, and article features to include

Here are some names that I have thought of for my music magazine. I need to make sure that the name of my magazine fits in with the genre of my magazine, as well as working well with my target audience. I therefore need to use a name that isn't too childish so that it attracts my target audience of young adults and suits the music magazine.

I thought names such as Wire could work well with my music magazine as it fits in well with the Genre of Drum and Bass as it gives off the impression of an electronic feel. This therefore suits the Genre of my magazine and could possibly work well. I think Wire could also work well because it fits in with both Genders, as other names could sound too feminine or masculine, however I think Wire can work with both sexes, this is more effective as it will ensure that my audience is more general, rather than attracting just a female/male audience.

I also came up with the idea of calling my music magazine Fuse, I think this could be more effective compared to other titles such as Wire. As Wire may fail to connote music, this could be because Wires can be found in any technical product and are not particularly focused on music. Whereas Fuse may be more likely to attract my target audience as it is more obvious in connoting what music my magazine genre focuses on.

Rush could work well for the title of my music magazine, as it indicates that the music featured in my magazine will be quite upbeat, helping to denote the genre of my magazine. This will appeal to my target audience, as may help attract the audience to my magazine. I think the sound of this title also works well because it is a short title, therefore it is easy to remember and is more likely to be remembered by my audience. This could be beneficial when it comes to my audience buying my magazine again, as they are more likely to remember a short, snappy, name.

Using the name Motion for my music magazine would denote music to my target audience, as it clearly indicates what my magazine is focused on, which is likely to make it more successful. However, I am not as keen on the name Motion compared to my other title ideas as I think it is quite unoriginal and too general. As it does not connote what genre of music my magazine focuses on, as well as this it could also connote Dance, rather than Music which is likely to cause misunderstanding with my target audience, as the name Motion is too general.

I thought of the name Voltage for my music magazine, this could work well for my music magazine as it connotes electronic music. This fits in well with my Genre and is likely to work well with my target audience, as it clearly indicates the Genre of music my magazine is focusing on and who I am targeting my magazine at. The name Voltage also sounds quite energetic and indicates that the magazine is exciting and full of information. This title could therefore be a successful way of selling my magazine as it has positive connotations of energy and power.



 I think having an up and coming artist featured on my double page spread works well with my target audience, as I am targetting the magazine at young adults, therefore they will be able to compare themselves to the up and coming star and in some ways look up to them for inspiration.

Straker

This is excellent planning and preparation. Is it time to get constructing?

Layout: Front cover

I like the way that this front cover looks, as it follows the codes and conventions of a typical music front cover. I thought it was important to make the main image on the front cover as big as possible, so I have made sure it covers the entire front cover. I think this works well, as the pull quotes and text can be layered on top of the image. Hopefully this will work well on my front cover, I need to make sure that my image is angled correctly as a medium close up so that the text doesn't cover the image, as this will make my front cover look too busy and possibley messy.

Layout: Contents page

It is important that I include the basic codes and conventions that you usually see on a Contents page. Such as advertisements for subscribing to the magazine, images from the main artists featured in this issue, the magazine logo and a letter from the editor. I like the way this contents page looks, as it is neatly laid out, this is important as it needs to be clear so that the audience knows where to find the pages they are looking for. However, I decided to do a second draft so that I could properly plan what features I am going to include in my magazine, and how I will lay them out in an organised way on my contents page. I'm glad that I've done this as it's given me a clearer idea of what my final contents page will look like, and it's also allowed me to make it look more effective and professional  Although there are a lot of different features on my contents page, the use of 3 columns makes the page look neater. I'm happy with my second draft of this and hopefully I will be able to create a contents page similar to this when it comes to construction.

Layout: Double page spread

This is my first draft for the double page spread, I think it may be sensible to redraft this plan as it looks quite messy and unprofessional as there are a lot of different features on the page. Things I could alter would be making the image larger, as I learnt from analyzing Real Media Artifacts that the image needs to be bold and large to grab the readers attention. As well as this, the image should bleed through onto both pages, as this allows the readers eye to travel across the page. It is important that the Artist or Bands name is featured a lot throughout the double page spread, as it will help to promote them, so I therefore need to make sure the title is clear. My second attempt of this plan looks a lot more professional  I am happy with the amount of text and images on the page as they look as though they are in equal amounts. It is important that I feature more than one image, as a way of making the page look more interesting and I have also made room to include the image of the album art as this will help to promote the artist.

Colour Schemes

I think the use of pastel colours challenges the usual codes and conventions found in existing Real Media Artefacts which target young adults. As existing music magazines tend to follow the same house style of Black, Red and White. I wanted to go against this in order to ensure that my music magazine was noticed by my target audience. The use of pastel colours is unusual and does not typically match the Indie/Drum and Base Genre which I will be targeting  However, I think the use of pastel colours could still work well within the magazine if they are used in subtle ways, as they then suggest a modern and fairly fashionable style. The use of cool colours such as this suggest a laid back approach within my product as well a suggesting that the magazine is ahead of it's time and the cool thing to read.

How my research has informed my planning

How my research has informed planning –

Ideas for colour schemes:

Pink and yellow – Connotes femininity as they are very young colours, if I used these colours within my music magazine they would have to be muted, maybe even pastel colours. Strong bright colours such as this may not suit my target audience of young adults between the ages of 17-20 because they are stereotypically seen as childish colours.

Black, white and Red – Not a very unique choice of colours as they are used within existing Real Media Artefacts such as NME and Q. Although it attracts the right audience and genre, my music magazine would have a hard time competing and standing out against other existing music magazines.  

Purple and Blue – Could still be seen as youthful colours, especially purple as it is quite a feminine colour and could fail to attract male readers. These colours could target my target audience of young adults if they were used in subtle ways with other muted colours such as Grey and Cream.

Grey and Black – Plain colours such as this will be used within my music magazine as a base. However, I will need to make my music magazine stand out in order to grab my readers attention, it’s therefore important that I include the use of strong colours as well as Grey, white and black.

After assessing which colours will work best to suit my target audience and Indie/Alternative Genre of music I have chosen to use a range of pastel colours within my music magazine, as well as muted colours such as Grey, white and black. This way I will include bold colours which catch my audience’s attention whilst making my magazine look modern with the muted colours, suggesting a more sophisticated feel to the magazine.

Ideas for the use of Text within my magazine:

Language is an important factor as I need to ensure that my magazine is targeting the correct audience. In my magazine I need to avoid using any abbreviations such as “LOL” as these would attract a younger teenage audience. I therefore need to ensure that the language used is quite formal, but still entertaining so that young adults enjoy reading it.

Cover lines include an important role in attracting the reader to the magazine; it is a good idea to include pull quotes from my double page spread as a cover line on the front. As I learnt when researching Real Media Artefacts that this is commonly used to attract readers by making the page stand out.

On the contents page my use of language will be less formal as I will be using lots of pull quotes and short sentences to explain the different features in the magazine. I need to make sure my language is clear and to the point for this, as I will not have a lot of space to include long sentences. It’s also important that the language is entertaining; as the contents page will determine whether or not my audience will go on to read more of the magazine. To make the page more interesting I could include a new pull quote from the double page spread, as this  

For my double page spread my questionnaire results showed that including an interview from a new or up and coming artist would be the best way to attract my target audience of young adults. The language that will be used within my double page spread can be more formal although it is important that I include some humour within the interview in order to keep the reader entertained.

Ideas for the overall House style:

It’s important to keep the same colour scheme running throughout the entire magazine, as this continuity allows the magazine to look more professional to the reader. As well as keeping colours the same, text also needs to be repeated in certain ways as this makes the pages look neater and easier to read for the audience. It is important to always use a larger font for titles, sub-titles, headlines of pages and even having the first letters in capitals when there is a large amount of text as this draws the reader in and shows them where to start reading. It’s important to keep all of these things in mind, in order to make the reading experience as easy and enjoyable as possible for my target audience.

Ideas for Images:

The front cover must include a medium close up of the up and coming artist to clearly promote both him and the magazine. In existing Real Media Artefacts some front covers include more than one image in order to show features that are inside the magazine. I have found that the use of more than one image can look messy and unprofessional, as well as being typically found in magazines targeted at a younger audience. Therefore, for my target audience of young adults between the ages of 17-20 it may be best to have just one image on the front cover looking clear and simple as this suggests a cooler and more sophisticated style.

On the contents page several different images can be used in order to give the reader a real feel for what features in the magazine. This will also break up the text on the contents page and make the page more interesting and eye catching for the reader. It’s important that I include images from all different parts of the magazine in order to show more of a variety and make the page stand out, as it’s important that the contents page does not appear boring to the reader.

I have a good idea of what my double page spread should consist of from researching Real Media Artefacts. The main image that features on a double page spread usually bleeds through onto both pages, this is so that the readers eye travels across the page. The image used can also go behind text in order to guide the reader to the text. These features are commonly used and look professional within a double page spread, I therefore think my double page spread would look effective with this style. 

Straker

This is really good work Olivia, Keep it up. Lots of really useful detail.

Product Placement

I have learnt what makes music magazines successful from analysing Real Media Artefacts  and I have gained a better understanding of my target audience from my questionnaire results. I now know the codes and conventions for music magazines, although this may vary depending on the genre of the music magazine there are many factors that will stay the same in all magazines. For example how the magazine is set out, as most magazines will include the same visual style and layout on their front cover, as a bold title and stand out image is important to grab the readers attention. As well as this all magazine will stick to a house style, normally changing each issue in order to make the magazine look new and more interesting. The contents page also has codes and conventions, as contents pages almost always include rows as this breaks the text up and make the page look clearer. Double page spreads have typical codes and conventions of: including a large image that often bleeds through onto both pages, as this ensures that the readers eyes move across the pages. As well as including the name of the artist featured in a bold title, or by using play on words that relate to the artist. I have also learnt from my research that images play an important role in magazines, as they draw the reader in and make the page more interesting, photographs are therefore seen as a key part of selling the magazine. The main image on the front cover tends to normally be a medium close up, for example a photograph of an artist from the shoulders up, as this shows the artists expression, without being too close up and unflattering. This is something that I have found in my research, I therefore think it would be a good idea for me to take a medium to close up image when I take photographs for my front cover, as it helps to promote the artist clearly.
I also found many other important features of a magazine by Analyzing real media artifacts such as: Maintaining the house style – as magazines tend to keep to a certain colour scheme, this usually suits the style of the name of the magazine.
The font for the name of the magazine is also important as it is used as a logo throughout the magazine, appearing on pages such as the contents helping to promote the product. The font that is used for articles and on the contents page is also important, as it is usually in the same font and size throughout, making it more consistent and easy to read.
The images used in the magazine always suit the genre, as the characters in the image wear clothes that are stereotypical to that genre, so it’s important that the overall style of the image suits the magazine.
Most magazines have a specific target audience, for example Kerrang is aimed for teenagers that enjoy rock music. Overall, I found in my research that younger teenagers tend to be the most common genre that buys music magazines, so lots of music magazines target them. I have decided from this that it would be a good idea to target older teenagers/young adults for my music magazine, as not many existing music magazines focus on this generation, as there is a niche market for this. My main competitors for this audience would be music magazines such as MOJO or NME, as these two magazines are more detailed and tend to use formal language, this suggests that they are usually read by a more educated  and older audience.
The genre of my music magazine can be quite flexible as there was not a clear preference from my questionnaire, generally people preferred the idea of an indie or drum and base magazine. Overall, I like the idea of a magazine that includes drum and base as this genre is not normally common in music magazines and I think people would be interested in buying it, however I plan to include other genres of music such as Indie as this will give me a wider target audience.

What I have learnt from my research and critical studies:I will aim my music magazine at young adults both male and female between the ages of 17-20, the results from my questionnaire show that young adults between the ages of 17-18 are my strongest audience, however this seemed too narrow an audience so I have chosen to widen this by targeting slightly older people as well.
· Including a consistent house style is important as it makes the magazine stand out and look more unique, attracting the audience.
· Colour and font also play an important role, as the right colour attracts the right audience. The font colour needs to be easy and clear to read, as well as the font type. This also needs to be consistent throughout the magazine to create a house style.
· I need to link the choice of colours in my music magazine to the genre.
· The codes and conventions of a music magazine suggests that the image on the front cover of the music magazine is normally a medium close up, as this clearly shows expression, without being too close up.
· My images need to be of decent quality, as bad quality photos will not attract my audience to purchase the magazine.
· My target audience for my magazine will be young adults of both genders.
· I learnt from my music magazine questionnaire that the most popular genre of music is indie or drum and base. I have therefore chosen to include a mix of both genres and have a wider target audience.
· Use of columns in a double page spread are key, as it makes the page look clearer and easier to read. Columns are a common code and convention of double page spreads as they stop the page from looking cluttered.
· I need to include new, up and coming artists in my music magazine, as this is what I learnt my audience would like to see from my questionnaire.
· Interviews from artists are a common thing to find in music magazines, and my audience seem to be interested in this concept so it’s important that I include an interview.
· The language that I use needs to suit my target audience of young adults, so I plan on including some slag words which are typically used by teenagers. However, it's important I do not use too many slag words as this will make my music magazine appear childish and result in targeting a younger audience.
· People would like to get freebees from my music magazine, such as free downloads so it's important I advertise this on my front cover. 

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on NME double page spread

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on Mojo double page spread

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on NME contents page

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on Q contents page

Real Media Artefacts - Analysis on Mojo contents page

Real Media Artefacts - Q Beyonce front cover analysis

Real Media Artefacts - Front cover analysis of Rolling Stone magazine

Real Media Artefacts - Front cover analysis

Miss D

Olivia,
By the 20th February, you need to have done another front cover analysis and also contents and double page analysis. In addition, you need your questionnaire and the results and product placement(where you would sell your product and distribute it)

Questionnaire Results

Overall, I asked 30 people to answer my questionnaire. This meant that I had an even amount of male and females to complete my magazine, giving me a wider target audience. My results throughout this questionnaire are therefore more reliable for both genders.

Most of the people I asked where between the age of 17-18, I think this is an appropriate age for me to target my magazine at as I am of that age, I therefore may find it easier to know what my target audience will want to find in a magazine, as I can relate to them.

Due to the fact I only asked people I know at school to answer my questionnaire, my results for this question were not as varied as they could be. However, this has allowed me to get a clear set of genres which could all work together in a music magazine.

Overall, most of the people I asked seemed to be prepared to buy a music magazine monthly instead of weekly. A monthly music magazine would therefore be more successful to my target audience. Benefits of this would be that there would be more material to put into the magazine monthly, as well as the price being higher as people are more likely to pay more for a magazine that comes out less often.

Online magazine's seem to be quite popular so I am going to keep this in mind when creating my magazine, as it gives my target audience easy access to the magazine, allowing it to become more popular. As well as this, I will also ensure that my magazine can be purchased in stores such as supermarkets, as stores such as these are also a popular choice.

I found out from my questionnaire that people tend to buy music magazines as a way of finding out about new music, as well as finding out about concerts and gigs. I will include both these features in my magazine, it is also important that I feature them on the front cover of my magazine so that my target audience are more inclined to buy the product.

The price of a music magazine must be appropriate, as an unreasonable price would result in my target audience losing interest in the product. The results of this question told me that  most people preferred the idea of buying a magazine that was £3.00 or less. This seems like an appropriate price as it is a similar price to music magazines that are already being sold today, which proves that

NME was the most popular music magazine bought by my target audience, it's therefore important that I analyse pages of Nme to understand the codes and conventions found within the magazine. So I can get a better understanding of what features my target audience want to see within my music magazine.

Most people tend to read music magazines at home, while they are relaxing as the magazine is a source of entertainment. I have learnt from my magazine that it is not popular to read at work or school. This gives me a clearer idea of what my target audience are like, allowing me to render my product in order to get the most appropriate style. As reading the magazine at home suggests they will be relaxing, this suggests that my audience will like a calm colour scheme, as a bright and in your face house style will not go well with the relaxing atmosphere.

The idea of seeing a new artist on the front cover of a music magazine appealed to a lot of people answering my questionnaire, it's therefore important that I include this as the main focus on my front cover in order to attract my target audience.

Most people seemed more inclined to buy a drum and bass or indie music magazine. I find this interesting as there are not many existing drum and bass music magazines and I could possibly use this for my genre, as there is a niche market.

The image on the front cover is seen as one of the most important things, so I therefore need to make sure that the photograph that I take and use for my cover is an appropriate image that clearly shows the artist from the shoulders up, as this shows expression on his face and clearly promotes him to the audience.

Images seem to be the most popular thing on a front cover, however many people agreed that it is a good idea to keep it equal as the text on the front cover is important and informative when it comes to telling the audience what they are going to find in the magazine. Therefore, I think it is important that I keep an equal mix of text and images on my front cover, without making the page look too busy as this could put people off.

People seem very keen on the idea of being informed about up and coming artists by a music magazine, so I think it is very important that I include new artists in my music magazine. This also gives the idea that my music magazine is up to date with the latest news and artists, making my target audience more likely to buy the product. It's important that I mention a new artist on my front cover, as this makes the magazine seem as though it has fresh news.

Interviews with artists are a typical code and convention found in music magazines, as it allows the reader to get a better understanding of the artist and what they are like, helping to promote them. I will therefore include this on my double page speard, as a way of promoting the new artist featured in my magazine.  I think the idea of giving away free downloads is interesting, as I have not seen it done before in music magazines so I may use this idea.

The idea of interviews from well known artists was a very popular choice as not one of the 30 people who answered my questionnaire turned down this idea, so I should definitely make sure I include an interview in my magazine.

Overall, there was not much difference when it came to which way people prefer to read their music magazine, online was slightly more successful but not by much. It's therefore important that I ensure my magazine is sold both in stores and online. In order to promote my product as much as possible.