Final front cover vs. Preliminary task

Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation

When looking back at my preliminary task and comparing it to my final product I feel like my work has improved and developed a lot. Since my preliminary task and during progressing to my final product I feel like I have learnt how to make my work look more professional and unlike my preliminary task, a product that could actually be used and advertised to be sold in shops to the public and be appealing to the audience. I have also learnt how to use different websites and programmes for examples, Pixlr, Blogger and Adobe Fireworks. Another thing I have learnt is how to design something that is appealing to an audience and how to give an audience what they want.

What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation

During the creation process of my music magazine I have learnt how to use different softwares and websites while also developing my previous skills and experience in programmes I had used before. One of the websites I used when creating my magazine was Pixlr, this is a website that allows you to edit photos and images in many different ways for free, similar to Photoshop. I didn’t know about Pixlr before and this was the first time I used it. However, I found it very easy and simple to use in comparison to other photo editing softwares such a Photoshop, nonetheless still achieving high quality, edited images with a professional finish.

To make my actual product and to piece it all together I used Adobe Fireworks on a Apple Mac, I hadn’t used Fireworks before so it was fun to learn how to use. For help on how to achieve and produce different effects and processes I watched various tutorials on the Internet. I found that Fireworks was probably the best software to use to create my product as it made my magazine look like a real, professional magazine that would attract my audience.

While I was taking the photos for my media product I knew that lighting was key to gaining high quality photos. However, as the location of my photo shoot was at a live gig in a club this was near enough impossible due to stage lighting and a dark atmosphere. Nevertheless I used my previous camera and photography knowledge to my best advantage and managed to finish with some great action shots etc. Using flash, different camera positions and editing skills I manipulated the photos to make them look exactly how I wanted them too.

 

How did I attract/address my audience?

Evaluation

The age range of my target audience is mostly people aged 16-30. Although this is a large age gap, my target audience are not hard to attract because they all have similar aspects in common, for example the fact that they all share a love for indie rock music. As the audience are indie rock music fans and my magazine is an indie rock music magazine it was easy to attract and address my audience by having articles in my magazine about the latest indie rock music and reviews on the latest indie rock albums. I also had interviews in my magazine with the top indie rock bands, which is a great way to attract my audience as they can find out exclusive information on their favourite bands and artists that they will find interesting and enjoyable.

By having pictures of top indie rock bands on the cover of my magazine, this helped me to attract my target audience as it means the magazine would be easy to spot by a member of my audience as they would recognise the bands or artists and therefore be intrigued to look at the product, hence making them want to read and buy the magazine. Another way I engaged my audience into wanting to buy and read my magazine is by putting enticing offers and competitions on the front cover, consequently encouraging them to want the magazine.

 

Who would be the audience for my media product?

Evaluation

The type of magazine I created is a music magazine. All magazines have a target audience whether it is a niche audience, small, or a mass audience, which is big. The genre of music that my magazine features and promotes is ‘indie rock’.As my magazine is focused on and all about indie rock music, this therefore makes the target audience for my magazine everyone who likes indie rock music. In my previous research before making and designing my magazine I found that the main and typical age range of this target audience are people aged 16-30. My target audience is also everyone who has a strong interest and like for this genre of music. I have decided that the target audience for my magazine is a niche audience as although the popularity of indie rock music has risen over the past few years it is still considered an alternative genre of music.
 

What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?

Evaluation

My media product is a niche magazine that could be distributed by Bauer because they are an institution that distribute a range of mainstream and niche magazines. My magazine will be sold in mainstream outlets such as supermarkets and newsagents because it is suitable to be sold in mainstream shops.

 

How does my media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation

The intended audience for my magazine is young adults and people ages 16-30 who enjoy the indie rock genre of music. The NRS social grade of my audience is E to C2. Therefore my magazine is priced at £2 so my targetted social group can afford it as some of my target audience are not earning a wage and some will not be earning a very high wage. Referring back to the social identity theory my audience will aspire to be the people featured in the magazine.

In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation

I think that my magazine conforms the conventions of real, currently existing media products and follows the conventions of typical magazines. My media product does this because it follows the same looks, the same layout and the same style of a typical magazine. For example a main background image, the masthead at the top of the page and coverlines mostly down the left side of the page.
 

Final Pieces

My Final Pieces

These are the final pieces for my magazine 'Generation' including, the front cover, the contents page and the double page spread.

Front cover

 

 

Contents page

 

 

Double page spread

Drafts

Double page spread

1st draft

This is what my first draft looked like for the double page spread for my magazine. However I made another design that I preferred as I felt like the other design fitted the theme and genre of my magazine more and would appeal more to my target audience. In the second design I changed the fonts, layouts and colours to make it fit the genre of my magazine better.

2nd draft

This is my second draft before I added the text of my article.
 

3rd draft

This is my third draft with the text for my interview completed.
 

4th draft

This is my final draft and the completed design.

Contents page

1st draft

My first draft shows that my contents page follows the typical layout of a contents page in a magazine.
 

2nd draft

In my second draft I changed the layout of my contents page as I think it looks better and more appealing.

3rd draft

From my first draft to my final design I have changed the fonts on the page to make them more readable and to suit the theme and genre of my magazine better.

Front cover

1st draft

My first draft shows the layout of my magazine front cover and shows that I have been testing different fonts and which ones look better on my magazine front cover.

2nd draft

My final draft shows the completed coverlines that I have chosen and the fonts that I chose that stood out and suited the cover best.

Fonts

These are the fonts I found online and downloaded to use for my work. I asked some people who fit my target audience to rate the fonts and tell me which ones they liked best. The results show that font number one is the overall favourite so I plan to use this font on my masthead. Font number two and three were also popular choices so I plan on using these fonts somewhere in my magazine as well. I think all these fonts suit the theme and genre of my magazine and this is why I chose them as my top five.

Photo Edits

Annotated double page spreads

 

Annotated contents pages



Annotated front covers

Audience uses and gratifications

Audience uses and gratifications

The target audience of my magazine will want to read my magazine for escapism, this is to get away from real life for a while and they will use my magazine to do this. People will read my magazine as a form of entertainment, they will be entertained by reading about the things they enjoy and have an interest in that are in my magazine. They will read my magazine to gain information, my magazine will include a lot of information on things including music, bands and music events.

Defining your audience

Recommended conventions as a result of questionnaire

Recommended conventions as a result of questionnaire

In the results of my questionnaire I found out what my target audience want to see in a magazine. My magazine is going to cost between £1.50 and £2 as this was what the majority of people said they would pay for the magazine in my questionnaire with 42.11% of people choosing this option. If I charged more than this then I risk my target audience not being able to afford, or be willing to pay this much for my magazine.

I asked my audience which colour scheme they would prefer for the magazine and the options were black and red, red, white and blue, black and blue or blue and red. The colour scheme I will have for my magazine will be either red and black or red, black and blue because these were the top two choices in the questionnaire results.

I have decided that my magazine will be released monthly as this was the most chosen option and if it was released weekly or fortnightly this could be too often and my audience might not be able to afford to buy it this often and therefore I would lose money and customers. A lot of magazines of the same music genre are also released monthly.

In my questionnaire I found that the most popular magazines that are read in the rock genre are ‘The Rolling Stone’, ‘Classic Rock’,

Out of all the people who took my questionnaire there were more females than males. This suggests that slightly more females will be reading my magazine than males. However this means I still need my magazine to appeal to both male and female and therefore include things that relate to both genders.

I need to ensure my magazine is appealing and appropriate for a range of different ages as people as young as 15 and people 22 years plus could be reading my magazine. I will do this by providing articles that appeal to everyone or different age groups.

Hobbies and interests

In the questionnaire results it was clear that information of music was more important than celebrities in a magazine. Therefore I will include lots of information about different bands and band members in the rock genre and news about the music genre and only include some news about celebrities.

I found out what my target audience think is the most important feature in a music magazine. The most popular choice was the images on the front cover. This shows that it’s the images on the front cover that attract people most and means I will choose the best images for my front cover. The other popular choices were the cover lines, the colour scheme, the articles and the background image. This means that I will choose the colour scheme that got the majority vote in my questionnaire and I will choose cover lines and include articles that will appeal to my target audience and that they will have a strong interest in. The option that was least popular was the masthead, although this was an unpopular choice I will still need to choose a name for the magazine that sounds good and professional.

There are lots of bands in the rock genre that my target audience like that I could include in my magazine. Some of the bands that were given in my questionnaire are The Arctic Monkeys, The Wombats, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Vaccines, Blink 182, 30 Seconds To Mars and Guns N Roses. I know that my target audience like these bands and will want to read about them in the magazine so I will therefore choose some to have in my magazine.