2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
FRONT COVER Follows the rule My outlined masthead with a
of thirds dark drop shadow contrasts
with the white font colour.
This is a serif font.
Consistent font
colour contrasts
with the blue
background of Bright flash at the top of the
the photo. magazine, in a star shape,
looks different and stands out to
the consumers
Main image
Sans Serif
Font
Cover lines
San serif font with a drop
shadow, bevel and emboss
and a stroke
Issue Date
Main Cover
Line that
anchors the
main image
Barcode at the bottom, it is the least
Price important
3. Similarities
• In my music magazine I have stuck to the same codes and conventions that I have established in my
research in any music magazine. Most of the mastheads that I have researched stretch across the page of
the magazine whilst some like to be on the left hand side. I have decided that the masthead would be more
recognisable if I had it stretched across my magazine.
Also the colours for the
magazine is quite simple and
plain, contrasting the
background and the main
image, therefore making it
stand out.
In addition, there are three
articles on each side of the rule
of thirds, keeping it
straightforward and uncluttered.
Also the emphasis on certain
words using a different font
making them eye catching, “ Lily
Allen Dodd” and “20” both are an
example of this.
Compared to the magazine on the right hand side,
I have also added a stroke of pink and a drop shadow which influenced me to create a similar magazine,
of purple to highlight the name. Also in my research there are some similarities. One of them is the rule
most of the front covers has one block coloured of 3 that has been applied to both magazines. The
background and this is what I decided to incorporate in rule of 3 creates a neat and tidy magazine, one
my music magazine. that is instantly easy to read.
4. Differences
There are some differences that I have made to challenge the conventions of a front cover.
The bright flash that I have added
entices customers to buy the
magazine. However, flashes are not
always placed on magazines. The
reason that I have placed a flash in
my music magazine is to add some
colour into my magazine, as there
are only the white font and the blue
background.
Another difference is the barcode,
price and issue date; all of these are
at the bottom right hand corner in
my music magazine, I had a difficult
The dark drop shadow that I
decision on where to place it
have added so that it brings
because in my research the
out the masthead so it is
barcode, price and issue date all
visually noticeable.
vary in each issue of each
magazine.
5. CONTENTS PAGE Clear contents
masthead spreads
Sub titles on the out across the page
contents page so that it to make it noticeable
is clear for the readers to
come across the article
that they want.
Different photos on
the right relate to
other articles inside
my music
magazine. These
are indicated by
Page references
page references so
the articles are
easy to find.
The bright blue sans
serif font to contrast
with the white
background and the
main image. Page number
Main Image in the middle of the page to show
the reader that the person in the image is the
main “talk” of this music magazine.
6. Similarities Both of the mastheads are spread
across the top of the page making it
clear for the audience to spot.
Both of these magazines
have sub titles for the
articles to go under, this
makes it apparent to the
reader.
In my music magazine, I
decided to incorporate
this similar layout to the
right using a main image
in the middle of the page
because it makes the
page very eye-catching.
Another similarity is the
different photos on the
right hand side to show
that there are other articles
in the magazine.
On the pictures they have a page reference,
this makes it easier for the reader to find that
specific article following the codes and
conventions for any magazine.
7. Differences
There are some differences that I have made to challenge the conventions of my contents page.
Page reference in a
serif font makes it
straightforward for the
readers to find the
exact page for the
article that they need.
Page number at the
bottom right hand
corner to show that the
music magazine is
organised and it is a lot
more accessible for the
consumers.
8. Magazine
Double Page Spread logo in the Article Headline,
Drop Capital article serif font
Polaroids
Introduction
to the
interview
Main Image
fills ¾ of the
page
Q and As
format
Names in different Page number
Matched up the two colours to show
background colours whose talking
9. Large bold sans serif headline
Similarities so that the readers are able to
find the article even when
they flicked through the
magazine.
The article is in
columns so that it
makes it easier for
the reader to read
instead of one big
paragraph, also
Drop Capital shows
splitting it into
that it is a start of
columns fill the
the article and it
spaces of the
establishes the
magazine.
convention
Page numbers at the bottom
corners of each page to
represent the page number
which makes it simple for the
The main image fills up ½ readers to an article
of the double page spread
which instantly grabs the
attention of the reader, and
the blue background
connotes peace, freedom
and power relating to the
how they wrote their song.
10. Differences
Colourful page
number that
stands out
from other
page numbers.
I have decided to include Polaroids so that the article looks fun and
interesting by adding a bit of colour to the back ground of the Polaroids.
This also relates to the genre of pop because most of the pop
magazines that I have researched have a very colourful magazine even
in the articles.
11. 2. How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
The representation of my music magazine are
mainstreamers who listen to the majority of
music that are on the radio, TV programmes
etc. This would be pop, R&B and rock as
shown in my questionnaire results after they
were collated together.
I have also incorporated different ethnicities
and race in my images to show an unbiased
representation of a particular social group and What m usic people listen to?
to associate egalitarian of the music industry.
pop
R&B
Hip Hop
Grime
Dance
Elect ro
Rock
Heavy Met al
Classical
Count ry
Ot her
12. In addition, although my music magazine is
aimed for guys and girls, it is particularly in
favour for the girls as all my images are
girls, there is no representation of any guys
at all, and this is a problem because there
are the same amount of boys as there are
girls so that is 50% of the audience that
will not buy this magazine. Also the pink
stroke and purple drop shadow for the
name Lily Allen-Dodd does not help the
fact that the magazine is for both genders
even though it is a girl’s name.
Furthermore, the background of my
music magazine is blue/purple which
also suggests that the target audience
is aimed for girls and this does not
connote the target audience that was
originally intended. However the
magazine does portray the pop and
R&B genre because of the smiley
images of the two girls posing which
relates to the mood of the songs in both
Pop and R&B.
13. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
For my music magazine I would like Bauer because the IPC company does not publish many music
magazines. The only music magazine they have done is NME, although that was a big hit in the 50s.
So in terms of a big hit, IPC have done very well with their NME magazine. On the other hand Bauer
has a broad media variety which ranges from magazine to radio to TV and to their own independent
websites.
http://www.ipcmedia.com/ http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/
14. IPC OR BAUER ????
Some of the well known music
magazines from Bauer are Q, Kerrang,
Mojo, Empire and Heat. These
magazines are very well known around
the Uk, Kerrang had the highest
circulation to date of 85,377 in July to
December 2006..On the other hand
NME’s circulation was 33,875, down
17.3% year on year . In addition, Bauer
have been the top 3 with their music
magazines , Empire, Mojo and Q in
2010 as shown on the picture, with NME
in 9th place which is gradually
decreasing in their figures, which is why
I prefer Bauer to be my publisher as
they have sustainable numbers. And
more experience dealing with music
magazines.
15. 4. Who would the audience be for your media
product?
My target audience is for both males and females aged around 11 – 17 years old. I have targeted
young teenagers because the majority of them are “mainstreamers” and they spend most of their
time listening to music whether its via the radio, TV or internet. On some occasions teenagers
want to buy a music magazine because it is colourful or for the free poster of their favourite
band/artist. This is why I have taken this idea and put it in my own music magazine which
matches with the codes and conventions of a professional music magazine. I think this should be
aimed at all teenagers from any social class A,B,C1,C2,D,E, however, on the whole teenagers
who are from B,C1,C2,D are the most likely to buy my music magazine.
The profile of a teenager who
is most likely to buy my music
magazine is:
Favourite Bands: N-Dubz,
Justin Bieber, Take That,
Jessie J, Rihanna.
Favourite TV Programmes:
Horrible Histories, Big Bang
Theory, CSI,
Hobbies and Interests:
Football, Basketball, Hockey,
Drums, Electric Guitar, Cycling
Education: School
16. 5. How did you attract/address your audience?
In my music magazine, there are a variety of fonts, colours and
images which appeal and keep the reader interested in my magazine.
All of these bright colours and fonts appeal to my audience as this is
how a pop or R&B music magazine would attract their audience as all
of these colours would make the magazine less sophisticated giving it
an informal tenor. One of the main things that catches the eye of an
audience is the main image, the masthead and any flashes.
17. The sans serif font and serif
font was used in the front The front cover isn’t
cover , which highlighted both cluttering the blue Whilst the yellow flash
the Pop and R&B genre background so that the instantly grabs their
because the font gives an readers are able to access attention because yellow
impression of what type of it easily. The colour blue is associated with
music magazine it is or how connotes peace and happiness, energy and
formal or informal the tenor for calmness which gives the intellect.
the magazine is which leads reader time to read article
to what audience the magazine headlines.
is aimed at.
18. This masthead is
bright blue at the
top of the page so These range of
it makes it stand pictures make it
out to the reader visual for the
readers and it
attracts them
because the
teenagers would
rather look at the
pictures than the
writing itself.
19. The artists names
that are highlighted
show the importance
that they are being
featured on a double
page spread article.
Columns make it easy for
the reader to read. Also
the article is in a Q and A
format which makes the
reader feel as those they
are in that interview. The
highlighted names shows
who is talking so the
reader doesn’t get
confused between the two
These canted Polaroids make the article a lot more fun and
artists. The questions are
exciting for the reader to read. Pictures like these are
in a different colour to
important as it automatically captures the awareness of the
demonstrate the
reader making them concentrate when reading the article as
difference from the
they will be able to follow what is happening.
answer.
20. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
21. I have used Adobe In Design and Photoshop to create my music magazine. For my front cover, I used Photoshop. It was fairly
easy to use, once you got used to it. When I started my music magazine, I had an original plan of how I wanted my music
magazine to look like. When using these programs, I have learnt a great deal producing my music magazine. These are some of
the techniques that I have learnt in Photoshop.
1
In these 2 photos I have learnt to use Drop Shadow with an
additional angle to the shadow for example in my masthead it
is 29 degrees, the shadow would edge left. I can also change
the colour of the shadow and the opacity to make the shadow 2
darker or lighter depending on how I would like the masthead
to be. With the “Lily Allen-Dodd” text, I have used a Bevel
and Emboss, and a stroke, I have used these two because I
wanted the outline of the word in pink, so I have clicked on
Inner Bevel so that the whole word is individually outlined in
pink. The stroke allows me to choose the colour I want for the
outline of the word. This looked too plain so I decided to add
a purple drop shadow to bring out the name.
22. Original Image From the original image, I have edited the photo so it looked
more professional for my music magazine. I did this by adjusting
the levels on the photo, making the photo brighter by adjusting
the red/green/blue input level. I have also flipped the image
because the articles fit in better with the guitar neck on the left,
so I flipped the canvas horizontally.
23. Here on the left is
the text icon, it’s
what I use to write
my article headlines
On the right after I have filled in my text in
the text box I then can change the font,
size, colour and softness of the letters. So
with my articles on the front cover, I
decided to the font should be Arial Rounded
Bold, size of 34, softness of the letters
“smooth” and the colour is white as it a
unisex colour and it contrasts with the blue
background
24. From the previous slide,
this is another way that I
could change the font,
colour and size. It also
allows me to underline
words, make them bold so
they stand out.
25. And this is my final copy of my Front Cover music magazine
26. For my contents page, I did most of it on Adobe In Design, In Design was very different to
Photoshop and needed some expert advice along the way. Along the process of making my
contents, I discovered a quick and simple way of importing the images that I wanted, the size
that I wanted to. This saved me a lot of time, instead of decreasing the size of the picture by
going to one of the corners to keep shrinking it by using the mouse.
With this rectangle tool, I simply
draw a square box, go to file,
import, click on the photo I want
and when it opens up, you
won’t be able to see the photo
as it is too large to fit in the
box, so you right click, scroll
down to fitting and then you
choose fit content to frame. The
box that you have draw
depends on how the picture will
be fitted. I had to try a few
times before I could find the
correct box for my photo so
they wouldn’t look squished or
stretched in any way.
I have used this rectangle tool for the 3 square
photos on the right hand side.
27. The screenshot on the left
shows the features of
editing text. This is the
same as Photoshop,
which was one of the
methods I found that was
simple as easy to use.
The screenshot on the right shows
the features of how to change the
text colour. This was harder to use
than Photoshop because you had
to highlight the text, click on
swatches, make sure the T box
was on top otherwise it wouldn’t
change the colour of the text and
then click on the colour that you
wanted. However, if the colour
wasn’t in the swatches panel you
have to go to colour, click on the
colour you wanted than click add
to swatches, which was quite
confusing compared to Photoshop.
28. For the contents page, I wanted a image of an artist down the middle of the contents page as inspired by
the Paramore Christmas Billboard edition. This was not as simple as I thought. Firstly in order to create
my main image on my contents page, I had to capture a person, in this case, Lily, on a plain background
or a blue screen. I decided to use the blue screen as the contrast of the blue background and the product
stood out, therefore I was able to use the whole image without editing for the whole of my music
magazine as shown in my front cover, contents and double page spread.
After I decided what image I was going
to use, I had to edited it in Photoshop.
Firstly I had to crop my photo, so it
would be easier to edit.
29. After cropping the photo, I
then had to use the magic
wand tool to crop out the
only part of the image I
wanted which was Lily and
the guitar. I had to right
click and as soon as I
clicked on the image, most
of Lily and the guitar was
highlighted however there
were some bits that the
magic wand missed out. So
I then had to press Shift
and continue clicking on
the blue bits until 98% of it
had been highlighted. I
then press delete to
remove any traces of the
blue that was highlighted.
30. This was not finished as there were still bits of blue still
surrounding the image. I had to then use the Polygonal
Lasso tool. By using this tool, it allowed me to cut out
all the blue bits that surrounded Lily.
This is the
edited version This is the one that I used for my
of the original contents page, as you can see I
photo. have put a transparent
background so that my texts are
able to overlap the image.
31. This is my final version of my contents page that I
have created on Adobe InDesign.
32. ¶
In my double page spread I have
inserted columns to my article to
follow the codes and conventions of
a music magazine. To do this I had
to click into the text, click the ¶ on
the top left and then increase the
number of columns.
33. To make the Drop
Capital for the
introduction of the
article, I highlighted
the “I” and clicked on
paragraph and the
drop cap number of
lines, as seen in the
screenshot.
With the Polaroids, I used a
website called Picnik to
create the Polaroid effect and
adding a coloured
background to create a more
interesting double page
spread.
34. In the introduction of the article, there are 2 logos
of “Mixed”. I have included the logo as it reminds
the reader of what magazine they are reading.
When I included this, I knew I could get the logo
from my masthead on the front cover, however
when I placed it into the article, the background
was not the same. So I had go to Photoshop, print-
screen the masthead and paste it as an new
image. I then made it transparent by decreasing
the opacity level and I was then able to copy and
paste it back into my article.
35. This is the final adaptation of my double page spread.
36. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to
the full product?
I have learnt a great deal from when I
started my preliminary task. One of
the many things that I have learnt is
the plain background when you take
an image. It makes everything a lot
easier, especially when you choose
the colours for your front cover. In
my preliminary task, I did not use a
plain background which made things
very difficult as I wasn’t able to co-
ordinate the colours with the
background and I had trouble placing
the article headlines. As you can see
from the picture on the right, the
colour of the text contrasts with the
background making it unclear for the
reader. There are to many colours in
the background in my preliminary
magazine. Whilst with my music
magazine, I used a blue screen, so I
was able to quickly choose the
colours I wanted for my article
headlines and the colours theme
used for the rest of the magazine.
37. Similarities
White text
Underlined
text to show
importance
Barcode in
the same
position
38. Differences
Masthead spread
across the page, it
looks more
noticeable
Added a flash to
brighten the
magazine and to
draw attention to
consumers
Only used one
colour for the text
to keep it plain, not
over complicate it.
No header or footer, to
keep music magazine
simple Decided to put the main article at the bottom so
it doesn’t disturb the main image, still anchoring
the image. I am able to make the name stand
out at the bottom with any size and font.
39. Summary of what I’ve learnt
In my old preliminary task, the one
major thing that I forgot to add in my
contents page was the headlines for
the articles, making it look really
messy and unorganised. However, I
did learn from my mistake and
categorised my articles with
headlines. In my music magazine, I
looks a lot more organised than the
preliminary contents. The layout on
the right looks very neat and tidy
because it follows the rule of thirds,
but the one on the left doesn’t, and it
rotated images on the left doesn’t
help with the layout, it makes
everything very messy. The pictures
on the right contents were planned, I
had an idea of what pictures and
what poses I wanted in my music
magazine, however, on the left, I just
took anything and anyone, without
having much thought put into it.
40. Similarities
Contents is
spread out
across the page,
and both colours
match with the
colour scheme
I have kept the
same style for
the page
reference but
outlined in a
different colour
Page
reference
41. Differences
The individual gap
between each letter
is less wider on the
right.
Headlines
Main Image in the
centre, relate to
front cover
Images on left
rotated, looks
messy, on right less
means neater.
Stylised page
references to add
significance
42. In my preliminary task,
I did not create a
double page article, so
I was anxious of what
and how I will produce
in my music
magazine. I really had
to think and plan out
an idea before making
my music magazine.
One thing, I did not
want to do was to dive
straight in, not
knowing what I was
doing.
Firstly, I had to research many double page articles to get some inspiration of
what my magazine would look like. After, I had to plan how to layout my music
magazine. From the pictures that I had already taken of Lily and Tembi, I had an
idea that it wanted Polaroids to make it look fun and quirky.
43. But this meant deciding what photos to put in the Polaroids. I took more photos than I
needed so choose the best ones. Originally I was just going to fit one main image of Lily
and Tembi, but when I put it in, they looked very stretched out, so when I decreased the
image that’s when I went onto Picnik and made colourful Polaroids to add next to my
main image.
From the images, I instantly knew that they were solo artists and I made a quick
decision that Tembi was going to feature in Lily’s new single. The introduction that I
wrote was more than intended, but that didn’t bother me. The columns, I initially
planned for 4 columns, but it looked to squashed together and didn’t look very tidy, so I
opted for 3 instead, which was a better option.
44. Audience Feedback on my
music magazine
This is my questionnaire
that I got 20 people to fill
out, 10 boys and 10 girls.
45. Looking at the results for the
questionnaire, the majority of
people thought that this magazine
is looked quite professional with
the majority scoring my music
magazine a 6/10. I am happy as
no one thought of the music
magazine as really professional or
really bad.
The majority of the people would
like to buy my music magazine,
which is a positive however some
of the guys wouldn’t because it
seemed too girly. This means that
I didn’t achieve my target audience
in terms of gender.
46. When I got the results back for this
question, the age was quite
accurate. Some people thought
that the magazine was younger
than I intentionally planned. From
the graph, it shows that people
thought it was aimed for an
younger audience than late teens.
These results show that the genre
for my music magazine is quite
precise with the common result of
Pop. This is want I intended so this
is a good indication that my
magazine is for mainstream fans
who listen to pop and R&B.
47. This is another one of the
important questions that was being
asked. From the questionnaire, 17
people out of 20 said that they
thought my magazine was for a
female audience only. This is
worrying, as it was for both
genders. Only 3 people said it was
for both females and males. This
is a negative representation for my
magazine as my target audience
for gender has not been achieved.
For any successful magazine, you
would have to meet all criteria's
and I did not do this, therefore it
would not be at a high professional
standard and my magazine would
not get published.
48. Conclusion
Overall I feel that I have learnt and improvement massively compared
to what I have achieved in my preliminary task. I think my music
magazine looks more professional now but there are still some areas
that I need to improve. The questionnaire results were not as
accurate as I only surveyed 20 people, so the outcome would vary if I
chose a larger group to survey. The audience feedback was
significant as I now know what to change if I were to publish my music
magazine to Bauer.
