2. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
o Before I designed and created my magazine, I researched and looked at different examples of music magazines, which gave
me inspiration for my own. I noticed that there are various key things to put on the front covers, contents page and double
page spreads of music magazines as well as suitable content throughout.
o For the front cover I had to include a central image, masthead, coverlines, and barcode. For the contents page I had to
include images of the content of the magazine, list out the content of the magazine with page numbers as well as having
the usual masthead and subheadings. For my double page spread I had to include a large image to go with the text of the
article, a masthead that would catch the readers eye and make them want to read the article. I also included page numbers
and the title of the magazine at the bottom of the page, as when I was researching double page spreads this was something
I noticed was used a lot.
o With my music magazine I created my own house style by using the same colours, background and font throughout, this
helped it to look more like a music magazine. My music magazine had to include what the audience wanted, which in my
case, was updates on the UK top 40, information on new artists, artists to look out for and gossip on music stars.
3. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?
o My magazine is aimed at young girls, mainly teenagers ranging from 11-17. This is why I have included more
images than text, as the majority of teenagers would be put off if they saw a lot of text. Also the text that is
included in my magazine is simple and informal to resemble teenage language.
o All of my images are of young females to emphasise that the magazine is about and for young girls. The images I
have used connote a relaxed atmosphere and aren’t too formal as if the magazine looked to formal I think it would
put off my target audience, as they are young and so are more informal.
o I think I have represented my target audience in a stereotypical way, which maintains a dominant ideology because
I have used colours that would appeal to young girls as well as images and content that my target audience will find
appealing, also as part of my content I said I was going to include a part with the latest fashion looks and trends
as well as hair and make-up tips because this is what typical young girls like to read about.
4. WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE
YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?
o My initial thought when I had to think about what institution to publish my magazine was
Bauer Media because it has over 80 influential media brands and reaches over 19 million
people. However they publish magazines like Smash Hits who may be rivals for my music
magazine “Pop Vibe” as they are a similar genre to my magazine and have a similar target
audience too.
o Therefore I have decided that a media institution like IPC Media would be the best to publish
and distribute my magazine, as although they publish music magazines such as NME they are
a different genre to my magazine and target a different type of audience to my magazine.
Therefore there is a gap in the market for my magazine.
5. WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT?
o The target audience for my magazine is young girls, mainly teenagers ranging from 11-17 years old.
Parents of the readers will fall into the C1/C2 socioeconomic grouping as the majority of readers will by
in full time education and therefore have little or no income of their own, so they often have to rely on
their parents for finance.
o The average reader of Pop Vibe will be confident in most aspects of life but may have to ask others for
advice for some aspects. They will enjoy a range of activities whether it’s shopping or socialising with
friends. They will be bright and want to be bold and sassy to get the most out of life .
o
o The girls that the magazine is aimed at will shop at places like New Look, H&M, River Island and
Topshop and they shall eat at places like McDonalds and Subway. The readers will mainly listen to pop
music on their iPod and are willing to listen to new artists.
6. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR
AUDIENCE?
o I attracted my audience by the use of colour, layout and image choice on my front cover as well as the
house style throughout my pages. The colour scheme I used was pink, blue and purple; I used these
colours to appeal to my target audience, as they are quite girly colours.
o Also by using a young teenage girl as the central image on the cover of the magazine, this shows that the
magazine is aimed at adolescent girls. The font I used for the mastheads is quite young, funky and also
quite girly to appeal to my target audience, it is also quite bold to catch people’s eye. On the whole my
front cover looks quite modern to appeal to the younger people and my target audience.
7. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES
FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS
PRODUCT?
o I created most of my work using the Apple Macs at college but I also used my Samsung R530 laptop to do
any work at home. I also used a SanDisk memory stick to transfer any work that I did on my laptop to the
Apple Macs and vice versa.
o I used a canon eos 1000d camera to take all of my photos. I used Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign
to create my front cover, contents page and double page spread. In addition to this I created a blog
account using Blogger to post all of my research and planning activities as well as my final magazine and
evaluation.
o As well as this I also used Microsoft Power Point to create my presentations and then I uploaded them
onto Slideshare, and then I embedded them onto my blog.
o Overall I have learnt a lot about different programmes throughout this project, before creating my
magazine I had never used Blogger or Slideshare before and I wasn’t very familiar with Adobe Photoshop
or Adobe InDesign either. However I do feel a lot more confident in using these programmes now.
8. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU
FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO
THE FULL PRODUCT?
o Since creating my college magazine my knowledge of using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign has
increased significantly, this has been shown by my designs for my music magazine as I used more
complex designs. For example I now know how to make a block of colour look more interesting and
exciting by adding different effects such as a gradient or texture to it .
o On the whole my understanding of using the software that we used throughout this project has improved
greatly because at the start I had never used Adobe Photoshop and I had never heard of Slideshare,
Blogger or Adobe InDesign and now I have designed and produced a quite professional looking
magazine using all this software.
Prelim task Main Task Prelim task Main Task
