2. I have decided to use Q magazine for my research.
I have chosen this magazine because I think it is
very successful and it suits the genre of my
magazine, Indie Pop.
Q is a magazine which is published monthly in
the United Kingdom. Its first issue was in 1986
and its publisher is Bauer Media Group. The
language is English and since June 2007 it has
had a circulation of 130,179.
Q was known for its higher standards of
photography and printing
The magazine has many review sections such
as, new releases , film and live concert reviews,
as well as radio and television reviews. It uses a
star rating system from one to five stars.
Much of the magazine is devoted to interviews
with popular musical artists.
The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It
has created many, ranging from "The 100
Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100
Greatest' Lists". The most famous of these is the
classic "50 bands to see before you die"

3. Also, I have decided to
use NME for my research
as I also think this is a
successful magazine and
suits the genre of my
magazine, indie pop.
NME, formally known as
The New Musical Express is
a popular music
magazine which is
published weekly since
the 7th March 1952. NME
has a circulation of 40.
948 since June 2009

4. Bauer media group, a large
German publishing company
based in Hamburg was
founded in 1875 and has been
privately owned and under
management by the Bauer
family. Bauer also operates in
15 countries worldwide.
Bauer produces and distributes
many popular magazines such
as Q , Mojo and Kerrang!
Worldwide circulation of Bauer
Media Group's magazine titles
amount to 38 million magazines
a week

5. IPC Media,
formerly known as
International
Publishing
Company UK Ltd is
one of the leading
magazine and
digital publishers in
the United
Kingdom

6. Extremely strong and eye
catching images
Bright, strong, eye catching
colours
Colour co-coordinated
Busy front cover
Bold text
Often a picture of an
artist/celebrity/band etc
Masthead
Taglines
Left third
Cover lines
Bar codes
Image bleed
Eye catching cover lines
Splashes

7. To look for inspiration for my front cover to
my music magazine I have researched
into Q magazine. I have chosen Q over
NME magazine as I particularly like their
style and would like to include similar
conventions into my own work.
I think the image used on the cover is very
effective. The images colours works well
with the rest of the cover. The image also
portrays women as being, sexy, confident
and fully in control of themselves. It
portrays this because she is looking
directly at the camera, licking her lips and
is wearing dark eye make up and red
lipstick. Also the clenched fist suggests a
more masculine role. I want my magazine
to also portray this view on women

8. This image shows a magazine front
cover of a past issue of “More”
magazine, a women's fashion,
beauty and celebrity gossip. As my
magazine is aimed at women I
need to include particular
conventions of other women's
magazine, as I understand that
women are attracted to “pretty”
and “eye catching” objects and
are more likely to pick up a
magazine which is visually pleasant.
The left third of this magazine
makes this magazine very
recognisable, due to the layering of
coloured rectangles, therefore, I
would like to include this into my
own magazine

9. Here is a contents page of a
past Q magazine along with
the front cover.
I think this contents page is
very effective and works very
well with the front cover.
It works well because,
• a section of the contents page includes the
background of the front cover. This helps the
reader relate the two pages together as they
have similarities
• the same colour scheme is used on the front
cover as well as the contents. In this case its,
black, blue, white and small parts of red.
Personally I think this contents page could be
improved by changing the colour of the Q on the
contents page to red so it matches the cover and
helps the audience to relate even more.

10. For my double feature page I would
like to include a large “C” on the left
page. When writing my own feature I
plan to not include as much writing as
the picture shown here. I have chosen
to do this because I believe it will keep
the reader more interested
Also, I plan to use
other forms of the
layout such as the
“cheryl COLE” at the
top of the image
This picture to the left shows
the outcome of my feature
after planning

11. I plan that the final outcome of my
music magazine will relate to existing
magazines such as Q magazine. My
magazine will use certain
conventions of Q such as the style,
layouts and colours and will share the
genre of the music and the way in
which it is presented to their
audience.
Although, my music magazine will
challenge other magazines on the
market, and forms of conventions of
Q, as my magazine is a music
magazine targeted at women. To
help make my magazine appeal to
women I have researched women's
weekly magazines such as More. This
has not really been done before by
other magazines so I feel that there is
a gap in the market.

12. I plan that my magazine will
represent young women
aged 17 – 25.
I want the representations in
my magazine to be positive
unlike many representations
of young women in media
today.
My magazine will represent
women as being strong,
independent, sexy and
confident. I will portray this
view with pictures throughout
the magazine and
quotations in my feature.

13. As I am using Q magazine
for inspiration I have
looked into what media
institution publishes them,
The Bauer Media Group.
As my magazine will have
many similar conventions
of Q magazine I am pretty
confident that Bauer
Media Group will be
interested in distributing
my magazine.

14. My new music
magazine will be aimed
at women aged 17 – 25
who enjoy the music
Indie-Pop. also, young
women who enjoy
reading features on
female Indie-Pop artists
who represent women
with a positive outlook.

15. I will attract my audience visually by using bright colours,
attractive pictures and bold lettering throughout the
magazine.
I will also make sure that colours are consistent throughout
my magazine.
On my front cover I will have a strong, eye catching picture
of my model.
On the contents page I will keep the writing as simple as I
can and use various pictures to keep my audience’s interest.
On my feature page I will include a large picture and not too
much writing so I can interest the reader as best as I can.
After doing all this, I am sure that my target audience will be
attracted to this magazine and it will appeal to them.

16. The first thing I had to decide on was the name of my magazine and I decided to call it
Supremacy. I have chosen this name because it is aimed at mainly women who are
strong, independent and could be described as feminists and I want them to feel they
have an importance.
Secondly, I had to decide if my magazine was going to be sold nationally or global. I have
chosen it to be national so it will only include British bands, artists and also I think it will be
easier to advertise and make it more appealing to British people as I understand the British
culture very well
Next, I had to decide on the price I was going to sell my magazine at. From looking at
other professional music magazines I can the prices range from around £2 to £6. I have
chosen to sell my magazine at the price of £2.90. I have chosen this price as I think it is a
reasonable price and this is a very important factor that will influence people into buying
my magazine.
Afterwards, I created a draft of my front cover, which outlined how my cover was going
to be set out. I decided from the start that the colours of my magazine were going to be
red, white and black. Throughout the process of making my magazine I changed many
things and felt that my final outcome was very much improved

17. I propose to produce the magazine called Supremacy, a new Indie Pop
Magazine, published monthly and aimed at young women aged 17-25 who
enjoy reading about strong, independent women.
My magazine will be published by Bauer Media Group as they publish similar
magazines to mine such as Q.
My magazine will represent women as being confident and sexy and fully in
control of themselves. This could represent a social group of feminism.
I will attract my target audience by using strong, attractive images and strong,
bold colours. The price of my magazine will be £2.90 as I believe this is a
reasonable price for my magazine. My magazine will have 174 pages and will
have a width of 220mm and a length of 285mm.
The style of my magazine will be informal and fun. I have chosen this style
because it is aimed at women aged 17-25 and as I am within this age range,
this is what I’d look for in a music magazine.
My product uses similar conventions from Q magazine but in very different
ways as my target audience is more of a niche market to Q’s target audience.
My unique selling point of my magazine is the style of my magazine and the
way it represents women. The media is full of false representations of women
and I feel my magazine will challenge this.

18. Four key characteristics of stereotyping
1. They involve both categorising and an
evaluation of a group being stereotyped.
2. They usually emphasise some easily grasped
features of the group and suggest that these
are the cause of the groups position.
3. The evaluation of the group is often, though
not always, a negative one.
4. Stereotypes often try to insist on absolute
differences and boundaries where the idea
of a spectrum of difference is more
appropriate.

19. Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:
beauty
size/physique
sexuality
emotional dealings
relationships (not much independence or freedom)
Feminism has existed for more than thirty years now and the changes that have
taken place in the roles in western society have been outstanding. Yet
media many negative representations of women remain.
I want my music magazine to represent women as being strong,
independent and more dominant. I want to do this with my magazine as I
feel new, positive portrays of women are needed and also I believe there is a
gap in the market for this kind of product.

20. The image here is from a past Q issue. It includes a feature on Cheryl Cole along with the
contents page and front cover
This double feature page works well because
From looking at all three images I can see that the colour scheme is constant and works very
well. This helps the reader relate this feature with other aspects of the magazine such as the
front cover and contents page
The feature is written in columns and the size of text looks about a size 10 which I think is a
suitable size
• There is quite a lot of writing which is
complimented with a medium sized picture and
also a bigger picture which fills the page. This helps
the feature work as not only are they attractive,
they interest the reader, and make them want to
carry on reading
On the left page of the feature there is a large red
“C” spread across the page. This is used to
represent the name of Cheryl Cole, this works
extremely well because it is red, which is part of
the constant colour scheme used and also it is very
eye catching and decorates the page. A
magazine would not get many people reading
their features if they were dull looking and boring

21. On my front cover I would like to use a mid shot to a close up of my model as
I want my model to be the main focus of the front cover.
My model will look directly into the camera as this gives the audience a
sense of power and suggests confidence
I will take my front cover photos on a plain background either a dark or light
colour as this will also make my model the centre of attention
I will take a number of pictures using flash on and off and then decide which
setting works best
My model will wear heavy make up on the eyes and lips
like the picture shown here.
A mid shot to a close up
Model looking directly into the camera
A plain background either light or dark
Dark eye make up and red lip stick
Day lighting

22. For my feature page I
plan to take one long
shot like the photo on
the left from Q
magazine. I plan to use
a white background
and for my model to
PHOTO FROM Q
stand in a similar pose MAGAZINE
to Cheryl Cole
My own photo on the
right is the outcome of
my plan MY PHOTO

23. For my contents page I
plan to use a variety of
shots such as, close ups,
mid shots and long shots.
Also, I will use different
models in my
photos to
attract my
target audience
even more.
Photos I have taken for contents page

24. I didn’t want to
change the first image
drastically so I decided
to make slight
changes.
Firstly I cropped the
image, cutting out
things that weren't
relevant such as the
plugs and to make it fit
better.
Secondly, I went onto
image, adjustments
This image is for my feature and chose auto levels, This is the photo after being
page and this is how the
image was before making auto contrast and edited in Photoshop and
any changes to it on auto levels this is what I will use in my
Photoshop feature

25. Masthead – the main
headline/title of the magazine.
Including the date and price of
the magazine. The font used on
the masthead is “Lucida
Drop shadow Handwriting”, I chosen this font
gives a more because I think it appeals to
professional women
finnish
The left third – Strapline – this is a smaller
makes the headline which sums up
magazine easy Supremacy magazine.
to recognise in Font is Times
shops
Strong image. Used to
attract my audience.
Also, the model is the
3 smaller images to advertise main focus as she is the
other features in the magazine main feature in the
magazine

26. The red strip going A mix of lower and
down the left of the upper case letters.
page makes it stand Creates a good
out and relates to the effect and attracts
front cover my audience
A variety of different
pictures and models
will make the reader
I decided to include an want to read the
editors letter because I magazine further
think it works well if the
editor themselves speaks
to their audience. It
makes the reader feel An advertisement to try
they have an and persuade people
importance and
into subscribing to
magazine can receive
feedback Supremacy. I have
used this so my
magazine can attract
more customers.

27. Quotations to show the reader what the
person in the feature has said. Also, if the
Head line – shows the
reader reads the quote first, it may interest
reader what or who the
them and make them read further
feature is about.
I decided to use black,
bold writing in lower and
upper case as I think this
really stands out to the
reader, especially on a
white background
Byline – shows the
reader the journalist
who has written the
feature and the
photographer who
has taken the A large, eye-catching
photos The large “C” makes the photo which takes up
feature attractive and will the page makes the
catch the readers eye feature very visually
pleasant

28. After I had printed my final front cover, contents
and feature page I asked 100 women and 100
men aged 17 – 25 what they thought of my
magazine
1. Firstly I asked what target
audience they thought my
magazine was aimed at.
90% said women aged 17 – 25
the other 10% said men aged 17 -
25

29. 2. Secondly I asked the
100 women if they
would buy Supremacy
magazine
85% said “I definitely would
7% said “probably would”
5% said “probably not”
3% said “I definitely wouldn’t” WOMEN

30. Also, I asked what could be done
to improve my magazine.
40% said if I had a wider range of
models in my photos it would
have improved it. The other 60%
said the range worked well as it is
30% percent said my front cover
could of been more busy and
had more cover lines on it. The
other 70% percent said the front
cover was fine how it was

31. Finally, I asked what they liked about my
magazine
95% liked the colour scheme and
thought it was very consistent. The
other 5% thought it should have
been a colour which is more aimed
at young women, such as pink.
90% percent liked the photos I had
on the front cover and said they
were eye catching and very
effective. The other 10% said a
different shot may have worked
better

32. The target audience for my
music magazine is young
women aged 17 to 25 years
old who like the genre of
music, indie, pop. Typically,
other music magazines within
this genre are usually aimed
at the British, white race. My
magazine however is aimed
at British white or black. Also,
women who enjoy reading
features on strong
independent artists which
portray women in a positive
way.

33. When starting AS Media I had no knowledge, or experience with the
program InDesign or Photoshop neither had I worked on producing
a magazine before. I have learnt it takes a great deal of time and
effort to put a magazine together.
I have learnt that with InDesign you can create many different
layouts for your magazine. Indesign has probably helped me the
most because without it I would not be able to of created my
magazine.
I have found Photoshop very useful when editing my photos. I've
learnt that using Photoshop doesn’t mean you have to change your
images drastically. Without it my images would not make any
statement what so ever