The student created a music magazine called "SPIN IT!" as their media product. They researched existing music magazine formats to develop conventions for layout, design elements, and language. The student applied what they learned to create a front cover, content page, double page article spread, and back cover that followed industry standards. Through the process, the student gained skills in using software like Photoshop and technologies like surveys to construct their magazine.

1. Have I used, developed or challenged forms and conventions?
Colours: When we researched existing products I found that all the magazines I researched
had the colour scheme red, black and white. I decided to use the same colour scheme
because it is colours that goes good together and they also stick out.
This are the Front Covers I researched
Layout: I used a mid-shot on my front cover. She is
looking directly in to the camera and therefore she is
looking right at the readers. This gives you the feeling
that she is looking at you and it draws your attention to
the magazine in the store. It is normal for a music
magazine to have the artist or band on the front cover
looking directly in to the camera. When it comes to the
photo, I have used the typical forms for a photo on the
front cover of a music magazine.

2. Masthead
Picture of an artist
Main coverline
Barcode
The conventions you will find on the front cover of a music magazine are a barcode,
website, masthead, a picture of an artist or a band, the date it is published, the price and
the main headlines from the magazine. If you compare my front cover to a real front cover,
you can see that I have used a lot of the same conventions. I highlighted some of the
Conventions by comparing SPIN IT! To NME.

3. Language: I have used the forms from a real
music magazines when it comes to the
language. On a content page it is important to
have sentences that make the readers want
to continue reading the magazine. Like some
real music magazines I have used song names
on the content page. Another thing I did to
make it credible is to use oral and informal
language. I also used quotes from the text
and tried my best to make every line
interesting.
Photos: Another big part of the content page
is the pictures. A magazine usually have
different types of pictures on the content
page. They use different angles, different
settings and they varies between location and
set. I have to photos on my content page. I
have used different angles and they are also
taken in different settings. I have used the
forms when it comes to the photos, but I
could have developed or challenged them
more by making the difference between them
bigger and by maybe having more pictures.

4. I followed the conventions on
the content page by using
page numbers, pictures and
headlines. I also have the
section “Always in SPIN IT!”.
This is a list of articles you
can find in the magazine
every month. By having this
section, I have developed the
conventions. I also followed
the conventions by not
having a page number on the
content page itself.

5. Language: The language
used on an article in a
magazine have to fit the
target group. Because my
audience are teenagers and
young adults I used an
informal and oral language. I
also had it in a question and
answer format. This makes it
easy to read and that really
fits my audience. Therefor I
have used the forms when it
comes to the language on
the double page spread.
Here you
Colour: I have continued the colour scheme can see
how the
from the front cover and the content page
colour
on my double page spread. This gives the scheme
magazine a hole. By using the same colour continues
scheme I have used the forms on my on all
double page spread. pages

6. Picture
Header
Pull quote
Page number
The conventions you have on a double page spread are a pull quote, page number,
header and a picture. A pull quote is an important part of an article because it draws
the attention of the reader to the article and if the pull quote is interesting, the
reader will read the article. Pictures are also a big part of an article and to every
article there are at least one picture. I have used all the conventions for a double page
spread in my magazine.

7. What have you learned about technologies from
the progress of constructing this product?
The Softwares and Hardwares I have used:
Software Hardware
• Word • Camera
• Photo Shop
• MacBook Pro
• Power Point
• Survey Monkey • PC
• PDF • Scanner
• JPEG • Memory stick
• Blogger.com • Magazines
• Blackboard
• SD card
• Twitter
• Web browsers • Card reader

8. What have you learned about
technologies from the process of
constructing this products?
I have learned how to use Photo shop and all the different
thing you can do with photo shop. I have learned how to use a
Mac. From before I only used a PC so it was fun to use a Mac
and to learn the differences between a Mac and a PC. I also
never used Survey Monkey before. Survey Monkey is a very
useful software and something I know I can use in the future. I
also learned how to save a power point as a JPEG so that I
could upload the slides to my blog. I also learned how to use a
scanner and that is something I know I will use in the future.
That I have learned all this new technology is something I
know I will benefit from in the future.

9. Could you have completed your project
without using any technology?
No, I could not have completed this project without the
use of technology. In this project I have used a lot of
technology and a lot of it are software and hardware
you have to use to make the products. The use of
technology also allowed us to do a more detailed job
on a shorter amount of time. The technology also made
it easier to correct our mistakes and it made it easier to
get feedback from the teachers and to correct the
feedback.

10. What pieces of technology could you
have done without?
In this project we used a lot of technology. A lot of them were
essential, but I did not have to use all of them. I could have done it
without Survey Monkey, scanner, memory stick, JPEG and Word.
• Instead of using survey monkey I could have given out
questionnaires or interviewed people. By using survey Monkey I
got more responses and from different people.
• Instead of using a scanner I could have taken pictures of
everything.
• To replace the memory stick I could have used the internet or just
saving it on the computer. This is a bigger risk because if you lose
it, you do not have a backup and have to start all over again.
• To get my work on to my blog I saved everything as a JPEG file
and uploaded it as a picture. I could instead have used Slideshare
or I could have written it directly on to the blog.
• I have used Word a lot in my project but I could have done it
without it. Instead of using word first, I could have written it
directly in Power Point. I chose to use Word because the
spellcheck is better.

11. Which piece of technology could you
not do without?
There are some essentials when it comes to technology in this
project. The essentials are a computer, Photo Shop, blogger.com,
camera and Power Point.
• You could not do this project without a computer. You need it
for the research, the production and for the evaluation. A
computer is the most essential thing for this project.
• To make the final products we used photo Shop. This is a
software I could not have done without. I did not know how
to use it from before, so it was fun to learn how to use it. It is
easy to use and you can do a lot with it.
• Blogger.com is where we hand in our work. This made it easy
for the teachers to comment on our work and to help us
improve it. It also made it easier to correct our work. And it
made it harder to lose all the work.
• You cannot make a music magazine without pictures.
Therefore you need a camera.
• I used Power Point through the hole project. It is easy to save
it as a JPEG file and then upload it to the blog and it is easy to
combine pictures and text.

12. What were the positives of using
technology?
Because we were using this much
technology, we could do more
work in a shorter amount of time.
Therefore we could do a more
thorough work and have more
details. It also made it possible for
the teachers to give us feedback
along the way and it made it easy
for us to correct our work based on
the feedbacks. It also made it
easier for me as a Norwegian to
check my spelling and grammar.
When you use technology it is easy
to take backup.

13. What were the negatives of using
technology?
Even though it is most positive
sides of using technology,
there are also some negative
sides. The first thing is that it is
a lot of distractions. It is easy
to go surfing on the internet
and think that “I’ll do this
later”. This is something you
learn to avoid, but you have to
have some self-control.

14. How does your media
product represent
particular social groups?
My magazine represents teenagers,
both boys and girls, in the age
between 16 and 20. It represents
this age range by using young artists
that this age group listens to.
Because my magazine is a hit list
magazine, it represents a range of
teenagers. The thing they have in
common is their love for music and
that they always have their IPod up
to date with the newest music. My
magazine represents this social
group by having segments like “This
month’s hit list” and “The
newcomer of the month”.

15. The group of people that
listen to the music genre
of my magazine is
dominated by girls but I
have tried to make the
magazine represent both
boys and girls by using
neutral colours and by
having articles that are
neutral when it comes to
genders.
Some examples of
neutral articles

16. Hit list from www.4music.com
The music on the hit lists
depends from which country
you are in. Since this
magazine is supposed to be
an English magazine, I had to
base my article around an
English artist. Since X-Factor
is a big hit in England and a
lot of the contestants make On the 4music.com
it as artists after the
competition, and gets in to chart, 3 of the top 10
the hit lists, I decided to artists are known
make up an former from X-Factor.
contestant and base my
article around her. I think if
this was a Norwegian music
magazine this would not
work because the X-Factor is
not that big in Norway and it
is hard to make it as an artist
after the competition
because the level of the
contestants are not high
enough.

17. Who would be the audience for your
media product?
As a part of
my audience
research I
made this
reader profile.
I based it on
different
media packs
and on the
questionnaire
I made on
survey
monkey.

18. This are the media packs I based my reader profile on.

19. This are the answers to
my questionnaire

20. I still feel that this is the audience for my magazine. It’s boys and girls that listens
to music all day, every day. They always have the latest songs on their IPod and
their always have their IPod with them. A SPIN IT! reader spends a lot of time with
friends listening to music. They barbeque, go to the beach or just relax in the
backyard during the summer and have movie nights, dinners or just relax at home
during the winter, always with music in the background.

21. A typical
SPIN IT!
reader:

22. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and
why?
I think that Bauer Media would
distribute my magazine. Bauer Media
distribute among others Q and Kerrang!,
two magazines that do not focus on one
music genre. Kerrang! focuses on
different genres when it comes to rock
and Q focuses on discovering great
music. Since my magazine do not focus
on one music genre, but focuses on the
hit lists it is a magazine that sticks out
and appeals to a big group of people.
Therefore I think Bauer Media would be
interested in publishing my magazine.

23. Bauer Media is an international media institution with their main
office in Hamburg in Germany. They are offering over 300 music
magazines in 15 different countries. This means they have a global
network and can help me make SPIN IT! an international magazine.

24. How did you attract/address your audience?
Information
There are a lot of
information in my
magazine. Articles like
“the newcomer of the
Examples on month”, “This month’s
informative hit list” and “this
Aricles. month’s concerts” are
all articles that informs
the reader. These
informative articles
attract the readers and
satisfies their need for
information.

25. Entertainment
There is a lot of entertainment in
my magazine and a lot of articles
to dive in to if you need to escape
your real life. Some examples of
this types of articles are
“Professor Green- “Read all about
it””, “Dress like a Rockstar”,
“Exclusive interview with Emma
M” and “Adele about “The one
and only””. You can also escape
reality by listening to music and
SPIN IT! Are full of
recommendations for good music.
Examples on articles to dive in to
to escape reality.

26. Personal identity, integration
and Social Interaction
In my magazine I have a lot of articles that are
interviews with famous artists. All of this articles are
personal articles where you get to know the artist and
where you can relate to the artist. On my double page
spread I used oral language to make the article more
personal. In my article about Emma M you really can
relate to her. She is a normal girl that made her big
dream come true by hard work and by never giving up.
I mean that this is something everyone can relate to
because everyone have a dream and when you hear
her story you understand that everything is possible if
you set your mind to it.
This is my
D.P.S. I
mean this
is an aricle
you really
can relate Examples of personal articles
to.

27. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full
product?
I have learned a lot during this project. My biggest improvement is
that now I know how to use photo shop. Before I started this
project I had never used Photo Shop and I think you can see this
when you look at my preliminary task.
I also learned how to use other technologies that I know I will use in
the future such as a MacBook, Scanner and survey monkey. I also
learned how I can make every page unique while they still follow the
same theme and colour scheme. My use of technology have
developed a lot through this project and a lot of it I know I will use
in the future.

28. Front cover
Preliminary task Final product

29. Content page
Preliminary task Final product