This is the evaluation of my finished music magazine coursework.

1. Evaluation of magazine
By Georgie Lloyd

2. 1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Title of my magazine
For masthead of my magazine I used a
website called www.dafont.com.
I found a font I liked, print screened it
then edited in paint and then again in
Photoshop. I stuck to simple colours
such as black and white as from my
research of rock magazines I found they
use quite simple colours.
I was inspired to use only one letter as
my masthead by the contempory rock
magazine, Q. However my masthead
challenges the real conventions of
magazines as I have changed the
colours, font and size of the text for it. As
I have used a single letter yet changed
everything about the appearance
showing that although it uses typical
conventions of a rock magazine yet
challenges them in how it is laid out.
I used black background and white text
as the black would stand out against the
page and the white text on top of it
would stand out further.

3. 1.
Mise en scene (images)
I think the mise en scene of my magazine
is typical of rock and contempory
magazines as I have used quite simple
backgrounds so the person stood in front
of them stands out and so the focus is
entirely on them. The backgrounds also
follow the colour scheme that continue
throughout my magazine and make it look
more professional as I didn’t have to do
cut-outs or make sure there was nothing
going on that was too busy behind the
‘star’ so that attention was not drawn from
them. Another aspect of the mise en
scene is the presentation of the people in
the actual pictures. They are all
expressionless which I found to be a
common feature in rock magazines as Both of these
you tend to see smiley ‘cheesy’ pictures examples show
in pop magazines rather than the genre I bland
was creating my magazine around. The background and
main image on the front cover creates a expressionless
personal feel as he is looking straight out, people on the
which is not just a typical convention of cover.
rock magazines but also other types as
this draws people’s eye contact. A pug is
also on my front page which stands out to
the audience and it feature on most
magazine covers.

4. 1.
Costumes and props People
Although I haven't used any props throughout The people I have used in my magazine
my magazine the costumes of the people challenge the typical people that are used in
featured in it display the genre by displaying professional magazines, as they are noticeably
typical characteristics. Leather and denim younger and their outfits are quite plain and
jackets are the usual attire for rock stars and casual in comparison to what actual celebrities
both of these are shown in my magazine. The wear. I have also not used a group of people I
girl featured on the contents page has short hair have only used 1 person in each photo which is
which is another typical way female rock stars un-common in most music magazines as there
distinguish themselves. All of these features can is usually one band shown. However as my
be found in stars when they appear in magazine target audience is a wide age range this way it
such as NME and Q which were the magazines will appeal to the younger people and attract
I based mine upon. them to the magazine. As I have used a male
on my front cover this will attract boys and girls,
which is the intention of the cover, as girls will
find the male attractive and want to read about
him while men will automatically be interested in
him as they have something in common.

5. 1.
Title font and size Written content
I created my title by print screening the letter ‘R’ The content of my written article follows the
after typing it into www.dafont.com, and then I typical conventions of a music magazine as it
edited in paint and Photoshop. I reversed the talks about his career, his music, his albums
colours and made the background black and font and the tour he has just been on. In interviews
white whereas before it was the other way they usually try and get the interviewee to
around. I think the title is conventional in some answer questions the public would want to know
ways as it used a single letters that stand for about, and celebrities usually do magazine
something (R-stands for ‘rock) and this is shown interviews for a purpose such as to promote
in the magazine Q and again in NME. However something and ‘Sean Stone’ promotes his new
the font is quite unusual and unique as usually album and tells the public about the ‘drug
music magazines use quite plain fonts and are scandal’ that he was involved in. This is an
often shown in block colours whereas my title is interesting topic and would interest people who
distorted. This makes the title look rough and like the genre of rock, as drug use is typical ‘lad’
messy which could link to the genre of rock as behaviour and happens commonly with people
many rock stars have an untidy appearance. It in the music industry. However I didn’t set it out
also stands out against the background which is as a ‘question and answer’ layout, instead I
a common convention as the masthead needs to wrote out an article about when the interviewer
be something to attract peoples attention. met him and embedded quotes in telling the
public the things mentioned above. I did this
because after conducting my questionnaire I
found my target audience preferred small text
with more information and this way nearly the
whole page was covered, more topics were
discussed and there was no dead space.
The editors letter on the contents page has a
more conventional feel as it follows the friendly
and welcoming tone that is often shown on
music magazines.

6. 1.
Music genre and how your magazine suggests it
The genre of my magazine is rock with small elements of pop shown throughout. I did this
as I wanted my magazine to be like Q and follow a wide range of artists and bands. One
way the genre is shown by the way the people look in my magazine. The male on the front
is wearing a denim jacket which is typical attire of men who are famous in the rock industry
and he also has a quote next to his head about his ‘mad bad world’. People in the rock
industry often have a rebellious personality and this sentence makes it look as if he has this
persona himself, as clearly he has done something that could have had serious
consequences. The article on him itself talks of ‘malbaro lights’, the messy look he has
going on and the fact that he didn’t get in till the early hours of that morning, all of which are
things people would link back to rockers.
Leather jackets are also worn by the girls on the contents page which is another thing that is
worn by many a rock star and shown on many professional magazines.
The colours in my magazine, red black and white, are all typical conventions of rock
magazines such as Q and NME as they don’t pull attention from the people featured in it but
also attract the eye first off. It also suggests a more mature audience as people of a
younger age prefer bright colours and as I want to attract older people too, as I wanted to
include classic rock bands in my magazine that only people who are at least over 30 and
the colours used will therefore do this.
However in many magazines, props are used to convey the genre but my magazine
challenges this as no props are used.

7. 1.
Layout
The layout of my magazine is mainly conventional. I have used a mid shot
of someone on my front cover with text surrounding them which is often the
layout professional magazines use. The masthead is also featured at the
top and the barcode is put in place that is barely noticeable in the right hand
corner. The date and price are featured close to the barcode. There is also
a banner running along the bottom of my magazine which clashes with the
background and gives a little extra info on the bottom of the page.
Contents page
My contents page both challenges and follows typical conventions of a
magazine. The layout can be found in professional magazine as I used
the rule of thirds and this is commonly used. Another example is the
editorial letter that welcomes people to the magazine. The way I
presented the actual contents is similar to real magazines as the page
number and title are in bold & different colour with a little more information
given about it underneath. There is also images included but of a smaller
size than the front cover and on the images are the page numbers which
is the way most professional magazine express where to find the article.
However the colours used on my contents page is quite unusual as there
isn't even a hint of colour in the background, instead just the letter ‘R’
which is opaque and goes behind the text. This is to emphasize the title
without having to feature the masthead again.

8. How my magazine used
1. typical conventions of Masthead and tagline at
real media product left hand corner, both a
square with one single
letter inside it.
Pug
Red, black and white
being the main colours
featured
The price
number
combined with
the bar code
Direct eye contact with
people on the cover, and
they are both shot with a
mid shot.
Cover lines
featured along
the left and
ride hand side
of the person
featured.
Text running
along the
bottom of the
page

9. 1. How my magazine used
typical conventions of
real media product States issue
number
Plain white
background
Page numbers
featured on photo’s.
Red, black and white still being
used.
Title of the
contents bolder
than the
description
Page numbers
stand out more
than the
description also.
Images are smaller
than those throughout
the rest of the
magazine

10. 1. How my magazine used
typical conventions of First name in lower case
real media product italics with last name in
capitals.
Name of the person featured
running along the top of the
page with a line which makes it
stand out more.
Large image that
takes up most the
space on the page.
Masthead
featured on
a smaller
scale
Text divided up into
columns
Enlarged letters at
the start of a
paragraph
Transparent letter that
fills up a lot of the
page with text running
over it

11. 1. How my magazine
challenges typical
conventions of real media Different
product colour
masthead
I don’t have a
plain white
background
More people
featured in Q
Barcode
positioned
in a
different
place
Q use
bolder
texts
Q has a
banners
along the
top and
bottom of
the page

12. 1. How my magazine
challenges typical
conventions of real media
product
Q has lines around the
text
Q has one main
image
I use bigger
font for the
contents
and take up
more room
My contents page
follows the rule of thirds
horizontally while Q
splits its contents page
into 2 vertically
Images are more interesting in Q
as they had better settings
Q has one main story
positioned at the top
whereas I laid all
mine out the same

13. 1. How my magazine
challenges typical
conventions of real media
product
I have given a short
introduction to the article,
introducing the person
featured whereas Q just
goes straight into it.
Q’s opaque letter is
My magazine has an image on the
much more striking
right hand side whereas Q features
and takes up more of
the image on the first page of the
the page
article. My image is also in colour.
My
magazine
features a
by-line
My double
My article is split into page spread
two columns whereas also has
Q’s has 3 columns and more than
is much more one image
condensed.

14. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine mostly represents the younger
generation as only people below the age of 18 are in
my magazine due to older people not being available
to me. The fact that the people who are pictured in my
magazine all look casual and laid back shows this as
many younger people have this type of persona. They
are also all dressed in clothes that people would class
as ‘fashionable’ and this is something people are very
interested in when they are teenagers as looking good
is a major part of life. However although their clothes
will appeal to younger people, it could also represent
people who are older which was my aim too. As they
are wearing leather and denim, this connotes the rock
genre and this is something people of an older age will
be interested in and is something they know about as
rock is a genre that has been around since they were
young too. They also look quite normal, people you
would see on the street, meaning ordinary people will
be able to relate to them and not take them for typical
celebrities. Another aspect of these pictures that will
appeal to the audience is that there are both boys and
girls featured which means it will appeal to both sexes
and isn't limited to one.

15. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
IPC Media
Ipc media could possibly distribute my magazine as
although they publish NME this is the only music magazine
of the rock genre that they publish as most of the
magazines they sell are to do with home furnishings,
celebrity gossip and sports. This means a magazine like
mine could be sold by them as although my magazine has
similarities to NME as they has similar genres, my
magazine has a different look and feel as it also introduces
the pop element. My magazine also aims at the younger Dennis publishing
audience as well as the older which NME does not. I did at
Dennis publishing could also take on my magazine
first research into Bauer media as its one of the most
as they publish no music magazines whatsoever
influential UK publishers but it publishes many music
meaning there would be no competition. It sells
magazines already such as Q and Kerrang! meaning that if
magazines mostly based on cars, fitness and
they sold my magazine they would be competing with
technology meaning the ‘R’ could be something new
themselves by selling similar magazines due to my
and different for them. Dennis publishing has 2.2
magazine taking inspirations from Q and others that they
million magazines read each month meaning my
sell.
magazine will by reached by a massive audience.

16. 4. Who would the audience be for your media product?
• Age of my audience
I wanted my audience to appeal to both the young and old as this way it would have a much wider age range and I wouldn’t be
limited. Therefore the audience for my magazine would be for people aged between 16
•Gender of my audience
I wanted my magazine to appeal to both women and men. I've tried to do this by including images of both males and females in my
magazine, and advertising articles that I think both sexes would be interested in.
•Social class of my audience
I would try to reach all classes however, I think more of the working and upper classes would buy this magazine as the price is quite
expensive.
•Psychographic profile
The people who buy R will either be at college, uni or in a job most likely. If they are earning they would earn quite a bit, enough to
be able to buy unnecessary items like the magazine. They would be interested in rock music, both old and new, and would want to
know about the bands/singers personal lives as well as find out more on their music. They may even be in a band themselves and
look to the magazine for inspiration. They would also enjoy concerts, and go to them on a regular occasion. They would also
probably buy music regularly either in cd form or in MP3 format as well.

17. 5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Attracting the selected gender= Males would be attracted to the front cover
first hand by the ‘cool’ looking male on the front, and the cover line by the side of
his stating of how we are going to talk about his ‘mad bad world’, whereas the
women would be attracted to the magazine as the man featured is attractive and
if they like the genre they would be able to relate to his look. There is also a
cover line on ‘Holly O’Neil’ where it says we will be talking about her split.
Although she is still related to music, girls will want to find out more as they tend
to take an interest in the gossip on the stars as well as the music whereas boys
do not.

18. 5.
Attracting the age range =The way I have tried to attract the age range for
my magazine is although all the people in my magazine are below 18 the
clothes they are wearing and their stance suggest a more mature feel about
the magazine that would then engage the older audience. I wanted people
who are just starting to grow an interest into the genre of rock, people that
maybe are forming bands themselves to be inspired by the magazine, and
for also those that have grown up listening to rock and still like it now to enjoy
reading info coming from a fresh source.

19. 5.
Attracting the social class =The price of my magazine will distinguish
the classes that buy it. £2.50 is quite expensive considering most
magazines are a pound or maybe under. The price of the magazine
suggests that people who earn more than most will probably buy this
magazine as people who earn minimum wage probably wont have the
money to spare to spend £2+ on a magazine. Also as my magazine
appeals to older people, they tend to have more money than teenagers
meaning the price of the magazine suggests that there is an older target
audience as well as a young one.

20. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Photoshop Adobe in- Microsoft
design word

21. 6. Adjusting the lighting on images
1. Open the image with 2. Select ‘filter’ along the top 3. Scroll down to ‘render’.
Photoshop. menu.
4. From the menu off this, click 5. I then selected the ‘omni’
6. I then adjusted the circle to
‘lighting effects’. option.
change how the light was spread
out.
7. Clicked ‘ok’, and then you're
left with the finished product.

22. 6. Making a colour box opaque so text and pictures can be seen
2. Selected colour I wanted
1.Open magazine with 3. Clicked the shape option
the box to be
photo shop
4. Dragged mouse until I
5. Right click and selected 6. Moved arrow down on
got the size box I wanted
‘blending options’. the ‘opacity
7. Moved box to where I
wanted it.

23. 6. Sending an opaque box to the back so text and pictures is shown
1. Selected ‘layer’ on the 3. Move layer down on the
2. Selected ‘send to back’.
toolbar and scrolled down right hand side so it comes
to the ‘arrange’ option’. after the background,
therefore won't be going
behind it.

24. 6.
Finding a title font and saving it
1. Found chosen font on 3. Cropped away the
2. Pasted the print screen
www.dafont.com, got it up picture until I was left with
into Microsoft Word.
on the screen and selected just the title of my
it in ‘large’. Then print magazine.
screened the whole
screen.
4. Right clicked then 5. Pasted it into ‘paint’. 6. Saved it as a picture in
selected ‘copy’. my media file

25. 6. Opening title into Photoshop and then editing it
1. Clicked ‘file’ on the 2. Opened it was a 3. Dragged the image over
toolbar menu then ‘open’. I separate picture next to my my magazine and then
found my title and then magazine. dropped it where I wanted
selected ‘open’. it.
4. Changed the colour to 5. I changed the colour 6. I selected the ‘paint
black and then selected the back to white to change the bucket tool’ once again,
‘paint bucket tool’. I then font colour so it would be clicked on the ‘R’.
clicked on the whole visible over the black.
masthead changing it all to
black.

26. 6. Creating opaque text
2. I dragged my mouse 3. I then typed the letter ‘R’
1. Opened my contents
until I had the size text box in Times New Roman font.
and select the ‘type tool.
I wanted which for me was
the whole page.
4. After I changed the font 5. I clicked the ‘selection 6. I then selected ‘effects
size to 800+ so the letter tool’ and moved the letter on the right hand side
would fit the whole page. to where I wanted it. menu.
7. I then moved the arrow
down on the ‘opacity’ level.

27. 6. Removing white backgrounds behind text
1. I opened the cover line 2. I dragged the cover line
that I had previously made over my magazine and
using www.dafont.com and then dropped it so it was
Microsoft word. on my magazine.
4. After I selected the
3. I moved the cover line
‘magic wand tool’ from the (continues on next
so it was where I wanted it.
left hand side menu. slide..)

28. …
6.
4. I clicked on the white 4. I then pressed delete
background of the text, and the white background
which highlighted it self had been removed.
around the letters.
8. After I selected ‘select’
5. I then adjusted where
on the top toolbar and then
the cover line was using
clicked ‘deselect’ so the
the ‘move tool’.
box was no longer
highlighted.

29. 6. Pug
1. Opened front cover 2. Then drawn the 3. Selected the colour
on photo shop and then shape behind the text palette and changed
selected the shape on the pug. the colour.
tool.
4. Then selected the 5. Clicked the paint tool
paint bucket tool. in the circle, therefore
changing it to red.

30. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Preliminary
task
Final
task

31. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
• When I started with my magazine I wasn’t as able with Photoshop and in-design yet by trial and
error I have learnt how to do many things that I wasn’t able to do with the preliminary task.
• I am now able to easily change colours of text and shapes and able to change the size also.
•I learnt how to manipulate images which is something I had not done before. I know how to
change the lighting and to make the image sharper and for the main object of the image to stand
out more by using ‘lighting effects’.
• I am now more confident with in-design meaning I was able to do more things with the
background of my contents page whereas in my preliminary task it was just a block colour. I can
also create transparent text.
• Many more resources were used in the making of my final magazine as I looked to professional
magazines such as Q and NME for inspiration and then adapted these idea’s to make them my
own whereas before I just started my preliminary magazine without looking at any type of real
magazine.
• Fonts where also a major downside of my preliminary task whereas in my final magazine I
experimented with more unique fonts and got a range of them from outside the programme I was
working in (www.dafont.com)
• I changed the angle at which I took the photo for my front cover, as this time it was more of a
mid-shot with the shoulders in view and I also positioned him in the middle of the page meaning it
looked more realistic and grabbed the attention of the reader better.
•I think I still need to work on combining unusual texts with a more interesting background as I
found it hard to create an image that wasn’t too busy as I wasn’t able to create a background
suitable for the magazine which is why I went for a plain white.
• I also think I need to get across the genre of my magazine more, as although you can tell it is a
music magazine, I think more props were needed in order to convey it was a ‘rock’ magazine.