Part of my evaluation for AS Media Studies.

1. HOW DID I APPEAL TO MY
AUDIENCE?
Georgina Gilbey
AS Media Studies

2. MODELS AND COSTUME
• Although the models on my front cover
were all female, I made sure to include
male models on my contents page so as
to keep my audience as open as possible,
and when featuring ads such as for the
new clothing range, I included images of
both women's and men's clothing items to
appeal to both.

3. MODELS AND COSTUME
• When studying magazine front covers, I took note of
the fact that where there were group photos as the
main image, each person in the band was often
representing a specific character type in order to target
the different tastes in their audience.
• For this reason, I decided to replicate this in my own
main image. I had the model in front represent the
'cute/pretty one' by having her look directly at the
camera and smile, with the model on the left being 'the
mysterious one' looking into the distance with a
serious expression, and the model on the right being
'the boy-ish type', dressed casually with minimal
make-up and her arms folded.

4. MODELS AND COSTUME
• My models were all in a similar age
bracket to my target audience to make it
clear that this is a magazine aimed at
young adults who are interested in the
rock/metal music genre. I tried to dress
them in costume that was appropriate for
this target audience, keeping it casual with
make-up that wasn't so heavy as to
connote a social group such as emo, but
heavy enough to connote the social group
casual rock.

5. CODES AND CONVENTIONS
• In terms of codes and conventions, I
followed a few but also tried my best to
challenge them to create a new rock/metal
magazine that my target audience would
be attracted to. I knew from my research
into this genre that there are a lot of
features that have become typical ...

6. CODES AND CONVENTIONS
• ... For example, the colour scheme of red,
black and white has become very common
for these magazines. For this reason, I
challenged the convention by having a
colour scheme made up of yellow, blue,
black and white. This set my magazine
apart from the rest and gave my magazine
a new, fresh look. The audience would
therefore be able to instantly see a
difference between mine and other generic
magazines.

7. AUDIENCE
FEEDBACK
COLLAGE
This shows my
front cover
annotated with
quotes from the
survey I
conducted to
get audience
feedback on
my finished
products. I
have also
included it
below this
presentation as
a larger image.

8. AUDIENCE FEEDBACK COLLAGE
• These comments prove that the codes and
conventions I used to appeal to my audience were
quite successful, as my audience was able to spot
them and state how it attracted them to the magazine.
• For example, I included a graphic advertising a free
CD on my front cover, and someone in the survey
said, "Good strategic marking at age group with top
lists of 2015 music, free CD, see your favourite band
competition".
• This suggests that my aim to attract potential buyers
with these features would be successful, if I were to
publish the magazine, and that I would be able to
establish a readership with a young audience.

9. AUDIENCE FEEDBACK COLLAGE
• I also got lots of comments referencing the
masthead and main image being that of the rock
music genre, for example "the main picture is
styled in a way that represents the genre well and
its masthead also looks straight out of a rock
magazine".
• This proves that my decision to stylize my
masthead by adding cracks and scratches going
through it to connote the genre of the music was
successful, as many were able to tell from looking
at this that it was a rock/metal magazine.

10. OTHER FEATURES
Another way I attempted to
target my audience was
through the use of particular
font styles to represent the
rock/metal genre further ...

11. OTHER FEATURES:
THE MASTHEAD
• For example, for my masthead I used a large, bold font
called 'Bernard MT Condensed', and had the masthead
in capital letters to give it more impact.
• I then used the eraser tool to add the scratches and
cracks to give my magazine a defined brand as well as
to connote the aggressive nature of the music.

12. OTHER FEATURES:
SECONDARY FONT
• For my story lines and taglines I used the
font 'Rockwell' as I thought it fitted in with
the rest of the page and masthead font
and was bold enough to be conventional
of a rock/metal music magazine.

13. CHANGES IN PRODUCTION
• In light of my primary audience research, I decided to make
some changes in order to appeal to my target audience more
accurately.
• For example, from my first survey I found that offers such as
exclusives and free items almost always influence a buyer's
decision when purchasing a magazine.
• For this reason, I added advertisements for such free items on
my front cover, such as the free CD.
• This finding was backed up by my second phase of primary
research, as in my audience's feedback on my final
production I got the comment "Free CDs are always a plus"
when I asked if they would consider my magazine as a
purchase choice if they saw it on the shelves.

14. CHANGES IN PRODUCTION:
THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
• At first, when making the double page spread, I was working
on a program called InDesign. This was a program I was
completely new to working with, and I had difficulties with
working with the tools and overall layout of this platform and I
didn’t like the way my double page spread looked (this first
draft is shown below).
• I spoke to my teacher who helped with this by telling me
which tools to use for what, but I later decided to change to
working on Photoshop.
• This was providing I could make sure to include columns,
drop-caps, and other expected conventions of double page
spreads successfully. Fortunately, as I was very familiar with
working in Photoshop, this was achievable and I found the
double page spread a lot easier to construct efficiently.

15. CHANGES IN PRODUCTION:
THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
The original double page spread, on InDesign:

16. CHANGES IN PRODUCTION:
THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
The new (second draft) double page spread, on Photoshop:

17. CHANGES IN PRODUCTION:
THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Other changes I made after this
platform-switch were regarding the
main image.
First of all, I used the image shown
below, a photograph of two of my
models doing a silly, informal pose,
as I had observed in my research
that magazines usually choose to
have a serious pose on the front
cover and an informal pose on the
double page spread to show two
sides to the artist or band they are
featuring and give the article a
more personal feel.
However, I soon found difficulties in
working with this image because for
one, it left out the lead singer of the
band, and secondly it was difficult to
position the text around it and I
thought I would soon run out of
room for my article and make the
page look squashed or crowded as
a result.

18. CHANGES IN PRODUCTION:
THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
For these reasons, I
changed the main image
when I changed from
InDesign to Photoshop and
got much better results as it
solved the issues of
including all band members
and being easier to work
around with text. This new
image was actually a
collage of three separate
ones where I picked the
best images in terms of
poses and image quality
and put them together into
one.
The new image:

19. CHANGES IN PRODUCTION:
THE FRONT COVER
• As well as in my double page spread, in
light of feedback from classmates this
time, I made changes to the main image
and overall design of my front cover.
• This was the first design for my front
cover. A classmate suggested that the
main image and masthead gave
implications of a fashion magazine rather
than rock, so I decided I would change
this as I didn’t want to give off the vibe of
a fashion magazine rather than the very
different genre of rock/metal music.
• As well as this, I didn’t like the design a
lot myself so this also motivated me to
start over and pushed me to make the
final product I have today.

20. OVERALL ...
• The primary and secondary
research I did, audience
feedback, and changes in
production as a result of these
factors, helped me to appeal
to my audience as accurately
as possible; whilst also taking
into account the need to break
common conventions to
successfully create a new,
exciting rock/metal music
magazine that readers will be
attracted to.