2. Evaluation of Final Front Cover The final front cover was altered as I recreated the front cover again completely after not being satisfied with the first design. The second had a black background, rather than white and I wanted to have multiple images on the cover, rather than just one dominating one. Therefore, I did still have a main image, which was the largest one, and then added a few smaller images with a border that made them look like photographs. These images were slanted and made to make the magazine friendly, as if it was a memory from a group of friends with all of the pictures. I made the masthead more bold and made use of making the word individual stand out more. I coloured this in green to represent the environmentally friendly ideology of some Indies. I gave the magazine a tag line as well, and also put in a couple of features on the front cover, in yellow so that the audience could spot them easily.
3. Evaluation of Final Contents page The final contents page was also altered and a second version was made. The second version, again had the running theme of having a masthead almost identical to the front cover, but smaller and made less integral to the page. I also kept in the Venice beach image, but made it as a background for the features text. For the contents list, I also split it into two categories, the features list and the extras list, so that the reader could easily find things that were exclusive to this issue, and also find the regular articles. The contents also kept the Ukulele feature, but used a slightly different image and was advertised differently. The page numbers were given their own button like effect to make them easier to see and locate and make it simpler for quickly finding the pages.
4. Evaluation of Final Double Page Spread The double page spread uses the established font that is used to recognize the Venice Beach holiday, which was also featured on the front cover. The design of the font is an American car number plate, suggesting a road trip or a journey. I also used a new font to advertise the Californian vacation. I used a font that represented graffiti to make it look more exciting and rebellious. Graffiti is also a form of art in California sometimes and can be seen to be a form of expressing oneself. I used three images on this page, to try to advertise the holiday and make it look more appealing. Pictures of views of the city are effective as they show just how big Los Angeles is and what you would experience when you’re out there. The text on the pages was made up of a plain and informative font, but with the use of swatches on certain words and information – for example, any mention of the value of the holiday or the money provided was highlighted in green, to represent American dollars. Also the first time ‘Venice Beach’ is mentioned, it is highlighted in orange as that links back to the contents page, where the name of the article was highlighted in orange to differentiate this article from others in the list. All three of the pages for the magazine were created in Indesign.
5. In what ways does your magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines? My magazine represents the Indie style very well with the locations, clothing styles, and design of the magazine. The location for the front page image was taken in an old cottage in the countryside, which takes us back to nature which relates very well to some Indie’s who are very environmentally aware. Each of the outfits on the models showed different sides to the Indie style. The models outfits were very varied to show the different sides to Indies. For example the male model who was 2nd in from the right was wearing a very plain Indie style with a slightly different jumper and plain jeans, while the female model 2nd from the left is a little more ‘out there’ with the monkey hat and face paint. The hairstyles also portray these different roots of the Indie themes. Both of the girls have curled hair and are very vibrant and the men do not have completely generic hairstyles. The image was edited to make the lighting and the brightness more vivid and a blue colour to co-inside with these Indie themes and bring out the other colours more brightly. Also the fonts and the way in which the pages were put together were done in a style to suit this. The colouring was bright and vibrant, the fonts also were messy and playful and not particularly formal types of font. I have replicated conventions of the Indie stereotype and taken these and interpreted them but also used them in the form that they usually would be portrayed, so this is recognisable to the audiences.
6. How does your music magazine represent different social groups? My music magazine represents the difference with social groups. The magazine is aimed at the Indie culture and social groups, which are not often catered for in the media and need more media products aimed at them. The magazine represents different social groups as it is completely different from the typical rock music magazine (i.e. NME) and shows a different side to music and speaks out for those from a smaller gathering and social groups with different interests. It looks very dissimilar to music magazines such as the likes of NME and Rolling Stone, there for creating the perfect individuality designed for this particular social group. It also represents different groups within the Indie tribe/genre, so it is diverse in that manner, for example it applies to the environment, travelling, musical education, news and interviews etc. All things that may interest different people within the Indie social groupings.
7. What kind of media institution might distribute your music magazine and why? The media institution that I think would distribute my magazine would be IPC Media. IPC media are one of the largest magazine publishers in the UK, and sell 350 million copies each year. They distribute a wide range of magazines like Look, Marie Claire, Pick Me Up, The Field and Horse and Hound. Notably, IPC media publish NME magazine. The company produces very few music based magazines, so to broaden their genres of magazine, they could introduce The Individual Musicians Weekly; to create some diversity and show that they produce more genres of music magazines rather than just typical rock music magazines. IPC media distribute a wide range of different magazines with different subjects, from golfing to fashion to yachting. I think IPC media would be happy to endorse my magazine as it is yet another different genre to add to their portfolio.
8. Who would be the audience for your music magazine? The audience for my magazine would be both males and females between the ages of 15-30. The magazine Is aimed at younger age groups, with a more forward-thinking style and personality, with concerns and awareness for the environment, and also seeing a different side to music with very modern themes. The audience would enjoy the magazine as it would be tailored to apply to them and relate to them. The Indie style audience would be the prime example of the target audience for the magazine. An example of a song that the magazine would encourage for readers or that the Indie market would be into is ‘Badman’ by Newton Faulkner. The audience would not be specifically males or females as Indie’s are not restricted by such things as gender and are open to the concept of anyone being able to enjoy the music. However age often comes into it as Indies do have to be modern and able to move with the times and be simplistic, yet move into the future of music.
9. How did you attract/address the audience? To address the audience I used colloquial language in all of the text and kept the magazine quite informal. In attracting the audience, I used bright colours and powerful words that would draw an audience in. I also used bigger fonts for more important pieces of text and I attracted an audience also by making the magazine a little different, and unlike other mainstream magazines, So that its diversity would stand out and make people want to look at it. The front covers little photo board with all of the slanted images made it look more friendly and like a normal person had stuck the photos there like a memory, making the magazine easier for the readers to relate to and feel comfortable with.
10. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this music magazine? I have found that there are lots of different programmes to use to create such a thing as a magazine cover, and that Microsoft word and Microsoft publisher are not the only options. For my magazine I used InDesign, which gave me a wider range of tools to use in the construction of my magazine. I also learnt how to use Photoshop and manipulated the image for my front cover, making it look better and more effective. I have learnt that there is a lot of more technology out there than many people know about or take advantage of. Also, technologies can be used to great effect if used properly. For my image on the front cover, the organisation of the models and location was effective so that it didn’t give the impression that the photo was taken on a Panasonic Lumix camera and looked far more professional. – especially with the photoshopping.
11. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full production? In my preliminary tasks, I found that I learnt a lot about how to comprise my magazine and how magazines are made and should look. I took a lot of my research in the preliminary and the knowledge helped me to work on not only the production but also the surrounding main tasks. I also found that actually creating a draft college magazine helped for me to be able to familiarise myself with how to set out my magazine and make it look effective and give off the right feel for the particular genre or subject that it is focusing on. The preliminary task helped me to understand how simple that task actually was, and helped me to see the kinds of things I would have to analyse for the actual making of the magazine and the planning etc. But it was helpful in that I could see what I would have to do to make the creation of the magazine more thorough.
12. Audience Feedback of final music magazine. Name: Charlotte Davey Age: 17 Occupation: Student I think that the magazine ‘The Individual Musicians Weekly’ is a really interesting magazine, as the title makes it sound formal and serious, but the magazine is actually really down to earth and a good read. It can apply to so many people, and the individual style is rising in popularity these days, so the magazine is catering for a new and ever increasing market. The front cover is quite calm, but with features that jump out at an audience and make them want to read on. The calmer effects of the front cover to make the magazine differentiate from normal music magazine which are often quote loud and busy with lots of information crammed on the page that can often overwhelm the readers. The contents page was bright and cheerful with images of sunny beaches, which are naturally a nice image for people, The text carried on with the neon colour scheme which was on the front cover, which kept the magazine recognisable, which was nice, so that it was becoming familiar to the readers. The double page was well set out with interesting images, and the text was set out very professionally. I thought that the running ‘Venice Beach’ font theme was good and effective and again, it made it familiar with the audience.
13. Audience Feedback of final music magazine. Name: Maddie Humfryes Age: 18 Occupation: Student/Cobbler ‘The Individual Musicians Weekly’ really interested me and I was particularly sold on the idea of also focusing on other aspects of life that Indie’s are into like holidays and the environment. I also liked the fact that it wasn’t all about popular music or what’s big for Indie’s, its also about the actual musical element of it and teaching you how to play an instrument. I thought all of the pages were set out well and I liked the bright colours of the headings of the text. I also liked the images, many of them were kept plain and unedited which was really nice and made the magazine feel really genuine and wholesome, so you didn’t feel like the articles were untruthful as the images were very natural. I found the contents page easy to use, and it even had a little feature on it that also kept me interested in the page so that it wasn’t all just details and information and was also a fun page with a little advertisement for the ukuleles. However, I thought the double page spread bored me a bit and we lost the brightly coloured text-headings theme. I also found that the images may have needed a little rounding off, to stop them just looking like randomly placed squares.
14. Reflection of Audience Feedback for final magazine I found the audience feedback for the magazine very helpful and I liked seeing what people thought, and this feedback would help me for the next time I created a magazine and what was good and where I could improve it. I had a few negative comments about the magazine pages, but they were constructive criticisms and I could see where I had gone wrong. The feedback spelt out to me how the magazine worked and did not necessarily work – for example, they could easily identify it as an Indie style magazine which focused on that genre. Both of these people who gave feedback agreed that the second design for the magazine front cover and contents page were better.
