Evaluation on my music magazine process.

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Evaluation
BY AMANDA JANSEN

2. Before I started planning how I wanted my
magazine to look I researched a lot of
professional music magazines and their designs,
fonts and what content to look for, this was to look
for what they have in common. Most of the fonts
used are very simple, white and without texture.
It’s obvious they want their name remembered
and not too hard to understand or read. I realised
quickly that this was also something I wanted. A
big masthead with a simple font for people to
remember. I also chose a simple and original
name, Cello. The colours I used was also inspired
by other magazines. I wanted to keep mine clean
and planned to keep it to the simple colours like
white, black and some pastel colours.
In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?

3. While researching I also
noticed small things on the
front covers like plugs,
mentions of artist, and use of
“big” words. I places a plug on
my front cover with big words
like “new” and “exciting”. I also
used the word “exclusive” and
my front-page artists name was
almost as big as the masthead.
In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?

4. For my content page I wanted a bit of
a ‘messy’ look. Most content pages
out there are either lots of photos
and a little text, or one big photo and
a lot of text. I wanted the former. I
placed many photos around one big
one and had a little text to every
photo. I also added a little more to
pages without pictures.
In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?

5. For my double spread page I
went for a more ‘news-paper’
look. I wanted a lot of text and
big pictures. I added a photo of
someone else, with colours,
and some two big quotes to get
the reader interested into
reading the interview. The two
pictures I chose was mostly
because of the content of the
interview, where she as a
person is a little closed off, so I
chose two long-shots instead of
any close-ups.
In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?

6. My music magazine represents teenagers and
young adults achieving that with young and
relevant context. With the price at £4.50 and the
clean, structured look I would say my magazine
fits into the middle class. My model is wearing
clothes that the middle class could afford with no
expensive looking jewellery or any form of
attention towards her looks. She is leaning
against a tree looking comfortable and staring into
the camera with a soft, inviting look. She is not
sexualised in any way – I did this because I
wanted my audience to read the content because
it was interesting, not because there were boobs
on the front-cover. She is definitely not a
stereotypical cover-girl, exactly what I wanted.
How does your media product represent particular social
groups?

7. In my magazine there are no skin-coloured
people. My models are all white, teenage girls
(and one boy). My magazine definitely represents
white-culture in a way I can’t control, but wish I
could. This is an obvious ethnic unbalance in the
music industry.
In the interview on the double spread my artist
talks a lot about bullying and how she handled
that. This represents a minor social group and
gives hope to the ones in it.
How does your media product represent particular social
groups?

8. The media institution I want for my music
magazine is Prometheus Global Media. A
company that distributes the music
magazine Billboard, Backstage and The
Hollywood Reporter, two entertainment-
industry magazines. My main reason for
choosing them is because I feel like my
magazine is similar to Billboard, at least a
product I would have reached for. They
focus on new, relevant music which is
what I would want for my magazine.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?

9. The audience I’m reaching for with my
magazine is teenagers and young adults.
My survey results showed mostly people
between 15-17, and second was 18-25.
70% of the people answering my survey
was also females. So a teenage girl
would fit as my audience. My reader
profile was also a 17-year-old girl who
described herself as fun, energetic and
musical. With hobbies as shopping and
listening to music, and mostly just hang
with friends. Not too much interested in
social media and mostly listens to the
radio. That’s the kind of audience that
would fit my magazine perfectly.
Who would be the audience for your media product?

10. When planning how to attract my audience I
thought back to my reader profile and
survey answers. Nowadays a lot of
teenagers wants to be original and find their
own music, something small that their
friends haven't heard before. I totally played
on this and had nothing but new content on
my front page. There was no mentions of
other big artist or famous people. On my
content page I pushed in some big names
but mostly kept it to ranking albums and
artist, or recommendations of new songs
and get-ready’s. Making most of it to a
competition for them to see where their
favourite landed.
How did you attract/address your audience?

11. Having learnt a lot the past year about Photoshop
and Indesign those were pretty easy to use once I
got the hang of it again. However, I’ve never used
SurveyMonkey or Wordpress. Both of them were
very easy to use and simple to understand. Using
adobe programs on a weekly basis was no
problem regarding editing, even though it might
not be the best I managed to use it.
Have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?

12. Looking back at my first magazine I
would definitely say I’ve improved
a lot. The first one I did looks more
cheap than the finishing product. I
would say they belong in two whole
different classes and different
audiences. The photoshoot is also
more planned and the fonts more
thoughtfully chosen. I’ve learnt a lot
about planning, researching and the
amount of work that’s put into
making a magazine. A lot of
consideration and thinking in
progress to make only four pages of
a magazine.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?