evalutaion of my magazine

1. Evaluation

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
Before making my magazine I studied a lot
of music magazines and looked the
designs, text and tried to point out what
they have in common. Looking at fonts
they where quite simple and really few
used a lot of colours. Since I mainly looked
at pop magazines I couldn’t really find any
fonts with patterns or texture. I tried to
copy this keeping the font simple and
short. Also I came up with a title that
indicates that the content is music related
– M-Code, short for Music-Code. I also
looked a lot at the colour schemes. There
were a lot of colours that kept showing up
like grey, blue, red and white. So I kept
that in mind while designing the magazine,
keeping it simple and giving it a modern
and chic look.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
While doing my research I noticed different things like
plugs, mentions of artist and the use of ’big’ words. I made
a plug where you could win tickets; capturing the attention
of the audience, making people want to buy the magazine.
Reading through the magazine I noticed the use of big
words like ‘exclusive’ and ‘amazing’ to make the articles
and content sound more interesting and captivating. By
using word like ‘exclusive’ it makes the audience feel like
their getting in on a secret, and it draws them to the
article.
I also added the names of a lot of famous artist on the
front cover to capture the interest of the audience. If they
see a familiar name they are more likely to buy the
magazine, so I made sure to mention new and relevant
artists that has been topping the charts lately.

4. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine is meant for teenage girls which is why my
magazine mainly contains young and relevant artists. The
artist on the front cover is clean cut and dressed in black.
I would say she represents the middle class – living quite
comfortable, but at the same time you don’t have any
clothes or jewellery that suggests that she’s elite.
She looks directly into the camera; showing confidence.
She’s not really portrayed sexual, like they do in a lot of
magazines. She’s not portrayed as an object but more of
a young and confident artist. I want to have sort of a
balance when it comes to the gender of the artists. Since
my audience are teenage girls, I’ll have a lot of guys that
the girls can drool over but at the same time I want to
have a lot of girls that they can look up to and admire.
The model is wearing make up, but I wanted it to look
quite natural, so she’s only wearing make up that
highlights her skin. I also fixed and covered a couple of
blemishes. By doing this I’m making her look “perfect
and “unreachable”. By doing this I’m setting a certain
standard of female beauty.

5. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Even though I’ve mentioned a couple of black artist
on my front cover and in my flat plan, there are only
pictures of white girls on the front cover, contents
page and double spread page. This may suggest
ethnic unbalance in the pop industry.
In the interview with Johanne, she talks about her
new song and the story behind it. She explains that
she was inspired by her own love life to write this
song. We get quite the “typical” female aspects as
she is really open about feelings and isn’t afraid to
talk about them.

6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For my magazine I would like Prometheus Global
Media to distribute it. They’re the company that
distributes the magazine Billboard, that is quite
famous for their music charts. My reason for
choosing them is because I feel like Billboard is
quite similar to my magazine. We both focus on
new and relevant artist and are mainly meant for
the younger audience. Instead of trying to compete
with such a big magazine, I would rather work
along them and get recognized and become known
through their magazine. Getting people to buy your
magazine is not easy, working with another known
magazine would definitely help

7. Who would be the audience for your media product?
My audience are female teenagers between the age 14
and 18 - The new and cool generation, a big fan of the
pop culture. They usually follow the newest trends and
are quite wrapped up in the world of pop artists.
Shopping, hanging with friends, listening to music and
living while their young is what busies their minds, and
they are quite adventures and likes to explore new
things. They usually listen to music that they
downloaded onto their mobile phones, or blasting it
loudly trough speakers in their room until their parents
ask them to stop. Music is quite important to them and
it helps them get through the occasional struggles in
life. They also like to talk about the latest gossip and
their favourite artist with friends, and often through
social media. Twitter, Instagram and tumblr are often
used to be noticed by their favourite artist, following
what they are doing and getting new friends through
liking the same artists.

8. How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract my audience I had to think about my reader
profile and think about what would drag them in and buy
my magazine. Since my audience is mainly teenage girls, I
have to think about what grabs their attention.
At this age it’s really common to be interested in artists and
celebrities in general. They often become totally obsessed
with them and use a lot of different social networks to
express their love (facebook, twitter, youtube, instagram,
tumblr ect) So to attract the younger audience have to
make sure that the artists I choose to feature in my
magazine are relevant, modern and loved by the crowds.
That’s why I’ve added artists like Bruno Mars, Imagine
Dragons, Nicki Minaj, Sam smith, A$AP Rocky and Taylor
Swift.
Playing on the fact that teens tend to obsess over artist I
added free posters with their favourite artist, tips for
websites where you can buy artists merchandise and
exclusive interviews. This allows the teens to get even closer
to their favourite artist, and honestly talking who doesn’t
like free stuff?

9. How did you attract/address your audience?
Talking about getting closer to their favourite artist, I’ve
also added the opportunity to win tickets to concerts.
Nothing draws a teenage girl in as the chance to see her
favourite artists live.
Continuing on I’ve added a lot of reviews and guides for
festivals as that’s really popular right now. Writing about
the most famous and popular festivals will make the
audience want to read the actual content of the
magazine.
Familiar names, bands and artists grabs our attention
which is why I’m really playing on the fact that teenagers
are really knowledgeable on the pop culture.

10. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I sort of had an advantage while doing this project, as I’ve already learnt about and used the
adobe programs back home in Norway. On the other hand it makes it a lot harder to answer
this question. I had no problem using either Photoshop or Indesign during this project and I
wouldn’t really say I’ve learnt anything new anything new either.
I did use Premiere, Wordpress and SurveyMonkey for the first time though. I’ve used and
had blogs before, so the concept wasn’t totally foreign to me. I’ve never used Wordpress
before, but I found it quite organized and really easy to use – I really like it. I also quite
enjoyed using SurveyMonkey. It was really easy making surveys and it helped me gather and
analyse research in an easy way.
Even though I’m actually really familiar with adobe programs, I’ve never used Premiere
before. It was kind of tricky in the beginning but after a while I got quite the hang of it. Even
though it takes a little more effort I really like using videos to convey a message. It makes it
easier to convey information and makes it more interesting for the audience.

11. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product?
I would say I’ve definitely learnt a couple of new things since my
preliminary task. I would say I had big advantage seeing as I`d already
learnt how to use the adobe programs back home in Norway. I didn’t
really have any struggles using the programs, and I wouldn’t say I
particularly learnt anything new in the progression. If I where to point
out anything I would say I`ve definitely learnt how to use the space
better. As you can see I barely have any text which leaves the cover
quite empty. I remember doing that because I didn`t like how the text
covered her face. I think if I had made the picture larger we wouldn’t
get that big empty space above her head and I wouldn’t look as weird if
I added more text.
I quite like the picture and I think it represents York college pretty well
as students are the main focus. The medium close up makes you come
‘closer’ to the person, and you feel kind of drawn to it. So overall I
wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s a bad first draft, but the full product is
definitely a lot better.
Even though I haven’t learned that much about Photoshop, I have
learned about the amount and work of planning and research that is
put into a magazine. I don’t think I actually though about how much
research you have to do before you actually make the magazine. You
have to know who your target group is, what do they like? how do you
attract your target group? And a bunch of other questions you have to
consider while making the magazine. There is so much thought and
care that is put into a magazine, and the outcome is the result of a lot
of peoples hard work.