The document discusses the process of creating an indie magazine to represent the indie music subculture. Through research of other indie magazines and charts, the creator identified popular indie bands like Two Door Cinema Club, Catfish and the Bottlemen, and Arctic Monkeys to feature. The magazine's style uses a minimal color palette of black and white to subvert mainstream culture and represent the angst of indie fans. Imagery and articles were selected to appeal to a young, indie-focused demographic.

2. During my research and planning, acquiring
the knowledge of social groups was crucial.
I explored the genre of ‘indie’ by using
Google, and reading other indie magazines
such as ‘NME’ and ‘Q’. I feel that my media
product represents particular social groups
as it embraces the indie genre. It is helping
to portray the magnitude of this increasing
subculture, and its reinforcing the
community that already exists.

3.  My magazine represents
‘indie’ in particular by
referencing indie bands, gigs,
band merchandise etc.
 Through my research, I
came to the understanding
that the likes of Two Door
Cinema Club, Catfish and the
Bottlemen, Arctic Monkeys
etc are the most popular acts
in the indie genre. I
discovered this through my
research and planning by
looking through the top indie
charts and reading what
bands other popular indie
magazines feature (Q, NME)

4. The colour and style of my magazine also fit into the indie
stereotype. I decided to contrast black and white harshly,
particularly the masthead, as by using two colours at
antithesis ends of the colour wheel so closely, it could
represent how indie attempts to subvert from mainstream
culture. The colouring is also minimal, representing the
careless teenage angst of the indie culture. I also used
occasional bright and vibrant colours to reflect the title
‘neon’. I chose this name as I feel it reflects the lighting of
gigs.

5. My product represents this as the
model is posing in a way generally
associate with indie and is wearing
indie attire and therefore portrays
my genre. My model is also young
and so would in turn attract a
younger generation. , I had to alter
and increase the brightness,
contrast and saturation of my main
image. I did this to create a ‘star’
(Richard Dyer) that could sell my
magazine. Dyer believes that
celebrities are constructed to
represent 'real people' experiencing
real emotions in order to relate to
audiences and sell products. I felt
my ‘star’ was reflective of real
people as she was dressed and
stylised in ‘indie’ clothing, thus
cultivating the ideology that my
demographic wishes to conform to.

6. I ensured that my magazine reflected social groups by
researching into the bands that I chose and then
thinking of references to their music. For instance,
Catfish and The Bottlemen have a song called ‘Cocoon’,
and thus I stated that they’re ‘cocooned in their new
sound’. Because I am aware that they are a prominent
band in the indie genre, I placed this coverline at the
top and made it the largest coverline in order to appeal
to my indie demographic, due to their current status as
leading band within the genre.