This is my evaluation in relation to my music magazine. This was a lot harder to completed than I initially expected and took a lot more time that I thought too, but I feel like I have put as much detail into this as I can and have considered every aspect of my music magazine in my evaluation as possible.

1. MUSIC MAGAZINE
EVALUATION
Kelsi-Leigh Lewis

2. QUESTION 1: WHO WOULD
BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT?

3. My target audience will be particularly those aged 16-30 years old,
both male and female. The reason for this is because my magazine
will include the latest events etc. which I believe are more
appealing for this age range but do not single out one specific
gender.
I chose this audience because I felt like, as a 16 year old, it would
be easier to produce something that could appeal to myself and
would be something I can personally relate to. This way, I would be
able to evaluate the successfulness of my music magazine in
relation to what I would think of as an effective product for the
target audience.

4. My ideal reader would be Jemima. She is 23 and lives in Gloucestershire. She
attends many festivals and loves House Music specifically. She is in full-time
employment and has a medium amount of disposable income to spend on
herself and those close to her. Being a regular buyer of music magazines and
CD’s, she spends most of her spare money on these items to ensure she has the
latest music. Jemima loves reading because she loves to know the upcoming
festivals. This way she can book her tickets and prepare herself for what she
loves. She also loves knowing about the latest gossip in the music industry
before it goes mainstream, like new albums/songs, event and life stories.
Jemima enjoys sharing her new found information with those in her friendships
circle. Her friendship circle is full of people with very similar attitudes towards
music, and therefore she has no problem finding anyone to join her at festivals
or to engage in a conversation about the newest album to be released.
Jemima has good knowledge of digital technology, is a regular social
networker and uses online services frequently, mainly for social purposes. She
regularly goes to parties with her friends and often invites them round hers for a
few drinks and music. As a lover of festivals, Jemima is an open-minding
experience seeker and listens to a variety of music. She enjoys hearing new
artists for the first time, and likes to discuss whether she feels they have potential
to make it big in the music industry within her friendship circle. Although she is a
huge music fan, Jemima has many other interests such as TV and film, sport and
fashion.

5. I did not use any research to decide my target audience or support
my decision, because I had already got enough information about
my 16-30 year old target audience due to being a 16 year old
myself. I felt confident enough in my own ability to know what my
target audience would be looking for in a music magazine, and
therefore felt it was inappropriate to spend my time accumulating
data I was already knowledgeable of.

6. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Q+magazine+front+covers&b
iw=704&bih=771&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=qRYIVd3
bB4TtaNqhgMAL&ved=0CCAQsAQ | At the beginning of my
research I looked at other front covers to try and inspire my
thoughts – which at this point were not very developed, but instead
bland and unexciting. I decided to focus on Q magazine as I
thought the layout was most appealing, and copied a handful of
images into a PowerPoint so I could reflect on them throughout the
production of my music magazine.
http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/jay-z-interview | For my
double page spread article, I chose to do an interview. I got my
inspiration from an interview with Jay-Z, found in an edition of
‘Clash’ magazine.

7. QUESTION 2: HOW DID YOU
ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR
AUDIENCE?

8. I identified their needs and desires by putting myself in their shoes –
being a 16 year old myself I could easily create the knowledge of
what I would need to include in my magazine to satisfy the younger
area of my target audience. The older area of my target audience
was a slight grey area for me, as I had no idea what a 25-30 year
old would enjoy. Therefore I feel like I would have met the needs
and desires more for the 16-24 year old range, and less so for the
25-30 year olds.
I went on to meeting their needs by ensuring the models, font,
colours and information was all appropriate and appealing for 16-
30 year old’s.

9. The models I used are an example of where I had the audience in
mind when producing my music magazine. I used a group of young
males when photographing, and chose the best from a variety of
shots. As I feel like my target audience is of a young age range I felt
like they needed to feel as if they could feature in the magazine – I
wanted them to be able to picture themselves being the main
feature of the front cover, or have a double page spread all about
them and their life.

11. My banner for the 25 years page
special is evidence from my
magazine that when designing
my front cover I kept my
audience in mind.

12. I also included information
about an upcoming festival
which appeals to my target
audience, making it evident
that I had my audience in
mind when producing this.

13. I mentioned festivals on the
contents page as I felt like this is
something that 16-30 year olds
are very attracted to. I wanted
to give them something to look
forward to and get excited
about when reading my music
magazine. I felt like including a
lot of information about festival
and events are the best way in
grabbing my target audience’s
attention.

14. Valentine’s Day is very much
aimed and circled around
teenagers and young couples,
which is perfect to attract my
target audience. Therefore, due
to it being fast approaching
holiday, I felt it was appropriate
to feature a to-do and to-don’t
list (possibly more towards those
who have not experienced a
Valentine’s Day with a loved
one as of then) to help them
create the perfect day.

15. The Cheltenham Festival of
Racing is a very famous and
popular event across the UK.
People come from all over the
world to experience the buzz
and fantastic atmosphere (and
come back slightly more broke
than they were when they
arrived). This reason backs up
my reasoning for including this in
my contents page, while at the
same time involving and
attracting my target audience.

16. QUESTION 3: HOW DOES
YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
REPRESENT PARTICULAR
SOCIAL GROUPS?

17. Gender: All of my photos are including male models, yet this does
not represent my target audience – both males and females are
targeted for my music magazine. The images of stylish, confident
males will encourage the male population of my target audience
to aspire to be like them in their looks and attitudes. They will be
intrigued by them and will want to know more about where they
get their clothing from, tips on how to style their hair in a similar way
and how to boost their confidence. On the other hand, these males
will satisfy the eyes of the female readers and in turn, these females
will give their attention to my music magazine. The females will be
engaged in my music magazine and will want to read more about
the lifestyle of these males, learning of their private life and personal
facts that others who do not read my magazine may not be aware
of.

18. Ethnicity: I have not incorporated ethnicity within my music
magazine as I do not want to aim it to one certain ethnic group or
make one ethnic group feel like the music magazine is not directed
for them, making them feel singled out.

19. Disability: Like ethnicity, I do not want to aim it at either an able-
bodied audience or disabled audience. I don’t want disability to
be a factor that has to be specific to read my music magazine. I
want all to feel welcome to consume my product and all enjoy it
equally. The only disability I feel would be difficult to reach out to
with my music magazine is those who are visually-impaired, as I do
not have any braille incorporated within my music magazine.

20. QUESTION 4: IN WHAT WAY
DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS?

21. Banner: Using the idea from an image of an
existing magazine I found through a search
engine, I decided that my music magazine
would be a special 25 year anniversary issue
for ‘SuperSonic’, and that there would be a
page dedicated to the history of ‘SuperSonic’.
I felt like this would be a good idea as, if the
magazine was real and published, it would
engage the readers to see how things have
changed over time but also what has
remained the same. For those that had been
buying the magazine all their lives (or possibly
since it was released) it would be a good
memorabilia for them as it would have a
combination of all things ‘SuperSonic’. It would
also hopefully spring some good past
experiences to mind related to my music
magazine.

22. Colour scheme: Typically, music magazines would follow a colour
scheme rather than just having a huge variety of conflicting
colours. I stuck to using black and red as I felt like they reflected
each other well and were also colours that contributed to my
image that I decided to use for my double page spread, so
therefore there would be no clashes in colours between the text
and images.

23. Font scheme: Similarly to the colour scheme, you typically see only
two or three font types used throughout the entire magazine, and I
felt like this would be something that would only work this way. I did
not feel confident enough to use a mass amount of different font
styles and agree that they work together and complement each
other, diverting me to stick to this existing convention with no
alterations.

24. Bar code, price, date and issue: When researching
different existing music magazine’s for inspiration I
noticed it was natural to have the barcode
apparent, typically on the front cover, with the
price, date and issue close by. Therefore I decided it
would be a good idea to follow this to give the front
cover more detail. There was not much thought put
into producing the bar code, creating a price, date
and issue and positioning these in a location that
readers were aware of due to this being an existing
convention already. So it was just a case of applying
it to my music magazine. I kept the price quiet small,
so it wasn’t too obvious as I was unsure as to
whether the target audience would agree that this
price is worth the information and detail that they
get from SuperSonic. This way the readers would not
get put off by the price initially, before they have
had a chance to observe the product.

25. Masthead: I did not alter the convention of having the
masthead at the top of the page, in the left hand corner
which is why it is in this place. I felt like it worked well for other
music magazines and it would be like ‘stepping out of line’ in
the magazine industry as it was such an iconic position for
mastheads. Although the positioning was conventional, they
masthead itself was slightly developed. Rather than having the
name of my music magazine (SuperSonic) as my masthead I
just had the iconic intertwined ‘SS’ instead, but had
‘SuperSonic’ as a tagline underneath the masthead instead. I
took the idea, from ‘Clash’ magazine, that the ‘a’ and the ‘s’
were intertwined and produced my masthead for
‘SuperSonic’. The ‘s’ for super and ‘s’ for sonic were joined
together by the flick at the top and the end of the letter. I
wanted to do this because I felt like it connotes that the
readership and the celebrities featured in each issue of my
magazine are ‘one’. They are sharing parts of their lives with
each other – for the celebrities it’s their lifestyle and for the
readership their time and attention.

26. Background: The background on my
contents page and double page spread
were plain white, as I did not want the
background to clash with the text colour.
Despite this, I developed existing
conventions as I made some alterations to
the background colour on the front page.
Due to the image being in black, white and
grey colours, I felt like a grey colour close to
those in the image would avoid there being
too many colours to satisfy the readers
eye’s, as it may over complicate the look of
the magazine – this was something I wanted
to avoid as I wanted my magazine to be
simple and relaxing to look at and read,
enticing the readership to want to read this
when they need some ‘me time’ and did
not feel like it was a task to read it.

27. QUESTION 5: WHAT KIND OF
MEDIA INSTITUTIONS MIGHT
DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT AND WHY?

28. In terms of publication and distribution I would contact big name
distributors and see if they have a gap in the market for my
product. I do not believe this would prove difficult due to such
originality within my music magazine, and the many interesting and
alluring information I feature inside.

29. I think the product would be printed because, as a 16 year old
myself, I would want to have a physical, paperback copy rather
than just a visual one. I believe the reason for this is because it is
more social as you can look at the magazine with a group of
friends and can cut out, highlight etc. any information or interesting
events that you desire.

30. I would also make mobile apps that enables you to access copies
of the music magazine through computerised devices such as
phone, laptops, iPads etc. Although I mentioned previously that I
believe a printed product would be more appealing to the majority
of my target audience, I do want to appeal the whole of my target
audience – rather than just the majority. Therefore making a visual,
mobile product would appeal to the remaining minority of my
target audience.

31. I would use the internet and social media to tease my readers and
give them sneak previews of interviews and articles that will feature
in the next issue. This will encourage the readership to share
information with their other friends on social media sites, enlarging
our readership further.

32. QUESTION 6: WHAT HAVE
YOU LEARNT ABOUT
TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE
PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THIS
PRODUCT?

33. The first software I involved in producing my music magazine was
PowerPoint. This was used to present my inspirations, media pack for
Q magazine and layout ideas, font/colour scheme ideas and how I
want my target audience to see my music magazine.

34. I used the school camera (a Panasonic Lumic, DMC – FZ 200) to
take the photo’s I included on my front cover and double page
spread. The reason for this is because it was quick and easy to
access and upload the photos, and was actually the only camera I
had access to – I do not have my own camera, or one that could
produce high quality images. I also learnt how to use props,
clothing, the lighting, the backdrop and the positioning of the
models to enhance an image. This was used to produce an image
of high quality.

35. My next step was planning out my double page spread article. To
do so, I used a word document. This was quick and simple as
Microsoft Word is a software I use very regularly and therefore are
very skilled in using it, despite not needing much skill to just plan
then type up the finalised article.

36. I used two main software’s within the school to make a variety of
changes to my images, text etc. These were Photoshop and InDesign.
Photoshop was used mainly to edit the images I had taken – this
included changing the colours of the image and resizing it. I feel like
my skills in using Photoshop have improved greatly due to having to
spend a lot of time on the software throughout the course of
producing my music magazine. I have learnt how to make specific
changes to the presentation of an image, which can drastically
change how an image will look.
While using InDesign, I changed the size of the text that would feature
on my front cover, contents page and double page spread, the colour
of the text and the layout/positioning of this on the page. I was only
aware of the basic skills that could be applied using InDesign, which
meant I had a great deal to learn to enable me to use this to its full
potential. I used these skills I learned in a multitude of areas.

37. This project opened my eyes as to which software and what
technology is best suited for specific tasks. It helped me to pick the
software that I would be able to get the best possible results out of,
and have given my more knowledge that I can apply to other tasks
in the future.

38. QUESTION 7: LOOKING
BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY
TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL
YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE
PROGRESSION FROM IT TO
THE FULL PRODUCT?

39. MASTHEAD
School Magazine
The masthead for my music magazine was very similar to the masthead I
created for my school magazine. They both had the main masthead and then
a line of text underneath. I followed this technique from my school magazine
through to the music magazine because I felt like this worked well and included
everything I wanted it to without taking up too much room.
Music Magazine

40. CONTENTS LIST
School Magazine
My contents list is identical in my school magazine and music magazine as I really
liked the layout and felt like it was clear and obvious in terms of what you would find
on what page. I used the colours differently in each magazine, but feel like the
music magazine is more satisfying to the eye and a plain background with coloured
text is clearer than a coloured background and plain text.
Music Magazine

41. ISSUE NUMBER
School Magazine
I also included the issue number on the contents page in the school magazine
but on the front cover in the music magazine. I felt like having the issue number
on the contents page was inappropriate as I believed it did not belong there,
but instead on the front cover with the barcode and price. Therefore I changed
the positioning when producing my music magazine.
Music Magazine