The magazine targets 16-19 year olds who see themselves as independent and non-conforming. Models are dressed casually in clothes representative of the target audience. Gender roles are not emphasized, with more female than male models to avoid suggesting male dominance. The title "Sixty60" represents the influential 1960s decade. A retro font and grainy effect convey the natural, non-pristine aesthetic of the target group. Colors are muted blacks, whites and red to seem mature rather than bright like colors aimed at children. Layout is simple and stripped down to create impact reflecting the social group's values.
1. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
2. The social group:
For my magazine, my target audience was those who are aged between 16 to 19 years
old and of both genders. I wanted to target those who are known to be individual
and not conforming to a particular stereotype; being known for standing as
independent and not conforming to the majority. So, these were these are the
members of the kind of social groups that I wanted to represent to make the
magazine more relatable.
3. Clothing:
I used models that were around 16 years old and dressed them in clothes that were not
necessarily out of the ordinary compared to what my audience would be seen in.
With regards to the front cover, my model was not dressed overly formal, so that
she is not seen to be pretentious but, on the other hand, she is not seen to be
under dressed. This creates a level of maturity as wearing a dress connotes that
she is wanting to take pride in her look as they are at an age where developing an
identity is as important as music. This also links to her wearing make up which
creates a sense of femininity. However, I did not want to exaggerate this image and
so she is in a neutral pose without trying to be promiscuous in any way.
4. Gender:
When producing my magazine, I did not want to create set gender roles. I wanted it to
be more about expressing themselves through their music taste, rather than
whether they are male or female. Also, I did not want to suggest that men are to be
the more powerful gender. To deviate from this, I used more female models,
including the star for my front cover, so that males would not be associated with
being the more dominant gender which links to a more emergent ideology. Like in
the double page spread, a main part of the magazine, I wanted to make a relatively
equal by having a duet with one male and one female.
5. Title
The title used is “Sixty60” to represent a decade that is influential to
the social group. It is what determined this kind of genre of music
and has also help to determine their sort of fashion sense. The
font style and the effects that I used on the title, also help to
implement the particular ethos that they are known to follow. The
sans serif font “Bauhaus 93” is slightly retro and is not pompous or
overly complex. It links to the fact that they are the kind of people
who just act naturally and are not set on becoming something that
they clearly aren’t. The effect used on the title made the title look
grainy which can be associated with things that are old looking and
vintage. It shows that they are not focused on looking pristine all
the time; which also associates with the dominant ideology of this
age range.
6. Colours
The colours used throughout the magazine are not very
bright or variant. The selection it kept to black, white
and a off shade of red. This links to the specific age
group that I wanted to represent. Children are more
likely to be attracted to bright colours that are in your
face, where as teenagers/young adults are more likely
to see this unappealing and so it was something that I
wanted to avoid. Keeping the colour choice quite subtle
also demonstrates a sense of maturity; something that
this kind of social group would have encountered by
now.
7. Layout
Like the choice of colours, I have also kept the layout
quite simple. It has allowed me to strip down to the
very basics in order to create a greater impact;
something that could be associated with this social
group. Once again, it shows them to not to cover
themselves with unnecessary things to make them
to be something that they aren’t.