1. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Original Design 2nd Design Final Product
Here is my first design of my
magazine that I developed using
Microsoft Publisher, as you can see
it did not conform to the
stereotypical design, professional
magazine publishers have the mast-
head in the up in the left corner. This
design was more like a newspaper.
Later on you can see that I changed
the mast-head of the magazine
several times, I feel that the final
design of my front page did conform
to the layout of professional
publishers.
As you can see the second design of the
front page was more linear to the design
of professional magazines, I decided to The differences between the original design to
keep the same colour scheme to the the final product was substantial. I do believe
original design but I was still not satisfied. that the final product challenges forms of real
media product because it was the target
audience in mind at all times and understands
that professional appearance is of extreme
importance.

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products? Continued…
By comparing D&B front page and an example
of NME’s front page I have noticed several
similarities and differences between them. For
example: location of the mast-head is in the
same corner of the page, the positioning of
the image (MC Cronic & Simon) is similar.
Another element of both magazines is the
colour scheme to a degree, because the mast-
head on NME magazine is red & white same s
D&B. The differences are the featuring text is
considerably larger. By comparing both
theses magazine I do recognise that my
magazine is not at the professional standard
as NME but has a hint of the professionalism, I
my opinion.
Similarities Differences
Location of Mast-Head NME: Larger text
Colour Scheme of Mast-Head NME: Close-up Shot
Location of Image D&B: Mid-Shot
Skyline NME: Background (Snow Flakes)
Free Accessories NME: Posters D&B: Limited D&B: White Background
Edition CD
Location of Barcodes

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products? Continued…
By comparing the both my contents page and a professional magazine such as NME I have
notice considerable differences in the design and realised that there is much room for
improvement in my design but never the less I am very pleased with the out-come. There
are a few similarities between theses design e.g. the boxes contains information about
each separate page, with several images as well. On the other hand there are a number of
differences for example: NME’s Contents page consists of two pages, more images, many
more page numbers and information provided. Also NME has not added any social
Networking links e.g. Facebook and Twitter, this could have the potential to effect the
distribution of the magazine.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products? Continued…
By comparing both double-page spreads I have noticed many similarities and differences in
theses design e.g. NME has used a wider range of images consisting of Close-up’s Mid-shot
and group images. Their title texts are larger, but the colour scheme is the same which
shows that even professionals believe that red and white compliment each other. This
shows that I chosen I got colour scheme. NME have had the first letter in their article larger
taking up three lines. Even though there are many differences between the professional
design and my own I still remain confident that my design could be a possible new angle of
designs magazines, which gives my design a unique edge. Which potentially could become
popular by publisher in the future.

5. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
The Double-Page spread was based on interviewing
Drum & Bass MC Cronic, who is 18 years old. So
Audiences of a similar age group would this attracted to
this article. Also the other two people in the contents
are both from the 16-18 age group as well so mainly 16-
18 would have the most appeal to this magazine. Other
social group who would have the most appeal to this
magazine would be Drum & Bass enthusiasts because
they also attend gig’s together so they would share an
interest in this magazine.
The Colours and Font has the potential to attract
younger audiences due to the brightness which gives
the magazine a loud in your face effect.
On the Contents page there are links to “follow” the
magazine on Twitter and “Like” the Facebook page.
Using social networking sites it helps the magazine to
get recognised in the world of music and advertising.
Also by asking readers to follow or like, it increases the
popularity of the magazine both from “word of mouth”
and via the internet. With internet popularity it
potential give the magazine a window of opportunity to
explode into the online magazine industry.

6. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
I would get the print and media industry to
assist in the printing and distribution of
Drum & Bass by contacting institutions
such as: Bauer Media who are very
professional distribution company whop
with a wide range of well-known magazine
of all kind of genres e.g. Heat, Empire,
KERRANG!, Zoo, Planet Rock and 4 Music.
This company would be essential for the
survival of my music magazine in this kind
of competitive market.

7. Who would be the audience for your media
Colour Scheme ( Red & White) product?
The target audience was drum & bass
enthusiasts of all ages but I amused
that the magazine would appeal to the
younger age group more because MC
Cronic is apart of the young age group
so the readers could relate to him. Also
the colour scheme and fonts has the
potential to attract younger audiences
due to the brightness/Boldness of the
design which gives the magazine a loud
in your face effect.
Also due to all the people featured in
the images of this music magazine are
all between the ages 16-18 the most
Drum & Bass enthusiasts likely audience would be people of the
would like the magazine same age group because they could
featuring an exclusive on relate to them in some kind of way.
DJ Grooverider (all ages)

8. How did you attract/address your audience?
• The two colours red and white complement very well, due to boldness,
brightness and loudness of the front page I feel that it would that it would
grab young audiences attention from the self.
• As the models in the photographs are the people between 16-18, all the
writers of that age group can relate to the artists.
• Drum & Bass Enthusiasts would be very interested in a new release a
magazine of this genre, they would be keen to find out information about up-
coming events and maybe even to know what legendary D&B DJ Grooverider
is up to theses days.
• Reasonable pricing is always a key factor when designing and distributing a
new magazine, the magazine needs to be value for money as well as a quality
product.
• Possible Distribution Methods e.g. TV, Newsagents, Supermarkets, perhaps
free limited edition copy with any purchase of Drum & Bass Albums at music
Shops e.g. HMV. Would attract people from all walks of life and social
groupings. Perhaps a free Drum & Bass CD inside limited edition magazines.
• Promotional Discount Codes for music albums and HMV etc…

9. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
I already knew the process of editing images using image manipulation
software such as: Photoshop CS6 due to GCSE. Never the less over the course
of the development of this project I have gained considerable amount of new
skills, confidence in development and design. By developing this product it has
increased my understanding on how to operate this software. There are many
things that I recapped on e.g. Clone Stamp Tool, Magic Eraser Tool,
brightness/contracts and levels. I now have the ability to create an account
of progression of development and how to analysis other people work, to
provide them with constructive feedback by critiquing their work.
By using the Magic Eraser Tool
I deleted the background
before layering image on
another.

10. Second part of photo editing
As you can see the microphone is damaged so by using photo manipulation software “photoshop”.
Stages of editing:
•“Clone Stamp Tool” make the microphone just black with no damage. I fixed the damage of the microphone
used the clone stamp tool, on photoshop CS6.
• I also used the “Flip Canvas Horizontal” to reverse the image.

11. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product?
Since I began the development of my music magazine, I feel extremely confident that I have
developed my existing skills of using Photo Manipulation Software from a high GCSE standard to
a more A-Level relevant standard. I also believe that I have picked up many new skills during the
progression of this project e.g. using blogging websites i.e. www.wordpress.com and Google's
“blogger”, as well as creating survey’s on www.polldaddy.com which I've used to reinforce my
evaluation of this project by using the feedback from peers. Their feedback via online survey was
vey helpful with this evaluation of the project and aided me to critique my own work to find out
where there was room for improvement.
Link to Survey: http://matthewmediablog.polldaddy.com/s/matthew-s-as-media-music-
magazine
I have also increased my understanding and ability to create a step by step account of
progression of this project as you can see via http://matasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/ and hopefully I
will be able to transfer this vital skill to my other studies.
Due to GCSE photography I have a wide knowledge of the elements needed to create quality
photographs e.g. lighting, angles and perhaps formal elements of photography i.e. tone, contrast
or texture . This help me in the creation of the images need to compete the magazine. By using
my own photograph I have increased my knowledge and recapped on the importance of
perfection in the studio. Therefore I am confident that I have met the criteria for the project.