2. Question 1 – Who would be your audience for your
media product?
I have created a mood board comprised of images that are aimed at my ideal readers. My
magazine would be aimed at male 17-25 year olds. My magazine is a genre based on the
Mod and Indie subculture. I didn’t feel there was a demand for a indie magazine but there is
for a magazine based on the 60’s and late 80’s/early 90’s Mod and Madchester culture. I
would aim it at the younger and older generation. Being the people that want to experience
it and the people who have experienced it. Having a hybrid between these two subcultures
will be my unique selling point, to give me the edge.
3. Sub-genres and hybrid magazines
After looking at my
audience research I
had noticed there is
a demand for a
hybrid magazine
combining the
‘Mod’ and
‘Madchester’ sub-
cultures directly. It
would be aimed at
lower class males.
4. Demographic Profile Representations
Male/Female Male
Social Class Lower/Middle
Age 16-30
Idols Pete Townsend, Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown
Music Genre Indie, Rock n Roll
Music Magazine New Strain
Other Media TV, Film, Vinyl
Clothing Brands Fred Perry, Pretty Green, Pop Boutique
Transport Vespa/Lambretta
Footwear Desert Boots, Smart Shoes
5. Question 2 - How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
The social group I would
represent is the ‘Mod’ social
group. This is due to the
Indie music genre, coming
from bands like Arctic
Monkeys, The Who and The
Smiths. The readers would
wear brands like Adidas, Ben
Sherman and Fred Perry
with desert boots and parka
coats.
6. Question 3 - What kind of media institution
might distribute your media product and
why?
IPC media would distribute my magazine because they
distribute magazines of a similiar style. IPC is the
distributor for NME which is of similar ‘indie’ genre,
covering the same style of brands, bands, festivals and
Music news.
10. Question 4 - In what way does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
11. When choosing what type of music magazine to do I had a few options which I could have
taken. I decided to create a Indie music magazine as it is my main musical influence. I looked
at a few NME front covers to get an Idea for layout and overall style and colour scheme. The
covers I studied have been placed at the bottom of the page. I noticed straight away that the
cover star had to be very in your face and assertive but co-operate with the style of it all like
it was a sort of symphony. I could also see that banners were almost mandatory. Whether the
banner was a block with text on it or a long list of band names that acted as a banner it didn’t
matter. Other that the Stone Roses cover I noticed that pugs were used too, to be able to
bring the readers attention to other stories within a magazine. When choosing the colours
scheme I noticed that there is a lot of red, yellow and white. Red connotes rock music
whereas white is a symbol of sleekness and cleanliness. I also saw that a the cover could have
a hint into to stars’ interests, e.g. the Oasis cover writing is ‘sky blue’ which relates back to
Manchester City as the band support that team.
Front cover
12. Front cover
My front cover had to employ of the detail and
methods that I had seen on the NME covers I
studied.
My cover star is Noel Gallagher and I knew before
I had even planned the layout of my cover I had to
make him extremely large to represent his place
within the music industry to really reflect the
amount of respect he has from other musicians.
I chose red, blue and white as my colour scheme
because it connotates to the rock background but
also relates to the Brit Pop era and the Mod
subculture of which Oasis were a large part of. I
repeated the trend of using blue writing for a Noel
Gallagher article to represent his support for
Manchester City.
Banners became a massive part of my design too. I
used them to signify all the different articles I have
featured of the front cover. I also adopted the use
of a list of band names that will be included in the
magazine. I placed them in a red banner at the
bottom of the page with a plus sign to indicate the
inclusion of them inside.
13. Double Page Spread
When researching for a double page spreads I found three very fitting ones. All the had very
large mastheads used to interest the reader and very interesting stand-firsts to capture them
into reading the article. I knew straight away that this was crucial. Using pulling quotes in the
middle of text was also a recurring pattern used encase the reader wasn’t completely enticed.
The picture of the band/singer that the article was about had to be very large too. If not
another picture was used to contribute to overall picture space.
14. When I came to do my double page spread I had decided to do a Jake Bugg interview that is
featured of my front cover.
Double Page Spread
15. Contents Page
My contents challenges other contents pages because
mine has an editors letter and NME’s doesn’t. This could
give me an edge, having more content for readers to enjoy.
I also have a competition advertised on my contents page,
this could attract readers but with the prospect of winning
free tings
16. Question 5 - How did you attract/address your
audience?
I used prominent
features with bright
colours to attract
reader, making them
interested in the
exclusive content
inside
Large, eye catching
picture placed over
text to show
importance. Use of
eye and rule of thirds
brings audience in
Unique selling point
with bright colours
attracts attention.
Readers may be
interested in
competitions. The way
it is placed ontop of the
picture with a shadow
behind it makes it
stand out more.
Cover star name
large and well
designed. Shows
reader the main
article to grab their
attention straight
away.
17. Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this product?
I used the crop tool to resize images and
cut out uneeded parts of it
Crop Tool
18. Background Eraser
I used the magic eraser tool on
photoshop to get rid of background
on pictures to make it fit better
when I layered it with other things
19. I used the shape tool
to create a pug for
my magazine. I added
a stroke onto it to put
a border on the text
20. Question 7 - Looking back at your
preliminary task (Aquinas College
magazine), what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression to the full
product?
I have learnt various things over several programs. I have
learnt how to use basic tools and how to create an
effective magazine cover. I have learnt how to re-colour,
re-size and layer things.
