1. 2.)HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCIAL
GROUPS?
Theresa Kuhn

2. My magazine specifically represents indie hipsters and their genre of music. I
chose colours, images bands and fonts that I associate with the stereotypical
view of this genre, main looking at the positives. To show I have represented
my magazine to be indie specific I will compare it to an already existing
magazine and show how I have followed the same rules and impression to
create a indie music magazine that reflect the social group I aimed my
magazine at.
I have chosen to address the social class of D/E in the Social Grade of Chief
Income because students are generally unpaid or work part time jobs in
addition to studying. My magazine is a niche to indie music yet because I am
targeting this audience, I have chosen to use a large amount of coverlines to
attract my audience. The price of my magazine reflects the social grade I am
targeting and the fact that my magazine is niche.

3. INDIE MUSIC MAGAZINE
INDIE Music magazine is an Austrian based indie magazine that it
distributed in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, as well as UK, France,
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, Poland,
Malta, Turkey, USA, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan,
in both German editions and international (English Language)
editions.
INDIE Magazine is published quarterly:
Spring Issue: March 1st // Summer Issue: May 15th // Fall Issue:
September 1st // Winter Issue: November 15th
It is published thorough Plastic media.

4. Plastic Media is a fashion/music/lifestyle publishing house and event agency
founded in 2003 by Kira Stachowitsch and Clemens Steinmueller.
As well as INDIE, Plastic media publishes internationally renowned
magazines that are distributed worldwide and available at the most important
newsagents and national and international chain stores. Additionally plastic
media creates and produces magazines, lookbooks and catalogues for
various clients, from international brands/companies (like MONKI Magazine
for Fabric Scandinavien) to independent designers (like Austrian Fashion
Guide for Austrianfashion.net).

5. INDIE music magazine make their models appear along the same themes and trends of indie people, but add
more individuality to their appearance on the front cover so it is interesting and inspiring to read. For instance
on this cover they use a girl of a similar age to their target audience(which is a common feature with all their
issues). They use a mid shot with the girl directly addressing the audience, positioned centre to the cover and
include minimal cover lines around her so she is the centre focus of the issue. The way they address their
social group of indie using a girl of the same age to the target audience. Also the way she is standing is very
similar to one of a „selfie‟ commonly taken and displayed on social media sites such as Instagram. She also
holds a camera which carries the same design as the Instagram logo and so the target audience can quickly
identify the genre that the magazine carries due to the relating connotations. Her makeup is more elaborate to
everyday coverage which shows the magazine is breaking about of the stereotype, and is actually being more
original about the appearance of the girl. The colours also reflect quite a girly audience through the use of
pastel pinks and blues , showing there is a higher woman's percentage in the target audience. Finally the cover
line relating to the photo seems quite ironic if by itself saying “may I shoot you?”, which in context with the
magazine makes sense yet otherwise seems a bit morbid and humorous. Just reading the cover line makes it
more edgy and outgoing, addressing the outgoing nature of the audience.

6. I feel I have considered the same elements to
address my social group of 16-21 year olds
who are into indie music. After thorough
research into the current trends of my target
audience, both fashion, social media use and
general inclinations, I created three pages of
my magazine that will appeal directly to them.
Specifically, my front cover addresses my
social group the most, with my model wearing
a skater skirt and cardigan which are popular
trends of indie fashion. I have also positioned
her to be directly addressing the camera,
standing her in the centre of the photo(very
much like INDIE magazine) in a position that is
casual but posing which again related to the
popular „posed‟ images frequently seen on
social media site Instagram. This addresses
my audience as they can relate to the picture
as what they do on Instagram is not far from
the images of a published magazine, making
my magazine directly relate to this social
group. I also used normal makeup that shows
I've gone along the route of target audience
indie style rather than outlandish individuality,

7. Overall my magazine follows the stereotypical view of indie people as I have
looked enough into their preferences to create a product that directly reflects
their social group. Although like INDIE magazine I could have branched out
further against the stereotype to create my own view of indie as well as what
I already have, I think my current product directly addresses my target
audience which was my main concern, so staying with the stereotype proves
successful.