My music magazine targets 16-30 year olds and features a smiling black male model on the cover wearing trendy clothing, departing from the more serious poses typically found on other magazines. The layout and design was influenced by Vibe magazine, including placing the model's head over the magazine name on the cover. The magazine would likely be distributed by major companies like Time Inc. and Prometheus Global Media to reach a wide audience across different platforms and expand its recognition. Through constructing the magazine, I learned valuable skills in photography, image editing, layout, and formatting for different platforms to create a professional product.

1. AS Media Evaluation
1) The genre of my music magazine is R&B and I have targeted it at younger generation
ranging from 16-30 year olds. On many of the established magazine I have looked at
and am following, you would see a young black male, with very trendy clothing and
jewellery and a serious face. I followed these conventions and used a stereotypical
black male model who is wearing trendy clothing such as a ‘beanie hat’ and a
jacket, I went against the stereotype as I didn’t have him posing with a serious face
on the front page instead I made him smile a bit, however I used a picture on my
double page spread with a serious face, music magazines such as ‘kerrang’ have their
models doing more casual poses with guitars in their hands. However I made him
keep eye contact with the camera ‘angle of glaze’ as it makes the reader feel more
involved and personal. The main colours I have used are black and red throughout
the whole magazine, on the front page I used grey which is the colour of the
cardigan he has on and blue which is the same colour as his beanie. The layout of my
magazine was influenced by ‘Vibe’ magazine which was published in 2010 with T.I as
the cover. In the Vibe magazine they had T.I head covering the name of the
magazine which shows people already know the brand name, I used this and used
got my model head to cover ‘Source, by doing this it also makes the model stand out
and will attract people to read the magazine, my image is in the middle of the page
whereas many established magazine place it in the optical view, this is because when
the magazines are stacked on shelves the right side gets covered, therefore I placed
my main cover line on the left side of the page.
2) My magazine is following the very typical stereotypes with the race of the R&B
artists which is black, however I used other races in my magazine, and this widens
the audience more. My magazine represents a certain social group this is shown
through the language used, the social group I have chosen is a wide group as R&B is
a genre of music that many people, as it involved many different types of music. The
models also represents the social group my magazine is targeted at as they are part
of the same group. My magazine is aimed at both male and females as I have
included both sex models and artists, I have also included a fashion ‘Must have’
section which is in every issue this makes it available to people who may not be even
interested in music and may just want to read the fashion section. On the front page
I used many teasers this would draw the audience to read the magazine as the age
group I have aimed it at is interested in celebrity lives as it is a diversion from reality,
and is a form of surveillance.

2. 3) My magazine would most likely be distributed my various media institutions, as I am
producing a R&B magazines, I would use distributors such as Time inc. They also
publish Vibe magazine who I have been using for my front page. Time inc. also
publish 130 other magazine such as NME, who are also a well known magazine.
Using Time inc. as a distributor will help my magazine become recognisable as they
have done with other magazines, it will also help it become a success like they have
done with Vibe magazine and NME. Furthermore I would also use a company called
Prometheus global media, they are a American publishing company they have
published many well known and successful magazines such as billboard, who are
known globally. Billboard is a magazine which includes interviews, daily news it also
includes the charts, this is a well known chart across the world to many people
especially artists. As it includes original articles it gives the distributors a good name
allowing more people to buy from, expanding their business. If Source magazine was
to be distributed through Prometheus it will give source magazine a head start and
will help it be known. As my magazine is aimed at the younger generation a online
copy or phone apps will popular as they use the phones or tablets for various things.
4) My target audience is teenagers-adults, the reason I have aimed it at this is because
it is very rear to see a man in his late 40’s or 50’s reading a R&B magazine like mine,
therefore I chose to have a model who is roughly the Same age of my audience. This
would draw them to my magazine as they would want to see what is going on with
them and would act as surveillance and would be a diversion from reality. I have
used various font and sizes to attract them as it would stand out more. On my front
cover I mentioned artists song such as ‘Other Half’ and names such as ‘Rihanna’ my
target audience would understand and know what I am talking about. The mode of
address I have used is suitable for my target audience, as on my double page spread I
have used informal languages which only they would understand.
5) I made my contents page similar to the billboard magazine; this is so I kept similar
conventions, as there are many established magazines that use similar layouts. By
using this layout people will be able to recognise my magazine and its genre. I
attracted my audience using my cover lines by adding ‘exclusive’ in to my main cover
line; this will attract my audience as they would want to know what was said in this
interview which is exclusive. I have also used the cover line ‘DJ Khaled; proposal was
it true? This would attract a wider range as this was the topic people were talking
about and they got to find out the truth which gives the excitement factor. My third
cover line I used is ‘Aleks tells us what we have been waiting for’ this would be to the
readers interest as they are about to find out a exclusive secret that they have been
wanting to hear. These Cover lines would make the reader want to buy the magazine
as they would be finding out 3 exclusive pieces of information and would still have a
lot more to read about such as ‘Top 50 Songs of 2013’ this would attract a lot more
readers as they would want to see what songs have been selected. For each of my
cover lines I used different colours and sizes as it would stand out more. When

3. placing the cover lines I used the ‘Z’ techniques to see what would be the first thing
the reader would see as this is what helps they decide what to buy. I would also
release a digital copy due to advanced technology now days so it will expand the
audience, as they may be from different countries.
6) Whilst constructing my music magazine I learnt that there is many different ways to
manipulate the photos, when taking the photos I discovered the best background is
the green screen and the clothing my models are wearing will not clash with the
background and would be easier when it would come to manipulating them and
editing the photos by using tools such as dodge and burn tools. As many people used
a website to construct the barcode I used Photoshop to construct mine as i made it
from scratch I had to make sure i used the correct size of the page. Whilst I was using
Photoshop I realised even if the colour of the lipsticks my model was wearing was
wrong I was able to change the colour completely this was the same for my models
clothing. To take my images I use a SLR camera which gave my images a professional
look, compared to my preliminary task images for which I used my phone for. To give
my magazine a variety of fonts I used a website called ‘dafont’ for which I used the
text for my title which fitted in with the name. When it come to uploaded my work
to my blog I used a website called Slide share which I used to upload documents
such as my evaluation and research, when I was uploading my magazine I learnt how
to change the format of my work so it was compatible to the platform I was
uploading it to.
7) From my preliminary task I have discovered many different techniques. I have come
a long way as the picture quality has increased, and they way I have taken the
pictures has improved. In the preliminary task I used Microsoft word to create and
edit my images which was very basic and didn’t include the main features which
were needed. In my preliminary task I didn’t follow any of the rules and guidelines
which made it all look very messy, in my final piece I have included thirds in to front
page, double page and contents page. In my preliminary I used very basic fonts and
didn’t change them, with my new one I downloaded my own fonts which went with
the piece of text I was writing. I was also able to create my own barcode from
scratch with Adobe Photoshop. None of my writing was aligned and straight so when
It came to printing the front page out the words got cut out, with the software I used
allowed me to place guide lines so it was all in place and straight.