My magazine incorporates conventions from real music magazines like Rolling Stone to attract a target audience of young women. I used a left-aligned masthead, centered cover star in direct address, consistent color scheme, and framed cover lines to draw attention to the model based on my research of successful magazine formats. Distributing through Bauer Media would be suitable since they produce magazines like Rolling Stone that target a similar young, female demographic interested in music.

1. AS Media Studies
Evaluation
Jennifer Griffin

2. In what ways does your
media product use, develop
or challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

3. My magazine incorporates
generic conventions which I
became familiar with
through the convention tasks
I did
such as many different
analysis of magazines.
Link to my first magazine
analysis
Left third Direct address
Barcode
Date line
and price
Cover lines
frame model
Constant colour
scheme
Centre
model
Url

4. I used existing magazines to familiarise myself with the
codes and conventions of magazine covers, looking at music
magazines in particular. I concentrated the most on Rolling
Stones magazine which taught me how to lay out my page.
Through this I learnt about the ‘left third’ of the page and
how that is where your masthead should be to make your
magazine recognisable when on the shelves. I also realised
that many of the models are using ‘direct address’ to make
the magazine feel more personal to the reader. I made sure
that my model was looking directly at the camera to gain a
connection with the audience. I laid out the barcode and
price and all other common features in a similar way to
other magazines so that the attention isn’t necessarily drawn
to them. I also ensured that my main cover line stood out to
draw in the attention and point out why the cover star is
being featured.

5. I wanted to make my cover lines ‘frame’ my model like on
many of the Rolling Stones covers. I also brought my model
in front of the masthead as the masthead should be easily
recognisable even if partly covered and it brought all of the
attention to the cover star as she is the main attraction.
I stuck to a colour scheme as this is what I have observed
from other magazines, they stick to a ‘house style’ so the
cover doesn’t look over the top and so all attention is drawn
to the model.

6. My main influence was Rolling Stone magazine. I did the
most research into this magazine and I adopted many styles
from it.
Link to research into Rolling Stone magazine
All of the models on the cover of these magazines looked
very glamorous and girly which is the look I went for on my
cover. They are framed by the cover lines and the majority
of the models are based in the centre of the page which is
what I did.

7. Contents page
I drafted my contents page and I
decided to stick to the same style
because I liked the simplicity.
Link to draft contents page
I learnt from my research that there was
always a main star as the focal point so
I ensured that the centre image stood
out the most.
Contents page analysis
I kept to a simple colour scheme and
kept to the same style font to keep it
looking neat and like the other types of
magazines in this genre.

8. Double page
My first proper influence was NME magazine as they had
the model on the one side with the interview on the other
which is a simple style that I liked.
NME magazine analysis
I then looked in Q, and it had a double page spread very
similar in the style I wanted.
Q magazine analysis

9. How does your media product
represent particular social
groups?

10. My magazine is focused towards young women, similar to
‘Rolling Stone’ magazine.
My cover star looks sweet and innocent looking and is
dressed in black clothing to look classy and stylish.
One of the support artists is very happy looking,
representing her as being a stereotypical bubbly, easy-going
teenager.

11. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media
product and why?

12. Bauer media is a distribution company that produces
magazines such as Rolling Stone, Q magazine and Kerrang!
and I feel that this company would distribute Harmony. As
Rolling Stone is my main inspiration, I looked into their
distributer and decided that as they have the same target
audience it may fit in.
Bauer Media - Rolling Stone Magazine
This company overall is modernised and would best support
my magazine for young music fans.

13. Who would be the audience for
your media product?

14. My magazines target audience is young females around the
ages of late teens/early twenties. The magazine is aimed
around this age group as it is girly and feminine.

15. How did you attract/address
your audience?

16. My masthead 'Harmony’ is a music related name which
shows that it is a music magazine which will attract music
lovers. It is a simple name that can easily be remembered
and it also sounds modern and unique compared to other
magazines.
My colours are pastel colours which will appeal to young
women as they are classy, feminine and girly. They are also
fairly bright colours that are more likely to be associated
with teenagers and young women as they are bubbly and
fun. I kept a colour scheme to keep it looking neat and
mature but not boring.

17. The images used are all of people within the age range of
the target audience so the readers can relate to them and it
makes the magazine feel more personal. The main star is a
young female who is very attractive and who young women
may aspire to be like as not only is she beautiful, but she is
starting a successful career in music. She looks sweet and
approachable so it gives the magazine an innocent vibe as
oppose to edgy. The use of direct address also makes the
magazine seem more personal and makes the readers feel
more connected with the cover star.

18. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process
of constructing the product?

19. Blogger
Blogger is an easy way to display my work and research into
my media product. It is simple to use and laid out in a
presentable, easy accessible way. I liked this method of
storing and organising my work as I can go back and
remove or edit any previous work easily and neatly.