The document evaluates the creation of a music magazine, discussing its design elements such as a simple layout, strong imagery, and a conversational interview style to appeal to a target audience of 14-19 year-olds. It describes the use of techniques learned from established magazines like Kerrang to attract readers and emphasizes the importance of audience feedback during production. Additionally, it covers the author's growth in technology skills, particularly in using Photoshop, which enhanced the overall quality of the magazine.

1. iMusic:
Magazine Evaluation
Brendan Warren

2. Q1: in what ways does your magazine use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
• My magazine has a simple layout, and a simple colour theme. I wanted it
to be simple, yet effective I thought that if I didn’t overcrowd my
magazine, it would appeal to my audience better as in my original survey
12 out of 16 people said that they preferred less text and a more image
driven layout. The image I used on the front I think is a very strong and eye
catching image, whilst doing research into the genre of which my
magazine is in I found that in this genre the pictures were always taken at
a low angle this is to make the band/ person seem strong and powerful.
On my contents I wanted to keep the simplicity as shown on my front
cover. To do this I tried not to put in too much text and have more images.
I also maintained this theme on my DPS which is a poster style DPS with a
minimal amount of text so that the audience is paying all their attention
on the image. Whilst looking at other similar magazines such as Kerrang
and Rock I noticed that on the poster style DPS they always had an
interview with the band/ singer that had questions for them that the
public had asked. This was my chosen technique for my magazine, I also
noticed the type of language they used within the magazine, swearing and
more laymen than most.

3. Front cover
Main image-
My main image is grey
Masthead-
scaled so that the pink
I Made sure my masthead
text would stand out
was eye-catching and
more and also to keep
unique so that it had a
with my genre it is also
unique selling point I also
low angle to make the
put the mast head behind
person seem more
the main image so that it
powerful
didn’t divert any
attention or cover any of Cover line- the
the image cover line adds
interest for the
Lead article- the lead reader
article is large and eye- During my orgional
catching so that any survey I noticed people
fans of that particular were influenced by price
band would be able to which is why I kept my
see this on a shelf. price competitive

4. Contents I made sure that the
To maintain a consistent contents was the
house style I used the largest text on the
same font on each page page to make is as
also keeping the clear as possible what
masthead on each page page your on.
such as NME and Kerrang
did. The most important
and popular articles
Main article I put on the have both a picture
page and the number and and a pull quote to
text is larger to make it make it more engaging
stand out more. for the readers. Other
pages just have a title
Page numbers and a turn to page.
I put page numbers in
bold so that they stood
out.

5. Double page spread
I used the same font
and size that I used
on the other pages
and ensured that
the colour scheme
and house style was
maintained by using
the pink text and
image driven layout.
I also used a drop
cap.
I put my standfirst
along the top as I I put in Three columns as it split the writing into
thought it looked easier to read sections and all questions are split
more effective and up to make it easier to read and more appealing
stand out more.

6. Q2: How does your magazine represent particular social groups?
• I think I have presented my music artists as powerful, normal
people who are fun, interesting and very open. I have made the
interview as if it where a normal conversation to make the audience
think that they are “friends” with the artists. The images are all
appropriate and have been taken at appropriate places. For
example the image on the front cover was taken at an old graveyard
stairs. I think these images helped me convey the rock stereotypical
magazine.
• On the contents page the competition to win a bottle of JD was
used as it was an interest of the social group that would be reading
my magazine. My interview was written in a style so that it appeals
to teenagers/ young adults.
• The continuous use of black also portrays my social group as being
dark and mysterious.

7. Q3 What kind of media institution might distribute your
magazine and why?
• I think that a media institution such as IPC Media would be the best
to distribute my magazine. This is because, although it already
distributes music magazines such as "NME", "Uncut" and "Guitar
and Bass" my magazine is aimed at a much younger audience than
these, therefore there is a gap in the market for it. In addition to
this, the fact that it already distributes such well known music
magazines means that they have the necessary experience and
loyal consumers who might be interested in a new branch of music
magazine - “imusic".
I did initially consider Bauer Media to distribute my magazine
because it has over 80 influential media brands and reaches over 19
million people. However, it already distributes music magazines
with a very similar target audience and genre, for example
"Kerrang!". Therefore it would be unlikely to distribute a competitor
to one of its existing successful magazines.

10. Q4 who would be the audience for your media product?
• The target audience for my magazine is aged 14-19 male and
female, but with a slight bias to male in the familiar way my
magazine is written.
Typically he will be found constantly plugged into his ipod whether
she's doing her artwork or out and about with mates. his ipod
features newer less established and uncommercial bands as well as
bands like Paramore, Green Day and You Me At Six. His free time is
spent at concerts and festivals or discovering new bands on the
internet, therefore he doesn't spend that much time watching
television. Because most of her money is spent on new albums and
concerts. Also likes going out and drinking, drinks such as Jack
daniels. He also spends a lot of time playing video games.

12. 5:How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience
• Firstly whilst I was making the magazine I addressed
my target audience by constantly asking what their
opinions were regarding my magazine throughout it's
production.
• Secondly I kept looking at similar magazines such as
Kerrang to ensure that the magazine was competitive
and differentiated from other similar magazines to
ensure my magazine has a unique selling point.
• I wanted to find out some audience feedback on my
magazine that I created I done this by creating a
questionnaire on a website called survey monkey and
also by holding a focus group.

13. • These are the results of my questionnaire…

14. The majority of the people that completed the survey were male.

15. The majority of people surveyed are in the age group 10-19

16. Out of the 8 people that completed the survey half thought that my
magazine was set at a fair price.

17. I asked in the questionnaire what type of genre they thought my magazine was so
I could see how effective it was and if it suited the genre. The results show that it
was effective and recognisable as a rock/heavy metal magazine.

18. w
In the survey I asked what other magazines would be the main competitors
and the main reply was kerrang. The design and model of my magazine has
been based around kerrang.

19. I then asked if they thought the DPS and contents maintained a house style.
From this I got a mixed response of yes and no’s with reasons why. The most
constructive of which saying that my contents is a different colour scheme
to the DPS and front cover. If I had another chance to do this I would change
the contents to black with white writing.

20. I wanted my magazine to be clear and simplistic and I think that
this goal is achieved as shown by the answers in this survey.

21. I asked the question How would you improve it, so that I could see how
my target audience would change their magazine to better suit them
and these are the results I got.

22. • Click on the link in the description to view my
focus group….

23. 6:What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process
of Constructing This Product
I have used many different websites whilst doing my magazine project. I
have used my facebook account to post surverys which I have learnt how
to do on survey monkey. I also used Blogger, which was completely new to
me as I have never written or made a blog before. I have also been using
another site called slideshare to publish powerpoint presentations onto
my blog. I can now confidently use all of these websites where as before I
wouldn’t have known where to start.
Photoshop has been the main software I have used while making my
website before this I had never used photoshop before I can now
confidently use it and its features such as gaussian blur, lens
corrections, Magnetic lasoo and the quick selection tool.
Other technology used-
USB- to transfer my work from my home computer to my college
computer
Laptop- to work on my magazine at home
Digital SLR camera- to take pictures for my magazine.

24. 7:Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task (The School Magazine
Task), What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression
From It To Full Product
• Since creating my school magazine my knowledge of using Photoshop has
increased considerably. For example I now know how to make elements of my
magazine stand out more by using drop shadows and outer glows. In addition to
this, I learnt how to select parts of photos using the quick selection tool in order to
cut things out. An example of this would be the guitar fret on my front cover which
gives the magazine a more dynamic, 3-D appearance than my school magazine.
I've also learnt how to download newer more interesting fonts, increasing the
visual appeal of my magazine. As well as this, the complexity of my page layout has
increased as I've learned how to use layers in Photoshop more effectively.
Overall my understanding of the software has improved greatly throughout this
project because at the start I'd barely used Photoshop and now I have produced a
professional looking magazine using it. The skills development journal I created
shows just a handful of the skills and techniques I used whilst creating my music
magazine all of which were new to me.
• As well as learning more about the software and hardware that I used whilst
creating the magazine I also gained a much more in depth knowledge about
magazine conventions and a more user friendly and target audience targeting.