The student created a music magazine for their media portfolio evaluation. They were influenced by existing magazines like Vibe and NME. Key elements like the masthead, cover image placement, and use of quotes followed conventions from Vibe. The content listing was also similar to Vibe but expanded to attract more attention. The double page spread centered the image and quote placement like Vibe. The target audience was ages 14-24 interested in dance/pop music. Bauer Media would be a suitable publisher since they already distribute similar music magazines. Creating the magazine improved the student's photography, Photoshop, and design skills.

1. Evaluation
Foundation Portfolio Evaluation
Slide 2- Question 1- ‘In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?’
Slide 3- My front cover
My front cover uses forms and conventions of other music magazines, my
masthead fills the top of the magazine cover, this is similar to the music
magazines which I researched ‘VIBE’ and ‘NME’. The font is big and bold; this
makes the reader become attracted to the magazine. The font which I used is
simple but effective, this relates to the genre of my magazine being simple but
fun dance pop. I used ‘VIBE’ magazine as my biggest influence because it is the
more modern of the two. My main image is directly to the side of the page so
that the cover lines are easy to read and stand out, I have made my cover star
large so that it attracts her fans and attracts the reader about the article which
we feature. I have also used more magazine conventions by using my main
story in larger fonts to attract the reader, but a challenge to the conventions of
other magazine is that my cover star is not looking directly into the camera, so
not direct contact. I have used another convention from ‘vibe’ magazine by
having a banner across the top of my magazine cover, advertising other stuff
which features in my magazine.
Slide 4 – Answer to Question 1- Contents Page
My content page once again was influenced from vibe magazine, I used the
same conventions of vibe magazine by only having 1-2 images on my front
cover to be the main attention rather than lots of small photos, and I did this
because it attracts the most attention. I have developed the forms and
conventions of the vibe contents page because on their contents page the list
of what is being featured in the magazine is going down the right hand side of
the magazine, which I have also done, however, on the vibe contents page the
list of stuff being featured was small and not made to attract attention, while I
have made big and cover top to bottom of my contents page to attract the
readers more. I also used a similar convention of vibe by putting my 2 images

2. on the left hand side, however they only had one going down the left hand
side, I used more to try and attract the readers more.
Slide 5 – Answer to Question 1- Double Page Spread
My double page spread once again used vibe as the main influence, VIBE had
their main image on the right hand side of the double page, and this was their
only image. I have only done this as well so that it is the centre of attention
and would attract the audience. The article which vibe has written is not very
long and is more about the effects on the page; I have developed on their idea
by only having the artists name in big letters across the top of the page and
writing more for my article which would interest the audience more. I have
used another convention of their double page spread by taking quotes from
the interview and putting them larger, I did this because this may influence a
reader to read the whole of the interview because the quotes were interesting
to them.
Slide 6- Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
My music magazine represents the younger audience ranging from 14-24, I
have chosen this age group because the sort of genre of my magazine and the
artists which I am featuring attract this age group, and therefore they will be
more attracted to my magazine. My magazine could also attract people of an
older audience if they listen to dance/pop but it is mainly aimed at the younger
audience. The genre of my magazine is dance/pop so it will feature artists such
as example and rihanna, so fans of these artists would be interested in my
magazine. The house style which I chosen is bright and fun colours which I
have done to try and attract the audience and representing my target audience
as being fun and laidback.
Slide 7- Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
Slide 8- These are the sort of magazines which IPC distribute, They do
distribute one music magazine called Uncut, this tells me that my music
magazine could fit into their profiles, as they only have one so therefore they

3. may look for more recent and modern ones, which mine is, which tells me my
magazine could fit into their profiles if this was my only option.
Slide 9- These are the sort of magazines which Bauer Media publish; they
distribute three Well known music magazine’s such as Q, Kerrang and Mojo.
This shows me they have an interest in music magazines, which makes me
think my modern dance pop Magazine will fit into their profiles the most out of
these two production companies.
Slide 10- Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?
My media magazine’s target audience is age’s 14-24 people who like
dance/pop music. The gender of my magazine is mixed and designed to attract
both male and females like vibe. I have done this using my house style colours,
such as white, purple and yellow. It does attract more girly girls than what it to
males. In my target audience research I found that majority of girls preferred
dance/pop music then boys would, which is why I chose the house style
colours which I did. I also found that more people from my target audience
were attracted to magazines by the content, which is why I tried to put as
much information about the contents of my magazine on the front cover so
that my target audience was attracted. I also conducted a focus group and
found that my target audience would like my front cover, contents and double
page spread should consist of, and I have put these on slides 8, 9, 10 and 11.
This shows I have took interest in what my target audience want.
Slide 11- Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?
I had attracted my audience by including dance and pop bands in my magazine,
I did this because I know that the target audience of my magazine listen to this
genre of music, therefore the magazine is interesting to them and would
encourage them to buy it if they are fans of the artists which are featured in
my magazine. I also tried to attract them by the house style which I used,
white, purple and yellow, I chose the colours because they are bright and fun
which is the sort of audience I wanted to attract. I also attracted my audience
by using the rule of thirds, by doing this it makes my magazine look more
professional and interesting, making them want to see the article inside.
Slide 12 – Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?

4. Throughout the process of me designing and constructing my magazine I have
learnt about various technologies and programmes that aided me with making
my magazine. This includes learning how to use a professional camera, using
flash, rule of thirds and how to zoom in and out so it makes my images look
more professional. Photoshop was a new programme which I had to use to
create my magazine; I used techniques such as cutting out an image. I also
used E-blogger which was an entirely new programme for me to use. I also
used slide share which is what I used to upload word documents to my blog, all
of these technologies have been helpful when creating my magazine.
Slide 13 – Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you
feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
During the starter task I learnt about how I would create a magazine, while
doing this I had learnt how to use the basic skills of Photoshop to help me
construct my magazine. Since making and creating my music magazine I have
progressed in my knowledge of Photoshop and my skills to do more. I have
also gained knowledge in how to use a professional camera and benefit from it
the most I can to make it the most appealing to my audience. My knowledge
on design and layout has also improved since doing my preliminary task when
creating my music magazine since creating my Eccles college magazine; my
music magazine is much more professional and more appealing to the
audience. Since making my Eccles college magazine and my music magazine I
feel that my knowledge and skill of Photoshop has improved dramatically, as I
can cut images professionally which I did on my music magazine to make it
more professional and appealing them my Eccles college magazine. When I
designed and created my Eccles college magazine I did not manipulate the
images, but I did do this in my music magazine, by doing this my music
magazine is more appealing, eye catching and professional. Completing the
preliminary task was a positive thing because it let me have a trail run on how
to create a magazine and let me know how difficult it would be to make a
successful music magazine, this then made my final magazine as successful as
it could be.