The student made significant improvements from their preliminary magazine project to the final project. They conducted research like online surveys to learn what their target audience wanted. They paid closer attention to magazine design conventions. For example, they selected higher quality, simpler photographs that could be easily edited. Their final magazine covered followed conventions like featuring artist names and a teaser. It included typical sections like features and used a color scheme and tones fitting the targeted music genre. Feedback was mostly positive with some minor suggested changes to further improve matching conventions and audience.

1. Music Magazine Evaluation

2. Progression from the preliminary task I think I made a vast improvement from my preliminary task to my main piece in all areas. With my research, I focused a lot more on my target audience and the conventions of the genre than I did in my preliminary task. For example, I posted questionnaires on internet forums to find out about what they wanted. Plus, I went into deeper detail in my analysis of the other magazines, particularly in my examination of the colours and their connotations, which was a criticism from my preliminary task. I also learned about the importance of photography. The pictures in my preliminary task were low quality and were hard to use as a cover image, as they couldn’t be written on or edited easily as the picture was focused on more than subject and so most of the components of the picture were key and could not be removed, looking more like a normal photography image than a magazine image. This meant that my preliminary cover looked unprofessional whereas I kept my main task’s pictures comparatively simple, making them simple to edit and write over.

3. Following conventions My product mostly follows the conventions of music magazines. The cover features a large amount of plugs of the names of artists to sell the magazine, which is most of the writing on the cover. The other writing is one large teaser on the front about one of the bigger articles in the magazine, such as the one about 126 tips for 2010 in Rewind magazine. Like the two magazines I analysed, the picture I used is a mid shot using a direct mode of address, with the subject looking directly at the camera with a serious face. However, it’s the only image on the cover making it look quite simple which is unusual for music magazine. Although this is something this is also done in Rewind magazine, which covers the same genre as mine, and so this isn’t so much just me challenging the conventions of music magazine as an extension of magazines for a certain audience challenging the conventions. I also used a similar colour scheme to the magazines I analysed: using red, white and black to connote messages about the magazine. These messages are to do with the type of music the magazine is about; so, for example, red connotes energy and excitement, which fits with the music genre I wanted my magazine to be about.

4. The contents are something the music magazines don’t seem to consider all too important and so I kept to a very basic layout with a picture above a list of the features. The layout is a 50/50 split between pictures and writing. The writing consists of a basic set of 3: the page number, the subject then some deeper detail, which is in a two column layout. The picture is music-related making it appropriate for the magazine, but not specifically linked to any of the stories, a trend I followed from my magazine analysis. I also kept to a simple black and white colour scheme to make it look simple and easy to read and not draw too much attention, as the cover and double page spread are more important.

5. For my double-page spread, I followed several conventions for the layout that I found in my analysis. For instance, the title of the article features in the top left hand corner, the pictures are kept to the side of the pages and the writing is kept in columns, which are only split to create an area for a quote from the article. The writing itself partly challenges the conventions as it is a slightly less informal tone than most music magazines, because the results from my questionnaire showed that this tone is a little annoying. I still, however, kept many conventions in my writing such as the use of colloquial language like “wobbles” and the numerous quotes from the artist.

6. Audience From my research I can see that my target audience is predominantly male teenagers that are interested in grime/dubstep music. To make it obvious it was intended for males, the cover looks very aggressive, with the model using a direct mode of address and has a serious face. The colours of black and red also have connotations of danger that would appeal more to the target audience. To show it was meant for a teenage audience, I used a digital style font that would show that it wasn’t intended for older generations, as would the hooded clothes of the model which is a fashion of the target audience. Similarly, the dark and dangerous tone would show that it wasn’t suitable for children. To show anyone looking at the cover that it was about grime and dubstep music, I used a title related to the genre and a slogan that uses the word “grimy” in it. I also used the names of several big names in the genre for the plugs and the font looks electronic, which fits with the genre as it is a sub-genre of electro.

7. I addressed the audience in a tone somewhere between formal and informal. The usual tone for this audience would be informal, but the results form my questionnaire showed that they didn’t really like this tone, calling it “fake” and “annoying.” Instead, I treated the readership fairly seriously, but still used slang such as “wobbling” and some aspects of humour to create a suitable balance between professional and friendly. As the social group I was representing in my magazine was the same as the one I was aiming my magazine at, I was very conscious that I needed to show them in a positive light. Although much of the imagery and connotations appears to be stereotypical and therefore negative, the genre of music is a niche one and so this underground mentality would see these negative representations as a positive one, setting them apart from the mainstream. Contrasting with the stereotype, I also tried to make them seem intelligent with the fairly serious tone of writing and the interviewee’s articulate way of speaking. I also made them look quite artistic with the numerous young artists featured and by mentioning a reader’s music page on the contents. No other social groups are represented in the magazine as they’re not mentioned. It’s not made for them and insulting them in it seems a more childish thing to do than the tone would deem appropriate, meaning there’s no need to mention them.

8. Distributing the magazine It is possible, because of the niche audience, that the magazine would have to be self-publicised like Rewind magazine. However there are several publishers that would potentially distribute the magazine. Time Inc. were founded in 1922 in New York and publish 130 magazines on lots of different subjects (notably music) and includes Vibe magazine, a magazine on a similar genre of music, but not the same kind as mine. This makes it viable for mine to be published by them. Future plc. were formed in 1986 and are one of the biggest publishers in the UK, publishing over 150 magazines on a variety of subjects, which, like Time inc, includes music. The music magazine Future publish near entirely focus on Rock music and so a venture into other genres could be a possibility, which makes it feasible for my magazine to be published by them.

9. Using technologies I learnt a number of things about using technology when creating this magazine. I learnt how to use blogspot.com to create an interactive way of keeping track and explaining what I have done. I learnt how to use surveymonkey.com to create questionnaires and collect and analyse their results and slideshare.net to show my PowerPoint presentations on my blog. I also improved my Photoshop ability, using several new techniques to edit images to the look I wanted.

10. Feedback and response Once my magazine was completed, I created some more questionnaires on surveymonkey.com to get feedback. It was nearly all positive, but there’s still some little things I could improve if I went back to do it again. On my front cover, one person said they thought it could be a little busier. Although I was going for a simple look in line with my feedback, I could possibly have added a few more things such as more plugs or a teaser to balance it better. On my contents page, someone pointed out that there was some specks on the picture of the record. I hadn't noticed this and, if I had, I would've gone back and used Photoshop to edit this out, a simple procedure, and is something I would look out for if I did it again. On my double page spread, the only negative point was that someone said it was a bit too formal. This shows that I perhaps I went too far the other way once I found out the audience didn't want it to be informal, although only one person mentioned it. I could change this with some word changes. For example, "moniker" could become "name."