Evaluation

Evaluation Of
‘Deadlines’ Music
Magazine
by Stephanie Alabi

In this evaluation, I will explore how
the media products I have created (a
music magazine front cover, contents
page and double page spread) are
effective in satisfying media
conventions, whether they appeal to
my target audience and I will examine
how I have progressed since
completing my preliminary task.

In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
My own design of my music magazine front cover is conventional as
by researching existing music magazine front covers I found that
many of them present a list of artists down the side of the front cover
to preview the artists that will feature inside the magazine. This is
done to let my target audience glimpse at the popular artists that will
be within the magazine. Also my front cover uses similar colours that
existing magazines do. I was inspired by NME magazine to use the
colour schemeof red, black, white and yellow. My front cover
also follows conventions as my main image of my
main artist takes up the majority of the space on
the front cover. However, my front cover has
inverted conventions of Indie Rock magazines as
I did not include feature article photographs
whereas on many real music magazines, they do.

develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
The reason these type of conventions are used is
because I thought that if the audience saw them, they
would recognise the magazine and connect more to it.
Also, conventions are used to draw in the audience to
the magazine as they would already be familiar with
these conventions. I have decided to challenge
conventions of Indie Rock magazines so that my
magazine seems unique but also because I thought
some of the conventions (such as feature article
photographs) would not have suited the style of my
magazine front cover, contents page or double page
spread.

My own music magazine contents page design is conventional as by
researching existing music magazine contents pages I realised that
they all have a column of topics that are going to be featured in the
magazine put into sections. I was inspired by Q magazine to make
the layout like this. My contents page also follows conventions as in
various music magazines there is a main image that takes up the
top half of the contents page. I chose to do this so that the
readership can see whobesides the main artist on the front cover
features in the magazine. On the other hand,
my contents page doesn’t follow conventions
of an Indie Rock magazine as in some
existing contents pages they include some
information under each topic to preview what
is going to be in them whereas I have not
included this on my contents page.

My double page spread design is conventional as by researching
existing music magazine articles I have found that they all have a
main headline that links to the article. I have included a main headline
and this is used to tell my target audience what the double page
spread is about. Also the colour scheme of my double page spread
was inspired by other Indie Rock magazines such as Q or NME as
red, black and white are general to the Indie Rock genre. However,
my double page spread challenges Indie conventions as most existing
double page spreads have one large main image taking up an entire
side of the page whereas my double pagespread has two images
and some text taking
up one page of the
spread. This link is a
summary presentation.
http://prezi.com/ibogsntigiq3/?utm_
campaign=share&utm_medium=co
py&rc=ex0share

How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
My three media pieces create a representation of gender as my
magazine is aimed at females and this is shown as the main artist
on my front cover and in my double page spread is a girl so my
target audience will immediately relate and recognise her. Also in
my contents page I included a solo male artist that girls will be
drawn to. It creates a representation of race as there are mainly
white artists in the Indie Rock genre but my media product uses
people of other races as well. Youth is definitely represented in my
media products as the costume my main artist on my front cover is
wearing can symbolise rebellion and being youthful. Also the pose
of the band on my contents page is casual and laid back which
could also indicate youth.

I have not supported stereotypes of gender in my media products
as a stereotype of females in the music industry is that they are
overly-feminine, wear light colours and are weak; on my magazine
front cover my main female artist is represented positively as strong
as she is wearing darker colours which doesn’t make her seem very
feminine. I also have not supported stereotypes of race as on my
contents page, there is a white, blonde girl in one of the pictures
and instead of the stereotype of her being dumb, she is represented
positively as smart as she is wearing glasses. I have created a
representation of gender as the target audience of my magazine
are female and the mode of address used in my media products
targets them specifically. I have created a representation of youth in
my media products by using models that look youthful so the target
audience can relate to them.

However, I feel my representation is also not conventional as many
Indie Rock artists have a sense of ‘Britishness’ or pride of where
they come from which they convey through their costumes or
overall presence whereas I have not made this clear in any of my
media products. Also I have not intended to represent ‘class’ in
either my front cover, contents page or double page spread but you
could interpret the costumes of my models as such. As one of my
models is wearing a dark trench coat you could assume that he is
from middle to high class and my main artist is wearing a leather
jacket so you could assume that she is from either working to
middle class instead. This link is a
summarising
presentation
http://prezi.com/w4aa-
plci3gl/?utm_campaign=shar
e&utm_medium=copy

What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
After doing some research, I think the media institution that should
own and distribute my music magazine is the company IPC Media
(Time Inc. UK). I chose this company because I feel that they would
be able to deliver my magazine to its target audience. This is
because IPC Media is famous for tailoring their brands to a variety of
audiences. They have multiple platforms that they use to reach their
audiences e.g. print, online, mobile, etc. I think the company would
be perfect to own my magazine as they have previous experience
owning a successful Indie Rock music magazine (NME) also they
would be good to distribute my product as they claim to reach all of
the UK with their magazines and over 28 million users with their
websites each month.

The advantage of IPC Media aiming their product at a wide
audience is that they will gain more of an audience being drawn to
their products. Also the advantage of them having experience
across multi-platforms is that they will be able to distribute my
product on these platforms to a variety of their audience. It is good
that they already own a successful Indie Rock magazine (NME)
because they have knowledge in this area and it will help when
distributing my magazine as it will have more of a chance of being
successful as they will know how to market my magazine to help it
grow. The vision of IPC Media is to bring influential media brands to
a wide audience and this is good as it supports my magazine’s
values.

IPC Media would be suitable for distributing my music magazine to
my target audience as they are female and IPC Media are known
for having magazine brands that cater to women such as Marie
Claire, InStyle and Now. I think they would support my magazines
values and the articles that would feature inside the magazine
because they make sure that all of their brands are made to
accommodate the interests of a variety of audiences. This link is a
summarising presentation. http://prezi.com/-q8glhr-
uek9/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Who would be the audience for your media
product?
My target audience for my music magazine are females aged 16
to 22. I decided to aim my product at a different audience to
standard Indie Rock music magazines because I thought it would
be easier to create a magazine that appeals to females rather
than males. They are either in full-time education or have
graduated. They love to listen to Indie Rock music and this is why
my magazine would be suitable for them. They are very sociable
and like to try new things so you would always catch them at the
latest indie gig in their city. She likes to explore so you would see
her travelling around the UK to see landmarks and cityscapes
that she can document with her Nikon Camera for the future.
Music is very important to her and shemakes it a part of her daily life. My
magazine is suitable for my target audience
because it will satisfy their interests and
include articles on topics that they would
like to read.

Who would be the audience for your media
product?

How did you attract/address your audience?
I used colour in my three media pieces to attract the audience
because I used red, black, white and yellow and these colours stand
out so the magazine would catch my audience’s attention easily. I
also used layout techniques to attract my audience as on my music
magazine front cover, my model takes up most of the frame and this
grabs my audience’s attention. Plus, in my media pieces I used my
model’s poses and costume to address my audience as on my
contents page in the image of the band they are all using direct
address by having eye contact with the camera. This makes it more
personal for the readership. In addition to this, the model on my front
cover is wearing a leather jacket and myyouthful audience would relate to her style. The mode
of address I have used in my magazine attracts my
audience as I make sure the language is current so
they can relate to it. Also in my contents page, I made
sure that the topics would interest my audience and
would be things they would want to read.

My magazine will satisfy my reader’s needs as Blumler and Katz
identify that people use these forms of media to either gain
information, for entertainment, to identify with others, interact with
others socially or to escape from daily life. My audience would find
my magazine entertaining and they would gain information on and
identify with the artists that they like through articles and
interviews. My readership may also use the magazine to escape
from daily life if they are bored of if they are troubled. Abraham
Maslow said that human beings have five key needs and these
would be satisfied in my magazine as by reading about successful
artist’s they might be motivated to be the best they could be which
is self-actualisation. Also they may feel like they belong to a
community of people that buy the magazine. I think my reader’s
will like and buy my magazinebecause they will be interested in the topics featured inside.
This link is a summarising presentation.
http://prezi.com/dj3gsj6dzhcy/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Specific parts of my magazine will appeal to
elements of my target audience’s interests as they
like travelling and going to new places so the ‘gig
guide’ featured in my magazine will appeal to them
as they can travel to each venue and see the
surrounding area. My magazine will satisfy my
audience’s needs as they would be able to gain a
higher self-esteem if they read an article about a
famous Indie Rock artist that they like, they could
relate to their experiences and have a higher self-
esteem because of it.

What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this
product?
I have gained many technological skills from doing this project as
before beginning this project I had used Adobe Photoshop before
but not to this degree. I have never used Photoshop before to
create something nor have I used it to manipulate/edit
photographs like I have done during this process. Also I learnt how
to use the website Prezi to make creative presentations. This was
confusing at first but it gradually got easier. Plus I used Slideshare
for the first time when constructing this product which will help me
in the future when needing to use this form of presentation. Even
though I have previous experience in setting up and maintaining a
blog as I have done on the website ‘Tumblr’, when doing this
project I learnt how to use Blogger and it has helped me improve
my blogging skills.

What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this
product?
I used a canon camera to take the images for my Indie Rock music
magazine and I have developed skills on how to take good medium
shot and close up shots of my models for the magazine. When using
Photoshop, I learnt how to use the ‘magic wand tool’ to make a
shadow in one of my images disappear from the shot. I also learnt how
to highlight the edges of words on my magazine front cover in a
different colour so that they stand out. I used the website ‘Google’ to
research previous existing Indie Rock magazines so I would have an
idea about how to create my own. When constructing this product, I
used Google Drive to save pieces of my work so that I could find them
later. The benefits of using these technologies when creating my
product is that they make it look more professional and I can improve
areas which weren’t perfect. I have improved in my use of
technologies such as Prezi and Slideshare as I had never used them
before but now I have knowledge on how to use them for future
projects.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it
to the full product?
Since looking back at my preliminary task, I feel that it has helped me
when creating my final product. This is because, I think that if I had
gone into it without doing one previously it would have taken me
longer to come up with ideas on how to create my music magazine. By
comparing my preliminary task front cover with my final product front
cover I feel that my music magazine is visually better and looks more
like a real magazine because of the layout of the skyline and the way
my main image is placed. I think that the production on my main image
was better in my music magazine because I had to manipulate the
image so the background washidden and I had to use the magic wand tool to cut her
out so she would fit on my background. This was
different to my school magazine as I didn’t have to
manipulate the image because I didn’t know how to, I
only had to crop the image and photoshop some
blemishes on the model.

I think that my main task front cover is better that my preliminary task
as I think the font I used on it was more professional and ‘magazine-
looking’ as by researching existing music magazines such as Q
magazine, I found that the magazines have font types similar to this
whereas my preliminary task front cover font was too formal for an
actual magazine. My use of Photoshop improved from the preliminary
task to the main task as in the preliminary task, I only had to move
around the different layers to help create the magazine front cover and
make it look presentable whereas in the main task, I learnt how to
outline the sell-lines in other colours and how to manipulate shapes to
create a better affect as I did in the masthead. I have learnt many skills
whilst creating my contents page and double page spread as I have
learnt different ways to layout a page and make it look authentic. By
doing this project I have learnt many ways to appeal to an audience as
once you have found out who your target audience is, and what they
like, you can have your magazine cater to their needs and wants.

I have learnt how important it is to carry out research and planning
when doing a project like this as you gain more knowledge on existing
music magazines and how they become successful so you know how
to create your magazine as if it was real. Carrying out research and
planning did make a difference when doing the final product as I had
an idea of what to do and how to create it. It has also helped as I feel I
have become more creative as most of the ideas were my own. I think
that my main task contents page was better than my preliminary
contents page as we didn’t actually make it so it didn’t feel as
professional but also because the layout of the column of topics on my
main task was done well so myaudience would be able to find what they were looking
for easily whereas on my preliminary task contents page,
the layout was quite basic and boring. Also the text I
drew doesn’t seem to fit the style of the magazine
compared to the final products font which does.

Nevertheless, I think doing the preliminary task gave me confidence
in knowing that I had already created a magazine before starting my
final product. I have learnt some skills since completing my
preliminary task such as I have learnt a variety of skills on Adobe
Photoshop that I didn’t know before, also I have gained knowledge
on how magazines should be presented and laid out. Since doing
these tasks I have learnt that creating a magazine is quite difficult
and requires a lot of time and effort. Plus, I have learnt more about
the music magazine industry by looking at various music magazines
and websites which will have apositive impact on me if I return to this field in the
future. This link is a summarising presentation.
http://prezi.com/i2k_pzlnyy6l/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

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