Evaluation of BEAT Magazine

1. Evaluation of
Magazine
BY TOM IBBOTT

2. CONTENTS
1. In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
2. How does my media product represent particular social groups?
3. Which kind of media institution might distribute your media product
and why?
4. Who would the audience be for my product?
5. How did I attract/address my audience?
6. What have I learnt about the technologies from the process of
contrasting this product?
7. Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?

3. 1. In what ways does my media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
I TRIED TO MAKE MY MAGAZINE VERY INDIVIDUAL THROUGH THE
CONTENT, LAYOUTS AND FORMAT WHICH I USED. HOWEVER, I ALSO FOCUSED
SOME AREAS OF MY MAGAZINE ON THE PRODUCTS I ANALYSED FOR MY
RESEARCH, MOST SPECIFICALLY Q AND MIXMAG. Q IS A MAGAZINE AIMED AT
A RANGE OF MUSIC FANS (JUST LIKE MINE) AND MIXMAG HAD A LAYOUT
THAT WAS VERY APPEALING TO MYSELF AND THE PEOPLE WHO ANSWERED
MY QUESTIONNAIRE. I USED AND DEVELOPED SOME CONVENTIONS
FROM THESE MAGAZINES, BUT ALSO CHALLENGED THEM BY THE USE OF
SOME OF MY OWN ORIGINAL IDEAS, ALL WITH THE AIM OF MAKING THE
MAGAZINE AS APPEALING AS POSSIBLE FOR MY AUDIENCE.

4. Masthead
 I have followed the typical magazine convention of having a large
masthead featured at the top of my front cover. This has the effect of
giving my magazine an identity. It’s also something that the reader
can easily remember when they stop reading the magazine and gives
them something to be reminded of if ever they hear people mentioning
the magazine.
 I have chosen a black and grey colour scheme for my logo. This fits
with the main colour scheme for the front cover of my magazine.
They’re also very plain colours which can be associated with most
genres in one way or another, which is why I’ve chosen this colour. It
fits with the theme of having a ‘wide variety of music genres’. This
will draw in the type of reader I’m aiming towards. I discovered during
my research that most magazines have a masthead colour that fits
with the general colour scheme of the magazine. I have followed this
convention.
 The reason I have chosen to feature the masthead in very large form is
so that my readers see what magazine it is when they are scanning
the shop shelves. It makes a bold stand and is very easy to read. I
have followed the ‘Mixmag’ convention of the masthead stretching from
one side of the page right over to the other.

5. Fonts
 One convention that I used and developed was the use of fonts. I
discovered that in music magazines, the typical convention tends to be
that the fonts are simple, easy and readable. I continued this
scheme, but chose fonts that I haven’t seen any other magazines
use. This helps make my magazine individual. I looked around for fonts
that fitted this criteria and used them on all three of my magazine
pages. Unlike I had initially intended on my style sheet however, I made
a few changes to my plan to have one constant font throughout for the
main text. This represents the development in thought processes
as I’ve been working on the magazine.
 The reason I chose to go for the easy-to-read font was that my
magazine’s target audience is teenagers and young adults.
Therefore, a handwritten-looking font would have been too immature
for the audience I was aiming at. It needed to be something easy to
read that would help the reader get through the text as quick or slow
paced as they wanted.
 I think this adds sophistication to my magazine and shows that a
lot of effort has gone into making it.

6. Colour Scheme
 One convention that I used and developed was the use of a colour
scheme. The three magazines I researched had a constant colour
scheme throughout. However, I did things slightly different. I did have
a colour scheme of blacks, greys and whites, however it was very
loose. For example, in my contents page the background and texts
were black and white, yet some of the pictures were quite bright
resulting in a colourful page.
 The reason for this was that I didn’t want to feel limited in the colours
I could use. I feel this worked well, because it gave me a lot more
freedom to use whatever I wanted, while still maintaining the constant
background colour throughout. Each of my pages had a background
that fitted with my loose colour scheme. If I were to create the full
magazine issue, I would continue this throughout the magazine.
 My double page spread however had a very strict & clear four-colour
colour scheme of black, grey, white & red. This helped me to separate
out different parts of the article without there being too many
distractions from the text itself.

7. Photography
 In most magazines, a range of photographs are used. The variation can be the
location, the type of shot, the mise-en-scene or what’s actually contained in the
photograph. This helps to engage more than just one type of reader, which is what
I’m aiming for.
 I feel that I have done well in using this convention. In just these three pages, I have
used a total of four different types of shot: long shot, medium shot, medium close up
& close up.
 I have also edited all the photos differently. On most of the photographs, I removed
the background to add ones that fit best with the actual purpose of the image. I think the
ones with the background removed look the best, because I could make them however I
wanted them to look, yet when the background was kept, I was limited to what was
already there.
 I used effects on some of the photographs as well, for example colour overlays to give
them a slight hint of colour. Another effect was the black and white effect to help my
main front cover image fit with the colour scheme. I also used strokes to make images
look bold and stand out on the page. All the effects were considered before they were
applied based on whether they fitted with what the image purpose was and how effective
they would actually look on the image. Ultimately, these considerations helped to get the
best results possible.
 I also used as number of photo frames, mainly on the contents page, but also on the
front cover, to give clarity to images. It made them stand out on the page and
prevented the nasty look of sharp edges on the images.

8. Date Line
 During my research, I discovered that magazines had to have the date
and price somewhere on the magazine.
 I also discovered that the general convention of magazines is to make this
as small and out of the way as possible. In most magazines, it is next
to the barcode, because both of these features are not significant to the
actual magazine itself; they are just conventions that have to be on there.
Neither of them are intended to draw in the reader to the magazine.
 This could be because the makers of the magazine know that the price is
quite expensive, therefore they don’t want the reader to see it straight
away or it could simply be so that they have more room to add useful
magazine content.
 For my magazine, I decided to follow these conventions. My date line
is featured near the top of my magazine, just below the masthead. This is
out of the way and doesn’t interfere with any of the other content featured
on the cover. Similarly to the convention, the date line comes beside the
barcode. I did this so that the two features of the cover that I didn’t intend
to draw in the reader were together in one place, rather than having them
spread over the page. This way, less room was taken up that could have
been used for other things.

9. Pull Quotes
 During my research, I discovered that a very common convention of
double page spreads were pull quotes. The effect of these was that they
drew in the reader. This was done by drawing emphasis on one quote
from the interview/article. The quotes are usually something interesting,
shocking or funny that will make the reader want to find out why this
was said. The quote is also often written in a different colour or is
emphasised in some way through bold text, italics or even underlining.
 In my double page spread, I used this convention. I took out a quote from
my interview, “What is this? It’s incredible!” and I put a black stroke on
the text and added a red background. I also made the text bold to
ensure that it really stood out on the page. This draws the reader to it, as
it stands out on the page, and the quote should then hopefully draw them
to the actual article itself.
 I discovered this was a very common convention in Q Magazine when
interviewing their top artists. It makes the audience interact with the text
as the speech marks give the effect of hearing the quote straight
from the mouth of the person themselves. This is also why the quote is
usually positioned directly on top of an image of the person who’s saying
it, so that you can see the two are linked. I followed this convention by
placing my quote over the top of ‘Cameron’ who was the article’s
feature.
This is an
example of a
pull quote from
a Q Magazine
double page
spread
My DPS Pull Quote

10. Watermarks
 My research showed me that in double page spreads it was a common
feature to have one page watermarked if it doesn’t have a background
already. The effect of this is that it stops the page from looking bland
and full of text. It therefore gives the effect of a more approachable text
for a person who wouldn’t usually read the articles full of text.
 I discovered that Q Magazine uses the first letter of the feature’s name as
the watermark. However, one fault I found with Q’s watermarks was that
they were a strong red colour. Due to the text being so small and black, the
mix of this and the watermark meant that the text was difficult to read in
places.
 Therefore, I have developed this convention so that it makes the page
look less bland and more approachable, however my watermark is a very
light grey colour. This doesn’t interfere with the black colour of the text
and it is still very readable.
 I have developed Q’s idea of having the first letter of the feature artist’s
name as the watermark. Instead of just one letter I have used the first
letter of each word in my artist’s name. So since my artist is called ‘Dubson
X Stepdad’, my watermark says ‘DXS’ instead of just ‘D’.
 It stretches from left to right of the page, however is only in the centre of
the page, height-wise. This is because in Q, I found it was very off-putting
to have a watermark that filled the whole page.
An example of
a watermark
from Q
Magazine
My DPS page
containing a
light ‘DXS’
watermark

11. 2. How does my media product represent particular
social groups?
MANY SOCIAL GROUPS ARE REPRESENTED IN A VARIETY OF POSITIVE,
NEGATIVE & NEUTRAL WAYS IN THE MEDIA. MOST MAGAZINES
TARGET A PARTICULAR ONE OR FEW OF THESE GROUPS AND MINE IS NO
EXCEPTION. I HAVE REPRESENTED A NUMBER OF THESE SOCIAL
GROUPS IN MY MAGAZINE, EVEN CHALLENGING SOME STEREOTYPES.

12. Teenagers
 Teenagers are one of the most common social groups represented in
the media. Often a stereotype of teenagers is that they don’t do anything,
they just sit around and when they do anything it’s to cause trouble.
Other stereotypes say that teenagers are always grumpy people who
limit themselves regarding who they converse with.
 I decided that this was a social group where I wanted to challenge the
stereotype. From the beginning of my early planning stages, I knew that
I wanted a magazine that focused on more than just popular, current
music artists. I decided I’d focus a significant amount of my magazine on
young, undiscovered musical talent. I have focused my double page
spread on an undiscovered 15-year old. The idea is to contrast the
stereotypes of teenagers by representing this person as completely
different. I aimed to represent teenagers as positive, talented people
with bags of potential.
 To do this, I have focused on the positive things about my artist’s
music, personality and lifestyle. There are not any negative things
represented, because I believed that this may give off the complete
opposite to what I was hoping to represent. This article would
certainly make people, who perhaps believe in this stereotype, rethink
how they view teenagers.
Here are just a few examples
of how teenagers are
represented in the media

13. EDM Music Fans/Producers
 Fans and producers of Electronic Dance Music are very often
represented as trouble causers and party animals, who’s
favourite thing to do is simply to go out clubbing and have sex.
One sociolect term which is often used to group these music fans
and producers is ‘chavs’. This term essentially means young
trouble causers.
 I have attempted to challenge these stereotypes through my
double page spread article. The article is all about a young EDM
music producer. However, the stereotypes are challenged, because
the impression he gives off is that he’s a good, kind person with a
lot of talent. There is nothing suggested in the article which
implies any of the bad stereotypes listed above.
 One place in the article where the stereotypes were clearly
challenged was when the subject was asked what other loves he
had besides music. The stereotypical EDM producer would have
said partying and clubbing, but the subject said calmer things, e.g.
family & God. The stereotypes are clearly challenged here.

14. Gender
 The general stereotype is that males are the strongest and most
dominating and the females are weaker and quieter. In history, women
were even considered less important. Nowadays, however this is
absolutely not true and I have tried to enforce this throughout my
magazine. Women are also stereotypically sexualised in the media, but I
have tried to contrast this in my media product.
 On my front cover, the dominating figure is a female. She has got all of
her body covered up to prevent looking over-sexualised. The fact that a
female dominates it clearly suggests that there is no difference between
male and female in today’s society. The secondary image is of a male to
balance things out on the front cover.
 Similarly, on my contents page, the main image is of a male, however this
is balanced out by a smaller secondary image of a female. It presents
equality, because it shows they are both just as important as each other,
contrasting to what history may tell you.
 I have tried to enforce the fact that men and women are equal and that
females in the media don’t always have to be presented as sexualised
figures and I feel that I have done a good job in getting this point
across to my audience.

15. Middle Class (ABC1)
 The target audience for my magazine is middle class people. This is
because this area of social class can afford to pay £2.99 for a fortnightly
magazine. This money would help to pay for content in future issues as
well as the paper for production plus much more. This is a reasonable
price for a 60-page magazine and would certainly attract a good
audience.
 I have represented the middle class by featuring articles and features that
I think would attract them. For instance, I have many articles about
current popular music artists, which middle-class people of my target
age group will probably know quite a bit about.
 Another way I’ve represented the middle class is by the advert I’ve
featured on my contents page. This is an advert for a music festival. Music
festivals tend to be associated with the middle/working class
people, who would be prepared to stay out in tents and get themselves
dirty, but can also afford the price. They wouldn’t usually appeal to the
sophisticated upper class, and for the lower class, it may not be
affordable, however it is perfect for my target social class. This is why
I’ve featured this advert in my magazine.

16. 3. Which kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
THERE ARE A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT MEDIA INSTITUTIONS THAT
CREATE MAGAZINES. THREE THAT I BELIEVE FIT MY MAGAZINE
WELL ARE:
• BAUER MEDIA
• BBC/IMMEDIATE MEDIA
• TIME INC. UK

17. Importance of the Institutions
 The media institution chosen is responsible for
advertising, marketing, producing and distributing
the magazines. They are also responsible for the online
media activity, for example running a Facebook page or a
website for the magazine.
 There are a very large number of institutions and without
them the magazine would not be published. Therefore, it is
very important to choose the right one.
 Often, the institutions produce a variety of media
texts, for example, BBC had radio, TV, magazine, books,
plus lots more. Therefore, choosing an institution like this
would give the opportunity for my magazine to be
multimodal and have more than just a paper copy.

18. Bauer Media
 Bauer Media are a very experienced media company as I discovered
throughout my market research.
 They own magazines, radio stations, TV channels and digital websites &
applications. This would be very good as it gives my media product an
opportunity to expand into producing a digital version of the magazine,
which is something that I would definitely like to do, as I know from research
that many people prefer this to a paper copy. The opportunity to create a
radio station would also help my magazine a lot, because music would be
played on there that had been suggested in the magazine. Therefore, all of
these different types of media products would link together in the ‘BEAT’
brand.
 Bauer Media already produce a couple of very successful music
magazines, including Q. My magazine is very similar in layout and style to Q,
which may be one negative of having them both produced by the same
institution, however I feel that my magazine has a little edge over Q, as I
focus a dedicated amount of my magazine on artists that are yet to be
discovered.
 Overall, I think Bauer Media would be a very good choice for my media
institution due to the opportunities of expansion they offer and their pre-
existing experience of the business.

19. Immediate Media (Distributed by BBC)
 Immediate Media are another successful media institution. They are
distributed by the BBC, who have a number of magazines, TV channels,
radio stations and digital websites & applications. They are very similar to
Bauer Media in this sense. This would help to extend the ‘BEAT’ brand.
 The fact that they are distributed by the BBC is a big factor. BBC are a
huge, well-trusted, nationwide company. Therefore, if I chose this
group as my distributer, it give the magazine a good name, because of the
huge amounts of trust most people have in the BBC.
 Immediate Media do not have any magazines already similar to the type
that I am hoping to produce. They only produce two music magazines, ‘BBC
Music Magazine’, which is focused solely at classical music and ‘Top of the
Pops’, which is aimed to attract young girls looking up to their idols.
Therefore, my magazine would offer something different to
Immediate Media, which would probably help me gain a larger audience
as there’s nothing out there the same as my magazine.
 I think that Immediate Media would be a good choice for my media
institution, because of the trust that people already have in the BBC,
the experience they have and the opportunities they offer for my media
company.

20. Time Inc. UK
 Time Inc. UK, formally known as IPC Media are a company that have been
distributing media products for a long time, and distribute magazines for
many successful brands, such as ‘Angler’s Mail’, ‘World Soccer’ and ‘Look’.
 Time Inc. UK pride themselves a lot on their online magazines. As well as
paper copies, Time Inc. produce online versions of their magazines via
websites and applications. This makes it easier for some people to read their
magazine, because they have it at their fingertips, rather than having to take a
paper copy around with them. Time Inc. do not have many connections with
TV an Radio, however, unlike the other two media institutions, which would
prevent ‘BEAT’ from growing into as big a company as I would want.
 One advantage of having Time Inc. as my media institution though is that
there is no magazine like mine already distributed by them. They produce
two music magazines, ‘Uncut’, which is focused on rock music and ‘NME’
which mainly targets lower class people as it’s free and isn’t very long. This is
free because many people can’t afford to buy music magazines, so this can
be picked up from music stores for free weekly.
 I think Time Inc. UK would be a good media institution to use, because of its
experience with magazines and producing online versions, however the lack
of ability to expand into radio and TV is what would put me off from using
them.

21. My Media Institution Choice
 I would like my media institution to be ‘Immediate Media’ for a number of
reasons. Firstly, the fact they are distributed by the BBC. This is a big factor
for me, because the BBC are such a huge company, that are known all
around the world. They also publish many magazines already, as well as
well known TV shows, radio stations and other forms of media, making it
multi modal. Both the BBC and Immediate Media are big companies,
meaning that my magazine would become known all around the country. All
of these factors would help me to attract a varied audience.
 I feel that with this institution, I have the opportunity to develop ‘BEAT’
into more than just a magazine. I would like to have an online version of the
magazine, a TV Channel and a radio station. The BBC are very
experienced in all these areas, and I feel that this will help me to make
my company accessible to as many different people as possible.
 I feel they would like to distribute my magazine, because they do not
already distribute any magazines like this and there aren’t any magazines in
the market the same as mine. Therefore, Immediate Media would hopefully
see this as a good opportunity for them as a media institution.

22. 4. Who would the audience be for my product?
THE ULTIMATE AIM FOR MY MAGAZINE WAS TO MAKE IT APPEAL TO
AS MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. I DECIDED THAT THE
BEST WAY TO DO THIS WAS BY COVERING A RANGE OF DIFFERENT
GENRES TO SUIT A RANGE OF TARGET AUDIENCES. ULTIMATELY, MY
TARGET AUDIENCE COULD BE JUST ABOUT ANYBODY, BUT I EXPECT
TO DRAW IN THE LATE TEENAGERS AND YOUNG ADULTS MOST.

23. Does my magazine clearly show who
my target audience is?
 I don’t think I have made it hugely obvious who my target audience
is, however there are certainly features that suggest a certain
target audience may prefer this magazine.
 For example, it is very clear that my target audience is wide.
It is clearly for people of all different music tastes, as on my
contents page, there is a wide genre of artists featured, both
modern and older. For example, modern names such as Passenger
and Ellie Goulding are in my magazine, but an old name, the
Jackson Five is also featured. This shows that my magazine’s target
audience is not bound to one particular age range or music
taste.
 It also suggests that my readers must be open to more than one
different type of music, because that’s what my magazine is all
about; trying out new music that you perhaps wouldn’t usually
optionally listen to. All of this is clearly communicated to my
readers through the contents page and front cover menu strip.

24. Does my magazine clearly show who
my target audience is?
 Another way I have communicated my target audience is through the choice of unknown
artists. Much of my magazine is focused on unknown musicians, waiting to be signed up,
however all of these artists is my magazine are young (below 21). This would therefore
appeal to the younger target audience, because the main unknown artist featured in this
issue of my magazine is a 15-year old EDM music producer. Stereotypically, this would
attract younger people, because the sterotype is that older people aren’t into this kind of
music. It would also attract the younger audience, because the artist is closer to their age
so they can relate to him and he can provide inspiration for the reader’s own music career.
The focus on younger undiscovered music artists is definitely something that will attract that
teenage/young adult audience bracket.

25. Does my magazine clearly show who
my target audience is?
 One more feature that represents my wide audience range is the
colour scheme used. My main colour scheme is blacks, whites
and greys which creates a sense of mystery. This makes the
reader wonder what genre it will be about, because this scheme
can be used for just about every type of music that there is.
 This colour scheme does not appeal to a certain age range
or gender either, unlike pinks and bright colours which would
appeal more to young girls; the point of my colour scheme is that
it’s basic so it appeals to everyone. These colours will not
tend to put many people off either, which is a big positive
because the whole point of my magazine is to attract every type
of person possible and get a wide variety of loyal readers. I
think that I have clearly and consistently communicated
this throughout my magazine.
My front cover clearly
shows the colour scheme.
This will be the first thing
the reader will say, so I
used this convention to
draw in as many readers as
possible.

26. My Initial Target Audience
 The primary target audience for my magazine is the late teenagers/young adults bracket. I
would like to aim the magazine at both male and female however, which is why I chose the
black, white and grey, because they’re not stereotypically linked to one gender. Some of this
audience range will be interested in a wide range of music, however others will be bound to
mainly current chart music. This is why I decided to make the music featured in my magazine
as wide as possible. I believe this is the age bracket that has the widest music taste, so
aiming it at this age will truly help me to bring in as many readers as possible. It was
always my plan that I would aim my magazine at this target audience as I explained in my
pitch. I also know a lot more about this age range personally than about for example, an older
age group. It will also be aimed at people in the ABC1 social grade bracket. This is because
the price of the magazine is about the amount that they would be prepared to pay for a
fortnightly music magazine.

27. Questionnaire Audience
 Before creating my magazine, I asked a number of
people to fill in a questionnaire on the type of things
they’d want or expect from a music magazine. I asked a
wide range of people and was very interested to find
out how wide all their music tastes were. This is
certainly a good thing for me, because it tells me that I
can expect more of an audience than just the
teenage/young adults bracket that I’m specifically
aiming at. Most of the people who answered my
questionnaire were younger people as well, so when
making my magazine I took this into account and
this was one of the reasons why I aimed my magazine
at this age group. I found out a lot about this age group
from my questionnaire, which helped me throughout my
magazine, for instance the genres of music that are
popular to them. This questionnaire really helped me
to get to understand what my audience would be like,
which I took into major consideration when designing
and creating the content of my magazine.

28. 5. How did I attract/address my audience?
I USED A LARGE NUMBER OF DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES TO MAKE MY
MAGAZINE AS APPEALING TO MY AUDIENCE AS POSSIBLE. FOR
EXAMPLE, FONTS, COLOURS, PHOTOGRAPHY AND CONTENT WERE
ALL USED AND DEVELOPED TO BE AS ATTRACTIVE TO THE
AUDIENCE AS POSSIBLE.

29. Attracting my audience through… fonts
 Fonts and colours are very important when it comes to presenting any media
product. Subconsciously, people notice these before anything else and
use them to make a decision on whether they would want to read it
or not. This is a reason that I wrote my masthead logo the way I did. I used
a very strong, wide and bold grey font for the word ‘BEAT’, which then
helped me with attracting an audience. As the front cover is the first thing
they see when it’s on the shelves, the logo had to be bold and I feel like I
have made it so that when the audience sees it on the shelves, they see
something that really stands out and makes them want to buy the
magazine.
 Throughout the magazine, I’ve used a variety of different fonts to add
variation. I discovered during my research that people tended to be more
attracted to magazines that had more than just one simple font, because
often people find this boring. Therefore, what I have done is mixed it up,
so that people don’t get bored and it also makes the pages look a lot more
exciting. I used a total of TWELVE different fonts throughout my pages,
so the audience really shouldn’t get bored; this also makes the pages a lot
more fun and easy to look at when they are reading it. It’s very easy on
the eye.

30. Attracting my audience through…
colours Another way that I attracted my audience was through the use of colours. My main
colour scheme is black, white and greys, however I used a number of other
colours to really draw in my audience. For example, on my front cover there are
only blacks, whites and greys, apart from one area. I wrote ‘8 Amazing Posters
Inside!’ on top of a yellow star to really draw my reader to this area of the page. I
wanted my reader to be drawn to this, because I knew this would be something that
was attractive to my audience, as it creates the impression of something free
with the magazine, and I discovered throughout my research stages that people
are attracted more to magazines if they have something free with them. This plug
creates that impression.
 Another way colours are used to attract my reader is in my double page spread. I
continued with the colour scheme of blacks, whites & greys, however also on this
page, I used red in three areas to draw the reader to these parts of the page. One
of these areas was the name of the artist/the title of the article. This is important
because it draws the reader to this name before anything else, which makes them
make a decision over whether they want to read the article or not. Similarly, the pull
quote is red (see slide 35) to draw my audience to that. The point of the pull quote
was to get the reader to continue on reading the rest of the article.

31. Attracting my audience through…
photography
 I discovered during my research just how big and important a part of magazine production the photography is. People
also have preferences over the type of photographs that they like to see. Some prefer live in action photographs, for
example in a concert, however others prefer studio photographs, where the mise-en-scene has all been
specifically put together to create the image. In the three pages I have created, I have used all studio
photographs. This is for a number of reasons, but the main being the content I have chosen to feature photographs
were about specific artists rather than about general music events, such as festivals for example. I felt therefore that
it was better to use studio photographs, as the advantage of these is that it makes the reader feel like they’re getting
close and personal with the artist and getting to know them better. However, if I was to continue my magazine and
create the full issue, I would certainly have some live, in action photographs to attract a different type of
audience.
 Another important feature of the photography is the type of shot used. I have used three different shots
throughout my photography being, medium shot, long shot and medium close up. There are advantages of all
three. A medium shot shows you what you need to see and informs the audience that the person the picture is of will
be important in the article that the image is attached to. This is used for both front cover images as well as the
secondary image in my double page spread. A long shot also has advantages, in that you can see more of what is
going on in the image rather than just the subject. I used one of these shots in my contents page, where my subject
was ‘DJing’. I used this on my contents page so that my audience can see what this artist is all about and use this to
make a decision on whether or not they want to read the article. The final shot was a medium close up, which I used
as my main DPS shot and also one image on my contents page. This removes all other distractions surrounding the
subject and also tells the audience that we’re going to be getting to know this personal personally. We can see the
face of the subject really well, which really helps the reader to see what this person is all about. I think I used this
shot very effectively and in the correct places.
 All the photos were also taken using a professional camera, so that the quality of each image came out well.

32. Attracting my audience through…
photo editing
 Photo editing is very important when it comes to any media product. Often there is something wrong with the original image, which can be
remedied through the editing process, while often there are also things in the image that can be improved, for example the brightness or the
shadowing effect. All of these things plus many more can be improved through the editing process, as I discovered through my research. It’s
very unlikely that a photograph in a magazine will ever be the exact original image.
 Photo editing was also a big part of my magazine. I edited every one of my photos in a way that fit what the image was being used for. For
example, my front cover image is of ‘Taylor Swift’ holding a guitar on a beach, however originally these were two different images. I did this to
create a serene and peaceful mood on the front of my magazine, which is also why there is the black, white & grey colour scheme, so it’s
easy on the eye.
 Another image that I spent a lot of time editing was my main double page spread image. I had a lot of deliberation over the editing of this
image, because of the amount of brilliant effects to choose from. But I had to choose the one(s) that I thought would also represent what the
article was actually about itself. So I added a rough, bumpy, slightly pixelated effect to the image. This was because the article was about an
electronic dance music producer, therefore I wanted to make my image look very edited, because obviously photo editing is done electronically
and so is the creation of EDM. So this was a subtle way of representing what the article was about. I also thought carefully about the mise-
en-scene for this image. He is holding headphones to show what his music is all about and almost say it’s too loud to listen to through
speakers. He is also wearing a simple t-shirt. I chose this because I wanted it to look like he really is just a normal guy. I felt that this would
attract my audience better because they would be able to connect with him and understand him more. The image also has a black
background. I took away the background that was already there using the magic wand tool and replaced it with a black background, because I
really wanted the audience to recognise that the sole focus of the article is this guy. Therefore, I decided to remove any other distractions
that were in the image and make it all about him. I also used my editing skills to slightly open his mouth. This, combined with the headphones
gives the effect of him looking like he’s in action and in the middle of doing something, even though really it’s just a studio image.

33. Examples of before and after photo edits

34. Attracting my audience through…
advertisements and plugs
 These are also very important when it comes to attracting an audience. Often when buying a
magazine, the audience wants to know what’s in it for them. I have attempted to use this knowledge
to draw in the reader by using a plug on the front of my magazine. It says ‘8 Amazing Posters
Inside!’. I discovered during my research that a number of people liked to get posters free with their
magazines, therefore this should draw in a strong audience. I’ve also used vocabulary that will be
appealing to my audience to bring them in, with the word ‘Amazing’. This suggests that they’re
better than just good and that they should really see them and buy the magazine.
 Similarly, inside the magazine I have featured an advertisement that should hopefully appeal to the
audience that I’m aiming for. I’ve created an advert for a music festival at the bottom of my contents
page. I did this for a number of reasons. First, it shows the audience that there’s something enjoyable
available for them. Also, the age range of my target audience (teenagers & young adults) tends to be
the age that enjoy music festivals. Therefore, this advert should appeal to my readers. I am also
aiming at the middle class and they are the social grade that can afford to go to music festivals and
that a music festival would most appeal to. So, I have chosen very carefully what advert I feature in
my magazine based on my expected readership.

35. Attracting my audience through… pull
quotes Throughout my research, I discovered a number of times that pull quotes are
a good way of drawing in an audience. I used this convention to really
attract my audience. When designing my double page spread, I decided this
would be a good place to put a pull quote, because it would make the reader
want to read on into the article. I read through the article to find a quote
that was interesting and would make the reader wonder who, what and why. I
chose the quote ‘What is this? It’s incredible!’ This would attract my audience
because instantly when they read this they are made to wonder ‘What is
incredible?’. This makes them want to read on and find out the answer
to their question.
 I wanted to make sure that the pull quote was one of the first things that my
reader saw, so to do this I put as much emphasis on it as possible. The
background was red (just like the title) to stand out on the page. My writing
was a bold jet black so that it was as clear as possible on the red background.
I also put a slight stroke on my text just to give it that extra emphasis and
make it look a little more sharp.

36. Addressing my audience through…
the editor’s note One convention that I decided to add to my magazine was an editor’s note.
Many magazines have these and they tend to be somewhere near the
beginning of the magazine. I followed this by featuring my editor’s note at the
bottom of the contents page.
 The purpose of the editor’s note is to make the reader feel important. It makes
the reader feel like someone is really talking to them and that they are a part
of the magazine. I also featured a picture of the editor next to the note. This is
so that the readers feel like they’re getting to know him on a personal level.
They can then imagine what is being said in the editor’s note coming out of his
mouth.
 The editor’s note is a very good way of directly addressing the audience. I
used this spot to direct the audience to where in particular I want them to go
throughout the magazine; things that I think would appeal to them most. This is
a good way of directing them literally to where I want them to go rather than
using subtle hints, for example bold text or colours. Here, I can quite literally
recommend the best pages that will make them want to continue buying BEAT
in the future, because at the end of the day that is my ultimate aim; to have a
constant, loyal readership.

37. Addressing my audience through… the
second person This continues on from the editor’s note. It’s very important to make the
audience feel like they are an important part of the magazine. To do this, I have
used words such as ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘we’, to make the audience feel like an
important part of the ‘team’.
 A lot of my editor’s note is written in the second person and directly
addresses the audience. For example, the opening line is ‘Thank YOU so much
for YOUR loyalty towards BEAT magazine!’ I have used these pronouns to make
it feel for the reader like a comfortable speech conversation. The readers
are made to feel like it is the editor literally talking to them rather than just
writing on a piece of paper like it literally is.
 Later on in the date, the reader is made to feel like the editor knows exactly
how loyal they are to BEAT magazine and exactly the type of articles that they
would like. The editor says ‘To reward you’. This gives the impression that the
reader has done something good and the editor recognises that and
therefore he’s going to do something good for them that they will enjoy in
return. The whole point of this is to really make the reader feel special
and valued so that they will continue to purchase BEAT Magazine.

38. I USED A NUMBER OF PROGRAMS WHEN CREATING MY FINAL
PRODUCTS. SOME OF THESE I HAD USED BEFORE, BUT OTHERS I
DID NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT. THE FOUR PROGRAMS I USED
MOST WERE:
• MICROSOFT WORD
• MICROSOFT POWERPOINT
• ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
• ADOBE INDESIGN
6. What have I learnt about the technologies from
the process of contrasting this product?

39. Microsoft Word & PowerPoint
 I used Microsoft Word to do all of my research and planning, because it is a
basic, easy and quick-to-use program. I didn’t really learn anything new about
this that I didn’t know already, but it was very useful to me, because my
pragmatic knowledge of the programme meant that I could do most things on it
without having to work out how to first.
 I used Word for ordering my research and this really helped me to be able to
see visually what I had done already and what I still needed to do. It also
meant that my research process was a lot quicker than it would have been had
I used a more complex and advanced program. I was also able to easily
analyse images for my textual analysis by using the arrow shape and text
box tools. Using Word meant I already knew how to do these things so my
process was sped up considerably.
 For my evaluation however, I chose not to use Microsoft Word. I decided that to
demonstrate my wider technology skills I should show that I have the
ability to use other programs, so I chose to use Microsoft PowerPoint. Similarly
to Microsoft Word, I already knew how to use the program from past projects.
It was a very good choice to use PowerPoint, because the different slides
meant that it was easy for me to split up my evaluation into my answers to the
seven questions. This makes the evaluation a lot more structured and easy
to navigate.

40. Photoshop
 Before I began the magazine production process, I didn’t know much about Photoshop. I knew that it was a photo editing
software and that it could be used to add all sorts of effects to any image. However, I knew very little about using Photoshop
and when it came to using it I realised I had very little knowledge at all.
 However, by the end of the process I knew very much about using Photoshop. I know that to edit individual parts of the
image in future, you have to create a new layer. This was very simple to do, as you just had to find the layer bar on the
right hand side of the page and click on the create new layer icon, which was a piece of paper. This makes it a lot easier to
edit individual parts of your image. For example, I had a lot of different parts on my front cover, so this tool helped me
organise and control all these areas. For example, in one instance when I wanted to edit the colour of my plug star, I
realised I couldn’t because I had selected the wrong layer. However, because I had created the plug in a separate layer, I
was able to easily edit it, by clicking on the layer named ‘plug’. The creation of layers made doing this very simple.
 I also learned the use of the magic wand tool. This was a very important tool for me and was probably the most used tool
throughout my process. This helped me to remove unwanted background on my images. I clicked on a certain area of the
image and the wand tool would select this whole area and I was able to delete it by clicking the delete button. I removed the
background on almost all of my images for a number of reasons, but the main one being that I felt with a plain wall
background, the image looked a bit dull. So, for a number of the images I replaced the background with a colour to make
it look brighter and more eye-catching, for one image I even left it blank; another I removed the background completely to
create a transparent image and for another I added an image of a beach as the background to really draw the eyes of the
reader to the image.
 Another technique I learned was the use of layer styles. I did this by double clicking on the layer I wanted to edit and this
allowed me to add/remove a shadow effect, add a glow to the image, add a stroke outline to the plus much much more. I
made use of the stroke tool a lot, because it made the image look a lot more defined and stand out more on the page and
also a number of times it removed the rough edges that had been left by the magic wand tool. I managed to make use
of the stroke and the pattern overlay layer styles to sharpen up my main DPS image (below). The rough edges were
removed and an effect was added over the top of the image.
This creates a new
layer
This is the magic
wand tool

41. Photoshop & InDesign
 I used Photoshop and InDesign to do the actual creation of my product and without them I
wouldn’t have been able to do the project at all. I used Photoshop for all my photo editing as
well as the creation of my front cover & contents page. I used InDesign for my double page
spread however, because in InDesign it is very easy to make two pages and see them side by
side. It was a lot easier for me to use InDesign, because I feel with any other program it would
have been quite complicated to have two pages being edited at once. This is why I chose to use
InDesign instead of Photoshop for my double page spread.
 I found Photoshop best for the front cover and contents page however, because I had spent a lot
of time editing images on Photoshop, so I now knew the basics of how to work Photoshop
and use the main tools. It was very easy to make your page A4 size on Photoshop as well, which
is what I wanted for my magazine. I discovered how to do this quite easily, as I used my pre-
existing technology skills to research on Google how to do this and I found the answer very
quickly.
 Using these two programs also meant that at the same time, I could edit my photos to make
them look how I wanted them to look, make them look as professional as possible and do a
number of things at once; I definitely wouldn’t have been able to make my magazine
come out the way it has without these programs.
 When doing my initial drafts of my pages however, I didn’t use these programs, I just used
Microsoft Word, because it’s one of the most basic programs out there and it is very easy
and quick to use, which was an advantage because I wanted to get this done as quickly as
possible, as it was just a quick mock up. But when doing my second drafts (with images), I used
Photoshop and InDesign, because I wanted to get a feel for what the finished product
would look like and since I would be using these programs it made the most sense to do this.
This was my second draft that I used
Photoshop to create. I used random
images from the Internet to fill the
gaps where my images would be. You
will notice it’s beginning to resemble
my final front cover in the way that it’s
laid out.

42. Survey Monkey
 I have also used online sites to help me with my portfolio. When
doing my audience research towards the beginning of my
project, I decided I should create a questionnaire to be
answered by the public. However, I thought it would be too
much hassle to create a paper questionnaire, hand it out, ask
people to fill it in and then create graphs to plot my answers. So
instead I used Survey Monkey. This allows you to create a
questionnaire, share it online (I shared mine on social media)
and then the website creates graphs of the answers to your
questions. This sped up the questionnaire/audience
research process considerably.
 I had never used this site before, but I discovered it was
extremely easy to use and I will definitely use it again in the
future if I need to create a questionnaire of any sort.
 I then made a word document named ‘Audience Research’ and
put my graphs of survey results in it followed by comments
about them all. This helped with the organisation of my
research as I was able to easily see what all the answers and
results were for each question.
Here, Survey Monkey developed
graphs for me, so I was able to analyse
my results easily and see what people
had answered.

43. Blogger
 Throughout my portfolio, I have been uploading my progress to a
blog that I created on ‘www.blogger.com’. I had never created a
blog before so this was a new experience for me, but I have
discovered that it is very easy to write a post and add it to a blog.
 However, one problem that I did have with this was adding .pdf
files to my blog. Through blogger, it is not possible to do this, so
after a lot of research I discovered the easiest possible way was
by uploading the file to ‘Slideshare’ and getting an embed
code which I could then add into the html box on my blog post.
This has been effective though and all of my .pdf files have
come out successfully on my blog.
 Blogger is a very good way of organising your work, because it’s
easy to see the progress that I have made throughout my time
doing the portfolio. Therefore, I feel I would definitely use
blogger again. This has also developed my technological
skills, because I’ve learnt how to use a website that I’d never
used before and this could definitely help me in the future.
Uploading the html
code to my blog

44. The use of technology
 I learnt a number of things about the modern day uses of technology. For
example, it became clear that the fact you can do a number of things at a
time (multi-tasking) on a computer is a huge positive. For example, I was
often transferring files from folder to folder while editing an image using
Photoshop. This really helped to speed up the whole process as I was
able to multi-task.
 I learnt how important technology is in marketing. Every day, we see
adverts on our TV screens, videos, games, but rarely do we take the time to
think how much harder it would be for the marketers to advertise their
products without the use of technology. I also used this technique when
collecting the responses for my questionnaire as part of my audience
research. I posted my questionnaire on my personal social media to collect
responses from people. Without this use, it would have been incredibly
tricky for me to collect responses and the process would have dragged
on a lot more as I would have had to go round people personally one by one
asking them the same questions, whereas when it’s online, it doesn’t involve
me having to be there and more than just the one person could answer the
questions at once.

45. BEFORE I BEGUN MY PROJECT, I DID A PRELIMINARY TASK, WHERE I
CREATED THE FRONT COVER AND A CONTENTS PAGE LAYOUT FOR A
COLLEGE MAGAZINE. HOWEVER, SINCE THIS I HAVE DISCOVERED A LOT
MORE ABOUT MAGAZINES FROM RESEARCH AND MY OWN
PRODUCTION, SO MY WORK HAS DEFINITELY PROGRESSED. THIS WAS
ALSO WHEN I KNEW LITTLE ABOUT THE PROGRAMS, SUCH AS
PHOTOSHOP, SO I DEFINITELY APPROACHED THE PRODUCTION OF
MY COLLEGE MAGAZINE VERY DIFFERENTLY TO HOW I APPROACHED
MY FINAL MUSIC MAGAZINE. THERE IS HUGE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE
TWO.
7. Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I
feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the
full product?

46. Improvement of Photoshop Skills
 When creating my college magazine, it was the first time that I had ever used
Photoshop. An example of a technique that I used was that I discovered the
magic wand tool. Before I used Photoshop, I was aware that you could use the
software to remove an image background, however I assumed that the way to do it
was by using the eraser tool. This does work, however, it looks a lot neater when
using the magic wand tool, as the edges don’t get messy like when the eraser is
used.
 Another technique that I discovered was the use of adjustments. When a state is
selected, the adjustments are on the right hand side and using these you can edit
the brightness & contrast and the exposure, you can add effects such as black and
white as well s doing much more. These are used to change the colour and
darkness of the image. These were very useful for me in my final product; for
example I made use of the black & white adjustment a number of times in my
images. When creating the preliminary task, I had no idea that these existed,
which you can see from the lack of photo editing on my images. These could
really help change the mood of the image, I could use bright effects to make the
image more positive & uplifting, or darker effects to create mystery with the
image.
 I didn’t know any of this when I did my preliminary task, so it looked a lot less
professional than my final product and would certainly not attract as much of an
audience as I believe my music magazine would.

47. Photography Improvement
 I have also learnt since then that it’s important to link together the image
and headline which I didn’t fully do in my preliminary task. My headline was
‘Celebrating Success – A Level Results 2015’ which suggests that it’s a positive
article, however the boy on my image was not smiling, he was just staring at a
piece of paper. In my final magazine however, I made sure that all my images
linked well to the headline and/or anchorage.
 I also used new skills for taking my photographs, such as taking the images
using different shots and angles. I used four different types of shot over my
final page, which is a huge improvement on the one I used for my preliminary
task.
 I didn’t really take much time to consider where I was taking my image for my
preliminary task either, which is massive contrast to my magazine. When taking
all the images for my music magazine, I considered the lighting of the location I
was in, the background and props to make the mise-en-scene look as
professional as possible. This meant that the images looked how I wanted
them to and if I was planning to use the magic wand tool to remove the
background I would make sure the image was taken in front of a plain
background to make this job easy. If not, I made sure the background was
something suitable that would fit what I was trying to show from the image,
while still not taking distraction away from the subject themselves.
A long shot image
from my final
product.
A medium
close-up from
my final
product.
A medium shot
from my final
product.

48. Planning Improvement
 When creating my college magazine, I didn’t plan anything; I
simply went straight for it with no idea of what I hoping to create.
This clearly shows in the product, because there is not much to it
except an image and a bit of text, which shows that I didn’t spend
much time on it.
 Throughout the research stages of my actual magazine, I
discovered how important it is to plan everything. Therefore, I spent
a lot of time planning everything down to the last detail as you can
see from the two mock-ups of my pages and style sheet. I also
made hand-drawn plans of my photography. I didn’t do this on
the computer because I thought it would be a bit of a faff to make
the designs look exactly as I wanted them to, when with hand I
could just draw the images however I wanted them to look. I did not
stick to all of my plans, but this was good because it shows the
development in my thought processes and ultimately helped me
to come out with the best version possible of the magazine.

49. Research Improvement
 When creating my magazine, I massively developed my
research skills. Before my research I was completely unaware
of media institutions and had no idea how to find out what
people would like from a music magazine. When creating my
college magazine, I did absolutely no research whatsoever; I
just got straight on with the production. However, when creating
my music magazine, I conducted all sorts of research to discover
existing music magazines, a target audience and where there
were gaps in the market and this really helped me to decide
the content that would be in my magazine and who I was
going to aim it at. I did this by creating a questionnaire for a
number of people to fill out, researching popular music
magazines that were already out there and researching the
websites of different media institutions and publishers. This
helped me when creating my product, because I was able to
analyse existing products, giving me ideas for conventions and
layouts that could be used in my magazine.

50. What I missed in my preliminary task
 There are a large number of conventions that throughout my research I discovered were popular and common in
magazines that I didn’t include in my preliminary task, but I did include in my final product. If I had used these
conventions, my preliminary task would have been much better, but as I hadn’t done any research, I knew little
about these things. Here’s a few of the conventions that looking back I realise I missed (FC – Front Cover, CP –
Contents Page):
 A variety of fonts (FC & CP)
 A secondary lead and image (FC)
 A constant colour scheme (FC & CP)
 Menu Strip (FC)
 Anchorage & Article Descriptions (FC & CP)
 An appealing and exciting look (FC & CP)
 Clearly structured list (CP)
 Tagline (FC)
 Date & Price Line positioned alongside barcode (FC)
 Date Line (CP)
 Image Editing & Effects (FC)
 Plug (FC)
 All of these features plus many more were featured on my final product, but not in my preliminary task. This
clearly shows the progression that I have made through my research, plans and work. I am very pleased with this
progress. Looking back on my preliminary task now, I can see that it wasn’t very good at all and would not stand
out to a customer at all if it was on the shelves of a shop.

51. Progress – Front Cover

52. Progress – Contents Page