The document evaluates how the media product uses, develops, and challenges conventions of real media. It discusses how the product incorporates conventions like mastheads, logos, color schemes, fonts, and freebies seen in magazines like Mixmag and NME. It also challenges some conventions, like offering a festival ticket discount rather than a free CD. The evaluation reflects on how the product represents groups, both supporting and challenging stereotypes. It features mostly young, successful artists and a female-centered narrative while avoiding overly sexualized portrayals. However, it could still portray women in stereotypical ways through clothing choices and emotional expressions.

1. EVALUATION
By Eleanor Waring

2. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS?
The media product that I created used a various amount of
conventions that are seen in real media products. One of the
main conventions used in the music magazine was the use
of a masthead. When I carried out research, I discovered that
music magazines, such as Q, NME and Billboard, always
feature a large masthead at the top of the front cover and
the masthead is the logo of the magazine. It usually stands
out from the page, in very large, bold and colourful fonts, in
order to attract the audience’s attention. I followed this
convention as I included a masthead at the top of the front
cover of my magazine. It was placed in the middle of the top
half of the front cover and it was Rockwell Extra Bold font,
which is bold, large and it stands out from average fonts,
which would attract the audience's attention and making
them aware of what the magazine is called. Another reason
why the masthead may need to stand out on the front cover
is because it makes the magazine easily recognisable to its
audience because for every issue of the magazine the
masthead will always be the same as it’s the logo. The colour
of the masthead was black so that it contrasted well on the
light background of the front cover, this would enable the
audience to easily read and recognise the masthead just like
other mastheads in other existing music magazines.
Some magazine mastheads are related to
the context of the magazine. For example
NME stands for New Musical Express. And
mixmag relates to dance music as the
masthead gives the idea of DJ’s mixing
music. So I also used this convention and
named my magazine ‘Rhythmix’ as every
piece of music has a certain rhythm, so
therefore this masthead would suggest to
the audience that the magazine is a music
magazine.
I went on to develop this convention as I not only created a
masthead that was like the logo of the magazine, but I also
created a logo that went with the masthead. I did this
because there weren’t many magazines in the industry that
have a logo as well as a recognisable masthead, so I thought
that doing this could put my magazine to an advantage as
this would be unique about it and would make it different to
others out there and therefore make it stand out more. The
logo I created was just a simple triangle that appeared to
look like a play symbol and it was placed behind the
masthead. I chose this shape to be the logo as it symbolises
the ‘play button’ that features on iphones, radios, tv’s, etc,
when playing an video or song. Therefore this logo is
associated with music and it hints to the audience that this
magazine has a music context. I included the logo on the
contents page and double page spread as it would be iconic
to the magazine and as a result remind the reader what
magazine they are reading.

3. Pull quotes was another convention that appears in existing
media products like my own. I used this convention and
presented it on the double page spread. The purpose of pull
quotes persuade the audience to read the magazine as the
quotes stand out on the page as they are much bigger and in
a different colour from the main text, because of this the pull
quotes are usually read before the main text. They give the
reader hints of what the article is about. The pull quotes are
usually intriguing so it would make the reader want to read
on to find out what the quote is about. Below are the two pull
quotes I used in my media product.
For example the magazine Mixmag used a different colour scheme for every issue. However the
colour scheme only consists of a few colours, as seen in the images above, making the
magazine look more structured and organised as everything fits together well. I used this
convention as the colour scheme in my magazine was dark red, black and white. I chose these
colours as they were mature and unisex colours so it was fitting for the type of audience I was
attracting. I decided that unlike Mixmag I wanted the same colour scheme for every issue of the
Rhythmix magazine, this would enable the magazine colours to become iconic to the brand and
well recognisable to the audience. I used this colour scheme throughout the magazine to
remind the reader of what magazine they are reading as they would recognise the iconic
colours of Rhythmix.
Another convention that I used was the colour scheme of the magazine. Many magazines I
looked at in my research used a colour scheme that consisted of only a few colours. This was
because the less colours used makes the magazine look more organised as there aren’t loads of
different clashing colours on one page. It also makes the magazine look more expensive it
creates the ‘less is more’ look. A colour scheme only consisting of a few colours doesn’t make
the magazine look plain and boring, instead it makes the magazine look more stylish and
structured
I made the first pull quote deliberately intriguing so it would make
the audience read the article. The pull quote is a snippet of what the
interviewed artists said. This quote would make the demographic
read the main article because they would want to find out who the
artist is on about, who the ‘he’ is that is mentioned in the quote. The
second pull quote my make the reader want to read on as the
audience will want to know how the artists of the band became the
‘bestest of friends’ and what has made them so close friends.

4. Puff
Magazines sometimes use a puff as
the unique selling point of a
magazine. This convention is usually
presented at the top of the front cover
in a banner style and it emphasises the
importance of the magazine in the
market. It persuades the audience to
purchase the magazine as they may
want to experience how good the
magazine is as it claims to be ‘UK’s
favourite music magazine’.
Writing style is a convention used in the media product I
created. My magazine is presented as a more professional
magazine for young people, however I chose to have a
writing style that was fun and not too serious because
then the magazine wouldn’t be created too formal for the
audience it is targeting. My media product used a chatty,
informal language, using words like ‘gossip’, that would
symbolise how young people usually speak. Therefore this
would help relate and speak to them on their level,
making the media product more likely to be bought by
it’s audience.
A freebie was another convention I used in my media
product. Freebies are used in magazines as a unique
selling point as it makes a magazine stand out from
others as it’s offering more than the other magazines. It
makes the audience feel as though they are getting
more for their money, so magazines often use this
convention to increase the popularity of the magazine. I
presented the discount on a circle that emphasised the
discount on the page as it was the only text on the front
cover which was written on circle. The ‘Reading Leeds’
was written in the iconic logo of the Leeds Festival, this
would make the audience of Leeds Festival and the
audience of the magazine both would recognise that
the magazine was offering discount off the tickets of the
popular festival. Also the logo of the festival was written
in the iconic colours of Rhythmix, which suggested to
the audience that there was a connection between the
festival and the magazine.
I developed and challenged this convention as there are
few magazines that offer discount off popular festivals.
Magazines such as Mixmag often offer freebies of
exclusive CD’s or albums, for example in the image to
the left shows a CD that has come free with an issue of
Mixmag. Therefore the way I have challenged this
convention may advantage my media product as it is
offering a different type of freebie or discount usually
seen in similar media products.

5. Finally, fonts are an important convention I used in my media product. I developed this
convention as there was thee main fonts featured in the media product I created, whereas
there are usually one or two main fonts that feature in a magazine. The three fonts I used
were Rockwell Extra Bold, Rockwell and Orator STD.
Rockwell Extra Bold was used for the main masthead of the magazine. This is because it is
bold and it stands out from the other fonts that were used, which is effective as the
masthead needs to be one of the first things the audience looks at because the magazine
brand wants the audience to become familiar with the magazine so that the audience will
buy the magazine again in the future. Therefore I think this font is ideal as it stand out and
is memorable because of its bold style. Also the style of the font is a little informal, which
attracts the audience as they are young adults and will not want to be reading a magazine
that is too serious. The magazine needs to be fun and I think this font suggests that the
magazine is slightly informal to match the audience. I used Rockwell Extra Bold for the
text that featured on the double page spread which outlined the questions which the
interviewer had asked. This was because it was the iconic masthead font and not only
reminded the reader that is was Rhythmix that was interviewing the artists but it also
made the structure of the interview look more organised and easy for the audience to
follow. The Rockwell Extra Bold contrasted well with the Rockwell font that the main text
was because the two fonts are from the same family.
It was decided that the font for the main body of text was Rockwell, this is because it is
similar to the masthead font but not bold. This makes the magazine look organised and
gives the layout a good structure which contributes to the professional, stylish look of the
magazine. This font is good for main bodies of text because it is simple and easy to read,
this will make big chunks of text look less crowded with words which will prevent the
magazine from looking cheap as the text looks like it has something important to say as it
is in a more formal newspaper style.
I decided to use Orator STD for text that is saying something exclusive. This featured on all
of the pages and it is a slightly different type of font from the others used. Therefore it
stands out and is an effective choice of font to use for exclusive texts. Although this font is
different to the other fonts used, it contrasts well with them so it doesn’t make the
magazine look over crowded with different fonts.
Rockwell
Extra Bold
Rockwell

6. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL
GROUPS?
Gender
The gender that is most featured in my magazine are females. On the front cover the main feature photo is of a girl band and there isn’t any mention of a male
artist in the text that is on the front cover. Also on the contents page there is only one mention of a male artist and there is an image of the male artist. This
suggests that the magazine I created features more females in than males therefore this could be seen as females are the most important gender in this media
product. This doesn’t match back to the original makeup of the audience because based on my survey findings I recorded that the gender of the audience was an
almost equal split between males and females, with slightly more males within the audience. Therefore targeting an almost equal split of males and females I
should have included more male artists featured in my magazine so it wouldn’t be as female orientated. Also in Mixmag’s media pack it claimed that the audience
of their magazine consisted of 72% of males and 28% of females. This is another piece of evidence that suggests males are more likely to buy a music magazine
and as a result I should have incorporated this into my media product more effectively.
The one and
only image of a
male in the
final product.
This is the reader
profile of
Mixmag

7. The typical stereotypes that exist around females are that they are the object for men and are created for the pleasure of the male viewer. Also magazines mostly feature ‘about how to be a
women’. Men are normally represented as the subject instead of the object. However my media product has challenged these views as the main feature article is about a successful girl band,
this isn’t supporting the stereotypical view of women as this girl group is the main subject of the magazine and they have worked for their success without a man within the group, this
contradicts the stereotype that women are just the object. Also the main image on the double page spread is of the girl band laughing and not of them posing in a way that sexualises them
and would be deliberately appealing to them men. This also goes against the view that women in the media are presented for the male viewer. Another way my media product isn’t
supporting the stereotypes is because there is very few male artists mentioned within the magazine. This suggests that men aren’t the stereotypical main subject in this magazine.
These are all media products are magazines that present the ‘ideal women’ and this is done to show women ‘how to be more of a women.’ Also the images on these magazine are sexualising
the women as they are posed in a serious, sexual way. This could be for the male gaze. You can see the contrast between these three existing magazines to the magazine I produced.
However, despite all of this, the women in the magazine are still represented very stereotypically. They may not be posing in a way that sexualises them, but they are wearing clothes that
could be seen as revealing and would attract the males attention as the females, mainly the female who is in the middle of the front cover, are wearing clothes that would indeed sexualise
them and make them eye candy for the male readers. Therefore because of the choice of clothing, this may have portrayed the women in my media product as still the object and not the
subject. Also the image on the front cover represents the females in the magazine in a stereotypical way as they are posing with their hands covering their ears, eyes and mouth. This choice
of posing infers that the females are innocent and again this is a stereotype that the media uses to represent women because the males see this as attractive and want women to be innocent.
For example in films the females are often the innocent, vulnerable ones that need the man to save them. Also the small image that is featured on the first page of the double page spread
represents the females as being innocent as it infers they have a secret that they aren’t allowed to tell. Another way in which my media product has represented the females in a stereotypical
way is because of the way the females have been expressing their emotion. For example the images give off a sense of friendship between the females featured in the image. This is
stereotypical as females in the media normally express their emotions more than men and value friendship with fellow people. Another convention that suggests the females are expressing
their emotions is in the text when they are saying how glad they are to have met each other.

8. Age
The general age range of the people featured in my magazine are young adults aging from late teens to late twenties. This age range also
reflects the age of the demographic. I featured people in the magazine to be around the same age range of the audience as they might be
more familiar with them as artists and will be able to relate and connect more with them. The typical stereotypes that are based around young
people is quite negative as they are portrayed as trouble makers. Again my music product contradicts this as it presents the young people in
the magazine as successful ad inspirational, who have achieved a lot. This could give the young audience of my magazine inspiration to also b
successful within their lives and it also gives them reassurance that not everywhere in the media sees young people as bad, antisocial people.
Also young people are known for having fun and the time of their lives, my media product supports this stereotype as it features the main
artists in the magazine as having fun and enjoying themselves as are laughing and smiling in the images an they are presented happy with
themselves and their lives in the interview.
Artists such as Adele
and Rihanna were
mentioned, these
artists are slightly
older than the
magazine audience
but they are very
popular with the
young audience.
The artificial artists I made up in my media product
represent the age of the audience I targeted

9. Class
Throughout the magazine there is only one social class that is featured in it, which is upper class. This is because all of the people featured in my magazine are
successful artists and have a higher paid, important, job. This is slightly reflected in the audience too as the magazine is a monthly, more expensive, magazine,
therefore mostly young people who come middle class background will be about the afford to buy this magazine every month. Also the magazine is presented
in a more professional manner, therefore it is more likely going to appeal to people who are more educated and are more likely going to have higher paid jobs
in the future. However the social class isn’t reflected in the style of music featured in this magazine because it is based around chart music, which is enjoyed by
all different social classes. My media product mostly supports the stereotypical view that the upper class have a very high income and that they are intelligent
and use this to get successful careers. Moreover it challenges the idea that higher class individuals are snobby. This is because the people featured in my
magazine are of upper classes, however they don’t come across snobby, they come across genuine and have likeable personalities. The magazine could still be
suitable for the lower classes as someone from a lower class could still be ambitious and like the style of the magazine. Also the magazine isn’t based at a
unaffordable price, it could still be purchased by the lower classes if they were interested in it.
Ethnicity
The ethnicity of the characters that are featured in the images within the magazine are primarily white British females, this is because I am looking to maximise
UK sales by targeting the majority ethnic group. However some artists that are mentioned in the magazine are from other countries, such as America and have
a black origin. Although my magazine is marketed towards British teenagers, it could still be classed as a multicultural media product as there is lots of ethnic
backgrounds in the UK.
Rihanna, Jay - z and Beyonce are all artists
mentioned in my magazine that have different
ethnic backgrounds that aren’t from the UK. This
could support that my media product is
multicultural.

10. WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?
One of the UK’s major media institutions would distribute my magazine. This is because they
have had huge success and are therefore highly experienced in marketing and advertising media
products to the suitable audience. There are many different media institutions such as Sky, BBC,
Bauer Media Group, Immediate Media Company and Time Inc Uk. These are all media
institutions that produce a range of different magazines. Media institutions are established,
profit based, organisations or companies that produce, advertise and distribute a range of
different forms of media products.
When I conducted my market research, I discovered that Bauer Media Group is the media
distributer of magazine successes such as Mojo and Q. This is why I decided that the media
institution that would distribute my media product would be Bauer. Q magazine is a similar
music magazine to the media product I created as it focuses on modern music and it is a
monthly magazine that is presented professionally. This is very similar to my media product and
because of this it could make it hard for the institution Bauer to publish a similar magazine to
what it already publishes. However Q magazine is aimed for a slightly more mature, older
audience than I aimed my media product for. Therefore it could mean that Bauer could publish
the media product I created as it would be aimed for a different audience compared to Q
magazine.

11. Bauer Media Group is a European media institution and it has a portfolio of over
600 magazines, 400 digital products, and 50 radio and TV productions. The
magazines that are in their portfolio aren’t based around one subject. There are a
various amount of different themed magazines, from cooking, car and music
magazines, to the typical gossip magazines that are focused on lifestyle and
celebrities. My media product fits into this range as it is a music magazine.
My magazine could be extended into other media areas. For example Kerrang has a
number of different media areas as there is a radio station and music channel on the
television as well as there being a magazine for kerrang. I would like to extend my
media product to having a music channel as well as a magazine. This is because
often young people watch the music channels that are on the television, therefore
this would help attract the audience of my media product as the brand would
become more heard of and recognised by young people. Famous festivals such as
Glastonbury Festival could be played live on the music channel, this would increase
the awareness of the magazine and music channel brand as Glastonbury is a
massive festival that is very popular. Therefore lots of people would tune into the
channel to watch the festival. The majority of viewers would be young people, which
also is targeting the audience. Another benefit of having a music channel is that it
could feature free advertisements for the magazine. Also the both forms of media
could benefit each other. For example a competition could be conducted in the
magazine and the music channel could announce the winner.

12. WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT?
The audience for my final media product is very similar to the
audience I had originally planned to target, but there has been a
few changes made to the audience of the product. The final
product is aimed at older teenagers/young adults as planned.
However, as I was creating my product it became clear that the
product was targeting the older teenagers rather than the younger
adults and females rather than males, due to the choice of artists I
created to feature in the double page spread and of the language
used in the magazine. Despite this, the media product would still
be suitable for a young adult to purchase and read. Moreover the
magazine might have been feminised more than it had been
planned to, therefore the product may not be as suitable for a male
as it is for a female.

13. The audience for my final product are aged between 16-19, this was originally decided because
this was the most common age of people that took part in the survey I conducted. Therefore this
suggested to me that people within this age range were most interested in music magazines than
any other age, as that was the most common age that had an interest in taking part in a music
magazine survey. Another reason why I created a magazine that targeted young adults was
because, I would be able create this magazine better than another magazine that targeted
another age range because I am within this age range too, so I know what would appeal me as
part of this audience. My product targets a younger demographic for many reasons. One reason
why is because of the language used in the product. Unlike a more serious magazine that targets
an older audience, Rhythmix has a chatty, fun, informal style of language, which will attract the
younger audience as they use this type of language themselves. This would make them relate and
connect to the magazine as it speaks in the same way as the younger generation. Also having an
informal language suggests that the magazine is targeting younger people as they are less
serious and want to read more fun magazines. This could make the magazine more suitable for
the 16, 17, 18 year old of the audience. This is because the magazine could be viewed as too
informal for someone any older than these ages because they may want to read a more mature,
formal magazine. Another reason why the audience would be aged between 16-19 is because the
artists featured in the magazine are of similar age or are slightly older. This infers that the
audience would be young as the young artists would be sharing their problems, style,
experiences, etc, so the audience often want to read about artists their own age so they can relate
to what the artists are saying or doing in the magazine. This would make the audience connect
with the artist and the media product. The masthead font is also in an informal style as it has a
‘bubble writing’ style to it, which also would be suitable for younger people as, again, it makes
the magazine seem for a more informal, less serious audience.
Informal,
chatty
language
16-19
audience
age range

14. The colour scheme and layout of the
magazine is quite simple, but is effective
as it look well structured, smart and
stylish. This also reflects on what the
audience is like. The audience could be
quite stylish and prefer to buy magazines
that don’t have the common cheap
theme. This could suggest the class of the
audience as the magazine was priced
quite high. For the majority of the
audience, their social class will be
determined by what sort of job their
parents have. Therefore, in order to afford
the magazine every month the audience
may come from an ABC1 background.
However young adults that don’t have an
ABC1 profile could still read the magazine.
Also the audience may not be from an
ABC1 background, but they may be very
ambitious so the professional, stylish
theme of the magazine may attract them.
Colour scheme
The media product I created has a feminine touch to it. This is due to the amount of female artists that
featured in the magazine. There was a lot more female artists mentioned compared to male artists
mentioned. This created a girly atmosphere to the magazine. Also the language of the magazine had a
gossip theme to it, in the same way women gossip with each other. Therefore females would understand
and enjoy the magazine more than males would. This differed from the original planned audience. In the
survey I conducted there was almost an equal split between the males and females that were interested
enough to complete a survey on music magazines. In fact there was slightly more males that seemed to
be interested in music magazines than girls.
Emotional and
feminised
language
Gossip theme
Original
audience
male to
female ratio

15. The audience for the media product I created would most likely be a trendy young adult aged between 16-18 who enjoys attending
festivals and concerts in their spare time. This is because I found out when conducting my audio interviews that the audience enjoyed
attending and spending their money on tickets for festivals and concerts. Another hobby of the audience would be listening to music in
their spare time, this was also discovered when conducting the audio interviews. All of the interviewees said they enjoyed listening to
music to help them match or lighten their mood. The audiences interests would be chart music and chart artists. this was a popular
choice of music in the survey I created. The audience would dress smart, casual, stylish and look after themselves well, keeping
themselves in a good form. This is because the magazine is also presented in this way, so the magazine actually reflects the way the
audience’s style is. The audience would want to buy a magazine that is stylish, like themselves and is also casual at the same time.
Chart music
was voted
the second
most popular
type of music

16. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR
AUDIENCE?
Masthead
The masthead was used to attract the audience. The masthead was in the font
Rockwell Extra Bold. This is a font that is very bold and unmissable, it suggests
that its got something important to say and the masthead is one of the most
important thing on a magazine. Also because the font is quite curved and
thick this infers that the music magazine is informal and not so serious. This
would resemble the audience as young people aren’t normally formal, instead
they are normally having fun and don’t take life to seriously. Therefore the
style of the mast head is attracting the audience as it suggest the magazine is
fun and for a younger demographic.
The masthead of the magazine is called ‘Rhythmix’. I think this name sounds
creative and also informal. This will tell the audience that the magazine isn’t
boring as it has a unique masthead and again the magazine will not be
presented as a formal magazine. This will attract the audience to purchase the
media product. The word ‘Rhythmix’ also symbolises DJ’s creating a mix for a
song, which targeting young people as DJ remixes are popular among that
age group.
Colours and Layout
The colours used in the media product are mainly black, white and dark red. The layout is simple but effective. This attracts the audience as this makes the magazine look
stylish and may be viewed by the audience as ‘cool’. Also these colours are quite mature colours, which will also persuade the audience to purchase the product as many
young people want to be seen and spoke to as an adult and this magazine respects that and treats the young adults as adults and not children. The colours aren’t
stereotypically associated with any gender, they are ‘unisex’ colours. This will attract both genders of the audience.
The choice of colours purposely don’t make the magazine look cheap or tacky. This will appeal to the more ambitious, stylish young people who are looking to purchase a
more expensive magazine.
Masthead

17. Photographs
The photographs used in my media product is one of the main ways I have used to attract the
audience of my magazine. For example, on the front cover the young girls are imitating a popular
pose that is known from the ‘emoji’s’ (text symbols) used by lots of young people who have a
phone. This is attracting the audience as most young people will recognise this pose and instantly
know that the girls are imitating the monkey emoji's on the iPhone. The audience may find this
humorous and also may feel connected with the artists on the front cover as they are imitating the
text symbols that are used by teenagers everyday.
Another way the photographs attract the audience is because the main images used on the double
page spread is candid and relaxed as it shows the artists laughing and posing in a more informal
way, using the ‘peace’ and ‘rock’ symbols. This attracts the audience as it will suggest to them that
the artists are genuine and also of a young age, they also seem to be laughing and having fun. This
could all make the audience relate with the featured artists and then are more likely to purchase the
product as the artists seem to connect with them as they both act in similar ways. Also the featured
artists are of a girl band that creates chart music. Chart music is popular among young people and
therefore they may recognise the artists as they enjoy listening to their music. So this may attract
the audience and make them purchase the product as they might want to find out more about the
band.
Discount
The discount on the Leeds Festival tickets attracts the audience as the
festival is very popular among young people, so this would be a great use
of the Unique Selling Point as the audience would be persuaded to buy
the magazine so they can get discount off tickets for the Leeds Festival.
This discount makes the audience feel as though they are getting more
for their money. The ‘Reading Leeds’ was written in the iconic logo of the
Leeds Festival, this would make the audience of Leeds Festival and the
audience of the magazine both would recognise that the magazine was
offering discount off the tickets of the popular festival. Offering Leeds
Festival tickets would be suitable as all of the acts that attend are modern
artists and some consisting of chart music artists.
Peace and
rock
symbols

18. Price
The price of the magazine is £3.99. This targets the audience as the magazine is targeting more ambitious, higher
educated young people, whose parents are likely to have an ABC1 profile so they are going to be able to afford £3.99
a month. However the price of the magazine isn’t so high that it is unaffordable to people from lower classes.
Therefore someone who is ambitions but isn’t from an ABC1 profiled family can still afford the magazine once and a
while.
Cover Lines
The cover lines featured on the front cover of the magazine attracts the audience as all the artists mentioned are all
char music artists, which is suitable for the magazine as it bases around modern music. Also the artists featured such
as ‘Rihanna’ are massive icons in the music industry and are highly respected and admired. Therefore these cover lines
will attract the audience because, with this example, Rihanna is an attractive young women who would be sexually
admired by men and may be seen as inspirational by females, so the young males might purchase this product
because they find her attractive and want to look at the images of her that will be inside of the magazine. The females
may purchase the product as they might want to copy her style or relate to her because even though Rihanna is
slightly older than the audience of this magazine she is still young and may / may have experience similar things to
young girls aged 16-19 year olds.

19. Addressing
Language
My media product speaks to it’s audience in an informal way. This because the language is very chatty and resembles how young people speak to each other. I’ve used this
approach because it makes the magazine more understandable to its audience as this language is how most young people speak in everyday life, therefore they will interpret the
language better if its informal than formal. The audience wouldn’t expect the magazine to be formal as it is a music magazine aiming to entertain the demographic. For example, on
the contents page it reads ‘ Black Friday’s reveal all their secrets, gossip and plans for 2016’, this statement is trying to persuade the audience to read the article and this is done in
an informal way as it includes the words ‘secrets’ and ‘gossip’. These words are usually associated with young people, especially young females, as they stereotypically enjoy telling
secrets and gossiping.
Images
The images within the magazine are all positive images that have a feel good factor to them
and this is designed to portray the magazine content. For example, the images have been
taken in a bright, expensive looking, studio and this suggests that the magazine has a positive
vibe to it. This also infers that the magazine is professional and it is addressing an audience
that is also professional and of a higher class. The images of the artists on the double page
spread are candid and relaxed rather than serious and posing. This suggests to the audience
that artists are genuine, because they are having fun and laughing, they not like the false
celebrities that are sometimes featured in magazine. It also suggests that the artists are young
and carefree, like most young adults seem to act like. The artists in the images are wearing
casual clothes rather than expensive designer clothes. This tells the audience that the
magazine reflects reality more than fantasy. This may make the audience feel connected to the
artists as it creates the idea that the artists are normal young people rather than snobby
celebrities, so they are relating to the audience rather than inspiring the audience.
The image I used in my double page
spread is very different from this
example of a more serious image on a
double page spread.

20. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS
PRODUCT?
I have learnt a huge amount about the technologies from constructing my product and I have
progress gradually from the first preliminary task to the final products and evaluation. I have
used all different types of software to help bring my planning, research. Products and
evaluation to come together. Throughout the whole of the coursework I used the software
Slideshare and Sribd so that I could embed the PowerPoints and word documents onto my
blog.
Research
The first piece of software I used was in design and Photoshop, this was for the preliminary
task and I created a blog that I could present all my work on. The next few bits of software I
used were PowerPoint, this was for conducting the Market Research and the Textual Analysis. I
used Survey Monkey to help me create a survey about music magazines, then I presented my
findings on a PowerPoint. Next, I interviewed two students and I edited the interviews on
Adobe Premier Pro. However when I came to export the files in order to put them on my blog
there was an error with the software, so instead I had to put my interviews on to Sound Cloud
and attach a link from my blog. However, I couldn’t edit my interviews on sound cloud, so they
had to be left unedited. Moving on, I used Microsoft Word to evaluate my three interviews. The
third interview was typed up and it was placed on this document too.
Planning
I used PowerPoint to present The Pitch. Then I used Photoshop to create a contacts sheet and I
wrote about the images on a Microsoft Word document. I used In Design to create the flat
plan for my magazine.
Production
For my final product, I created the front cover and the contents page on Photoshop and then I
used In Design to create the double page spread.
Evaluation
Then I finally used PowerPoint to create the evaluation.
I used two different pieces of hardware. I used a computer for most of the stages in
construction this product and I used a audio recorder to conduct the interviews for my
magazine.

21. I have learnt a lot of things about the blog I had to present my
work on. When I first started my coursework, I had never used a
blog before. I gradually learnt how to create a blog and post an
individual post of every stage of the coursework to make my
work look organised and professional. I also learnt how to embed
links on the posts, such as the Slideshare and Scribd links and I
also learnt how to export my In Design and Photoshop
documents to a JPEG file and put them onto my blog. Another
thing I learnt to do with my blog, was to change the layout and
the design of the blog, in order to make my blog look more
appealing and it would present my work in the best possible way.
I had never made a survey before, so in order to create the survey I had
to learn a few things. For example, I learnt how to create all ten
questions that the audience had to answer. I discovered how to look at
each question and see the different answers the audience had put
down. This was presented in a graph, so I screenshotted these so I
could analyse them in the Survey Analysis.
When I had to present my interviews, I started using Adobe
Premier Pro. I learnt how to run my interviews one after another. I
also learnt how to edit them, by cutting out all the unwanted bits
of the interviews. I also edited them by making the audio interviews
have more of a visual aspect to them as I made a title appear just
before each interview was about to play. However, due to the
technical difficulties, I had to use Sound Cloud to present my
interviews on instead. A positive of this is that I learnt about more
software that could be used instead of Adobe Premier Pro. I leant
how to upload audio files onto Sound Cloud and embed the files
onto my blog.

22. In Design and Photoshop were the pieces of software that I learnt most about. This was because I had never used them before and I
needed to make my front cover, contents page and double page spread to the best of my abilities. Also I had to create other
documents on these pieces of software, such as the flatplans and contacts sheet. I think this helped me as I gradually became more
familiar with the software.
One thing I learnt from using these software packages is that they are extremely clever and I only needed to use a small amount of the
tools available to make my final product look impressive. Some of the tools I used to make my products was touching, resize, brighten.
measure and cutting. I also learnt how to resize parts of text to make them bolder and stand out more from the rest of the text.
Another thing I learnt was how to insert columns onto an In Design document so it enabled me to see the finished product while I was
making it. I was able to format and develop the magazine page and the column feature assisted me in this area as it presented the
double page spread like a realistic magazine page.
I felt as though, these packages made me more creative as I could test / trial certain ideas and edit things the way I wanted them to
look. It made me able to perfect the product, making it look effective and like a real media product.
I made the ’20%’
slightly larger and
bolder than the
rest of the font, in
order to catch the
demographics'
attention.
The three
columns were
created with
the column
feature in In
Design.

23. PRELIMINARY TASK

24. FINAL PRODUCT

26. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO
THE FULL PRODUCT?
Activities Technologies Skills Lessons
Photograp
hs
Using a camera
and Studio.
Composition
and angels.
The first photograph which I used for my preliminary task was badly lit and it didn’t
have any relevance to the college magazine. Also the image was poorly planned as it
was taken off an iPhone, which made the quality of the photograph bad. It was a
boring close up medium shot, however the images used in the final product has a
various amount of angels and a different range of shots. In comparison the
photographs featured in my final product had good lighting and were edited
effectively. Also the photographs had been planned and the artists featured in them
were made to pose in certain ways to intrigue and capture the audiences attention, so
these images weren’t boring and they had relevance to the content within the
magazine. I learnt how to cut certain things out of the image in order to improve the
images by making them look more professional and removing any unwanted
background.
Planning Powerpoint,
Photoshop, In
Design and
Microsoft Word.
Organisation
and
investigation.
I have learnt the about the importance of planning. I didn’t carry out any planning on
my first task, however in preparation for my final product I created a pitch, contacts
sheet, evaluation of contacts sheet and flat plan. All these pieces of work enabled me
to be more organised when creating my final product. This had a positive effect as the
final product looked professional as it had been thoroughly planned through.

27. Activities Technologies Skills Lessons
Layout Photoshop and In
Design.
Planning,
organisation,
IT skills.
In the preliminary task the layout of the front cover was very basic as it had one image and a small amount of
writing. This made the preliminary magazine look boring and plain. Also the first contents page I created included
columns but had no text and no images. It just identified where the images and text would be. However in my final
product I learnt how to successfully product a magazine that had an efficient layout, which made the product look
organised and structured. I did this by making all of the different pieces of texts in the right fonts. I made sure that
the images had all the same levels of lighting. I learnt the importance of accurately sizing the work to the page so
the measurements were all the same. By the end of my coursework, I had learnt how to structure my double page
spread by putting the quotes, logos, mastheads, page titles, main images and smaller images, main text and page
numbers all in the suitable places.
Formatting Photoshop and In
Design.
Creativity My college magazine that I first created had a bad format as it looked plain and unrealistic and included certain
features that made it look tacky and cheap. For example I made the text on the front page have a bold, black
outline. By the time I made my final product, I had learnt that magazines don’t usually outline text very bold and
black as it can make magazines look tacky and cheap. Also in my first magazine I had made the fonts all the same,
I later learned that magazines usually use a few different fonts for different purposes, so I incorporated this into
my final product. Another thing I learnt not to do in my final product was to put the price in the same sixe as the
cover lines as it might put the audience off buying the product. I had made this mistake in the preliminary task.
The final think I learnt about the formatting was to use a colour scheme of at least three colours that
complimented each other.
Research Powerpoint, Survey
Monkey, Adobe
Premier Pro, Sound
Cloud and Microsoft
Word
When producing the preliminary magazine I had carried out no research, this reflected onto the mock magazines
as they looked poor, as I didn’t have any advanced knowledge on how magazines were presented and how they
targeted their audience. However once I had come to create my final product I had learnt that research had a
major role in making my media product. In preparation for my final product, I conducted number of research such
as;
Market Research- This showed me how other music magazines in the industry marketed their products
Textual analysis- This enabled me to see the importance of all of the conventions that make up a magazine and
how they target different audiences.
Survey, Survey analysis, interviews and interview evaluations – Enabled me to discover what the audience of my
media product would by and what would attract them to a magazine.