2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
I have followed the common convention of using a large masthead. This is to create the idea that the masthead will be memorable and
the magazine will catch a readers eye. This also means that a current reader of the magazine will find it easier to remember and buy
again when wanting to find it in a shop. Even though the masthead is the biggest font on the front cover, like the common magazine, the
font is quite simple. For example, the ‘NME’ masthead is simple, especially as the name of the magazine only contains three letters, but
to make up for this the font is very bold. Even though the text size is bigger for my masthead, the font is simple, black and not that bold.
In some ways this challenges the common convention, as my music magazine is not as reliant on the masthead it presents which may
mean it could possibly effect some sales of the magazine. I think that the front cover itself will catch the eyes of the audience, so I do not
think the lack of colour or boldness in the masthead will effect the consumption rates.
The style of the masthead reflects the contents and the style of my magazine. Much like ‘NME’, the images and cover lines, which
means that more focus is on the stories inside the magazine, drawing the audience in. Following the common convention in the majority
of magazines, the majority of the text is a simple, sleek and black design. This means that the font is not over-whelming and easy to
read, but I have made sure that the font I use reflects the style of the magazine, so it is quite sleek and a thinner font. The main font that
I used was ‘COCOMAT light’, which I used for both the masthead and the ordinary text in uses like articles. The fact that I used the
same font for the masthead as I did for majority of the text may challenge the common convention, as most music magazine usually
have a much louder, or bolder font for the masthead. I feel like this shows that my music magazine is quite relaxed and informal, and
focuses more on the music inside.
3. Whilst planning my photographs for my magazine, I had decided to use my double page spread story as the image for my front cover.
This follows the common convention, as usually the main interview or story in the magazine is advertised the most, which means it
would be the main focus on the front cover. The photographs I took for the double page spread are based outside, which Is one of the
reasons I decided not to use those images for the front cover. I had decided to use a green, outside environment for the dps as it
portrays a relaxed, indie vibe, which ,matched the style of music and the clothing of the model. Most magazines use a studio based
photo for the front cover, which is why I decided to use the studio photos I was going to use for my contents page of another artist. So I
decided to swap round the front cover photo and the contents page photo that I had planned. This meant that even though I was not
showing the main story on the front page, the image was more professional as it was taken in a studio. The image then appeared fresh
and crisp on the front cover, as in most magazines the background on the front cover is clear so the writing is easy to view. The back
ground on the photos I took outside are filled with woodland and trees, which means it would be harder to view the writing and effect the
image I was going for. This then allowed me to vary the colours I used on my front cover, as I wanted to show a variety of colours to
represent the music in my magazine. If I were to use a woodland background, I would not be able to use a vast range of colours. Most
magazines follow a basic colour scheme throughout, which my magazine also follows, but I do use a lot more colour on the front cover
than throughout other aspects of the magazine, which follow the colour scheme more. Colours on the front page help to attract the
reader at a first glance.
4. Final front cover Example of NME front
cover
Final double page spread
5. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
I tried not to focus my magazine on one particular gender or age, making the magazine aimed at a wide social group. This because I
wanted the magazine to be focused on the music and lifestyle, and not making the magazine look like it was only aimed at one group of
people. The magazine is aimed at a younger audience (teenagers and young adults) and this is because this age group is the majority
of people that enjoy indie and alternative music.
Within my survey answers, there was only a very small difference between the amount of responses from males and females. My aim is
to make the magazine gender balanced. I used a male model and female model in my magazine, with the male model as my front
cover and the female model as the main interview (double page spread). This shows that both genders are important and highly valued
in the magazine, and as this magazine is not aimed at one specific gender, neither of the sexes were sexualised in, for example, the
way they dressed or the type of interview they had.
As you can see from my style sheet, the colour scheme I used was also not gender bias. I chose a mixture of blues, greens, white,
black and a few other brighter colours throughout the majority of my magazine. I decided on calming colours to represent the type of
music that my magazine focuses on. Bright colours used also to show that the magazine is aimed at a younger audience.
6. The outfits that the models are wearing are very casual and support the laid-back, indie lifestyle that this magazine is about. Both of the
models are also teenagers, which means that most magazines would reinforce the stereotypes of teenagers, especially with girls. For
example, Top of the pops magazine will dress the female models in girly clothes and have them doing a girly pose. In my magazine,
both of the models are in casual wear and wearing dark colours. Both of the models are also posing, but not in an unnatural way. The
way in which my magazine presents younger people breaks the barrier between different teenage stereotypes, and are treated the same
way in this magazine as other adults are treated. For example, one of the cover lines on the front cover is ‘Female power’, which shows
how the magazine is also focusing on how women are just as important in the music industry.
The magazine is clearly aimed at an audience that includes teenagers and young adults, as many activities that are suitable for that age
group are mentioned. For example, leeds festival tickets are to be won by people that read the magazine, suggesting the magazine is
not suitable for young teenagers or children. Another thing that suggests that the magazine is not suitable for younger people is that,
even though this is not clarified, ‘Food? Drink? Music?’ suggests
that people that read this magazine enjoy drinking alcohol. What I mainly intended to show in this magazine is
that young adults and teenagers enjoy going out,
listening to music and socialising.
7. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
Media distributors are companies that publish different media works. Each media distributor has various portfolios, which include what
they want their company to publish. The same distributor may sell a lifestyle magazine and a music magazine, as one distributor will
not just rely on one brand or genre. Some media distributors are more well known, as they sell popular media products, which would be
beneficial as they would have a wider audience.
Bauer media : Bauer media focuses on a wide range of different media platforms, including many well known products that you will
probably know, or see in your local supermarket. Some of the magazines that they distribute include;
Closer, Classic car weekly, Golf world, Mother and baby and Q magazine. This wide range of magazine genres cover a wide range of
audiences, which may mean that Bauer media are open to accepting and distributing another music magazine which broadens their
audiences even more. Q magazine is probably the magazine that is most like ‘Wave’, but Q magazine is a broader genre of music and
aimed at an older audience. I feel that there is enough space in the market for Bauer to distribute my magazine, as this is a music
magazine aimed at young adults and teenagers and has a specific genre of music which is alternative/ indie.
Bauer media would be an advantage as a distributor for my magazine as it is a well known distributor and would create a wide
audience for my music magazine.
8. Immediate media co. is the fourth largest magazine publisher in the UK and 33 million people are subscribed to magazines that they
distribute, but the only music magazines that they distribute are BBC music and Radio times. Immediate media focuses on a wide range
of different specific interests to cover a wide range of audiences.
BBC music is a magazine that mainly focuses on classical music, which has a majority audience of older people. Radio times is a TV
and radio listings magazine, which does not get a lot of interest from a younger audience. They also published ‘Top of the pops’
magazine, which is aimed at young girls, but now has less focus on music. This means that there is definitely a gap in the market for an
alternative/indie music magazine aimed at a wider audience for Immediate media to publish. The fact that Immediate media are not
publishing anything similar to my magazine at this time is a huge positive, and means that they would have more interest in publishing
something completely different to the current magazines they are publishing.
Both of these media distributors are well known and have wide audiences,
so both distributors would be suitable to publish my magazine. I believe that
Immediate media would be more likely to distribute my magazine as they are
not currently distributing a magazine like mine.
9. Who would be the audience for my media
product?
As I explained within the previous question about representing social groups, the audience is also quite varied. The research that I
performed including the survey showed that the majority of those who read music magazines are of a younger audience, though I want
to aim my music magazine at teenagers through to adults. This age range may be from 15 to 30. I find that also this is the age range
that will be most interested in the indie/alternative music genre. As this is such a wide music genre I think that there will be a wide
audience that will enjoy this magazine.
The survey showed that most of the respondents were from a middle class background, yet when asked how much they would pay for
a music magazine, the majority of votes were for the lowest price option of £0-£3. This may be because the majority of respondents
were teenagers, meaning even though they come from a middle class background, their budget is low. Though this magazine is aimed
at a more sophisticated audience, certain aspects of the magazine show that the magazine is mainly aimed at young people who are
interested in a certain genre of music/lifestyle.
For example, the clothing in the photos are quite
casual, and would fit into the indie/alternative trend.
This shows that the lifestyle of the magazine is not aimed
at sophisticated adults, though my magazine is aimed
at the ABC1 category, so I have developed my magazine
to have a more sophisticated feel. Many of the most
sophisticated magazines, aimed at an ABC1 audience, are
womens style/lifestyle magazines like the famous ‘Elle’ and
‘Vogue’.
10. The aspect of these womens magazines that I liked was the sleek style in which they were designed. So this is what I wanted to show
in my magazine. I did this through the use of fonts, layout and colour scheme. Another question on the survey was asking how the
audience would prefer the layout of their magazine to be. ‘Neat and organised’ got the majority of votes. This may reflect the class of
the respondents, or just be a general preference. Regardless, I tried to keep the layout of the magazine as neat and structured as
possible. The colour scheme for my magazine is mainly subtle tones of blues and greens, black and white and other pastel colours.
Whilst trying to keep the colours sophisticated and not too loud, colourful aspects were then added. For example, brightly coloured
cover lines, as I didn’t want the magazine to come across as boring. The fonts used throughout the magazine are simple and easy to
read, yet modern and stylish. This means that the magazine is easy to read for anyone but yet still adds to the sleek style of the
magazine.
This magazine would be purely published for music fans as this is a music based, genre specific magazine. These music fans would be
interested in the latest music in their genre, interested in finding out about latest music gigs and festivals, and of the age to enjoy these
things.
11. How did you attract/address your
audience?
One way in which I attracted my audience was through the use of the puffs and plugs. These are things the reader can win or will find in
the magazine and aimed at the interest of the reader. Here are two examples. ‘WIN’ and ‘EXCLUSIVE’ draw the reader in. First of all,
‘EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW’ makes the reader want to buy the magazine and read it as there is no other interview like it and fans of the
artist may be excited about this interview. Secondly, my magazine is aimed at people that enjoy festivals, socialising and music, so, the
majority of readers will be interested in going to Leeds festival.
Especially if they can win tickets for it. This also opens up a wider audience as festivals like these are enjoyed by many.
The content on the front cover is aimed to interest the reader due to the specific music genre that the audience for this
music magazine are interested in. For example, new artists and bands that the reader will be interested in, interviews
with artists that the reader is interested in and places that the reader can go to which they are interested in.
The front cover includes a lot of bright colours that seems like they do not fit in with the colour scheme.
As the majority of the colour in this magazine is based on a dark colour scheme, bright colours are
used on the front cover to contrast and draw attention. The bright colours used show that this
magazine is exciting and full of fresh and new artists and news. The colour scheme is also suitable for
both genders, meaning that this magazine attracts a wider audience than if it had a completely
girly/pink colour scheme. As this magazine is purely devoted to music, everything on the front cover is
linked to music, which means that a wide audience of music fans will be attracted to this magazine.
12. The price of the magazine is suitable for a wide range of ages and class. The price of this music magazine is set at £2.99. The majority
of responders to my survey opted for the price range of £0-£3. As the majority of the respondents were teenagers, and as my music
magazine is aimed at young people, I decided to keep the price low and in the preferred range. I did not want the price to be any lower
than this as my magazine is aimed at higher class ranges, yet being a low price makes the magazine available to a wider audience.
I also used pull quotes on the front cover from various contents in the magazine. The quote I have
highlighted, “It always gets worse before it gets better”, is from the ‘exclusive’ interview in the magazine. This
attracts the reader as they would like to carry on reading the interview, therefore want to buy the magazine.
Also, the quote makes the reader feel like the artist is speaking personally to them, and as if they are
speaking out. The quote itself is quite vague and could be about a number of topics, meaning that a lot of
people could relate to it.
During my research, I also found out that the respondents most wanted to see interviews with artists in their
music magazine, and least wanted to see competitions. These are both popular features in magazines, but
this supported the idea that I wanted for this magazine, for its main focus to be music.
13. What did you learn about technology?
Whilst planning and producing my coursework, I found that I would have to use many
softwares, some that I am familiar with and some that I have never used before. For
example, I have used Microsoft word and PowerPoint many times before to document
and organise things. On the other hand, I discovered new softwares like InDesign and
Photoshop, which I used to design and create my music magazine pages.
I used Microsoft word to draft my final magazine pages to give an outline for my final
design. Using these softwares made it quicker and easier to complete than if I hand
wrote them. I would’ve been able to write up a lot of my coursework by hand, but that
would’ve made it a lot harder and taken a lot longer. I would not have been able to finish
my final designs without technology, so these softwares came in very handy. I used
Photoshop for the front cover and the contents page and InDesign for the double page. I
needed to use these softwares to edit the photos and make the outcome of my
magazine look more professional.
Before starting the project, I didn’t know how to use either of these softwares.
I learnt many techniques I could use to make my magazine look more professional like
how to copy parts of an image and move them somewhere else. For example, I used
this technique when I wanted to copy part of the studio background to cover over other
imperfections in the background. I would use the clone stamp tool for this.
14. The clone stamp tool was also
effective when wanting to
repeat a specific colour within
your specified colour scheme.
To organise your
work within
photoshop,
different layers of
your work are
shown at the
side. These
layers are
different
alterations you
made to your
images and show
your stages
through
developing your
music magazine
pages.
I learnt how to edit the
actual photos I took on
photoshop, which I did by
using these options at the
side of the screen. I
altered the shadows and
shade of the image, and
adding a slight tone of
blue over the image.
To finish my product and
make my magazine look
professional I had to add
writing to my magazine
pages using the type tool. I
downloaded the fonts I
wanted to use and then could
edit the size and colour of
font to the way I wanted it to
look on photoshop.
15. The website survey monkey was a big part of my audience research. I had never used the website
before but I found that this was the easiest and quickest way to create a survey for respondents to
answer. I also published my survey on Facebook which increased the amount of responses I got for
my survey. Facebook is the easiest way for large groups of people to communicate so this meant that
lots of people could easily access my survey and could answer it. Survey monkey made the
responses to my survey clear and easy to evaluate, meaning that I could sum up each question and
general response in my analysis easily. My survey involved multi-choice questions and text
responsive questions. I got less responses to questions that respondents had to reply to individually,
which meant that respondents preferred questions that were quicker and easier to answer, but it still
meant that I got more of a personal response to a question.
I also used prezi, an online presentation software, to present the majority of my market research.
Prezi made the presentation more interesting as you could choose your own theme and made it
easier to access all of the market research in one place.
I also used other online softwares like slideshare which I haven’t used before. I used this as a
stepping stone and it allowed to be able to use my presentations in other places, such as my media
coursework blog on the website Blogger. Blogger made it easy to create a blog, personalise to the
way I wanted to structure my blog and the way it looked and upload all of my posts.
16. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you
feel like you have learnt in the progression to your full
product?
This is my preliminary task which was to create a magazine aimed at college students. As you can see the
style was very simplistic and does not look very professional. Whilst creating this preliminary task, I was
unaware of how to use the software Photoshop to its full advantage and did not know how to use any
techniques to make my magazine look creative and professional. For example, I was not aware how to edit
the photo properly, so I simply made the image monochrome and enhanced the shadows to make the
image appear bolder. Looking back now, I see that this image was not edited to its potential and I could’ve
done many other things with the image. I tried to find an area with a plain white background, but as it was
not in a studio, there was no lighting that flattered the model. Whilst taking the photographs of the models
for my final product, I decided to use two different environments. One was in the studio, using low-key and
high-key lighting to flatter the model and enhance certain aspects, e.g. lighting on the face, and for my
other model I used natural lighting as I took the photographs outside to fit with the style and image I
wanted to portray of the artist and the music associated. I should have edited the background with the
polygon lasso tool which could have helped change the background or I could have used the clone stamp
tool like I have in my final product to remove any imperfections from the background.
Another aspect of my work that has improved since my preliminary task are my photographing skills. In my
preliminary task, I did not use the correct camera angle, the photo is slightly off-focus and I did not use the
correct camera shot. In my final product I have used more effective camera shots and angles making the
magazine look more appealing and professional
17. Another area that I developed since the preliminary task were research and organisation skills. Before I
started any market research, I didn’t know about any media institutions or distributers, and did not know any
part of how a music magazine would be distributed. Since then, I have looked further into media distributers.
This includes which media distributers are the most well known/popular, which media distributor sells music
magazines like mine, where there is a gap in the market for a music magazine like mine, who would be most
like to want to distribute my product, and who I think would be most suitable to sell my product. Analysing
other similar media products meant that I could apply conventions from other popular magazines to my own.
I also conducted audience research which included surveys and interviews. I didn’t conduct any market
research for my preliminary task, which meant even though I knew who the audience was, I didn’t know what
they wanted. The survey helped me develop my understanding for the audience and what they wanted.
My organisation skills have also developed throughout the different stages of planning and producing my
media product, which I feel helped the end product come out neatly and professionally. For example, I
planned out my photography for all the pages, including what the models were wearing and the environment.
Even though I slightly changed how I took and used my photos, it made it a lot quicker and easier to find out
what was the best idea when I already had them laid out. Overall, due to the amount I have learnt about how
to plan and produce a music magazine, I feel like the end product of my magazine looks professional and
suitable for the intended audience.
