- The document provides an evaluation of the student's music magazine project, analyzing how it uses and challenges conventions of real magazines. - Key conventions included are a central cover image, house colors, article listings on the inside, pull quotes, and page numbers. Some conventions were challenged like barcode placement. - The magazine represents and targets London youth aged 15-19 interested in genres like grime, R&B, and hip-hop through the included content, language, and price. - Distribution through a company like IPC would allow wider reach and cross-promotion across media.

1. Evaluation Of My Music MagazineYasmin Guemmoun

2. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

3. Front CoverI have chosen to follow the typical convention of any magazine to have a large picture of the person featured in the main article in the magazine on the middle of the page.The title is a different font to everything else on the page and fits the width of the page. This is a convention of most magazines.I have created a house colour which allows the reader to associate my magazine with those particular colours, this is a convention of almost all magazines. Also by using the colour red it represents ‘stop’ therefore when someone sees this they will want to stop and look at the magazine.Most magazines choose to have their model giving the audience eye contact however I chose to have mine looking up at the title, this is because it is a new magazine therefore the title is unknown so by having the model looking up at the title it attracts the readers attention to the title making them remember it. Also it is a convention in magazines such as “Vibe” to have the picture overlapping the title but I’ve chosen to put mine behind it.It’s a convention to have the barcode, date and issue number of the magazine on the bottom right corner however I have challenged this convention by having it on the bottom left corner. However there are some magazines for example “Vibe” that choose to have their barcode on the left the same way I did.I also followed the convention of having the article titles on either side of the picture, this is so that all the readers attention will go straight to the picture and title. I included a pull quote to give the reader an idea of what will be included in the article

4. Contents PageIt Is a convention to have the logo on the top left corner which is where I have put mine. “Vibe” is a magazine that follows this convention. This is because in this country we read from left to right therefore the logo will be the first thing the reader sees.I chose to put the article listings on the right hand side because when the reader picks up the magazine from the shelf they tend to flick through it and by having the listings on the right it means that they will automatically see it when flicking through.By having page numbers it allows the reader to easily locate an article they want to read. This is also a convention of all magazines.It is a convention to have the listings separated into categories, which I have done. This makes it easier for the reader to find a particular article they may be looking for.The house colours are also used on the contents page, this is also a convention of most magazines.

5. Double Page SpreadI have put the questions in my interview in a different colour to the answers, most magazines tend to just put the questions in bold rather than changing the colour of them. I have chosen to use quite a basic font in order to make it easier for the reader to read the text which is a convention of most if not all magazinesSimilar to most other magazines that have an interview in them, I have put my text into columns this makes it easier to read, rather than having one big chunk of writing. Also it allowed space to insert the pictures.I have followed the convention of putting page numbers on the edges of the pages so that when the reader flicks through the magazine in order to find a particular page it will be easier for them to see the page number.I put the website at the bottom of the page in order to promote the site and cross-media ownership

6. How does your media product represent particular social groups?The language used in my magazine mirrors that used by my target audience. A lot of slang is used throughout the magazine this shows that youth in London are almost as if they’re in their own world as they communicate using a different languageA representation is a way things are portrayed. It refers to the idea that the media can re-present aspects of a reality e.g. gender, race, class etc which creates a meaning for an audience, be it the same meaning or a different oneThe social group that my magazine is representing is youths in London mainly male, aged between fifteen and nineteen that are interested in grime, R&B and hip-hop music. To make my magazine appeal to my target audience I had to ensure I took the elements of grime, R&B and hip-hop and incorporated them into my magazine to attract the relevant audienceI have only used male models and generally only included articles on male artists as in this particular social group men are more dominant and by only using males represents this wellMy magazine represents this social group by firstly the price of the magazine. As its relatively cheap it shows that it is aimed at a low income audience

7. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?IPC distribute a wide variety of magazines including magazines that have a similar target audience to my magazine such as ‘NME’Ideally a large publishing corporation like IPC would distribute my magazine IPC have a cross-media ownership which means that if they take on my magazine it could lead to a radio station or T.V channel to be created for “Swagga” this will create cross-media promotion and brand identity, this will make my magazine more accessible to a wider audienceAfter looking at the weekly music charts we can see that hip-hop and R&B are much more popular in the U.K than rock and other genres are, with this being the case it will mean that IPC would want to take on a new magazine that covers these particular genres as it has a large audience and therefore will do well in the magazine industry

8. Who would be the audience for your media product?The audience for my media product is youth aged between fifteen to nineteen year olds.In terms of social economics the magazine will attract classes E-D as it is quite informal My magazine will have a higher male audience than female this is because I have mainly used male artists. Also the colours I have used are not particularly feminine.Although the genre of my magazine is generally preferred by the black community I feel that my magazine will attract a variety of races. This is because I have included artists from a variety of backgrounds such as the artist in the main article and “Lowkey” who will attract an Arab audience as well as people like K Koke and Tinie Tempah who will attract a black audience. My audience will consist of mainly students who therefore will not be able to afford a high priced magazine which is why I chose to make mine relatively cheap.

9. How did you attract/address your audience? I attracted readers by using the word “Swagga” for the title. My target audience are familiar with this word and it is part of their everyday vocabulary therefore when they see this they will be more inclined to pick up the magazine and look at it. I made the title in a graffiti style font as this will help attract a younger audience. I chose to use black for the background as it stands out more than most other colours. Also if I saw two magazines, one with a black cover and one with a white cover, the magazine with the black cover would catch my eye first and therefore make me want to pick it up and look at itBy using conventions of other music magazines in the same genre such as “Vibe” it attracts an audience of a similar interest to that of the readers of “Vibe”. I have used quite basic language as the majority of the youth will not enjoy reading something which is too wordy, therefore by sticking to short simple sentences it will keep the readers’ attention. I put some the inside article titles on the front cover, specifically ones that I know would attract the youth for example interviews with a popular grime artist as when they see this they will be interested as it’s a topic they can relate to

10. As my target audience consists of mainly students I have made my magazine relatively cheap. This is because with them being students and having a limited income they will not be willing to spend more than a couple of pounds on a magazine. By including a free poster it helps attract my audience as when they see the word “free” it will automatically make them want that free item.Quizzes make the magazine seem more entertaining as it gives the reader something to do with the magazine other than just read it.

11. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?When researching things for my magazine I learnt that it was necessary to be quite specific with what I entered into the search engine. Not all sites could be trusted for example if the information on it was written twenty years ago then it is highly unlikely it will relate to today's society therefore would not be relevant to use.As this was the first time I used ‘InDesign’ I was not familiar with the programme therefore I had to learn how to use it. It didn’t take long for me to be able to use the programme successfully and I feel that ‘InDesign’ is a lot more easier to use than ‘Photoshop’ is.

12. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?There were very few articles mentioned on the front cover and there was no barcode, issue number or date on it. I made sure on my final product I included some of the article titles on the front cover. I placed the articles on either side of the image so that they acted as a sort of frame for the image, this ensured that the image attracted all the readers’ attention. Also I included a barcode and placed the date and issue number both underneath the title and next to the barcodeThe title wasn’t catchy, nor did it stand out very much. With my final product I ensured I used a word that teenagers could understand and used hence why I chose the word “Swagger”. I also did it in a graffiti style font as this would attract my target audienceThe white background made the cover seem very empty and did not make it stand out. Also by having all the text in blue made it look quite dull and unattractive. On my final product I chose to use a black background in order to make it stand out a bit more. I also used red and white for the text which contrasted well against the black and made the text stand out a lot more than it did on my preliminary taskOverall I feel I have made a vast improvement on my final product compared to my preliminary task. I have used a lot more skills for example editing using ‘Photoshop’ which resulted in my final product looking a lot more professional. It is also a lot more eye catching and attractive compared to my preliminary taskMy preliminary magazine was very basic. The main picture had very little editing done to it and did not look professional, whereas on my final product the picture looks very professional and has been edited using ‘Photoshop’. Also in order to make it look more professional I ensured the image was in focus and took it from a slightly low angle. I also added extra lighting on his face to make it look as if his face is giving out a glow, this also makes all the readers’ attention go straight to his face and eyes which are looking up at the title, this will then make the reader also look up at the title