This document discusses how the student's media product represents and appeals to its target social group through various design choices. The front cover model is similar to what members of the target group would look like. The model wears clothing brands popular within the group. Additionally, the language used in interviews and articles represents the everyday language of the target audience. Overall, the media product aims to accurately portray and attract its intended social group of 16-25 year olds living in London through its visuals and content.

1. A lot of the pictures on the front covers
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
feature direct address so I have used it
on my own cover. I have used this challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
because on existing magazines it is a
good way of capturing attention and a
lot of the audience agree with this. The masthead on Vibe magazine goes
all the way across the page and
I have seen this circle normally interacts with the full bleed
advertising things on image. My masthead does not go all the
many other magazines way across the page because I wanted it
so I decided to place it to a clear and recognisable.
on my page advertising
a competition. I have noticed that Vibe have often
used the colours red, white and
black. Using their house theme I
I have also added the have used all three colours on my
barcode underneath the cover and through out the
masthead so it is easy to magazine.
find and the price of
£3.50 is also present
On the magazine cover there is Something that is different from a normal contents
an eyebrow at the top which page is that is no direct eye contact with the
mentions some of the artists audience. Instead I have directed the audience’s
that in the magazine. I have My contents page is very similar to the one in Vibe
used the same style and added
sight towards the actual text using the way the
it to my own cover. model is positioned. magazine because a lot of the conventions are alike.
I have used different sizes of text to show Another similar feature is the
importance of the articles. Seeing other Vibe actual layout. I have
covers, I have gathered that the bigger the photographed the model to be
font the more important it is.
on the left side so all the
writing can go on the right side.
Like the vibe contents page.
Again here I have used the
colours black and red to follow
the house theme
I have chosen to lay the
contents page out like this
because during my research a
lot of the audience preferred a
simple contents page which is
easy to read and straight to the
point.
The actual contents page title is nearly identical because of the
way its laid out. Just the size and font is different.

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
[continued]
On the professional spread, they have put a header saying ‘cover
story’ in a box on the right hand side. Instead of doing a box I have
just typed ‘Exclusive Cover Story’ and placed that as my mast head. Alexandra Burkes names is smaller because she is already famous and
doesn’t need a big headline reason being people already know her
My double page spread follows the conventions is a magazine whereas because my model is an upcoming artist, not many people know
in the genre of music which I am creating the magazine for. him therefor the heading should be big so people remember his name.
The article itself is laid out the same in 3 columns. This makes it
Both images are on the left side of the page however the professional
easy to read and knows where to carry on reading from the end
page has eye contact with the audience whereas mine does not. This is
of a column.
because Alexandra Burke looks more attractive and wants to draw the
audience with her eyes whereas my model looks a bit more emotional
and it’s a more serious in thought look. The model is looking at the pull The background of the professional double page spread is a plain
quote so instantly the audience is drawn in to read it. white background, keeping this in mind, I was careful of my
selection of mise-en-scen. I have chosen a very monotone location
and got the model to dress in clothes which contrast the
background.

3. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
My Media product represents a social group through the model on the front cover. He is very similar to what the social
group aimed at would be like. Also the main conventions appeal to the target audience perfectly.
The social group I am targeting is between
the age of 16-25 both females and males
who potentially live in all areas of London.
The clothing that the model
is wearing is very similar, if
not identical, to what the
target audience would wear.
The brand ‘Ralph Lauren’ is
very popular in the social
group and so the model was
made to wear the same
brand.
A lot of the language used in the interview
represents the social group because it is the
language that is used in these groups on a day to
Another thing about the day basis. It will be more appealing and
model which represents the understandable to the audience if the interview
social group is the confident in answered in their ‘language’
look. The models head is
slightly tilted to one side
which gives an attractive
look however he isn’t
smiling which gives a
‘rough’ yet confident look.

4. What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
I have researched two media publishers, Bauer and IPC Media. Both produce well
known and established magazines which aim both at male and female audiences.
After researching the media institutions, I have decided that Bauer Media would be
suitable to publish my magazine.
There are many reasons for this such as :-
•Targets both men and women
•Already having well established music magazines
•Also have radio, TV, online and mobile platforms
•Sell all over the country which could mean more potential customers
•Already a huge publishing institution so has a lot of recognition
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My Media Product is aimed at a both male and female audience aged between 16-25 who
have an interest in the followers genres of music: R&B, Hip Hop and Grime. This group
would be classed in categories C-D in the social grades.
Even though my product may be mistaken for a female audience it is aimed at both genders.
I have tried representing this via the colour scheme I have chosen for the magazine; black,
red and white, all unisex colours.
Being ages between 16-25 my audience most probably have a part time of secure job and
disposable income to spend on buying the magazine therefore the price is set at £3.50

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I have used many different ways to Another feature that attracts
attract the audience through out the the female audience in the
magazine. One of many ways was model. He is attractive so
using eye contact with the reader on instantly the female audience
the front cover. Instantly this draws will want to know more
in the reader to look at the model about him leading to them
which leads to looking at the rest of purchasing the magazine.
the cover.
Another feature that attracts the
audience is the red text, red is a
The different texts on
bright colour which instantly catches
the cover also attracts
the eye.
the audience because
they are all of a different
design which is
attractive to look at.
Having a pull quote on the double page
spread attracts the audience because
straight away they read the first because it
stands out from the whole page. Also it
makes the reader wonder what the pull
quote is implying which makes them read
the whole article.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
During the process of making this media product, I have used many technologies to construct the magazine and used
these technologies to do a lot of the research into making the magazine.
Here are a list of technologies I used to produce the magazine:
•Adobe InDesign
•Adobe Photoshop
•WordPress
•Microsoft Word
•Internet Explorer/Google
•Professional camera (Nikon D5000)
Much of the software used was reasonably easy to access in college however it was not as easy to use
at home reason being programmes such as Photoshop and InDesign were not available. Other
technologies such as WordPress, Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer were extremely easy to access
both at home and college. Furthermore accessing a camera was reasonably accessible , I had to book a
camera in college and it was available straight away.
Photoshop and InDesign were completely alien to me when they were first
introduced however I started to develop skills and within 2 3 times of using the software they were
easy to function.
These are some of the websites the helped me in my research:
•www.vibe.com
•http://issuu.com/claudedupre/docs/vibe_brand_media_kit_mk20
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7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Between the preliminary task and the full product, I have picked up many skills which allow my final media product
to be of good standard and high quality.
When I first started my preliminary task, my skills with Photoshop and InDesign were minimal however as the task
progressed so did my skills which lead to a better quality magazine. Now I am confident with using both
programmes.
Also during both tasks, I learnt about mastheads, how to position cover lines and also how the image needs to fit the
front cover. Another thing that I have learnt about is colour schemes and house styles. Choosing colour is very
important, you have to pick the right colours so they appeal to your audience well.
Furthermore my photography skills have also improved, since taking the preliminary task photos I have learnt what is
the best angle and position to take pictures.
As you can clearly see there is a big difference between the two magazine covers and contents pages. The quality of
the second magazine is much higher than the college magazine.