2. The skyline is important to draw the audience in. Normally there will be news of a competition of giveaways to
interest people. The word massive is used to draw attention and to excite people and the word download is
highlighted to appeal to the target audience as it is a huge rock event.
The masthead is under the skyline
in bold writing so it will stand out.
The black text colour stands out
The word free is well on the white background.
good incentive to However Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro
make people singer) is covering up some of the
want to buy as its masthead making it not as good as
adding value to it could be. However we can argue
what you’ve that the target audience know the
spent. magazine well enough for the
editor to get away with covering
part of it up.
The main story is linked with the image (white
heading/white hoody). Its in a big font to show
its importance within the issue (as it being the
main article) It is important for the heading of
the main story to be bigger than other to show
that it’s the main feature.
3. The skyline uses a special selling line which is ‘The UK’s
Biggest Music Magazine’. This is important to persuade
people to buy it as new buyers may not know just by
looking at it how good it is but this selling line gives them
the push to make the purchase.
The masthead is in
front of Cheryl as a way Sell line are successful in
to contrast the theme contributing to magazine
colour of the overall sales as it makes the
colour scheme of this reader feel like they are
particular issue. Using getting there moneys
the same positioning worth.
and colouring for the
masthead for every
issue helps it to stand
out every time without
fail.
Cheryl’s seductive pose is the
main attraction of the
The text of ROCKS has a magazine as it is highlighted
big contribution toward the through her bright lipstick, the
magazines appeal of the colour being a worldwide sign
magazine. Through this of passion. The rain effect
word we see an addition of here emphasises a type of
appeal in contrast with the ‘sauciness’ towards her
central image. expression.
4. Central image goes against
normal conventions of a
medium close up and uses a
The masthead goes across mid-shot. However it works
the whole age in a bold perfectly to fit in all 3 singers.
font. Like the Kerrang front The background helps to
cover the image overlays make the image stand out.
the masthead, however the Despite The two male singers
magazine is known well wearing black, the female is
enough for the editor to get wearing white.
away with it.
Cover lines containing sub
headings are short and
The puff is advertising a snappy and are in red and
free gift which may attract white to stand out and
people and make them appeal to the reader.
feel they are getting there
moneys worth.
5. All text is the same on the page and only 3 colours are used (yellow, black,
The image of the weeks white) creating a nice simple house style.
issue creates a link
between the front cover
and the contents page The yellow on the black
showing is that Metallica background helps the
are likely to be the main masthead of contents
feature. Next to it is a stand out. Yellow is the
short paragraph from the main colour on the
editor of the magazine contents page and it
which creates a person helps make the headings
touch and though in formal stand out and draw
can make readers feel attention.
more obliged to buy in the
future.
Quote from a band
The main image used is member may draw a
the main article reader in if they are a fan
magazine image. The of the quoter.
image is a large enough
size to draw attention to
it but not to divert all
attention for the other
images with there sub
headings.
6. The logo and name of the The word contents makes
magazine has been put into it clear what page the
the corner of the page as it reader is on. Also by
was on the front cover almost merging
creating a house style for 232Contens NOV05, the
the magazine. page gains a sort of
industrial look which is
The article for James Blunt is supported by the faint
placed second despite it being sepia background and
the main picture shows him fairly plain colour
and nothing else. It seems odd scheme.
to have a largely dominant
picture of him and yet he is
placed second on contents. The picture of James Blunt
takes up the majority of the
page. However as its on the
There are separate left part of he picture has been
sections on the cut off by the text leaving a flat
contents page for edge. The page layout could
features, the have been planned better .
Lennon issue and
for stories that
feature every
The red arrow on the bottom
month.
right of the page helps to show
to turn over the page and
seems a bit pointless and the
space could have been better
used.
7. The NME magazine is set up
like a newspaper with the
main headline at the top of
the page and different new At the bottom right corner
columns and articles. of the page is a caption
that shows the reader
where to find the gig guide.
As it is in red it stand out
The main focus of the and despite only being in a
issue is oasis and their small portion of the page it
recent tour as they are stands out.
what all of the pictures
are of and there is a
headline that states
that oasis have kicked
of their world tour.
Down the right hand side of
the page is a few sub
headings and underneath the
heading states more info
The band index is a great about the article at hand,
feature as it means that fans
of particular bands can find
where there is a story of that
band with in the issue quickly
and easily.
8. The font is large and eye catching to draw the
reader to that part of the page to make the
reader want to read on and it keeps with the
red black and white colour scheme. The added text in
The world the white box
exclusive stands out
is to through the white
attract the background. It is
reader section of through
towards red sub headings
the and looks very
content. It effective and
stands out again follows the
as it has a scheme of the
red magazine.
backgroun
d with The main text
white text is in white
which is and starts
also very with a large M
catching which is good
as it suits the
above title
and looks
good. Its laid
out in column
form making
it easily
This spread uses more images and is more readable.
suitable for the target audience.
9. Lily Allen is
posing with a
The black and white text is neutral
abstract and eye catching expression
and stands out in on her face
comparison to Lily Allen's to show she
shirt is serious
about what
she has said
The call out quote is
used to give the
reader an insight into Date is
the straight talking feature in
interview and read to corners of
find out more about both pages
it.
The writer who
wrote the article
have put there
name in red as The overview of the
well as Lily Allen’s interview suggests that
to make them both The capital letter used this interview will be
stand out. to start the opening is honest and interesting
Photographers names clear and is common in too and captures the
magazine articles reader’s interest
10. On this page there is no title but there is the artist name.
It’s obvious to the Lady is written in lower case whilst Gaga is in upper case
reader that this making it bold and to stand out to the reader.
image is of some
importance to the
reader due to the
size of the image as
it takes up half of the
spread. I also like
how this image has
been edited, this is
called greyscale and
it adds class and
gives it a vintage
feel.
The large L is good
because it takes up
the whole page.
This is good as it
links to the singer
and the colour
makes it stand out Usually the drop capitals only feature in
and links to the the first letter of the first paragraph.
magazines house Though some people may think it works
colour. but I personally think it looks shabby.
13. Would you rather see boys or girls on the front?
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
boys girls mixture
What would you like to pay?
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
£1-£1.50 £1.50-£2 £2-£2.50 £2.50-£3 £3-£3.50 £3.50-£4
14. How many images would you like to see on front cover?
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 to 2 3 to 5 6 to 8 9+
15. Do you like short chunks of information or long stories?
Where do you like to listen to music?
9
7
8
7 6
6 5
5 4
4 3
3 2
2
1
1
0
0
clubs gigs festivals at home none of the
Short chunk Lenghty Equal
above
Where do you get your music from?
Would a free gift persuade you to buy a magazine?
12
9
10 8
7
8 6
6 5
4
4 3
2
2
1
0 0
iTunes Music Shops Illegal Downloads yes no depends
16. Describe your style
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
up to date with individual and Rocky (with use simplistic other
latest trends different of band merch)
17. By looking at my results I can see that my target audience
are 16 year old girls who are either working class or middle
class. They like sophisticated colours. However for my
magazine I will use bright colours which was the second
highest voted as it will help It stand out from other
magazines. Though most of my target audience prefer to
see a band of mixed genre’s, in the time I have to complete
the product and make it look good it will be easier to use
one person representing a singer. Most of my target
audience like Indie music therefore the person I use for my
cover must be indie to represent the genre the magazine
will focus on. She/he will probably have a unique dress
sense and listen to bands such as Mumford and Sons and
Bastille and singers such as Ben Howard or Lana Del Rey.
Music is very important to my target audience and they see
it as a way of life so this will have to show in the final
product. They like equal amounts of text and pictures. My
main story will be an interview and will be written in short
chunks but will be a lengthy story. Though music important
to my audience most of them have to result to illegally
downloading music and therefore if I do something free or
a promotion on the cover it may persuade them more to
buy it.
18. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and
why?
19. The company that may distribute my
media product would be IPC Media. IPC
media are a subsidiary of Time Inc. and is
a consumer magazine and digital
publisher in the uk with a large portfolio
selling over 350 million copies of their
products annually.
20. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
21. I used an already made magazine as inspiration for my own. I
liked how it was simple it was. The picture is direct which gives it
an informal and personal touch and will speak to the reader. Also
the colour scheme goes against the norm house colour of most
music magazine. There is also limited information on the front
and therefore can leave the reader intrigued.
On my magazine I went against the norm of house colours for a
music magazine as well as sticking to it. When looking at music
magazines such as Q, NME and Kerrang! You will see that the
colour scheme nearly always uses red and white. I have used
red and white on mine but have defied the norm and have used a
plain navy background. Not only does this help to make the info
on the front stand out but it may also stand out from other music
magazines as it is different.
A way in which I developed the idea was by using a selling line
just under the masthead saying ‘The best British magazine for all
you indie and rock fans!’ This may ensure the reader to think that
this magazine will be good and worth their money.
I have included a competition notice on the front for tickets to
Latitude. Latitude is a festival renowned for showing some of
indie fans favourite bands such as foals, maccabees and modest
mouse. Using this festival attracts the audience that I want
because they would be interested in this type of performance.
I could have improved my front cover by using a skyline and
better editing my main image.
22. For my contents page I developed and changed
the style of the kerrang contents page. Centre left
of the kerrang contents age is filled with photos
relating to their sub headings. I have done this top
centre but developed the idea by changing the
layout of the pictures to try and make it look more
interesting and bordered to pictures in order to try
and make them stand out a bit more. On the
kerrang contents page is has stories listed down
the right hand side. Though I listed my ideas, to
make it stand out I put the list (written in white)
and put it in front of a black coloured block,
therefore all attention wont be diverted away. I’ve
also put a subscription offer bottom right. Like this
listed storied I used white text but put it in a red
box. In a way I’d want this to stand out more as it
offers details of subscriptions at a good price and
this is important for increasing sales of my
product.
In my also featured I made up some bands as
wells as stating there are gig reviews (shown that
audience is fond of in the research) and stories
on well known indie bands (Mumford and Sons). I
tried to make my featured stories relate to my
audience research as much as possible.
23. I used the same conventions of a Q double page spread for my own double
page spread. I used the same format for the layout of the magazine. I liked
how the Q double page spread used up a whole half for the image as it
looked good and drew me in and therefore I done the same. However as my
readers wanted a mix of short chunks of info and lengthy, I broke my story up
into clear sections rather than spacing all of it close together as to me that
would be off putting and I wouldn’t want to read it and I feel my target
audience would feel the same. The one thing I didn’t add was the large
lettering which is used to relate to the artist as I felt it was unnecessary. I
developed the idea by using pull quotes.
24. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this
product?
25. Since the preliminary task I have learnt how to properly construct a magazine through Photoshop.
For my school magazine I used Microsoft word so the change over to using Photoshop was big.
Having never used Photoshop before I had to learn a lot about the programme in a short amount of
time. The main thing I had to learn was to cut around the images. For my school magazine the
picture was taken in front of a plain background and therefore it wasn’t urgent to edit it whereas the
picture for my music magazine was taken in front of a brick wall which wouldn’t have been
appropriate.
I also learnt how to add special effects on text and images in order to create effects such as
shadows etc.
When creating the different parts to the front cover I learnt how to properly organize all the different
elements with the use of the sidebar.
26. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
27. My media product represents the young teenager group
who enjoy indie or alternative/rock music. I used my
market research properly and wrote an article about a
young artist who came from nothing and who used there
hard life to become the person they were in my double
page spread. Stereotypically people who like Indie music
are more intellectual therefore writing about my artist
‘Isla’ and getting to read about her hardships and what
she’s been through to make it big would interest them.
I also used young models as in the age range was16
because I wanted the magazine to have a young fresh
look to it. I also used some famous well known artist in
order to attract the reader as it they can see they will be
reading about bands they’ve come to know and love and
new bands that they will hopefully come to love in the
coming years of their career.
28. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you
feel you have learnt in the progression from it to
the full product?
29. • Firstly I learnt how to take pictures properly by using focus or zoom to
create a certain image. I then downloaded them and exported them
to Photoshop. Before hand with my school magazine I had to import
my pictures onto word and change them there. This has improved my
magazine as I can change something on the image without having to
take a different picture.
• Secondly I learnt about the importance of consistency. With my
school magazine I was mix matching colour all other the place.
Seeing my music magazine in which I used a consistent house style
of navy, red and white, I can see it looks a lot better and if I were to
see them side by side in a store, I would definitely go for the ‘better
looking’ one.
• Thirdly I have learnt some useful practical skills formatting a
magazine e.g. using the 3 columns and positioning certain content in
certain places e.g. barcode in bottom left. I used this format and I put
the main image in the centre third and placed my other stories
around that image.
• Lastly I have learnt that anything in the media can be influential on
people so you have to try and have a positive spin on anything if
needed.
