The document describes the evaluation of different music magazines that were used as inspiration for the creation of a new pop music magazine. Top of the Pops magazine was used as the primary reference for layout choices like the front cover, contents page, and double page spreads due to its popularity and similar target demographic of young females. Color schemes and design elements were chosen to match the pop music genre and appeal to the target audience.

1. Media Music
Magazine Evaluation
Sijanta Thapa

2. I used Top Of The Pops, BOP and SMASH-
HITS magazines to help me create my
new music magazine. I followed the codes
and conventions of Top Of The Pops the
most because I thought it suited my
chosen genre of pop music and also
because the age range for the target
audience for Top Of The Pops is very
similar to my music magazine
I used Top Of The Pops magazines’s layout
for my front cover, contents page and
double page spread because I thought it
was attractive and perfectly suitable for
the genre of my magazine. Top Of The
Pops is a very popular pop music
magazine and I decided to use a similar
layout to thieir one knowing that it has
proved to be very effective for Top Of The
Pops in attracting their target audience so
it should do equally good in attracting a lot
of attention from my target audience
because the specific gender of the target
audience for Top Of The Pops and my
magazine are the same and the age
range for the two magazines is very
similar

3. The genre of music for my music magazine is pop music, so to create my music
magazine front cover, I looked at SMASH-HITS, BOP, WE LOVE POP and Top Of
The Pops magazines which showed me the codes and conventions of pop music
magazines. However Top Of The Pops was the one that appealed to me the most
My magazine We Love Pop.
For my masthead I used a font which made it look like a childish bubble writing, as
this seemed appropriate for a pop magazine because it would appeal more to my
target audience of young females aged between – . I made my masthead
look similar to BOP magazines masthead because I felt it would help me reach
out to more of my target audience as it seemed to have done for BOP magazine.
At first I used the colour yellow for my masthead because yellow is associated as
an iconic colour for the pop music genre, but then i realised it didn’t match my
house style/colour theme so I opted for another colour usually associated with the
pop music genre, pink. Using the pink for my masthead made it stand out and
easily noticeable and also, pink is commonly said to be a girly colour so this will
be effective in attracting the attention of my target audience

4. My magazine Top Of The Pops
The biggest image on my front cover is of the
main artist, which is usually the most
popular star at the time. This image is
usually a mid-shot so the readers can see
what the artist is wearing and also be
able to see the facial expressions clearly.
The artist is making direct eye contact
with the reader and this makes the reader
feel as if the artist is interacting with them,
and this makes the reader want to read
the article
The second largest font on my front cover is
a quote from the main story featured in
this issue of my magazine. The artists’
name is in red because it is a bright and
vibrant colour which never fails to attract
attention. The quote reads, “I HAD NO
SUPPORT!”, and I used this quote
because it makes the readers feel
sympathy for the artist and will make
them want to read the article

5. My magazine Top Of The Pops
The image on the bottonm right-hand corner is
one of my side stories. I’ve used this image
because I wanted to make it look like they’re
on the roads while on tour and placing a pink
border around the image has made it stand
out more and easily noticeable and
increases the chances of young females
being attracted to the magazine as pink is
commonly known as a girly colour
I have used an oval as background for the article
teaser linked with the image on the right
corner and coloured it in bright pink because
this will attract the attention of my target
audience, which are young females aged
from to . I chose the colour pink
because it is a vibrant colour and is usually
known as a girly colour

6. My magazine Top Of The Pops
I’ve included a section which says “Free Posters”
because this is a very effective way to
increase the sales of my magazines. When
young females see that they get a free poster
of their favourite pop artist with this magazine,
then they will definately buy the magazine.
I’ve increased the font size on the word “Free”
as this will attract attention because it isbigger
than the rest of the writing. I’ve increased the
font size and changed the colour when
mentioning the names of artists because this
attracts attention, which will then lead the
aurdience into reading the article
My other side story is titled, “My brother was
kidnapped!”. When people read this this article
teaser, they will surely want to find out the rest
of the story so they will buy the magazine to
be able to read the rest

7. My magazine Top Of The Pops
I had to position the barcode of my magazine
vertically because I thought it went with the
layout of my front cover quite well. I had
seen this done in one of the front covers of
Top Of The Pops magazine and I liked the
idea because it meant that i didnt have to
change the layout of my front cover for the
barcode to look good on it.
I added the words “Asian Special!” on
there and the way I’ve designed it
makes it look as if someone’s just
scribbled it on, giving it a “pop” look

8. My magazine Top Of The Pops
Instead of just calling it “contents” I chose to write “Inside the mag...” because it is
different and more interesting than just calling it “contents”. Also, I’ve used genre
specific language here, referring to “magazine” as “mag” because it is shorter
and easier to say, also it sounds cool. I’ve placed the writing on a pink banner
because the banner makes it stand out and I used pink to match the house
colour of my mag and also gives it the “pop” look
There’s a whole separate section which
only includes articles about celebs
& gossip. This is a very effective
way of saving time for the readers
because gossip is the main thing
they buy the magazines for
because they want to find out about
what is happening in the celeb
world, Who’s dating who? Who’s
got the number hit?, etc

9. My magazine Top Of The Pops
There is a section where you can find
the page numbers which feature
competitions and free gifts. This will
be very use full for the people who
like entering competitions and
getting free gifts from magazines
because it means they can just
check out what page they can find
these features on and go straight to
them, without having to waste their
time by flicking through the rest of
the magazine
I’ve placed a small image of an artist
right underneath an article teaser
which is about this artist. This way
the readers can see who it’s about

10. My magazine Top Of The Pops
There is a section called “All about you”.
This is what attracts the attention of
people who like to do quizzes which
tell you which pop star would be your
perfect match, or, which member of
a girl band are you?
This section is all about shopping. This is a
very appropriate section to be included
in my magazine as my mag is mainly
aimed at females and females are
associated with shopping quite a lot. So
I’ve made it easy for them to find the
page which has articles about the latest
trends, the biggest designer brands,
etc

11. My magazine Top Of The Pops
Instead of listing out all the articles in
my mag, I pasted a smaller copy of
my front cover and included page
numbers along the side with
arrows coming off and pointing to
the relavant article. The page
numbers are pink and the arrows
look as if they’ve been drawn on, I
chose to do this because it gives it
a childish look, which will appeal to
my target audience of young
females
I’ve made it very easy for the girls to find
articles about boys and male pop stars by
highlighting the page numbers on which
they can be found. This way the girls
won’t have to waste their time flicking
through the pages till they find articles
about boys, they can just check the
highlighted page numbers and go straight
to them. This makes it really easy for the
girls and saves them a lot of time and
also it’s a way to include the colour yellow
into my contents page because yellow is
known as an icon for the pop genre
because it reflects the lively and happy
mood of pop

12. My magazine Top Of The Pops
The image I’ve used is very
appropriate for a double page
spread and the interview because
it shows the artist laughing and
enjoying himself which sets a calm
and happy mood for the interview
as well, so the readers will feel the
same while reading the interview. I
based the colour pallet of this
double page spread around the
colours worn by the artist in the
image and also because the blue
makes it calm and cool
I’ve used the second biggest
font on the artists’ name
so the readers know
who is giving the
interview and I’ve placed
it on a banner to make it
more noticeable

13. My magazine Top Of The Pops
I’ve placed a banner running across the bottom
of my double page spread saying, “Turn over
for a chance to win Sagar.G’s hoodie – and
it’s signed! OMG!”. This will attract a lot of
attention because the blue makes it stand
out and more noticeable and also because
Sagar.G is a very popular pop artist and all
his fans (specially the female fans) will be
dying to enter the competition where they
will have a chance to win Sagar.G’s signed
hoodie. I’ve also used genre specific
language here, “OMG!” is a term commonly
used by youngsters because it’s cooler and
quicker way of sayin “Oh my god!”
By separating the questions by writing them in a
different colour to the answers, I’ve made it very
easy for the audience because now they don’t
have to spend time trying to figure out what bits
are the questions and what bits are the answers.
They will simply know that the bits in blue are
the questions and the bits in black are the
answers. The questions are also in Italic, which
makes it stand out more. I chose the colour blue
because it matches the colour pallete of my
double page spread and makes the page look
neat and tidy

14. My magazine Top Of The Pops
The biggest font on my double page spread is the title quote, “The greatest feeling in life is
doing something people say you can’t”, which basically sums up what this
article/interview is about, about how the only nepalese pop star, Sagar.G, recieved no
support from his friends and family on his long journey to fame! I’ve placed the word
“can’t” in a black box, enhancing the fact that Sagar.G has done the impossible and
achieved a career in singing even though he recieved no support, instead, when he
told people he wanted to become a singer they would just laugh at him. That is my
second quote. I’ve used these two quotes because one of the first things people read
before reading the actualy interview, are the quotes around it. They read the quotes
and if it is interesting, they then go on to read the whole interview. The quotes I’ve
used will make the readers feel sad and sympathise with the artist, which will make
them want to read the rest of the interview

15. My reader profile explains a lot about the
target audience of my media product.
97% of the readers are young females
because my magazine mostly features
articles and images of male artists, which
the young females are interested in. The
average age of the reader will be 14, in a
13 – 16 age range. 100% are in
compulsory education and live with their
parents in their parent’s house. They get
£5 pocket money every week. All of my
target audience are in the E category.
They rely on their parents to give them
money for personal use.
The target audience for my media product
has been based upon current statistics
about the readers of Top Of The Pops
magazines.

16. How much are you willing to pay for
a music magazine?
£0 - £0.99
£1 - £1.99
£2 - £2.99
£3 - £3.99
£4 - £4.99
£5 +
My magaine is priced at £ . because my results showed that the two popular
choices for the price were £ -£ . and £ -£ . , so I decided to price it half
way between the two choices. I think this is a reasonable price for my magazine
because my target audience get £ a week as pocket money so they can save
up £ a week, for two weeks, and buy my magazine, as my magazine is going to
be issued fortnightly. When pricing my magazine, another factor I had to
consider was how much pocket money my target audience got. % of my
readers lived with their parents and the average pocket money they got per week
was £ and my magazine is published fortnightly so therefore, I thought £ .
was a reasonable price for my magazine and all the readers have to do is save
£ each week from their pocket money to buy my magazine

17. My media product is aimed at – year old females. I’ve used my design
layout, colours and images to represent this age group. The layout features have also
been used to represent the gender targeted audience of young females. All of the
colours, images and design features I’ve used on my music magazine are genre
specific to pop music (bright colours such as yellow, pink, red and also the images of
male pop artists play a big part in attracting the female readers.) Although % of the
readers of my magazine are females, my magazine does include some articles and
images of interest to males aswell, such as posters of female pop artists
The main image on the front cover is of a new male pop star and this appeals mainly to
the female readers. With the majority of the readership being females, I decided to
use a colour scheme of pink, red, white and also a small amount of yellow too as
yellow is commonly associated as the iconic colour of the pop music genre. I chose
the colour pink because % of my target audience are young females between the
ages of – and pink is commonly known as a girly colour

18. The type of consumers my magazine is aimed at will be interested mainly in
good looking male pop artists, so because of this, on my contents page, I
decided to highlight all the page numbers and articles which featured male
artists so the young female target audience of my music magazine would’nt
have to waste their time flicking through the pages to find these articles and
images which feature male artists.
I decided not to put an advert for a subscription on my front cover or contents
page because the age range for my target audience is 13 – 16 and they
won’t be on a long term income as they will still be in compulsory education.
In my contents page I used genre specific language, e.g. “Inside the mag...”.
My target audience are young and using the word ‘mag’ instead of
‘magazine’ because it is used by young people and it also makes it look
cool.

19. Original choice http://www.ipcmedia.com
IPC Media is a media institution which publishes magazines such as NME and
UNCUT which are rock/indie magazines, and use codes and conventions I
have not used on my music magazine, so at first I thought choosing IPC
Media as my music magazine publisher would be a good idea as they are
very experienced in publishing many different magazines and they know what
their core target audience like, that they try to cater for, then they may know
where there is a “gap in the market” such as a music magazine, maybe of a
pop genre
As IPC Media don’t publish any pop genre music magazines, adding my music
magazine to thier production would be beneficial to my magazine as the sales
for my magazines would be high if the audience knows that the publishing
company also publishes some of their favourite existing magazines
IPC Media distribute their brands across many supermarkets throughout the
UK, which broadens the magazines’ target audience. Making my magazine
available in large supermarkets would make it available to more people, there
fore increasing sales as well as my target audience.

20. Final Choice of Publisher
and Distributor
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk
My alternative publishing company is Bauer. Bauer might be alternatively appropriate because
they have published more magazines then IPC and more of these are music magazines.
This could mean Bauer may have more experience in what codes and conventions a
successful music magazine would need to attract a large but particularly target audience
A plus point of making Bauer my publisher would be that they already have experience in
publishing a pop magazine (Smash-Hits) and there fore know exactly what codes and
conventions a pop music magazine needs to attract a large target audience
Bauer Media company distribute their brands through different types of media, like radio, TV
and online; this would widen my target audience as my magazine would be advertised on
each of these types of media.
I think Bauer Media is the more suitable institution to publish and distribute my magazine
because it already publishes another music magazine of the same genre so adding my
magazine to their production would increase sales because audiences of the existing
magazines would be introducd to mine and take an interest in it as it is of the same genre
as the other music magazine they like to read

21. I used Photoshop to create my magazine and from this, I learnt
how to create a attractive and professional looking
magazine front cover, contents page and double page
spread
I learnt how to use the layers feature to hide unnecessary parts
of an image or to place the writing over an image. I also
learnt that Photoshop is very good for resizing photos
without the quality becoming worse than when it was when
uploaded from a digital camera, which would have been
diffiult if I had used a program like Microsoft Publisher. A
useful thing I learnt while creating my music magazine was
thatyou could easily resize an image by simply pressing &
holding down the ‘shift’ key, this was very useful as it
prevented the image from distorting
I thought the ‘fx’ tool on Photoshop was very effective in
adding special effects to my text which made it stand
out and easily noticeable
For example, on the text on the left, I used an effect called
‘drop shadow’ because I wanted to give a feeling that
someone had just scribbled this on the front cover of
the magazine

22. While using Photoshop, I learnt how to edit image
so they are suitable to use on the front cover of
my magazine and follow the conventions of
other music magazines of the same genre
For example, I used the ‘magnetic lasso’ tool to cut
around the body of the artist and then the
‘magic wand’ tool to edit it so it could be placed
on my front cover
Prior to creating my media product I had never used Photoshop before. Working on my
media product taught me the basics of Photoshop and now I’m able to use my
knowledge of Photoshop in future product designs. By using Photoshop I was able to
make my product look like a professional magazine
Using Photoshop was much easier and more effective than using programs such as
Microsoft Publisher because Photoshop has more advanced features which can
be used to create and edit products to a high standard and quality. Also, I found
it quite easy to to use Photoshop and learnt how to use it quite quickly. Though it
was time consuming, it allowed me to create my magazine to a high standard

23. I used Microsoft Publisher on my prelim task. I had used Publisher before so i knew
exactly what I needed to do and had no difficulties in doing so. Publisher was
much easier to use than Photoshop because everything you could do on it was
basic, however because of that, the quality of my prelim task was not as high as
my final music magazine product
I used a digital camera when taking the images for my magazine. I used a CANON
which is specialised for taking professional quality photographs. The pictures
have high resolution and megapixels which means that they are big images and
didn’t get pixelated when I enlarged them. It was important to use a good camera
for my media product because I wanted to make it look as professional as
possible

24. I used the internet to search for information and images of current brands of media
products. The internet was useful for searching up old material to influence me when
designing my music magazine, by looking through the older issues of Top Of The
Pops, BOP and SMASH-HITS on google images. This was very useful as it meant
that I didn’t have to go out and buy lots of old magazines to use, so by using the
internet to look for old magazine issues not only did I save myself some time, but I
also saved some money
I also used the internet to search for a website that lets you generate your own barcode
and you can customise what you want written on it
http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php
Because % of my target audience regularly use FaceBook, I used
this to my advantage and sent a link of my survey on Zoomerang
to a lot of people who fitted to my target audience category. By
doing this I saved myself and the audience some time as it only
takes a couple of minutes to fill out a survey online
http://app.zoomerang.com/Report/ResultsPage.aspx?qn=1

25. I used Photoshop for my full product instead of
Microsoft Publisher, which I used for my prelim
task. From this progression I was able to use
Photoshop’s advanced features to make my music
magazine look professional and more like a real
product which people would be willing to buy. I
examined successful music magazine of the same
genre and found the special effects they used to
make their magazine more attractive and then I
implied these effects on my music magazine to
make it appeal more to the readers. In Photoshop
there are so many more tools you can use to edit
the colouring, aesthetics and positioning of your
product, which is why my full product looks a lot
better than my prelim task and is of much better
quality
When taking photographs for my prelim task I used a
basic camera which I borrowed from the
school, but for my full product I used a
professional camera because I wanted images
which were of higher and better quality for my full
product

26. I made some drafts of my magazine before creating the real thing so that I
could try out my ideas and see if they worked, followed conventions of a
music magazine and were suitable for my target audience, genre etc...
I created my first draft using Microsoft Publisher; it was just so I could get an
idea of the layout for my magazine. When I tried to edit the photos, I
realised that there wasn’t a lot I could do to make it look professional and
another problem I came across was when I tried to resize the photos on
Publisher, they just stretched and pixelated
For the second draft I used Photoshop. This was originally meant to be my
final product but when I showed it to a few members from my target
audience, they pointed out a few things I could change, such as: the
image on the top right was too big and therefore it takes the attention
away from the main image on the cover, the barcode isn’t usualy in the
middle, the quote didn’t look like it was related to the main image
So on my rd and final draft I made all the changes the members of my
target audience had pointed out: I made the second image smaller and
moved it to the bottom so it didn’t attract the attention away from the
main image, I placed the barcode on the bottom right and turned it
vertical to match the layout of my front cover, I moved the quote up so it
was level with the main artist’s face so it looked like he was actually
speaking those words and I also increased the size of the quote to show
that there is a link between the quote and the main image as they are the
most biggest image and font on the front cover