Chloe Porter created a music magazine to represent the rock/indie genre. She took inspiration from existing magazines like Q and Kerrang but aimed to make her masthead original and eye-catching. She portrayed the artist featured on the cover as a rebel through her facial expression and pose. Feedback on the magazine was mostly positive, with some suggestions to improve the font. Through constructing the magazine, Chloe learned new skills with Photoshop and using a blog to present her work.

1. Chloe Porter
Music Magazine Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge
conventions of real media products? And how did you attract you
audience?
With my music magazine I wanted it to have a rough noisy effect to combine
with the genre of the magazine which is a rock/indie mag. So my first thought
was too look at existing magazines similar to the same genre as mine like Q
magazine and Kerrang as they are both highly successful magazines to try
and get some ideas for my magazine. I wanted my magazine to stay
conventional to a certain extent e.g. skylines, pull quotes, taglines, effective
and bold masthead etc… however try to make it as original as I could. I took
my masthead idea from the magazine Kerrang as the masthead is quite big
and rough looking which is what I wanted to do with my magazine so chose
to do something original with my masthead. I feel that the masthead will
appeal to the target audience as its big Bold and noisy and also quite bright
which will catch readers attention. With almost every magazine you will see
in the shops the front cover will have a left third, which is used for advertising
and promoting your magazine by putting up attractive cover lines and
images to attract the reader to seem interested and consider purchasing it.
Also I think will bring in the readers because on the left hand side of the
magazine so when your magazine is stacked in the shops people will be able
to see your magazine and be attracted to some of the featured articles.
2. How does your magazine represent particular social groups?
I feel that my artist has been portrayed in my magazine as a rebel and a bit
of a trouble maker. This is because of the way she is posed with an angry look
on her face which was my main aim to portray her as a rebel becausei want
the magazine to appeal to the values, aspirations and lifestyles of my target
audience, It’s mostly the way she is posed and the facial expressions which
portray her as a bit of a rebel as in almost all the images she has an angry
look. I also think the font as well plays a part in her portrayal as the font is
noisy and alternative and unconventional which again will directly link with
the artist in question. In the article on my double page spread I have thought
carefully about how to word the article in order for the reader to seem
interested and also understand. So I kept most of my answers mainly short
and to the point.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
I would choose Bauer Media Group to publish and distribute my magazine
because they are the same group which publish such magazines as Q and
Kerrang magazine which are my main rival magazines. Also because Q and

2. Chloe Porter
Kerrang are aimed more at males rather than females, and as my magazine
is a mainstream magazine which is aimed more towards women I feel that
there should be a mainstream magazine for young females. My magazine’s
house style is different from Kerrang or Q so it’s something different for the
publisher.
4. Who would be the audience for you media product?
For my target audience it is aimed directly at young people, probably aged
15-19 and would be more attracted to females because of the house style
and the articles featured inside. The purple is my house style which would be
a colour aimed more towards females rather than males. I just feel that my
whole magazine is more feminine, the house style includes bright colours, the
type of text which is used e.g. ‘goss’ is something males wouldn’t usually say,
And who is featured which is a female. However some males may want to
read it which is fine, I just feel that women would be more attracted to it.
5. How did you address your audience?
I needed some constructive feedback for my magazine and wanted to know
what people thought. So I designed a questionnaire and got some positive
feedback from people and also some criticism which is what I wanted to try
and improve my magazine, “it was clear and precise, as well as edgy and interesting
graphics” is what someone said about my magazine. People seemed to be
highly interested in my images and the colours used. For the to be improved
question people didn’t really have a lot to say, it was pretty much the font
which is what people said that could be improved The “font used on the interview”
and “i think, with a bit more text and information about EDMA it would be perfect” so there was
some quite positive feedback and some constructive criticism. For my main
image on the front cover I have received some positive and only one
constructive criticism which was interesting to know, “Yeah, bold, colourful, stands out
to targeted audience.” Which was one of my main objectives. On the other hand
someone said “could be more striking” which is something I hadn’t thought of
before but was interesting to find out. And for my double page spread I got
a lot of positive feedback and not much criticism which again is good as it
shows that I haven’t made many mistakes. “the dps is good, i like the way u used
images behind the text although the background and colours still seem abit rushed.. its effective as an
interview though because you can directly link back to the artist and you have communicated her
attitude well on the page.” Again everything said there are my main objectives, I
found it interesting that it seems rushed, however this is defiantly constructive
and positive feedback and am happy with the feedback given.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
The process for my magazine involved a lot of technology which I haven’t
had a lot of work with before; to put all our work on blogger.com was a new
experience for me and found that putting all our coursework on blogs was so
much easier and also lessens the risk of losing my work. All the work we have
done has been put on our blogs and also makes my work look a lot more
presentable. And to edit my magazine I had to use photo shop which I have

3. Chloe Porter
had some experience with in the past but weren’t completely confident with.
However after spending a good few months working on photo shop I feel a
lot more comfortable with it now and familiar with it too, I learnt how to do a
lot of effects that really make a magazine especially the glow around the
font which I thought really stands out.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full project?
Looking at back from my first projects which were the college magazine I
have learned to spend more time and effort on my projects. And also before
starting anything on Photoshop to experiment with different tools and images
to try and get some ideas for my main project. I have also learnt how to use
more effects in Photoshop and create a more professional look for my
projects. This year was the first time I have used a blog of any kind, so it was
quite interesting to learn that all my coursework from this year will be put on a
blog. At first I found it complicating to use but after a while got to like the
idea of using a blog and also how easy it is access it too was quite interesting.