Ronan Beirne created a magazine aimed at teens and young adults interested in punk and heavy rock music. The magazine would feature band interviews, reviews of gigs and fashion related to the target audience's interests. Beirne refined their design skills using Photoshop and Publisher to create a magazine mock-up with a professional layout, including a cover featuring a rock musician, contents page and double page spread. Through repeated drafting, they improved the color scheme, images and structure to better address the niche audience.

1. Ronan Beirne
AQ132395
33435
AS Media Studies
OCR G321: Foundation Portfolio

2. QUESTION 1. Who would be the
audience for your media product?
My magazine is
aimed at
Music taste
b.m.t.h, aski
ng
Alexandria, f
all out boy,
Rhcp.
Influenced by
Twitter,
Facebook,
Instagram,
Kerrang.
Age range
Teens/ young adults,
Rock music
lovers/enthusiasts
Who spend money on/
shop at
Cd’s, magazines, tech, music
al instruments.
H&m, pulp, apple store, black
sheep store.

3. I feel that my magazine is/ would be
similar to kerrang magazine and share a
similar audience, however my magazine
wouldn’t be as mainstream and share a
closer audience group I also think that
there are not enough rock magazines
out there and mine would be a different
approach aimed at teens, this would be
my selling point

4. My main audience is the teen demographic
And young adults interested in my sub genre
of rock (punk/heavy rock in particular).this
will be combined with gig reviews and
fashion (drop dead clothing (ETC)..).the
features and stories etc. will all be pioneered
towards my chosen demographic, the reason
I have picked this demographic is because
they are the most likely audience that my
magazine would attract.

7. In my opinion my magazine represents a
niche social group – people who enjoy
and/or listen to rock music or heavy metal in
my main piece I have shown the behaviour
of a typical cocky rock musician who is also
a close friend of mine damian we made a
mock interview about how he would act if his
band were successful some of the language
that he chose to use is coherent with a
stereotypical rock musician another musician
who fits this stereotype is Oliver Sykes from
bmth who is also seem as cocky with his
band selling over a million records world
wide

9. Q2. How does your star represent
particular social groups?

10. Oli Sykes mainstream representation
Direct Eye contact
Positive facial
expression
Looks calm-more
appealing to audience/
looks normal
Trying to appear as a role
model
Tattoo's show a
reverse side of
his personality
Clothing makes him look
youthful

11. Oli Sykes niche representation
Eye contact with
audience
Not smiling- less
welcoming
Tattoos showing show his
alternative side
Less clothing
Looks more suitable to his
audience

13. I would sell my publication as a sister
publication to either kerrang magazine, my
magazine will be published weekly along
with kerrang and will show the up and
coming bands that kerrang doesn’t cover.
This will effect the price as an issue of
kerrang costs £2.70 so as it is a subsidiary
the price of kerrang would increase to
£4.00 (a £1.30 increase).

15. Web page
Create another outlet for fans and readers to interact with the
magazine using convergence and synergy (eg) adding sponsor
logo to website and host sponsored competitions, giveaways
etc… have links to subscription site and have an e-reader so
readers can read online through a subsidised subscription fee so
the hard copy of the magazine would cost £2.50 and the e-copy
would be £1.50 so a £1 deduction,
Also have a link to a merchandise store so people interested in
the magazine can get exclusive clothing

16. merchandise
Merchandising will give the
readers another way to show that
they enjoy the magazine and also
all revenues and profit made will
be pumped back into the magazine
and also help increase the
competition prizes
The editors will also be given/ sold
tshirts so they can promote the
magazine while they are outy and
about

17. Mobile
app
Another way for people to
interact with the station
would be through the use of
an application, the app
would be another way for
the reader to read the
magazine online at the
subsidized £1.50 rate and it
would also be a way for the
readers to interact with
each other and discuss
Ideas that may improve the
magazine it would be
available on these
platforms
-iTunes store
-Google play store
-windows phone store

19. My magazine front cover conveys some of the techniques and
conventions used in published magazines as seen below, I have also
picked out some of the covers that have similar styles/ colour schemes to
my own. (Nme,Kerrang,Q).the reason I picked these magazines is mainly
because they follow the same sub-genre as me and have a contrast of
material . This issue of kerrang was a good choice to use as the layout is
similar to my own, the masthead at the top spreads across the whole
page like my own , also it has a banner spanning the bottom of the page
with a competition. Nme-magazine is the closest design to my own as
they are both in the genre of music and the sub-genre of indie rock, also
this cover follows the same colour scheme and layout as my own. The Q
magazine front cover relates to my own cover as both are music
magazines, in the sub-genre of rock and both star a musician (e.g.) (Dave
Grohl) .
The colour scheme of Q magazine is similar to my own-
(red, black, white).all of these magazines also use techniques to draw the
reader in such as (“revealed!, the secrets behind 2013’s most wanted
album”) (kerrang).
205wds.

20. My contents page also uses some of the
conventions found in a music magazine
front cover, my contents are listed down the
left hand side the same as Nme & Q
magazine with the magazine name and
contents written in bold to tell the reader
that they are on the right page and also for
ease of access, (Q magazine and kerrang
both use this whereas Nme uses the title
(BAND INDEX).my contents page has a
picture in the right hand side top corner of
the page of the main story to highlight the
sort of (importance of the story)Q magazine
also does this.
My contents page follows the colour
scheme of my front cover
(black, red, white)with the headings for
each section clearly shown in white
banners over the black background with
red writing to stand out kerrang uses the
same kind of method, using their house
style to make the titles stand out.

21. My dps is unfinished but when finished it will have two columns similar to
Q magazine and have quotes pulled out to make the reader feel intrigued
and want to read on it will also stick to my colour scheme it will include
pictures like the magazines below and will also have a picture of the band
that my interview is based around it will have the page numbers clearly
shown at the bottom of the page while sticking to my set colour scheme I
will also include a snippet about the subscription services that are
available and will advertise the bands album as free with the magazine
subscription

22. Question 5
How did you attract/address your
audience?

23. How did you ATTRACT your audience?
Bold masthead
Stars eyes in top 1/3
Stars facial
expression/indirect address
price Different size text
to show audience
which features
are most
important
Unique Selling Points
are clearly defined
button with prize
Clear colour
scheme:red,white,b
lack, consistent
fonts to create
brand id

24. How did you ADDRESS your audience?

27. I chose to address the rock audience, using bands that are familiar and characterised
by that style such as Green Day and blink 182’ I used pull quotes and special
features to draw the reader in.
This is also show in the way I have structured the magazine as the fonts I have used
red,black,white show a dark magazine – rock, my pictures also support this, my
main cover photo is of a 16 year old male rock musician.
I have also added pictures of social networks that would perhaps be accessed by my
particular audience such as: twitter, Facebook, instagram.
My magazine is either similar to kerrang or nme due to the music style, genre, the
bands used and the way the cover stars dress/ pose.

28. masthead
Selling point
Indirect mode of
address, not posed
action shot
Colour
scheme
price
barcode
anchoring
features
Main feature

29. Colour
scheme
Indirect mode of
address
features
Selling
points
Editors
note

30. Picture of main
story to show
audience who
story is about
Heading to show what the
main story is about or what
the focus of the interview/
story is

32. In this assignment I have realised the
effects that certain technologies can
have with your work such as the front
cover of my magazine, it took
thorough amounts of photo shop to
get the desired effect. It also helped
with all of the photos that I have used
as I have used filters to emphasise
the main story and my stars.
In addition to this I have used more
simple technologies such as microsoft
publisher to create mky contents
page as I saw it as an easier option to
create my desired effect

34. I feel that my photo
shop skills have
progressed throughout
the unit as I have learnt
how to use grey scales
and filtering to achieve a
specific photo image
quality

35. My first dps design
was completely
flawed the pictures
were placed in wrong
positions and just
looked rather messy
it was missing a clear
introduction, columns
and the colour
scheme was terrible

36. The colour scheme of a magazine is important as it can help to give the magazine a
individual and unique style, it also helps to reveal what sub genre the style is heading
towards as it is clear to see by my magazine that the style im going for is a rock/indie
kind of style fourth time lucky are a rock band so this colour scheme and layout
relates to their style.
I think that
this dps is
a great
improvem
ent to my
previous
one as it
relates
more to
my
consumer
and my
target
audience

37. Front cover 1st draft
Front cover second draft
(chosen)

38. I have used several layers of
Photoshop effect to create a good
light and a kind of aura around my
main cover star the original picture
looked bland so I messed about a bit
to get the desired effect
The indirect address gives
the star a cocky quality
which may be seen as
courageous to the reader