2. My music magazine is based upon a music magazine which already follows
the genre of RnB, „Vibe‟, because it is clearly laid out to capture the
audiences eye, using a range of font, font colour and font sizes, working
within a „z‟ shape form around the image.
Within RnB there is an idea of girl power as such, the idea that a woman
does not need a man to be successful, so within my front cover I used this to
represent my genre, which is what the magazine is suppose to do. The main
cover line falls within the optical point, which will attract readers by the
shocking line of „I thought I was dead‟ it has the audience wanting to know
why. Along the left third are the majority of the cover lines and the articles
which would be more likely to catch the readers eye, this is done so when
placed on a shelf in a shop can be seen by the purchasers easily. This will
advertise and make the magazine stand out from the other magazines
available, because of the cover lines and the range of colours and font.
3. The main image on the front cover overlaps the masthead of Rage. I did this
because the image/artist on the front cover of the magazine is the selling
point, only usual subscribers would look for the name, which they would
recognize from the font used. Vibe also does similar here because they use
the artist on the front to sell there magazine, so are able to cover their
masthead.
The contents page is also similar to „vibe‟ because of the linking to the front
page, within „vibe‟ the „V‟ is used to show a link, so within my magazine the
„R‟ is used to show the link. My contents page has a variety of images
relating to the articles featuring, but the images relating to the main article
is dominant, which is also seen within contents pages of „Vibe‟. Similar
usage of color is used for the front cover and contents page, which is also
shown in „vibe‟ conforming to conventions of other magazines.
The double page spread is conventional to how most question and answer
double page spreads look; questions are within different colors, quotes are
in bigger fonts and stand out more from the rest of the text and the
language used is conversational, which sticks to conventions of established
magazines.
4. Barcodes follow the convention of
music magazines, because they are
commonly used, however is not seen
on VIBE but from other magazines, it
tended to be on the front page, with
the date, issue number and price.
Similarly to VIBE I placed a top
bar, following the conventions
of a typical RnB music
magazine.
I placed the image of my artist in the middle
of the page, like VIBE has done with
Eminem, which also overlaps the
masthead, which gives the audience the idea
that the image is the main selling point, also
non subscription buyers would be attracted to
the artist, more than the masthead
The colour of my masthead was
chosen through a questionnaire
and by looking at VIBE because this
is a harsh, powerful colour which
RnB represents, which follows
conventions of RnB magazines.
With regards to the
main image on my
music magazine, the
artist is not really
what you would
expect from a
woman in the RnB
genre, even though
she does look like
she is in control,
with her dead
straight hair and her
bright lipstick, she
is not sexualized,
and does not really
fit the male gaze. I
did this because I
wanted my
magazine to
represent power
and to keep
modesty.
I have placed my main cover
line within the optical
view, as VIBE does because it
catches the readers eye
immediately, following
conventions of magazines.
Commonly puffs
are seen at the
bottom of the
front
cover, however I
thought I would
challenge this, so
that it falls within
the „z‟ format
and does not take
any attention
away from the
main cover line.
5. I liked the idea from VIBE of having
the first letter of the masthead on
the contents page, because it shows
continuality, that the front page
and contents page links.
Links to social media sites and the
website to subscribe is commonly seen
within music magazines, however
VIBE‟s is a lot smaller.
Having the front cover on the
contents page also shows
continuality.
VIBE‟s contents page only
contains one image of the
features of the
magazine, however I thought I
would challenge this to show
images of different things within
the magazine, to give it more
variety.
Similarly to VIBE I have one
column for the features of
my magazine, however some
magazines do split the
articles off into different
subheadings, I decided not to
do this and focus more of
images, to attract the
readers eye.
6. I placed my artist, similarly to
were Nicki Minaj is
placed, because it immediately
catches the audiences eye, so I
followed conventions in this way.
The way I have highlighted
quotes from the artist is
also similar to that within
the Nicki Minaj
article, because it follows
conventions, the audience
immediately knows what
this is and it stands out on
the page.
I placed a box different from what
the article discusses, which is not
seen on the article below but is seen
commonly within music magazines.
7. The genre I have chosen to represent in my magazine is RnB, but the
feminine aspect of the genre, this is of how women are viewed differently in
today‟s society, they are stronger, more powerful and more successful. Cover
lines across my front cover are mainly based on female artists “the queen of
RnB” and “free tickets to Mya‟s sold out gig.” This gives the idea of female
success which is highly represented within the RnB genre.
The image on the front cover, the artist, has bright, seductive like lips,
which shows strength, as if she is in complete control, as well as having
modesty, which continues throughout the magazine, on the contents page
and double page spread, this fits into the social group because it is similar
to the images of females within the RnB genre.
8. Media institutions which may distribute my music magazine may be shops like HMV, because they
stock a wide range of RnB albums. Also shops which specialise within the RnB genre may stock
my magazine because it is a magazine which follows the conventions of their shop. It could also
be stocked in places that support the idea of up and coming women, and the idea of girl
power, because my magazine represents this throughout. My magazine could also be distributed
through the internet because it is available to everyone and covers a wide range of genres, so
mine would fit along side other magazines available.
Being an independent distributer, by digitally distributing it would firstly cuts costs, which would
be a good option for myself because of not having a lot of money and funding‟s like other
conglomerate companies do, so cutting costs would increase profit. Secondly distributing via the
Internet widens the audience able to get hold of my magazine, and suits my target audience
better, because the majority of young people of today all tend to have access to the Internet
and social networks, like Facebook and Twitter. Present within my contents page is social media
links and the website to subscribe, where I could have offers available, because through digitally
distributing I am able to offer deals, because of the cheaper way of getting my magazine
accessible to the nation, so even through having offers I would still be able to make a profit.
Also if these offers are available the young people I wish to inspire and to read my
magazine, who do not have a disposable income they are more likely to be able to purchase
magazine because I am able to offer subscription at a reasonable price.
9. The audience for my magazine is RnB listeners and those who like to find
out the gossip and details about artists within the genre they
like, RnB, as well as being able to enter to win cool prizes. My magazine
is mainly aimed at females, featuring iconic role models and people to
aspire to be like, continuing the idea of feminine strength throughout
generations, as well as finding out latest gossip and receiving advice.
10. To attract/address my audience, I used bold, sharp colours and
fonts, which are seen in existing magazines of this genre. This in
itself creates an idea of strength, which is what I wish to get across.
Also I used images of a female artist, which enables the audience to
relate to the artist, that this star could be any one of the women
reading the magazine, that they hold strength and power; so it gives
the idea of „this could be me‟ which automatically builds up a
relationship and attracts the audience to purchase and find out more.
Majority of featuring cover lines and articles within the featuring list
within the contents page contain women or words associating to
women, because it is a magazine representing women, which entices
the audience to purchase/read the magazine because they are also
able to relate through these.
11. The idea of using iMac computers, Photoshop and a professional camera, within a professionally
set up setting, came as a new experience to myself. I started the process by using a green
screen and a professional camera to take pictures of my model, which then enabled an easier
process, to crop out the background, unlike within my college magazine images. I used magnet
line and background eraser to crop out the background. Background eraser sometimes cut out
some of my model, so through doing this it enabled me to learn the new technique of colour
matching within Photoshop to draw back in the sections background eraser cut out. The
magnetic tool enabled me to trace around the edges of my model to then cut and paste into
my pages of the magazine, to then resize and refine, erasing any background that was not
supposed to be there. I also learnt how to import photos onto the Mac computers and how to
transfer photo‟s to different areas within the Mac.
Within Photoshop I was able to manipulate/ change the font, using a range of font sizes and
types and experiment with the layout. I was also able to add effects to words I wished to stand
out, like the masthead „Rage‟ and the artists name „Chanel‟ dimming and adding borders
around the individual letters to make the words stand out from the others.
Within the process I was able to discover a barcode making website, where I was able to make
my own unique barcode, which I was able to import onto my front screen and then add on
things like price and date, which is normally present on barcodes of magazines.
I also learnt how to save my magazine articles as JPEG which enables them to be transferred
onto other documents, to be annotated and evaluated. It also enabled me to transfer the front
cover onto the contents page.
12. From the preliminary task to the full production I have learnt to use a
variety of font and font sizes. Within the college magazine I used a
small range of font and sizes and stuck to a similar font, this made the
front cover and contents page difficult to follow and read and look very
dull. However, now within my full product I have used a wide variety of
text sizes and font, as well as colour to draw in and attract the
audience of my music magazine.
Within my music magazine I considered thirds more than I did in the
college magazine. The masthead within the preliminary task seemed off
balance to the rest of the magazine, it could of done with being bigger.
So when I did the masthead of my music magazine I made sure that the
masthead was proportionate to the rest of the front cover.
13. The images used when creating my preliminary task were taken off of
a mobile phone, with the background of rooms present, which wasn‟t
the greatest of quality. So considering the quality of these images I
took the images for my music magazine in front of a green screen
considering the mise-en-scene, which gave my images a much better
standard of quality.
