Progression

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have made a lot of progression from there to my final product. I have learnt a lot about what conventions make a successful magazine and the features that attract the target audience.

My preliminary front cover is very basic and unordered. The image isn’t of a good quality and the fonts used are very basic. A huge space of the front cover is left blank and that seriously affects the overall quality of the magazine. My final product has corrected all of these faults. The image is of a good quality it is in focus and of a good brightness and contrast. Along with this the cover doesn’t have and big empty gaps. All of the cover is being used for a certain aspect.

The final product has a more specific target audience than the preliminary task. Because the school magazine had to appeal to both adults and students I felt that I had to make a more open front cover that would appeal to everyone however, with the music magazine I could pick a specific audience and make a magazine entirely aimed at the selection of people.

Mise-en-scene is used more effectively in my final magazine images than in my first magazine images.

From the preliminary I have developed my skills in the area of technologies. I have learnt how to edit photos effectively and have also learnt how to produce and effective magazine that would appeal and sell to my target market.

Overall I feel that I have improved my skills a great amount since The Preliminary Task and feel that my final product could be a successful magazine.

Technologies

In the making of my magazine I used a camera, computer, Microsoft Publisher and Macromedia Fireworks editing software. To take my pictures I used a Finepix 10 megapixel camera. Once I had taken these I uploaded them to the computer and used Macromedia Firework to alter the brightness and remove unwanted backgrounds. I used this program as you do not lose quality in the images and also I was able to do exactly what I wanted with my pictures.

When taking my pictures I used skills I already had to get the right angles and tried to capture the right lighting although this was hard for the main images as I took the photo’s inside.

When editing the pictures I used many tools. I used the brightness and contrast buttons and also the ‘magic wand’ icon to remove the background with no rough edges.

I used Microsoft Publisher for the entire magazine because you can have the layout of a booklet which gives you the right layout for all three of the pages being created. It also has a lot of icons that you can use including ones to crop photo’s, overlap text and images and order them. Along with this Publisher is made for this type of work and therefore is ideal.

Appeal To Target Audience

 I originally decided that I would base my magazine on an audience of 14-20 year olds of both genders who have a wide interest in music related topics however, I later changed my mind and changed it to just a female audience. I tried to address this audience through the layout of my magazine, the images I used, fonts, colours and the topics I covered.

Front cover:  

The front cover of any magazine must be the main thing that pulls in the audience and makes them decide whether or not to buy the magazine. I made sure that I made this my most eye-catching feature of the magazine. To do this is used the conventions of existing magazines and used a colour scheme that complimented the images and fonts.

My masthead runs across the top of the magazine which is in the route of the eye, this automatically pulls in the attention of my target market as it is a music magazine and this is what they are interested in. I also used colours that would attract to these people because people are always attracted to colour. The model is a singer, and she fits into the age range of the target audience. This would make my audience more inclined to read the magazine as it uses artist of the same age and therefore their lives would relate more to their own. The fonts I used were basic because I know that people of this age gender are looking for something simple and not something complex to read. They want an easy read.

Contents Page:

The contents page is the second thing in any magazine that people focus on and therefore it is extremely important that the articles are neatly ordered and under subheadings so it is neat. Along with this colour is needed so that the page doesn't just look like columns of writing.

I carried on the colour scheme from my front cover to keep consistency through my magazine. I felt like my target market would appreciate this because it keeps the whole look of the magazine minimal and not fussy, therefore easy to read for the age group. The articles listed are all things that my target market would look for, and going back to my first survey I can see that they wanted these subjects to be included in the magazine. Along with this I included images that relate to these articles, my target market are interested in these types of people and therefore if they see the image they would probably want to see that article to see what the artist has been getting up to.

Along with all this I carried the same fonts from the cover to also continue with consistency. 

Double page spread:

Double page spreads normally contain the main article from the cover. I decided to stick to this theme because if people see the main image that’s usually what entices them to read the magazine.  Again the image was of someone of the age of the target market and therefore that would make the target market more interested in reading the magazine. This time I changed the colour scheme to pink white and black. Because I changed my target audience I felt I could use this colour scheme. I feel that this connects with the target market because females are subconsciously drawn to pink and therefore this would stick out to them. 

Focus Group:

When I done a focus group with my final product I used all people ages 17 which is in the middle of my target age group. They were also all female which was what I intended to aim my magazine at. From this I got positive feedback and this suggests that my target market therefore likes the look of my magazine and would consider buying it. All of the feedback I got was either positive or constructive criticism. 




Target Market Survey:

This shows that mainly females took my survey.

All of the females that took this survey were between 14 and 20.

This question shows that the main area of interest in my target audience is R'n'B, therefore I chose to do my main article on an R'n'B artist.

Interviews got the most response in my survey so this is what I chose to do for my main article.

I chose to use the black white and pink in the double page spread which was my top option, I also chose to make my main cover with the colour scheme of black, white and turquoise which was the second most popular.

My target audience chose the option of equal shares of both text and images. I made sure that I followed this throughout my magazine.

Target Market

My original target market was decided from the feedback on my original questionnaire. I decided that I would base my magazine on an audience of 14-20 year olds of both genders who have a wide interest in music related topics however, I later changed my mind and changed it to just a female audience because my survey was mainly taken by females and could produce a more realistic magazine that would suit what they want.

My original survey was posted onto both my blog and facebook so that I could get a range of different people to take my survey. I did this so my audience wasn’t just one type of person and so that I could see what type of music was more popular within the age range as a whole. I found out that R’n’B was the main type of music listened to but everything else had a share. The least listened to was rock. This made me decide to base my main article on a R’n’B artist because this would connect with a wider audience and not a minimal one.

I also asked what my target market would like to feature in the magazine, whether they prefer interviews, gossip, music chart, news and tour dates. The results from this question were pretty equal but interviews got the highest by one person and therefore I decided to make my main article an interview.

Institutions

Like my magazine, NME covers a range of music in their magazine. I feel that the institution that distributes NME would also possibly distribute magazine.

From my previous institutions research I know that NME is published in the UK by a company named IPC media (IPC media publishes over 60 iconic media brands), this is owned by Time inc who is owned Time Warner

Time Warner is the world’s second largest entertainment conglomerate in terms of revenue, it also holds the title of the world’s largest media conglomerate.

Some of the magazines IPC media produce are; ‘Nuts’ , ‘LOOK’, ‘TV times’ and ‘womens own’ . Because they make so many different magazines covering a wide amount of target audiences I would wish for them to publish/distribute my magazine. When comparing my magazine to NME I found that several of the conventions are similar, such as the layout, the use of plain white backgrounds and the mixture of music in NME. I feel that this would benefit my magazine if IPC media were to publish it. Along with the similarities there are differences which would maybe persuade IPC media to publish their product because it wouldn’t be anything like the magazines they publish currently. Because my magazine is aimed at girls I feel that this makes it different because magazines usually have mixed gender audiences. The colours, fonts and images reflect my target audience.

I feel that if IPC published my magazine it would open up a new specific audience that they don’t already reach with a music magazine.

Representations

My product is aimed at the social group of girls who listen, mainly, to R’n’B. This social group could be represented in many different ways depends on the artists included in the magazine. R’n’B groups and artists tend to be quite fashionable. My image has been edited so that there is no background and this makes sure that no attention is taken away from the image. I have done this because the artist is female and therefore girls will relate more to her especially if they are interested in her music. The image on the front cover is also taken against a plain background and the clothes worn are outfits that maybe could be worn when going out to a party, which girls could get inspiration from when getting ready to go out. I feel that the outfit is stereotypical of what artists of today wear in their music videos and also in photo shoots. To follow in the theme of the outfits being suitable for girls going out to parties, I tried to match the make up to this theme. I used subtle make-up on the majority of the face, using just foundation, powder and a light dusting of blusher but mainly tried to enhance the eyes, just like girls do when going out.

My image of ‘AB’ was taken in the school squash courts, I dressed them in normal day-to-day clothing to make sure that their new style would relate to an all round female audience.

My image of JLS was taken at the concert I attended. Therefore they are wearing typical JLS clothes and it is taken onstage.

I used shot types to try and get professional look to my images plain backgrounds were used for the pictures of Emma, and I used midshots. I used this type of shot as looking through magazine this is the typical type of shot used.

Conventions

In my original research, I found out that the conventions were pretty similar to what I want my magazine to look like. I analysed three different music magazines but found out that they all had similar conventions, and many of these were very vital conventions.

Conventions - front cover;

·         Large masthead covering the top over the page, the start of the route of the eye.

·         The main image, title and important news/gossip in the route of the eye.

·         Relevant cover lines.

·         Image of the main story line in the centre.

·         An ordered layout with minimal amounts of cover lines.

·         A strong colour scheme is kept to, usually two main colours with 1-2 more to add effect.

In my magazine I used the majority of the important conventions.

I decided to use these conventions in my own design because I wanted to produce a realistic design of a music magazine. When designing my front cover I made sure that there weren’t any gaps whilst still keeping and ordered layout. When researching I found that music magazines don’t really contain too many cover lines, they focus on one main on really well, with the bold text and then the picture and don’t really use many other strong images or story lines.

My masthead is situated across the top of the cover; this is because all the magazines I looked at had the masthead along the top. I felt sticking to this convention would mean that my magazine would look more professional and therefore appeal to my target market. My main image is of ‘Emma Shepherd’ who is the artist featured in my main cover line. I chose to dress Emma in a simple black dress to fit in with the colour scheme but to also make it look like she had good style which is what my target market are interested in. I took the picture against a plain cream wall to try and capture a natural fade rather, which is also simplistic. I did this because I didn’t want a plain white background but wanted a soft finish.

Around my main article are some other simple story lines, I kept these simple as I wanted to use my main article to draw in the attention but whilst doing this I highlighted key words from each to make them stand out subconsciously, without the consumer realising. I did this by sticking to a colour scheme of black and white and then highlighting these words in turquoise.

I feel that I did stick to most of the conventions of a music magazine however; I only used one image on my main cover because I wanted the words and a single image to be powerful enough to attract attention. This means I had to work harder at getting the right look for my magazine that was also professional.

Contents Page;

·         Columns for the articles

·         Images relating to the articles (minimal amounts)

·         Simple white background

·         Subheadings

·         Same colour scheme as front cover

Whilst designing my contents page I stuck to all the conventions that I found when I did my own research.

I decided to split my list of articles into two columns; I did this because I feel that it makes the layout look more ‘tidy’ and therefore more marketable. I am pleased I decided to do this as I think the finished contents page has an expert look. On my contents page I decided to use two images relating to my articles. I did this to ensure there weren’t any empty gaps that could make the whole page look bad and to also give the reader an insight of what they can expect throughout the entire magazine. I also stuck to the convention of a plain white background, I feel that this gives the page a clean and fresh look that people will not be put off people when they open the front cover. To make my contents page even more organised decided to include another convention of subheadings. I did this because it made the contents page clearer and people would be able to fine what they were looking for more easily for example, if someone was looking for an article that featured on the front cover then it would be under the subheading of ‘on the cover’. Doing this gives the contents and overall more structured look. Finally I made sure that I continued the colour scheme and font from the front page onto the contents page, this makes the magazine flow more easily. It gives the magazine a more sophisticated and mature look that my target market will expect.

Double Page Spread;

·         Simple, white background

·         A main image of the artist

·         Personal article

·         Bold or different coloured text for the questions of an interview

·         Quote from the text

On my double page spread I have used the main conventions of music magazines, I have done this so that my magazine appeals to my target market and pulls in the attention of potential consumers. I used a simple white background as this makes the image and text stand out move vibrantly and also provides a cleaner finish. In the route of the eye all of my main information is included, firstly it runs through the quote and then through the main body of text, and on the second page route of the eye runs through my whole image.

My main image on this double page spread is an image of ‘Emma Shepherd’ who is the artist of whom the article is about. I did this because she is well known and therefore my audience would be interested in reading my article. The article is very personal and asks questions about Emma’s life and career as a whole, my audience would be interested in this because people have an idealistic view of celebrities lifestyles and this would either back that theory or make people realise that they do not all have a perfect life and that not everything is as easy as it seems.

In my interview I have used a different colour and font for the questions. This is another convention of magazines and I decided to do this because it makes it very easy to distinguish between the questions and the answers and makes the article looks easier to read at a glance from the eye and less off-putting than a solid block of text. I have also split the text into three columns as I feel this provides a more high quality and professional look. Finally I have picked a quote from the answers Emma gave VIVACE to again pull in the attention of the reader, I used a large font and two colours in this to make it stand out, it also acts as a title to the feature.