Evaluation

1. In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing music magazines?

My music magazine uses many conventions of existing magazines. Various denotations are included in my front cover such as buzz words, the effect that these words has an effect on the reader and makes the text that the reader’s are reading sound and seem better, also an ancourage text, a strapline, one main story. A central image that directly addresses the reader that indicates that the type of relationship she wants with the reader is close and intimate as it provides situations that interests and fulfils their needs. The title of the front cover, contents and article however is the main convention of existing magazines as which it is large, bold and is intended to attract my audience generally and is on the left. I have developed this convention as it connotes soft and happy music, as the colour pink is a soft elastic colour, which is projected to make the reader be in a cheerful mood so that they want to comprehend the magazine. Also, the title of my magazine front cover, contents and article is placed at the top of the page relating to most music magazines and is a very popular convention. This is so that it can be seen by the audience when it is placed on the shelf. I have also incorporated essential conventions such as the price, issue date, barcode. As I added features of attractions to my conventions such as various design features and shapes, also music features to my magazine to my images and text you could say that I challenged forms of existing music magazines. Exclusive and cover story features are included and are a popular convention of existing magazines. Also like most music magazines my magazine offers freebies, the free CD by a popular band and posters included makes reader feel like the magazine is beneficial to them, also like it is worth their money. My contents page has a comparable layout which is having all the page numbers on one side and then the content of them on the other. Images on the other side of the text make the contents look more attractive.

2. How does your music magazine represent particular social groups?

My music magazine represents this as the social groups that my magazine shows a correspondence to females also particular race groups from the ages of 13 – 19 (teenagers). I have added certain design features, which will attract appeal essentially to girls; my social group will be engrossed in the magazine, as the assortment of my design features will successfully attracts them.The types of genres and images displayed are of particular races and of different ethnicities in my magazine, which listen and share an interest in r and b and hip hop so therefore my magazine will relate more to them.Many teenage girls are into the unambiguous and specific music provided on my magazine so my assortment of aspects of music will represent them in a way that they represent the magazine as they will follow the steps of fashion and copy different dress styles.I have incorporated slang such as colloquial speech and certain terms and phrases that most black and mixed backgrounds of people say and relate to so this will represent my social group vastly. “London’s freshest young talent”, this is an example of slang that young teenagers would use, are using and relate to in society nowadays.


3. Who would be the audience for your music magazine?

My target audience for my music magazine is going to be aimed at teenagers who are black, mixed race and Chinese as I included various images of people from those ethnicities so other ethnicities might not want to read my magazine as it doesn’t rally appeal to them. From the ages of 13 – 19 as teenagers will be very occupied and concerned in the issues that I will provide in my magazine but older readers are more then welcome to read my magazine. In addition, from these ages, onwards, the information in my magazine will be understood very clearly.As I will reveal certain information about artists of both genders, so therefore male readers are more then welcome to read about the issues and gossip in my magazine as the information will appeal to them as well as females.Conversely, my magazine will be more suitable for females as the colours used are intense, multi-coloured and girly so it will sell mainly to females which are an advantage as males do not really buy magazines and music magazines are more of a girl thing.The style and genre is going to be hip-hop, r’n’b also slow jams are provided. The type of music, which my magazine will to appeal to are all teenagers, that are attentive and interested in artists and the newest songs included of those genres.However, unfortunately not teenagers are targeted that show an interest or like other genres such as rock, classical and punk, as they will only relate to those particular genres and no other.Considering the sales, my media product will cost no less than £1.80 so that my target audience of teenagers will be able to afford and that price is not too expensive and is realistically priced as it comes out monthly.

4. How did you attract/address your target audience?

Well firstly, the main image is central and is directly addressing the audience so therefore attracts youths interested in the r and b and hip-hop genres, as the image is smiling letting off a friendly vibe. In addition, the attraction of my target audience included the anchorage text relating well to the style and puffs. Many types of music that my magazine’s audience appealed to are mentioned and the teenagers are interested in artists of that genre which I could tell from my questionnaire which will attract them in the most possible way.Also the price, not too expensive, not too cheap is an attraction to my target audience as it is affordable for teenagers.The colours used I think are the best selection of attractive colours to females as these colours are defiantly their favourite colours. I also used those colours on the stars which will make available as greater attraction. The colours are used to reflect off the image making the mood positive and cheerful.I made my magazine look glossy and fashionable so that my magazine can sell. My design features (stars and music notes) are used effectively to attract my audience, as they are bright and presented in various colours.My main image is outlined in a colour, which will make my image look more interesting and more powerful. My text is in altered styles of fonts and sizes, which is a popular and trendy convention of most magazines so it shows that my magazine is not basic and simple so it will address and effectively attract my target audience.The language that I used is very appropriate for my target audience as they speck in the same manner of speech as I have provided using many terms that match and relate to young teenagers of all races.

5. What kind of media institution might distribute your music magazine and why?

The kind of media institution that might distribute my music magazine as, as it is a r and b and hip hop magazine I felt that Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Publishing Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Bauer Publishing Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 230 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.Bauer Media joined the Bauer Publishing Group in January 2008 following acquisition of Emap plc’s consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses. It is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators.Also the media institution is the second biggest magazine published in the UK and they publish magazines very similar to mojo, karrang, Q and heat. Their famous sayings are; ‘music lovers’, ‘women aged 16-35’ and ‘music is an important passion’.The audience profile of there media brand ‘heat’ has a similar audience to mine which is why it might distribute my magazine.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your music magazine?

From the technologies from the process of the construction of my music magazine, I have learnt many skills from many technologies that have allowed me to create meaning and present my work to a wide range of audience. From the Adobe Creative Suite (CS3), I used Photoshop using the lasser and magnetic tool to cut out the backgrounds of various images accurately also the quick selection tool cut out less accurate bits. The spot healing brush tool and the layer style; blending options which was used to make the images lighter/ darker and add an outline of colour and glow to an image. These tools improved my images a lot, made them look suitably better and more appealing for a magazine.I have used illustrator to make the magazine, contents page and article. I also used various tools including; the type, rectangle, line segment, rotate, star, selection tool also the swatches to make them pages to do the text [colour, size and designs], styles, and form the shapes. A digital camera was very constructive as I was allowed to take appropriate pictures, which allowed the transfer of them to the pc to my pages. The images are exposed to my audience in fine quality and the magnitude of an image can be adjusted to my principles.I created a blog to present all my media work which improved my setting and creating skills. From a blog, I found out what my audience thought of my work. As their feedback was cooperative, it told me how to respond in future issues from the polls that I made.

7. What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from creating the school magazine (preliminary task), to creating your music magazine?

I feel that I have leant in the progression from creating the school magazine to creating my music magazine how to improve and progress my work into something much greater. The changes and improvements that I have made to the layout include; better positions of the text and images and arranged the title into a more suitable place for a magazine.In addition, I have learnt that how to use better images for the central main image. For my college magazine front cover, the image was at the side. I improved this by positioning it in the centre so it is supplementary noticeable. The placement of the ancourage text should be on the central image so that it relates better and so the audience can make out where to look which generates meaning. From the contents from my preliminary task, I had used too much colour, didn’t include an editor’s note and more than one image and lacked information. These were not popular conventions so developed this by using a maximum of only three colours which is shown below, three images. Also I included a poll saying which one the audience thought was better out of the two; the results were that 3% voted for my mock up contents page and 97% of the audience voted for my real magazine contents page. Also in my audience feedback, for the reactions, five people ticked the excellent box and 3 people ticked the interesting box for my real contents and only 1 person ticked the cool box for the preliminary contents. This showed an immense comparison between the two.

Article

I have made various changes to my draft so it looks more suitable and attractive to fit in with my front cover and contents.

My Music Magazine Front Cover and Contents Pages

This is the first draft of my music magazine which is very dull and boring. It does not look very interesting and magazine like. I have added various changes and improvements which now make my magazine very conventional and excellent. it has a plain set up with only two images, which is not very conventional.

This is the first draft of my contents page. it does not include many conventions such as the writers note and looks plain. I have added many images, and made it look more suitable for a goos contents page. These are the changes and improvements that have made my contents page better in many ways including the structure and attractiveness. it contains only one image and not many contents features so is dull.

Analysis of 2 double Page spreads - Mixmag

This article includes various bands and artists suggest that the audience will be targeted at people of an older age group. Approximately between the age of 18+. I can tell this as the images are of people in dance clubs and raves, only people of this age are just about legal to be in a club. Also the images are of adults only which relates to the target audience.
The type of language that is used in the article is formal and proper speech. Therefore is speech appropriate for older readers to understand.
‘Welcome to Rotterdam’s Sustainable dance club’
This is an example of the formal language as the writer welcomes you to the article. Adults would find this speech more suitable then teenagers.
The colours are used to attract the reader and to add excitement as dancing brings pleasure so the colours are used to relate to this. The yellow is a joyful colour and is also used on the front cover to add similarity.
The style of the text is used to bring the reader joy whilst reading about the festive information. The writer uses a groovy font’s style for the title and the first letter of the article used to excite the reader. The rest is a normal font used to add contrast.
The double page spread differs from most articles as there is a third page included. The first page includes images, a little bit of text which relates to the title which is also included. The second and third pages include images and text.
The sort of tone that the magazine is using when addressing the reader is that the reader is a member of the in-crowd.
The artist/band is presented relating to the text as they are on the same pages.
The style of the magazine of the article matches the style of the front cover as the yellow is the leading colour of the article and it is also on the front cover’s background. Also similar hip and cool font styles are used.

Analysis of 2 double Page Spreads

From looking at the article I can tell that the choice of the young individual on one of the double – page spread of the article suggests that the audience will be targeted at middle - aged teenagers, approximately the ages between 19+ as the rappers mentioned are from the 80’s. The young man named Gary ‘GZA’ Genius Grice will also relate to teenagers as they will be attracted by him due to his clothing style which is baggy white top, lose black trousers and trainers. These are all things that youths today are wearing and are interested in. Also the majority of middle-aged teenagers have slang names which we call tags, so his tag name will relate to them.
The type of language that is used in the article is slang or colloquial speech which’s relates well to their target audience. People who read this magazine will be aware of what the writer is trying to put across about ‘GZA’ as they will understand the use of language used.
‘PURE GENIUS’
Any formal reader would not understand the meaning of this as it is not of their lexis which would be ‘He is a genius’. Young readers will understand this information about the rapper as it reveals the specific style of the magazine.
‘It’s frustrating seeing rappers tail about the same shit all the time’
Again this phase relates to the rap, informal style of the magazine because it is slang. If this magazine was formal, they would have edited all the informal language said be GZA. The writer is trying to relate to the magazines target audience as this is the kind of colloquial speech teenagers use today. Also some of the speech by GZA is quite intelligent so the teenagers reading this would have to be an informed, intelligent young person.
The colour is used quite plainly maybe to signify GZA life as a rapper. Black, White and Red are the only colours used. This indicates that the style is normal and the reader is into these colours. Also the rapper in dressed in Black, White and Red so that the reader can focus on the writing and the image on the left and not get distracted by any other colours.
The style of text is normal and quite dull as the overall style of the writing is not very interesting but not boring as the title in bold and is larger than the rest. The style is not very groovy and exciting.
The double page spread laid out as the first page is only the text and the second, the image fills the whole page. I noticed that this tells the reader that the image is of the same importance as the text.

The sort of tone that the magazine is using when addressing the reader is that the reader is an informed intelligent fan as the reader has to be able to understand what the rapper is talking about so therefore has to be interested in rap.
The artist is presented as a dominant figure as the whole second page is him giving the rapper great value of what he does.
The style of the magazine of the article matches the style of the front cover as the red is the leading colour of the article and it is also on the front as it is the title. Also similar not so groovy font styles are used.
The article does demand prior knowledge when reading the article as they mention the Wu-Tan Clan and Liquid Swords. The writer expects reader to have previous knowledge on these bands.

Questionnaire With Results.

Name and age:
_________________________________________ __________

1) What on the front cover interests you when you purchase a magazine?
________________________________________________________________________________

2) What genre of music are you more interested in?
(Please circle as many as you want)
a. R&B b. Hip Hop c. Slow Jams d. Funky c. Pop

3) What colours on the front cover are you attracted to?
a. Pink b. Yellow c. Red d. Green e. Orange f. Blue

4) If freebies were to be provided, what would you prefer keeping in mind that it is a music magazine?
_______________________________________________________________

5) What is your price limit when purchasing a magazine?
a. 50p - £1 b. £1 - £2 c. £2 - £3 d. £3 +

6) Do you like when lots of information about the magazine are on the front cover, if yes why?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7) Who would you like to read more about?
a. Beyonce b. Lil Wayne c. Pretty Ricky d. Rihanna c. T-Pain

8) Do you think that posters should be essential in a magazine?
a. Yes b. No

9) What other things would you like to see? E.g. gossip column, agony aunt etc.
_______________________________________________________________

Mock Up Of College Magazine Contents Page + Comments

This is again like my Font Cover, very simple plain even though i included lots of colour, it is unsual to include lots of colour which confuses the reader. Its not that interesting like other contents pages which is why it is a mock up.