Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Since undertaking the preliminary task of creating the front cover and tbe contents page for a college magazine, I have learned many new skills and techniques in order to help and improve my work.

The first major difference between the preliminary and the real production was through the fact I wasn't particularly confident on photoshop and had little experience in using it. Therefore, the preliminary was incredibly useful in order to help me gather a basic understanding of the tools and effects that could be created and how. Ths meant that by the time it came to produce my music magazine, I knew exactly how to use photoshop and how to create the desired effects.

Furthermore, when I produced the pages for my college magazine i was unaware of how editing aspects of my images in photoshop such as the brightness and constrast of an image, can create an overall more polished and professional look. This is why their is such a drastic difference in the appearance of the images on the voers of my two magazines and in the overall quality.

I also hadn't put much thought into choosing the colour scheme when creating my college magazine as i wasn't aware of how important it was in order to enhance the appearance, create connotations, improve on cohesion and also to stress the genre of the magazine. However I had learnt this fact before producing my mucic magazine and therefore was able to select the appropriate colour scheme of red, white and blue in order to represent the colours of the american flag which is directly cohesive with the genre and theme.

Overall, i feel my knowledhge and skills have really improved and will hopefully continue to improve in the future. I'm realy pleased with the work I have produced and feel my music magazine pages look stylish and professional.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my music magazine to my audience through using several different conventions of which appealed to their interests. The major feature that can instantly attract a reader to pick up a magazine is the use of colour. I was very specific to only use bright, positive colours throughout my production as I felt these would best appeal to fans of pop music as opposed dark colours; my magazine consisted of a simple colour scheme of red, blue and white. Red and blue are contradictory colours meaning they created an attractive, funky appearance which would hopefully appeal to my young target audience of teenagers and entice them to pick my magazine up. These colours are also significant as they are the colours of the American flag, therefore, reinforcing the theme of my music magazine.  

I also used the models in my magazine to attract my audience – especially the cover model as she is both young and attractive, appealing to my audience of teenagers. Her beauty widened the audience of my magazine as this appealed to both genders because whilst the boys would find her physically attractive the girls would be attracted to the example she sets. I made sure my models wore fashionable clothing also, to further appeal to a younger, trendy audience of pop music fans.

On my front cover, the largest font on the page is the masthead. This is because it is the most important feature as it is vital for the reader to instantly recognise the name of the publication. I chose a modern, rounded font to appeal to a younger audience. I used iconography by placing the American flag behind my masthead as this is a hugely recognised symbol across the world. This was primarily done in order to visualise the main theme of the magazine about bringing music from the states however this would also instantly grab any reader’s attention who was a particular fan of America and its music due to how iconic the American flag is.

After the masthead, the headline relating to the central image is the next largest font on the page. This is significant as it makes this text instantly stand out from the rest of the page, grabbing the reader’s attention and attracting them to the cover star. It is significant that the reader is totally aware who the cover star is as I know from my own experience that fans of a particular music artist are likely to buy any magazine of which they star on the cover of, regardless of what publication it is. I placed this headline in red, as I believe red is an incredibly bold, striking and dynamic colour, further improving its power to grab the reader’s attention. This is also signifant as the red text matched with the red lipstick of the model, enforcing a high level of cohesion across the page with both the images and the text.    

I also used text as a feature to attract my audience in my double page spread. I took a direct quote from my interview and blew it up on the following page to the article, making it the largest font on the entire double page. This was appealing as it instantly grabbed the reader’s attention, making them read the small snippet of the article. This acted as a tease upon the audience as once they had read a small preview this would then hopefully entice them to read the full interview. Furthermore, I made certain words within the quote larger and placed them in different colours to make them grab the reader’s attention even more and also to highlight the key words. I placed the quote inside a graphic bubble as this gave the page a more light-hearted and playful feel which appeals to my younger audience.

The use of language with the article on my double page spread was also a very important device in helping to attract and appeal to my target audience of teenagers. I deliberately used relatively simple lexis so as not to make reading too difficult or strenuous as I was writing for an audience of teenagers. This also opened my magazine to a wider audience as it meant that those who may not have a high capability of reading were not excluded. I wrote my article the first person and used an informal register as I felt both of this devices appeal particularly to teenagers who would most likely be uninterested in reading a piece with a tone which was too serious. Instead, this created a personal tone as well as a friendly tenor between the writer and the reader. Additionally, I used colloquial language at several moments when writing the article in order to create a more relaxed, down-to-earth persona for my reporter which would appeal to a younger teenage audience. This created the idea that the writer and the reader were on the same level and made the reader feel included as part of a team – significant as many people experience insecurities during their teens and want to feel accepted.  

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my music magazine that I have produced would be teenagers of around 16-18. This is because I believe current and upcoming music is most appealing to teenagers and young adults of this age as it is a largely circulated social stereotype that teenagers enjoy listening to music with friends in their free time.

Furthermore, my magazine would be specifically targeted towards those with a keen passion and interest for American pop music. This is because the purpose and focus of my publication is ‘bringing the best music from the states’ as indicated in the banner at the top of my front cover. The colour scheme of my magazine is cohesive with the target of reader’s with an interest in American music as they are the colours of the American flag; red, white and blue of which I used consistently throughout the pages of my publication. This, primarily, reinforces the main theme and purpose of my magazine, though these are also bright, dynamic colours that attract a younger teenage audience. 

The types of artists featured within my music magazine are also aimed towards  teenagers, such as ‘Rihanna’ and ‘Lady Gaga’, as these are both current worldwide megastars meaning that they are hugely recognized and extremely popular leading artists of the music industry who are largely followed by a big teenage fan base. The cover star of the issue I have produced is also majorly appealing to a teenage audience as my subject is both young and attractive (of a similar age to that of my target audience). She is also non-exclusive against a particular gender as boys will find her physically attractive, enticing them read on whilst girls with appreciate her beauty and talent and look up to her as a role model.

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

Having studied and considered several different magazine institutions and publishers such as IPC Media and Dennis Publishing I believe that the magazine institution most likely to market, produce and distribute my music magazine successfully is the ‘Bauer Media Group’.

The reason I feel Bauer Media would be interested in my magazine is because it has a unique genre as no other UK based magazines focus solely on American Pop meaning this is a gap in the market and a strong selling point.

Bauer Media is a German publishing company who operate in 15 countries worldwide meaning they could give my magazine a large distribution across the world.

The company was founded in 1875 which indicates they have much experience in publishing and managing magazines - this in enforced through the fact some of the most popular, best-selling publications in the UK are amongst the collection of magazines that Bauer Media own including ‘Bella’ and ‘Take a Break’. Though, more specifically, Bauer Media already have a lot of experience in managing music magazines as they own both ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang’ which are two of the most successful, leading music magazines in the United Kingdom. This makes me believe they are the best suitable choice to distribute my magazine.

Bauer Media are on the internet with an official website; they have their own radio station and they also have large shares in both Channel 4 and the Box Television network which includes 4Music and Smash Hits TV and so they would be able to give my magazine a lot of multi-media marketing and advertising, opening the prospects of my magazine to a much wider audience.

Official Website: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The photography used throughout my magazine represents the popular music social group through the distinct use of colour and clothing:

In what ways does your own music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?