The student created a magazine aimed at both male and female readers aged 16-25. Key elements included bright colors, photos of smiling models using direct address, and bold fonts for headlines and story descriptions. Conducting a survey helped determine popular music genres and stories of interest. Distribution through IPC was chosen for the magazine's style and affordability. Attracting readers involved eye-catching designs and language/content appropriate for the target age range. Learning new technologies like Photoshop and InDesign was a challenge but important for creating the magazine.

1. Evaluation. Joanna Embley. Media. 

2. Qn1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The vital elements can help catch the eye of the audience and add to knowing what to use for your target audience. A typical element was to get a photograph that has your models looking out to the audience using direct address, to entice the public to buy your magazine. This is vital as it helps raise profits and achieve a popular magazine. Plus, to add to this, having the photograph overlapping the title gives the effect the band is coming out of the magazine, again to entice the audience to buy your magazine. I do think it was vital to use typical elements to make the magazine recognisable and to appear legitimate. It was vital to use big, strong words, with powerful fonts along with bright colours to show the audience what was the main story and what can be included in the magazine. Plus, having bold titles shows what is on that page, with a piece of information to interest the viewer. Music. Models. Reviews. Bands. Article. I decided for my music magazine to concentrate on the pop/dance genre. This is because I have found out that it is a really popular genre and can appeal to more of the public.

3. The conventions I have used. I do think I have many conventions that can be linked to real magazines. Brightly coloured title to contrast with a plain background. Big powerful photograph to capture the audience. Plus the eyes are looking forward to entice the audience. Colourful words to express to the audience the stories in the magazine and what you are getting for your money. Colourful words to express to the audience the stories in the magazine and what you are getting for your money. Barcode and price. Barcode and price and website. Website. Magazine slogan. Magazine slogan. Subheadings.

4. The conventions I have used. A big powerful title to show what page it is. A large picture of the main artist(s). A plain background to make the writing stand out. A plain background to make the writing stand out. The name of the magazine, on every page to remind the audience what magazine they are reading. Big subheadings to interest the audience to that specific category. Still keeping inline with the conventions, i keep the magazine motto on show.

5. The conventions I have used. A dominating picture of the artist, to let the audience know what the article is about, and who they are. A powerful title, to tell the audience who the article is about. A quote from the artist themselves made bigger, to interest the audience into what the artist has to say. A small paragraph at the beginning informing the viewer maybe where they are, and what the article consists of. Usually the artist will be selling something, therefore the need to promote it. Questions and answers, to be easily defined into which one is which.

6. Qn1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The only thing I can think of that I have challenged the convention of a magazine is, compared to the stereotypical magazines I have used a lot more c o l o u r s than three standard ones on my front page. I do think using more colours added to my magazine and worked perfectly to be able to attract an audience. After researching a lot about my genre, the target audience, and what styles are popular, I think my ideas were going to be successful a long with a few changes. I looked at many magazines to see what is selling at the moment, and realised it was the magazine Mojo, because of its mature look on things and how it is presented. Thanks to looking at that magazine it made my ideas more concrete and successful. Plus I also did a questionnaire to keep in line with the conventions of a magazine. These results helped with what people are looking for, and how my genre of music will interest people. My Questionnaire. 1. What music magazines do you read? 2. Do you find colourful magazines more interesting to read? 3. Do you prefer reading articles or looking at the pictures? 4. What sort of music do you like ? 5. What would you like to read about in an article? 6. What would draw you to a magazine ? 7. Do you prefer harsh or soft fonts ? 8. How much would you pay for a magazine ? 9. Does direct address interest you to buy the magazine? 10. What would interest you to read the contents page ? 5. New Releases - 6 Style of Band - 2 Their Fashion - 5 What the band gets up to - 3 6. Favourite Celebrity - 2 Famous Person - 5 Good cover - 3 Cheap Price - 1 7. Harsh - 3 Both - 2 Soft - 5 8. £1 - 1 £2 - 5 £3 - 2 £4 - 1 9. Yes - 8 No - 2 10. Pictures - 3 New Storylines - 5 Interesting Layout - 2 My Results: 1. None - 6 Nme - 3 Kerrang - 1 2. Yes - 8 No - 1 3. Reading - 2 Looking - 7 4. Indie - 6 Pop - 3 Folk - 1 Rock - 1

7. Did your choices here work effectively for your audiences? I do think the choices I made worked very effectively, and with a few changes worked even better. Again, thanks to the questionnaire, that helped massively with decisions. I constantly kept the thought of my magazine being directed at people of 16+ depending on what language I use, how I set my magazine and what stories and things that will be interesting to that age range. I do think my biggest choice was whether to use more than one colour throughout my magazine to keep in the theme of a pop magazine. However, contemplating on this choice a lot I am happy with my final decision as I think everything works together. I did find choosing what gender for my magazine to be aimed at, quite hard as I wanted it to be read by both genders. Finding a neutral colour seemed to be quite a challenge but after looking at numerous magazine that are aimed at both genders, I finally decided on the colour aqua. Mixmag is famous for its neutral colours appealing to both genders, whoever the model is, and what they look like. I based my magazine on Mixmag, because of this idea. This is the only magazine cover I could find that did have more than one colour. I think this looks great, the blue and the green break up the bold pink and black, which is what I wanted my magazine to achieve.

8. The stereotype for this social group is female teens that are interested in pop stars. I have represented this by using bright colours and girl based images to attract females. However, I intended for my magazine to interest both male and female people, but with what I have placed in my media, this does make me understand how my readers will be more female populated. Qn 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups? In addition to this, because the stereotypical social group is young girls, I have photographed my models who are all happy, in clothes that look girly, and to be interesting to the reader. I have used large fonts to inform the reader of the stories in bright colours, which equals everything to be uplifting and fresh to read.

9. The stereotype for this social group is female teens that are interested in pop stars. I have represented this by using bright colours and girl based images to attract females. However, I intended for my magazine to interest both male and female people, but with what I have placed in my media, this does make me understand how my readers will be more female populated. Qn 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups? White girls. Happy. (Smiling) Their poses are simple, yet attractive. Using direct contact. Their clothes are basic and eye-catching. White girls. Happy. (Smiling) Young.

10. Qn 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? I have decided to use IPC to distribute my magazine, as i think they relate to the style of music i want to discuss. The magazines they have produced seem very relaxed and cheap for more people to buy, the magazine paper looks cheap but great on the shelves. They seem to have a range of magazines, but only one music magazine, so i think mine will fit in perfectly. I do think because my magazine is different to what is seen everyday on the shelves, my magazine could bring in profit which would then lead onto IPC. I have decided against using emap as i think i will only get a certain range of people buying the magazines and i want a many people as possible buying my magazine. Plus, this type of institution seems expensive for most people, so appealing to as many people as possible will again, make more money for myself and the institution.

11. Qn 4: Who would be the audience for your media product? Using the Demographic profiling (GRASS) i would have: Gender - Female: Making my magazine appeal to the female population will enhance my magazine. Race – Any race (mainly white): I would like my magazine to be able to appeal to any race, however using white girls and the content of my magazine, will appeal to mainly white people. Age – 16 – 25: i think this is a popular group, and quite a wide range to focus on. This could lead to making more money from your magazine with people still being interested. Socio-economic Status : I would say my magazine is aimed at C1-C2, as my magazine will be affordable for this class without being too expensive. With the Psychographic profiling, and using Young and Rubicams idea of characteristics, I would place my magazine with the mainstreamers. This is because I would like my magazine to be a smart magazine that would fit into their daily life. Also the pop genre will appeal mainly to them, as it is an all round genre to listen to. 16 – 25 aged people are stereotypically known as trying to be the best, and become something good for themselves in a career. I do think this is a good category for my magazine to interest this type of person, as my magazine could make them aspire to be like the band in my magazine or start a career in the magazine industry.

12. Qn 5: How did you attract/address your audience? Firstly, I attracted my audience on by front cover by using bright colours, I wanted it to be eye catching and interesting to look at. I think this is vital as people look with their eyes first, and if it isn't interesting, it is very common people will not buy your magazine. I used direct address when taking the photograph, making sure the models were looking out of the magazine, to invite people in, and buy the magazine. Again I wanted the title to be colourful to be eye catching, but to be able to relate to music and something that people do most of the time. So the word Plat was perfect for this, as when you listen to music you press play. The lighting that was used to capture the picture of my models was bright, natural studio lighting. I think this worked well as it links into the bright front cover of what I wanted to achieve.

13. Qn 5: How did you attract/address your audience? To attract my audience of 16+ I did have to think about what the storylines on my front cover could be. The language was very important too, I didn’t want to sound to explicit on the front cover when other people that could maybe not approve of this language, experience my magazine. I used simple and short words on my magazine, so the viewer can read them quick enough and understand most of the story before reading it. I also put all my story lines in different colours so my magazine wouldn’t look boring and plain. I do think having different fonts of my page would make my magazine more exciting. It brings something fresh and unique to the front covers oppose to other magazines. Having the word ‘Play’ down the side of my front cover in different fonts and colours, expresses that this magazine is for both genders and both genders can get a lot out of this magazine. I find the band on my front cover can bring to the attention of my audience as the three girls look like they are jumping pout of the cover, because of being positioned in front of the title. Along with this having their name ‘The Notes’ in bright pink and in front of the girls again, looks as if it is jumping out of the page towards the audience.

14. Qn 5: How did you attract/address your audience? To attract my audience towards my magazine I thought about having a powerful and bold contents page, to show the reader what is in my magazine to continue reading. I think the thing that I had to do was to stay with my background colour all the way through, it shows my magazine flows well and that it all links together. It makes my magazine bright and fresh to read, which is what I want for my viewer. I used a strong and bold title to show what page it is, it lets the audience know what you will find on this page without reading through everything and then realising. I also used large, and bright subheadings for what page is in which category. This way it is easier to find what you are interested in and head straight to that page, or just to show what stories and quizzes are in that category. Using clear and specific fonts was essential to show the audience what this magazine consists of.

15. Qn 5: How did you attract/address your audience? I used the same models from the front cover, just in a different position to have a variety, and so my magazine doesn’t get boring. In addition to this, using direct address entices the audience to read on and it also lets the audience know who the popular article will be about. I also kept with the website for my magazine as to remind the audience to use, and to keep in line with the conventions of a magazine. Plus, using the same colours in the title, again shows how it flows through the magazine, it reminds the reader what magazine they are reading, and again it keeps in line with the conventions. This can also account for the header, reminding the audience what this magazine is about.

16. Qn 5: How did you attract/address your audience? To attract my audience to read my article on the band I continued with using the same coloured background, to show how it all links, also using the same models but in different positions expresses variation, but again flows from the magazine cover. I have used a colourful yet different sized heading to introduce my band. This should hopefully interest the audience to read the article, along with a little paragraph to sum up the interview. Advertising that the band is selling something is also key to attracting an audience. I made this very clear the band is selling something, using a bright red coloured text. I do think I have left quite a lot of space in my article, however this seems to work in my favour as my page doesn’t seem claustrophobic and busy.

17. Qn 5: How did you attract/address your audience? I have used one large picture along with another smaller picture in different positions. This makes my article interesting and for there to be something new to look at. My writing is clear and easy to follow, using different colours for the questions along with different sizes. This creates a fascinating article which should be enticing to read. Plus, I asked questions about music and personal life, giving the audience more than what they thought they would read. Using a quote from my article to break up my page, immediately draws you to read that, and then to want to read the article to find out more about that quote. Again this is vital to attract the audience, and helps with being in a brightly coloured font. I use the word ‘play’ a lot at the top of my page, to remind the audience what magazine they are reading. I have used language that can relate to 16 and older people, but not too explicit, for children to also have a read. I addressed the audience by talking directly to the band, asking questions that would interest the readers.

18. Qn: 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I have used many different pieces of technology to help me with my magazine. These include: Photoshop, InDesign, blogger, scanners, cameras, lighting and dafont.com. At first I really struggled with using Photoshop as I knew nothing about it, but with persevering, and having the patience I finally got the hang of it. I suppose the hardest think I found was remembering how to cut and place a photograph onto InDesign. There were so many minor details that had to be added, to make sure your photograph turned out the best. Another thing I have learnt is to become use to using a mac computer as I am so use to using a windows computer. Plus, along with all the different programmes in different places, it took a while getting use to it. Luckily I brought my own camera into college to use for the photo-shoot, but I learnt different things with the lighting and how to achieve the perfect magazine shot. Learning about the lighting was a great help as I got a range of photographs. I learnt about where the lighting should go to create different shadows.

19. Qn: 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? There weren't many problems I came across but I did find InDesign annoying with the fact that sometimes my picture would cut in half when making it smaller. Another problem was when placing a picture from Photoshop to InDesign, some of my picture would have been deleted in the wrong place, therefore I would have to start again and cut picture from the start. Using blogger has also helped me learn a lot, about posting my own blogs for the future, whether I need to or not. I did struggle at first, getting pictures onto the blog, having to export them into a jpeg then uploading them, but in the end I understood, and it has improved my blogging skills. I used Microsoft excel to achieve an informative questionnaire, finding out about my magazine, and how it has come along. I did find using Microsoft excel extremely confusing, as I have never used it before, but it is a brilliant way to express what people think of my magazine, and whether they would read it or not.

21. Qn 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? I think I have come incredibly far from my preliminary task as I understand the conventions of a magazine and what needed to be put in place to link them together. There needs to be a plain, yet eye catching background to contrast but compliment the fonts, and colours. My final magazine has a much more professional photograph feel to it as oppose to my preliminary task. There isn’t as much on this magazine, as I didn’t have the full understanding of producing a magazine. Placing barcodes, prices, website, and magazine motto are very important in which continueing with my magazine i now fully understand why. Using more of a bigger font about the main article will catch the viewers attention.

22. Conclusion . To sum up my overall magazine I think it has come on a lot I have thoroughly enjoyed make my magazine along with the research tasks, planning tasks and producing the magazine. I would like to think my magazine is of a very strong example, and could be taken seriously in the real magazine industry. I do think it will interest the people I want it to interest, and hopefully maybe people that I didn't think would enjoy my magazine . I can only think of one weakness for my magazine, which is there could have been a bit more things on my front page, however using the white space around things to my advantage could work well and still interest people to my magazine. I think producing my own magazine has been a really good experience, and I have learnt lots of extra skills along the way. Such as: how to write formally for a magazine, people skills, as to working with the models, and working independent, going ahead with your own ideas with no help from anybody else.

24. By Joanna Embley .