My final version of my double page spread Radar!

My final version of my contents page of Radar!

My final version of my front cover of Radar!

Evaluation for my magazine

Evaluation for music magazine
For my coursework piece my brief was to create a music magazine aiming at a specific group, who shared a common feature i.e. been in the same target audience/ had a similar interest in genre of music. My magazine had to include conventions, (a masthead, sell lines, barcode e.t.c) of those that appeared in an existing magazine that was similar to the genre I had chosen. I had to produce a front cover, contents page and a double page spread. All of the images and text I used had to be original and produced by myself.

My music magazine was aimed at predominantly females aged between 15-24 with the genre of pop music. As there are not really any magazines that are aimed at this target audience and genre I couldn’t base my magazine on existing products, however I followed conventions of other music magazines. I therefore based my magazine on characteristics that are in pop magazines but are aimed at a younger audience, such as Top of the Pops. This magazine uses bold and bright colours, similar to the use of my colour schemes in my magazine. I then adapted these to make them more sophisticated, so they were suitable for my target audience. I have therefore kept the conventions consistent of existing music magazines. Examples of keeping my magazine the same as existing ones is that I have kept my masthead in the same place and used key features such as headlines. I have also used typical imagery, as on pop magazines you would see a well-focused, medium close-up image.

The models I have chosen are both female this is because the magazine will be typically read by females, so they connect with the audience. I have also made my band members look straight at the camera, as this is another typical convention of a pop music magazine. By making the models look directly at the camera, it shows they are confident and are appealing towards the magazines audience. The facial expressions on the band members face, to show they have a bit of attitude showing they have control of what they are doing. The audience are also drawn to the central point of the magazine, which is one of the band members creating interest. I have also placed strap lines on the magazine, as again this is another convention used. I have made this stand out by using bold colours. When choosing the colours for the straplines I decided to use black and white as they stood out from the background. In my audience feedback the majority of people told me that my magazine was aimed suitably to the target audience, because of key features. On response to my questionnaire they said that the colour schemes where that, that aimed to this age range and the band members in the images used where of a similar age of the target audience so there was a connection between the reader and the band members on the front cover of the magazine.

As I have previously mentioned my target audience was aimed at mainly females between the age ranges of 15-24. As been part of this target audience I know that interests in music changes frequently and this is why the content of what is placed in the magazine is crucial, as it may change quickly.

This chart above shows the social gradings that are given to the population based upon profession. As my magazine I created was aiming at ages 15-24, in terms of social grading I would be aiming my magazine at category E. Individuals in this category have a low economic status, such as students who cannot afford to pay a high price for a magazine. This is why I valued my magazine at a low price of £2.25,every fortnight; this will then be appealing who fall in to this age category. People who fall into this category are students and this is whom I was trying to aim my magazine at. I decided to aim at this group as there was a gap in the market and there is also no other magazine for this age that is just based upon pop music. I then researched fashion magazines to get an understanding of what my age group liked to appear in their magazines. In fashion magazines the models on the pages are wearing the latest fashions, so I knew that my band members had to look fashionable and wearing current styles that are around. In these magazines I realised there where lots of interviews so I knew that on my contents page I had to contain lots of features based upon interviews, which are not just about the music but also the image and the humanization of the artist/band. The images I placed on my magazine represents people of my target audience I have chosen to aim my magazine at because of the models dress code. By my models having a style of clothing of someone who would buy my magazine is a key characteristic, as it shows that the band members are connecting with the audience the magazine is been aimed to. The models are of the same age group of people who would buy the magazine; therefore the audience can connect with those presented in the magazine.

The conventions I placed on my music magazine where those that would be suitable to this target audience. This is because the puff on my double page spread as it will appeal to my target audience. By placing a website on my front cover I know this will relate with my social group, as the majority use it as a way of communication with friends. So by placing a website people can access information from the website at any time. When having a website my audience will be able to access extra information, with video interviews of features within the magazine, there will also be prize giveaways that will be exclusive to the website. However, people will only be to gain these extras having bought the magazine, as a promotional code will be inside the magazine. 

After finishing my magazine I created a questionnaire that I could ask people who were in my chosen target audience. I chose people to fill the questionnaire from my target audience, as this then would be useful to me, as the audience feedback could give me an indication to see whether I had made the magazine appealing or not. If I hadn’t I wouldn’t have completed my aim and wouldn’t be aiming my product at the target audience I had selected. A number of respondents indicated to me that the headlines were eye catching, which shows I connected with the audience I had chosen.

I have chosen that Bauer Media will be my institution of my magazine. I have chosen this institution because they publish magazines for the same age group as I have selected. Some examples of these magazines are More and Heat. My magazine will then be aiming to this age range but based on music. Also from researching I have found out that music channels such as 4 music and Smash hits also share this institution. This is a good feature, as these music channels will play pop music, so this is a good reason why my magazines institution is Bauer. As well as this my magazine could be promoted on these music channels or/and websites such as online radio stations such as Smash Hits Radio! This would then mean my product could be advertised and could be distributed to a wider audience.

The audience for my media magazine is 15-24 years and aimed at people who have a taste for pop music. As there is not an existing magazine already on the shelves specifically based on pop music, I saw this niche in the market to create this magazine to this group of people. I believe by doing this I could make the pop industry better known for this specific audience. I believed that there should be a magazine for this age group based on pop as it is normally targeted at the younger audience, such as the magazine Top of the Pops.

I attracted my audience by including headlines that would be of interest at the current time. I decided to choose suitable headlines that would be relevant to my target audience because if I didn’t this could make my target audience not purchase the magazine. I also attracted my audience by placing one main image on the front cover, so that it would stand out and show that this is the main feature of the magazine. If I had several smaller images I believe the focus would be taken away from the main story. I decided to choose a long shot so that I can illustrate what the band members are wearing. By showing the band members in this position it shows the typical dress of what a pop star wears and this can be reflected to the audience. On the contents page and the double page spread of my magazine I also decided to use medium close up images so that the audience can see what they are wearing as well as they’re facial expressions.  If I didn’t do a close up shot I wouldn’t get this effect. I also made the models look straight at the camera to show that they’re are confident to show to the reader that they are been serious in what they are doing, this is also symbolised in the pose of the models. It shows they are professional and sophisticated I also attracted my audience by including a puff on my double page spread. By using competitions in magazines it attracts the audience to purchase the magazine based on the giveaway. I also included a puff on the double page spread, which was to buy or download the new album of the band on my double page. Even though buying CD’s is on the decline, some individuals in this target market still buy CD’s. So by advertising in the magazine that you can buy the CD shows that people can by a hard copy to keep. This is a good feature to use as when the audience reads the article in the magazine, it is used as a persuasion technique for the reader to purchase the music of that band. Also, I placed a website address on the front cover. By doing this I can attract a much wider audience. People can then access further information but only by codes given away in the magazine, to show that the two pieces of media connect together.

Whilst creating my magazine I have learnt how to use different features in Photoshop. I learnt about layering by placing text and images on top of one another to create a more realistic look. I got to use tools to make text have a stroke effect around it what made the magazine look more professional. I also learnt how to manipulate images, i.e. making them increase in size without making the models stretch or become too skinny. This is beneficial as it still shows that the image looks realistic. When taking these images I used my own digital camera, if I had used a more professional camera I could of got a more professional look. I also used a website called dafont.com, which lets me create different fonts, again I have learnt by using these technologies it gives a more realistic look to the magazine and makes it look like an existing magazine. I believe Blogger is a good website to keep updating work, as it can be also accessed at home. The only down side is blogger only lets you update JPEG images meaning, I had to change my work into a JPEG every time I wanted to upload my work. Even though, I believe Photoshop is a hard programme to use I believe it is good to create products such as magazines. I believe the product I have created is of a good standard, I believe I included key conventions and did lots of research to help with the creation of my magazine. Such as evaluating three different magazines and researching into what magazines are already out there. However, if I had the chance to do this product again I would plan my time wisely and use it more effectively, so that my work was produced at a better quality. I would also retake my images to make them look more professional.

My preliminary task was to create a college/school magazine based upon events happening at a school/college. I believe in this task I didn’t perform to the best of my ability. I think this is because I couldn’t use Photoshop to its full extent and I believe the magazine didn’t look professional, as it could have been. I also didn’t use my time very effectively and I think this was the most important factor in me not producing a well-designed magazine. But then when I was given my main task of producing a music magazine, I began to progress when using Photoshop, I began to pick up different skills and learnt how to use Photoshop more effectively to produce a higher standard of work as before I wasn’t familiar with when producing my college magazine. I also used time management and planned my work carefully so that I could complete my work in steps. I know now by working through work progressively, I can produce my work in steps and not in one big workload.  I also looked at existing magazines for inspiration to again make my work look professional. By looking at these existing magazines I could see they used conventions, which I then applied to my magazine such as house style and colour schemes. Whilst progressing from my preliminary task to my full product I also learnt key conventions which should be contained in magazines, to attract audiences. I also learnt media terminology and how to use this and how to format the layout and structure of a magazine.

Final Amendments for my magazine

I have now completed my magazine and I will now state the final improvements I have made. On my front cover I decided to remove the banner from along the bottom of the page. Although, I believed this was a good idea at first, after feedback it seemed that the magazine was two symmetrical and was boxed together. I have also removed one of the straplines as there was to many on the front cover and seemed as though they filled up all the spaces on my cover. I have also increased the size of my headline as this is the most important feature on the magazine and should be the most noticeable.

This is my final contents page and I have only made slight changes to this. I have made all of the news and features and the regulars articles smaller as upon feedback I was told they look to large and not what is normally seen in a magazine. I have also made the news and features and the regulars titles, be in line with one another so again it looks more professional. I have also shortened down my editors letter as it was to long before. I have finally made a change to the title of the contents page. I have changed the words from "Welcome to Radar!" to "This week in Radar!", I have done this because I believe it looked more realistic of what you would see withinn a magazine.

This is my final copy of my double page spread. The changes I have made to this are firstly I have changed the right hand page colour to a pale blue. This is the same colour as my contents page and shows a contrast between both the contents page and the double page spread. I have also placed a drop capital at the start of the article, this is a traditional convention of what is found in a music magazine. I also placed a pull quote within my magazine, I decided to place this in my magazine as it will attract the audience to read the article. I also created a headline at the top of the page instead of just a quote, this again is what a typical magazine does and I believed it would be better if I used a headline.

Audience feedback

Here is a questionnaire I wrote to get feedback of my magazine, I wrote these questions to help me get an understanding to wether my audience liked or didn't like my magazine. It will also help me to write my evaluation as I can include answers of what the respondents gave me.

• On a scale of 1-10 (10 been the best) how does the magazine generally appeal to you and why?
• Do you believe I have used a consistent format throughout the magazine such as colour schemes and font style?
• Do you believe that if the magazine was placed on a shelf in a newsagents/supermarket, you would be drawn in to buying it? If so what would make you buy it? (colours, headlines, pictures, competitions e.t.c.)
• Do you believe the price of the magazine is reasonable if not why not?
• My magazine is published fortnightly do you believe this is to often or not as frequent as it should be?
• Would you believe the magazine is aimed at the target audience it is supposed to (aged15-24)?
• If you could improve the magazine in any way, what would it be and why?

Questions to answer for my evaluation

For my music magazine evaluation I have to respond to the following questions:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
• Who would be the audience for your media product?
• How did you attract/address your audience?
• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?