Finished Music Magazine

Final Changes

After receiving audience feedback I have decided to make alterations to my magazine to make it more suitable for the genre of my magazine and to fit the audience better. Below are the final copies of my magazine front cover and contents page.

My contents page was very simple and only had 14 pages of contents in the magazine which made it unrealistic, I changed this to make the contents page busier and to add different features and contents in the magazine, above is my finished contents page with the added changes. I think that my new contents page is much more informative, easy to understand and it shows more about the magazine. After my audience feedback I thought that the contents page was unrealistic and didn't show enough information, the new contents page tells the reader more about the magazine.

After receiving audience feedback I have slightly changed the front cover of my magazine, as I said in my evaluation my magazine was aimed at females and rather than just being a music magazine it would feature things like fashion and beauty, I have added to my front cover to show these features in the magazine, this makes the audience know immediately what the magazine is about rather than them having to buy it and read it to know what it involves. I think that my final front page would attract more customers and a wider audience than the front cover which I first created.

Above is the finished copy of my double page spread, my audience feedback for the double page spread was very positive so the only changes which I have made to the double page spread are added page numbers to the bottom of the pages.

Evaluation for music magazine

In what ways does your print product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real print products?
My final product develops conventions of real print products as it is a product which is already available on the market and it is appealing to a smaller part of the market, rather than appealing to a certain music choice my magazine appeals more to females interested in music and fashion, you could say that women’s weekly music magazines are competition for product however they don’t focus on music as a main content. I chose to name my magazine ‘inspire’ as the definition of inspire is ‘to fill or affect with a specified feeling or thought’ I thought this was a good meaning for the name of the magazine as it fills the readers mind with information, feelings and thoughts of music and music is also and inspiration to a lot of people. The reason for my choice of photograph on the front cover of my magazine is I feel it is a natural photograph and as well as my magazine being about music I also wanted it to be an inspiration to people on fashion and beauty too. I don’t think readers are interested in a magazine photograph when the person on the front has been edited a lot to look unrealistic. I chose to stick to a simple colour scheme for my front cover using just black and white writing and also keeping the colour scheme of the photograph very neutral with the flowers in the background being the only colours. If my music magazine was to be sold in a retailer I think that it would stand out on the shelf and wouldn’t blend in with all of the other music magazines as it is unique.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product represents females aged around 16-25 it shows the music interests of this social group and also real life beauty and fashion which interests the social group. When creating my magazine I researched by asking people of this age group what they are looking for in a music magazine, they all said they would to see bands and artists as real people rather than manufactured artists who are told what to say, wear and how to look. I think my music magazine does this well as the models on my front cover are not wearing a lot of makeup and are wearing simple plain clothes, I feel that the photographs show the models personalities and make them more ‘real’

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?
A media institution which may distribute my product is IPC media. IPC Media is one of the United Kingdom's leading consumer magazine and digital publishers, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. IPC media is also the publisher of NME magazine and I think that my magazine would sell well with NME magazine as its like a female more feminine version of the magazine and it isn't really competition for the magazine as they are both appealing to different audiences. Publishers also have competition from other markets, if IPC media published my music magazine then they would be appealing to a market which other publishers are not appealing to.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
As I said above the audience for my music magazine would be females aged around 16-25 interested in soft rock, pop, soul and indie rock music. The audience which I am appealing to is only a small percentage of the music magazine market however I think if this magazine was on sale it would be very popular as there are a lot of ‘women’s weekly’ magazines on the market and they are all very similar with the same information in them I think that the audience my music magazine in appealing to would buy the magazine as they would see it as ‘something different’

How did you attract or address your audience?
I attracted my audience buy creating a magazine for them which isn’t already available on the market, I feel that music magazines such as NME and Q are aimed at a more of a male audience rather than females and if a women’s music magazine was on the market they would be interested to read it, my magazine also offers other things which my audience are interested in such as exclusive interviews, fashion and beauty.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Since starting the media course I have used a lot more technology and learnt to use more programs. I had never done media before until I started it as an AS course at Wyke, before this the only time which I had used technology is at school and at home. At the beginning of the media course I wasn’t confident in using programs like Photoshop however as the year has gone on and as I have learnt more creating the preliminary task and the main task I now feel more confident in using programs such as photo shop to help me to create a magazine. I have also used technologies like digital cameras when creating the photograph for both the preliminary task and the main task. I now feel a lot more confident in using technologies and media studies has helped me with this.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From the preliminary task I have learnt a lot more skills when creating my magazine, I have edited my pictures and created my magazine using different programs for example Photoshop. I have also found easier and quicker ways of creating things however for the main task I spent more time changing the magazine around for it to look exactly how I wanted it and I did more research to get more ideas and looked further into how music magazines are created. During the main task I also focused more on how to attract the audience and how my magazine would come across if it was to be sold at retailers. I think that my skills have improved from the preliminary task and this shows in the main task final product.

Final contents page of music magazine

Above is the finished contents page of my music magazine, when I first researched contents pages from other magazines I wanted to create my contents page to be very plain and easy to use. I think that my contents page has worked well, the font represents the audience well with the girly flowery writing and the pictures are very neutral however really stand out in the contents page and look effective. At first I was just going to have one image on the contents page however I thought that it looked too simple so I added more photographs to make it look more exciting and give it the effect of a photoshoot.

Final double page spread of music magazine

Above is my final double page spread. When creating the double page spread I wanted to keep it simple with just one picture, a main title and an 'exclusive interview' the font I used for the title is feminine and 'funky' which shows the audience the magazine is created for. I also used the title 'here come the girls' as it relates to the audience, the band and music. I kept the colours very simple in the double page spread which brings the photograph out. I also chose to take the photograph on the sofa as the interview is an interview on the 'inspire sofa' each band interviewed by the magazine would have a photoshoot on 'the sofa'. I also slightly changed the layout of the magazine for which I had planned, I moved the text to the opposite side of the page as I felt it fit in with the picture better and I just used one picture so that it would stand out on the double page spread.

Final front cover of music magazine

This is the final product of my music magazine front cover. I chose this layout of my music magazine as I thought it made the magazine look plain and simple yet effective. I think that if this magazine was on the shelves in a shop it would be eye catching as it is very different from all other music magazines. I chose the title 'INSPIRE' as the definition of inspire is ‘to fill or affect with a specified feeling or thought’ I thought this was a good meaning for the name of the magazine as it fills the readers mind with information, feelings and thoughts of music and music is also and inspiration to a lot of people the font which I used for the title is also very delicate and feminine which immediately shows the audience which the magazine is aimed at.

I have only used one picture for the front cover of my magazine as I think if i added more pictures it would take the attention off the main picture. My reason for choosing this picture is the models look very natural which also shows the audience which the magazine is appealing to.

My music magazine looks very original and unique and isn't already available on the market, this in itself will attract the audience which the product is aimed at. I also changed the layout of my front cover to what I had planned, the plugs on the side of the page covered the picture too much and the bottom of the page looked empty with the barcode on its own so I created another plug at the bottom of the page I think this makes it stand out more.

Photographs for my music magazine

Draft of my music magazines

Above is an example of how I am going to create the front cover of my magazine. I want the front cover of my magazine to be simple and to just have one main picture of the band featured in the magazine. I am also just going to have a few plugs on the front cover as I don't want the magazine to look too busy.

Above is an example of how the double page spread of my magazine is going to look, I chose to do the picture as the main feature on the page however I will still have quite a lot of text on my double page spread as this is the page which will have the interview on.

The picture above is an example of what my contents page for my music magazine is going to look like. My contents page will be the page containing the most photos, this makes the contents look more exciting and interesting.

Examples of Music magazines

This front cover from NME magazine is very busy and full, this makes the reader want to buy their magazine as it looks exciting. When creating my magazine I want the front cover to be simple as I think its hard to take in all of the information on the front cover of this magazine as its too busy.

This front cover is from Hip hop magazine, the front cover only has one photograph on and has a very bold title, when creating my magazine I am just going to use one picture on the front cover of the magazine as I dont want it to look busy. I also like how this magazine front cover has only used 3 colours, this is what I would like to create when making my music magazine.

The front cover above is an example from Rolling Stone magazine, I like the way that they have kept to one colour scheme and not used lots of different colours and fonts however they have covered the name of the magazine, this shows that the magazine is well known and people can recognise it just by what you can see in the cover.

Contents Page of Magazines

The contents page above is taken from Rolling stone magazine. This contents page focuses on one main artist rather than all of the artists in the magazine. The picture in the contents page is the main feature of this issue of the magazine, like the hip hop connection magazine Rolling stone don’t use a lot of different colours and just have one picture rather than several. I would like to create my contents page to look like this one from the Rolling stone magazine.

The contents page above is taken from Hip hop connection magazine. This contents page is very simple and easy to use, using one photograph and one coloured font it’s easy to understand. I would like to create my contents page to look similar to this one as I don’t think contents pages should look too full and busy they should be easy to follow and give all of the information needed. The font doesn’t catch the readers attention however the idea of putting the photograph of a celebrity on the contents page gets the readers attention. These colours are used to keep the page simple and so id doesn’t have lots of different things going on.

The contents page above is from NME magazine. This contents page looks very busy and exciting however it doesn’t look easy to follow and read. They have used lots of different colours and fonts making the page look exciting, the title of the magazine is also displayed on the contents page and unlike the magazine above it has lots photographs. As the contents page is the first page in the magazine it’s the first thing after the front cover which the readers look at, this contents page shows the magazine contents as being exciting, fun, busy and hectic. However the page doesn’t give a lot of information, when creating my contents page I would like to create it like the contents page from hip hop connection rather than the NME contents page.

Double page spreads from magazines

This double page spread is an example from hip hop connection magazine, the double page spread is an interview with the artist featured in the picture. I would like to create my double page spread in the style of this one, it doesn’t use a lot of different fonts and colours and it looks really simple yet effective as the title and the picture of the artist really stand out in this double page spread. Although when creating my double page spread I want the picture to be the main feature and I would spread the picture across onto to pages rather than just the one.

The double page spread above is from Rolling Stone magazine, it shows a large image and hardly any text, when creating my magazine double page spread I will have more text as I would like my double page spread to be an exclusive interview with a band whereas this double page spread looks more like and advertisement. The double page spread above is black and white, this is effective as the writing really stands out. I like the idea of using very neutral and not many colours in the double page spread as I think it shows the photograph and the text better it also represents the band in the picture well.

I looked at these double page spreads to get ideas on how to create my own double page spread. This example is from NME magazine, I like how this double page spread was simple, there isn't a lot of colours however it still sands out. I also think that it looks feminine and fits in well with the style of the magazine which I want to create. I think that the picture in this double page spread shows the musicians personality and helps bring her character across to the audience. I like the layout of this double page spread as there is still quite a lot of text even though the picture is big. The colours in the background of the picture are neutral and pale and make the artist stand out in the picture. The title is also big and bold making it noticeable to the reader.

Magazine Identity

Magazine identity

The target audience for my magazine is females age 16-25, I think that this is quite a large target audience however not many music magazines are aimed at this specific audience. My magazine will feature more acoustic and pop music rather than rock music like other music magazines.

I will appeal to my target audience by creating a magazine which I feel is most suitable for them, most 16-25 year old females have an interest in fashion and celebrity gossip as well as music. Although my magazine is a music magazine it will include aspects of fashion and celebrities however it will have exclusive interviews and will mainly have professionally photographed pictures rather than paparazzi photographs.

My magazine will be good quality, will contain a lot and will be issued weekly which makes it more like a womens weekly magazine. The magazine won't be priced too high mainly because it is a weekly magazine and the main target audience is students so they wont want to pay a lot of money for a magazine.

Genre of Magazine

Genre of magazine

As I am creating a magazine which isn’t already on the market it doesn’t have a specific genre. I want to create a magazine which is aimed more at females as I after research there isn’t already a magazine like this in publication. I feel that most music magazines are aimed more at males or younger people.

The genre of my magazine gives it its own individual appeal as there isn’t already a magazine out like this. I am going to create my magazine so its like a women’s weekly magazine but with official interviews and based around music with some fashion aspects.

When researching the genre of my magazine I found that no magazines currently in publication cover this genre. This is the main feature of my magazine, its not already available, people haven’t already read it before and its something different appealing to a large audience.