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

From looking back at my preliminary task it is obvious to me that I have learnt many things since creating it when comparing it to the final product.

In the preliminary task I had nowhere near the extent of knowledge that I have now and so I have been able to incorporate more of this into my final product. One example of where I have done this can be seen in the overall quality of both of the products. It is obvious how much improvement I have gone through by looking at both products next to each other.

Looking at all of the pages immediately you can see how much I have learnt in the progression from the preliminary task to the final media product. One of the more noticeable changes is the fact that image quality has been drastically improved as on the preliminary task the images look very blurred and out of focus whereas on the final product it is far clearer and makes the magazine look far more professional they are also better positioned on the final product as more space is utilized due to the shape of the images whereas on the preliminary there is a lot of wasted space. So it is clear that I have learnt how to take better quality photos and also how to effectively utilize the space that is provided.

Looking at all of the pages, you can also see that I have learnt how to use Microsoft publisher more efficiently as the final product has far more depth and detail than the preliminary magazine and this is because I have learnt how to use all of the different tools within publisher.

You can also see that  have learnt how to effectively incorporate the codes and conventions of the contents and front pages as on the preliminary I had no knowledge of these codes and conventions and so was only putting things where I thought they should go. On the final pages and in my analysis of codes and conventions you can see how I have incorporated many of these concepts into my final product.

I have also learnt how to use many different concepts effectively as I was working for an extremely specific audience and thanks to the research I conducted into this audience I was able to use photographs of people they would look up to and create an effective mode of address for my audience that I was only able to achieve after learning all about who they were through my research.

Another thing that I have learnt about and incorporated into my product during this project is about the different theories involved in creating magazines. I may not have used them all in my own product but I have learnt how to recognize the male gaze theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, uses and gratifications theory and the theory of hyper reality. All of these theories have meant that I have learnt why magazines are presented in the way they are and they allowed me to make magazine follow some of the ideas too.

In conclusion, looking back at my preliminary task it is obvious to me that I have learnt a huge variety of things in the progression to the full product and this has allowed me to create a very professional looking magazine especially when compared to the preliminary task and I hope these skills that I have learnt will be useful for the foreseeable future.

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

When constructing my product I used a variety of different programs and technologies and so I have learnt many things about them during the construction phase. Some of the programs that I have used include the online survey creation site Survey Monkey, the program for photograph editing Photoshop, the Microsoft creation software publisher and other programs during the creation of my final product.

One of the stages of creating the final product involved me doing comprehensive research into my target audience and to do this I created an online survey through the program Survey Monkey. By creating this survey online I have learnt about how easy digital technology has made this process to be as before collecting data from lots of people would require a huge amount of effort and time but digital technology has made this process extremely simple. Making a survey only took a few minutes and I had responses extremely quickly due to my usage of social media platforms. So one of the things I have learnt technology is how easy programs like survey monkey have made creating surveys and gaining results from them.

Another thing that I have learnt about technologies when creating my media product is the process of using Photoshop effectively. As I could not keep most of the backgrounds from my images this made them look unprofessional and to fix this I had to remove them all somehow and I found that the easiest way to do so was through Photoshop. As you can see from the images shown I removed the backgrounds from many images that I created as this was an easy process and it made the magazine look far more professional. The process made doing this an extremely easy task to carry out and has taught me a lot about how to use Photoshop successfully. It also allowed me to fit images into tight spaces because the nature of my front cover meant that I had to fit the image into the space between the various text articles and other features and Photoshop meant that I could erase the background of the images to make this process easier. Another technique I have learnt from Photoshop is how to effectively crop images as you can see I have cropped the images on my magazine pages, this is evident in the contents page as the image of Aftermath is cropped heavily to fit on the page.

 Another thing I have learnt a lot about is how to use Microsoft Publisher effectively. As you can see from the screen shots below of the progress of my magazine pages I have effectively learnt how to crop images, how to insert my own text onto the pages and how to do many other things. It also shows the different changes that I made and some of the decisions that completely changed the look of the magazine for example the change in the masthead or the introduction of a second page to the contents page.

So from these images hopefully you can see how much I have learnt about Microsoft publisher as the construction took a lot of work and I have come away from it knowing so much more about publisher.

The final technology that I am going to discuss in this question is the online blog. By using the site blogger I have created the blog that you are reading right now and I have learnt many different techniques that are evident when you look around the blog for example I have learned how to embed videos and slideshows directly onto the blog pages so they can be played whilst on the blog. I have learnt how to easily insert images onto the blog posts and I have discovered how to arrange a blog effectively and make it look presentable through background images and colour schemes.

So in conclusion, I have learnt a huge variety of things while creating my media product and this has allowed me to create some of my best work on a computer. These technologies have allowed me to become more efficient in creating content and have provided me with greater control and freedom in creating my own content and making my own mode of address. They will also allow me to reach a wider audience as they can easily be used to achieve this and overall they have allowed me to present my work more effectively in this blog.

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I have used a wide variety of different techniques and theories within my magazine pages.

One of the easiest to discuss and easiest to employ within the pages is the idea of an additional incentive. On the front cover of my magazine I have used an eye catching earpiece that is distinctly separate from the main magazine offering the incentive of free downloads of the latest chart hits. This works extremely well as an additional incentive because it directly relates to the fact that I have created a music magazine but it also connects us directly with the audience as free downloads of music is something that my audience are very much used too as shown by my audience research which found that the second most popular choice for music listening preferences was through downloads and first was through electronic devices which is why the additional incentive caters for both downloading onto an electronic device or onto a computer. To attract the audience I not only used an eye catching ear piece design I also offered an incentive that is within my audience’s best interests and this also promotes synergy because it requires the audience to interact with the magazine website to gain their incentive.

Another way that I attracted my audience was by taking advantage of Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs. Maslow believed that one of our human needs was to have dreams and aspirations that we follow but are unlikely to succeed in achieving. To take advantage of this idea I have presented an ideal figure to my audience on the front cover of my magazine that they would aspire to. I created this figure by giving them characteristics that are desirable to members of my audience as I have discovered in my online survey that most of my audience aspire to be famous and look up to famous people including many famous musicians and so by presenting the figure of Aftermath I am catering to one of their needs by showing them that this dream is a possibility because Aftermath started out in a position that is created to be exactly like their own so this gives them hope and so encourages them to buy my magazine because they wish to know all about this figure so they can become rich and famous just like them.

I have also attracted my audience by following aspects of the uses and gratifications theory in creating my magazine. I have included aspects of all the different parts of this theory as I am informing my audience of the latest music news, I am providing an entertaining thing to do by making the magazine interesting to them, I am giving them conversations to have with friends through the provided information and therefore increasing social interaction, I am providing a small escape from the realities of the world and the stresses of the day and finally I am giving them a level of personal identification through the artists presentation.

Another way that I have attracted my audience is by using them directly as a source of how to structure and create my magazine. When doing research in the early stages of my magazine creation I asked my audience for their input on how my magazine should look in the form of a focus group and I adopted many of the ideas that they suggested so by using them as a source of information I will be attracting their attention as the magazine is made in a way that should appeal to them.

My usage of buzz words on the front cover of the magazine has also led to me attracting my audience as I have provided words like “latest” or “Number 1” on my cover to encourage readers to buy the magazine and attract their attention as my magazine is making bold claims that will attract their attention.

Attracting an audience in today’s society is far more difficult than it used to be and this because my audience has become fragmented making it difficult to attract the attention of the masses but by attacking with a multiplatform approach hopefully this can be overcome as through websites, online subscriptions, TV adverts, online ads, various websites and social media sites I should be able to attract their attention.

Moving on to the second part of this question, I addressed my audience through a mode of address that I felt was suitable for usage in a magazine for them. I tried to adopt a friendly conversational tone when talking to them in the magazine but at the same time I did not use any colloquialisms that would mean that other age groups may not understand what is being said. I also tried to keep the grammar and the words that I used to a basic level as my audience may not understand complicated words. So I tried to address my audience in a way that would seem friendly but not complicated while still staying open to others age groups.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product can be explained through the research that I conducted into my audience through an online survey and by the audience profile page that I produced both of which can be viewed below.

Click Here to view the slideshow

Audience survey presentation and profile page from jammingamer

So the slideshow presentation and the above audience profile page should explain exactly who my audience are but some things that they do not mention where my audience is in the table below which displays the social grades of various classes based on income and work.

Social Grade	Social Status	Occupation
A	upper middle class	higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	middle class	intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	lower middle class	supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2	skilled working class	skilled manual workers
D	working class	semi and unskilled manual workers
E	those at lowest level of subsistence	state pensioners or widows (no other earner), casual or lowest grade workers

My audience is within the C1-D category as they are predominantly teenagers and so they may have jobs at this stage but they may not have any jobs so they could be in any of those three areas depending on the job skill level they have.

So these various pieces of information should give you a good idea of who my audience are.

What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?

To answer this question it is important to place my magazine in an institutional context. In the case of my magazine I think that it is the kind of music magazine that would be on the shelf with magazines like NME or Kerrang as it is very similar in content and style and so I would see it being in the same sort of position as those kind of magazines.

However before deciding on the media institution that I think would distribute my media product it is important to discuss the three options that are involved in the publishing of magazines. There are 3 publishing routes that you can take when publishing a magazine and these three routes are major publishing, independent publishing and self-publishing. Each of the different routes have their own advantages and disadvantages and each route would mean that my magazine would be treated differently in the industry.

Major publishers are big institutions that are usually owned by corporations for example IPC (One of the largest publishing companies around) are owned by Time Inc. These major publishers typically publish a numerous amount of magazine titles that cover a wide range of genres and different audiences. These major publishers have the advantage of typically being vertically and horizontally integrated within the industry and so it is easy for them to publish titles as they own all the stages of production and distribution and many of the forms of production and distribution. Some of the advantages involved with using major publishers is that have an established status in the media already, the payment is not as much your responsibility as it is shared and they cover a wide range of magazines and if they do not already publish your magazine they are very likely to want to publish your magazine as it helps them to compete with rivals for example IPC do not publish any music magazines that are similar to mine and many other publishers do and so they may want to publish my magazine so they can compete with their rivals. There are disadvantages involved with using major publishers though, for example most major publishers will already be publishing many different magazines and so they are likely to already be publishing a magazine that is similar to the one you are trying to publish, in the case of my magazine if I wanted to get Bauer to publish mine I would have trouble as they already publish the music magazines Q and Kerrang and both of these magazine titles are similar to my own. Another disadvantage of using major publishers is that you would lose a lot of the control that you may have had over your magazine as they will have a large involvement in the way the magazine is produced. So, overall major publishers can be a good option to use for a magazine distributor but it is very dependent on the major publisher and on your own magazine.

Independent publishers are usually small publishing houses that only really publish one or two magazines and usually these magazines will be produced for niche audiences as they are not covered by other publishers. An example of an independent publisher is The Slow Journalism Company, they publish a magazine called Delayed Gratification which is a multi-topical magazine about the world. They only sell this magazine via their website, subscriptions or in independent bookshops and all of these options are typical of independent publishers as they are not usually vertically or horizontally integrated due to their low status in the industry. Independent publishers do have advantages though for example, they are extremely unlikely to currently be publishing any magazines that are similar to mine as they usually only cater for niche audiences but it would be difficult to convince them to publish more than one magazine. Another advantage is that is it likely to be a much cheaper option than major publishing due to the nature of the industry. Publishing with an independent publisher would also give me far greater control over how my magazine is produced as they tend to nurture designs rather than change them. However, independent publishers do have disadvantages to think about for example the fact that they only cater to niche audiences and can only publish a few magazines at a time means it would be difficult to convince them to publish my magazine. It would also be extremely difficult to rise above the major publishing houses as they have much more power and money in the industry. So overall, independent publishing could be a valid option for the distribution of my magazine but it would require finding a publisher that would take my magazine on and it would also be difficult to become well known from an independent publisher.

Self-publishing is the other option involved in deciding on a suitable distributor, self-publishing can mean two things but one of them is far more prominent in today’s society. Self-publishing used to mean creating your magazine and publishing it yourself for example the magazine Sniffin Glue was published in this way. However in today’s society it is more to do with creating your magazine and then distributing it online or through an e-mail subscription service, these magazines are usually referred to as e-zines. This route is obviously not vertically or horizontally integrated as it has no involvement with the industry only by using digital technology. An example of a popular web-based magazine/newspaper is The Huffington Post which is essentially a free online newspaper which uses social media to gain viewership or circulation. Many magazines and newspapers have adopted this way of publishing now as it is extremely cheap and digital technology is becoming more and more prominent as people are becoming digital natives. Some of the advantages of using self-publishing is that it gives you complete control over your magazines production, it is essentially a free method and it can allow you to reach a huge amount of people thanks to the nature of the internet. Some of the disadvantages of using it is that it is extremely difficult to gain any popularity or recognition from the general public as there are so many magazines out there your own can get lost, speaking of other magazines it is extremely likely that somewhere out there another magazine which is similar to yours will also be available online and so competition is a big problem. A problem that some magazines may suffer is that their audience may not trust the internet but my audience being aged 16-24 are very familiar with the internet and so would trusts.

So, after reviewing each of the different publishing options I think that the best distributor to choose for my magazine would be a major publisher because when self-publishing it is difficult to get recognized amongst the competition and my magazine is the type of magazine that would have lots of competition due to its popular genre and large audience. Independent publishing may not be the best option either because I am unlikely to find an independent publisher that would take on my magazine due to its large audience and nature.

I have decided that it would be a good idea to use IPC as my publisher because looking at the magazines that they currently publish they do not sell one that it like mine and so they would be likely to be fond of the idea of publishing a magazine they do not currently publish as this would help them compete with their rivals in the industry.

In planning for the distribution of my magazine I think a multi-platform approach is a requirement due to the nature of my audience. An online presence is a must as I have found that my audience spends around 6 hours a day online and so having a Facebook page, a twitter page, a YouTube channel, a magazine website and other online presences is essential. People should also be able to read my magazine on electronic devices and online as the nature of today’s society and my audience negates that this would help get my circulation higher. Thinking about my point of sales, I think it would be wise to offer distributors a discount for the first few issues if they place my magazine in a prime location on the shelves as this will get any readers interested in the magazine and when it is not in the prime spot anymore they should hopefully look for it and become dedicated readers. Perhaps a deal can be worked out with IPC to include free previews of my magazine in titles they currently own to let people know about it and to hopefully get them interested in it as well. Also I think additional incentives of perhaps free downloads in every issue would be a very valuable point of sale.

So to answer the question, the kind of media institution that would distribute my product is a major publisher as this has come out as the best option for my magazine after reviewing all of the different publishing methods. The best major publisher that I have found to distribute my magazine is known as IPC Media. I think they would want to distribute my product because it is not something that they are currently selling and this is something that other major publishers are publishing and so it would help them in competing with their rivals if they distributed my media product.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

When creating my media product I decided that I would try and create a realistic representation of particular social groups by not changing my photographs in editing software to create an unrealistic representation of those social groups through the ideas of hyper reality. In my media product the only social group that I have represented clearly is teenagers as this is the group my audience will connect with as they are the same age although this group can be divided into genders, ethnicity and social class.

These are all of the people that I have represented within my media product. All of them are aged between 16 and 24 which is the age group of my audience. As you can see from the images that I have used I have tried to represent a broad range of different personalities and people through the way that they are presented.

Referring to the picture of the long haired teenager wearing a hat, I have tried to represent them as if they are a normal teenager so as to make it easier for my audience to connect with this figure as one of the things I discovered through my survey was that my audience want to be famous and by presenting a famous character as just like them I am giving them this image which directly relates to the theories of uses and gratifications and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as dreams and aspirations and personal identity are relevant. One of the main ways that I have achieved this is through the background that I have used, as you can see the background is of a normal back garden area with a shed, fences and plant life. I have used this backdrop because teenagers usually live at home with their parents still at the age of 16 and as this is the majority of my audience I decided to give my artist this same backdrop of living with his parents and so the photos are taken in their back garden. I have also tried to connect this figure with a current teenage audience by presenting them as trying to buck the trends of fashion which is something that teenagers will do very often. I have done this by showing them wearing a hat that is unusual which is something that you do not see in today’s fashion and so this would make my audience connect with this figure. The final thing that I have done with this character is that I have made them wear the colours red and black. As you may already know the 3 colour scheme for my magazine is red, white and black and by making this artist wear the colours red and black I am connecting them with my magazine image and therefore subtly implying to my audience that someone who is a famous musician (A figure that my audience aspire to be) enjoys my magazine and so this would make my audience want to continue reading my magazine as they may believe that they can become rich and famous through reading it. This follows the ideas set out by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as one of the steps of this theory is the idea that we seek self-actualisation which is our dreams and aspirations and as I discovered during my survey becoming a famous musician was a popular dream amongst my audience.

The next photo that I will be discussing is the one of the two figures looking off to the distance. With this image I decided to present a different part of my audience and so I photographed the two figures looking distant as if they are daydreaming or looking ahead to better things. I decided to do this because my audience of teenagers are still deciding on their futures and they have to make many important decisions in their life at this point in time. So by presenting these two figures as looking distant as if they are thinking it connects them with my audience as they too are making many decisions at this point in time. I have however followed the hegemonic values of the representations of teenagers by representing the two figures wearing black, dark outfits and one of them is also wearing a hoodie. These are stereotypical representations of teenagers in today’s society and they are fairly negative connotations that have been created by the mass media so I have followed these conventional images of teenagers by presenting them in this way.

However, contradicting my negative representation of teenagers as stated above, in the picture of the boy in the jumper with headphone round his neck, I have presented a different representation of teenagers in the form of an indie artist. The clothes that they are wearing are almost completely opposite to the stereotypical representation of teenagers as they are the sort of clothes you would see someone slightly older wear and so by presenting this artist in this way I am subverting the negative stereotypes that are usually present in magazines when teenagers are represented. I have also shown that he is wearing headphones in this image which will connect him with current audiences as usually most of my audience’s time is taken up by listening to music through headphones and so by showing him wearing headphones I am connecting him with my audiences and further proving that normal people can become famous and so I am following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs by making my audience’s dreams and aspirations look more realistic.

The final artist that I represented in my magazine is also following stereotypical representations of teenagers as I have represented this figure as a slightly scary hooded figure which is the generic presentation of a teenager in the mass media. I have achieved this representation through the clothes that I have used and the angle the photo was taken from. I chose to present this artist in a black hoodie as this presents him as a dark character that can be scary at times. However, by presenting him in this way I am following the dominant hegemonic values of this particular social group as this is the way they are presented in the mass media. I have also followed this representation through the angle that I took this photo from as the figure is shown as above the camera as it is a low-angle shot and so gives him power as he is above the viewer. By presenting this artist in this way I have reinforced the dominant ideology surrounding this particular social group.

Something that I have not discussed so far however is how I have represented gender in my magazine. In my magazine I have presented a very male dominant representation of my artists as all of my artists are male and by doing this I am following the stereotypical views about a patriarchal society.

Contradicting the gender inequality within my magazine I have presented ethnicity fairly well as I have presented a variety of different artists through different ethnicities as you can see from the images above so I have presented ethnicity in a better way than genders.

Another thing that I have tried to do with the artists in my images is present them all as having the same social class and background as my audience members. In have done this by presenting one of my artists as still living at home with their parents and by having another wearing a hoodie which is stereotypical of my audience members. By doing this I have provided my audience with another link to my artist and therefore am continuing to follow Maslow’s hierarchy as I am showing their dreams and aspirations to be far closer than they are in reality.

I have not just represented particular social groups through images though as I have also created a representation of my audience through the mode of address that I have used. In my magazine I have not used any colloquialisms of my audience as they would be generic terms that if someone other than my audience read my magazine would give them the impression that all members of my audience are hoodie wearing figures in the dark. So throughout the magazine I have tried to keep a friendly conversational tone. As you can see from the image I use a very conversational tone and use words that are not too grammatically complex or over the top while still informing the readers of what is to come in the magazine.

So in conclusion, I think that I have represented members of my audience in quite a diverse way as through the artists I have featured I have presented at least 3 different types of character in the images and only one of these views is conforming to the stereotypical view of 16-24 year olds. I have followed this up by using a conversational and friendly tone when addressing my audience as the mode of address also creates representations. So I have created a fair and diverse representation of particular social groups in my media product.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product is very conventional in the way it is structured and presented to my audience some pages far more than others. It is very similar in the way it was created to the music magazine the NME. I decided to follow this structure because the NME’s audience is very similar to my own and they are one of the highest selling magazines in the music industry currently in print.

The first page of my magazine is the front cover, on this page I have been very conventional in the way it was constructed and this can be seen in many of the different aspects of my front page. As mentioned earlier the NME has been one of the magazines that I have followed in the way it is constructed for example my masthead is very similar as it is an acronym has a very similar colour scheme and is positioned in almost exactly the same place. I have chosen to follow the NME’s structure because they have a similar audience to my own and their circulation figures are very high for a music magazine of the same genre as my own. My audience research showed me that my audience do not read many magazines currently and so as the NME still has a good readership I believe that by following in their footsteps I will gain a large readership of my own.

I have also used banners on the top and bottom of my magazines as they are conventional of magazine front covers and they are also a good way of subtly indicating that your magazine is packed with content especially if you develop this convention with the usage of a plus sign which further indicates a magazine that is packed with additional content. The plus sign is a developing convention that is used in a few magazines but is becoming a conventional feature of magazine front covers as it useful in indicating the content of your magazine and in attracting your audience.

Another convention of front covers that I have followed is the usage of a main figure in the centre of my magazine. This figure is the artist from the feature article of my magazine and they are presented in a way that should attract my audience. However, the inclusion of this figure within my magazine is not entirely conventional because I have left the original photograph in its original state besides removing the background, by doing this I am going against the idea of hyper-reality which creates an unrealistic representation of what a person should look like and most magazines will follow this through airbrushing and other techniques so I am breaking the conventions here by not using any software to edit my artists and create an unrealistic representation as all the photos used in my magazine are completely unedited except background removal.

My front cover follows many conventional ideas of front covers and of music magazines in the way I have structured it. I followed this pattern because I believe that by following some of the standards set by the NME I can have success with my own magazine as they have had a very successful run and the way their magazine is structured is quite conventional. In the comparison below you can see the similarities between my magazine and theirs.

As you can see the two magazines are both similar in following conventions for example the usage of features inside the magazine being mentioned on the front cover is a convention of front covers and both of the magazines above follow that pattern. Both magazines also use a banner at the top and RIE uses a banner at the bottom of the cover, both of these features are conventional of front covers and they feature in most magazine covers. Both magazines also follow the same 3 colour scheme of red, black and white (although the NME also frequently uses yellow) and 3 colour schemes are also conventional of music magazines and they also help to codify the front cover to the audience.

Other features that I have used on my front cover that show that I have followed many conventions of magazine front covers are the usage of a barcode, a price, a date, an issue number, an earpiece and the headings and subheadings. All of these features are minor things that are on the front covers but they help to create the conventional magazine front cover that I have created here.

Overall I think that the front cover of my media product uses the conventions of real media products in many different ways and in some cases develop them slightly to create something better and I believe that by uses and developing current conventions of front covers I can attract current audiences that are interested in my genre to my own magazine to create success on the level of the NME.

The second pages that I created were the contents pages and for these pages I have followed many conventional ideas from music magazines but I have also broken some conventions with what I have tried to achieve in my magazine pages.

The way I have laid out everything on the right page is done in quite a conventional way with all of the contents of the magazine placed under different sections based on their contents and they are ordered chronologically by page number as this helps the reader to easily find features of the magazine and navigate it with ease.

I have also kept the brand identity extremely clear on these page with the use of my three colour scheme of red, white and black which is also conventional of music magazines as they all stick to their brand identities.

 I have also used lots of different images of different artists to portray the idea that my magazine is packed with content and also because contents pages conventionally use lots of images to represent the contents of the magazine.

 In the top right corner of the magazine I have also written a short editors letter. The editors letter is a conventional feature of contents pages but they are usually much longer and used to have a page to itself but due to the fact that my audience are aged 16-24 I decided to keep the editors letter short so as to keep with the correct mode of address as people of this age like to get lots of information very quickly. The editorial also provides a picture of the editor as this gives the reader a personal connection to the magazine as it can make you feel like you know the person and this is also conventional. So I have used a conventional idea in including an editorial but by changing how it is usually used I am developing this convention.

So, I have followed many conventional ideas when coding my contents pages for my media product however, I have also tried to make my contents page different and unique by adding a second page to my designs. Originally my contents page for my media product only consisted of the page on the right but after consideration I decided to take a different approach by doing something similar to the double page spread design of having the second page be taken up mostly by an image. I decided to do this to create a large amount of focus on the feature artist Aftermath as they are the idealistic figure that my audience would aspire to due to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I also wrote their name in huge letters along the side to make them seem far more important than anything else. I believe that this is a very unconventional design and by doing this I have coded my contents page in a completely different way as I have created a huge impact on where the focus will be n these two pages whereas conventionally contents pages will have a few images of similar size and the contents will all be the same size.

I have also done another unconventional thing on my contents page as I have used small straight black liens to separate each different feature listed in the contents. I have done this to make all of the features clearly separate to my readers as my audience are of the age where everything must be extremely clear to them and so I am catering to this in an unconventional manner.

The final pages that I created for my media product consisted of the double page spread. On these pages I have followed a completely conventional path in creating these pages as I have used a similar design to many existing media products.

 I have presented the article itself in columns of small easy to read text that are aligned to the left to provide easy reading and navigation for my audience. I have used one large image to make up most of one of the pages which is a technique that nearly all of the existing music magazines use on their double page spreads and in doing this I have kept in mind the rule of thirds which makes the image more interesting to look at.

My media product also conforms to the conventions of double page spreads in the way that I have used quotes around the article and as the title to give a glimpse to my audience of what the article is about.

Other conventions that I have followed of double page spreads within my own pages include my usage of other images, page numbers, the consistent brand identity, a lead paragraph, drop capital, and a personalized tombstone with my magazine title. These small touches help to create a more conventional double page spread as they present the pages in a more conventional way.

I have included an unconventional section in my double page spread however as I have used an information box in the bottom left corner of the pages and this is mostly included because my audience have short attention spans and so need a quick burst of information about this person to remain interested in them and by providing this I am breaking conventions and catering to the needs of my audience.

So in conclusion over the pages of my media product I have provided a mixture between a conventional music magazine and an unconventional magazine due to the way that I have coded it to be structured in a way that benefits my audience rather than sticks to the generic normal conventions. 

Flat Plans

Just the finished magazine pages placed together as a flat plan to demonstrate the brand identity and consistency of the pages.

Click on the image to see a larger version

The Final Product

So after many months of research and planning the finished pages have been constructed and are shown below.

So as you can see I have tried to stick closely to my rough designs and I have taken into account all the research that I have conducted.

Contact Sheets for Photoshoot

Below is a collection of all the images I took of the person who would be the character in my magazine 'Aftermath'. All photographs were taken with a digital camera by me.

As you can see, I have tried to take a large variety of photos of the artist to try and get some of the best photos I could. I have drawn red lines over the ones that I am not going to use for various different reasons. The photographs without lines over them are the ones that I will be using in the final product. The 4th image on the top row is going to be the front cover image because I think it would work well as the text could wrap around the figure and the guitar could possibly overlap something as this is conventional. The 5th image on the top row would need some heavy editing as there are many background objects present but I like this image as it could be used to present the figure as leaning on something which shows a laid back attitude. The last image on the contact sheet is the one I will use for the large background image on the double page spread because it showcases the artist well and follow the rule of thirds technique and so provides plenty of article space next to the figure's head. The remaining images will be used around the double page spread because they are images that i think best showcase the artist.

Rough Designs

Below are some rough designs done on paper that I created of what I would like my final magazine to look like. I have tried to incorporate many of the ideas and features that I have researched about and talked about with my audience.

I have also included some early masthead designs that I came up with. I liked all of the masthead designs and after consulting members of my target audience we decided that elements of all of them would be a good idea.

Hopefully when it comes to the final product my pages will look similar to these designs.

Extra Research - Music Magazine History

I also conducted some research into the history of music magazines to discover how they have changed and adapted due to the current times and interests. This helped me see how and why the magazines became what they are today.

Magazine History Visual Presentation from jammingamer

Click here to view the slideshow

Existing Magazine Analysis : Double Page Spread

To further my research into music magazines I continued my analysis of existing magazines by looking at various different double page spreads. These can be seen below with detailed analysis.

As you can see from this analysis of a Kerrang double page spread it presents a fairly conventional view but also a very professional take on the double page spread and so I am confident that this is the kind of deign I would like to create in my double page spread.

This magazine does things a little differently to the normal conventions of magazine pages as it uses only one image rather than quite a few it also presents a huge article title. The figure on the pages is also presented in line with the male gaze theory. 

This Q double page spread presents itself very much like a professional newspaper and is confined in a very formulaic way as everything is laid out in the 'correct' place. I am not sure about whether I like this design and I believe the Kerrang one illustrates how I would like mine to look.

So after analyzing all of these pages I believe that the look for my magazine is very similar to the one achieved in the Kerrang double page spread as this seems in line with how my audience would have liked it to be presented as I learnt from my audience research. So I will have one image across both pages and the main article and various images spread mostly across one page.

Existing Magazine Analysis : Contents Page

Continuing my research into existing music magazines I decided to analyse the codes and conventions of contents pages of various music magazines.

The first magazine contents page that I looked at was from Kerrang and like most magazines it is very conventional in it's design.

The second contents page that I analysed was the NME and once again it was fairly conventional but it had a few features that were unique in it's design.

 The third contents page that I analysed was of Q magazine and this once again presented a fairly conventional view of contents pages.

So after analyzing many different contents pages I found that most music magazines follow a fairly conventional structure and this tells me that I should probably follow this conventional structure. I think I will definitely include an editorial as this helps to really connect the audience with the magazine and make them feel addressed. I will probably do this through the mode of address too.

Existing Magazine Analysis : Front Cover

To further my knowledge of magazine codes and conventions I analysed various different front covers of music magazines that were similar to the genre of my own.

One of these examples is the NME

After a lengthy analysis of the front cover I decided to do an analysis that was based more around the theories involved with magazine front covers.

I did this by analyzing the Q front cover below.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

This magazine cover uses Maslow’s hierarchy of needs quite obviously through the usage of a close up of the singer Cheryl Cole. Cheryl Cole is a well-known singer and previous TV talent show judge and so many people would call her famous and a celebrity. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is all about the idea that we as humans have needs and the need that he placed at the top of the hierarchy was our dreams and aspirations. By placing a figure like Cheryl Cole on the front cover of this magazine they are directly trying to relate to their target audience as it is likely that the target audience dream of being a famous singer just like Cheryl Cole. They also use the phrase “Cheryl Cole Rocks” which also entices this feeling of people wanting to be like her as they would want to be described like that and placed on the front cover of a magazine. So the magazine is using the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs here to gain sales because people may buy the magazine because they think that they might become Cheryl Cole if they buy this magazine just because she is on it.

Uses and Gratifications

The magazine cover also complies with the four ideas put forward in the uses and gratifications theory. This theory claims that there are four main reasons why we use and consume the media. The four main reasons that it suggests are for information, for entertainment, for personal identification and for socialization. You can see these four concepts being represented on the magazine cover. Firstly they are enticing an audience in by trying to make them think that they have lots of information within the magazine by using stats and buzz words (“The 10 Best New Acts” and “The UK’s biggest music magazine”) both of these quotes create an idea that the magazine contains useful information and so therefore is representing information in the concept of uses and gratifications. They also use the word more on the cover to convince the reader that there is so much in the magazine that they couldn't fit it all on the cover. It can also be said to use the value of entertainment on its front cover because it provides numerous buzz words on the cover to make it seem exciting like “Rocks”, “Best” and “Biggest”. These words make people think the magazine is entertaining because they are excitement inducing words and they make the audience want to read it. They represent socialization as well because they mention content on their cover that could be discussed among friends or family like a list of the upcoming acts and a preview of the next year and in today’s society these are easy conversation topics. Finally, they also represent personal identification in the form of using Cheryl Cole on the front cover. As mentioned while discussing Maslow’s hierarchy, Cheryl Cole is a figure who people want to be like as she is famous and so people have this personal identification with her because they want to be her. So the magazine complies with all the aspects of the uses and gratifications theory all over the front cover, there is no direct reference to anything to do with exchange which is a more recent possible addition to the theory but this could be due to the cover being fairly old as recent magazines usually contain exchange on their front covers (QR codes, free downloads etc.).

Male Gaze Theory

It can definitely be said that the male gaze theory comes into play within this magazine front cover as it is immediately apparent in the photograph they have used. The male gaze theory is a concept argued by Lara Mulvey who said that the camera is male and that women are objectified by the camera as they are made to look weak and vulnerable due to an assumed male audience and the camera being male. In this photograph there are many aspects which comply with the male gaze theory for example she is using direct address which means that she is looking directly into the camera which gives her a very seductive look as she is in a way staring right at the reader. She also is touching her mouth with her hands which is a very childlike thing to do and so it therefore is representing as weak and vulnerable because these are typical traits of a child. She is wearing red lipstick and red has connotations of love and passion and she is also almost licking her lips in anticipation as she knows that the reader is looking at her. However she is wearing a spiked ring which suggests are more powerful role so the male gaze theory is also being subverted by this image but it is mostly being complied with. So the male gaze theory is used heavily within this magazine front cover.

Hyper Real Theory

I cannot comment on the hyper real theory in too much detail in relation to this magazine cover but you can see aspects of it. The hyper real theory is a theory that claims that our perception of reality is simulated and created for us and by us to be as perfect as possible. This can be things as simple as mowing the lawn or as extreme as changing someone’s appearance through technology. Jean Baudrillard suggested that due to the progress of technology this simulated reality is becoming more and more apparent in society. In relation to the magazine cover, it is more than likely that they have used a photo editing program to change the appearance of Cheryl Cole in the photo for example they may have removed any signs of imperfect skin or the appearance of bones under the skin to make her have this perfect figure and therefore creating this hyper reality. She also appears to still be very glamorous even though she is obviously getting drenched by the water that is falling around her so they may have edited this part of the image to help create this hyper reality.

So by analyzing how all the different theories are used on this front cover and by looking at all the codes and conventions of the NME cover I now know how I should construct my magazine if I am to follow the conventional way of creating magazines and looking at these two examples I think it would be best if I followed the codes and conventions as in my audience research I found that they liked current designs and not designs that subverted the usual conventions.