Finished Design Work

Front Cover

 Contents Page

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

EVALUATION| QUESTION 7

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

The images above are my finished Front cover and Contents page for my magazine and my preliminary task front cover and contents page.  I believe that I have made alot of progress when looking at the difference between my preliminary task magazine, and my own magazine that I have created. I have picked certain features from my magazine and the preliminary task and below I am going to explain how I have improved and learnt from my mistakes.

EVALUATION| QUESTION 6

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

I used a number of different technological resources in order to make my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Blogger has allowed me to write and publish my work online which I think has been very useful as it easy to get onto and is accessible at all times. Before doing this task I had never used this website before, however I have used the website Tumblr (another blogging website) so I didnt find it very difficult to use. I would be very happy with using this website in the future if needed to be as I have had no problems with it and it has been very useful in presenting my coursework.

YouTube has helped me throughout my work as I have been able to link videos of artists and bands who fit with the genre of my magazine. This then allows you to see/listen to the type of music my target audience would listen to.

I used the website 'Dafont' during the process of creating my front cover, contents page and double page spread to get a range of different fonts to use that weren't already installed on Photoshop. I immediately found some fonts that I thought fitted well with the genre of my magazine on this website and it was very easy to work with (i.e downloading the fonts.)

Photoshop is one of the main softwares that I have used throughout all of my tasks as this is what I created my magazine on. When we first started to work on Photoshop, I did have quite a small piece of knowledge on how to work it but since spending so much time on it while creating my magazine, I have gained more experience on how to use certain tools etc. For example, I didn't know that you could use the 'lasso' tool to help cut out images. This came in very helpful when cutting around the images to put on my contents page, this method allowed it to look much more precise rather than just using the magic wand tool and rubber. 

Another Adobe programme I used to create some of my work was Indesign. I used photoshop to create my front cover and contents page, but I chose to use this to create my double page spread. At the start I struggled using this programme as it was the very first time I had ever used it, but after a few attempts at it (before I started the DPS) I began to understand how to work it. This programme was a lot more useful when creating my double page spread compared to photoshop as it had a tool where I could put in as many columns I wanted, which made it easier to insert the text so that everything was in line and straight.

EVALUATION| QUESTION 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

To help attract my audience, I followed some basic techniques that other music magazines tend to use to appeal their own target audience. I achieved this through the use of colour, images and language.To address my audience for my main task I had to think about how it would be appealing to who my target audience was and if they would see my magazine in the shop and would be interested in buying it. 

Sell line from my magazine

For example,to help attract my target audience I used certain words and phrases as sell lines to catch their attention. As you can see from the image on the right, I used this phrase to help encourage my audience to buy the magazine. With the audience being young girls, they will be interested in getting free posters of a popular boy band so they will be able to stick them up in their room etc.

Main sell line from my magazine 

For my main sell line, I purposely used the words "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW" to persuade the reader to buy the magazine as they will know that there is content inside my magazine that wont be in any other. The words speak out also help to grab the readers attention because it makes it sound more important and serious as if it is something that needs to be said.


This banner also helps to attract the target audience as they will be interested in meeting a boyband that is popular in the charts and would like to be in with the chance of winning. This competition also means that they are having the chance to interact more with the magazine which gives it a more personal touch.

EVALUATION| QUESTION 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my magazine is mainly aimed at young teen girls between the ages of 10-16, however my magazine is suitable for boys if they wished to read it. I think this is a suitable age range for the magazine that I am doing as it matches well with my genre as young girls will be interested in bands/singers in the pop industry. This is also backed up by the price of my magazine as I have made it affordable in order for young teens to actually go out and buy it. The audience will also be interested in the pop genre and will have interests in things such as singing, fashion and artists/band gossip.

After thoroughly looking through my magazine, I have decided that it should only be aimed at girls, due to the fact of the colour scheme and the content. Inside my magazine, I have features that are more relatable to young girls rather than boys and I think that boys wouldn't be interested in the topics that are mentioned throughout. My magazine is alot more suitable for girls.

EVALUATION| QUESTION 3

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

My magazine is aimed at young teens, and falls under the pop/chart music genre. 

As part of my research and planning, I looked at a range of different institutions and found out some information about them in order to decide what would be the best one to publish my magazine Teen Today. I finalised the list of institutions down to 2 which were IPC Media and Bauer Publishing Group.

"IPC Media LTD (formerly International Publish Corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc, is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year."  Magazines such as NME and Look are published by IPC media but both of them don't fit with my target audience or genre. This institution concentrates a lot more on woman's fashion and health magazines, producing a lot more of these than they do music magazines. However, I did notice that Teen Now is published by this company which is one of the magazines that helped influence me when I was creating my own magazine. 

"Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany which operates in 16 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer family. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. " I found out that this publisher is involved with companies like 4MUSIC and Smashhits. These companies mainly focus on Pop music and stuff that is in the charts which appeals to my magazine as this is the type of genre I am going for. Even though BAUER MEDIA produce music magazines such as MOJO and Kerrang, which are completely different genres to my magazine), I know that this company produces a higher range of music magazines compared to IPC Media which concentrates more on fashion.

EVALUATION| QUESTION 2

How does your media produce represent particular social groups?

When you look and compare these two images, you can see that they are both very similar. The image on the left (Actress Hayden Panettiere) and the image on the right (the model of my magazine) are both standing in similar postures. As you can see both of them are standing facing sideways to the camera, only showing one side of their body but have their full face on show. They also share quite similar facial expressions, both looking directly into the camera with a slight smile. Although the posture and expressions are similar, the model on the left has one of her arms holding onto the other, whereas my model is standing with her arms by her side.

One of the main similarities when looking at these two images is the hairstyle. Both the model on the left and my model have their hair up in a bun, showing off their backs and face more. Ellie has gone for a quite simple clothing look, which looks very modern but is still something that a young teenage girl would wear, (this will help meet my target audiences needs) Whereas the model on the left looks quite glamorous being dressed in a golden sparkly dress. Aswell as this, the background setting in these images are very similar with both of them being taken against a white background/plain wall. However, the first image seems to have more light on the models body and face,  suggesting that the photo is intended to attract the audience because of the focus on the body/face, unlike in my photo there isn't a focus on lighting in any particular area of the model. 

Overall, I think that both of these images help to represent normal young girls who are interested in everyday things like fashion and makeup. Even though the image on the left shows the model wearing a more glamorous outfit, the model featured in my own magazine helps to portray young girls who will wear average high street clothes from shops like topshop etc. My models look isn't too extreme or over the top, which will help my target audience to connect with her and may aspire to be like. 

EVALUATION| QUESTION 1

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

When I was creating my music magazine, I knew that certain aspects of it would have to of been to quite similar to other music magazines in order for it to do well with my target audience. To help me get an idea of all the different conventions used in a typical music magazine, I took a look at teen magazines such as Top of the Pops and Teen Now as they both have the same audience that I was aiming for.

For example, this is a screenshot of my masthead taken from the front cover of my magazine. The masthead is a key convention and helps to show the genre of my magazine. I looked at a range of different fonts on 'dafont' but decided to go with using this font in the end as it was big and bold which meant it would stand out on the rest of the page. Even though that it is placed behind the model, you can still make out what it says and doesn't get lost in the image. Similarly to 'Teen Now', the title includes the word 'Teen' which again helps to represent the genre of my magazine and show who it is aimed at.

This is the main sell line on the front cover of my magazine. I decided to place it in the lower rule of thirds but in the centre, this meant it stood out and you knew that the quote went with the main image. I wrote the main sell line in a much larger and bolder font so that the target audience will be able to identify that it was the main story that would be featured in the magazine. This is an example of a convention from a real magazine as this is what gives the TA an idea of what the magazine is going to be about.

This is the main image that is on the front cover of my magazine. It is important that the main image is large and clear as that is what they are like on any other music magazine or any magazines in general. I placed my image in the middle so it took up the full page which helped to make it look more professional and dominant. I took this image in my own house with the help of my friend Ellie to model. I made sure that I asked my model to style in clothes that would fit with the 'pop' genre so my audience would be able to relate to her and it contrasted well with the rest of the magazine.



This is a screenshot of the most necessary information that had to be included on the front cover of my magazine. It was key that I included the issue number, price, date and a barcode as these are conventions that are used for real products. I made the text pink so that it stood out and you were able to find them easily on the page and they weren't lost within the rest of the text that is there.







This is the banner that I included on the front cover of my magazine. This convention is very common in magazines that are of the pop genre, so I thought I would incorporate it into my own work so that it would interest my target audience. I wrote this as my banner as it was related to the genre of my magazine and would help to attract people into buying the magazine.

Contents page 

I think that I have developed the forms and conventions that are used on the contents page of a music magazine. This is because although the layout is quite similar to Top of the Pops magazine, I decided to try putting my own spin on it. For example, in TOTP they section off different features into small boxes, whereas I have created one larger box and wrote inside of it. This also helped to make you focus on it more as I used two different shades of pink to make it stand out. The different headlines allow the target audience to identify what is the magazine and can find certain articles faster and clearer.

Top of the Pops contents page

Top of the Pops also only use a small range of images, so I only used two pictures. I think I would have liked to put a few more in to make it look more appealing but I didn't have enough space. My contents page also challenges the forms and conventions of any other real product because I have only used one page for my contents page whereas the majority of other music magazines use two. I also placed two more banners on the contents page, one of them relating back to the one that is used on the front cover of my magazine. The other banner is a reference to the magazines twitter page which makes it more appealing to the TA as it is giving them more options to interact with the magazine and feel apart of it.

Double Page Spread

I used this sentence at the end of the interview in my double page spread, I put the text into colour which helped to make it stand out on the page and would allow the audience to realise that it wasn't part of the interview. This uses the conventions of a real media product as I have seen a lot of other music magazines do this at the end of interviews.

This is a screenshot of part of the interview in my magazine. I would say that I have developed the forms and conventions of a real media product as I have mentioned the audience in the interview. This will make the audience feel like they have been apart of the process of the interview and will feel happy that their questions are actually being answered.

This is one of the sell lines I have used on my double page spread to help attract the audience into reading the interview. As my target audience are young girls, they will be interested in reading some beauty tips and may aspire to be like the artist mentioned in the interview.

 Another aspect that I have developed from another magazine is the music genre and how my own suggests it. I believe that my own magazine suggests my genre through the use of colour and fonts.  As you can see the main colour scheme I have focused my magazine on is different shades of pink. Pink has connotations of feminism which helps to show that my magazine is aimed at young girls.

Here is a link to the prezi I have created:
http://prezi.com/jzhmub30b17s/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Feedback on my front cover and contents page