The brief we were given was called our foundation portfolio it asked us to create an original music magazine, we had to include a front cover, a contents page and a double page spread, within these products we must have had at least four original images. The products we were to produce all had to follow a particular genre of our choice. In the end I choose my magazine to be Indie/Alternative. When I found out the brief I believe the best way to produce a professional magazine is by doing in depth research. I chose three different magazines that were similar to what I wanted my magazine to look like I used the L.I.I.A.R analysis which helps me analyse the language, ideology, institutions, audience and representation of magazine features and then I analysed the front cover, contents page and double page spread all individually. I analysed them on characteristics such as photography placement of text, mast head and puffs, the conventions used in magazines of that genre. This is shown in posts (my L.I.I.A.R analysis of three magazines, 23rd November 2010 http://kyraarthur.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-liiar-analysis-of-three-media.html
) When I discovered the band I was going to feature throughout my practical products, I conducted research on how smaller bands that contain two – three members are photographed and represented as show in post (Photographic Research, 15th December 2010, 11.01 http://kyraarthur.blogspot.com/2010/12/photographic-research.html) The conventions of this genre are vintage clothing, piercings and tattoo’s more conventions are explained in one of my previous posts (music genre on 23rd November, 2010 at 9:02) There is also conventions such as Not afraid to be Scruffy, Mainly male bands, Bracelets, Unusual album artwork and Deep, meaningful lyrics. I believe my magazine is very conventional as my masthead is placed in the top right hand side it is a bold colour with a contrasting colour outline, This is a convention because when the magazines are stacked and racked in the shops you can usually only see the top right hand corner and they have to stand out to all the other magazines. The headline is placed in the centre and is the same colour as the masthead, you can also find strap lines which you find on a real magazine cover. Also there is a barcode and issue date, price and issue number in the lower right hand corner. My contents page also follows conventions by having a large title at the top of the page in the centre, having lots of headlines with the features underneath they all have page numbers which is seen on professional magazine contents page. My double page spread follows conventions by having a large picture of the main artists and having a large centred headline, the text of the article is also sorted into columns which is seen in all magazine articles. Also I have used drop caps for the start of the articles intro and main body. Then to attract my audience to read my article I have used up out quotes, which is seen in many magazines so it makes the reader want to read on and finish the article.
My magazine represents my targeted social group (young adults – 16-25) by on the front cover offering the reader to ‘win free gig tickets for a whole year’, and also ‘the top 10 must have gifts’. The genre Indie/Alternative has a mainly male audience such as magazines like NME who have a 73%/27% male/female ratio (http://www.nme.com/mediapack/pdf/nme_media_information_full.pdf). However my front cover features a female band, This may attract females as the girls want to be like the band, or this may make males want to buy my magazine as they may be attracted to the band. My contents page features artists who that age range are interested in such as ‘Vampire Weekend’ and also ‘Tinie Tempah’. On my double page spread ‘the only exceptions’ are around my target age range and also are interested in the same things my audience are interested in such as hobbies and past times technology and festivals. The interview that is featured on my double page spread asks questions that I’m sure my audience would ask and want to find out, making them want to read all of the article.
I believe an institution such as Bauer Media as rival magazines such as NME are published by IPC media. I believe my magazine is very similar to NME apart from NME promotes new music I want my magazine to be produced in a similar way and follow a similar format. However I want my magazine to feature a few more mainstream artists. I think also my magazine and NME have the same target age range and the same readership profiles for example I believe my audience would see music as a main part of their live and I also expect the audience for NME and my magazine AMP to have same interests and hobbies such as playing sport going to the cinema and socializing with friends. They also have the same price range as NME and are published at the same intervals e.g. Monthly. Also at this moment in time Bauer Media doesn’t not publish any magazine like mine or a magazine that in anyway could rival NME. This is why I believe that Bauer Media should distribute my magazine.
I believe that the target audience for my magazine is the age range of about 16 – 25 as the genre of the music in my magazine has had a greater effect on this generation than any other however the fact that chart music sometimes features in my magazine this may target a younger audience however they will not be able to attend festivals so my magazines strap lines still target an older audience. The fact that the artists are within this age range and also the fact that on my double page spread the artists say that they would like to offer a student discount this directly relates to my audience and helps them identify with the artists. Also on my contents page it has features such as ‘this months top 10 albums’ and ‘your letters’ these features are what my target age range most enjoy reading these things. Also on my contents page it says about ‘in the spotlight’ a feature that introduces the readers to new and upcoming bands I feel that this is relevant to my target audience as people of that age are all about finding new music and talents and as technology has advanced things such as YouTube has made the generation able to access these artists and this has helped encourage their find for new music. So I believe this was a relevant thing to add to my magazine and helps attract the audience. This is another reason why on my contents page I have featured a website for my magazine as my target generation are driven by the internet and technology.
My magazine attracts it’s audience in many different ways. The first is by the style of the masthead, the font is very distinctive and not conventional and helps me connote the alternative genre. The way the artists are photographed make them look like they are having fun, full of live and that they are crazy, This is similar to how I expect my readers to act and behave. It helps the audience to relate to the artists. Just like on my double page spread I made the artists appear as normal and down to earth as possible, so the audience can relate to them and maybe hope that they will be in their position one day. The clothes that the artists are wearing are normal clothes found in high street shops they also match the genre of my magazine as the artist are wearing checked shirts and skinny jeans ‘music genre on 23rd November, 2010 at 9:02’ and the clothes of the artists may be similar to the audiences clothes nothing designer or out of their price range and maybe the audience see something of themselves in the artists. Also on my contents page the fact that you can subscribe and save money this will relate to my audience as many of them may be students struggling with money.
I believe that the range of technologies we’ve used such as Adobe Photoshop have helped me produce a more professional magazine. As Adobe Photoshop has many features that helped me achieve and create the exact pages that I had in my mind. Out of all programmes similar to Adobe Photoshop, I believe this one is the best and helped me complete my work to the best I could. While I was researching my magazine and created the basic ideas of what I wanted it to look like, I created simple drafts on Microsoft Publisher as it was easy to use, and was the best programme for me to achieve what I wanted as shown (my draft cover, 9th December at 9.57. Also Draft contents page, 13th December at 13.37) I also believe using websites such as blogger was a great idea, as we could look back and review our work and if we were then not happy with it, it could be easily changed and put right, something that we would of not been able to do if everything had to be written. It also helps keep everything in the same place and all together while we were making so many changes, some of them minor but helps us improve our grade, or work could of easily of gone missing. Also another advantage of using a website like blogger you are able to have easy access to audience feedback, as people who view your work are able to comment about your work, maybe on areas of improvement. You are also able to add polls asking your audience specific questions so that you are able to create and structure your work directly for the audiences needs. I added these polls to my blog’s homepage, so that when my target audience who are viewing my blog are able to vote and comment straight away no problem (http://kyraarthur.blogspot.com/). Another advantage is that you are able to add direct links to your blog, so the audience are able to see where you got the inspiration for a certain ideas or why have done, placed things in a particular way. I find now after doing these projects that these programmes are a lot easier to use, and I can now use them with ease then the first time when I struggled to do anything.
Now that I look back to the preliminary task I now know how much I have progressed and learnt since then. I now have a greater understanding of Photoshop as I managed to do tasks such as scaling my pictures, so they fit nicely on my double page spread and cover, also cropping pictures to make them more effective and attention grabbing such as in my double page spread, I have also had to use methods such as using the magic hand tool, and the eye dropper tool, so I was able to erase of unwanted items off my pictures, like the main picture on my contents page, where on the picture in the background there was a bed and wires making my picture look unprofessional, So I had to use the eraser tool to rub the items out, then I used the eyedropper tool to get the exact colour of the background and then used the paint brush to repaint the picture from where I had removed the wires, I had to keep reusing the eyedropper tool, so that in the picture I could keep the shadows and the effects that were on the wall. I also had to crop most of my pictures so they looked effective and were able to fit on my practical products. I now find I can achieve more with the program and make things I am designing look more realistic and professional. I have learnt how to create different aspects of magazines such as the contents page, double page spread and the cover. I have learnt the key conventions and where I must place things such as mastheads, strap lines and puffs for maximum affect on my audience, I now know how to attract particular audiences and what I have to do to create a successful magazine. I have also learnt about institutions, how they work and how they publish and distribute their magazines, one of the main things I learnt is how to actually represent an institution, and I believe I have shown this in the music magazine I have created.
After conducting research for audience feedback on my magazine cover, contents and double page spread I have found many varied opinions on my magazine. I had sent out a questionnaire asking a range of questions I also used many techniques to collect my data. I asked my audience to rate my practical products on a likert scale from 1 - 10 they where also asked comment on any improvements they thought I could make through an open ended question. When I asked my audience about the genre of my magazine they where able to choose from a range of answers, they were also allowed to pick more then one. It was shown that people had varied opinions on what genre my magazine was as 75% believed my genre was purely indie. 5% of people were undecided between pop and indie and the last 20% believed it to be rock or rock/indie cross. Hollie Allison believed that I connoted the genre of my magazine by on the cover having the artists ‘jumping in mid-air’ and she thought I carried this theme on to my contents page by then picturing the artists ‘flipping their hair’. My magazine on a whole got and average rating of 9 as did my cover. My double page spread got an average rating of 10 and my contents a average of 8. When I asked how they thought my magazine looked professional Kim Walker said ‘Good photography and well laid out’ Hollie also said about the layout and also about the text and colours I had used. It was also commented that on my double page spread the highlighted quotes worked well. On my contents page it was said that features looked interesting however it was also said that I needed more information on the pictures featured on my contents page. On my front cover ‘Wendy Arthur’ said that it is ‘visually looks fun and appealing’ and that for improvement I could add more information about what is in my magazine. After my audience feedback I found out that there is some areas of my magazine that could be improved. To improve my magazine I should develop my contents page as that got the lowest average rating in my audience feedback questionnaire. According to my audience they believe my contents page should contain more information on what my magazine includes and give more in depth information for the smaller pictures that are features of other articles within my magazine.
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