Before starting to produce my my magazine i researched existing music magazines to give me ideas on how mine should look. By doing this it gave me the opportunity to learn how to use conventions such as using a puff and the way i present my language. Also, by looking at popular music magazines it set me norms of the presentation i could follow to make my magazine sucessful.
For my front cover, the first thing i decided to do was use a puff, i had a large text the word 'exclusive' in focus for the readers. I did this to ensure that the audience were attracted to my magazine, by having this on the front cover it makes the audience want to purchase the magazine and read on. Also, by using the word exclusive, it involves the readers within the magazine and make them feel special, as if they are getting an insight before everyone else. On my front cover I decided to follow the convention often used within magazines and put the artists head in front of my magazine name. This shows that my magazine company is already well known and that they can cover up apart of their logo and it will still be recognised regardless of this. By looking at existing magazine front covers I concluded that each and everyone of them had a colour theme to present their magazine. Within my front cover I had a colour theme made up of 3 colours, red, blue and black, each of these colour I chose for a reason. I used the colour red as this linked with my magazine name, as ‘Rouge’ means red in French, so throughout I tried to reflect this by using the colour red. I used the colour blue, as this was the colour top that the artist on my front was wearing, on existing magazine I noticed that there was always a link between a colour used and an item worn or on the artist on the front cover. Therefore I tried to follow this convention and create a link from the colour blue to the colour of the artists top, in order of doing this I felt it gave my front cover a more professional meaning. I chose to use the colour black as I felt this was a colour that represented the rock essence of the style of music well and could reflect this to the audience. By looking at existing magazines I saw that they used conventions that would make the readers want to purchase the magazine. Therefore, on my front cover I decided to use teasers that would make the readers want to read my magazine. One main thing was the advertising of the competition inside, I felt that by using this it would allow the opportunity to gain readers, even if it was just for the competition. Also this is a way of addressing the readers and interesting them in your magazine and what it has to offer. Following on from this I had an advertisement of ‘downloadable tracks’, this idea came from my research of existing magazines. I did this as having this kind of element on my front cover is a huge way of addressing the audiences, as this will make them want to purchase the magazine and find out more about the tracks. Also, on my front cover I stated ‘everything YOU want to know’ by doing this it involves the readers within the magazine, making them feel as if they are part of it. This ensures that they are interested in purchasing my magazine and by stating the word ‘you’, they feel the information they want is in my magazine. This is a common convention seen in magazines as one of the important aims is to make the readers feel part of the magazine. At the bottom of my front cover I put in a box shape ‘only the hottest music’, by doing this it gives the impression to the readers that they are getting only the best information in my magazine. This puts my music magazine at an advantage than other magazines as this makes the readers think that mine is the best which results in more purchases. On my double page spread, I followed the convention of having columns for my text, by doing this it makes it look more professional which my aim was. Also, on double page spreads of magazines that I researched, I found that studio like shots were used commonly within this section. Therefore, I chose to use one of my more posed pictures as the main picture of the article, I did this in order to follow popular conventions as this would make it more professional. I chose to produce an interview for my double page spread as looking through current magazines this is the main thing featured on these pages. The language that I used within my magazine I tried to make as realistic as possible, commonly used within interviews in magazines, for example I used the word *screams* which is the action of the artists being interviewed. I got this idea from looking at an article within a music magazine. Like many magazines, I carried on my colour theme of the two colours red and black onto this page as it is something that is commonly done within magazines. On my contents page I carried on the colour theme of red and black like I have throughout as this is frequently done within music magazines. Contents pages in the magazines that I researched commonly used a selection of pictures, so I followed this convention and chose to use this on my contents page. Also, having the box shapes with the stories in that are within the magazine is a commonly used feature, however I chose to develop this convention to make it my own. I did this by staggering the boxes and making them chunky and bold, rather than in some magazine I saw, the boxes were in straight columns, I used this convention but just built on it to make it fit my music style. Also, I included a teaser with the word ‘top’ which is sometimes used within magazines to make the audience want to read on. I out this text in a box shape and made the font bigger in the colour red, I did this to ensure that it would be the main focus, again making the readers feel like they are getting the best.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine could be seen as only representing women as my band is made up of 3 females. This could be seen as being gender bias which is why I chose to use elements that would take this view away, for example not using feminine colours throughout my magazine. Also, this could be seen as a way to attract males by having all these females and represent interests that males have. I didn’t want my magazine just to be representing either just males or just females as I wanted it to be appealing to both genders as this would widen my magazines popularity. I think it would’ve improved my magazine if I had included males within my magazine as would be a better way of representing both males and females. I feel that my magazine represents people of the slightly older generation as I tried to keep elements of my magazine at a mature level and include things that young adults do, such as downloading tracks. When producing my photos I didn’t think about using people from different ethnic backgrounds, it could’ve been better if I did this, because all the people features in my magazine are of white origin. It may have made my magazine appeal to a wider range and this is a typical look of a band and it may have come across with a different style of uniqueness.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A media institution that might distribute my magazine is IPC media, this is because they own NME which is one of the main magazines that inspired me and I used many of the conventions commonly used by them. Also, I would say my choice of music style is similar to the music within the NME magazine, the interests both being within the rock genre of music. The logo of the magazine NME was one that inspired me the most and gave me ideas for mine, the theme of the colours red and black on their logo helped me to decide what colour I should have on mine. I’d say that NME and my magazine are very similar in their style which is why they may want to distribute mine as they follow the same genres. Also, by researching the institution IPC media it has shown that one of their main aims is to offer something for everyone, within my magazine I tried to do this by including all ranges of artists appealing to both men and women being mentioned on the front cover. By doing this it widens the audience and includes everyone within this. Another reason why IPC media may distribute my magazine is because they are a huge company who own many magazines with a selection of different ones and I believe that my magazine would fit in their criteria. Also, they have similar styles within their music magazines, and my magazine was inspired by theirs making mine fit in with the other magazines.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My chosen target audience for my magazine are aged from 16 onwards, I wanted to create a more mature look to my magazine so it would appeal to young adults. I chose to do this as by looking at current music magazines that I was inspired by all appealed to the young adult generation. I thought that this could be because music magazines follow particular styles and being part of the younger generation you cannot define your exact interests in a type of music because at a young age you have many. Also, when you are a young adult you know you interests and have your own personality, whereas when you are younger you don’t have the knowledge to do this. Therefore, by having a target audience of a slightly older generation it allows my magazine to be an interest to many people and be purchased by them. I tried to aim my magazine at both genders, male and female, as I felt this would widen the popularity of my magazine. I found it hard to not aim it at just female as my band were all girls and may not be an interest to men, however on the other hand this could be a way to attract the males. By having an all girl band this could appeal to the men as this could be seen as a sex symbol for them and interest the males. Also, I tried not to make the colours used to feminine as I felt this would not appeal to males and put them off the magazine. However, I also had to ensure that my magazine appealed to females as well as male, so I included things such as ‘how to become a rocker’ on the front cover as I felt this was an element that females would be interested in. The audience of my magazine would have to have interests for a rock style of music as this was my choice of my genre; otherwise, if they didn’t then my magazine would not appeal to them. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience by using features such as the colour theme of red and black as I felt these colours worked well together and blended together to become eye catching. I chose to use different style fonts which could attract a range of audience as it represented the style within my magazine which could be reflected to the audience giving them interest in my magazine. By having bright colours on my front cover this is a way of attracting my audience as it catches their attention which interests them more. Also, by having things such as competitions and downloadable tracks, it’s a way to get people to want to read your magazine. By using the word ‘exclusive’ it allows for the audience to want to purchase the magazine. I addressed the reader by having the stating ‘everything YOU want to know’, when the readers see this on the front cover this allows them to feel involved within the magazine and this is more of a personal mode of address. The type of language I used could be a way that I attracted the audience as this would appeal to certain people within the public. Another way that I addressed my readers is by using music note symbols on my contents page, which reflects the music essence of my magazine and makes them want to purchase this.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before starting this magazine coursework, I had not used any of the programmes that I have before hand. I came into this project not having any knowledge within these programmes and how to go about using them. I have learnt a huge amount about all these technologies when producing my final artefacts. One thing that I have learnt, is editing a picture by cutting around the certain objects you want and completely designing a whole new picture just by editing it. Also, I had never made my own logos before which I can now do easily and more importantly enjoy doing. I had no knowledge of how to construct any sort of design, now I have produced a front cover, double page spread and contents page of a music magazine. I learnt how to present things on the page, what type of fonts to use and how to layout different texts and pictures without it looking un-professional. I have learnt how to export things as images which I never knew how to do. One main thing that I found interesting to learn, was how to present texts to represent things of different meanings, before this project I never would’ve had the skills to produce anything like I have. Another big thing that I learnt to do was how to edit everything I did to make it my own and basically redesigning everything to the way I wanted them. By doing this it allowed me to choose what ways I wanted to go with my artefacts and how I wanted them to be represented. I enjoyed learning and doing this process as it was my choice of how to do things which brings out my imagination and allows me to be more creative within the things I do.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
At the beginning when I had to do my preliminary task I knew nothing about the programmes we had to use to produce this. Even when doing my preliminary task I still had basic knowledge of this and didn’t understand how to use or how to produce something of a high standard. Through the process of learning about the technologies whilst doing my own magazine I have learnt a huge amount that I never thought id be able to. Looking back on my preliminary task I would say that the quality of my work has improved a lot and it has become much more complex as I am able to use the technologies needed to do this. By making my own artefacts I feel as if it has taught me the ways in which to use certain programmes, but not only this it has taught me the conventions used in a magazine and the names of these conventions. Before doing this I would never have been able to identify anything used on a magazine front cover or analyse a front cover. Through this process I have also learnt the terminology used for elements within magazines, which I can use in sentences and understand the real meaning of them. I have learnt how to present things in my design including where to place things and how to arrange them to make them look professional. I think I learnt a lot of this by my own research into existing magazines which helped me a lot to understand the conventions and why and when to use them. I think I can take away with me what I have learnt and it may come into good use in following courses or even in the future.
