Final evaluation

Music Magazine evaluation

My music magazines follows the conventions because on the front cover the image of my artist takes up the majority of the page, which is common for indie music magazines. The artist’s face can also be clearly seen with eye contact to the reader. The front cover also follows the conventions of a music magazine because there is a banner across the middle in red with big yellow font which says “Danny Brown” then “ The inside story to his success” in a smaller font. This is following the conventions of an indie music magazine because I found that magazines such as NME ,Kerrang and Mojo all do this. This is a convention for indie music magazines because as the readers are interested in artists, they want to make the main artist stand out. This is done to make the main article featured stand out to the audience because the target audience expect to see their favourite  bands featured. Another aspect which makes my magazine follow conventions is the use of a colour scheme, which I chose to be red because it connotates indie, grey as it attracts a male audience, and yellow because it attracts a female audience for my front cover. The red makes it stand out more to the audience.

However on my contents page I have followed conventions by having a colour scheme which includes red, grey, and green. I have done this to make it stand out to the audience, and I have made the articles in the contents all one font colour because it makes it look like its all part of the same thing, which is also conventional for indie music magazines. However it can also be considered unconventional as I have used a different colour scheme to what I have used on my front cover. One way I have followed conventions on my contents page is by including page reference numbers next to images of the artists to indicate which page the article about them is on. I have followed the conventions on my front cover by including a masthead, date, price and barcode. I have challenged conventions on my contents page by placing the editor’s letter over the image of my artist.  However I have followed conventions by adding smaller images of bands on my contents page. On my double page spread I have followed conventions by using large font for the title in red which stands out, and by including a pull quote from the article in bold font over the black and white photograph of my artist. I have done this to appeal to the target audience as my target audience are people that stand out from the crowd, therefore things like the font and images need to stand out on my double page spread. I have followed conventions by using the US flag for my background, as it is common for double page spreads in indie music magazines to have one colour or pattern for the background across the whole spread. The use of the US flag is also following conventions because my article is about the artist going on tour in America, so it relates to the article. I have followed conventions by using black and white photos of the artist, as it is common for black and white photos to be used on double page spreads in indie magazines, particularly when the background is bright and stands out. I have done this because it makes the images stand out to the audience. I found from my audience feedback that 7 out of 10 people preferred my double page spread because they felt the most effort had gone in to it and it looked the most professional out of the three pieces. However the feed back I got for my front cover and contents page was that they need more pictures featured and the contents page could have been less crowded.

One of the aspects of my magazine which represents the social group students is on the front cover and the contents page where it features “Win! Leeds Tickets!” and “Backstage interviews at this year’s Glastonbury!”. This represents students because the magazine is aimed at mainly students, and students are most likely to go to festivals over any other social group. The price of the magazine at £1.30 appeals to my target audience of students because it is cheap. I have also used exclamation marks which represents excitement, and students are stereotypically lively and get excited easily by things like gigs and festivals. The article “Gigs of the week” represents the social group students as being outgoing in terms of regularly going to gigs, which reinforces the stereotype of students. Students stereotypically always want to keep up with the latest things and find out about new music. This is shown in my magazine as I have included articles such as “Ones to watch:2011” and “Reviews of the week” therefore it represents students because these articles focus on new bands/songs/albums.

One institution which may distribute my magazine is IPC media as it produces NME which is similar to my magazine as it is aimed at students/ young people and focuses on new music.NME is also one of the only music magazines IPC produces, therefore there may be a gap in the market for my magazine. However music magazines are not a big focus of this institution as IPC tends to focus more on magazines aimed at women and other lifestyle magazines. This is one reason why an Institution like Bauer Media might be more likely to distribute my magazine. Bauer media produces more magazines such as Kerrang!, Q and Mojo. However all of these magazines are aimed at a slightly older audience than mine, therefore there is a gap in the market. Another reason why Bauer may distribute my magazine is because it would open up a new type of audience for them as my magazine is aimed at young people who want to keep up to date with new music. Another reason they may distribute my magazine is because young people are more likely to use things such as social networking, therefore if they set up pages on social networking websites as they have done for their other music magazines it would bring in an even bigger audience.

The audience for my product would be students or young people who have recently left education. You can tell it is aimed at this particular audience because it features articles such as “Win! Tickets for Leeds 2011” and “Backstage at Glastonbury”  and students are the social group which is most likely to go to festivals. The reason I have chosen students for my target audience is because students and young people are the most likely social groups to go to gigs, and gigs are often where a lot of new and upcoming bands play. This particularly applies to students because students are stereotypically outgoing.This means that students are the social group which is most likely to be interested in new music. Also I have priced my magazine at £1.30 which is a reasonable price to use for magazines aimed at students because it is in their price range. From my audience feedback that all of the 10 responses I got felt my magazine was aimed at over 16s, and they all thought that the age range it would attract expanded into the mid 20s.  All of the people I gained feedback from were students, and 6 out of 10 answers I got were that they would buy the magazine because they like going to gigs and like indie music.This tells me that my magazine has mainly succeeded in attracting my target audience as students are typically within the age range of 16-25.  My magazine is aimed at both males and females, as I have featured two male bands/ artists however I have also featured a new and upcoming female indie band.  I have done this to cater to a wider audience, as both men and women who are students go to gigs regularly and are likely to want to go to festivals.

I have attracted my audience by including articles on the front cover such as “Win! Leeds tickets!” and “Ones to watch: Hottest new bands!”. These attract my audience because as my target audience are students they are most likely to want to go to festivals, and also they are the most likely social group to be up to date with the latest new bands/music, as they regularly go to gigs and use interactive media such as social networking. Another aspect which attracts my audience is the use of bright colours and bold font which stands out on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. This attracts my target audience because they are most likely to be individuals who like to stand out from the crowd, and they are also likely to be people who crave excitement.

The main thing I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product is about using Adobe Photoshop.  With the use of Photoshop I have learnt about using different techniques and effects such as layering which allowed me to put all elements on each of my front cover, contents page and double page spread together. I have also learnt about cutting out certain parts from an original photo using the magic wand tool. The main thing I have learnt about the use of Photoshop is adding effects to the font and pictures, particularly on things like the masthead to make it stand out more to the audience.  Another useful thing I have learnt is how to use blogger, by uploading images and posting my progress on my blog.

One thing I feel I have learnt is how to add more professional effects on Photoshop such as the drop shadow and outer glow. I have also learnt that it is conventional for magazines to have more than one photograph on the contents page, so therefore I have included photos of different artists on my contents page. My preliminary task where I had to create a college magazine front cover and mock up of a contents page is the main thing which developed my skills on Photoshop and creating a magazine. I have also learnt more about how to appeal to my target audience, and how to attract a wider audience. I have done this by adding more articles to the front cover that would sell the magazine such as “Win! Leeds Tickets!” which attracts the audience because they are the type of people to go to festivals. Another thing I have learnt is how to cut out from original photos quicker using the magic wand tool. I have learnt how to add a more professional effect by using the blur tool and smudge tool on Photoshop.  I have also learnt about the conventions of Indie Music Magazines such as using a colour scheme of three different colours, which I have done on both my front cover and double page spread. I have also learnt how to challenge conventions which I have done by using a variation of different colours on my contents page. I have learnt how to set out a double page spread which I did not do for my preliminary task. I also learnt how to make my double page spread stand out to the audience, by including a background which stands out and a colour scheme.

By Megan Neves