Question 7

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

Question 6

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

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

Question 4 & 5

Who would be the audience for your media product?


The target audience for my magazine will be 16-21 year olds, mixed gender and who are reading the magazine because they are interested in music, I who their 'Icons' have been successful.

As my magazines genre is a alternative/indie-rock and many more sub genres, I want to attract people who are into this music and also attract people who want to know more, But this doesn't just limit it to that range or music, some weeks there will be articles about hip-hop artists, pop artists and much more, just to keep a wide range of people interested to buy the magazine.

Some of the other things my typical target audience will enjoy, its playing music, going to gigs - so I put included in my contents page that I am going to included gig reviews and up to date music.
They watch T.V, interested in social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace.
But also have a wide range of activities and hobbies, such as football and reading.
I hope to embed these interests into the magazine, so they can have shared cultural values and read things other than music.

How did you attract/address your audience?


To start question 5 I asked my class several questions about my magazine, and got feedback about what they liked and what they thought I could improve and develop.

Here is my questionnaire:

1. Do you think the magazine is reasonably priced?


...........................................................


2. For a magazine which has a genre of indie/rock and alternative music do you think the main image suits this genre? and do you think it is appealing for both men and women who are 16-21 years old?




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3. Do you think the color scheme I have used for the front page, contents page and double page spread is suitable for the magazine genre?



....................................................


4. Is there anything I could improve throughout my front page, contents page and double page spread?




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I got lots of feedback from the people in my class, I asked people who would be classed as my target audience so I could get a accurate and unbiased responses. I asked ten people and I have briefed it down:

10/10 people thought that my magazine was reasonably priced and that the main image suits my genre of magazine and that the color scheme suited my magazine genre.
The things they said I could improve on is add more detail about what's inside the magazine.    

The various design elements I have incorporated is to appeal to my audience is doing things such as the big artist that is going to be included in my magazine is in a big font, which will stand out to my audience and make them want to read on.                                                                                                                                                                            

Question 3

What Kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

Copy of Copy of What Kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why? on Prezi


 IPC publish NME and as our target audiences are similar and my magazine is inspired on NME magazine, I definitely think would be a good distributor for my magazine, they are a well established company and could help make my magazine more popular due to there previous success.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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Question 1

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


I think my media product does all three, it uses, develops and challenges the typical forms and conventions of real media products.


I think my magazine definitely challenges the codes and conventions of real media products, when I think of alternative music magazines, I think of quite busy, with a range of color, with lots of adverts and promotions on it, but I wanted to portray my magazine as professional as possible, it quite plain, but the main attraction of the magazine is the main image. The model has red hair and I want it to come across as the magazine is about the MUSIC. If you compare my magazine front cover to a typical media product they can come across quite different. The magazine displayed on the right has lots of text scattered around the frame of the picture with lots of sub-headings. But in my magazine I have tried to keep the sub-headings to a minimum as I want the reader to pick it up of the shelf and want to read more, There is quotations of articles inside, which I think is not that common in music magazines.

But then I do think my magazine is part of new type of magazine, where less is more. Magazines like NME are starting to do it, when having a huge artist on the front cover is enough for people to go buy the magazine. But all together my magazine as a whole has most of the typical conventions of magazine, it has a main title which is ICON, I wanted the name to have a recognizable logo + a famous singer on my front page, which will be appealing to the audience.

The magazine I got most of my inspiration from was NME, the magazine below.

In this media product, I have used the same sort of design, concept of the NME magazine (to the right). In subheadings, both mine and the other magazine have a quotation of the article included, we both have a list of artists included inside the magazine, and have a similar font.

So to conclude, my magazine both challenges and develops real media products.

ICON Final Magazine Cover

Here is my final copy of my front cover for the magazine ICON.

Double Page Spread

Contents Page

This is my contents page for the music magazine ICON. It has still got a lot of work to do, but I want to evaluate it more so I have a clear understanding of what I need to improve. I've based my contents page similar to the NME contents page. I've used black, red and white fronts, and  big bold shapes to make the page stand out and look more alternative. 

I need to add more pictures to the page as it is looking quite bland and boring. Other than that I think the content and the editing suits the genre of my magazine. 

Making The Front Cover

I don't want the magazine to be to busy, but then again want to attract readers to buy it.

The main image itself is quite big and bold, which instantly will make the magazine stand out on the shelf.  The actual content i'm going to use will be pretty basic. I only want the basic information, that will entice the reader to buy it. 

I have been working on Indesign, to create my magazine. 

I've decided to call my magazine ICON - My genre for the magazine is quite alternative music, or example including people like florence + the machine and oasis. But will be lightly touching on other genres of music such as pop and rock. I choose ICON because its a simple word, something people will remember + the people I want to be featuring in my magazines will be Icons in the music industry.

My model is pretending to be a girl from a band, and her names LIV FIERCE, i'm pretending that she is a very famous person, and in the magazine there will be an article bout her, i've quoted from the article included inside because it may make the reader want to know more about her and why she 'would be nowhere without her band'.

On the left side, I have included some big named bands that will be featuring in the magazine.

The color scheme basis on, reds, blacks and whites. These relate to the image, the use of red fonts make the models hair stand out much more, which is almost the main attraction to the front cover.

Choosing My Main Image

I've been working on my front cover for my music magazine, I've taken lots of pictures so I have a lot to choose from. I want something quite alternative and eye-catching. The model I have chosen has bright red hair, so this could add to the alternative theme - which suits my magazine genre.
I don't want my front cover to be to busy, I want to provide the basic information, but want the reader to buy the magazine and read more.
My inspiration for my magazine is magazines like Billboard, Spin and Rolling Stone. All three very successful magazine known for the professional print, good quality editing and a simple, alternative design.

This is the picture I'm going to use for my front cover, I have done some editing to it, i've made the picture more brighter, and boosted the contrast to make it stand out more.
The background is not plain, so I slightly blurred the corners of the image, to make the model be the main attention of the image. She is wearing quite alternative clothes, which again suits the genre of the magazine.

Possible Fonts For The Magazine Title 

   ICON

Looking at the two magazine title fonts, I think the second one looks the best. It looks alternative and this will suit the genre of the magazine. The first font wouldn't portray what the whole magazines about.

Music Magazine Questionnaire

For my research & planning I created a questionnaire and asked them various questions about music magazines, the questions included things like ''What genres of music are you interested in?'' and ''What attracts you to a magazine" I asked eleven people in total to fill in the questionnaire and be completely honest and accurate, The eleven people are from different age groups ranging from sixteen to thirty-six, also there is a equal amount of male and females, I think this will make my questionnaire results more fair and equal and will achieve a diverse and fair result for my research.

Im going to display some of the questionnaires in a chart display. The first chart is displaying how much of my eleven people who awnsered my questionnaire would be willing to pay for a music magazine, It turned out that two people would only pay one pound to two pounds for a music magazine and nine people would pay two pounds to three pounds, so its clear which is the more popular choice this has given me a good idea for what the price range I should use for my magazine and what would be more successful.

The first question I asked was "Do you read music magazines?" five people awnsered 'No' and six people awnsered 'Yes' I was surprised by this, I thought a lot more people would read music magazines.

Another question I asked was "How often do you buy music magazines?"

The majority of the eleven people said they never read music magazines, but then some people awnsered once a month, So I think I might make my music magazine to be published once a month because that seems to the most preferred release. 

Another question was "What attracts you to buy a magazine" The options were; Cover, Bands, Free Gifts, Inside Story, Main Image and Other. The three most popular results were the cover, bands, inside story and main image. I think these are four areas i'm going to focus on the most.

Also I asked "What influences your music taste?" people awnsered with a variety of answers but what started to trend the most was magazines and popular culture, so this has given me the idea that if most of peoples inspirations of music is from magazines then include in my magazine suggestions of artists and festivals.

The last question was "What bands/singers would you like to featured in a music magazine?" some of the answers I got back was Beyonce, One Direction, Professor Green, Noel Gallagher, Adele, Beady Eye, The Horrors, Skrillex and Olly Murs. So its quite a diverse set of artists that people are interested in.

All together my questionnaire was extremely helpful, its helped me narrow down what price i'm going to set my magazine, what the target audience will be interested in, how often I should publish the magazine and what I should focus on in the production of my magazine.

Here is what my questionnaire looked like: 

Do you read music magazines?    [ Yes ]   [  No ]

If yes then what types of music magazines?

……………………………………………………………………….

How much would you be willing to pay for a music magazine?

[Under £1]    [£1 - £2]    [£2 - £3]   [£3 - £4]  [£4 - £5]

What genres of music are you interested in?

Top 40

Punk

Folk

Rock

Country

Hip Hop

RnB

Pop

Other

How often do you buy music magazines?

Never

Once a week

Once a fortnight

Once a month

Other

Are you male or female?

Male [   ]

Female  [   ]

How old are you?

…………….

What influences your music taste?

Television

Popular culture

Bands

Websites

Friends/Family

Festivals

Magazines

Other

What bands/singers would you like to see featured in a magazine?

………………………………………………………………………………….