Evaluation

THE UK’S BIGGEST INDIE MUSIC MAGAZINE

IND

OCTOBER 2015 £4.99 INDIVIDUALMUSICMAGAZINE.COM

Featuring

IN WHAT WAYSMY MEDIA PRODUCT

USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLANGE EXISTING

MEDIA PRODUCTS.

HOW DOESMY MAGAZINE

REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL

GROUPS?

WHAT TYPE OF MEDIA INSTITUTION WOULD DISTRIBUTE MY PRODUCT AND

WHY THIS PARTICULAR INSTITUTION?

WHO ARE MYAUDIENCE?

THIS AUDIENCE?

EVALUATION

THE INS AND OUTS OF MY

MEDIA PRODUCT, WHY I

HAVE CHOSEN TO DO THESE

SPECIFIC THINGS. WHAT

MAKES MY PRODUCT SO

APPEALING.

HOW DID I ATTRACT

EVALUATION S P E C I A L E D I T I O N

www.individualmusicmagazine.com

ALL THE DETAILS

TECHNOLIGIESWHAT I HAVE LEARNT SINCE MY PRELIMINARY TASK AND THROUGH OUT THE PROGRESSION OF MY MAGAZINE.

forms and conventions OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTSn what ways does my

media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I

My media product, to an extent, follows the regular codes and conventions of a typical music magazine. I have the basic main aspects required for a successful, professional looking product; however I have tried to add my own elements where possible to enable my magazine to stand out from the rest as that is what my target audience is all about.

An in depth analysis of each of my pages will reveal the codes and conventions I have used and slightly changed. Within the layout of my front cover, it has: the standard oversized masthead; cell lines featured around my main focus image; a barcode; web address; main model; and main cell line. However I have attempted to add further design to my cell lines by boxing them out and adding shapes and further graphics to accentuate my design, my main image is not just a close up, it’s a full

bleed with no blank space around the image, creating a much more interesting composition. I have kept to quite a standard font to keep the practicality of my magazine as I still need to think about its accessibility to a wide audience range, however one of the colours I have chosen for the font has been colour picked from my models face which brings my front cover together. I decided on a simple colour scheme, the monochrome black and white with the purple (which will be the iconic colour that will force my magazines name to become established), and the gold which is a direct link to my main featuring artist.

Continuing onto my contents page, I have taken the idea of the continuous black, white and purple colour scheme and used this, as these colours will be featured in every issue. The typical conventions of a contents page has been followed, I have: the heading with ‘contents’ stated; delighted boxes and sections for photographs about what my magazine contains; large page numbers are displayed; a wide range of shots have been used; even the sub headings have similarities to other well known magazines. All of these

features again, have been adapted to fit my indie genre of magazine, the designs have been made slightly more intricate, like my heading for example and the types of shots I have taken really reflect my genre of music as I have tried to capture and include things that my target audience would enjoy to see and discover with the main content of my magazine.

My first double page spread is the introductory pages to the main bulk of my article, again all of the typical codes and conventions have been used such as the large letter to begin the article; a main image; main heading and page numbers. However with my double page spreads, the feature that really connects with my primary target audience of individualists that enjoy the indie genre is the main bulk of the article on this first double page as I have layer out my article slightly differently. As my artist is a breakthrough individual, these pages are dedicated to get to know this musician as a person and not as a character, I feel and if this way of writing will connect much more with my consumers than if I was to pensive my artist as a character of some kind

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forms and conventions OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS and not a real person.

My last two double page spreads are where my article going into depth with the interview Side of things, my musician answers questions about her based on what I think my audience would like to hear. This was another method of connecting to my specific audience category. My photography even followed the conventions of a typical music magazine

0 30OCTOBER 2016www.individualmusicmagazine.com @inDmusicmagazine

with the vast range of shot types however I did want to make my shoot slightly different therefore I went the indie, tribal patterns on my models face to signify and project evenmore of an indie vibe.

If you was to look at the comparison below, between the two magazine front covers there are a

lot of simularities and also a few differences. Like i explined, my front cover does follow the tradition codes and conventions of a professional looking magazine and has the some kind of appearence with the three main colours, close up of my model, sell lines organised around the page and even a button is present on both covers, my magazine however still does have a form of individuality.

These simularities are a nessesity for a sucsessful magazine, the codes and conventions are what have been proven to make a magazine sell, however the indevidual differences are just as important.

representation OF DIFFERENT SOCIAL GROUPSow does my media product

choose to represent different social groups?

H

Indie is the focal point of my magazine, individualist 16 to 24 year old music lovers that have a taste for a different style of sound. My magazine represents these types of individualists, I have targeted this specific category of consumes within in the sheer design and content of my product. I have made small changes and added certain aspects to my product to tailor it to my very specific primary target audience. The main musician that I have used in my magazine is a breakthrough artist; this alone shows the consumers of my product that this magazine is interested in promoting new, fresh talent which automatically gives my magazine a difference to most other music magazines, as they are usually not interested in breakthrough artists enough, to have them featured on their front cover.

When discussing the mise-en-scene with my

artist, the costume alone represents the theme and whole idea of my product, as a photographer I planned out my photo shoot carefully to get shots that will be representative photographs, and actually have some kind of enigma meaning. I used metallic colours and gave her tribal patterns on her face, this was to signify how she is a strong independent musician, and this also links to how my magazine is individualistic.

My front covers full bleed is not just an artist with a musical instrument or a microphone. Still focusing on my front cover image, you will notice that my model is directly addressing the consumer; this is another method of how I want to reach out to my target audience further. Her costume is very minimal; she is only covered by a plain white sheet for most of the shots. This indicates how she is a very plain and pure breakthrough artist, the combination of the minimal clothing and the tribal patterns releases the impression of an up and coming individual; this all relates back to my theme of being individualistic.

The tone of the main bulk of my article is written in a friendly format, I ensured

that my article was quite conversational and entertaining however also still includes information about what I believe, my target audience would want to know or find out about the featured artist. The conversational tone will stop my article sounding too serious and will allow the younger audiences to connect with my magazine as well as the older ones.

The way that I have written my article is that it begins with the introduction double page spread introducing the breakthrough artist, stating facts witch give my audience a chance to get interested in this artist before she answers further questions. Due to my specific audience of 16 to 25 year old individualists, I thought that this would be the best approach, the questions throughout the remaining double pages answered my by artist also have aspects that are directed at my target audience, for example I have mentioned that my musician knows an established artist that is actually an indie musician himself.

My artist, ‘Natasha Bland’ is represented as a genuine, normal, however powerful and talented

400 OCTOBER 2016 www.individualmusicmagazine.com @inDmusicmagazine

representation OF DIFFERENT SOCIAL GROUPS character; this is again all to signify the fact that she is an individual. The fact that is genuine also makes her feel approachable and likeable by my magazines audience.


SCAN THE QR CODE TO RECIEVE A DIRECT LINK TO MY BLOG WHERE YOU CAN SEE ALL OF MY OTHER REASERCH AND PLANNING FOR MY MEDIA PRODUCT.

type of INSTITUTIONhat type of institution might

i want to distribute my media product and why?

WI would want my product to be distributed by an institution such as IPC media, Time Inc UK is Britain’s leading publisher of print and digital magazine content, and with more than 60 iconic brands this particular institution would be perfect for distributing a brand new media product such as my magazine.

IPC media are subsidiary of Time Inc UK which focuses on consumer magazines, and are a digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. With NME being there only current music magazine they publish, and it being directed at all genres of music, gives an open opportunity for Time Inc UK to distribute a magazine with more of a niche audience, like mine, as it is specifically an indie

magazine.

This company would benefit from the distribution of my magazine as it could widen their current audience with their existing magazine NME; it gives them the opportunity to narrow down a specific audience group that they do not primarily target generally; also another reason Time Inc would want to distribute my magazine is that I would say now that I have designed my magazine, it would primarily attract a female audience whereas NME targets a male audience, this would give them two music magazines that covers a huge audience range and would result in a raise in market

share and profit. Not to mention I would be willing to give the publishing company a 40% venture, as they would take sponsorship profit and as it would be a brand new magazine on the market, they would have to invest in the start up costs.

To distribute my magazine I would follow the route that NME uses as it is evidently successful and popular. NME markets its self via: social media (Facebook, twitter, instagram, Google plus, tumbler, YouTube); ITunes; convergence with tablets and phones; synergising with other magazines; even by hosting NME awards. By using convergence with forms of technology and synergising with other magazines will boost my audience immensely, Time Inc UK has the popularity to distribute my magazine in this way.

The only difference between my product and NME is that my magazine

will be published monthly, whereas NME is released weekly. My media product will be much thicker and will accumulate a

month’s worth of music information, gossip, breaking news and breakthrough artists. All of these aspects differs my magazine from the existing NME which reinforces why Time Inc UK should distribute my product.

Currently NME targets a


type of INSTITUTION 16-24 year old audience, I also would be targeting this age range, I would be able to use NME’s success to my advantage and collaborate to cross promote both media products.

By having IPC as my distributer, as it is one of the largest magazine publishers in the world, it would ensure that my product gets a large outreach and also becomes established rapidly, this is important for my magazine to be successful and a wide audience range can access and reach my magazine, IPC will be


SCAN THIS QR CODE FOR DIRECT ACSESS TO THE OFFICIAL IPC WEBSITE PRESENTED WITH A VIDEO ABOUT THE INSTITUTION.

able to promote my product to the best of their ability.

To the right you can see exactly what magazines that they already publish.

There is a huge variety with NME being there only music based magazine, this is why this institution would be perfect for me and my media product as they do not cater for my specific audience range therefore they would also benefit from distributing my mgazine.

type of AUDIENCEho would be the primary

target audience for my music magazine and why?

W


The audience of my media product is the age range of 16-23 year olds, the reasoning behind this is because I believe, and statistics show that young readers are much more interested in music magazine but specifically new music and breakthrough artists. They seem to be more interested in finding out about them and using it as a social element.

My previous research and audience data also suggests this as it proves how young people are much more willing to researching into new musicians, also when I created my survey with survey monkey for independent primary

research I discovered that young people were much more interested and had more of a link with the genre of music magazine I intended and when on to create.

The younger audience range therefore would be much more tailored to my music magazine, rather than older readers who know what they like, have specific styles and may be

less likely to enjoy finding out about new artists.

When it comes to the gender of my audience, I originally wanted my magazine to be aimed at mainly males and be slightly manipulated to a male target audience, however as my research and planning excelled

and during the process of creating my magazine, I realised that I would like to make my magazine as unisex as possible and attempt to equally engage with both a male and female audience range.

When receiving feedback from my magazine it was evident that both genders enjoyed my magazine and were interested in new media to keep up to date

and to connect with their favourite artist which is exactly what my unique selling point allows.

The fact that my audience is younger males and females it allowed me to add references to social media such as ensure my magazine had a website, available downloads and

USE THIS QR CODE FOR A DIRECT LINK TO A YOUTUBE VIDEO I HAVE RECORDED OF POSSIBLE CONSUMERS OF MY MAGAZINE AND THE OPINIONS THEY HAVE ON ONE OF MY FIRST DRAFTS FOR MY MAGAZINE.

16 TO 24 YEAR OLD INDIVIDUALISTS WHO HAVE A STRONG PASSION FOR THE INDIE GENRE OF MUSIC.

type of AUDIENCE


the fact that my unique selling point of interacting

with musicians is on social media sites.

I also had to think about the genre of my magazine and how I am going to alter it to suit this specific genre of people, I did this by looking at the type of musicians I wanted to feature in my media product and how they will represent the indie genre. I did this by taking individual photo shoots which were not too ‘over the top’ as they could be

seen as more relatable to the ‘pop’ side of music.

By having these tailored photo shoots with individualist musicians reveals the impression I wanted to show to my target audience, that this magazine is different; this will therefore attract my target audience of 16-23 year old individuals.

The psychographics of my audience for my magazine are aspirers, readers towards the younger end of the spectrum, interested

and devoted to music; represent the indie genre, with intentions to engage in new ways with their favourite artists, or brand new musicians.

Their social habits will be consumption via hard copies and digital reading as they will most likely be for reading on the go.

My audience will be using my media product for entertainment, social interaction, and to educate about new artists (uses and gratifications).

I INTENDED FOR MY PHOTOGRAPHY TO REFLECT MY CHOICE IN MY TARGET AUDIENCE.

attracting my TARGET AUDIENCE

ow have a attracted and also

adressed my specific target audience?As I have designed my magazine to fit my target audience of 16 to 25 year old individuals and to address and attract this specific primary audience. My magazine therefore contains elements that will ensure that it will sell; one of these is my magazines unique selling point.

A unique selling point is critical for any magazine, it needs something to make it stand out from the crowd and be different to all the other magazines. This is usually done within the promotional method section; this can include things like competitions, chances to win tickets, or backstage passes.During the research process of creating my magazine I created a survey asking what would my audiences most preferred ‘freebie’ be, and the response that I got back was that VIP Backstage passes would be the most rewarding. Using this feedback resulting In VIP passes being one of my promotional methods, it will be announced on my

magazine that in 50 of the magazines on sale has VIP Backstage passes hidden within them, this has been designed specifically for my target audience as their age range are towards the younger end of the spectrum therefore I wanted to give this selling point a ‘Charlie and the chocolate factory’ feel with finding the golden ticket, or in this case, backstage pass.

As well as the free tickets, taking what I learnt from the social media research, this will also be one of my major promotional methods; in every main cover story of my monthly magazine there will be a

chance to talk on a social media site, to the featured musician in the article. I think that this will be a great opportunity to make my audience feel like they are getting something back from my magazine and not just paying a few pounds for nothing, it will also be using the idea of synergy and convergence to promote my magazine with the different media platforms and promoting other forms of social media

and also my magazines website.

It will give my audience the feeling of getting something back for being a consumer of my product. This selling point is featured in the last double page spread, as it give my audiences an exclusive time, date and number for the opportunity to interact with an up and coming star.

To make my magazine attractive in the shops I have made my product attractive to my specific audience by keeping it quite unisex, therefore it will appeal to both genders as I wanted my magazine

to appeal to males and females. I have chosen shades of black and white with a purple as my main colour for my magazine, this house style is quite plain and not too specific to any one audience type which will broaden my audience range when it is displayed on magazine stands. The content of my magazine is focused around mostly large images, as taking into consideration feedback

H


UNIQUE SELLING POINT, SOCIAL MEDIA, FREEBIES, DESIGN.

attracting my TARGET AUDIENCE and survey results, I learnt that as my audience range is quite young, they would prefer more of a visual product that can be flicked

through as well as studied.

My products is for entertainment purposes, escaping into a hobby or used for relaxation or for pure enjoyment, however it also has informational highlights for audience members that are interested in finding out information about music

and satisfying curiosity for indie music and general interest. My product does also touch upon personal identity and integration and social interaction


as indie music can accumulate conversations between social groups and generate ideas to talk about, for example

discussing new artists.

Personal identity is even present in my magazine as possible young musicians can relate to the breakthrough artists featured in my magazine and can relate to the challenges and compilations they face on their road to becoming

an established musician (These are based on the uses and gratifications theory.)

Another way that I have

USE THIS QR CODE TO FIND OUT WHAT THE KIND OF LOCATIONS MY TARGET AUDIENCE WOULD BE FOUND AT AND FOR MORE ABOUT THE WHOLE GENRE OF MY MAGAZINE IN GENERAL.

USE THIS QR CODE TO SEE THE SURVEY THAT I CREATED TO FIND OUT WHAT MY TARGET AUDIENCE WOULD WANT OUT OF MY MAGAZINE AND HOW TO ATRACT MY TARGET AUDIENCE.

attracted my target audience in a way that is not so obvious is by placing things on the left side third of my page, this is where

an audience member is said to look at first. For example, my masthead on my front page is positioned on the left hand side, in the first thirst of the page, these results in the name of my magazine being seen for therefore attracting my audience immediately. This theory is in fact used on a number of magazine, like ‘Q’ for example and

is therefore a convention of a magazine, this is why I used this aspect on my media product as it is proven to attract its audience.

learning about the TECHNOLOGIES

hat have i learnt about the

technology i have used from the prosess of constructing my product?I used a variety of different professional pieces of software and equipment throughout the production stages of my magazine; they all contributed to the success of a professional looking product.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 was one of the main pieces of software that I used, I was familiar with this as I did in fact use it at GCSE level media and also in AS photography, therefore I knew my way around the interface and had quite a confident understanding of all the methods of use. I used this for editing my photographs and adding effects to those, I was able to manipulate images to look how I wanted them too, to fit my targeted audience and whole design style of my magazine.

InDesign CS6 was another accessory used in creating my magazine, this is where I constructed my magazine, imported my

photography and put everything together. I had used this software before however I did not have as much experience with it as I did with Photoshop. I was able to use take time to use YouTube clips and tutorials to help me with both programmes if I ever needed to learn something new or figure out how to do something I did not already know, it also helped me build my existing knowledge with both products.

These particular pieces of software really helped me generate a profession, authentic looking magazine. InDesign, in particular made it much easier for me to create the layout of my magazine, I was able to instantly make columns that could be extended and repeated across a double page and even onto the next double, this really helped me with my article as all I had to do was paste the text into the first text box and it would progress throughout all of my pages. I was also able to easily create my cell lines and design them how I imagined them in this programme, I was even able to colour pick the colours from my photographs and use the exact same colour for my text. I was also able to be much more

creative and generate boarders for my cell lines that looked slightly more ‘fancy’ and even add slight designs to some of my headings, for instance on my contents page. Even my page numbers have a rounded square boarder to them which just give my magazine more of a design and again look slightly more individual and different from others, as this is important for the genre of my product. When taking my photographs I used a Nikon SLR camera which took clear images that I could easily edit within Photoshop. I used the manual setting so that I could control the aperture and shutter speed myself to get the desired focus in my images, I also set up the shoot with a backdrop and studio lights. I used both the white backdrop and the black just to give my images more variation, I also played around with the lighting and turned one down so that it was dimmer than the other to give a half shadowed face effect. I had never set up a shoot like this before but it did all go to plan.

Once I had taken my photographs, I uploaded the images onto Photoshop; this is where I could adjust the levels and

W


learning about the TECHNOLOGIES

contrast to give my photos the correct colourings. I used a soft overlay on some of the images for them to stand out slightly more, I also used the spot healing tool to remove any unwanted blemishes, I used the brush tool and set the brushes to eyelashes


to give my model a more dramatic look, especially for my cover image. I was able to highlight the gold tones and darken the black just too again, make everything look much more dramatic to give the same effect of a profession magazine.

The Photoshop software really helped me to manipulate my

photographs to give them the look I wanted and that would really suit the genre and feel of my magazine.

By having acsess to all of these aspects were what made my magazine come to life, it provided me with the tools to really give it a professional appearence.

looking BACK

ooking back at my preliminary

task, what do i feel that i have learnt in the progression from that to my final full product.

L


A vast number of things have changed since the beginning of this project, I have learnt new skills, progressed in my ability to use certain software, such as Photoshop and InDesign. I have even

learnt to use these programmes for innovative ways of presented my other coursework.

When it comes to the actual process of creating a magazine it is evident that I have improved in all areas due to the contrast between my preliminary task and my final magazine. When I created the

Haydon magazine for my preliminary task, I seemed to rely on Photoshop for most of the magazine, however when I came to making my final magazine I was using much more professional software, InDesign, to actually lay out and make my media product. This shows how I have learnt to adapt my knowledge and skills of one media programme to another quickly and efficiently as my final magazine did have a much more professional looking appearance compared to my preliminary task.

Not to mention, using InDesign has been really

enjoyable, and has also be an alternative way of constructing other aspects within this project, for example as I was confident enough using this software I used it to transform seven written essays into a digital interactive magazine to present my evaluation as you can see, it just proves how my skills have developed.

Another vast improvement

that I feel I have made since my preliminary task is with my design skills, I have noticed that I now make much better design choices and decisions, resulting in much more professional looking and appealing outcomes with anything that I have to design. When you compare the visual appearance of my preliminary task to my final magazine, it is evident that I have improved with my judgement of what looks good and professional, from the colour choices to the text size I have discovered how to make good design choices throughout the progression from my first task to my final magazine.

Even my researching skills have grown and developed, as since my preliminary task I have learnt that before you actually design a magazine, lots of planning needs to be done in order for the media product to be successful as it’s not just about the appearance, the magazine must be tailored to a specific audience and have the potential to sell.

I have had to research into a particular ethnography, my very specific primary audience is 16-25 year old individualist that have a passion for indie music. I uncovered survey monkey,

I HAVE LEARNT DESIGN SKILLS, THE IMPOTANCE OF REASERCH AND EVEN THE CAPABILITY OF NEW SOFTWARE.

looking BACK


which helped me with this as I was able to create surveys which I asked my audience and get feedback which gave me a primary inside on what my target audience really wanted from my music magazine, such as what type of ‘freebies’ they would of wanted to see featured in the product.

I listened to all the feedback and was able to make the necessary adaptations or changed, therefore I was able to pinpoint a particular audience range.

Throughout this prowess, I have gained design, research, and even software skills, I have learnt how to create a professional looking media product, that is evidently an extreme improvement on my first attempt at making a magazine.

THE T I E

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