My music magazine evaluation

Josh Joachim

Masthead

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Cover Lines

Cover Lines

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Continuing Masthead

Editors Note

Regulars

Features

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Pull Quote

Masthead

Page Number

Images

Mastheads are used to usually ensure the audience of the genre of the magazine. I have made the masthead in an easy style and font for the audience to understand. By placing it across the top centre of the page, it is clear to the audience that it is of similar styling to other magazines. Also the masthead begins in the left third, so if its placed on a shelf, the public will also be able to recognise it. I chose the font style because its quite easy and simple to read.

The main image is the first step in the magazine to clearly demonstrate the genre of the magazine. The model is jumping in mid air with hair all over the place to try and give the genre of pop to the audience. Most leading magazines e.g. NME, Kerrang use the main image as the focal point to put across the genre of the magazine. I have followed this convention to try and show the audience that the genre is ‘pop’.

Front Cover

ContentsThe main title ‘Contents’ is usually placed at the top of the page to grasp the audiences attention. I have used this convention as I placed it in a similar position as most magazines do. I placed it there to show that I have looked at other magazines, and have taken inspiration from other magazines.

I chose to have the main images on the contents page placed in the left third. Most magazines place their images around the centre piece of the page. I have challenged the conventions of image placement to get more articles on the contents page. By placing the majority of the images on the left third, I was able to place more Features and Regulars in the columns in the centre of the page.

I have chosen to also place a regular feature of all types of magazines on my contents page. An editors note. Some magazines place an editors note on the contents page without an image. I have used an image of the editor along with the editors note. Therefore I have developed this convention by adding a image with my editors note, whereas some magazines don’t use one.

Double Paged Spread

The use of the Stan-first is a feature used by all magazines to introduce the persona they are doing the DPS about. It is a chance for the audience to get a brief summary of the artist and the article. I decided to place this in my magazine because of the context of the interview. Its mostly conversational so the audience could do with a detailed piece of information about the artist. I have used the conventions of this format in my magazine to give the audience a better overview of the artist.

The main images on the DPS are the main thing on the DPS. The images capture the model jumping in mid air. I chose this style of image to continue the genre of pop throughout the magazine. The two images are spaced out on separate pages. They are not clustered on one page. In many magazines, the DPS pictures are not spaced out to the extent that they are in magazine. Therefore I have challenged this convention by not cramping them with text and other features.

Upon the start of this project, I made my target audience to be 14-18 year olds of both genders who are interested in Pop music. To attract this target audience I have tried to portray the articles and images in the style of Pop. I tried to use articles which usually 14-18 are interested in. Also through the imagery, they are quite active with a young theme running through them, which I aimed at a younger audience. The uncluttered approach to the magazine gives the audience a clear and calming read through the magazine. The clothing and calmness of the DPS interview allows the audience to relate to the artist as he is dressed casually which goes with the questions and answers in the magazine. By showing how casual and cool the artist will allow the audience to aspire to be like him, from whichever walk of life they come from.

The target audience is 14-18 of both genders, who enjoy music from all decades but of the Pop genre or are familiar with Greatest Hits from artists in the last 20 years. It would be for social classes C1,C2. It will offer all the latest pop music gossip and news, also with some exclusive interviews with some of our country's biggest artists from the last 20 years and it will also promote new acts in the world of pop. Using motion imagery will also contribute to the Pop genre of the magazine.

This was my original mood board for my target audience.

For the audience feedback piece of the project. I gathered 4 friends to answer feedback questions with detailed answers. I felt this worked well because to was clear to see their thoughts and could get clear reasoning behind their thoughts.

Here is the YouTube link for my Focus Group: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpNRlItQ-Q0

I asked the following questions:

Would you be interested in buying the shuffle magazine by looking at the front cover?Would you say it’s fairly priced?Does it remind of any magazine covers you’ve seen in the past?Is the contents page clear enough?What are the best features of the contents page?By looking at the contents page what are your thoughts about the genre of magazine?Is the DPS clearly laid out?Is the choice of imagery similar to the genre?Finally, looking at the DPS cover and contents, would you be interested in buying the magazine?

The Colour Scheme: The yellow and green background gives a calm feel to the magazine. By using the gradient tool on Photoshop, although the colours were quite mild and calm, the use of the tool enabled me to add an amount of funk to the background.

The Imagery: The Images are active and funky. I planned to take these types of images to attract the target audience. Also I feel there is a similarity between the genre of the magazine and the images as they are both associated with young and funky themes.

The Text: The conversational language in the DPS is very un-complicated and un-sophisticated. I tried to ensure that the language would not clash with the young styled pictures and background. I think that the youthful, clear language will allow the target audience to read it without struggling as 14-18 year olds aren't fans of reading large amounts of text.

The use of blogger.com has enabled me to upload all of my work to a website where it is stored safely on the internet for everyone to see. This has helped me along because I have not had to buy folders and file all the work manually. Also if the work has not been completed, you are able to save your work and continue it the next time you sign in. Blogger seems to be a really good way to work through the magazine work.

Adobe Photoshop is a programme that I have never used before until I began this project. Thankfully, the preliminary exercise gave us a chance to get to know Photoshop and what it can do. The technology on the programme is second to none and is a fantastic way make creative projects like Magazines and Leaflets. I think Photoshop is a fantastic way to create magazines .

Survey Monkey is another feature I used throughout the project. We used it to gather feedback from our surveys. We were able to post them onto our Facebook accounts where we could ask our friends to take the surveys anomalously. Although this is a good idea, some feedback was not appropriate to the questions, maybe this is a flaw in the website.

From the preliminary task, I learnt a wide range of skills which I took through into my full project. Skills like using drop shadow to enhance the text on the slides.