Music magazine evaluation
Judah Chandra
In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real music
magazines? My magazine follows the conventions of a real, professional product
of the same standard. For example it has the traditional masthead with cover lines and top and bottom strips; all complimenting the look of the magazine.
Strapline
Bar code
Feature article
Competition
Date of issue and number of issue
MastheadTop strip
Cover lines
Additional artists
Bottom strip
In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real music magazines?
Firstly, people buy magazines for enjoyment and to find information the latest releases of music. In my magazine it provides all of the above and also ensures social interaction so it helps the reader gain a sense of belonging.
Fonts- For my magazine I decided to use fonts that were clear and easy to read. The size varied depending on which points needed to be highlighted the most.
Layout- I used a clear and easy layout in all my pages. Consequently, the simple design would allow readers to depict what information they wanted without delay. Additionally, the use of pictures was adamant on my magazine because photographs are essential to make a magazine seem more interesting to the reader. They also help the reader to relate with the information they obtained from the magazine.
Language. and punctuation.- The language I used was persuasive and informal. I.e. on the front page it says, "how did he earn his stripes?" Therefore, this conveys that my magazine uses language that the reader is familiar with; ensuring social interaction.
Colour- the colours I mainly used was white, red and black. This was because they were vivid contrasting colours and were kept on an ongoing theme throughout the pages to ensure the continuative stream of the magazine. I used a dark background for my front page to make the title and text to stand out. However, for the other pages I used different colours; this added more colour to the pages.
RedWhite
black
Non- verbal communication- the characters in the pictures are looking straight at the reader. This as a result is to ensure the reader's attentions are attracted.
Fonts
In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real music
magazines?
Text and graphics- In the pages I made the text a good size to match with the rest of the page. I used text that was relevant and enticing; especially for the article as it used a lot of text.
Who would your target audience be and why?
My target audience would be teenagers onwards who have a passion for hip hop music and want to learn more about the recent events of music. They would be interested because it consists of a wide variety of information on music stars in the industry which would conclude the reason for buying the magazine. Hip Hop has a strong rhythm and vocal style which rap is associated with. It consists of styles which include rapping, beatboxing, Deejaying, and eMCeeing and is not constricted to gender although my target audience is more dominantly make due to audience research (on the next page). My magazine offers many aspects of the Hip Hop lifestyle therefore people aged 16-25 are my ideal audience.
I am therefore targeting Hip Hop fans who traditionally read other Hip Hop magazines such as Hip Hop Connection and so I am aiming at the Hip Hop music tribe. The typography I used was to express that the magazine I created was especially for the population who take a keen interest in the hip hop genre of music.
Male audience is dominant so I am targeting more males
Majority of my target audience ages’ are 16-25 so I am targeting that age group as they are the most attracted to my magazine.
Who would your target audience be and why?
Who would your target audience be and why?
For my contents page I decided to use a classic layout which would help give it a more efficient look. At the top, the reader can instantly recognise it is the contents page due to the large lettering of CONTENTS in red with a dark background. Consequently, this draws the observer’s attention and the person will gain an understanding on what page it is. I also decided to use red, white, and black for the main lettering therefore keeping the overall theme evident. For each article within the magazine I gave a short snippet of information which was long enough to convey what the specific article was about without giving too much detail.
Additionally, for the feature article I decided to use a picture of two of the band members. Since it was the only picture on the page it would immediately catch the reader’s attention which would be precisely what I want. Like the front page I had to crop and resize the picture so it would work with the rest of the page layout.
By adding numbers to the main articles, it allows the reader to associate what page number the article is- on quickly and efficiently. The page is designed so the reader can find the articles he/she wants to specifically look at. By keeping the contents page simple I made it clear what pages the article was on.
As with most magazines there is always the regular information available to the person who buys the magazine. I decided to base this information in the lower quarter of the magazine so I could draw the reader’s attention to the main articles but let them know there is still other information within the article. The Regulars section included what would normally be in a traditional music magazine. E.g. latest songs and reviews.
Page No.
Title
Feature article
How does your music magazine represent particular social groups?
In my magazine I have represented ideal lifestyles that I have included to maximise potential audience. The social group that has been represented in my magazine is teenagers aged 16-25 with a passion for hip hop. The layout is colourful and interesting to grab the particular social group’s attention. It would appeal to the full socio economic range as many teenagers aspire to be like their heroes and heroines in hip hop regardless of their social status . However, the largest target audience that I am trying to attract is from C2 down to E as it appeals primarily to urban youths but has the cool factor associated with that that other teenagers crave. It represents the teenagers as loving music and gives the latest information on infamous music stars and new releases to attract them.
The main target audience for my magazine would be people in the C2 section- skilled manual workers. This is because the magazine provides a diversion for problems and can be seen as enjoyment and entertainment.
What kind of Media institution might distribute your music magazine and why?
The magazine institution that might distribute my magazine would be the BBC or a well published music distributor such as EMAP. Both are well respected companies and additionally have made a whole variety of magazines. Therefore, they are the ideal distributors as my magazine would be more likely to be published in mainstream publishing due to the companies being influential and wells trusted. My magazine contains the facts and the important codes and conventions that regulate a traditional magazine. Additionally, the magazine would offer up to date information for the company; conveying it in a positive light as it would target readers interested in the latest information and news. Additionally, I believe my product would be extremely popular with fans and therefore large profits could be made by using a varied selection of sales devices such as music sales, TV adverts, billboards which are examples of converging technologies. The Niche audience being attracted to my magazine are hip hop fans
How did you attract and address your audience?
I attracted and addressed my audience by using a normal layout and having a bold masthead that stands out to exaggerate the "professional" look. And by giving short pieces of information for the front cover it helps draw in the reader because they want to find out more.
I tried to use contrasting vivid colours to add emphasis to the magazine and this helped the design become more effective.
Many people read magazines to have an identity within the world they choose from themselves. My music magazine Illustrates that they can be part of something bigger and the information from VOICE shows that the information can be used for conversational purposes as well as to gain a heightened knowledge of the latest happening in the hip hop world.
Masthead in a clean gradient
Snappy Strapline
White contrasting colour
Clear black colour background
Backstage ticket
Bright red contrasting colour.
Turn over for more information
How did you attract and address your audience?
Front page For the front page I deduced that I would have to use a few Main colours in
order for the magazine to look its part. Therefore I combined a variety of colours available and stuck with Red, white, and BLACK to contrast colours and based my magazine around it.
I decided to include a free V.I.P backstage ticket. The free product helps entice viewers to buy the magazine as they can get a physical object from their money. As with most strap lines they have to be short and snappy. I decided to use this technique and used Voicing your choice! this links in with the title which conveys that my magazine is deliberately choosing to interact with the audience.
For the masthead I decided to use VOICE in a clean gradient. The title suggests to the reader that the magazine is giving information from within the music industry and therefore attracts them. Voice is the "music voice from deep inside“ in my opinion signifying the depth and personal importance of music to us all.
How did you attract and address your audience?
How did you attract and address your audience?
For the main feature article I chose RTS Will they triumph or fail? This is in larger lettering to draw the viewer’s eye towards the place. Additionally, the use of the rhetorical question helps ensure social interaction and psychologically prompts the reader to open the magazine and read it.
The other articles in my magazine consist of big names in the hip hop industry. Consequently, it helps draw the reader in due to them wanting to find information about big music stars; some of which the reader is fond of and wants to know more about.
How did you attract and address your audience?
To start off with I decided to use RETAKING THE STREETS at the top of the pages to let readers know what the pages are going to be about. Then I decided to write an article brief for the first page that was bigger than the normal text in order to gain the reader's interest and obtain a little background information of the band.
By placing a footer at the bottom of the pages I ensured that the reader will know what page are on and this helps to maintain the continuing of the pages and lets the reader know the pages are from VOICE with certainty.
I typed up the article in Microsoft word first to make sure there were no spelling errors and to get an idea of what font the text in my article should be similar to. For inspiration on the article I looked at a few music magazines to gain a sense of what an article should include.
I then copied the article into Microsoft word and made the changes necessary for the text to fit into the brown shaded boxes I had created to give the article structure. And to fill in a gap I used a short relevant quote from the text to highlight the main information that the band had commented
However, I realised that to entice readers I would need pictures. As a result, I added relevant pictures into the text in order to make sure the reader would have something to relate to and to make the pages appear more interesting.
The layout for the second article page I created was a collage. This was because I used more pictures as a collage because I wanted the reader to know that this page would be different than the first article page.
Bold title
Attractive Collage
Interesting article
Page no.
What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this music magazine?
Additionally, I have learnt much more about technologies using Photoshop. I have learnt that produce a good quality magazine takes a lot of thought in order to make the final product excellent. Some of these include adjusting lighting, contrast, and colour to enhance images and create superb effects. Also, I have learnt a great deal about Photoshop and a great proportion of my time went into the photographs. With these I had to ensure relevant camera angles were taken in order to obtain good high key lighting photographs; consequently, ensuring the Iconography was the way I wanted it to be.I have learnt how to use Indesign to a high standard and learnt how it improves the magazines in betters ways than Photoshop. Therefore I can now understand why Indesign is compulsory because it provides a wide range of techniques and resources which enable the magazines to look even better.
Cover lines include many famous music
artists associated with
the hip hop genre which exclusively
targets hip hop fans who wish to
know more about their
favourite artists. Hip hop artists such as, “Nas, Notorious Big,
and Snoop Dogg are just some of
the famous African
American rappers
depicted in the list.
I feel that I have learnt a great deal from progression of the preliminary task. This is because I can now use Photoshop much more efficiently and I understand fully the main codes and conventions a music magazine needs in order to be successful.I have also learnt to back up files in the case that if anything went wrong I wouldn't have to lose work that I had already done. Unfortunately, I had to learn this the hard way.Additionally, I now know a much greater deal on how to get the best photographs to use in the article. Where in the preliminary task I was much less efficient in taking photographs I now know the best angles and lighting that are needed to ensure high quality.Lastly, I feel that I am much more aware of magazines available that the media have produced for a large number of years. In progression from the preliminary exercise I know now and how to ensure social interaction and how to keep a simple layout easy for the reader to read whilst being effective at the same time.Most Importantly, I now understand the sense of dedication needed to pass this AS level whereas before with the preliminary I was somewhat unsure.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
