Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product

If you click on the images it will link you to flickr where you can read about how my magazines both relate to their individual target audiences.
 Looking back at my preliminary task I have learnt a lot more about the different programs I used to create my magazine. Before this process I was not able to fully use photoshop, which was why my college magazine was created in publisher. I feel that my music magazine is more reflective of the language and features used in an existing magazine. I have used other media such as slide share and survey monkey which I had not used before, slide share allowed me to put my PowerPoint presentations onto my blog.
Overall I am now able to use photoshop to fade the background of my magazine, change the colours of different elements of my magazine like the puff and text. I can rotate objects and pictures I have used on my contents page, I have also edited my masthead to have a viynl as the dot on the I.

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

 

Through creating my magazine I had to use different technologies and programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Slide Share, Publisher and Survey Monkey. These programs have helped my to create my music magazine.

I used Adobe Photoshop to create my final front cover, contents page and double page spread. It enabled my to edit and change my photos as needed.

I used Publisher to create my College magazines and my mock up front cover, contents page and double page spread. 

 I uploaded all of my research and work on to my blogger account. 

I used the site "slideshare" to upload my power point on to my blog.

To annotate my example front cover, contents page and double page spread. I used Microsoft power point.

To receive some feedback on what sort of magazine would suit my target audience best I used Survey Monkey.

To move my work from my home laptop onto my school computer I used my hotmail account. 

I used Youtube top upload my video responce.

I have also used the photo sharing site flickr to put my photos into a slideshow.

I used Prezi to creating interesting and engaging presentations to help explain elements of my magazine.

I create my magazine on my school computer account as my home laptop did not have the write Photoshop software. However I did a lot of my blogging from my laptop at home.

  Creating my magazine had shown me how to use many different programs that I hadn't used before like Photoshop, Slide Share and Survey Monkey. 

From using these technologies to create my product I have leanrt about the importance of technological convergence in relation to this industry. In order to create a fully functional and successful magazine, you need to be able to use different sorts of technologies. Magazine are now available to access online, this means that your magazine has to have an element of it which isn't available online. For instance my magazine offers the chance to win Beyonce tickets and exclusives that you wouldn't get anywhere else.

How did you attract your audience?

I have attracted my audience by putting interesting headlines on my magazine cover to engage the target audience, this being people that listen to hip-hop music. I included different well known hip-hop artists that would attract the right target audience. I researched what sort of shots of the artist were common on the front cover of a hip hop magazine, I also looked at what they would wear so that I could replicate the look on Mia for my front cover and what color scheme my magazine should have.I also created a video of some of my peers commenting and giving their reviews of my magazine and how it relates to my target audience.

Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

I have chosen to compare the edition of Vibe featuring Mary J Blige, to my front cover featuring Mia. Both women have a direct mode of address which can be seen as confrontational which reflects the gangster hip-hop genre of the magazine. It is also a way of engaging the target audience of my magazine. Both shots are a close up shot of the artist, with a plain white background. This draws attention to the artist rather than having a distracting background. The outfits wore by both women are dark colors and don't stand out too much. This adds to the dramatic effect of the magazine. Although there are some differences between the two, Mary J Blige is in a more formal wear than Mia who is in a t-shirt, I chose to do this to relate to my target audience of late teens.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media prodcut and why?

IPC Media is a magazine a consumer magazine and digital publisher based in the UK, owned by Time Inc. The company was founded in 1958 by Cecil Harmsworth King who was the chairman of a newspaper group which included the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Pictorial. IPC Media currently publishes more than 60 iconic media brands which feature contents from many different platforms such as; print online, mobile, tablets and events. IPC Media are the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher and engage with 26 million adults in the UK. IPC Media feature three publishing divisions specialised to focus on the different areas of the market. These divisions are IPC Connect, IPC Southbank and IPC Inspire. IPC Connect focuses on mass market women, IPC Southbank focuses on upmarket women and IPC Inspire focuses on men.

I think that IPC Media would be a good publisher for my magazine as although it doesn't already have a music magazine of the hip hop genre they publish many different types of magazine which gives them a lot of experience and research of what different target audiences interests are. Therefore I think for an up and coming Hip-Hop magazine IPC Media would be a good choice. This production company offers a wide range of magazines, therefore they will have the needed skill and knowledge to create and market a successful Hip-Hop magazine.Since my magazine is brand new and Hip-Hop music magazines are in a niche market, the fact that IPC Media are already a successful and established company will help my magazine reflect that representation. Although my magazine is subject to a niche market at the moment I would use synergy through this company so that I could use different distributors to reach different markets. IPC sell their magazines in leading brand stores, such as Tesco and WH Smith. This means that the magazine will be more accessible, the magazine will also be available online this will bring in more audiences and more sales.One of the magazines that IPC Media distrubute is NME this is a leading music magazine, although it is a rock magazine and not a hip-hop magazine the companies ability to create a successful music magazine will be an advantage for my music magazine.

In what way does your media product challage forms and conventions of real magazine products.

For the masthead of my magazine I chose to try and replicated a similar look to the mashead for th Hip-Hop magazine Vibe. I did this by choosing a bold font called "Greyhound SF"

I manipulated the font on photoshop by changing the colour. I did this to contrast with the colour scheme of my front cover. I also used a vinyl record as the dot for the I. This reflects the old school gangster look of my magazine. The title of my music magazine is "Hitz", I used a z to again given the magazine the Hip-Hop feel. This targets my main audience, of people who listen to Hip-Hop music. The word Hitz connotes that in my magazine you will be able to read about people who are succsessful; and have had hits

I challeged the codes and connventions of a music magazine with my masthead by using the viynl record as the dot over the I. This appeals to my target audiences.

The overall Mise-en-scene of my magazine channel the codes and conventions of a music magaizne because I have chosen photos that reflect real music magazines. My music magazine has a plain white background with the arist in the center of the frame in a direct mode of address. This is similar to the magazine Vibe. I have used the same colour scheme on each of my pages to keep the same feel throughout the magazine. I want the reader to know that it's the smae magazine without seeing the magazine logo or being told.

The featured person in my magazine challages the codes and conventions of a real music magazine because my magazine appeals to both genders however with it's slightly gangster style it could appeal to males more. This would suggest that I should have used male as my artist as they could be someone that my audience can relate to. However Mia does relfect the codes and connvetions of a traditional music magazine, she is wearing a t-shirt that has a faded picture on it, this appeals to the target audience as it is something that they might wear. Her poses also relfect the codes and conventions of a music magazine. She has a directmode of address and the shot is a close up of her face.

The written element of my magzine also relfects the codes and conventions of a music magazine as I have asked questions that you would normally find in an interview in a music magazine, such as "Tell us about your new single" and "How do you cope witht he pressue of being a Hip-Hop star?" The front cover of my magazine also channels the codes and conventions of a music magazine as I have used phrases such as "Exclusive" and "Sneak Peak". These attract the readers attention, just as they would in a real music magazine. I have also included an editors letter on the contents page which is something that is very common in an existing music magazine.

The layout of my magazine also shows the codes and connventions of an existing music magazine as I have set out my frount cover in the way that an existing magazine would. The main feature is at the bottom right and the other key features of my magazine are in the left third of the page. This relfects the codes and connventions of an ezisting magazine as this is where the eye is draw to on the page, so you want to display the features that are most likely to appeal to your target audience.

Final Magazine

Step by Step Double Page Spread

Step by Step Double Page Spread from Daisy199

Double Page Spread Mock Up

Annotation of a Double Page Spread

Step by Step Contents page

Step by Step Contents Page from Daisy199

Contents Page Mock Up

Annotation of Contents Page

Contents page analysis from Daisy199

Step By Step Front Cover

Step by Step Front Cover from Daisy199

Masthead for Music Magazine

The masthead for my music

 magazine looks likes this  ------->

I have chosen this font for my magazine masthead

because it is modern and cool. It looks very

sophisticated, like many hip-hop artists do.

I want my magazine to have a sophisticated feel about it, which can appeal to more than one target audience. The curved edges look classy and smart, but the Masthead still has a cool edge to it because of the slashes through the font.I used the font "interlude" from the website dafont which creates different fonts.I felt that this font would appeal to my target audience the best because it is not gender specific.

My second idea for a masthead was this. This font is called "Greyhound SF", I chose this font because it has a stylized association with music in general. This enables my readers to distinguish the magazine as a music magazine, which will encourage readers to purchase my magazine. I decided that by adding the vinyl on top of the "i"

 made the magazine seem more old school hip hop and fresh, and it was not an idea I had seen done anywhere else. The final masthead that I have used for my magazine is red because it gives my magazine a more dramatic look and catches the readers eye.

Photo Shoot

After looking at different magazine covers I decided that I wanted to do my photo shoot in front of a white background. I wanted to have a close up shot of Mia for the front cover, and other close up shots that could go on my double page spread. There were a couple difficulties in setting up my photo shoot, one was trying to find a room with a white canvas to shoot against and good lighting for the shots. The biggest problem I faced when trying to organize my photo shoot was Mia my model didn't show up for the shoot, after we had found a room and set up the camera and lighting. Initially I tried to find another model so the shoot, but decided that it would be better if I rearranged the shoot for another day. Mia brought in different outfits for me to look at so I could decided which reflected my magazines music genre best. I took about 140 shot, so that I had many to choose from which is where my idea for the double page spread came from.

Front Cover Mock Up

Magazine Research

Introduction
 Q Magazine is a monthly music magazine published in the UK; it was first published in October 1986 by the EMAP media group. Its founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth set the magazine apart from other through their higher standard of photography and printing. In January 2008 EMAP sold the magazine to the Bauer Media Group.

The Content of Q
The magazines main focus is on its reviews of new music such as; new releases, reissues, music compilations, film and live concert reviews. Q also releases its eight best new releases of the last three months. The magazine has a reputation for its many “lists”. Such as "The 100 Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists". The magazine also features the monthly interview with a popular music artist, artists such as Oasis, Coldplay and the Arctic Monkeys whom reflect the overall genre of the magazine. However the magazine also features artists such as Adele and Cheryl Cole to broaden its target audience.
 
 The Publishing Institution of Q
Q is published by the Bauer Media Group, who are a multinational media company headquartered in Hamburg. The company was founded in 1875 and has since then been privately owned and managed by the Bauer family. Bauer Media Group as publish the popular music magazine Kerrang!
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

 The Typical Reader Profile
 The average reader of Q magazine would be late twenties, roughly 28 years old. The majority would be male however a small percentage would be female readers. They would spend a lot of their time listening to classic rock bands such as Oasis, Queen or the Foo Fighters. They would commonly wear band t-shirts from the many concerts they have been to over the years, and look out for new up and coming bands in the review sections of the magazine.

Layout Trademarks of Q
 The layout of the front cover of Q magazine is most commonly a close up shot of the main artist with direct eye contact to engage the target audience. The masthead for the magazine is the traditional red Q in the top left corner of the magazine, because as the magazine is stacked on shelves in shops this is the only part you can see and therefore what will catch the reader eye. The left third is also where Q places its top features for the magazine. However the main article relating to the artist on the front cover is commonly found at the bottom of the page as a banner across the image. The writing usually has straight lines and is very easy to read. The fact that the font is not curved in any way suggest that the magazine is not directed at male or female in particular however the unfeminine edges suggest that this is no way a girly magazine. The colour scheme of the magazine is red, black and white which makes the magazine seem more masculine and appeals to the rock music fan target audience.

Does Q Reflect the Values of its Audiences?
The contents of Q engage with its target audience through keeping them up to date with new albums and gigs that popular and new rock artists are partaking in, as well as giving them "The 100 Greatest albums" for that month’s issue.

Introduction
Marie Clair is the monthly women’s fashion and beauty magazine. It was first published in France in 1937 and was founded by Jean Prouvost and Marcelle Auclair. Currently in the UK the magazine is published by IPC Media,

The Content of Marie Clair
The magazine focuses in women’s fashion, health and beauty. Before the contents page there is a letter from the Editor in Chief of the magazine Trish Halpin. The magazine features the hottest fashion trends of that month, as well as the latest beauty secrets and products. The magazine also features monthly book reviews, horoscopes and competitions. The magazine also has interviews with different celebrities and fashion icons including the main article which features the celebrity on the front cover of that month’s issue. Each issue of the magazine feature many adverts throughout the issue of new makeup products, to clothing brands and jewellery. As well as this the magazine also features the latest news articles.

  The Publishing Institution of Marie Clair

IPC Media is a magazine a consumer magazine and digital publisher based in the UK, owned by Time Inc. The company was founded in 1958 by Cecil Harmsworth King who was the chairman of a newspaper group which included the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Pictorial. IPC Media currently publishes more than 60 iconic media brands which feature contents from many different platforms such as; print online, mobile, tablets and events.


 The Typical Reader Profile
The typical reader of Maria Clair magazine would be a woman in her early thirties, who wants to keep up to date with the latest fashion trends and beauty secrets. They would typically spend the majority of their free time shopping or going to spas for the newest beauty treatment. They would be intelligent and therefore want to read the news articles and book reviews.

Layout Trademarks of Marie Clair
The classic layout for Maria Claire magazine is the masthead at the top of the page which appears in a different colour each issue to keep the front cover looking fresh and new. The celebrity featuring in the main article is on the front cover in a close up shot with a direct mode of address in an attempt to catch the eye of any potential readers walking by. The colour scheme of the magazine changes with each issue but is most commonly pinks, purple and reds. This connotes that this is a women’s magazine, this is also shown through the feminine font of the masthead and the font of the articles on the page. The main fashion or beauty article of the magazine is usually placed at the bottom left of the magazine as that is the first thing that the reader’s eye will go to as the skim the magazine.

Does Marie Clair Reflect the Values of its Audiences?
I think that Marie Clair reflects the interests of its readers because it contains many different beauty and fashion articles as well as their more serious new articles. The magazine also features the monthly book reviews and horoscopes which create the impression of the feature being personalised to each specific reader as there are different book genres and each reader will have their own horoscope for their birth month.

Production Plan

Front Cover
Front Cover Image: The front cover image will be a close up shot of Mia that covers the entire page.

Text: The other text on the page will tell the audience some of the feautures of this months magazine, for example and exclusive preview of 50 Cents new album and Jay zs new tour. It will also include a list of some artists that are featured in the magazine.

Banner: The banner at the top will tell readers that Hitz is the best magazine to read for the latest hip-hop gossip and stories.

Puff: The puff will show a contest to win concert tickets which could encourage reader to buy the magazine so that they can enter the competition.

Contents Page
Contents Page Image: The image for my contents page will be a faded close up image of Mia.

Text: There will be an editors letter and it will show the contents of the magazine.

Other Images: There will be other images that link to the features magazine.

Double Page Spread
Double Page Spread: There will be several close up shots of Mia on one side of the contents page.

Text: On the other side of the contents page there will be an interveiw with Mia.

Publication Plan

Publication Plan for a Music Magazine

What will my masthead look like?

My masthead will have to be fresh and trendy to engage the “hip” target audience.  My colours will be mainly black and white with a hint of red to add a dramatic effect. This will create a classy effect to the magazine.

What will my price be? A lot of magazines now are only available online or through subscription therefore I will have my magazines made available for a reasonable subscription price. After looking online at different sites, it seems that at an average of £1 a magazine, £12 for a year’s subscription is common. However in stores I think that the magazine should be around £2 – £2.50.

Where will my magazine be sold? (Distribution) My magazine will be sold in major supermarkets and shops like WH Smiths etc. This is because many people go into this shop for supplies other than just magazines. So it is a way for encourage audiences to see the magazine when they are in the shop and buy it, even if it wasn’t what they originally came for.

How will my magazine be aimed at my target audience? (Rationale)  My magazine will be aimed at my target audience because the front cover will be designed to attract the eye of a hip-hop fan. It will also display a hip hop artist that is well known to hip-hop fans. This will act as a reason for customers to buy the magazine, as they may be a fan of that particular artist.

How will the style of the magazine reflect my target audience? My style will be classy and sophisticated which will reflect the hip trendy side of hip-hop music. It will reflect artists such as Usher and Ne-Yo. This will add to the dramatic effect of the magazine.

What will my magazine contain and what should it contain?

Features

1.       Contents Page

2.       Editors Letter

3.       What are this months hip hop trends?

4.       The latest gossip in hip hop.

5.       We go backstage

6.        Interview with Ne-Yo

7.       New Compilations

8.       What’s hot in Hip-Hop? (Articles about what Hip-Hop artists are doing – new albums, tours etc.)

9.       What are our top ten tunes of this month?

Cover features

10.   What’s new to you? (The reader chance to suggest new and upcoming artists in Hip-Hop)

11.   Be the first to hear 50 Cent’s new album.

12.   Join us as we take a backstage look at Jay Zs new tour (insider exclusive)

Reviews

13.   Tour Reviews (Beyonces – Mrs Carter tour)

14.   Tour Pictures (Reader send in photos from tours or gigs the have recently been to and the best are displayed in that moths Magazine)

15.   New Band interview (each moth we do an interview with a new band, just starting out in Hip-Hop)

16.   Top 5 Albums of this month. (we review our favourite new albums)

17.   Best and Worst (the best and worst singles of this month)

Main Feature

18.   Main feature article. (our exclusive interview with Hip-Hop artist Mia Brend)

Audience Profile

Mood Board

These are some images I selected to be my Mood Board, I want my Hip Hop magazine to have an Old School vibe to it. Therefore I decided to incorporate vinyl records, I quite like the black and white colour scheme for the magazine as it is sophisticated. The graffiti style writing reflects the old school hip hop style that my magazine will have.

Annotation of a Front Cover

Annotation from Daisy199

Audience Response to Magazine Title

The title of my magazine is "Hitz", this connotes that my music magazine will be writing about music artists that are successful in their genre of business and have had a lot of "hits". The "Z" is to make the title seem trendy and cool which reflects the hip hop side of the magazine.

Abby -I like the Z on the end of "hitz" it makes it seem trendy and cool, and the vinyl record makes it seem more old school hip hop.

Rosie - Personally, I believe that the title is very intelligent, the z instead of the end makes it sound like slang and will appeal to the youths of today however the vinyl record also kid of brings into account for the old timers of hip hop. Its good, very good.

What's my Magazine Title?

What's my Magazine Title?

The title of my music magazine will be "Hitz". I have chosen the title "Hitz" because it sounds like Hip or Hip-Hop which is the overall genre for my magazine.
It is also the word used to describe a successful song. A "hit".Therefore this connotes that the artists written about in my magazine have many "hitz". Which will encourage more reader to read the magazine as they will want to read about successful artists.
 I have spelt it with a z to add to the hip-hop trendy and cool vibe of the magazine.

What's my genre

What's my Genre?

For my magazine I have decide to do work with the "Hip-Hop" genre and do a Hip-Hop magazine. I wanted to create a magazine that could appeal to a wider target audience. I came to the conclusion that within "Pop" for example, you are only really going to attract young to early twenties girls as a majority, and with a "rock" magazine you'd only really attract men in their late teens early twenties.

Therefor I wanted a genre that incorporates different types of styles of music. Hip-Hop has many different elements of genres within the genre. For example Beyonce could be seen as a Hip-Hop artist however she is also a prominent Pop artist.  This will result in my magazine attracting audiences from any different genres.

Masthead Research

Clash

The masthead "Clash" has connotations of a no frills magazine, easy to read. It creates the idea that there is a clash of music genres.The word "clash" leads to connotation of powerful music or for example drums clashing. It has an onomatopoeia as the word "clash" sounds like the sound that that music would make.

Echoes

Echoes connotes that it may be about soul music. The word Echos has an echoes sound when said.

The words has a shadow leading to connotations that it is echoed.

The word is written in capitals suggesting that it has a big impact.

My College Magazine

I have created a college magazine that hopefully appeals to the target audience of students at college. I talked to different college students and asked them what they would want to see in a college magazine from this I was able to come to the conclusion that tips for exams and revision as well as University Open day information were popular subjects to focus on in my magazine.For my front cover I wanted to keep the colours neutral so that my magazine could target male and female students.Showing students hard at work connotes that this magazine helps students to work hard, the title of my magazine also connotes that if you read this magazine you will be able to "Aim High". I used close up shots for my front cover so that from a distance it is easy to see what the different students are doing. For the contents page of my magazine I wanted to reflect the picture of all the wishes made by students, so I used different coloured circles for all the contents of the magazine which keeps the contents page interesting.

Survey Results for my College Magzine

The results for the "College Magazine" Survey showed that overall the people we surveyed between the ages of 11 and 17 agreed that they wanted a magazine that cost between 10 and 25p. This suggests to us that we should place our College Magazine price within that range because that is the range of money that our target audience are prepared to pay.

Our survey also showed that this age range wanted to see the color red displayed in their College Magazine, this is a very youthful colour. It's exciting and suggests that the students are vibrant and youthful.

It also tells us that they only "sometimes" read magazines, this means that for our magazine to be successful it needs to be different from previous college magazines.

Our survey also showed that the majority of people want to read interviews in their College Magazines, therefore the magazine will be more successful if we include interviews.

College Magazine Titles

In our groups we were set the task of coming up with and comparing prospective titles for ours college magazines. We wanted to choose a title that would appeal to our target audience of college students. Therefore it needed to be snappy and interesting whilst still fulfilling the needs of a college magazine title.

Richmond Weekly
Positive - "Sounds formal and like a magazine" "It's easy to remember".
 Negative - "Sounds too much like a newspaper, and the "Richmond" makes it boring"
The title Richmond weekly tells the audience where the magazine is from and what sort of information they will be able to read about in the magazine.

Aim High
Positive - "It's short and catchy." "It relates to school" "It connotes that you should Aim High"
The title aim high is catchy and trendy whilst still meeting the base need of appeal to the College student target audience.

The Richmond Rambler
Positive - "It has good use of alliteration" "It suggests it's about the gossip around Richmond, which makes it interesting"
Negative - "It's boring and sounds much too like a newspaper" "It is half stolen from another magazine"
The Richmond Rambler connotes that the magazine may have gossip or "ramblings" however this could be seen in a negative way as it suggest that the "ramblings" are uninteresting and unrelated to a college magazine.

School Magazie Comparison

In our group we decided that out of all the magazines the one that was the best was the magazine called "Focus". We all agreed that this magazine had a very good layout, which meant that they were able to display a lot of information without making the cover seem crowded. The girl in the photo is looking straight at the camera which engages the audience. The writing is very clear and easy to read, the front cover also has a bar code which shows that the group have taken the time to make sure that the front cover resembles a magazine in every aspect.

The magazine we chose as the worst was the magazine was the one called "Rambler" we decided that this was the worst magazine because the image of the boy in the background has been really badly photo-shopped onto the background, the photo itself is also very blurry. Although the magazine does have a bar code, there is hardly any writing at all. The color of the writing against the hash blue background is difficult to read. This is likely to out people off buying your magazine.