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?

QUESTION 4/5: WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE AND HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

In order to make sure I was designing a magazine that would appeal to the right audience, I carried out research on existing magazines and the sort of look they had plus their current market. Along with this, I also conducted a questionnaire and asked 30 people the type of magazines they enjoy to read plus their favourite type of content. This research process was really helpful as it firstly gave me direction on the look I should be aiming for in order to created a product that would appeal to my target audience. The age of my target audience is young people starting from the age of 16, up to 25. My audience are people who into the urban genre of music which focus on r&b and hiphop. My questionnaire results showed that people enjoyed reading celebrity gossip, therefore, my magazine will include artists who specificy in the urban genre of music.  because of their age group, its most liekly that my audience will be very faimilar to different forms of the media and will consume through their mobiles, tv or even radio. This is a positive factor for my magazine as it means the stories reported will be current and interesting to the public. Everything about my magazine has to be verry appealing and different as the media world is expanding and theres greater competition, theres a bigger challenge to keep the public interested.

I personally belive that I have managaed to attract/address this audience through my magazine as I tried to meet the conventions of sucessful, well existing music magazines. I have analysed my magazine outlining the areas which I believe are most effective:

QUESTION 3: WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

Bauer Media

Bauer Media is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.

Bauer Media joined the Bauer Media Group in January 2008 following acquisition of Emap plc’s consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses. Collectively, the Group employs some 6,400 people.

Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Today, Bauer Media spans over 80 influential brand names covering a diverse range of interests including Heat, Closer, 4 Music and Grazia.

Because of how established and versatile Bauer Media are, they would be able to appeal to its audiences and effictebly produce a music magazine which will be appealing to a range of people. It deals with everything from magazines and radio stations and also runs a range of popular magazines. This means that it has backgroud understanding of the characteristics that a succesful music magazine should have. In terms of the genres/music types that it would be likely to publish, i think it would look to sell music which is currently very popular in order to be current and sell more. The more modern they are, the more relevant they will be and they're more likely to have a bigger audience. because of this, i believe that it would a very appropiate instution to distrubute my magazine as it currently doesnt have products which specifiy in urban music or culture. they are very much based on pop singers and music therefore with my media product it would allow them to appeal to a wider audience and be more versatile with their brand. 

QUESTION 2: HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Link to my slideshare:

QUESTION 1: IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS

IMAGE A

IMAGE B

FINAL CONTENTS PAGE

This is my final contents page, I had initially completed my contents page with a different design but after evaluating it, I realised it was letting down the rest of my magazine as it didn't have the same effect and it had a boring, plain look to it. Because of that, I decided to change to a full image which would be of my model that is the main feature of my magazine. I believe that this image is much more appealing to the eye as it gives the page more vibrance.

This was my previous contents page:

Although I kept the colour scheme the same, I personally think the new layout of my contents page is more effective.

FINAL DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

This is my final double page spread, and after looking at inspiration from various magazines even those which aren't music related, I was inspired to play around with shapes and colours for my spread as I found that it worked quite effectively on pictures with simple backgrounds. I chose the colour scheme blue, white and black in particular as I thought it matched quite well with the pink my model is wearing. Although in the brief it does state that the colour scheme should be consistent, I thought it was unrepresentative of existing magazines as they don't tend to continuously use the same colors. Because of this I wanted my spread to be very simple, fresh and easy to read. In terms of the design however, I kept the text fonts and style the same to the ones I used before to show a level of consistency.

Over all I am happy with my double page spread and believe I have produced something which I wanted and is also representative of existing music magazines.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD FIRST DRAFT

I am currently in the process of designing my double page spread. Im trying to mix colors and create something fun but also keep the color scheme of the blog without all my pages looking too similar.
So far I am pleased with my progress

BASS FRONT COVER

This is my final magazine cover, I decided on this look as I was aspiring to achieve a very urban r&b related cover and after looking at inspiration from other covers such as Vibe and XXL, i believe I achieved this. The main parts of the cover that I think are effective is the colour scheme and the main image. I tried to keep this as simple as possible because through looking at other already existing magazines, they tend to have 3 or less colors. In terms of how I chose my tag lines, I wanted to make sure that readers could easily identify the magazine as being a urban genre. I also featured already existing famous artists as that would automatically appeal fans.

INITAL IDEAS FOR MUSIC MAGAZINE

I will be designing a music magazine based on Urban music which covers R&B and Hip Hop. The purpose of my magazine will be to entertain young people with interest in the music genre and enjoy reading the latest gossip about celebrities, plus getting insight on the latest music. Because of this, straight away my magazine is going to have an audience of young people, the ages of 16-21, I know this because I conducted a questionnaire which identified this age group as being the strongest. The fact that my magazine will be for such a young group of people, I need to make sure that it is fresh and current and will entertain them.  In terms of what will feature on my magazine, I will need to take into context things such as the title of the magazine, cover lines and tag lines. Ideas for my cover lines will be lines such as “the hottest new music” “fresh artists” and “drama between Rihanna and Beyonce”. These are all cover lines that will grasp my audience’s attention as they make my magazine sound extremely exciting. It is important that I engage my audience as they are so many, already existing music magazines which claim to offer the same things mine will. I will take strengths from a wide range of magazines in order to apply them to mine and make it as effective as possible. Additionally, I have had to consider possible titles for my magazine. I need to pick a title that will instantly grip people and make them want to purchase it. titles like "music" or "rhythm and rhyme" have no originality to them which is why I chose 'BASS'. it stands out and directly appeals to the public and makes the message being put across easy to understand and identifiable to music.  The presentation of my magazine is vital as things such as the front cover image, colors and dimensions all contribute in making it visually appealing. Because my magazine is going to appeal to a broad audience, I cant just have gender specific colors or images as this wont make it as marketable. In terms of where it will be taken, either in a simple setting or a blank canvas will work quite work. I particularlly think a white canvas as a background will be the best option as it allows the coverlines of the cover to stand out and it allows you to edit the image and be more creative with it.

The next thing is the publishing of my magazine. I would publish it fornitghtly as through my questionnaire I discovered this was how often people bought music magazines . It will also need to to be up to date with seasonal changes and any events that take place, this will help in keeping my magazine relevant and utlimately keep my readers interested.

This is my inital flat plan of how I would like the front cover of magazine to look like:

Flatplan for my contents page:

Flat plan for contents page:

CONTENTS & DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS INSPIRATION

For my third and fourth pieces of research, I decided to do research on existing contents pages and double paged spreads. I decided to do this as I felt it would give me additional help in understanding the type of look I'll need to achieve in order to create a successful magazine.

The two contents pages are from Vibe magazine and the reason I chose to specifically use examples from Vibe because I liked the simplicity of it and the ability to easily allow its readers to read the information but also be unique with its design. Elements such as the text font flows as it is the similar style used on Vibe's front cover. This helps readers to easily identify the magazine and also make it more visually appealing

For the double paged spreads, I took examples from Ebony Magazine. One of the main things which appealed to me about both spreads is how captivating they are. In both spreads they have used very powerful images which have appealing qualities to them. This is something I'll need to capture for my own magazine as the image is what initially makes the first impression.

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR MUSIC MAGAZINES

To also contribute to research for my magazine, I conducted a questionnaire to a range of different people in my college and the public. In total I asked 30 people as I didn't want a large scale questionnaire but something I can easily use and analayse. From my questionnaire I found that the strongest age group is between 16 and 18 and the type of music magazine they enjoy is urban which is great news as thats what I'll be basing my magazine on. Through my questionnaire I also found out the type of content which the public would most be interested in. This is all very useful information as it helps me to make a even more effective and enjoyable magazine.

RESEARCH INTO URBAN MUSIC MAGAZINES

I've decided to do my music magazine based on a urban genre. This covers music such as r&b and hip hop. I specifically chose to do this kind of genre because its the kind of music that im already very fimilar with and I feel I would be able to embrace it better and make a magazine based on it to a higher level. In order to get inspired in making my magazine cover, I researched magazines which already specialise in this genre and found magazines such as vibe, ebony, r&b and billboard. In terms of the covers that really grasped my attention, I chose the 3 on the left hand side. These will hopefully, along with others inspire me to make a strong cover.

By looking through at all the different kind of magazines I know the element which i'll need to make the strongest is the main image. A music has to make sure that its image is really strong as it what ultimately uplifts an artist and make them appealing to an audience. Its different to a fashion magazine as their selling point is the clothes however in this instance the selling point is the artist themselves. 

The next thing to take into mind is my coverlines. From the magazines I've researched, they tend to name other big artists on the cover as this helps readers identify the selling point and hopefully entice them into buying it. In terms of the structure, my coverlines have spaced out porportionatley making sure the main image isnt covered, their visible and easy to read. I specifically looked at the Billboard cover of alicia keys as inpsiration as I like how it plays on her latest single "girl on fire" as the main cover line. This instantly stands out and fans across the world can pick up on it.

After looking at the visual elements, I need to go into

more depth about my audience and the group of people who would be interested in my magazine. Covers like both my Vibe magazine examples would appeal to males as Lil wayne is a notorious rapper famous for his music group young money but also his own solo career. Just from the design to how intimidating and powerful he looks, its not something a young female would be appealed to. Just as the cover with Beyonce, it very much plays with the male gaze through how lustful she looks. You could also argue it appeals to females as Beyonce over the years has built herself up to be role model therefore female readers would envy her looks and read in the magazine in admiration. I need to make sure I do further research into my target audience so I know the age group.  I can do this by conducting questionnaires and making sure I ask a variety of people with different ages, gender, perspectives etc but with the same interest in Urban Music.