Audience Research

Before I started production on my magazine, I gathered a focus group which consisted of  a small minority of my target audience. Which was girls aged 16-21 years. I asked a variety of questions from the design and layout of the magazine to its content and features.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h63-Q-Kww4

Following the answers made by the focus group, I will use the majority of the used answers or a mixture of different answers used for my music magazine. For example the overall group agreed the magazine should have a colour scheme of red, white and black and more seemed to like the masthead title Stereo. For the content they expressed a wish for an interview to be the content of the double page spread, as they could find out about more of the music artist. Every member of the focus group had a different taste in music meaning it would be important to include different genres of music within the magazine but still hold it altogether with the house style.

I think by doing a focus group I have discovered that I can use the different answers to create a music magazine that my target audience would enjoy reading and that would appeal to them. Also this short of raudience research has allowed me to find out what my target audience actually want out of a music magazine and what they want to see being produced, although they didn't all have the same answer, I can use the majority answers and take into consideration the other answers to help me create the type of magazine my target audience want to appeal to them and that they would enjoy reading.

Final Production

Photoshop Edits

For this project it was my first time using photo shop, as first I found it very difficult to use the tools and edit the image how I wanted. However after a lot of tries I managed to learn how photo shop worked and learnt what tools are best to use for the outcome I want. I tried editing the images so that they would fit the style and were the correct photos to use on certain pages of my magazine, as different photos would be used for a front cover to a contents page. Photography is important, because if the correct photos are used in the correct place then they will fulfil the correct purpose. For example a front cover picture should use direct mode of address and make eye contact with the target audience, to make it seem as if they are being invited to read the magazine. It was important to fulfil these purposes, and I think I have with the help of editing the images to fit the purposes I wanted them to fulfil.

Writing the article

I decided for my article for my music magazines double page spread was going to be an interview, as this would allow the target audience to use the magazines as a source of uses and gratifications and brand loyal. As the interview allows the target audience to find out what an artist they are interested in has been up to and what projects they have been working on recently. It would be brand loyal as the target audience may be fans of the artist and would buy a product or subject they are associated with. This also a use of hegmony as the target audience will see the double page spread advertised on the front cover and will think that it will interest them and they have to buy the magazine.

 

For this article i looked at interviews in Q magazine, they often have an interview with a music artist included in their magazine as a double page spread. I followed the description of the artist looks and set the scene of when the interview was taking place. I also seperated the speech between the interviewer and the artist, to make it clear who is who to the target audience. When creating the double page spread i will try and make the layout and design based on the in Q as it very clear, makes the text easy to read and the style and mode of address sticks to the magazines housetyle and has the necerssary conventions.

Improved Music Magazine

After the outcome of my first attempt of the music magazine I decied to make changes to colour scheme and housestyle. I think I have achieved this, while still managing to achieve what is necessarry with the conventions and my target audience.

I changed the colour scheme to red, black and white as these are often the unisex colours used for music magazines. I also found an opportunity to improve my house style I have still kept it colour full and edgy but have made it more symplistic than before. By doing this I have made the magazine seem more professional and this will be a use of hegmony and uses and gratifications for my target audience. As the magazine looks more like a real music magazine they would usually read, they may feel that they can read this and it will be of some interest to them.

I did make sure I used all the necerssary conventions on each of the pages. Such as on the cover I have a masthead, selling line, kickers, cover lines, headline, anchorage, secondary lead, menu strip, barcode, graphic feature and plug. Also on the contents page I have included a section header, stand-out quate, feature shot, section banner, section headers and features. I have also included similar features on my double page that needed to be included and took great care when writing my article for it.

Overall I think this magazine is a big improvement from my first draft as it will appeal more to the target audience and has all the correct conventions needed for a magazine.

Music Magazine Cover 1st Draft

Here is a copy of the 1st draft of my music magazines front cover. I've tried to use all the necessary conventions while still trying to keep it looking professional.I wanted to go for an urban style type of magazine by using bright colours while still keeping it edgy at the same time. They are 2 hard styles to combine but I do think I have found a way to make it work.

I have used all the necessary conventions for the front cover of a magazine such as: masthead. strap-line, feature article image, bar code, pop up, secondary lead, kickers, cover lines and many others. By using these conventions I have made sure that my front cover is similar to real music magazines that would be sold mainstream. I've tried to stay with my target audience which is a mainstream audience. I wanted a varied audience of general music lovers mainly aged between 16 to early 20's, I believe I have achieved this by having a young person as my main feature image and by using bright colours yet having an edgy house style to my magazine, also using a direct mode of address to make the audience feel connected to the magazine and that they are being invited to read this magazine as it may interest them. 

Although I have achieved some of the necessary targets needed for the production of my music magazine, I think I do need to make some small improvements that will make the magazine look more professional. Such as the typography on the menu strip I think would be better if I changed the colour and font type. Similar to my house style I believe I may need to find a better use of the colour scheme, even if this would mean going for a different colour scheme I will find a way to make it work. Also with a little change of the layout, with these little changes I think I may be able to make a big difference to the entire look of the magazine and achieve a higher standard in my work.   

Music Magazine Ideas

Music Magazine Moodboard on Prezi

After planning and shooting my photography I have started planning what I want my magazine to look like, exploring a range of ideas that I could use for the front cover, contents page and the double page spread.

Music Magazine- Photography

For my photography I have taken a variaty of shots, which I can use as different conventions and in different parts of the magazine. These although weren't taken in a proper studio setting I did try and stick to a plain background, to make it easier to do my editing later.

Photography Planning

 

This is what I've done to plan my photos and how I'm goingto take them. It's important to get the photos right if I want them to look professionaland give off the correct theme and representation of the magazine, to do this I will use all the sources avaiable to my such as studio space and props.

Professional Photography

Now we've moved onto our music magazine and have started planning what we want our presentations, genre of music and house style we want. We need to take photos that would help with those, there are many types of photos we can take such as: background textures, album covers, pop-up figures, feature article photos, editorial photos, background framing shots and inset shots.

 

Magazine Conventions

Now that we've finished the practice task of a college magazine, we are moving on to our real piece and are starting to plan our music magazine. Before we start the planning we need to know what the conventions are needed for a music magazine and how they work and how they make the audience interested in reading the magazine.

Pratice Task College Magazine- Evaluation

Practice Task College Magazine- Final Piece

 

These are the finished copies of my college magazine for our practice task. I created these using inDesign and photoshop. The idea for the practice task was to create a magazine for college students as our target audience and to find out what they wanted for a magazine I did a questionnaire and included on the cover and in the contents page what students said they would like mostly to be included within a college magazine if they were the target audience. I did use the results of my questionniare when thinking f waht need to be included and i used my college reaearch moodboard on prezi to help me decide how I should design and how the cover and contents page layout should be.

 

For the main cover I have made shure that I have included all the necersarry conventions for a magazine cover. Such as a masthead to help the target audience recognise the magazine and know or learn that this magazine applies to them as students. I also used kickers and captions/cover lines to tell the target audience what is in the magazine and to give a little bit of information on what those features are, this helps the target audience find a feature they migh be interested in and encourage them to read the magazine. A secondary lead to give more of an idea of what is included and show different themes are included. I also used a flash and graphic feature to market a brand that part of the target audience might be interested in, this was to gain more interest for the target audience that may be brand loyal to this company. A selling line was used to let the target audience know that this is the colleges offical magazine, this is important as the targets audience will then know that this magazine is catered for them and they can read what they want inside. The central image/feature article photo is of a student purley because the target audience is stuents and they will recognise this as a college magazine if the feature article photo is of someone that looks like they are the right age to be a student. Also it may help get rid of the idea of what people have to look like, as on many magazines when a celebrity is used then that magazine target audience may try to live up to the impossible expectations of an edited celebrity image that used Richard Dyers theory, where as if it is just an ordinary face like any other students may feel they can relate to this magazine and what is included. there is also headline and anchorage to highlight the main article/feature in the magaizine, as this issue is meant to be a new college year issue i went for a story of how a new student felt about first starting college and the highs and lows they went through when settling in, this is could be used by students to relate and feel better if they felt the same way when starting college. Finally there are other conventions such as barcode, plugs and dateline with web address which helps the magazine look more official, proffesional and as if it is sellable.

 

For the contents page I wanted to try and create a helpful page for the target audience, that would help the magazine be more of and easy read and make the magaizne look organised. I did this by labeling page numbers to help the target audience easily find what they are looking for in the magazine by including the page numbers on the right hand side of the page and article/feature titles. I spilt the contents into sections and tried to make it as professional as I possibly could. I used my research from my questinnaire of what the target audience would want to be included in the magazine. I found they wanted to apply uses and gratifications, to use this magazine as a source for helping them with college work also as a source to help them relax when they need time away from their college work. That is why I split the contents page into a work and play sections, the work sections as articles and features to help students with college work, advise for careers and revision and a article about settling into college to go with the new college year issue theme. For the play section I included features and articles that are not based on college work, the articles are about what students are interestd in such as music film and the latest technology, these review tell students about the newest things in their favorite social subjects. I also added a section called Student Corner which is a section that is totally based on student life, this is to help make students feel as if they have a voice and somewhere to express their opinions. Finally I have an editorial section, which is where all the credits are given to those that helped produce the magazine.

 

Altogether I do beliveve that did use all the conventions needed for a magzine cover and did create a contents page that would keep the magazine organised and and be an easy read for the students. I tried to stick to my colour scheme throughout to help keep the college magazine looking professional and organised. Although the magazine may not exactly look a professional magazine that would sell in shops, I did use all the necerssary conventions and kept the target audience in mainf for what they wanted included to be a college magazine made percifically for them.

 

Practice Task College Magazine- Planning

For planning my college magazine I decided to create a mood board of what I need to include, examples and what my ideas are. I decided to use Prezi to deisplay my ideas as this allows my ideas to be explained in both text and images, meaning I can explain and show what my ideas are to the viewers of my blog. The system was an easy use and I think is a better way to present my ideas.

Copy of College Magazine Research on Prezi

Practice Task-College Magazine 1st Draft

Here is the 1st draft of a college magazine for our practice task. To create this magazine I used InDesign to create the main copy and add the convetions of a magzine. I also used Photoshop for editing my central image, which was required to be a mid-shot of the head and shoulders.

I made sure I added all the conventions needed for a magazine cover plus a few more. Such as a masthead for the target audience to identify the magazine, anchorage to say what is included in the magazine, headline for the main story, kickers and cover lines to help show what else is included in the magazine and a central image to help the magazine apply to the target audeince of students aged 16-19. Other conventions that I used that are still but less important than the others are a selling line, amenu strip, secondary lead, barcode and a logo. All these conventions together help target audiences recognise this as a magazine and need to be included if the magazine is going to appeal to the target audience.

This is only my first draft of the college magazine, although I have included many of the needed conventions it still isn't at the right level to sell as a magazine. By the time it comes to making my final copy I hope to improve the cover by including move conventions i.e. a plug/ear and graphic feature. Also I hope to improve how the main copy looks, try to make it look more professional, I could do this by finding a better use of my colour scheme and maybe even changing the colours of the conventions around i.e. changing the kickers colour to the cover lines colour maybe. Changes do have to be made if it is to live up to the standards of an actual magazine that sells in major retailers, even though its just a practice task and this magazine would be aimed at students made by students, the target audience would still want a magazine that catches their eye.

Cover Flat Plans

As we are moving on for our practice task, I've decided what my cover shot is going to be (as it has to be a mid shot of the head and shoulders). I'm going to start planning on what the name of the magazine, colour scheme and what is going to be included but first I wanted to see what my magazine would look like with the cover photo and how I would have it laid out. So I have created a powerpoint using my cover shot and outlines of what I need to include on to my college magazine as there are certain features that need to be included for it to look like an actual magazine.


I've made sure that all the important conventions such as a masthead, anchorage, barcode and knickers are on there. I've also used other conventions of a magazine cover so that students that would read this magazine would apply uses and gratifications.

Although the designs do look similar they all have different kinds of themes and pattererns happening for them. Such as the first draft is very busy and includes everything it needs to includes, but it does seem as if it has all been squased in. The 2nd fraft does seem to make the kicker heasdline and anchorage seem clear although I do think that if I used this design then it would seem very all over the place. I think my 3rd draft would be the best option as the kikers, cover lines follow the path of the central image this would make the magazine seem more neater, organised and more professional and would still allow me to use all the conventions that need to be on a magazine and more.

College Magazine Research- Using Photoshop

In today's lesson we learnt how to use photo shop.This was to help us move on with our practise task of creating 2 pages for a college magazine (front cover and contents page). We used both pictures of music artists and past photos, that past students have used for their college magazines. We were asked to edit certain features of the photos. Here are the before and afters of the photos I edited as practise, to learn how to use the tools on photo shop:

For this photo I edited the photo on the right, to turn it to a single poster (below left). I did this by a simple crop and turned this establishing shot into a single poster shot.

 For this photo I edited out the red eyes. This changes it from a average photo to make it look more professional, like a extreme shot that would be included within a magazine.

I took a varity of photos around campus to use for my college magazine, here is the link below to the photos I took and some of which I edited to live up to the standards of a photo that would be included within a real college magazine. They are in capzles to make seeing them easier:

Audience Research

The purpose of this questionnaire was to find out what students would like to read, what parts of the college magazine are likely to be popular and to find out a little more background on our audience. I asked different students to complete this questionnaire to hather different opinions and to do an observation as to what results I get.

For question 1 I got more male students then female students interested about a college magazine, which proves that the stereotype audience of a magazine audeience is not mainly for females. This question was aimed to find out if all students would be interested in a college magazine despite their gender and thier age. As for question 2 though I mainly got 17 year olds it shows that the students here are 16-18m and that the college magazine needs to apply to a young audience and what they are interested in.

For questions 3, 4, 5 and 6 I was looking a bit more on the background of our audience and what thier enjoyments, goals and hopes are. I found that many do have religious beliefs and actually want their beliefs to be respected, this would mean not highlighting one religion and dismaying any other religions as a sign that everybody is equal no matter what their beliefs. I also came to find that many of the subjects that stuedents are taking are more academic than career goaled, this suggests that many students are still unaware of what they want to do right now and need more support in knowing and finding out what career would be best for them to do. I've also found that many students don't take part in enrichment activity this suggests that students are either focusing on their studies or enjoy doing activities outside of college then inside of college. This could be for many reasons that, the activities are based on their want to be careers, a way to stay in touch with friends from other colleges or they just don't get the activities they want inside college as they get outside college. Finally I asked what was their favourite type of music pop and RnB were the most popular options as they are the most sell able genres in music in modern society today. However some students did select and brought up other genres, such as house grime, indie, rock. This suggests that though many are belongers and follow in being part of the large group that enjoy today's most sell able music, there are also other people that enjoy different varieties of music and maybe that different genres of music should be made more aware of.

For questions 7 and 8 I was looking to see what students would like to see in a college magazine most, as if there are articles in the magazine that students actually want to read that is using uses and gratifications theory. The majority of students wanted a social/fun sections and careers advise section included in the magazine. Also for there to be reviews on the newest music, films and technology. This is uses and gratifications as students would be using the magazine to learn about social/fun activities happening, places to go for careers advice and what are thoughts on new music, film and technology. It is also hypodermic theory as these sort of articles are passing on ideas to the students and may even influence them.

Also within the group of belongers I found that when it came to social grades many students were within social grades B, C1 or C2. Grade B is Intermediate managerial, administrative, professional. Grade C1being supervisory, clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional. then grade C2 being skilled manual workers. This suggests that students have goals of going into these social grades, as from many researches made whatever social class/grade that the parents was in the children are mostly likely to be in the same class. Students may want to be within the same or higher social grade as their parents to have a decent living and have a good future.Also with social grades comes how many opportunities students may get and how well they do with their studies. For example a student who's parents occupation in social grade B may do better and have more opportunities than a student who's parent is within social class C2. This comes with the media constantly labeling the lower social grades as too unqualified and unskilled or have high positioned jobs with decent pay.

For question 10 I wanted to find out if students became interested in a college magazine would they continue to buy it, if it brought out new issues on a regular basis. For this question I asked the students if they were brand loyal, this means do they but the same product/subject if they found that their use of it was of good use. All students said they were brand loyal, this means that students have fallen for hegemony, and believe that if a product/subject is this good then they should continue to purchase it.

Finally for questions 11 and 12 I asked more questions about what students would like to be included within the college magazine. These were my main types of questions as the purpose of a college magazine is to sell it to college students. This makes them my target audience, and if i want the magazine to be successful with students I need to know what students really want to be in the magazine. For 11 and 12 I found out that students are interested in getting help and advice on college by hearing stories from struggling students that received good help that made an improvement. However students did want the magazine to be more a entertainment based subject than on college life and wanted to hear more stories from sport personalities as it has been the summer of sport in Britain this year, thanks to the Olympics and Paralympics. This shows how students are falling for hypodermic theory and use sources of media to help give them advice or to help influence them to go and do new things such as a new sport.

Overall I have found out that if I were to create a college magazine, students would want to use it as a source of entertainment to take a break from their studies, but also as a source to help them if they are struggling as well. This shows that magazines use hypodermic theory and uses and gratifications to help young people in any way they chose to use the media.

Photo Analysis

The purpose of this Photo Analysis was to explore the techniques and tools used in an analysis and explore the stereotypes, representations and meditations. Also to develop ideas for the photography and general look (aesthetics) of my music magazine, it should help to research and analyse the photography of key artists.

Music Magazine Case Study

This is a power point I created to help me discover how a music magazine works, what it needs to include and what other conventions of media it uses to help sell its magazine to its traditional and incoming larger target audience.I have studied the past, other media conventions and work done on and behind the magazine itself.

I decided to use Q Magazine as it is one of the UK's most popular selling music magazines with a high success rate and large varied target audience of music lovers.

Introduction

Hi, I'm Emily Wears.

I'm a media student creating a blog to plan, research, create and evaluate a music magazine. I'm looking to create a music magazine that appeals to young music lovers, who enjoy a variation of music genre's. There are many music magazine available in the current market all different styles that are aimed to a certain audience.  Such as Q Magazine is aimed for music lovers, who enjoy rock music more then any other genre of music. As every cover which any artist of any genre of music has posed for is given a very heavy metal, rebellious, rock feel to it.

I'm a big fan of all music genres myself from pop to RnB or Indie Rock to Classical. I enjoy all types of music. That's why I want to create a magazine that is very versatile that every young music lover would be interested to read. Meaning a magazine that isn't very hard rock and rebellious or to simple with that laid back feel. This means I need to create a music magazine that has the correct balance between too much and too little. While still following the conventions of a music magazines, such as including a masthead, anchorage, ears/plugs, main copy etc.

I will be looking at Q Magazine and The Music Factory for inspiration for my magazine as both are very different styles, but still fit the conventions of a music magazine. Which is what I'm looking for I want to create a style between these 2 styles of magazines that would create a wide range of a target audience of serious young music fans wanting to explore favourite genre and other genres of music.

Through finding to create a magazine that will appeal to a wide range of music fans. This may include changing the imagery of the artist. Such as on Q Magazine Cheryl Cole has changed from her usual colourful, girly image to a dark, rebellious and rock image.

By changing her image Q Magazine has made her more appealing to a wider range of different music fans. Creating this magazine means I will be creating a music magazine that people will want to read.