Evaluation

 For my media product I researched existing media magazines looking into what goes on to them such as mast heads, bar codes etc.. but i also looked at layouts,fonts and themes. This all helped me when making my media product as it gave me brief guidelines of potential layouts and it also helped me decide on what need to go on the magazine cover, contents and double page spread. In my front cover I have used many aspects of real magazines use such as, colour schemes,mast head, cover lines, image and a bar code. These aspects have helped make my magazine look more reaslistic and better for my target audience. As For my contents page I have featured a story line in which features on my front cover where is a competition in which I got this idea from research into magazines as many magazines featured competitions throughout the magazine. And my double page spread I helped chose the layout and image ideas from looking through research from existing media products to help make my media product the best I possibly could.

My media product represents particular social groups as I have chosen to keep my images and cover lines suitable for teens mainly and not young kids, like my main story how it contains drug use in it. I have done this as my aim was to make a rock,indie and alternative magazine in which i believe this music category is not young children. I also did not include colours like pink and a constant use of bright colours as this will give a very pop theme and i have not went for this social group.

I think that my music magazine is more for the working class/middle class as generally this type of music can be seen for them unlike classical music which would be generally associated with the upper class.

I have Also Took images of students, in which my target audience is this age, by doing this the audience will see images of people around similar age and most likely feel more involved and so they also feel like the can associate with the magazine more. And this will obviously then appeal to a certain social group of which I have aimed for.

My audience for my media product would be indie/rock fans in which are in there teens to young adult years. This is because I got this theme through my research and due to my images I have used I believe they are most beneficial to students as the images are of students. At the least this magazine should be appealing to music listeners as it is a music magazine.

My music magazine is not set for a certain gender as indie/rock music can be enjoyed by all sorts of people and I did not want to limit my target audience down to less by choosing to aim towards a certain gender as it would reduce sales in the future for the magazine.

In the process of making my magazine I have learned a lot of the progress what has to be put in when making a magazine such as the detailed research carried out for inspiration and information on existing products. When editing my images I used macromedia fireworks in which I was not at 1st comfortable with using now however I feel I have learned a lot with this programme and can use it to a  much higher ability. when researching I have used various Internet sites in which to find existing media products mainly using google images to find existing covers,double pages spreads and contents pages , however I have not learned a new skill here as I am already able to use google and the Internet to a high standard. however I had never previously used this site (blogger) so this was a new skill i have learnt and can use for the future to present ideas, work and anything to friends and people around the world. I also used Microsoft excel in which to create graphs for my questionnaire research analysis, this again was not a new skill but still helped me keep using the programme to keep my skills fresh in my memory.

Looking back at my preliminary task I believe I have learned a lot, and my skills have developed. One of these things I have learned is basic and advanced vocabulary/terminology for music magazines and general media. Such as I did not know what a mast head was. I also did not know what the difference between sans-serif and serif fonts were. This is very helpful for me now as I understand it all. Also I have learned how important receiving feedback and analysing my work is, as it has helped me very much when making my final media product compared to my preliminary. I have also learned to use more suitable fonts as on my prelimanry i dont bleive it looked proffesional one bit compared to my lastest media product.
I beleive my magazine could be published by Bauer Media. I believe this as Bauer Media produces magazines such as Kerrang in whcih is a very simular target audience to mine in whcih obviously due to its success Bauer media know how to advertise and get the media product along to audiences. Also They reach out to over 19million UK's each year, in which would help my magazine have a huge market potenial instintly.
Also Bauer have a lot of music magazines they distriubute which can vairy in what genre, so I believe my magazine would be the next best thing as it can offer some more quality reads for Bauer fans. Also Mojo which Bauer publish is quite the same target audience as me, so by the looks of it Bauer would be the perfect company for me to choose.

Music Magazine Double Page Spread

These are my 1st drafts of my music magazine they are very basic but give me the basic layout of the magazine double page spread and shows my picture ideas, layout and positioning of mast heads, text, picture and magazine name.

This is my draft on the computer of my music magazine double page spread, I have done this to get the basic layout and design of my magazine double page spread sorted. It is basic but very helpful. I am choosing to position the image surpringsgly in the middle of the page going over both pages as I believe it is a unique idea and will look both unique and great.

This is my final double page spread, It contains the music magazines name in the top right like all of the other pages to keep up a consistency. I have chosen to feature my image in the centre of the page going over both pages as it is a unique idea and I believe very eye catching for a audience and they will like this idea hopefully. I believe choosing to position the page numbers in the corner of the pages is most suitable as they are not in the way but still noticeable. The question and answer format suits my audience very well as that is what they wanted in my survey I previously did. I have made the text to fit around the main image so it is all readable and i believe looks very professional and presentable.

Feedback

The feedback i received for my double pages was mainly very positive, most of the people who reviewed my magazine said that they thought that the positioning of the image in the centre of the magazine double page was both unique and appealing. so i believe the idea of putting the image here has been risky but has payed off.  However I received some constructive criticism saying that the page could of done with maybe another image. Also the feedback showed me that they found the actual content ( the question and layout ) were very interesting and believe could be found in a real magazine. The feedback showed me that my double page magazine was quite a success.

Music Magazine Contents Page

This is my draft contents page designs, they are very basic but its gives me a basic idea of what layout and content on the contents page I could use including position and main image. I quite prefer the idea on the top right of the page as it looks more of a professional than the other designs.

This is my final draft before making my final contents page, it is giving me a lot more help compared to the previous basic designs as here I have identified the images I would like to use, a couple of the story's I will use for fill up the page and the general layout for my magazine contents page.

I am using this image on my contents page as it fits it with the music theme due to this "artist" wearing headphones and looking happy. I cut around this image using macromedia fireworks.

I am also using this image as a similar one was on my front cover as it is my main story for my magazine. I cut around this image using macromedia fireworks. This image will work for my magazine as it is featuring a guitar and a music artist.

This is my magazine contents page layout guide, it follows a basic layout but easy to read for the audience and hopefully will appeal to them. The page number is located at the bottom right as I find it most apporbiate here.

This is my final contents page cover, it was made on publisher and features 2 images in which attract the audience as they are both very musical and suit the purpose of the magazine. The contents page easily shows the audience that it is a contents page as it features the title "contents" also next to this is the music magazine name "digital" in order to keep the audience recognising what magazine there reading and showing the branded name. Again like the front cover I have followed using a limited amount of colours to look more professional are make the magazine colours more recognisable for customers. I have also included page numbers as this again makes it look more professional for my audience. This is located in the bottom right corner as it isn't in the way of the rest of the page but still very noticeable and common for magazines. I also added a border also to the page, as I think it makes it look better and more suitable. 

Feedback

The feedback I received for my magazine contents page said that they really enjoyed the layout of it, saying that they thought it looked professional and presentable. However my audience said that they did not like the fonts i used saying they did not look very good. However some people i asked about my contents page liked them so there is a mixed reaction from my audience. The page number being in the bottom right surprinsgly got a lot of credit also from my feedback in which people said it was very good putting page numbers in and they really found the positioning realistic. In general my magazine got good feedback however the fonts were mixed reactions with the audience.

Music Magazine Front Cover

This is my 1st hand drawn designs of my front cover they are very basic but are giving me ideas of what layouts look good and what image I could possibly use for my final magazine cover.

This is my 1st draft on the computer it is very basic but shows the basic layout of my music magazine idea.

This is my final draft on the computer of my music magazine cover, it shows the title, sell line, cover lines and the basic image however I have not added colour but the idea and layout of the magazine can be seen threw this draft. I like the idea of the image and think it will be a success.  

This is the image I will use for my front cover as it features a music artist and him playing a instrument in which i wanted for my target audience as guitars can be seen as indie/rock. For my final image for the magazine I will cut around this image on macromedia fireworks.

This is my layout of my magazine cover. It features the image on the left hand side with the magazine name on the top next to the barcode. The text will be situated around the image on the right hand side and along the bottom of the magazine cover.

This is my final magazine cover. The image is edited to in which the background is not visible and the subject and the guitar have been cut around to fit perfectly. This appeals to the audience as I have not put too many cover lines or information, also by displaying a solo artist as the main image. The title is displayed in a relevant place ( the top ) as this enables to audience to recognise the magazine name easily and quickly. I have a bar code at the top right of my magazine to increase the appearance to the audience and making it look more realistic and like a real magazine. I have chosen to keep a colour scheme in which doesn't include too many colours as it helps make the magazine look more professional and realistic to a audience. One of my cover lines at the bottom is in read as I want it to stand out as it is a competition in which many people for the audience may be interested and want to win this "fantastic" prize.

Feedback

My contents page received very good feedback from my target audience. They said they really like the cover and most of them credited the image mainly saying it was the best thing about the cover saying it was cut out good and that it was positioned very well. Some negative comments came about not having a sell line, however some said they liked my magazine name in  which was good to here. One of my friends said they really thought it was good having a bar code on the cover as it made it look much more realistic. They also liked the colour scheme. In total my music magazine cover received extremely good feedback and was a great success.

Questionaire Analysis

1. How Often Do You Read Music Magazines?

This question ensures me that people do read music magazines it is helpful as it shows me there is a wide audience who read the magazines quite regulary so making the magazine and producing one a month looks like the most positive option out of them.

2.     From the following pick your favourite music category?    

This question is vital as it helps me decide in which music catergory i will choose to use for my music magazine. The most popular choice was Rock, Alternative and Indie, due to this I am going to choose to cover all 3 of these genres in my music magazine as they are very simular and can clash with many bands, pop and rave did not recieve as much votes and are not simular to the others so will not feature. Also the genres i have chosen to use are on the magazines i analysed such as NME so i now have a better idea for designing my magazine. 

3. What would you prefer to see as the main image on a music magazine ?

This question is very helpful for when designing my magazine as it shows me what audiences prefer for a my main image on my title page. The results were quite even but a solo artist came out on top by 4 votes, so to suit the majority of people I will feature a solo artist image for my front cover. This is good as I have many friends also who are solo artists who would love to be on the front cover for my magazine.

4.What colour scheme would you like to see used on a music magazine ?

This question was to see in which colour theme i should use for my music magazine, the majority of people have chosen for me to use a mix of colours in the magazine, i think i will do this as it then lets me use a bigger varitety of colours throughout my magazine and leads too much more possible magazine ideas.

5.Around how many coverlines would you like to see on a magazine cover?

 This question was good as it helped me decide on how many coverlines should feature on my front cover, there little amounts of votes between the answers in which it showed people dont really have a dominent amount of coverlines they want to see on a front cover. Due to this I am not going to choose a certain amount of coverlines yet i will just make a descion when making the magazine judging how many by how good and proffesional it looks, but i will most likely stick to a limit between 2 and 5.

6.Out of the following- what would be your favourtite magazine name?

This question shows me which music name I should use out of a few selected by me. This will help me as it is giving me a idea in which name the audience likes. Digital was dominent winner in which obviously appeals to the audience a lot more than the other names for this reason i will use this name when making my music magazine.

Music magazine double-page article research

The NME double page music spread consists of a very big image mainly on the left page of a band called "The teenagers" this image features all of the band to attract in a audience. The title of the band (the teenagers)  is located right next to a smaller title saying NME loves, this will have a effect on the readers as they will see that the magazine "loves" this band and will most likely believe the band is good and worth buying their CD and songs. The article which associates with this band is located on the right of the image in which their is a lot of text and even a featured key quote highlighted in blue to stand out to the audience as NME believe a audience may like this. The magazine uses a sky blue colour a lot on this double page spread in which in it chooses information or text they want to stand out so the audience does not miss these as it can be very important to the double page spread, eg the bands name.

This double page article features a very big dominating image of global band oasis. In front of the image is a quote from the related article which is on the 2nd page. The image is of the band posing very confidently and dominant, due to the band being so well known the audience reading the magazine will most likely recognise them instantly and be attracted into reading the article. Then the quote which is on the image is very eye catching which again the magazine will believe people will want to read on due to it. There is lots of small text writing on the next page but there again is another key quote highlighted in the middle of the page in orange which helps stand out and show its importance to the article.

This double page spread from the NME magazine, features a layout of a key image taking up just over one page. The image features the band who relate to the article which is located on the right of this. The name of the band is featured in the title on the right to show the audience who they are and attract in people to reading the article if they recognise the name or the image. The image is simply of the band looking very dominant and with a plain background just to keep the focus on the band. On the right the article features lots of a small print text but a key quote separated in blue and in a bigger font in which it will stand out and make the audience attracted into seeing why this has been done. The magazine will believe this quote will be very interesting and make a audience interested and want to read the rest of the article. Like all of the other magazine double page spreads which I have looked at they have chosen to feature a band to write about and for the image.

Music Magazine

This magazine (NME) contains its brand name at the top left in big red letters standing out in which audiences will recognise the magazine name and if so purchase or read it. I believe the magazine has chosen the name as NME stands for new musical express this may have been used to appeal to a audience as it gives a impression it is the "newspaper" for the music world as their are many newspapers with express featuring it them. The main image of the magazine is of a artist playing the guitar at a gig, which is a very eye catching image in which attracts a audience. The bar code for the magazine needs to be on the magazine as people will need to purchase this it is located at the bottom right so it is not effecting the image or the titles and sub titles. The main story's title features in the centre of the of the image to get the main attention of the audience as the NME believe this will be the story in which will attract the largest audience. The NME logo features in its typical bright red font in which it is mainly associated. The rest of the magazine is mainly quite dark colours unless the "NME red" is featured in certain important parts of the front cover. The NME magazine appeals to the "festival fans" as the music featured in these magazines are usually festival headliner artists and bands by looking at the name of the established magazine the majority of the public will know if the magazine is for them or not as with the image.

This magazine is very basic and stereotypical of a magazine as it contains as little text as possible, the image takes up the whole cover this means the audience will have all of their attention concentrating on the image in which it looks very unique and will stand out to attract customers. The bar code for the magazine features again in the bottom hand corner in which it will not effect the image. The magazines name "Indie" features in big bold white font with the tag line underneath in which usually happens with magazines. Due to the titles name it helps give a target audience, in which it would be people who enjoy Indie music or fashion due to looking at the main image also. The cover line located in the bottom right features in yellow cartoon font in which it helps appeal to a young audience and shows who the magazine is meant for, as using a strict black font would stereotypically appeal to a serious more older audience. The font type is Sans-Serif which can be seen as informal compared to the Serif font, this may be because the target audience is young and will be more layed back and not be up for reading a formal magazine.

This magazine features a image taking up the majority of the page but featuring mainly towards to the the right in which it leaves more room for story's in which are needed to attract customers. The magazine title name is located at the top left (because initially people read from top left to bottom right) in which NME use their vintage red colour to attract in their regular customers and keep a pattern going on their magazines and products. The image shows a very "rock or indie" look in which would help audiences understand if the magazine was for them or not. White and goldy fonts are used for majority of cover lines however their is one which is in red font which is very eye catching due to the fact NME must believe that the target audience will enjoy the cover line.

This "Kerrang" magazine features the title at the top on very crazy writing as this magazine is very rock in which people who like rock can be seen as "mad". The name kerrang is known world-wide so they have made the title big and eye catching as it will attract customers in who know the name. The layout of the magazine sees the key image featuring on the right which is the band "Green Day" who can be seen as global superstars so people will instantly know who they are by looking at the magazine and want to purchase the mag. On the image the bands name is wrote in big bold white font to show people who may not recognise the band who they are so they want to read on. The bar code like others isn't in the middle of the magazine so that it doesn't effect the image or cover lines.

Contents Pages:

This contents page sees the magazines name being featured at the top left as it is the 1st place people look when it comes to reading. The font for the title "Tilt" is sans serif as it is a music magazine and would not be seen as a very formal magazine and more of a interesting read. There are numerous images used on this page all with a number in the corner of them which relates to the page number they associate with. This has been done to attract people to read on as the images are very eye catching and interesting. On the right hand side of the magazine it contains the context of what is in the magazine, there are subsections used as this magazine is published often there will usually be articles relating to each sub-section in each magazine.

The NME magazine contents page contains lots of writing and little images. There is only one main image and thats related to the main article which covers the majority of the page making your eye drawn to it. The target audience is reached in this contents page as it uses the "NME" colour scheme of black red and white in which all NME fans will reconise and most likely enjoy. There are numerous subtitles which are located on the right in which readers will know where to find what they are looking for eg, reviews and news. This is good for a reader as it is easily noticable and will help them see if there is a story they wish to read. There is a advertisement located at the bottom with a black background in which helps it stand out this is important for a magazine as they need to sell there product and create capital. On the left NME have featured a band index as a big title in Sans-serif in which it enables people to look for the bands they like's name and then see what page they are located on.

This kerrang contents page contains numerous images which relate to articles inside the magazine. The main image is located at the top containing a popular band in which is assocated with this magazine as it is the same genre theme. This will help attract people to read on as they most likely will like the band or Kerrang will think so. The title of the magazine is situated in the centre of the page which institnly stands out and recieves a lot of attention due to the white font on a black background. The theme of Kerrang is shown throughout this contents page, as Kerrang use black, white and yellow lots throughout their magazine. All of the text throughout the full contents page is done in Sans-serif as the magazine is meant for enjoyment and casual than formal information.