In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
To help me design my final magazine I had to
research a variety of magazines to influence and inspire me, I decided to look
at magazines I personally like, and this included the likes of ‘Q’, ‘NME’ and
‘Front’ magazine. The first process I decided to do was the design of my
masthead, an important feature of all popular magazines. I used the words 'VIA’ which I wrote in bold
font to make the masthead standout, which could prove beneficial when it comes
to marketing the product and could help generate more sales. To further more
make the masthead standout I decided to type the letters in capitals. This
technique was borrowed from many popular magazines as it is a very common
technique used to make a masthead more noticeable on the shelf and bring
attention to it so the audience can identify the magazine quickly and easily. An
example of a magazine doing this is the popular music magazine ‘NME’ which also
uses a bold capitalised masthead. I took
into consideration of where other successful magazines position their masthead,
which after research I discovered was usually in the top left corner. I decided
to conform to this convention and positioned my masthead in the same position.
I designed the masthead in pink and black to fit in with the house style colour
pallet that I use throughout my magazine, this colour theme was inspired by
‘FRONT’ magazines often occurring colour pallet, which appears to have a rather
unique design aesthetic. This uniqueness was a characteristic that I wanted to
have in my own magazine.
To benefit
my magazine in appealing to the target audience that I have chosen I had to
select an appropriate and strong main image that would be suited to the genre
of indie/rock music and the age group of teenagers. The image I used was a
photo I took at a gig in Newcastle at Space Bar. The photo was of the indie/emo
band ‘Wrestling’, which instantly made it appropriate for my audience. I used
an image taken at a live gig, which is a rather unconventional feature as very
often popular magazines feature images taken in a studio environment; I believe
this image was successful in suiting my target audience and challenging the
conventions of other real media products. The magazine looks more authentic because
the image was not setup in a photo shoot style and may perhaps be more
appealing to music fans as it is taken from a genuine musical experience. My
main image would be highly suitable to use in a real media product as it is of
excellent image quality, which could have a range of possible connotations that
could be appealing to many audiences, including my own personal target audience
for ‘VIA’ magazine. Another element I
took inspiration from was the reoccurring minimalistic approach that NME took.
I followed this approach by using only two images on my front cover (one main
image and one secondary image) I also only used a 3 colour pallet which could
be seen as simplistic but effective technique as many magazines take this
approach. Researching other magazines helped me identify the common features which
occur and make my own magazine utilize typical trades and even develop common
conventions that are current in the media industry.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I decided to associate my magazine with the genre
of Indie/punk music and also focus on new and upcoming music; I decided to do
this because I am interested in those particular genres of music. Many people,
including a lot of teenagers believe the music industry has become very commercial
and money fuelled market. I tried to represent indie/punk music in a different
way to what certain people may interpret the music industry as, yet still remained
a professional quality to the magazine. I did this by using a main image that
was not set-up in a studio environment and simply using a live photo shoot from
a gig. This goes against the stereotype that some teenagers have put on the
genre of indie/rock music as there was no cost spent on the front cover image
and the photo was not taken in a studio. The main image further more give the
impression that magazine is simply about the music which is particularly what
many music fans want the magazine to be about.
Another way that I represented my target audience and the culture they are associated with was to hand draw certain features on the front cover. This is something I have seen in other magazines, such as Front magazine. I thought this style would be suitable as with the illustrations being hand drawn it reflects a 'Do it yourself' nature, something which could build a rapport between the media product and my audience. Providing DIY aesthetics on my magazine is relevant to my target audience as my product is regarding indie and underground music, a genre which is often associated with the DIY music scene. I am hoping these illustrated features will help build a rapport and familiarity to my audience and therefore make the magazine more appealing, resulting in more sales.
As you can see when comparing my magazine front cover to the cover of punk magazine 'Fusion' there is certain features that are similar, such as the greyscale main image and the coloured background. I decided to use this design aesthetic to suit with the style of my target audience, as my magazine is marketed towards underground music, the punk aesthetic seemed like a suitable influence.
Another way that I represented my target audience and the culture they are associated with was to hand draw certain features on the front cover. This is something I have seen in other magazines, such as Front magazine. I thought this style would be suitable as with the illustrations being hand drawn it reflects a 'Do it yourself' nature, something which could build a rapport between the media product and my audience. Providing DIY aesthetics on my magazine is relevant to my target audience as my product is regarding indie and underground music, a genre which is often associated with the DIY music scene. I am hoping these illustrated features will help build a rapport and familiarity to my audience and therefore make the magazine more appealing, resulting in more sales.
As you can see when comparing my magazine front cover to the cover of punk magazine 'Fusion' there is certain features that are similar, such as the greyscale main image and the coloured background. I decided to use this design aesthetic to suit with the style of my target audience, as my magazine is marketed towards underground music, the punk aesthetic seemed like a suitable influence.
What kind of media
institution might distribute your media product and why?
The media institution that I believe might
distribute my magazine is IPC Media institution; this is as they publish many
music magazines that are in a similar vein of genre. They are known for
publishing ‘NME’ magazine which is a similar style to my magazine as I took
influence from ‘NME’s traditions to create my magazine. Another reason IPC
Media may publish my magazine is because it is targeted at a particular target
audience which they have already obtained through the publishing of NME,
who’s target audience is aimed at music fans and teenagers just like mine. I
believe my magazine would be successful for IPC Media as they already have
audiences that would be interested in my magazine, this could lead to fans of
there already current rosters of magazines to become interested in my magazine
‘VIA’ and become regular readers, therefore increasing sales of my magazine.
Who would be the
audience for your media product?
The audience for my magazine would be people who
are interested in indie/underground music and the artists from that genre. The primary
target audience for my magazine would be both male and female teenagers and
young adults, this is because the indie/rock genre is often associated with
that age group and that genre is stereotypically appealing to this age group. However the second possible target audience would be
general fans of music this is because my magazine also has interests in discovering
and promoting new music and bands. This aspect could be very appealing to music
lovers as they are been supplied a feed of new music to listen too. I believe
my magazine would be successful within the student ranks of society from
college to university, I believe this because of the ‘cool’ element the
magazine has in terms of appearance and features and also the creative ethos that surround the magazine.
How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract my target audience I featured a young musician on the main image and other young musicians throughout the rest of the magazine. I did this because my audience is for people interested in new music and the concept of new music is stereotypically associated with young people, which makes the magazine appear more genuine to the audience. Another way I attracted my audience was because of the main image being of a young person this could make the audience feel related to the magazine as they may also be young. This could build an instant rapport between the audience and magazine making the product more appealing to them. I used the theme of young people throughout my front cover, contents page and double page to strengthen this idea of magazine and audience relationship.
To address the audience I used a plug on the front
cover that advertised ‘Free Sunday league EP and free posters’ this could be
very appealing to my audience as it is a gift from the magazine. This could
positively influence the audience on whether they purchase the magazine or not. I also used intriguiing headlines such as 'Get into the mind of Chris Oldd'. this phrase is a imperrative sentence and is commanding the audience, this is technique that can persuade the audience to purchase the magazine.
I decided to use hand drawn illustrations on the front cover, in order to build a rapport and likeable factor between my magazine and the audience. Providing DIY aesthetics on my magazine is relevant to my target audience as my product is regarding indie and underground music, a genre which is often associated with the DIY music scene. I am hoping these illustrated features will help build a rapport and familiarity to my audience and therefore make the magazine more appealing, resulting in more sales.
I decided to use hand drawn illustrations on the front cover, in order to build a rapport and likeable factor between my magazine and the audience. Providing DIY aesthetics on my magazine is relevant to my target audience as my product is regarding indie and underground music, a genre which is often associated with the DIY music scene. I am hoping these illustrated features will help build a rapport and familiarity to my audience and therefore make the magazine more appealing, resulting in more sales.
What have you learnt
about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The programme I have used to design my media
product was Adobe Photoshop. By using Photoshop I have obtained the skills to
use most of the tools and become capable of editing appropriately as I created
my magazine. I had to use Photoshop to setup a layout for each page, and
position images appropriately. This was after I had used Photoshop to edit the
images by using techniques such as customising contrast, balancing colour and
adding filters of images. I had to create my own masthead using software as
well, I did this by finding a font I liked and adding different effects to it
which will be beneficial in making a successful masthead, for example by adding
a stroke effect in Photoshop I was able to make the masthead stand out more.by
I also used Photoshop to cut and crop images to fit and suit my magazine,
helping to improve my magazine and reflecting the desire for authenticity. A
lot of these skills I was not aware of and had to learn and develop as I
created my magazine, which has overall improved my digital manipulation and
design capabilities for media products.
