looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progession from it to a full product?

Over the process of making both magazines i have learnt a lot - good and bad. When approaching the first task of making a college magazine I started good, I took some good clear photos and had a clear image in mind of what I want my magazine to look like. Although I was relatively new to using the technologies given to me, I had still manage to start of well. Being relatively new to Photoshop I had to quickly learn the tools that I would need to compose the college magazine. at this time my time management was good and my organisational skills was good, however, towards the middle stages I became lazy and my time management skills and organisational skills began to fall, and this resulting in me not having enough time to do a good contents page. on the other hand when doing my music magazine, my organisational and management skills were still bellow par which meant that i was behind, I had been taking out of focus pictures and it took me weeks until I final took my picture, my contents page again suffered from my poor management skills in which I fail to realise at the beginning of the process of the music magazine. Nevertheless through determination I was able to complete the magazine which I am very proud of.

The problems that I faced on the college magazine was establishing a colour scheme, on the front cover of the magazine it is clear that there is no clear them or colour scheme therefore the contents page and the front cover didn't match and almost looked unrecognisable. Also i realised that I went over the top with the fonts and used too many, which made the magazine look cheap and amateur. From these mistakes, I made sure I did not repeat them again on my music magazine resulting in creating a more sophisticated and  youthful magazine with a clear colour scheme and recognisable theme; also a limit of only 2 fonts. This made the production of the magazine much easier because the colours and the fonts are already identified as soon as I start making the magazine.

A problem that I faced when making my music magazine was the photos that took. The initial photography I wanted to use for my music magazine was out of focus and therefore I decided to take more photos. However I found a recurring issue of my photo being out of focus - using canon EOS 550d so I decided to change cameras as I wasn't happy with the outcome. Therefore I used my friends Samsung camera to take pictures, which didn't have the best focus but it still had stunning shots.

Personally the drafting helped on the college magazine as I was confused and I used inspiration of other magazine to help determine what type of layout would suit my magazine the most, and the drafting did help to make the process of production much easier. However, when doing the music magazine the drafts didn't really help me because it made it harder for me to come up with a final idea and I struggled, at the end I used a completely different idea that just came to me on the spot.

From the two magazines you can see big differences, the reasons for these differences is because of the target audience for the magazine. In the college magazine, I tried to target young teenagers through the use of vibrant colours and different fonts in order for the magazine to look fun and playful, whereas in the music magazine I kept to a darker colour scheme and restricted the amount of fonts to target an older audience.

How did you attract/adress you audience?

As 40% of magazine purchases are determined by the content of the front cover instead of brand loyalty, i felt that it is important to make the front cover look as attractive to my target audience as much as i could. As my target audience is youthful i wanted to use youthful models. The body language of the maodel is very important because it is meant to represent the genre of the music your magazine is promoting.

The image on the left was my inspiration for my front cover magazine because she look confident sexy and ready to go clubbing. From the way she is position she is looking straight at the camera because she is confidents, she knows that the camera is taking a picture of her and she is seeking attention; which resembles my target audience. she is standing slightly slanted while positioned in the center of the photo which means she controls the image, and she is leaning on the wall which gives here attitute will looking cool and calm. The image does represent House music because it is a very confident, sexy and strong image in which i wished to imitate.

As you can see from my image the body language of the artist is very simular to the photo above as she is stood centered and slightly slanted, the attention of the photo is focused directly on the artist and her pose is very strong and confident. Again, the fact that she is looking straight at the camera gives he impression that she is strong and confident, the difference between the two images that in my photo she has a smile, i decided to do this because i wanted the photo to reflect someone who is happy and confident and is enjoying life in which dance music offers.

Also in this image the outfit is very important because it is very current with the glittery top which is very youthful and very common in clubs and the large gold earings symbolises that she is ready to go out. Colours of the clothing are not bright but minimal because i did not want to over power the photo with to much colour. The clothing that she is wearing is not showy which would relate to the public as they would warm to the artist as there is less of a feeling of them and us, which make the artist seem slightly humble.

From looking at alot of magazine front covers i noticed that they all seem to attract use mentiion popular celebrrities to boost sales even throught they may no nessessarily be assosiated with their magazine genre. In my magazine I used Tinie Tempah and Britney Spears who are certainly not assiosiated with dance music, however i looked at current issues that might disturb or excite the audience and aplied it to them ' Britney's new song Hold it against me Hot or Not '.

The language that i used in my magazine is formal English with the use of acronym to relate the magazine to the youth and give the impression of direct adress ass if we are personally talking to them, encouraging them to but the magazine. Most of the Magazine is written in Standard English because we are relating it to an older audience, therefore i didn't want the magazine to sound to childish or else people would not be able to take the magazine to seriously. The tone of themagazine is warm abd friendly as it almost invist the audience to continue reading without being to forceful, instead of using command words to grab their attention, i used issues that would relate to my specific social group.

The fonts that i used were sans serif fonts, i chose to use these fonts because because of the standard English i used to balance it using a modern font would relate to youth young adults and older teens. I had to make sure that i got the right balance of sans serif fonts because i did not want it to look to childish so it took me a long time to find the right font that was bold and catchy.  

Who would be the audience for you media product

From this picture that i took you can see that the type of person that would buy my magazine. the typical portfilio of the buyer would be a white teenage aged 18 who enjoys going out with her friends to clubs and likes dance. her profession would be working in a clothes store or hair dressers and lives away from home in university. The girl is probly very confident and expressive and drinks alcholevery now and again. From this portfilio that i have gathered i have to make sure that my magazine meets their needs and satifies thems as they are likely to buy the magazine. I tried to target these people by putting images of girls that are also confident and expressive and fashionable with glittery clothing that shows a club lifestyle.
However, i don't only aim to target this group of people, but i aim to target everyone aged 16 -26 because at this age they are responsible and able to go to parties, also they are the most current with the dance and electro pop music, therefore making themselves clear candidates for House magazine.

The race prodimate race to be targeted would be white europeans as the are very interested in dance music and therefore are more likely to buy the magazine, nevertheless i will be targeting all races from asians to south american blacks and whites because house music is for everyone to enjoy, althought the magazine is promotig club music is also aim to promote that music bring everyone together, therefore the magazine would be for everone.

The income of my target audience would be from £12,000 - £30,000 annually as theprice is quite high the person would need to want to find the magazine a nessesity and be able to provide for it. my target audience be u wouldn't likely to be married or pregnant or a parent as they will have other things on their mind and therefore would find it nessessary to buy the magazine. Also it would be harder for the to sccess it because they would no be going to clubs frequently or often, therefor they would be resticted to where they could buy the magazine. some of my target audience would be in college or university therefore they do not have alot of money to spend, therefore it is likely that they would have a part time job on the side in a supermarket or clothes store in order to fund the needs. My target audience would not have a serious occupation and instead have a laid back job that reflects their laid back personality.

All my target audience would live in the uk as i am publishing a national magazine, i have to start small so the focus will start in London with my magazines being distributed in London only, and once IPC help establish my magazine it will start to spraed starting in the big cities of the UK Manchester, Bristol, Leed, Liverpool and Birminham. I chose this because  London is known for the clubs with many celebrities and tourist coming to london to go clubbing therefore it is a chance for me to help slow establish my magazine and House music as it is rapidly growing.

The lifestyle of my target audience would be laid back and they would be very experimental, they would like to try new things and are not afraid of challenges. My target audience my smoke and drink alchol, however i will not be promoting this lifestyle. A large majority of my target audience would go out on Friday or Saturday clubbing and enjoy meeting new people.

What Kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

The publishing company that i would like to distribute my magazine is IPC. IPC is the publishing house because they have experience with working with music magazines as they distribute NME, which is a big alternative rock magazine in the UK. With there experience it would be more easier for them to understand where to distribute the magazines referring to the target audience. Also with a big brand like IPC who are again experience, they will be able to help establish this magazine and maybe help make it a house hold name. the will be able to help guide me on what type of thing sell and help me make improvements to the magazine.With big household magazines like look, IPC can help boost the reputation on the magazine in order for HOUSE to grow.

Another reason to choose IPC is because there would be a lack of competition, House is a Elecro pop and dance magazine, IPC doesn't publish a magazine like House with the same genre, therefore there would be greater focused on my magazine. with mix mag using their own publish company DMC publishing, there is a wide range of publishing houses that i could chose from , IPC was the best choice because of the experience and the focus my magazine will receive.

IPC should publish House magazine because the would receive large larger profits than other magazines in the long run, because there is a clear gap in the market, with only one other dance and electro pop magazine, my music magazine is likely to grab the attention of buyers because of the growth in  the music, in so i am meeting the customers needs. By me meeting their needs, it would boost sales for IPC because there is a lack of competition therefore we a guaranteed  a large market share.

With IPC distributing large numbers of their magazines in shops, i am willing to comply and follow along as my target audience are likely to go into a shop and buy a magazine, i would distribute it here because it would help boost sales i.e in a news agent or a corners shop. Also it makes it available for those that don't go clubbing but are just interested in Dance and Electro pop music.

However, the main plan that i aim to distribute my magazine would be in clothes stores like River Island and H&M and Night clubs in London. As House is associated with parties and clubs i feel that it is appropriate to put these here, it allows easy promotion of the magazine without the competition of having in a shop like a news agent. By putting them in clothes stores that provide party outfits also enable my target audience to have more access to the magazine, it would also help segregate the public therefore making it easier to know who my target audience is. I will knot be distributing my magazine in youth clubs because my magazine is specifical for older teens and young adults, with the price being £1.99 i believe it would be too much for them therefore there would be no sales.

How does your media product represent particular social group

House and dance music are relative new therefore my target  audience are within the new generation but old enough to go to clubs and festival, therefore my target age group is 16 – 26 because the music generally relates more to them. My magazine also relates to both male and females and all races. In order to attract different races I aimed to make sure different races are represented in the magazine whether it’s the theme, music or front cover image. Because of the price of the magazine I aimed to target the average Londoner who has an average annual income of over £20,000.

I attempted to represent they my social group by keeping to a cool colour scheme, from other magazines that target this age group had found out that they had also used colour schemes. The colour scheme that I used through out my magazine was red, black, grey and white. I used these colours because they are sophisticated and calm colours, the mixture of colours create almost a club like feeling, which was my main intention when designing a magazine. Red and black are very youthful colours and therefore I found it appropriate to use these colours.  My inspiration for my colour theme was Q magazine how also use these colours as their colour scheme, giving the magazine a rocky and edgy look.

I also represented my target audience through the youthful language used, the use of acronyms – ‘LND’ (London), show that it is aimed that the young generation therefore it would be difficult for the older generation to understand. However, because i wanted to reach out to not only teenagers but ages to 26, i wanted to keep the text and slang to a minimum to prevent scaring them away. I feel that it was important no to go over board with slang and keep it to a minimum to prevent confusion with the age group of my magazine.

I also decided to photographs of young people to show representation of my specific target audience, the clothing on each of the pictures are important because they are all clubbing and party clothes; as my magazine promotes going to clubs and finding out about the clubs that play this specific music. Also the clothes are very youthful as they are sparkly, which is a current trend with teens and young adults, whether going to a party or going to school, therefore i think they costume is very important.

The layout of the magazine is also very youthful, the layout of my double page spread shows continuation as the magazine flows through the colour scheme, the large image of the right hand side and the interview on the left makes the page balanced and therefore easier for the audience to pay attention to. Because the double page spread is controlled it makes it easier to prevent people losing their attention, meaning they can focus on what is written. From my market research i found out that teen do not like to read too much therefore it was important for me to keep the page controlled but without making it look like there is alot for the reader to read.

The use of San serif fonts also represent a youthful social group, the fact that the font contained a little image in the font ( disco ball for letter o) also played to my advantage as it again represented a club or party culture in which dance and electro pop music has to offer. I also used another font called electric feel for the main content of the magazine with was also youthful as it looked like a comic book font, therefore relating it to teenagers.

Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media?

My music magazine House is based on House, dubstep, drum and bass and electro pop music, targeted at teenagers aged 16 to young adults 26 years old . The main aim of my music magazine was to focus on the specific age group and make sure my magazine attracts their attention. In order to achieve this I focused on the presentation of magazine, finding an appropriate layout for a music magazine of my genre was very difficult as most household magazines published are either rock, rap, pop or r&b, therefore the conventions for a typical music magazine would need to e challenged and developed in order to differ to other magazines.

To compare my music magazine to another magazine similar to my genre, I used mix mag October 2009 edition. The masthead of my magazine is on the left hand side of the magazine in order to make it more visible to the customers when stacked in news agents and super markets, I decided to use this convention – which is common in many magazines ( i.e. Q magazine) because it makes it more recognizable to the audience  as they will be able to see most of the Masthead due to the way they stack news papers. Also from my market research I found out that people didn’t like a front cover to compact especially with text instead preferring eye catching colours and photographs. Therefore in order to create space having the mastehead on the left would enable me to have more space to spread other important information i.e selling lines and the date. Compared to  mix mag where the masthead spreads across the top of the page which make s it hard for the customers and difficult to add the required details without making the magazine seem to compact , therefore restricting the flexibility of the presentation of the magazine.

I challenged the conventions of the music magazine by the positioning my main cover line in the center on top of the photograph instead of the left (like mix mag) or the right hand side of the front cover. I did this again because not only does it create space but it also balances out the magazine preventing it from becoming one sided. By placing thing the main cover line in the center it again enables more space and prevents crowdedness without making the magazine look unfinished or incomplete. Also placing it again prevents crowdedness by balancing the front cover. As you can see there are 3 cover lines – two on the left and one on the right, my me placing it in the center it prevents me from adding an extra cover line to the opposing side of the cover line to balance it out, therefore  creating crowdedness. However the draw back of doing this is that the readers would clearly be able to read the main cover head as the photo may detract the attention away from the main cover line.

For the photo I developed the convention, instead of using a  medium close up like mix mag, I used a mid shot photograph so the audience are able to clearly see what the artist in the magazine is wearing. Because my magazine is aimed at the club scene and dance music I felt that it was essential that the audience saw what the artist is wearing because she is meant to represent that scene so by showing her flashy and sparkly clothes it initially show the readers what type of genre it is and who that magazine is aimed for. The reason why the mixed magazine photo worked is also because of the exposure of what the artist looks like and is wearing, the make up and the jewellery symbolizes this and therefore I wanted to imitate this.