Music Magazine Evaluation

Georgia Wheeler

Music Magazine Evaluation

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

In my magazine, I have used different features which are conventional to different magazines. I have placed my masthead at the top of the page, where it is usually located on all different types of magazines. I also have a number of cover lines and a central image. My main cover line is in a larger/bolder font, in comparison to the other text to ensure it stands out to potential readers. Most music magazines use either one or both of these techniques, including the two that I have talked about.

The written content on the front cover are conventionally keep to a minimum, in order to draw more attention to the images, as well as to avoid the page looking squashed together. I have also used puffs so audiences are intrigued to carry on reading as important words stand out that appeal to them.

All of the pages use bright colours and the content page especially features the conventional list of items within a magazine. For example, the number references. Numbers on the contents page are in bold yellow font so my target audience of young girls can direct themselves easily to the page that interests them without any confusion.

How does your media product represent certain social groups?

The social group my magazine is aimed at is young girls aged 9-13 who enjoy pop music and are fans of boy bands. The way I have portrayed this is my magazine is through mise-en-scene and language. I used a mixture of ‘slang’ and formal language to represent my audience. In today’s society, my target audience speak in this way therefore was appropriate to use and they can relate and understand the magazine easier. In the language, I frequently included exclamation marks and various size fonts, this is so it looks informal and more fun. This represents the social group because 9-13 year olds are fun and loud so I wanted to portray this attitude in my magazine.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The company I would choose to distribute my magazine is Bauer Media Group. The reason for this is because it’s a large European based company with huge success within the media and magazine industry. It is one of the largest distributors of magazines in the world this means I can spread the name of my magazine and sell it internationally.

I would distribute my magazine in well known, big brand shops such as Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda. I will sell my magazine in these shops as they are very popular and as they are supermarkets, they are guaranteed a high number of customers doing their food shop which are likely to come across the magazines and take a look. I would also distribute my magazine online on different platforms like a website and an app. The reason for this is because within today’s society it’s common for younger individuals to own a device such as an iPad to have access to view Simply Pop online.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my music magazine is young girls from the ages 9-13 years old who are interested in pop music. The reason I chose this for my target audience is because being a female and enjoying pop music, I have once fallen within that age range and I thought it would be easier to do a magazine based on what music I used to like. Another reason I chose this was because pop music is a popular genre within today’s society because there are huge and well-known artists who release music within this genre.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel I have attracted my audience in a variety of ways. For example on my front page I have used an image which fills the majority of the page to grab my audiences’ attention. I have used the image of Shannon who is slightly older than my target audience so readers read the articles within the magazine and look up to her as a role model. I have used conventions in order to attract my target audience. For example a conventional layout which I felt would attract my audience. The fonts I have used are bold to attract the audience’s attention. I feel the colour scheme I have used also addresses’ my target audience as I have used a bright stereotypical colour such as pink.

What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the project I have extended my knowledge on software such as InDesign. I have learnt about lots of new editing skills such as overlapping text, bringing text in front and brightening images. Learning how to edit images has proved very useful in this project and it will also help me in the future as well as learning to edit images or constructing a magazine. Looking at existing products helped with this and I feel confident that in the future I would be able to create another magazine from the knowledge I have gained.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back on my progress from my preliminary product, I feel that my preliminary product helped me in many ways when creating my final product. One major factor that my preliminary product helped me with was planning my time, for example when organising when to take my images to allow enough time to edit them. When taking images for my final product I stuck to backgrounds where all colours are noticeable on them. Although my preliminary product helped with the planning of my time I have also had to learn new things which weren’t covered in the preliminary products for example, using a wider colour scheme to attract a wider audience as it’s not just aimed at a school like the preliminary task. Overall I think my final product was better than my preliminary product as it helped me gain more knowledge in the software used.

Final Music Magazine Front Cover, Contents Page, Feature Article

Georgia Wheeler

Final Music Magazine Front Cover, Contents Page, Feature Article

Target Audience Feeback

Georgia Wheeler

Target Audience Feedback

Blue- A Grade

Green- B Grade

Yellow- C Grade

Red- D Grade

Planning Front Cover, Contents Page and Feature Article- Music Magazine

Music Magazine Planning

Colour schemes:

Colour schemes I could use:

Light Pink, Light Blue (Pastel Colours)

Hot Pink, Dark Blue (Bold Colours)

Light Pink, Yellow (Light Colours)

These colour scheme ideas are inspired by other pop magazines that I have seen previously.

The background of my magazine cover will be white, with a pink masthead, which is a similar style used in many other pop music magazines, especially pop magazines aimed at a younger target audience.

Articles:

Main article: My main article will be mainly featured on a solo artist / new coming artist. It will be interview based and will also contain information and questions about their music and upcoming performances / tours.

Articles mentioned in contents page: Interviews with artists, articles about new releases from artists, new music being released, new band gossip.

Font ideas:

(Berlin Sans FB) This font will be used for the Masthead of my magazine. It will be used for the masthead of my magazine as it is a bold font that could stand out well. It also has a more unique style to other fonts making it eye catching to potential readers.

(Century Gothic) This font will be used for my main text within articles and the contents page. It will be used for the main body. This font would be suitable for the main body as it is clear and easy to read, but adds more of a funky effect than a common font such as Ariel. 

Magazine Names:

POP! - simple and effective as audiences know exactly what the magazine is about.

Beauty and Pop- shows audiences that there's more content than just music information making them want to read.

Simply Pop- Simple and catching audience eyes as its clear the genre of the magazine.

Charts- Clear the magazine involves recent music.

Ideas for Articles:

-Upcoming Gigs

-Top Charts

-Interview with upcoming artist

-Hottest Artists of the month

Magazine Media Pack

Magazine Media Pack

Brand Overview

Billboard has been within the entertainment and music industry since 1894. It began as a weekly advertising business but Billboard and the world’s most popular music charts have transformed into a successful information source on music trends and music release dates!

Digital - The go-to source for everything music—read by fans and music industry insiders.

Mobile- Website and updated music charts adapted for smaller devices such as mobiles and tablets so music fans can stay up-to-date wherever they are.
Social- With over 12.9M followers on various different social media formats. Billboard stays engaged connecting with music lovers everywhere.
Print- Billboard’s weekly magazine is read by some of the biggest music fans.

Online Audience

Billboard.com users over-index when it comes to entertainment within the music industry:

PURCHASED CONCERT TICKETS (LAST 6 MONTHS) 233

PROVIDES FREQUENT MUSIC ADVICE 163

PURCHASED DIGITAL MUSIC (LAST 30 DAYS) 222

WENT TO A LIVE CONCERT (LAST 30 DAYS) 145

Social

With over 12 million fans across social media formats, Billboard continuously interact with fans over multiple channels. It’s ranked in the top 10 social publishers since 2014!

Newsletters

Billboard successfully delivers music information directly to the inbox of fans and companies with an interest of the music industry via email. Information included within these newsletters are music’s breaking news, chart beat and touring news for top artists.

Magazine Audience

Billboard magazine has been re designed to be the essential read for individuals who run the music industry. This includes managers, agents, head of record labels, producers and promoters.

Magazine Content

On opening of the music magazine, the top 100 is shown which then extends to the most important music news, reviews and tour dates.

Music Magazine Industry Research- Pop Genre.

Music Magazine Industry Research- Pop Genre.

We love Pop is a monthly music magazine which launched in September 2011. Each issue contains 68 pages and its target audience is teenage girls aged between 13-15 years old. We Love Pop is published by Egmont UK. The typical content of a We Love Pop issue are articles on artists/bands, interviews, features on film, fashion, technology, and beauty and advertisements from companies also aiming at the teen audience such as Universal Music, Boohoo and So Fragrances.

Egmont saw a gap in the market after another pop music magazine ended called Smash Hits in 2006. Smash Hits had a similar target audience to the now audience of We Love Pop and therefore when they closed there was a gap to fill for the benefit of this age group.

The publisher of the magazine (Egmont Group) is a Danish media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass media generally. Egmont Group encourage more and more children to enjoy the sheer pleasure of reading. Whether its books, magazines or digital media they create media to ensure reading is fun for children and it has made us the UK’s leading children’s publisher, for babies through to teens.

Pop magazines normally use bright colours like pink, yellow and orange. This reflects pop music’s bright and bubbly personality. The celebrity on the front of the magazine normally wears similar bright colours to reflect the magazine’s style but also to show that they are a pop star and that they fit that genre. The style of the costume they wear compliments the colour. It is usually in quite a fun style, e.g. short, flirty, modern dresses for the female artists. The colours are bright so they would attract their target audience. They would also appeal to their target audience as it is very likely that the colours used in the magazine would be the target audience’s favourite colours. The colours also normally match what the model is wearing. This gives the magazine a professional feel, while making sure it does not look too overpowering.

The style of pop magazines is usually informal. The magazine often uses bright shapes and borders around sections of text to make it look more interesting, instead of just having one big block of copy, which would bore the audience. There is a mixture between text and images, so the magazine would interest their audience, who would not be interested by whole pages of text. The pictures also make the magazine look more interesting. The fonts used are feminine, and fun, reflecting the target audience. The captions under the image give a brief explanation of the picture, and are usually funny or have a joke.

Magazine Feature Article Analysis

Magazine Feature Article Analysis

A feature article is a detailed piece of writing which explores a range of issues, opinions, experiences and ideas based on a specific target audience.

Within this essay I will be analysing a feature article based on Lilly Allen. The purpose of this feature article is to potentially change people’s opinions of Lilly Allen and how she feels she is being perceived, as opposed to how the tabloids are presenting her to be.

One quote from the double page spread is ‘People think I’m an attention seeker, but I’m just honest’. This masthead is trying to seek attention by using all different size fonts and spacing the letters unevenly apart. The contrast between the black area and the cut out area of the letters create a stark contrast. The font connotes letters cut out of a newspaper to make a title. This also suggests a sense of the article being ‘breaking news’, like it is on the front page of a newspaper making it seem more interesting and exciting.

The main image of Lilly Allen is very clear and in good lighting with her red checkered shirt blending in with the colour palette and catching audience’s attention as it’s a bold colour connoting danger. Her hands are on her hips showing confidence but also catching attention to the target audience. The image uses direct address which creates a personal connection with the audience. It will make the audience feel as if the article is addressing them.

A pull quote has been used as the title of the article which suggests the artist is very rebellious and outspoken just like how the font stands out. The text of the article has been arranged in columns. This makes the article easier to read and it makes the audience more likely to read it as it doesn’t look like a lot of text.

The mode of address is slightly detached in this article. An audience, of sorts, is referred to as ‘People’ which suggests the artist is not addressing you, but more everyone in general creating a detached atmosphere.

A short two-line introduction has been used to introduce the artist and the tone of the article. The quote ‘Lilly Allen is a tabloid-baiting breath of fresh air’ suggests the article will contradict what has been said about Allen in other magazine and newspaper articles. It also suggests NME has been able to get the real ‘inside scoop’ and been able to ‘get behind the headlines.

The main image of Olly Murs which is a medium close up can be taken out as a poster for the young teen girls/ fans to stick on their wall. Alongside with the main image we have a secondary image of Olly Murs wearing a Christmas hat which goes with the Christmas theme of this article which goes with the background of the snowflakes. 

Double page spread from 'We Love Pop' opening with a pun with 'Merry Christmurs!' being the main headline which is on a ribbon effect like a present to the audience. The fact that 'Murs' is in a different fount colour shows that Olly Murs is the more dominate figure on this double page spread.

The stand first, introduces the article to potential readers and it gives them an insight of what they are reading. These are effective as they are a quick summary on who the article is about and what it includes.

The paragraph starts with a drop capital highlighted with yellow to grab the attention of readers. Also due to it being highlighted it could show that it is more important than the rest/ the main points in the text. With the secondary image we have a speech bubble which uses direct address to the audience with the word 'you'; this makes the article more essential to the reader. 

The way that the text is set up with the three columns makes it easier for the reader to read what’s on the page. This double page spread has opted for the question and answers with the question being in red font and the answers in black this goes with the Christmas theme and kind of helps the idea of the theme to come across to the reader.

Pull quote gives audience a taster of key words and key ideas within the article. Going with the theme of Christmas just in the middle of Olly there is a pull quote with the heading 'hohoho' which catches your attention to draw you into the story, allowing you to read on.

Music Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page Analysis

Music Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page Analysis

Front Cover

The masthead is a typical convention of a magazine. In this magazine the masthead is located in the top left side of the front cover and takes up a fair amount of the page. Despite the large size, the colours used are bold and contrasting. The use of the colour red connotes passion and strength which represents the artist Florence on the front cover as she’s a successful artist whose passion is music. The contrasting colour white connotes positivity over the darker colours which expresses the emotion the producers want to make the audience feel after reading.

The use of the pull quote “I feel so alone” attracts the audience as it introduces the main cover artist to the readers enabling them to work out there’s an interview involved within the magazine. By using the words “Alone” the reader will intrigued into reading further into the magazine.

The main image is a close up of Florence. The positioning of the photograph is centralised to fit the cover and enables there to be room for the sell lines to still catch audience’s eyes. The image targets the fans of Florence and the Machine. The purity of her skin relates to the purity of the content involved within Q magazine.

The main cover line “FLORENCE WOMAN ON THE EDGE” is big and bold so that the audience can see it from a distance when looking within a variety of different magazines. By positioning the main cover line at the top of the page the reader will be able to see it clearly on the front of the magazine.

The barcode is located on the bottom of the front cover so that the date/issue and price can be easily located to check when the issue was released.

The sell lines on the cover of Q magazine states the key information that is within the magazine. The wording of the sell lines “CHRIS MARTIN IN TEARS” engages the reader into reading the magazine as the target audience would want to read why Chris Martin is crying as when the audience read words such as “tears” they will want to emotionally connect with them sympathetically. Another sell line used on the front cover is “16-PAGE GIG BLOW OUT” shows the target audience what the magazine contains. The word “gig” is drop capped so that it stands out on the page.

Medium close up of Jessie J as she is the main feature of the magazine. Her pose is quite dominant indicating that the writers believe she will dominate the music scene. The outfit is quite edgy as was her attitude/style of music when she first started out. She is smiling which juxtaposes the sell line attached to it. This could be a message to readers that they too can overcome obstacles such as bullying.

The magazine consists of pink and white colours. These have very feminine connotations as the magazine has a very sweet style to it. The target audience is girls around preteen years, the pink colours will appeal to them subconsciously.

The masthead is bold to draw attention and make it easy to identify. Its target audience is younger readers. This brand of magazine helps them easily locate the magazine and keep buying the product.

Cover lines includes a variety of different storylines. This makes the magazine appealing to a lot of different potential viewers. They are highlighted in yellow with bold fonts in pink to stick with the pop magazine conventions of bright colours to attract audiences.

Various images are shown on the front page in order for viewers to see what inside of the magazine before looking inside. The pictures of other celebrities will attract young audiences as they could be there idols. 

Contents Page

All contents pages are usually in columns; on this particular contents page there are three. This gives the contents page an easy layout making it easy for the reader to find what they are looking for.

On all Top of the Pops contents pages the main image is of the front cover which is very unique due to readers picking up the magazine because of the main image. There are arrows pointing to all the different articles with their pages numbers. This is effective as it makes it easier for the audience to find the articles they were interested in and because of the young age of the target audience using arrows enables them to want to read on as its visual images rather than a lot of words. The main image of the contents page is a young boy band to encourage the audience to buy the magazine as young girls tend to be interested in finding out about male pop stars.

The colour scheme here is pink yellow and white which is commonly used colours used on pop music magazines. The colours, mainly pink, represent femininity which reinforces that the target audience is teenage girls. The colour yellow connotes happiness which the magazine is trying to promote and the colour white connotes simplicity which represents the lay out of the magazine.

The title on the contents page is generally very large. The font choice looks like someone’s handwriting which could represent the target audience of young girls writing in their diaries. The use of the word ‘mag’ instead of ‘magazine’ in the title is informal language which many teenage girls use in this day and age. The magazine may have used this to relate more to the teenage girls and encouraging them to buy the product. 

A typical convention of a contents is page numbers. Within this magazine they use large numbers to represent the page numbers as it makes it easy to locate certain articles and looks pretty on the eye to the reader. The font used on other pieces of text within the contents page is very bold and eye-catching to draw the reader’s attention to them. The font is feminine as the magazines target audience is young females.

Stockley Magazine Evaluation.

Georgia Wheeler

 

Stockley Magazine Evaluation

1)      In which ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In my magazine I have tried to fit conventions while also trying to create a unique product. I have stuck to a conventional magazine as I thought it would appeal to more people. I have used conventions in each of my final products (front page, contents and double page spread). For example the title for the front cover is on the left hand side and the barcode, price and issue number are positioned on the bottom right hand side. My double page also follows conventions as it has an editor’s note so readers can connect with the editor’s views about the magazine. My analysis of existing products has helped me when creating a conventional product as I have looked at existing products for inspiration.

2)      How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents the social group of teenagers who attend school who are passionate about looking good. I think I have achieved this through the images, layout and language I have used. I think I have met all of the aspects of a teenage fashion magazine and have represented the particular social group well. My media product also divides social groups through gender and age. For example the images I have used throughout the product are of the same age as my target audience and the same gender. If I had used an older person on the front cover I may not have attracted the audience I was aiming for or represented their social group. I have aimed my product at females as I wanted to attract a specific target audience. As I have used a young female on the front rather than a male to attract the gender. In order to represent the target audience I looked at existing products and did research on the internet of recent fashion trends. I noticed that there was a very stereotypical view on student fashion so I have represented fashion in society today in my magazine through what the people were wearing in my images rather than meeting stereotypes.

3)      What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that the following institutions are most likely to distribute my product:
-Social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram, digital publishers so students can open the magazine on their phones and fashion stores such as New Look.
I believe that fashion stores are the most likely to distribute my product as it would target my particular target market better as the genre of magazine is fashion and my target audience would visit them stores. Digital publishers are also a good way of targeting my social group of female students as their mobile phone is where the social group is more likely to socialise. Digital publishing is now becoming more popular with 17% of magazines now available online; therefore this would enable my product to be distributed on a larger scale if this method was used.

4)      Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my media product is teenagers and young female adults both aged from 16-18. I have chosen this age group as my target audience as they are more likely to pick up school fashion magazines and be interested in recent trends. To choose my target audience, I did research to find out if there was a gap in the market of fashion magazines. I found that there weren’t many magazines aimed particularly at the social group of students so I decided to focus my magazine on this genre. I am also a student myself so I felt this would be give me more ideas for my product and allow me to relate with my target audience.

5)      How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel I have attracted my audience in a variety of ways. For example on my front page I have used an image which fills the majority of the page to grab my audiences’ attention. I have used the image of Shannon as she’s 16 so it fits in the age group I have targeted my magazine at. In each of the images I have used I took into consideration what the people were wearing as I wanted the audience to relate to the magazine for example people with the same style in clothes. I have used conventions in order to attract my target audience. For example a conventional layout which I felt would attract my audience. The fonts I have used are also conventional and are bold to attract the audience’s attention. I feel the colour scheme I have used also addresses’ my target audience as I have used a bright stereotypical colour such as pink.

6)      What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the project I have extended my knowledge on software such as InDesign. I have learnt about lots of new editing skills such as overlapping text, bringing text in front and brightening images. Learning how to edit images has proved very useful in this project and it will also help me in the future as well as learning to edit images or constructing a magazine. Looking at existing products helped with this and I feel confident that in the future I would be able to create another magazine from the knowledge I have gained.

7)      Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt?

Looking back on my progress from my preliminary product, I feel that my preliminary product will help me in many ways when creating my final product. One major factor that my preliminary product helped me with was planning my time, for example when organising when to take my images to allow enough time to edit them. However I had difficulty with some of the images I had taken as they were hard to edit due to the background and hard to find a font colour that was noticeable. When taking images for my final product I will look at background of the images in able to create more unique shots throughout my final product. Although my preliminary product helped with the planning of my time I have also had to learn new things which weren’t covered in the preliminary products. For example as the magazine was a school magazine I was only able to use 3 main colours to create a conventional magazine whereas my final music magazine I will able to be a lot more creative and pacifically target my audience. Overall I think my final product would be significantly better since my preliminary product helped me gain more knowledge in the software used.

Stockley Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page.

Georgia Wheeler

Stockley 'Trend' Magazine- Front Cover

Stockley 'Trend' Magazine- Contents Page

GRANITE - Women's Lifestyle Magazines.

GRANITE- Women's Lifestyle

Codes and Conventions.

- Image and name fits content and target audience.

- Colour scheme and clear typography creates clear brand and genre identity.

- Celebrity featured on the cover to increase attention and sales.

-Cover lines are used on the cover in order to inform what is included in the magazine and persuade potential consumers to purchase.

- Date, Price and Barcode on the cover.

-Mode of address and genre are both clear from the cover.

-Colour palette using bright feminine colours.

Genre

The genre of Women’s Lifestyle magazines are usually broken down into two sections- Fashion and Beauty and then housewife themed such as healthy eating etc.

Representations

The representations of Women Lifestyle magazines are confident woman themed around the sub-genre of the magazine. These models could be actors or models that the target audience would know about.

Audience

The target audience for Women's Lifestyle magazines are females ranging from 16-50 year olds as they will be able to relate to the content of the magazine such as make-up tips, recipes and stories about celebrities that are popular around the time.

Narrative

The narrative of Women’s Lifestyle magazines is generally about a female singer/actor/model going through a tough time and then coming out as a confident individual. This inspires women to be confident with themselves.

Institutions

The institutions of this genre of magazines is the company of the magazine as they will be getting money from the sales but also the main image model would receive money as she is earning publicity and having themselves promoted.

Technologies

The technologies used when making these magazines would be professional cameras, computers, lighting and a variety of software's such as Photoshop to edit the magazine.

Evidence

There are different things within this genre of magazine that makes them successful such as direct address, colour palettes, barcodes, issue dates and pull quotes. These show the magazine is effectively organised resulting in its success.