Question five -

To ensure my music magazine appeals to my target audience of 'indie kids' I have followed already existent music magazines of the same music genre conventions. I did extensive research and planning which enabled me to select colours for my magazine which collocate the style of indie kids; I selected red black and white as my house colour theme as the black and white are to reflect the norm population and the red is to reflect the indie kid population who stand out from the norm and go against all the conventions. I then went on to the use of photographs to attract the target audience, I used costumes which resemble the clothing indie pop artists wear which will instantly exemplify the genre of the magazine to the public resulting in interest from the target audience. I researched indie pop magazines to find out what poses the models used, I found out they were often stern faced or not looking at the camera and so I conveyed these looks in my photo shoots. Although I stuck to most of the conventions I decided to go against the idea of a male being the main powerful figure and used a female model on my cover page, my idea behind this was to use her as a tool to attract both sexes, in hope the females would idolize her and the males would see her as a sexual symbol.
My initial magazine was not up to the standards of a professional magazine, the photos were out of focus and took in back grounds which has no relevance to the genre of the magazine- therefore I changed these photos by retaking new ones and using photo shop to edit certain aspects of the back ground. Also, the text on my rough cut was very spaced out and in a large font, thus it was both out of proportion and the placement was poor quality- therefore when creating my final magazine I drastically changed the text (especially on the front cover) so it was both more in keeping and more professional.

I printed my complete magazine off and created a questionnaire and handed them both out to a10 members of my target audience, the questions in my questionnaire were:
1 - what draws your attention to your product?
2 - what genre is the magazine and what tells you this?
3 - what do you consider as the strengths of the product?
4 - what do you consider as the weakness of the product?
5 - what social groups does it represent?
6 - would you purchase this product and why?
7 - how would you improve this product?

I found a similar set of answers through out the ten questionnaire forms, below I have stated the general answers I recieved as feedback to my media product:
1- The red text.
    The models green dress.
    The large, bright and interesting font on the title.
2- Indie, because the way the girl is dressed on the front.
    A twist on indie, indie pop,  because the mash up between the girls outfit and the text on the title.
3- The professional over look of the full product.
    The photograph on the double page spread.
     The layout of the contents page, its easy to navigate round.
4- There could be a skyline.
5- Teens.
     Teenage females and males.
     Anyone interested in indie popy music.
6- Yes, it is eye catching and looks professional.
     Yes because it looks interesting and full of content.
     Yes, it is my type of music genre.
     Yes, it looks modern and looks like it is full of exclusives.
7- Write the word indie-pop on the magazine cover so people who don't know the music can get into it.
    Add more colour.

Question four -

I discovered my target audience due to my secondary audience research, I got ideas of what my target audience are interested in and what they like from my primary secondary audience. Following this research I developed my target audience of a predominantly male (60:40) aged range 16 to 25 who very into the individualistic style in terms of both fashion and music; from this I was able to create this mood bored exemplifying my target audience with regards to fashion, appearance, music and outlook.

Go Animate Video - Question 4 response

Question three -

The production process of a magazine product starts with someone having an initial idea for a magazine, which they then turn into a brain storm after researching similar products and the market. If the idea then has enough potential it is then presented to a company who would be interested in making the magazine, if the idea/presentation is accepted that company will produce and print the magazine, when it is then available for retail it will be shipped/delivered to relevant shops etc for the public to purchase.

Despite prior comments, I think Bauer Media would be interested in my magazine as after looking at their reader profile I have noted they do not sell any magazines of the genre of mine, indie pop. Thus my magazine will be a ‘tool’ for them to enter that new and niche market. In the Bauer Media reader profile it states there audience are affluent, therefore their magazines will be of a high quality and reflect the higher end of the price range in terms of magazines, this is something my magazine exemplifies. After looking at Bauer Media’s Kerrang’s reader profile I believe my magazine has the same principles behind it as my magazine is more a similar age range who ‘are sharp, intelligent and rejoice in their individuality’, therefore if this is the market Bauer Media target then my product will be of their interest to them as they will already know how to advertise to and target this audience meaning they won’t have to think of new techniques and selling strategies which will save them time and money,  something a big company like them will consider highly. Bauer Media also have a very good reputation and sell a numerous amount of well selling music magazines such as Q, Mojo and Kerrang, this is something I have took into great consideration when choosing a magazine publisher as obviously I want a company which has had good sells as it means my magazine has a better chance to do well in terms of retail as the company will know what techniques for advertising etc work best.

Products such as Kerrang are advertised through its corresponding television channels, radio, tour posters/sites, social networking sites and internet; this is very effective as these agents of advertising are most popular for the target audience in terms of hobbies and age. Also these are worldwide advertising agents, thus it is reaching a greater volume as let’s say a billboard would and therefore they are enabling there product to be seen by more people resulting in more people buying it. As my product has a similar target audience to Kerrang I would also use similar advertisement agents. Facebook and Twitter usually offer free advertising so this would be convenient in terms of saving money and it would enable me to directly contact my audience as these are the two most popular networking sites, I could create a like page where I could regularly update about the magazine. I would also apply for my magazine to be advertised commercially on television, I would select music channels which play indie pop, the same music genre as my magazine, as the viewers of this channel are going to be more likely to purchase my magazine than someone who prefers a different type of music- I would do similarly with my advertising agent of radio and music tour posters/sites.

When distributing my product I would aim to put it in shops such as; HMV (alongside music of the genre as my magazine), Tesco, Asda, WHSmiths and newsagents as this would make my product easy to access for the public. I would also offer a subscription where you can get it delivered as I am aware a lot of people do this for other magazines such as Kerrang, this would enable loyal and regular customers to get it delivered via post to ensure they get their own copy of the magazine weekly, although this would be more costly to the consumer as posting and packaging cost’s would occur but I could low the costs as an incentive.  Also, there is a emerge of Web 2.0 which will make it a lot easier for my product to be distributed and advertised online as there is advertising agencies that could be ‘add ons’ and website/pages of indie pop clothing and music which would enable me to reach a larger audience with in the genre. I also think it would be a good idea to use the internet as a way for people to subscribe online and read the magazine, after asking round my peer group  (of the same age and interests of the target audience of my product) if this would be of interest to them I found it would as they evidently spend a lot of time online and this would save them going to the shop etc.

Question two -

how did you represent social groups?

View more presentations from 12345media.

Question one -

Improvement plans list:

Magazine:

• redo photoshot, ensure photographs are in focus and of a good standard
• put new photos on magazine
• edit texts distance on the front cover so it isn't all spaced out
• change font into a more interesting one
• use italics, bold and different sizes on font
• re-position text on cover page, and left align
• trial a background colour on contents page
• add more pages to contents
• re-position double page spread text

Blog:

• Make sure all prezi's can be opened
• Use different technologies on blog as forms of answering questions etc

Rough cut feedback:

After looking at your blog contents there are particular aspects which are letting it down:
- you need to ensure your textual analysis prezi are able to be accessed
- add annotations to your photograph on the blog
- ensure all explanations are deatiled

After looking at your media product there are particular aspects which are letting it down:
- your photographs all need to be in focus
- make sure your text proportions and positioning is accurate

Double page spread construction:

Similarly to my contents page,  I used InDesign when creating my double page spread.

I decided to use the same red which is on both my cover and contents page, this was to exemplify a house style which is conveyed through professional magazines; thus when creating my boxes for my page numbers I used the house style colour red, not only does this make my magazine look more off as a whole than loads of different articles/pages but the fact I have used the same red page numbers on the contents page should make it easier for the reader to navigate.

I then took a sentence from the interview I'd written and used it as a quote insert, this helps the reader gain understanding of the actual context of the interview- this is a technique exemplified in real professional magazines. I then wrote 'edited by Beth Marley' as a small caption under the quote insert, this is mainly to make the magazine look more professional. Similarly to the rest of the magazine I used the same font of arial narrow but used different boldness levels, colours and sizes to bring the readers attention to certain pieces of text and to make it more aesthetically pleasing- something which is importnt as if people are spending their money on a product they want it to be/look of a high quality.

I decided for the title of the article I wanted something simple which would get the readers attention, thus I choose 'exclusive' as if someone thinks they are getting inside information then they are more likely to be encouraged to purchase the magazine. I underlined the title, put it in bold and in the house colour red, and centered it so it would be one of the main focus points of the double page spread.

I thought it would be a good idea to use the font from the masthead, 'old press', and use the same house colour red every time I wrote the magazines brand name, yellow. This was just for the simple fact of further advertisement and to almost drill the brand name into the memory of the reader, so to speak.

I underlined, emboldened and coloured particular words and phrases which I thought were interesting and which we encourage the target audience to buy/read the magazine/article. I kept the same font through out the double page spread, I just experimented with colours, italics, underlining, sizes of font and boldness level to get the effect I wanted and to make it esthetically pleasing.

By making text boxes of a certain thickness which is evidently visible it ensures the person reading reads the correct bits of the article in order, thus making sure it flows correctly and making it easier for the reader. Also, it just gives the double page spread a more official look. I chose 'solid' black lines with a thickness level of 3, I thought this was ideal as it didn't take the focus of anything else on the page.

Prior, I had wrote my article on Microsoft Word so I just copied and pasted it into the text-boxes I hd made, ensuring all of the article was visible. I put the article in the same font, arial narrow, as everything else and put it at size 14pt, this was big enough to be easy to read but not too big that it didn't match the professional magazine's I had analyzed.

I then changed all the text that said the brand name, 'yellow', into the font and colour of the masthead but kept it at size 14pt; for similar reasons to previously mentioned.

Similarly to the previous text in the magazine, I underlined, changed  size, put in italics or changed colour of particular important pieces of text in the article. I changed all the questions of the interviewer into bold, this was so it was easily distinguished fro the interviewees answers/responses. This technique is used in many magazines, it just makes it easier for the reader.

Contents page construction:

I used Indesign to create my magazines contents page as I was aware this would give me the best results.

I firstly added the details, ie date, in a small size but in the house font of arial narrow, I also underlined it and put it in italics to make it stand a little more out without it taking centre stage.

I then selected arial narrow and regular and a font size of about 60pt for my title of the contents page, I used the centring tool and positioned it at the top of the page. I didn't just want to write contents as I thought it was a bit out dated.

I then altered the word 'yellow' by swapping it by pasting my masthead and putting it in a smaller size, the idea of pushing the brand name is one which appeals to me as I think it will make it stick in the target audiences heads and thus they will buy it more.

I then made all 8 text-boxes visible by selecting the solid 3pt option, this is so the contents page has more structure and looks more professional, also hopefully it will help the reader separate the information/articles and thus navigate around the magazine easier.

I then added smaller text boxes 6 of the 8 text-boxes, this was the boxes for the page number as my idea is to put 6 different images in these 6 boxes which link to the article on the page, this is a alternative and more fun way of saying whats on each page.

In one of the other boxes I wrote the heading 'and' and put it in red block capitals and a fairly large font size, this box is where I'm putting all my other page names and numbers.

I added the page name and numbers, I decided to not do every page but just the main ones at it makes it less to rad, which is some thing which will appeal to my target audience as they're of a younger age. I put the numbers in bold so it was evident what was what.

In the other box I wrote 'Subscribe today!' in arial narrow and centred it.

I thought the heading wasn't eye catching enough so I put it in bold and underlined it. I then wrote the details about subscription, also in arial narrow.

I then changed the word 'yellow' into the one of the masthead to fit the idea I had going. I done this by copying and pasting the masthead from the contents page and putting it on to here then editing it into a smaller size font to fit the other text around it.

Front cover construction:

I decided to use Photoshop for creating my magazine front cover as I knew it would give me the best opportunities and give me the best outcome.

After creating my new page I put guide lines along all four edges, 1cm from the edge, this was to keep all my text in line and give a professional look to my magazine as after analyzing many magazines I noted the text is never at the very edge of the front cover.

I picked the house font of Arial Narrow, and then added the details of issue number date and price, I decided to use a small font on these pieces of text as I believe they are less significant than the rest of the context, also I wanted to make the price a less evident factor of the front cover as sometimes price can be off putting.

I then searched for a font for my masthead, I came across the font 'old press' on www.dafont.com and downloaded that as I thought it fit the 'rough and ready' look I was hoping for. I then selected size, colour and positioning of the mast head- this was very important as I needed to ensure my masthead would both stand out from others on a magazine shelf and appeal to my target audience.

I decided I wanted all my sell lines on the left hand side of my magazine after experimentation and product analysis; it is a fact that British read left to right and so by positioning the sell lines on the left it draws the eye in the correct way and not only does it make the magazine flow better but it also gives it ore of the professional look which I am aspiring to.

I thought it was athletically pleasing to use a shape/spacer to break up the sell lines, by doing so it makes it more evident to the reader there is multiple articles and thus they will feel like they are getting more for their money and this is something which will be important to them. I chose a simple slim rectangle shape for my spacer as I didn't want something to complex to take the 'lime light' off the main context of the front over. I used the colour selecting tool to select the colour of the masthead to use on the boxes, bu having a consistent house style the magazine will be instantly made look more professional.

I wanted to use the same font, arial narrow, through-out my magazine but my keeping it all the same size and boldness level it looked a bit plain and boring so I decided to experiment with this factor; I decided to use bold, italic, bold italic, regular, underline, different font sizes etc to give the cover a certain extent of depth and realism.

Photoshoot images:

I went into the studio and took some photographs of a model I am using for my front cover:

I like the pose of the model in this photograph, the issue is the lighting. I needed to adjust the lighting to prevent the shadow exemplified behind the model in the photograph.
I wont be using this image in my magazine.

I turned the brightness up to high and thus there is a unnatural light on the models face which makes the image look a low quality.
I wont be using this image in my magazine.

I like the lighting on this image, it highlights the models face which gives a professional look to the photograph.

Although I like the lighting in the image I think the models hair is covering her face too much and thus I don't think this would look very professional to use on my magazine.