The document describes the process of creating a magazine cover, contents page, article layout, and questionnaire for a music magazine. Key details include using a female model on the cover to appeal to a broader audience than typical rock magazines. Color schemes, images, and fonts are chosen to represent the rock/alternative genre. Feedback from a questionnaire informed the content sections and artists featured. Overall the magazine aims to challenge conventions while appealing to its target 16-20 year old audience.

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

2. Front Cover
Masthead introduces the main colours used within the
magazine.
Main image to attract
the target audience for
the magazine.
Cover lines which
relate to the articles
inside the magazine.
Barcode, so it's
able to be sold in
shops.
Price and issue number.
Footer at the bottom, to emphasise the features of the magazine.

3. Similarities & Differences.
Both front covers have some similarities and differences. The similarities being the
masthead in the left hand corner of the page, which introduces the main colour scheme
of the magazine which is red, white and black. 'NME' also does this with their masthead
as they sue the colour red, which is shown throughout the cover lines. Both covers also
have a white model which attracts a certain genre of people to the magazine, as they are
both rock/alternative.
The two magazines both have a main headline which is anchoring the image..
Underneath the masthead of my magazine I have used a banner underneath 'TMB' to
show what the initials stand for which were 'The Music Bible'. 'NME' often do this for
their seasonal magazines, where they have 'New Musical Express' underneath their
masthead.
The colours in which I have used on my magazine are red, black and white. These are
colours which stand out to the reader, although 'NME' have stuck to one colour, which is
red. Although red has connotations of passion, as in a passion for music. I chose black
and white also to show that it's a rock magazine, bearing in mind the colour black
stands for rebellion and mystery, where as the colour white contrasts with the black,
making it available to a wider audience, as the colour white has connotations of pure
and something new, so by reading my magazine, they are getting a mixture of all three.

4. Contents
Title of Magazine(same font as masthead) Date of issue
Both magazines have a
'review' section, it was
the most popular from
the questionnaire
Note from editor, to
attract the audience
with a friendly vibe.
Main image
Small picture of
editor.
Subsribe option, to give the audience more for
their money if they buy the magazine. The
audience feel as though they are getting a deal.

5. Similarities & Differences.
When constructing my contents page, I looked at previous contents pages from
magazines such as 'Kerrang' and 'NME'. I decided to base my contents page on areas
of interest that people seemed more concerned with from the feedback from the
questionnaire. It resulted in me having 4 sub headings, which were then filled with
bands that my target audience were fond of.
I wanted to keep my colour scheme the same as the front cover, so I kept the basics
of red, white and black. Although I did add yellow writing into the contents page, to
make certain bits stand out, such as the page numbers, so it's more accessible to find
parts of the magazine that you were more interested in reading.
I also made sure that I had the masthead of the magazine on the contents page, so
that it's recognizable for the audience, 'NME' do the same also on their contents page.
The differences between my contents page and the contents page 'NME' have is that I
have added a picture of the editor in so that it makes the magazine a lot friendlier
with the audience, to see that the editor is a person like the target audience, so that
they feel they can relate to what is being written by her.

6. Article heading,
maintaining the colour
scheme with red and Interviewers name in bold and red to give them credit.
white writing.
Article
summary
Main
image
Grab quote
to attain the
readers
attention and
lead them to
a main point
within the
article.
Capitalized the first letter Page number
to make it stand out. Article, information on the artist.

7. Grab quote
Main image
Article Summary
Black colours to
show the
rebellious
nature of the
rock magazine Page
Number
Capitalized first letter
Interviewers name

8. Similarities & Differences.
There are many similarities between my double page spread and the one I chose for
'NME. In my magazine article there is a main heading which titles the article which is
'$ara Says' . I have used the same layout at 'NME' do for their double page spreads,
which consists of having the image on the one side of the page, where the other page
is just writing, with some grab quotes. The font of their article is a small font, which
allows them to write more about the artist, which I found useful for my double page
spread also.
There is only one image on my article, as is the same for the article for 'NME'. There
are also page numbers on both magazines, this is a generic convention for all
magazines, it' makes it easier for the reader to flick between all pages, finding the
pages they may just want to read.
Although there are some similarities, the main difference between them both is the
camera shot of the model in my magazine. My model is in a medium long shot,
allowing the audience to see her, due to her being a new artist. As on 'NME' the artist
is in a close up shot, which shows the differences between the status of the artist, as
he is well known.

9. Questionnaire Results
I asked 20 people to complete a questionnaire these are the results:
“Out of 10, 1 being poor and 10 being outstanding, what number would
you place my magazine at?”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0 0 0 0 0 3 6 4 6 1

10. “Out of 10, 1 being poor and 10 being outstanding, what number would
you place my magazine at?”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0 0 0 0 0 0 8 6 3 3

11. “Out of 10, 1 being poor and 10 being outstanding, what number would
you place my magazine at?”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0 0 0 0 0 4 5 7 4 0

12. 2. How does your media
product represent particular
social groups?

13. My music magazine is aimed at 16-20 year olds and fits perfectly within the genre of
rock/alternative. The usual iconography associated with rock is men and guitars
being smashed, riots, rebellion etc. I decided to appeal to a broader audience I would
use a female model on the front of my magazine to stray away from the usual
stereotype of having a male. I also had the model smiling which, although her look
was rebellious and edgy with piercings and bright red hair, her smile would invite the
audience in to read the magazine.
The images throughout the cover, contents and article are all conventional with the
genre of rock, with them being in either black and white, or the models having bright
hair and a unique style. My magazine has represented the genre of rock/alternative
in a positive light due to it breaking the generic conventions of a rock magazine. The
picture which is used for the article is very stereotypical to the alternative genre with
her face being turned to the side to add a sense of mystery. Also the picture isn't
bright, the lighting is very dim, which is conventional for a rock magazine, so by
using these images I have appealed to my set target audience.

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

15. Bauer Media
Bauer own more than 80 influential radio, magazine, TV and online
UK media brands, these brands include heat, GRAZIA, Closer, FHM,
Parkers, Magic, Kiss, Kerrang and Q.
They reach to over nineteen million UK adults over multiple media
channels and have heritage which stretches back to 1953.

16. IPC Media
IPC have published magazines such as NME and Uncut. These
magazines follow in the genre of 'rock', 'indie' and 'alternative'.
IPC are the top leading publishers in the UK and publish over 60
iconic media brands. They reach two thirds of UK women and 42%
of men which adds up to almost 26 million UK adults.
Their websites also reach over 20 million users every month. They
offer a diverse range of media products which allows something
for everyone, with a focus on 3 core audiences: men, mass market
women and upmarket women.

17. I think Bauer media would be a better publisher for my
magazine in comparison to IPC as they already have a
magazine similar to mine, which would be 'NME'. As Bauer
only have 'Kerrang' which is situated within the rock genre, I
would be bringing something new to their range of rock
magazines as this would be aimed more towards a woman
than a man. They would also be able to supply my magazine
with more resources such as artists with them also owning
'Kiss' and 'Magic' radio, which would have huge prospects for
my magazine.
It would be better for Bauer to publish my magazine as the
target audience in which they have magazines for at the
moment are mainly 25 years and above. By them publishing
my magazine they would be able to broaden their audiences
and allow 16-20 year olds to read a magazine which would be
published by Bauer. It would also cause competition for them
between IPC as they would have a new rock magazine in which
is aimed at women and men, and breaks the generic
conventions of a rock magazine, that being that alternative
and rock are combined.

18. 4. Who would the audience be
for your media product?

19. Age: 16-20 years old.
Gender: Female/Male
Ethnicity: Any ethnicity.
Social Class: B/C1 – aimed at these social classes because of the price of the
magazine and the contents within it. As some of the features include festivals
and gig/tour dates, then it would appeal to people who would be able to afford
these luxuries.
Psycho-graphic Profile: Rock/Indie music fans who like to have a unique style
and enjoy listening to music that isn’t conventional. The chosen genre is
Rock/Alternative as the two genres work well together to form a magazine which
is different to others such as ‘NME’ and ‘Kerrang’ where the genre is mainly
Rock. Females don’t generally dominate the Rock genre of music, so I used this
as an advantage for my magazine, to go outside of the comfort zone for a Rock
magazine.

20. The kind of artists in which my target audience would listen to would be within the
Rock/Indie Genre of music.
Lana Del Rey – Blue Jeans
Natalia Kills – Break you Hard
Weezer – Beverly Hills

21. 5. How did you attract/address
your audience?

22. Before I designed my magazine, I created a questionnaire in which
allowed me to find out what my target audience enjoyed reading within a
magazine, on the questionnaires I got my target audience to rate from
1-5. From a long list of options, these are the results in which I found.
From doing the questionnaire it also helped me find out what genre to
have for my magazine.
Genre of magazine in
which the audience would
prefer.
Inside the Magazine Bands within the magazine: (chronological order)
Artic Monkeys
Information about new Rock
Bands Florence & The Machine Heavy Rock
Gig reviews Hip-Hop
The Who
R&B
Interviews with bands Kasabian Pop
Classical
The Smiths
The Vaccines
Every Avenue
Manic Street Preachers

23. The 'World
Exclusive' writing One of the main
would also appeal features of the
to the target magazine that
audience because would attract my
it's something new, target audience
and at the ages of would be the main
16-20, image due to the
teenagers/young fact that the model
adults are always is very attractive
open to trying new which could lead
things. to people buying
to aspire to her
style, listen to her
The colours in music and find out
which I used more about her.
also could Also the model is
attract the smiling, which can
readers due to entice the reader
black being to buy the
associated with magazine, because
rebellion, and it's not
the fact that it's conventional but
a rock yet endearing.
magazine
would attract
the attention of
many people.

24. Throughout the
contents page I
attracted my
audience by
The simple headings
sticking with the
on the contents page
simple colours of
made it more
red, black and
accessible for the
white. Red
reader to jump
connotes passion,
straight to the bits
therefore it's
they only want to
expressing the love
read. I learnt this
many people have
from the
for different kinds
Questionnaire when
of music. Whether
many of the
that would be rock,
participants stated
alternative or
that they would like
indie. Also it's easy
to have certain parts
on the eyes for the
separated, so it's
reader, and the
easier to find.
white writing
makes it easier for
certain things to
catch your eye.

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

26. Photoshop
I wanted to make this footer stand out against the main image, so I used the
'Rectangular shape tool and drew a black box around the text. Which made the
white writing stand out.
I created the Cover line with the 'T'
tool on the left hand side of the
page. But I wanted to make the 'Sara'
writing stand out against the
background. To do this I had to add
a drop shadow onto the writing.

27. I also did the same for the headline on the front page. I added a drop
shadow which went outwards with a black glow, to make the writing
more visible and look like it stood out against the rest. As that was
the main bit I wanted people to see first, to catch their attention.

28. InDesign
For my contents page I wanted to add an
image. I had to click the rectangle tool.
Then I drew a box.
Then to place an image, I have
to use the rectangle place tool,
with a cross in the middle.
This allows me to add images.
Once I had done all of
the above, I then had
to go to file, place and
then choose the file in
I wanted to place on
the contents page,
and adjust to fit.

29. For the next bit on my
contents page, I had to use
the rectangle tool again.
This time for a red box in
which would later become
my sub headings on my
contents page.
To fill in the box, I
then had to click on
the box and click the
colour on the right
hand side of the page,
which allows you to
pick set colours.
I then did this 4 times until I had the box's for all of my sub headings.

30. For my Article page, I had to insert a mass amount
of text, as the interview was on the left side of the
page.
I used the rectangular box again,
so that I could place the writing
into the box.

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

32. I have progressed a lot since doing the preliminary task as I have made the product
more realistic by doing questionnaires and learning more about my target audience.
Even though the genre of the magazines are very different, there are vast changes
between them both, such as the quality of the pictures, the use of colours and the
font. For my college magazine, I stuck to very dull colours and used fonts that didn't
catch the attention of my reader. For my full product, it has allowed me to reflect and
make the changes I needed to, to allow me to appeal to a target audience of 16-20
year olds.

33. Bold Mastheads, allow them to stand out.
Cover lines
Main image
Barcode
Footer

34. Heading, difference of font, colour and layout.
Sub headings, in
comparison to
simply having page
numbers
Image(s)
Captions underneath
photos
The difference between both contents pages is that, the preliminary contents page is
very simplistic due to the genre of the magazine, in comparison to the music
magazine where there are loads of colours and flash to grab the attention of the
reader. The pictures are also very dull lit in comparison.

35. As I didn't do a double page spread in my preliminary task I had to make sure I did
background research on all rock magazines, and also implement certain aspects of
alternative/indie magazines into the context of the article. My questionnaire helped me
with my research because it allowed me to become familiar with my target audience
and find out what they wanted in the magazine, and what they like and dislike.
I learnt many things by completing the preliminary task, such as to have a wide
variety of images to choose from, also the improvement of the quality of my images.
But most importantly, I learnt how to make a magazine seem more realistic and use
the aspects to my advantage for appealing to my target audience, if I hadn't of
undertaken the preliminary task, I don't feel as though I would have been able to
achieve a music magazine that appeals to people my age.