1. Magazine Main
Task Evaluation

2. ‘Our brief was to create a new music
magazine with a minimum of 4 original
images consisting of front cover, contents and
a double page spread’

3. 1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products? Direct eye contact
Similarities with reader, eyes
in upper middle
Direct eye contact
with reader, eyes
in upper middle.
Consistent and
basic house style
Straplines with
information about
artists relevant to
genre
Barcode Barcode Straplines with
Consistent and basic information about
house style (blue) artists relevant to
genre

4. 1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Differences
Masthead covers
width of magazine
instead of upper
left, also overlaps
part of the
forehead but is
transparent.
Photo is a close
up, could be
unconventional
and risky with
music magazine
as it is harder to
distinguish what
genre it is without
props

5. 1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Summary of the Question
My magazine was largely a result of experimentation loosely
worked around my initial drafts. This means I took a few
risks and a few accidental things I did I ended up liking.
This was achieved through
the Darken and Overlay
effect on the FX panel. It
started off as an accident
after looking and mixing
different effects.
The same goes for the
Gradient effect on my
coverlines, it took a fair bit of
tinkering to put them into a
position where the gradient
didn’t make the words
unreadable.

6. 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
The clubbing scene
Good representative of most
extroverted
adolescents. Dance/trance
music tends to feature in not
only UK clubs but abroad in
places such as Ayia Napa and
Ibiza.

7. 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My magazine does not have a cub-
culture as such other than
mainstream apart from those who are
regular clubbers. I did this because
social cliques such as
hoodies/skaters/emos are known to
‘die out’ when teens get into their
18+ years. I showed this by having my
model wear non stereotype specific
clothes and also including other
ethnicities
I focused specifically on 18+ year olds
as they are most likely to be able to
dispose their income that’s set aside
for socialisation on clubbing.
Therefore the magazine falls within
their interest as consumers.

8. 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
Using my questionnaire I found out that; 18-25
year olds - characterised by high street going
out fashions - affordable, on trend
This helped me decide:
•What to dress my model in
• If I were to price my magazine (low, as people from this
demographic are likely to be low paid or part time jobs whilst
juggling university etc). This means that spending their income on
magazines will be a relatively low priority.

9. 3. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
I considered 3 major media institutions to distribute my media product. These were IPC,
Bauer and FuturePLC.
Bauer Media Group is a multinational media
company headquartered in Germany which
operates in 15 countries worldwide
IPC Media is a magazine and digital publisher
in the UK, with a large portfolio selling over
350 million copies each year.
Future plc is a media company; in 2006, it was
the sixth-largest in the United Kingdom. It
publishes more than 150 magazines in fields
such as video games, technology, automotive,
cycling, films and photography

10. 3. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
Pros Cons
International value Has many music magazines
Bauer Media Group
Only 1 existing music magazine
IPC Media NME
NME sales continuing even after
50 years
No known music magazines Not as large or as well
Future plc established as IPC or Bauer
Future plc

11. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
IPC Media would be a good candidate to distribute my
magazine as:
• They do not distribute a magazine that is centred
around trance/dance/club music. This means it will
have a different audience to NME, and any risk of
sales being split is non existent
• One music magazine they currently distribute is
NME, which house style contrasts Sonar’s (red and
blue are diagonal opposites on the colour chart) –
visually appealing when on a shelf.

12. 4. Who would the audience
be for your media product?
.
Demographics
17-25 year old males but can expand to
females
Working class
Mixed ethnicity – music that is modern
is more likely to appeal to all cultures
instead of just one.
College/University students

13. 4. Who would the audience
be for your media product? Psychographics
As well as looking at social subcultures, I also took into account the psychographic traits I would want to
take into account and target. My target audience are mostly 17-24 year old males who enjoy clubbing and
socialising. This would mean they have psychographic traits of being extroverted aspirers (outgoing and
interested in status ‘exclusive’). For this reason I included as many opportunities to interact with my
magazine by increasing it’s synergy as well as including aspects of my audience’s life outside of music. For
example:
• Due to being extroverted adolescents,
Choice of social networking devices will be
clubs (high important to them for maintaining their
end) – communications with friends and also
appeals to current events. It also has the dual effect
aspirers of making my magazine more well known.
• Directly including aspects of their lifestyle like
the chance to be on club guestlists, gives my
audience more incentive to spend more
money on my magazine and thus increase my
profit. Again the option to find the magazine
online and on Twitter is included.
Connotations of VIP give them a sense of
being important and being a part of the
magazine (important for aspirers
• Language used to address my readers is
sensory, as both auditory (the music) and
visual (the look of the artists and
conventions associated with dance music)
mean that the senses are of importance to
my readers. This short phrase is direct and
short, whilst being an image they can
easily envisage in their inner eye.

14. 5. How did you
attract/address your
audience?
Appealing factors of my magazine to 17-25 year olds are:
Choice of musical genre – for example it would not have been wise to pick
classical music, as it does not rank highly in popularity amongst this age range.
Choice of colour – I didn’t want to overload my magazine with too many colours,
so I kept with blue. Lots of colours I find are often associated with magazines
aimed at younger teens (such as top of the pops for young teenage girls)

15. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I used Prezi, Slideshare and Powerpoint as well
as pen and paper to plan my magazine. I
especially liked Prezi’s versatile layout to help
me explain and show the progress of my
thoughts.
I used Adobe Photoshop to make my magazine
front cover.
It was an effective piece of software to use and
I managed to achieve many effects using the fx
bar and by using it’s extensive range of editing
tools on my pictures.

16. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Transparency slider –
used to create the
transparent
microphone
(contents) and
overlying font (double
page)
Using
layers to
manage
the
‘Stroke’
tool –
To create the stuck on effect of particula
this photograph I used a wide rly
amount of effects mixed useful
together. for fonts

17. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task, what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full
product?
I literally put both magazines by side to see how much I have learnt about
technologies. I believe I have managed to produce a more professional and
polished magazine by refining my use of editing tools. I asked for advice on how to
clear a background rather than using virtual rubbers. I have also learnt to plan
more effectively and to be proactive about taking my pictures, and also to be as
flexible and as open-minded as possible whilst working close to my drafts.