List of resources

Here is a list of resources with hyperlinks I used in my magazine research:

http://www.nme.com/- The official website of NME was an important slurce as it too covers indie music and gave me some of the conventions that should be included with this media format.

http://www.qthemusic.com/ -The official website of Q magazine also shown me the basic magazine layout and allowed me to explore which artists appear often and are popular within the indie genre.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Magazine - This is a detailed step by step guide in how to make a magazine efficiently and effectively.

http://www.indie-music.com/ee/index.php - This website allowed me to keep updated with indie news that I could apply to my magazine. It is important to keep the magazine modern as it will not be popular with the young audience I have chosen.

Question 3 -What kind of media might distribute my media product and why?

I believe that my magazine would best fit being distributed in shops as this would allow to keep the brand in the publics attention and allow the magazine to continue to be maintain. Being displayed among other magazines may help increase its popularity rather than handing the magazine out for free at venues around the country. Although I could include this as an option the profits of the magazine would entirely be dependent upon advertising revenue whereas there would be a larger income if the magazine was on sale. It could possibly be available as a free app like many other music magazines as technology becomes more advanced and people prefer to view magazines online rather than play for a copy. IPC media publishes NME , a very similar music magazine to my own  , that has many brands in its range with amateur gardening , chat , world soccer , yachting monthly.I could consider this as a means of distributing my product to my audience. Below are a few of the publishers wide range of magazines :

An animoto of my magazine research:

Question 2- How does my media represent particular social groups?

There is a resemblance between my models cover image and the Q cover as they both use direct gaze to connote a certain type of confidence to the audience. The costumes the two men are wearing are very similar in that they are expensive and show their importance. Both backgrounds are pale white as the magazines want the audiences attention to be solely focused on the artist and not elsewhere. Both images include bright lighting so we can see the artist clearly and see their features easily.These two images represent a young social group that care about appearance and will encourage this audience to purchase the magazine. Both of the mens postures are similar as they are both clutching their clothing to project and image of youth that will reflect upon the young experimental males that are exploring the music industry as they grow. The costume , hairstyles and facial expressions let the target audience know that they know they are talented and have confidence in their ability.

Question 1- In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

First of all , the title of the magazine will hopefully resonate with the audience I want to focus on as it is associated with musical instruments and the names symplicity highlights the magazines objective of wanting talented bands and artists who have strong talents.My masthead is large and bold so it will hopefully make an impression on the audience in a shop or newsagent.I deliberately chosen a font that suited the style  of other magazines such as Q and used capital letters to capture the importance of the magazine so that it will become strong competition for other contemporaries including NME.

This second element is a convention of popular double page spread as it is a pull quote to interest someone flicking through the pages.The written content is it quite formal so people could relate to and connect with the star.I used a small snappy amount of text that has a normal font so it did not detract from the image and title.

The font for "subscribe today!"was enlarged as it is the most important point in the subscription box. The dark red is typical of this genre as it is not as bright or colourful as we love pop for example which is targeted at a much younger audience.This is the main image for my cover and I tried to incorporate mise en scene in order to deliver a message to my audience.The suit the model is wearing suggests the artist has a sense of style and cares about his appearance.This costume connotes confidence and I chose a male model as the genre will probably interest them more. This image is laid out in the centre of the page as it reduces the white space.

Looking at students past work

Looking at past students work helped me to reconsider the genre and style for the magazine I was going to create as it gave me new ideas. I also found it helpful to choose what I did like and wasn't so keen on about the various designs and helped me to form opinions , like someone who would be browsing a magazine in a newsagent , on if the conventions were used appropriately to attract me to the design.I liked it how a lot of the work had includes sell lines and mastheads.

Looking at magazines

It is important in magazine design to remember that you must include certain conventions to grab your target audiences attention. The covers above indicate that the use of a bold and large masthead that covers the top of the page helps to give the magazine an identity and unique quality.The size makes us instantly know that this is the title of the magazine.The less interesting information is reduced in size as this will not endearing enough sell the magazine. Also , a main bold image creates a greater impact and is easier for the eye to view.An acceptation to the rule would be the match cover as it is full of images rather than a clear stand out. The sell lines in each margin gives an clear impression of good value for money.Most magazines self consciously attract a specific age group and reflect their audiences opinions and views. This helps them to crete a market for this age group.


                                                          Video- looking at magazines

Final pieces of work

                                                                       Front cover

I think I made a decent front cover here , with my main image taking up most of the area of the page.The masthead is bold and striking and help to tie the magazine together. It was difficult to get the pieces in the correct proportion.Another major issue I had to contend with was the colors clashing with each other , which I felt was important to correct as an audience needs to be able to interpret the text instantly.

Contents page

With my contents page I tried to be much more creative and modern.I added sub headings and extra information to make the contents look good value for money and filled with features.The most difficult aspect was arranging the shoot because I could not get everyone together at a specific time due to schedules clashing.

Double page spread

Out of all my pieces of work , I think I am most proud of my double page spread. It began very poorly  as a project on In Design that was unappealing , but I sonly edited the page to look like something you would find on the highstreet. I re read my work and checked that the punctuation was correct and checked that all my columns were placed with care and attention.