When putting all of my four pages on the same page you can see that they all relate to each other with the brand identity. Each page has the same sort of layout, with colour schemes, typographies and symbols. From this whole task i have learnt a lot in the creation of magazines and i have found especially that the colour scheme and images are a main attraction. In my magazine i found using the soft pink, grey and black was a good balance throughout the magazine reinforcing brand identity and also i found that having the images i used followed a lot of theories which have made my magazine more appealing. I also keep my brand identity with the use of symbolics this is the speaker you see on all the pages this is my brand identity of a symbol which represents my magazine.
Monday, 6 May 2013
7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full construction
When comparing my preliminary task of the
school magazine’s front page and content page to my construction of my full
product the music magazine’s front page, content page and double page spread I
feel as if I have learnt a huge amount about magazines and I have improved my
technical design skills due to the massive difference in understanding. In
comparison, when I look at my preliminary task I can see that this was
unprofessional, lacked a lot of textual information and did not show many codes
and conventions of a real magazine product. My preliminary task was before I
progressed in my understanding about magazines and the different conventions
which should be included. I learnt about real magazines product from the
research and planning of my construction. The research and planning taught me
about several different things such as theories to include and how to set out
conventions on my full product.
When researching I had to fully learn about
different theories which should be included into my full product so that I
would follow conventions of a magazine product. I had to learn about these
theories in order to understand and use them in my product. The theories which
I had to learn about were Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, The Male Gaze, The Uses
and Gratifications Theory and Hyperreality, I found that these were vital
theories which I must consider when constructing my full product in order for
my audience to be interested and attracted to my mode of address. Without
having these theories in my full product it would make my magazine lack
professionalism as they give my full product a way to appeal to an audience. On
my preliminary task I may have used some of these theories but not in the full
extent, on my full product I learnt from these theories things such as how to
show information, different needs and wants such as dreams and aspirations and
how to represent models to my target demographic like editing images. These theories gave me an
understanding of what I should have done on my preliminary task but I improved
and used them on my full product.
In my preliminary task I had a target
audience of student, teachers and parents who I had to aim my school magazine
at. In the creation of this I only had a short amount of knowledge on all three
of these demographics due to the fact I completed the task without conducting
research into their needs and expectations. This put me at a disadvantage as I
did not know what would appeal to my audience from the use of conventions such
as BUZZ words, pictures and textual information. My preliminary task,
therefore, demonstrates only a shallow understanding of all of its demographics
and lacked an appearance which would appeal to all of the target audience.
From this experience I learnt that before
starting my full product I needed to know my audience in detail and that I
should just focus on one target audience, as your understanding can focus just
on them. Therefore, I had to carry out some research which would tell me about
my audience and how I could aim my magazine at them.
Before researching, I set out that my
audience would be young females but I wasn’t sure of a certain age group. I had
to create a survey on a website called Questionpro with around 8 questions to
widen my knowledge on these young females by collecting some quantitative data about there music likes due to it being a music magazine and i had to find out information on them.
Firstly, from my survey I wanted to find a certain age group that I should aim
my magazine at, I found from my survey that most 16 – 24 year old females
answered I choose to stick to this because most my answers would relate to this
age groups choice. From knowing what age group i would aim my magazine at i would have to make sure the textual stories and titles related to this age group. My survey also told me about what sort of music my audience
liked and what sort of people they found attractive. This gave me the idea
of what type of music I should choose to have and who I should talk about in my
magazine. This helped me with the mode of address of my audience as I knew more
about what my audience found appealing and what they found interesting so I
could add this in the construction of my full product. This allowed me to understand about their music interest, where as unlike my preliminary task i just knew basic knowlegde about what the audiences liked about schools so i could not relate the stories directly at them. Also, with my research,
I was able to carry out some qualitative data which was a questionnaire I had
given to a focus group with sets of designs for my front page, content page and
double page spread for them to help me make a decision about colour schemes and
layouts they were interested in and what I could add or change to these ideas.
This was unlike my preliminary was I had to start from scratch not knowing what
my demographics liked to see in a school magazine. The focus group i had about the designs gave me a advantage because i could know what a the audience liked in colours and layouts and actually talk to them about it. Also, I was able to find
conventions which would codify to a audience from researching different existing magazines, I
researched different magazine because I wanted to see what conventions other
magazine used to attract their audience. I learnt from these forms how to
codify to my demographic and what I can add into my full product which was not
in my preliminary task. This taught me that I had to have detailed research and
planning which is vital when I was trying to produce a professional quality of
media text. Within the preliminary i had never really seen how a school magazine was laid out or the information within it was written about so when desiging my school magazine i was not aware of how they should look, from researching about existing text i learnt what sort of information music magazines should have and how an actual music magazine should be designed like.
During my preliminary task I was very weak at
the technical skills and ways of using different software packages to create
the magazine. The images I used were poorly edited or not edited at all and the way I laid out the
actual text and designs were not very appealing. From finding out what my audience
liked such as colours, layouts and music artist I choose to create my magazine in a way which
would appeal to my audience. Firstly I had to learn how to properly create a
magazine layout on publisher; this helped me to include the uses and
gratification theory because I could find how to add the information into my
magazine with it, drawing awareness, I also learnt how to use ‘Serif Photoplus’
which is image manipulation and photo editing programme which allowed me to
make my magazine have the male gaze and Hyperreality theories with my images as i could change the brightness and constrat of models of make the modles more skinier or change airbrushing.
My magazine has images which appeal to my audience because I had to show my
audience I know that my magazine can show their dreams and aspiration which
would make them want to read the magazine I did this by editing them in this
programme and I learned different techniques which I didn't have in the creation on my preliminary
task to make my magazine have a professional look.
Overall, from my preliminary task onwards, I
have learnt and widened my knowledge of theories and production techniques as
I created of my full product, I now understand different conventions and
theories which I used in my construction and couldn't use before. I now know
that when doing my preliminary task I should have researched and planned my task
before I made my school magazine. I needed to know fully about who I was aiming
my magazine at and what they liked to see in a magazine. I have learnt the
value of a good magazine layout and how to research different audiences. I feel
as if I have made a big progression from my preliminary task to my full
product. Without producing a preliminary task and practising with another
magazine before I moved onto my full product I would not have known a lot
knowledge of a magazine and what a demographic likes this has helped me produce
a magazine which has progressed from my preliminary task. I feel as if I have a
greater understanding of magazines from my preliminary task and that the skills
and techniques I learnt I have used well and will be able to use again.
6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When researching about my target audience I had the choice
of carrying out my research by hand and go around asking groups of people
questions to help me find out about the audience. However I felt that I would
grow a bigger audience by using social media websites and creating an online
survey on the website Questionpro. I would create my survey and send it out of
social media websites such as Twitter and FaceBook. Also by collecting research online I was able
to find out more data which can save time.
When learning about technologies to construct my magazine I
had to learn one particular programme which helped me in my editing and the
manipulation of my pictures on my page, the programme was Adobe Photoplus CS6.
At the start of my magazine construction I didn’t know how to use this
programme and found it difficult to edit or change any of my photographs. I
tried editing pictures to learn different techniques which I could use with my
real photographs. From doing this I found it a lot easier to change images and
make them fall into the theories of the male gaze and hyperreality. Another
technology which I learnt about was publisher in the process of constructing my
magazine. I learnt how create a magazine on this by using different tools to
add different texts, edit some photos and add in effects.
Within my research and planning i had to use technology to
process these, for my research i to annotate existing texts this had to be done
on publisher but i had to learn a way to present the information without it
looking poor so i had to learn to use publisher and a way to save my existing
texts. Firstly i had to add the image into publish this was just simply
inserting the image however i had to make sure the image was able to be cropped
and adjusted without making adjustments to the text so i used the text wrapping
tool. From this i had to insert text into the document i did this by adding
texts boxes and adding arrows through the image so i could add navigation. This
was teaching different technologies within publishers.
Through learning about technologies to represent my final
product i had to learn about using the ‘blog’ this task was difficult because
it was the first time i had made a blog. I had to learn how to design the blog
and how to add post and images, this was all done by the testing out different
techniques on the blog to learn how to use it. I found that adding a post was
straight forward as you just had to add a post to put on any the media work,
however i had to make sure my template would attract the audience so i had to
go to design setting and change them to suit my preference. This was another technology
i had to use to present my construction work.
Front page image…
This is the image I started off with image 1 and then edited and changed it to the picture next to it image 2.
This is the image I started off with image 1 and then edited and changed it to the picture next to it image 2.
This shows my step by
step process of creating my front page image on Photoshop, this was changing
the photo to make it look more than real (Hyperreality). Image 3 shows that I
was using the ‘curve’s’ tool, I used this tool to make my models skin colour
look lighter and smoother, I adjusted the brightness and contrast to enrich her
skin tone, I did this by increasing the curves tool and making them higher. Image
4 is where I had to make my models clothing look tighter and make her body
standout. For this I had to use the clone tool in Photoshop to clone her
leggings so that I was able to drag them up and paste them on the top that
she’s wearing, which made her top shorter. This made the top she has on look
tighter so that it’s more figure hugging and the image more attractive.
The next thing I had to do to my front page image was airbrush it, I did this by using the blur tool to take away any spots or marks on
her skin, this made her skin look more clear and flawless so that all the
‘imperfections’ are covered. I did this to make her look too perfect and have
no problems to fit in to what people think that models should look like. The
last thing I had to do to my front cover image is change the colour of her lips.
I did this by using the quick selection tool which had just selected with the
tool her lip so I could change the colour to a brighter pink. I choose to give
her brighter lips because this was a main feature of her face, I choose a
bright pink so that it would contrast with her skin colour, I did this to make
her lips in line with the male gaze because this is what males like to see,
however the magazine is for females and these images which fall into the male
gaze are what females desire to be like this. As the colour pink represents femininity,
but as this is a female’s magazine most girls enjoy look at like this because
they feel it’s what attracts males to them.
Photoshop allowed my front page image to standout on the page this was
because the image had to go over the masthead so we know this is the main
central image and the audience is attracted more to this photo.
Also on my front page I had to learn about publisher, from
this it had to help me set out the different feature stories around the page
and make the background of the picture transparent to make my magazine follow
some of the codes and conventions. This allowed me to have a magazine layout by
being able to move different stories around the page and changed the fonts,
colours and styles to have a unique look. Without knowing about these tools on
publisher I would not have been able to create a page which looked like a good
front cover. I started off with just a
plain layout of my page and then I had to construct each page by adding more
and more detail such as the image, stories, title and bar codes Etc. firstly I
had to find a colour scheme and learn how to create banners and title from
this, I used the colours pink, black and grey. I then changed around different
fonts and colours to create a title which would be appropriate for my audience,
when doing this I had to think about the image I added with publisher I had to
use the transparent tool so that it would get rid of the background. Soon after
I had to use text boxes to add story lines on to the page each story has unique
text and colour so that they can stand out in their own way. I had to create
iconography with my title, so I decided to use the shapes square, triangle and
curved lines to create a speaker to represent my magazines name. I need to add
writing into my banners so this was another technique which needed to be learnt
on this technology I had to create a shape box of a long rectangle and then add
another text box on top write the text in, I learnt from this how to order my
shapes and words because the added text box had to be in another colour and on
top of the shape so that it would stand out. All the images below show the
different stages I went through to create my front page. I started off with
just a basic layout and step by step process of adding more features to the
page to create my construction work.
Content page…
With my content page I had a lot of images which all needed
to be editing and manipulated of Photoshop, this taught me about more tools
which I can use to help me change these images. This is the first picture which
I added to this paged and changed.
With this picture I show the one I took and the start and
the changes I added to it. I had to get rid of my background; I did this by
using the rubber tool, and made it soft and white. I had to zoom into the
picture and go around the picture by rubbing out everything around the two
models. This was to make the background white so that it looks professional. It
was a hard tool to learn the technique because I had to have a steady hand to
be able to not take out any of the image and make sure they all of their
clothes or body does not get rubbed out. This is shown in the first Photoshop
image of me using the rubber. The second Photoshop image shows that I had to
make the image brighter and have some contrast so that they would stand out and
match with the rest of the images on the page. I had to make their clothing
have more colour so that the picture looks lighter.
With this picture I had to find a tool which get rid of the misty background and would get rid of my models scar on her hand. I had to find different tools which would allow me to this and make the image not look dysfunctional. I had to use the paintbrush tool and have it in white, I had to zoom in and change the whole background colour to white so that it would blend into the background of my content page. After this I had to attempt to get rid of the scar on the hand as these as showing by covering the body of the other model. I did this by using the spot healing tool, this is a tool which uses the other colour of the hand to go over the burn and make the scar disappear without changing any of the hand. This was a good technique to learn as you want your models too look like they have clear and smooth skin to make your editing skills look professional. Also on this image I had to use Photoshop to make my image blend in with the page as all my images on this page have brightness and contrast due to the fact I wanted my image to stand out. The first picture of this and the end picture of this will be shown below.
When adding this picture to
publisher I had to find away to make the rest of the image not move around or
any of the text disappear due to this I had to format the image, I had to
transparent the background which takes out the white and I had to use the
adjustment of ‘text wrapping’ which allowed me to move the image around where i
wanted so that the image did not affect the text/images around it.
With this image of my model I had to
again use the rubber to rub out the existing background and change it to white.
This was because I wanted to just see the model and have nothing else around it.
I had to make his body shinny and try make his ‘Abs’ be eye catching to my
demographic because the aim of this picture was to appeal to the women as they
like images of males with good looking bodies. To do this it was the basic step
of it was so select the picture and change the levels of the tone of the body.
This made the ‘Abs’ more defined and so were appealing to the audience. The
levels tool also took away the few scars which were on the body and made it
look more smooth below shows how I did this and the final image I used from
this creation.
This is the step by step process of my content page building up, and how I change my ideas from the beginning by adding codes and conventions. When I first started I played around with colour schemes and text. I then found a layout and added my images before editing, after this I had to edit my images and make them transparent by using publisher. When I had done this I had to find away to change the layout and move the text around I used tools such as text wrapping and sending back of forward to move it around. I then did not like my first layout and nothing on the page stood out I had to find colours and style which would do this so I have learn about different ones which would relate to by demographic. The last image is my final page.
Double page spread...
For my double page spread I had two
images but only one main image which had to especially stand out to my audience
so that they would be interested into reading the story on this page. With this image I had to make sure it just very attractive because it was the
image of the page. I first had to crop out my models legs this was because I
wanted just the top of her thighs in the picture, I had to do this with the crop tool
on Publisher and transfer the file back to Photoshop. I then had to make the image look more
powerful on the page so that my audience know that this is who the story is
about so I gave it more colour, I got rid of the dull look and make it have some contrast to it. I did this by
adding a lot of brightness and a lot of contrast this made her skin colour
sharp and have texture. I then had to make her look Hyperreal this was done
changing her real lip colour to a bright pink. I did this using the quick
selection tool and using the colour charts on the right side of the image. I
did this to make her lips attract attention. With the tool to change the lip colour i had to go around the whole mouth and select this just them, this allowed me just to change the colour of the lips from the colour choice circle.
Within double page spread, I had started off with a blank page with only a layout of a plan to follow some conventions of a magazine. I had to build and construct my double page spread to see what techniques I can learn or change in the process. I had started with my banners which have followed out through the rest of the pages, I had then placed a title and a sub title but then this had changed these through the step by step getting to the final design. I had to then write a story which related the image and was meant to be placed on one side of the page. With this story I had to make sure I related it to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs because I wanted this story to appeal to my reader’s dreams and aspirations. When I used publisher I had to find a way of setting out the text into columns, I had to use the column tool which allowed me to have the convention of having a three column article. This then made me choose an image which would be suitable to this story and would follow the Hyperreality theory. I had to make sure this page gave the right information and actual communicated with my audience. I then felt the page was presented a bit boring so I added it another image and a need to know box which my audience can read extra information from (Uses and Gratification theory) below you will see a step by step process of the changes I made and changed throughout my construct of this page.
Overall from this construction work I have learnt a great amount of knowledge from the technologies such as Photoshop. Without the creations of computers magazine would never be able to create magazine so great such as the NME. The way I have learnt about Photoshop and Publisher has taught me that I can again use these skills in another task as I have learnt how to use them appropriately. They have made me experienced with images and what I can do to fall into certain theories. I feel that these technologies have come to a great help with the construction of my magazine as I have learnt to grow with different techniques I can learn. From all of these technologies i have learnt that without them there would be no possible form of creating a magazine which would be amazingly appealing to a audience, the technologies have been a massive improvement to the creation and this is what makes people attracted to the magazines.
5 - How did you attract/address your audience?
My magazine had to be unique in its own way and be able to
attract and address my audience appropriately. This is important within my
magazine because my magazine had to draw and talk to my audience otherwise it would
not be appealing. I decided to use different theories such as The Male Gaze, as
well as different conventions which would do this. I used these because I
wanted have my magazine be the ‘Dreams and Aspirations’ of my audience, I
wanted the images and stories attract and address the attention of my audience
so my magazine would follow the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory by Abraham
Maslow. My magazine needed a way of advertisement, so I decided to have a brand
website of the company and have the magazine too. This created synergy between
the two because the website would attract people to read my magazine and my
magazine would address the people with information and if they wanted to find
out more gossip, images or interesting stories they would go on to the website.
First I had to create a front page; this is the core page
which would attract and address my audience. I had to make sure my front page
would be what my audience wanted to see and what would attract them as a whole,
so I had to make my front cover eye-catching. The first feature I had to add to
this page was the way I used verbal communication, this is the typography on my
magazine, to attract and address them. The first way of language was through
‘Buzzwords’ these are words which are about the stories that would be bigger
and in different colours and style to the words around them, they would be the
first words which the audience would see before seeing the actual story this
was because they are attracted to the bigger and different style texts first
before the smaller text around. These words included ‘Exclusive’ ‘New’ and ‘Exposes’
these are words which address the audience because these words are words which
teenagers are drawn to. The words I used generated excitement and suggest the
content of the magazine is entertaining. Another way I have used language to
address and attract my audience was through colloquial language. This is a sort
of slang which only a certain demographic would understand, this addressed to
my audience because I wanted the text on my front cover to just talk to my
audience so that they know I have a full understanding of what sort of
information they like to see, from this I included words such as ‘Sexy’ And
‘Hottest’. With these words I knew that they would be more attractive to an
audience of females as they like to observe and are interested in males being
sexy and hot in magazines.
A different way I used my front cover to attract my audience
was with my main image. This was because I provided a woman who looks sexy and
outgoing. I did this after researching a little about other magazines which are
aged for this demographic I found most images of women at the front were of
attractive females who the demographic look up too. I choose to make my
magazine more appealing and attractive because the audience would prefer to
look at a model that looks good on the front page which is a good way of mode
of address. This is the use of the male gaze theory because I wanted to
represent the female on my front cover as vulnerable and submissive to the
audience, I did this to attract my audience because I found that females want
to be like the women they see in the picture because they feel they are
successful and have power of the gaze. I knew that the male gaze relates to the
camera represented women for men as they feel they have control over them and
the women are passive however women allow themselves to be objectified in this
way. But within my magazine as it was aimed at females I also found they aspire
to be like these representations.
I needed another way of addressing my audience through my
front page, so I decided to do this through the use of colour. I did this by
choosing a three colour scheme which I knew would attract my audience. I choose
a light pink, grey and black, the reasons for choosing these colours is because
I knew girls find pink a compassionate and feminine colour which attracts them
and I choose some black and grey on the page to make it stand out and give the
page some power this is connotations. Showing the females in my magazine are
not represented as weak and sensitive but have power and rights in my magazine.
This was a good way of addressing my audience because it showed the
understanding of their needs in a magazine and actually colours which can
relate to them.
The next way I attracted and addressed my audience was by
adding in a free additional incentive. This is a free ‘prize’ the audience
receives when they purchase my magazine. I choose to add this into my magazine
from ‘free vouchers in shops they like’ I did this by using the iconography of
the speaker the readers scan it and receive the vouchers. I did this to attract them into reading my
magazine it was a way to draw attention of the readers by having something
‘free’ which they would love to have. This addressed my audience because I
choose to give out vouchers to shops that my demographic are interested in,
this was because I knew they only related to this certain demographic and it
was good way of getting their intention to my magazine. From doing this I
created entertainment by giving my readers interest of actually receiving
vouchers from reading my magazine this is a good way of using the uses and
gratification theory in my magazine.
I also had to address and attract the audience in my content
page; I did this by adding the numbers and page information for the pages and the uses of images. This page had to attract the
audience because it was a guide of my magazine; it was the page which tells my
audience what’s on what page and where to go to. I had to make sure the way I
laid out the information on this page interested them into reading the rest of
the magazine. I did this by using the use’s and gratification theory this is a
theory which is says audience use the media to fulfil specific gratifications
and why they use the media, there are four sections this information,
entertainment, social interaction and personal identification. I used it by
proving a lot of information about different pages and feature stories. I used
this theory because I knew that the audience we’ll be attracted to finding more
stories and the page will have interest because they can find any page they may
like. I have used social interaction from these pages too because I have added
a website for them to go to because I know that the magazine purchase rate has
dropped and a lot of people now read magazine online and social media websites
which they can go and find out more about the magazine, this was a good way to
address my audience because I found this age group in mainly socially
interacted as I found this out from my research results. This makes them more
attracted as they can do things they like such as go on FaceBook and twitter
and keep more socially active at the same time and enjoying the magazine. This
is synergy because the magazine prompts social media websites and the magazine
website and the websites prompt the magazine this is good because of the
fragmented audiences.
The images on my pages had to attract my audience so they
feel this is a high-quality magazine. I had to make sure my images also address
my audience. To make my images attractive I used Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
this is a theory which suggest that a person’s dreams and aspirations comes
before their physical need such as food and shelter. I tried to make images
represent the audience’s dreams and aspirations.
My audience want to
be like the people they see in the media, so by following this theory I had to
make sure my images looked glamorous and appealing to the audience. I had to
make sure the image would draw the attention and make them have that attraction
because, otherwise, the page would not be appealing so the reader would not be
interested in reading the rest of the magazine. I had to construct the images to appeal to my
audience so it would grow the relationship of my magazine just relating to this
certain demographic. I had to do this by represent my pictures inline with the
Male Gaze and Hyperreality theories. This is because these theories are what my
demographic wish to follow as they enjoy thinking that women should look like
this and people should look more real. I chose to use the male gaze theory to
address my audience because I think my audience have the message from famous
people that they should be like these women as they are seen to be successful.
I did this by taking out bits of the their bodies and making them look directly
at the camera this is a picture which is on the magazine, I have taken out the
sides of her to give the curve of an hourglass shape and I have made her look
directly into the camera
Another way I attracted my audience from my magazine was the
story and the layout of my double page spread. I wrote a story that would be
was my demographic would enjoy to read about and what would be addressed just
for them as no young children would be interested. I used an image to be the
centre of attention as I made it the biggest on the page and standout on the
banner and over the title, this was because I knew the image had a ‘sexy’ and
‘hot’ look to it which they would making they want to read the story. I also
address the title from a name of a song as it is a catchy title the audience
will be pulled into finding out more and what’s going on. I also found a way to
address my audience in my double page spread, this was done my adding a
information box which had information about the star, but instead of having
them as bullet points I used heels which relate to my audience as they like
accessories such as heels. This was a good way to address them because it was an
interest they like to see and they know it is addressed just to their
demographic.
Overall I feel without researching and finding out my about
audience I would of found it difficult to attract and address my audience. But
throughout my magazine I feel I have attracted and addressed my audience well
because everything they see is just aimed at their specific demographic. With out researching about my audience and learning about different magazines my magazine would not been able to attract and address a audience, this has allowed be to do my best at reaching the needs of my audience.
4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?
For my magazine I thought at the start I would aim it at
males and females in the 16-24 year old demographic. I then changed my mind as
thinking about what I understood more and what I could do better work at would
be about just females. From knowing this I did an online survey on Questionpro
which would help me find out more about females, I did around eight questions
to find out about what my audience liked about magazines and some information
about them my readers so that I could use this in the creation and research of
my magazine. I had to make sure these questions would be related to my magazine
and help me in the construction of my magazine because I would be using this to
give me a basic idea of what to have in the magazine, the questions all had to
relate to the audience I was aiming to target. I had to post my questionnaire
on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter as I knew most of females
aged 16-24 would be using social media to communicate and would see my
questionnaire I did this to get a large sample to make my results more accurate
to a bigger population around sixty respondents but of mainly females. From the
information I found it gave me quantitative results on my audience, I then had
to write about the results I found on power point and do a presentation the
information to show I did understand what I found out, the slides contained the
results with graphics/graphs and pictures which were relevant to what I found.
The graphs showed what the statistics of my answers I found from the audience
and helped me make decisions. The presentation I did was recorded and I uploaded
it to YouTube here is a link to watch it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1AJBO6JCoE&feature=youtu.be
From the information I found I had to shorten it all up so I created an
audience profile on the information I found but a simple version just rounding
up everything I found:
My audience profile shows that I decided to aim my magazine
at females, I made this decision as most the people who answered my
questionnaire where females so most the information I found would be mainly the
answers they gave over the males answers, this also was a benefit as I knew
more about what females liked in general then I did about males. My audience
profile also shows that the magazines demographic will be people aged 16-24 I
choose to keep to this response because I could relate to the magazine because
I am in this demographic and feel I have wider knowledge about what they would
like in a magazine and I could codify my
magazine more at that age group. On the audience profile it says that the
audience class is B/C1 this is a demographic classing system which was created
by the national readership survey to grade people based on their occupation,
the B/C1 audiences is in the middle of low middle class and working class
audience. I choose this audience because I felt the stories which I would be
writing about and the images I would have in my magazine these two classes
would find more appealing then to an upper class status person. I wanted to
find out what sort of women my audience found attractive and who they would
pick out a group of other people. I found that 60% of my replies found Beyoncé
as the most attractive. To find out what sort of music magazine I should have,
I had to ask this demographic what they’re into and like to listen to. From
asking this question I found that most of my audience were into R&B and a
few were into Pop, Rap and Hip Hop. From this I decided to go mainstream with
my magazine and mainly focus on R&B but added bits of other music types
into my magazine.
The audience profile also shows that my target demographic
is still in education and not working. I found this by asking them what they do
for a living all the people who were females and aged 16-24 were still in
education. This helped me because I should have my magazine a bit educational
making sure that the magazine was not too childish but it was just right for
this demographics needs and wants. I also wanted to know people who would be
role models and what sort of people and information I should include in the
magazine. Most of the results as shown that the role models were family
members, Bill gates, Beyoncé and Rihanna from this I knew more about my
audience I included stories about Rihanna and Beyoncé in the magazine and I
took in count about family members. The last thing my audience profile shows
was the price people would pay for a magazine. Most of my audience would pay
around £2-3 for their magazines. This gave me the idea of how much I should
have my magazine. I choose the price of £2.00 because I felt this was an
average amount people would like to pay, not making it too expensive all of
them are still in education so don’t have much money.
As you may see my audience profile shows some pictures,
these pictures are off feminine things which relate to females of my
demographic. The pictures are what females of
16-24 years old liked such as male bodies, clothes they wear and accessories
which they like. I choose to include these pictures because they are the
dreams and aspirations of what people ideal wants. I got this from the survey
results and my own research on females. These pictures convey to my audience
because images such as heels and nail polishes is what females have a lot of or
like a lot. All the pictures related to what I think my findings on female are
and they are products and gadgets that most females from my demographic
socialise with or have on day to day lives.
3 - What kind of institution would distribute your magazine?
From researching I found there are three main types of magazine
publishing options music institutions these being major publishing, independent
publishing and self publishing. When choosing what type I would choose
to distribute my magazine I had to find out about each one and see what the
positives and negatives of each one are, this then would allow me to see which
one would be best to choose.
Major publishers are big publishers who distribute their
magazines at a mass audience; they publish more than one magazine and have a
lot resources and access to horizontal and vertical integration allowing greater
synergy. One of the major publishing groups I will talk about is IPC which is
the UK’s leading consumer
magazine publisher and is well known for its creation
of the magazine NME. They are publishers of 60 brands, which are of different
categories and publish to malesand females. They are a major group as they don’t just own one magazine they own different types and have different people working on each brand. IPC can be seen as a good institution to pick as they have a good reputation from the makings of the NME.
The other major publishing company is Bauer, known for its
publishing magazines’ such as Q and Mojo. It is a worldwide company with
multimedia platforms. This company aim their products at a massive audience of
both women and men again and mainly at adults. Other idea would be to pick
Bauer as they are seen to be successful with publishing loads of different
magazines not only one.
Both major companies are well known for the products they
publish as they don’t just publish one type. There are advantages and
disadvantages however of using major publishers and these are: they have good
access to horizontal and vertical integration which means they can publishes
their products better and quicker as they have other companies which work with
them or they own or have access to companies which can 
promote the titles. This is an advantage as it allows synergy,
which is an interaction between companies which is mutually beneficial. Bauer
owns a radio station they can use this to create synergy between both the radio
station and the magazine to promote each other so that they can try creating a
bigger audience. Another advantage of major publishing is that they create
different categories of magazines which don’t just cater to a certain
demographic. This makes them successful everyone is able to find something they
like and able to relate to it, the Bauer cater for mainstream however they have
a niche audience which is a small audience. However major publishers may not
put a lot of time and effort into a magazine as they have so many to publish,
the creation will take a long time and some may not be as great as others. But
major publishers have an advantage of having a lot of funding to make magazines
look good and to be distributed widely. This helps them in the point of sale as
they’ll have the money to have the magazines in places which will attract the
audience they want to, being a prime shot. This is also good for the retailers
who are selling the magazine as the magazine company can give them retail
discount so that they company who are selling the magazine will get more profit
as they can have sell more magazine and the retail company can earn more money
as they are getting a discounted price for selling the magazine for the real
price.
Independent publishers also known as boutique publishers,
which are small companies that publish one or two magazines that are aimed at
niche audiences. They focus on creating high quality magazines and use mainly
social media and the internet to distribute their titles. A magazine which is
published by an independent publisher is Little White Lies. It is distributed
by The Church of London who also publishes ‘huck’. The Church of London
publishers are well known for their creativity in magazine making. Independent
publishers publish high quality magazines because they only focus on one or
two; this gives the readers a better look of what they are reading because the
magazine is more professional and is a good quality as the publishers have
spent more time on it. Also, as they only are
only responsible for a few titles, they tend to focus on the quality of design
as well as content. However independent publishers can have a disadvantage as
they don’t have enough money to distribute their magazines widely. They
distribute their magazines using the internet and social media. However, this can work well for their magazines as social media use has increased, making more people see the advertisements and increasing the audiences. Also as independent publishers use the internet a lot they can use websites such as social media because this can be a lot cheaper and easier for them to reach their target demographic. This works by the company adding FaceBook adds or twitter trends to make more of an audience read there magazine as they can go worldwide with this.
Self publishing this is one magazine which is published by
one person working on it and the magazine is usually aimed at a really small
audience. Two examples of independent magazines are ‘Rebel’ and ‘Sniffin Glue’.
Rebel is a fashion and lifestyle magazine made by university students, and ‘Sniffin
glue’ was a magazine published by hand and distributed to local record shops
during the punk era. They were both published by one person at the start who
wished to create a magazine on what they thought was a good idea and what
others liked. Today, self-publishers mainly publish their magazines online on
blogs and this puts them as a disadvantage as they don’t have the money to market
and distribute the magazines widely in traditional ways. They have to advertise and distribute them
online. This, to an extent, can be an advantage as they can send out the
magazine to a lot of people because a big population the internet so that the
independent publishers already have readers.
This is a good advantage because people now consume
magazines more online rather than go to the shops and purchase them which have
deceased. To some extent some consumers still buy magazine but they have had a
massive decrease. Self – publishers are at a disadvantage because they have
less funding on the creation of their magazine, so their magazines can look
less attractive to the audience which can make them not want to view the
product.
From my research and all that I found out about the magazine
institutions I made a choice that I would choose a major publisher to
distribute my magazine. I would use Bauer to publish my magazine. This is due
to the fact they have a lot of experience of the magazine industry and have
success with their magazines, also they are likely to publish magazines at the
demographic I have aimed my magazine at and Bauer have good vertical horizontal
this is when one company can have many different companies to work together to
create the magazine and horizontal integration which is when one company uses different
firms in the production of their magazine to make the magazine more viral for
example the magazine company using a radio station. I will use synergy within
the publishing of my magazine from the use of creating a website, this will
allow the magazine to promote the website so that readers can find out more
information and I will use the website to make people aware that there is a
magazine which a purchasable. I will also use social media websites such as
FaceBook and Twitter to grow the audience for my magazine so that I can have a
bigger audience for my magazine and a wider group of readers can find my
magazine. With using Bauer to publish my magazine this will be good because the
people who have bigger ownership will be able to make a magazine more successful
this is supported by Karl Marx, who says “power resides with those who have
ownership and control of the means of productions and distribution. Bauer have
a good source of selling their products as seen with their successful products,
you are also able to see magazines which have been well published and
distributed. So in Conclusion I feel
major publishers is the right decision to make when distributing my magazine.
2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?
For my media product, I wanted the tone of my full product
to be influential to a particular social group. My magazine had been made to
represent and symbolise my audience to many different social groups. One of
them is aiming my magazine at a particular class. I decided to aim my magazine
in between the middle-class and high working class (C1). Reasons to this were because
I didn't want my magazine to come across as unprofessional, or to look amateur. I therefore had made my magazine to have a
professional look by using elaborate language alongside colloquial, which is
coded to create a mode of address that is appropriate for my target audience. This was due to the fact I wanted my audience
to take my magazine seriously, and professional.
When I carried out my research I found out what music type
my audience liked, I found that they liked mainly R&B music but also pop
and Rap. From knowing what my audience liked I had to represent my magazine at
ethnic groups which related to these music genres. I choose to go against and challenge the
stereotype of having a white origin magazine; I did this by having all
non-white models in my magazine this does not automatically challenge
stereotypes but it is different to usual magazines I did this because of the
genre of music I am focusing on. I
followed the stereotypes which can be seen within the media for example I chose
to include an afro Caribbean model within my magazine which is stereotypical of
the Rap genre of music. Within my magazine I also had Asian models presented in
my music magazine as this is what I usually see in the music industry. Even
though these particular ethnic groups are badly labelled I tried to include
them in my magazine but not with following that label I presented them in my
magazine as positive role models to my audience. I didn’t discriminate any
ethnic backgrounds within my magazine but I choose to challenge the fact of having
my magazine as a white British based magazine and followed the stereotype of
the music genre I found my audience liked. These negative stereotypes which are
featured in magazines is they are in ‘gangs’ or done for ‘crime’ but within my
magazine I represented these people as getting somewhere within the music
careers and making them look ‘trendy’ and ‘have a good appearance. The ethnic social group was at all ethnic because i my magazine had no particular racial group to aim it at however i choose only to present asian and black afro caribbean people this was just because i had choose stories and names to go with these models, the ethnic group did not matter as long as i kept my social class to B/C1 in the hierarchy.
I had to aim my magazine at a particular age group, for this
I had to make sure my magazine kept to having the representation of age and
that it represented my audience. From my research and the information I
gathered, I found what this age group I aimed my magazine at liked and how I
was able to represent them in my magazine. Normal stereotypes of teenage girls were that
they are lazy, unorganised, not motivated in life and are not caring. I
challenged this stereotype and wanted to present teenagers in a positive way, I
wrote stories which were quite educational, were motivating and were about
their dreams and aspirations of life (Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs). These
stories and pictures would appeal to this age group’s needs and wants. The
theories such as the male gaze and Hyperreality would practically appeal to a
young group of people such as my demographic as they are aware of how these
theories are used but however it is not all teenage girls. So within my I
choose to include these theories as this is what they would expect in a music
magazine. As my target audience is teenager they need people
to aspire to and be role moles for them at a young age to help them fulfil
their dreams in the future (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) so in these teenage
years they look at the way females are presented and read the stories which
will give a guide in life, so this represents my age group. I choose to add
these ‘women’ into my magazine and not challenge these theories as they are
what my demographic like.
Also
within my magazine I had to represent the age of my audience in the way I used
typography to communicate with my audience through out my magazine. I had to
make sure I kept to professional way of talking because the text would be too
childish and immature for this demographic if it was not professional so I had
to make sure my stories and headlines would relate to the audience. However I
had to use text which could represent them too, this was colloquial language e.g. ‘sexy’, and this is
text such as slang and language which teenagers use so I choose to add this
text into my magazine because I wanted the magazine to have a professional look
because it would make the magazine more appealing to the social group however
have a way to represent my demographic in my magazine, this helped with the way
I targeted the gender of my audience because I made a magazine that connected
to this audience, I used slang because I know females in this age range use
slang to talks and socialise so if I included it within my magazine they would
be represented because it is terms they use. I added these ‘Slang’ words in
Buzz words because I wanted them to be pointed out to the audience so that I
would have them in different typographies and bigger size text so that they
would appeal to the audience more.
Another way I represented a social group was by gender, in
my magazine I wanted to represent the gender of my audience because I wanted my
target audience to feel like I know who am aiming my magazine at. The first way
I represented my gender in my magazine was by colour, I did this by using a
soft light pink, From choosing females as my choice I thought using the colour
pink in magazine would be good as it is a connotation which is a colour most
females like as it is a girly child-like colour but had sexuality and purity to
it as well. However, I felt that my audience would find it too childish if I
had the whole magazine in pink so I constructed a mode of address which would
balance this out so I choose to add black to the page; black has connotations
of power making the page have a hint of masculinity. I chose to do this because I didn't want my
audience to feel as if I couldn't represent them in my magazine so I conveyed
that I should make the audience feel as they are independent women.
Another way I represented gender within my magazine was
through the use of images, from my images I choose to follow stereotypes of the
Male Gaze and Hyperreality. The male gaze theory is the way a camera represents
women as it looks at women from a male perspective due to our society being one
of patriarchy. The camera is making females represented as vulnerable and submissive
to a patriarchal society it is a dominant ideology However, as my audience were
females I used this theory because women also aspire to this representation,
they feel that they need to be presented in this way to be successful women,
they are passive and the males are in control. I chose to represent the male
gaze in my magazine with my images as I felt the audience I have chosen would
find my magazine more appealing seeing women who are represented like this
because they aspire to be like that (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). I also added
Hyperreality this is the editing of pictures done on applications such as
Photoshop to make the picture look more real, it is the interpretation of what
people think is pretty when in fact it is not really like this, they have been
edited and change to meet the needs of audience. I chose and thought about
adding this stereotype into my magazine however I thought my audience would
find it more real if they saw pictures like this because they would expect
women to be presented Superreal in life.
The image below shows the Barbie way of being represented
these two theories suggest that everyone should have the looks and size of a
‘Barbie’ so most people believe this is real life and they should people and be
like this themselves. However in my magazine adding these two theories did
represent the gender of my audience, I did have a few pictures of males, just
so my magazine would appeal to the small minority of the male population who
may read the magazine. But I chose to keep these theories in my magazine
instead of challenging it as I knew the gender of females see this as an ideal
way of looking and being represented. I made this decision from a business
point because I felt that if I did it different I would not reach a large
enough market to make money for my magazine. The theories i used to represent
my audience had to fit in with the images so I had to make changes to each
picture to add these theories. I changed the size of my models and I change
their colour by airbrushing them because they would fit into the theories
because they would represent them.
In the magazine I used colour to represent gender this was
because I used the colour pink as it is a feminine colour that relates to
females because it is a ‘girly’ colour. I choose to the colour pink because it
represents the females however I didn't only want the females to represent all
soft and feminine because the demographic of my magazine have a stronger
appearance I wanted to give them some power so I added the colours black and
grey to balance out the colour pink.
Overall I feel that in the representation of a particular
social I had to make sure each of the social groups were represented and that
the audience felt that they were represented too. I choose to follow most ways
of representations and kept to everything my target demographic liked. I now
know the social group’s ideologies and they have a big impact in the choice of
my creation of my magazine. The way I used Hyperreality and The Male Gaze
helped with my understanding of the representation of a particular social
groups.
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