Student Magazine: Evaluation

In what ways does your media product support use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
One of the ways how my college magazine supports the use and and development of real media products, is that i used several categories from my own pre-conceived media language.
My first catergory that i used in my student magazine was a Masthead. This meant that i had to layout my magazine with a strong message that challenges the normal publishing boundaries. The website that i used to gain ideas and new inititives was http://www.dafont.com/. The websites i visited gave me an invaluable insight and ideas to achieve my goal of producing a magazine with new, fresh and modern approach so i could capture a new audience. I wanted to challenge the publishing boundaries. My desire was to break away from convention.
I also used this website to get my ideas for the print script and general layout of my magazine front cover and contents page. The website was also benefitical for my puff and straplines. My actual passion for this magazine was to attract the indie and more underground scene, and not conform to the mainstrem, so therefore i chose an elaborate and more 'roughed up' font. I believe i have achieved this in my final product. In my media product, i also wanted to create a 'unisex' magazine which meant i had to include different peices of information that would appeal to both sex's of college students ageing from 16-19. For both sexes i included a 'winter wear' section. This meant i had to use my own evidence and research, to take certain pictures of men and womens clothes and include them in my magazine. This challenged other real media products as i aimed the clothes at a specific audience and also, unlike other magazines i made the items of clothing a 'fresh' new look,

ready for winter. As it was from my own point of view, it may appeal to college students even more. This is because I am a big follower of fashion and i know what looks best on somebody. I also used various research such as websites and fashion magazines to give me the best idea, particually for the womens section. Another thing i included in my magazine to make it stand out and challenge different media magazines, was that i offered the reader the opportunity to win tickets for a new college band 'Skeleton'. This challeneges other magazines as it gives the chance for the new band to get their name heard of, and hopefully their fanbase will increase because of my magazines advertising and prises. One of the other things how my magazine competes with the market, is that we had to take a mid close up image for the main cell. This challenges other leading college magazines as it uses proffesional image structures and shot types- a mid close up. We also experimented with other shot types but found that a mid close up was the most efficient as it gave expression on the main cell's face. It was also easier to photshop.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
One of the reasons why i felt it was necessary to aim my magazine at college students from the ages of 16-19, was because i feel it was vital for college students such as myself, to have something to read, entertain and take advice from, as the years you spend at college are usually the most important years for education in your life. Before i started designing and finalising the magazine, i wanted to give the front cover an 'indie' and 'underground' look. To do this i needed to go and do my own research. This consisted of asking fellow students who i thought would fit the slot for the 'indie effect' of my magazine. Another way how i researched this look that i wanted for both my front cover and contents page, was to search several websites and band images such as 'The Kooks', 'Oasis', and 'The Arctic Monkeys'. After researching the more major label bands, i also wanted to futher my research to the more 'underground/unsigned' scene. This gave me the idea of a more 'roughed up' and 'dirty' effect rather than an indie and more 'clean' front cover and contents. I also felt that i could get to the readers more with this look, as i wanted the first impressions to almost be like ' People over 25 would be disgusted with the look

of the front cover, so thats why i want to buy it'. I also wanted the magazine readers to be of the C2-E on the jicnar scale, as the magazine brings out a more 'lower class' effect e.g. with a fading, dented and rough masthead which stands out to the reader due to the strong red blend. At first i wanted the magazine to be aimed at underachievers and tradititionalists, because this also gave me the image of a 'roughed up' and indie style of approach to my front cover and contents.

How did you attract/address your audience?

One of the ways how I addressed and attracted my audience and collected research, was by doing several questionnaires, freebies, stand out font titles and college student dialect/language.

In my questionnaire, i asked general questions such as: "What music are you into?" and "Are you interested in the latest celebrity news and gossip?". The reasons for asking these sort of questions was because although the magazine was generally based on doing well in lessons and achieving good results, i also wanted the magazine to be as entertaining and down to earth as possible. This is why in my final copy, I included all the latest music and gossip, but within the college students. I feel this is a good way of attracting college students to buy this magazine, as it informs them about how to do well with lessons but also about new music within the college.

Another way how I attracted and adressed the audience for my college magazine, was that i used different dialect to address my readers. By this i mean using unique and taboo/slang types of languae, which would mostly appeal to college students aged from 16-19 because its the sort of dialect they use on a day to day basis. On the front cover I included the quote 'Keep Dressin Through The Reccession, And swagga Like An Old Man'. I feel that this would appeal to a person like myself as it includes a young and 'college' dialect, that only most young people can understand and appreciate for what it is and means. I also reffered to 'Swagga' rather than 'Swagger'. This was because i wanted the reader to be in the C2-E jicnar scale, rather than advetising what is in the article in Standard grammar, which would then aim my magazine at the top end of the jicnar graph.
On my front cover i gave my fonts and title a more 'younger' feel. By this I mean I linked the more 'indie' feel of the main cell, music and article listings by making giving the font a more rough and batered feel. This will address the reader and will stand out more than other college magazines as the colour of the 'phobia' title is in a deep red blend which can stand out from a long way away.

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

One of the technologies that i have learnt over the course of constructing this product, is Photoshop. By using this, i could construct an image, crop, rotate and be able to higher and lower the density levels and picture quality. This resulted in my final picture having a more effective finish which will stand out to the reader. As i hadn't used photoshop before, it gave me a great insight in picture creativity and with experience, i will hopefully be able to use each tool correctly, to create an even better finish.

Another one of the technologies i used over the course of constructing this product is Quark Express. We used this site to mainly focus on the contents page for our college magazine. With Quark Express i felt it was easier than photoshop as it was much more simple to constuct lines, text and images into a desired place. Although there wasn't the facility of changing the quality of the picture e.g. removing unwanted spots on a persons face or airbushing something to give it a more 'unique' finish, i feel in the future i will use this site to construct an even better contents page for my next media project.

Another technology i used to complete the college magazine, was a Digital SLR camera. We used the camera for the completion of both the main front cover picture, articles featured in the magazine, and contents page. As i hadn't had much experience on using a such advanced camera before, I suddenly became aware of all the features it had to offer e.g. different zoom levels and portrait image control etc. I feel that this gave our final college magazine a more detailed and professonal finish, which will stand out from the rest. In my next media project i feel i now have the experience of using all the features on the SLR camera, to the highest extent to achieve what i want.

Music Magazine: Genre & Audience research: 2

NME Magazine:



Genre: The music magazine NME largely contains the genre's of rock and indie music. Also in the magazine it contains an article for unsigned bands to get themselves noticed. It also gives them the opportunity to get advertised in the back of the magazine, which gives it a more 'undergound' scene, which would attract a variety of indie/rock fans who want to discover new and unique bands.
Audience: I feel that the NME magazine would be ideally suited and aimed at individualists, Radicals and Aspirers from the ages of 15-30 because it has music ranging from the mid 80's- modern day music. I also feel that it has a range of readers on the jicnar scale who read the magazine. This is because it contains the more 'educated' bands on the scene, and uses detailed grammar to describe them. It also contains the more 'working class' view on bands such as Oasis and Arctic Monkeys. This can identified because it uses more informal and taboo language to get through to the reader.
Title: One of the ways how the magazine appeals to a variety of different readers, is that the font structure of the title, makes a direct impact on its readers. With the title 'NME' being shown in a basic, hard hitting font, i feel that this would appeal to its readers, as it almost does 'exactly what it says on the tin'. Also as the font structure of the NME logo, never changes its colour and other features, this could appeal to the reader as they know what to expect from the magazine, and that it doesn't lose its reputation in the music magazine market. This also links with the strong blend of red for the letters of the NME logo, with its black and white outlining. If the logo would so happen to change in future years, this may effect the rate of sales due to the audience being unfarmiliar witht he change and also beleiving that the magazine is not as 'hard hitting and straight to the point' as it normally is.
Style: With the Font structure and colours of the title being the same each week on the NME magazine, there are always different style fonts for advertising, marketing and quotes. For example: For American 'pop/rock' band 'Green Day', the makers of the magazine cover, have used a green font to express and point out to the reader that the main magazine article is about them. This can also be identified as the main image on the front cover is of the band. Also with other 'in your face' font styles it can atrract the readers attention even more with words such as 'Exclusive! and 'Brand New!'.

Also in the NME magazine, there is a specific layout of where everything goes. One of the main things that stand out to the reader from looking at the front cover, is where the logo and barcode/price are located. In every issue of the magazine, the logo has been placed in the top left hand corner of the magazine with the barcode being placed veritcially near to the bottom left hand corner. Although this is minor detail, if the creators of the magazine decided to change the layout, this may effect the sales rate, due to people judging the magazine differently and believeing it has a new appearence and approach towards the music.
Another thing which is located on the front cover of the NME magazine, is the different article issues and what they're about. For exanple a new band on the scene or a band reforming e.t.c. Depending on the magazine (e.g. if it is an anniverary, or end of an era for a band such as Oasis where they dedicate the magazine to them), they include pictures with the different articles and include the more important quotes which will attract the readers eye.
Content: By looking at the NME front cover, it gives detailed descriptions of what is in the magazine, ranging from the bigger artists all the way to unsigned bands. The detail and layout is shown in different ways such as different font sizes, photographs etc. From looking at these two magazine front covers, they show what the main feature of the magazine is (Blur on Magazine A & Oasis on B). This can be identified as the image of the two bands are placed in the middle of the magazine and are the biggest images on the front cover. Another thing which tells me what is in the magazine is at the bottom of the cover, where it shows the more 'out of the mainstream' bands such as Reverend & The Makers. With the font size being smaller than most other descriptions on the cover, this tells me that less people are interested in these bands and are more focused on the most important article of the mgazine.









Mode Of Address: After reading and researching the NME magazine several times, i feel that the style and grammar of language, is dependent on what issue number it is. For example if it is 'The Awards Issue', it tends to a contain a 'higher level' and formal vocabularly containing minimal taboo language, rather than in a standard one. In a standard NME issue, it usually contains a more chatty, informal, and 'in your face and straight talking', type of language context to address its readers. I feel that NME use this technique to give the magazine a more 'open' feel, where the readers may feel as though they are involved and connected to their idles. An example of this, was when NME covered a detailed interview with Liam Gallagher from Oasis, entertaining his wide variety of fans with his comic and informal use of language.

Photographs: After researching plenty of NME magazines in the past and present, i have found that the magazine uses a wide variety of different photographs, portraying an image to its audience. For example if an up and coming indie band such as the rascals are in the magazine, the photographs of them posing would probably be in black and white and the mise en seene of the background would have great effect in the image which would attract the reader to the picture even more.
Other photographs in the NME magazine can be shown for example in an action shot of the band such as open air concerts, festivals (Reading & Leeds) etc. When i first started collecting the magazine, i used to skip the pages to view the images shown of these bands. With the big lights, smoke, and the silloette of the hungry crowd, swaying crazily inbetween each other eurphioically, it gives the reader a sence of feeling and pride by viewing these images. I feel that the band members are represented as superlatives compared to the crowd. This is shown through the lighting and atmosphere shown in the pictures.






Q Magazine:




Genre: The genre of the Q magazine is mainly indie and rock music. Although it features a number of bands who are on and off the scene, it doesnt include unsigned artists unlike the NME. Many of the Q magazine articles focus on a particular band/group that are in the spotlight at present times such as Kasabian, but they can also cover the more older and unique bands which had their day in the past. For example Led Zeppelin.
Audience: From researching the Q magazine, i believe the audience that would be ideally suited for this magazine, would be traditionalists and aspirers. This is because it has music ranging from the 60's (The beatles & Led zeppelin)- Modern day rock/indie music. I also believe it is rightly aimed at people ranging from A-C2 on the jicnar scale, due to the fact that it contains more advanced grammar and vocabularly. Another way in which i feel the Q magazine is aimed at a more 'higher class' audience, is because the front cover is usually shown with a more formal and 'tidy' context, in which the article issues/numbers are displayed. One of the ways i believe this to be true, is that the font sizes and bright colours are not as broad and in your face as other magazines i have looked at, for example NME.
Title: From looking at the Q magazine title, i feel that it can attract the readers attention because it uses a basic 'Q' letter as the logo, which is always shown either a white or gold, with a red background which i feel emphasises and makes the logo stand out even more. I feel that it gives the magazine front cover a more expensive, special and well worth the money design.
I also feel that as the Q magazine title font and colouring never changes, this may appeal to the reader because like the NME magzine, it gives the reader that sense of 'does exactly what it says on the tin' feeling. I believe that if the font size or colour kept changing after every week, many readers would lose interest in purchasing the magazine as they may think that the Q magazine is not good enough for their more 'upper class' needs to get the latest gossip on their favorite bands.
Style: After researching more than one Q magazine, i have found that the style on the front cover changes regularly, for example the font colours introducing the main articles, pictures, background image and also background colours. Another thing i have noticed about the various style's that are portrayed on the Q magazine front cover, are the importance of the 'Q' letter. An example of this is special issues such as the end of year magazine, or an important announcement in musical history such as the death of Michael Jackson, the Q logo can change colour.

Student Magazine: content page

This is the final copy of my contents page. I used Quark Express to add the detail and layout of the page.

Student magazine: final copy of magazine

This is the finished product of my magazine front cover. I managed to stick to the plan of my draft by using and including everything i was supposed to do e.g. the font size/colour, layout etc.

I used Photoshop to make the mid close up image suitable for my final front cover.