2. In what ways does your Media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
My magazine follows the same
color scheme throughout my four
pages, this is evidence of following
Steve Neils theory of continuity as
this varies from my front cover to
my double page spread, moreover
for my front cover I have sure to
include main features and
conventions for my magazine. Bar
code Date/Price Issue number A
unique selling point Main image +
Headline Cover lines Masthead
Strapline. My inspiration for my
magazine came from Classic Rock
which is magazine which focus’ on
classic rock, ranging from the 60’s
to the 90’s which proved to be an
end of an era for the music style.
My double page spread reflects
my ideas and creativity, so I
styled my interview questions
around the model I was using,
this proved to be very effective
and I strongly believe that it is a
great piece of work.This was not
used in the Classic Rock
magazine I picked for inspiration
as I wanted to bring my own
opinion and design into play. I
used white font for the questions
which proved most effective as it
was easily visible to the readers.
During my design I had to make
minor altercations which would
be used to present my double
spread to be more visibly
appealing.
3. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
Which social group my magazine
belongs to?
My media product belongs to a
particular group, most likely
Hipster’s and Goth’s but my
magazine is also appealing
towards other social groups like
Nerds and Emo’s. My media
product is very appealing for
anyone with a taste of old rock,
this is the primary theme of my
magazine and I had planned not to
stray away from it. Moreover, my
product represents the particular
social group Hipsters as it is
different and original something
which that particular social group
strongly believe in, and so it
represents the social group as it
isn't copying any major
mainstreaming high profile
magazine, therefore it is a great
representation of the social group.
My media product proves to be a great portrayal of my target audience
and I have interviewed people from the social group who have an
interest in the music genre, so I have used the information which has
been easily reflected in my media product. By using the participant
feedback I was able to create a product for the social group I was aiming
for and make the product appealing for others who may have an interest
in the music.
How does it represent the particular social
group?
Most Hipsters believe in the
connection with nature so I included a
natural backdrop which proved most
effective.
I used model who is apart of
the chosen social group, which
is another great benefit in
representing my chosen social
group.
4. What kind of media institution (Publisher) might
distribute your media product and why?
’’ Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer MediaGroup, Europe’s largest privately owned
publishing Group.TheGroup is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in
15 countries, as well as online,TV and radio stations.‘‘
I believe Bauer Media Group will be a media
institution who might distribute my media product
as they have distributed so many other products
which range from radio stations to television. But
their latest successful investment was in 2005
GRAZIA Magazine, which is a glossy magazine and in
turn was introduced at the time when glossy
magazines exploded into a phenomenon. Now my
magazine fits perfectly in the current time affairs
and social groups, we can recognize these new
upcoming social group as Hipsters and I cannot find
a magazine which has focused on the social group,
since Bauer Media Group have literally covered
nearly all genres of music andT.V shows I believe the
company will find worthiness in distributing my
media product.
Pie Chart
From this visible pie chart it clearly states how
many people who read music magazine want a
hipster magazine, as there simply isn’t one, if
there was one it is clearly not known like XX
magazine or Kerrang.
how many want a
hipster magazine 15
16
17
18
Ages
5. Who would be the audience for your
media product and why?
According to Hartley subjectivities, the
target audience for my magazine would
be for the age between 15-25 years old,
but this primarily focus’ on males as
most of the artists/bands featured are
males.
According to Katz’ uses and
gratification theory males would find it
much easier to create a personal
relationship with the product, this is
because of the dark colors used, also
the model I used is not using any some
what ’sex appeal’ to entice any female
audience, this therefore allows for a
more diverse male audience to be
interested in the magazine.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, suggest
that the readership my product will
most likely attain for will be ’social
climbers’, due to my magazine being of
a new and unique genre and style it
would interest those people to be
needing information about the new
magazine.
However more importantly I believe my
media product will most likely suit those
who are 15-25 years old as the magazine
is not designed for any older readers or
does the content have an need for the
them.
Classic Rock is the inspiration of my
magazine, but its readership mainly
consist of 24-40 year old adults, the
target of my magazine is to aim my
magazine to a younger audience and
maybe introduce them to music similar
to Classic Rock.
6. How did you attract/address your
audience?
I have used advertisement for real life
events in order to attract the audience to
my product, this varies from the use of
social media to the use of the Brit awards
and the U2 comeback. By doing this it
means that many people who are fans of
U2 and the Brit awards will be enticed to
read my magazine , moreover the use of
winning 4 reading tickets is also
influencing the audience to purchase the
magazine, overall by using these
advertisements it means that I can
introduce the product to a wider range of
audience.
I have also used a use of social media which is
the most effective use of advertising a
product, as our current age is conquered by
these social networks, so by creating an
account in these social networks it will
introduce a more reliable connection to the
readership.
I also used a somewhat natural
background which is the use of
woodlands, this again proves to be
most effective as it is something
different compared to the usual
designs of magazines.This is a
marketing technique to interest the
Hipster group who are attracted to
originality and a naturalistic design,
therefore by using the background of
a heavy blue with the woodland
background will help interest the
hipster group to read the magazine.
The use of social media for my magazine, to
advertise my product to a larger and diverse
audience.
7. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot of new methods in
the process of constructing my
product, this varies from importing
and finalizing an image to
increasing the light density on the
image. I have also learnt to
manipulate font, by using new
shades of colours in order to
interest the reader to view the
magazine, I have done this to add a
sense of professionalism to my
Product.
Moreover, I have learnt how to
use photo shop in order to gain
more knowledge to apply to
my music magazine, this is a
great advantage as within my
preliminary task I was able to
learn to use my skills in order to
create a new and vintage
product.
The gradient tool was one of the main
uses I have used in order to create the
color in my design, it was a great use of
design as it helped me restore a lot of
faults in my design, faults being blanks
which look absolutely dreadful.
Furthermore, the technologies I have
used were mainly to change the view of
different objects, such as shapes and
other more complicated things.
The effects I used, such as inner
and outer glow, help lighten some
of the images I have used in order
to create a more surreal effect, this
also helped aid a more simple but
with some in depth designing
technique which I addressed in
order to improve the magazine as
being visibly appealing to any one
who lays eyes upon the magazine.
8. Photography Planning – Front Cover
Photography added to
my front cover
I managed to gather many photos before
finding the picture I wanted to use for my
front cover, this was a hard process as I
wanted my front cover image as being unique
and be visibly appealing to anyone who might
lay eyes upon my magazine. Moreover, the
photography editing was a simple process as I
took out the background and inserted a
stroke effect to make my model really stand
out against my backdrop.
Photography for my front cover was a simple
process but I was able to find a few poses
which were most suitable for my target
audience, again my target audience is for the
hipster group by the name of Hipsters, this is
a difficult audience as they do not like
mainstream activities, this is important to
address as I mainly want to focus on the group
and associate my magazine with their
interests.
Moreover, I have edited the
photo for my front cover by
using the stroke effect in
order to make my model
stand out just a bit greater, I
primarily done this in order to
make the focus of attention
on the model, and so this will
create it to be eye catching to
the readership.
The photography planning
was a difficult, as I was not
sure what I wanted my
model to do, but I eventually
found a suitable pose.
9. Photography planning for contents page
The photography for my contents page
was a simple process, as I knew what I
wanted from my models and achieved
what I wanted very easily and swiftly.
Moreover, I believe that getting the
correct shot for my contents page was
very important, this is because I wanted
to create a specific style for my contents
and it was very easy to achieve.
I was able to edit myself, the editor of
the magazine, with a black background
in order to project myself to the reader
a more successful way. What is
interesting is that I was able to create
myself to have a lighter shade, but of
course I could not rely on natural
lighting alone, so I increased the
brightness of the picture in Photoshop,
specifically on my face, as the face is
the most recognizable feature.
Lastly, I was able to grab a picture of one
of the models I used for my magazine,
this was a great accomplishment as I was
able to create him as being a feature in
my magazine, again I used a black
background in order to project the
model as being more visible to the
reader, this was done by again increasing
the brightness.
10. Photography planning for double page
spread
The photography planning for my double page spread was
quite difficult as I was unsure what pose I wanted my model to
use while taking the photograph, but in the end I was able to
find the pose I wanted in order to perfect my double page
spread. Moreover I used a stroke effect again on the model,
this was the same effect I used for the front cover, I did this as I
wanted to link both the pages in order to create a trend within
my magazine, I also specifically had my model looking up in
order to present him as being superior compared to the front
cover pose which emits a more curious vibe.
On the left is the picture I was thinking of using for my double page spread, I did not use
this picture as I wanted to present the model as being superior, almost rising above others,
however this pose was not so superior and instead makes people want to pity him, if I did
not get the correct pose for my magazine I believe it would have created readers to believe
or interpret the wrong understanding of my magazine.
Furthermore, I made the model wear the jumper with stripes, as I did not want the model
to have an all black persona which again is not what I am aiming my magazine to be, as my
magazine is aimed at the social group of hipsters who wear colorful and vibrant colours,
therefore It would not represent what I was aiming for.
