The document provides an evaluation of the first draft of a music magazine the author created for a task using InDesign. It discusses how the magazine represents the rock genre through style elements, models, costumes, and text. The author made some unconventional design choices for the contents page, using a single large image and block text rather than multiple images and boxes. Audience feedback indicated these choices effectively piqued readers' interest. The target audience is identified as 12-25 year olds who listen to rock music and attend festivals. Key aspects like the front cover, contents page, and interviews were designed to attract this audience. Through this process, the author learned to use technologies like Photoshop, InDesign, and online resources to

1. Music Magazine – EvaluationFirst Draft Chloe Gregson

3. I shot pictures which was placed onto my magazine via a studio, which I took myself.

5. Did you change anything to make your magazine challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Usually a music magazine’s contents page has many pictures and text boxes telling the reader about what is coming up in the magazine. I decided to break the regular rules of music magazines by only having one main picture on this page and having the writing in one simple block. Also in addition to this, I also did not include the word “contents” on my page as I thought the text said it all itself without the need of a title.

6. As you can see from the picture of my ‘contents page’ I did not actually put a title saying ‘Contents’ as I wanted to break the rules of regular music magazines. Also in addition to this, usually there is many pictures on a contents page so that it will interest readers so they read another page. I think that the use of this one picture is enough to interest the readers as the picture is just in your face, which links in with the genre. Finally on top of all this, I have no put an editors letter on this page, as I personally think and so do people who have assessed this page we think that it says all it has to say just with the text on it what I put on myself.

7. Did your choices here work effectively for your audiences? The choices I made whilst creating the magazine worked to my advantage as my audience feedback showed. One of the questions asked them “Does the contents page simply inform clearly or does it also manage to interest you in the rest of the magazine?” and the answers came back telling me that my magazine interested them into reading the rest as answers read: “I want to read on because of the stories being told on the contents page.” AND “This contents page interests me because it is very eye catching and makes me want to read on.”

8. How does your media product represent particular social groups? This magazine was created for mostly a boy audience as the genre rock is based around them, but because I didn’t want it to come across as a sexist magazine so the front cover would catch the female audience as it has two girls on the front (which hopefully will make them pick up this magazine and read it.)

10. Costume The models I used throughout my music magazine was wearing an outfit which fitted straight in with the genre which is ROCK. The costumes I got them to wear was a black body con skirt and a black lacey leotard. I think this worked well as it made them fit in with the genre whilst also being not too ‘emo’ or looking like ‘moshers’. This is because of the way they was posing with their props (a guitar and a microphone stand.)

12. Make-up On my models Nicole and Sarah Turner (who made up the band for my music magazine ‘The TT’ I used quite simple make-up on them as I thought the props we used on the photo shoot and also the outfit they wore made much more of a statement. I used their natural colour skin for the foundation but then made their eyes a lot darker by using lots of mascara and eyeliner. I also put lipstick on their lips, but only a little bit, so it makes them edgier but not too edgy.

13. Does your magazine fit in with the dominant mode of the representation of this group? “Is it adhering to stereotypes that we see commonly in the media or is it offering an alternative or challenging representation?” is a question which I asked people when I showed them my magazine. This was some of their answers: “It is showing us that all rock stars do not have to crash a hotel room to become famous and hardcore.” And also… “It has changed my stereotypes of rockers as they look just like myself, and nothing different so people shouldn’t judge them.”

15. Rock has a younger target audience

18. They might have been brought up around this genre of music

20. How did you attract/address your audience?

22. Bigger font than usual (to attract them to the magazine

23. A very big picture, as a statement picture

24. The title of the magazine takes the whole top row up, so that the name of the magazine is seen easily so that they know what it is called straight awayThis front cover will hopefully attract the audience as I think the different features on it will do it justice.

26. Different coloured font, makes it more interesting to read

27. Hardly no writing so they’re not put off

29. The two images are striking, so it will catch their attention

30. The text grabs are big and readable as soon as the page before it is turned

32. Google.com

33. Dafont.com

34. Youtube.com

35. In Design

38. There was an actual barcode on the magazine

39. The pictures were edited better, and looked more professional

40. The whole magazine looked more believable

41. Much more like a magazine rather than a poser

42. The font and font size looks a lot more standardized