Sophie Jordan
Evaluation.
In this specific project, we have been required to provide a new, original music magazine with a front cover, a contents page and a double page spread.
The magazine must contain at least 4 original images and follow the conventions of successful music magazines. I will do this by annotating existing music magazines that suit my genre.
The background image on my magazine front cover was taken in a boat yard in Brough. I chose this as stereotypically, Indie bands are placed with a scenic background, therefore I tried to re-create this in my own work.
The people in the photo are an indie band from around the area, therefore I was able to group them together and they already held the conventions of a band.
The clothing is stereotypical, for both my genre of the magazine, and their own music. However I did ask them to conventionally wear hoodies and jeans.
My masthead ‘XX INDIE’ fits well over the image, I have placed this on the left as conventionally this is where it would be placed, however I did also experiment the positioning of it by aligning it to the right as well.
I have changed the opacity on the text so that it doesn’t look too bold against the background; however in doing this the white text of ‘XX’ against the whites in the background image meant it wasn’t easily visible, therefore I created another layer of the text, however made it black and once again changed the opacity so that it didn’t look too strong, this gives an illusion of shadows and gives an edge to the writing.
My headlines follow the same scheme as my masthead, for example I use the same font and colour to create consistency throughout.
The only convention I didn’t follow was a range of images on the front; This is developed throughout most music magazines, However, I thought it made my cover look too cluttered, also it decreased the focus on the main image.
I am advertising the main band in which will be in the magazine. The band members already appear as my background, however I also added a small image of them in the left hand corner, not only does this provide a greater field of recognition, but it also follows the conventions of other magazines I have looked at, for example in the NME magazine I am studying.
I have displayed the price, issue number and date in the top right hand corner. Even though this isn’t placed here in the NME magazine I have been working from, the positioning I have chosen for mine works the best as it fills out the page, allowing it to look more interesting.
The pricing of my magazine was also important, NME are owned by IPC Media, therefore my magazine can not be owned by the same company, and as a result my magazine is a rivalry with NME. In order to achieve this, I looked at the price of NME magazine which displayed ‘£2.30’ and lowered mine to 10p less, this allows my magazine to be cheaper and more financially available on the market.
NME ensure that the more important titles catch the publics eye. The do this by applying a bigger, bolder text. For example here ‘FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE’ and ‘THE KILLERS’. My main text is the bands name ‘Kids At Heart’ and the festival name ‘ZERO12’, as well as my magazines title. Therefore I have put these in white in comparison to the rest of the text accompanying it, and changed them to a bigger font. I have done this as I am trying to advertise both the festival and the new band, therefore with these as a bigger text they will catch the readers attention first. I am trying to advertise a new festival as my festival will be a rivalry with a music festival for the younger generation – For example Leeds Fest.
Bauer is a suitable institution to distribute my product in which I am imitating because it follows the same genre and design scheme in which I wanted in my own magazine. The conventions such as the bold titles and obscure photography make this magazine interesting and appealing to a younger audience. When creating my own magazine I thought it would be easier to create it based on an audience of my own age as I know what my age group likes and dislikes.
The camera angle of my images on my magazine front cover, and my images throughout on the contents page and the double page spread are all taken as long shots. In NME magazine, a mid shot is used, with close-up’s for the small images accompanying it down the left hand side. However, I wanted to ensure that the band’s clothes were visible and that the whole background was shown to determine where they were stood. The fact that I have chosen a boat yard suggests that they are average teenage lads who make music, and don’t need to be posed in a studio with make-up and designer clothes to advertise themselves.
The ratio of readers of NME magazine are 69% male/31% female. This shows that the male gender holds the biggest population for purchasing the NME music magazine. Therefore, seeing as this are my rivalry, I will also be aiming to get a higher male ratio. To do this, I have stayed away from feminine colours such as pinks, and made the members dress as stereotypical teenagers. This is so that the audience will look up to the band, or imitate their style.
Gender and age is also another reason I have chosen my style and colour of font. I have chosen to write my text in capital letters; Usually this is associated with anger or to grab people’s attention. I have chose it to suggest rebellion and adolescence, which supports my audience as my age range would be between 13 – 24. This is also another point in which to compete with NME, as NME has an average of 24 year old readers. In order to compete, I have created my magazine to suit a wide range of age throughout the readers.
The colour’s red and white, are purely because they are merely masculine, nor feminine.
They also work well against my background as I have edited my image on Adobe Photoshop, I changed the colours, making it look dull and the sky a murky grey. I have done this as my images and text over the top would then brighten this up. I have also added shadows and highlights and experimented with the exposure; this all improved the quality of my image giving it a more natural appearance.
I have chosen the name ‘XX INDIE’ as it contains the element of simple lettering such as the magazine ‘Q’ by Bauer Media. However I also wanted to hint at the genre so I included this in the title also.
However this was not just my decision, I thought of a range of name ideas, however I did a poll and ‘XX INDIE’ was the most popular.
This is a poll which I created from asking an audience from the age range specified and those who preferred my chosen genre. As you can see, X LARGE and IMM were the least popular, whereas XX INDIE was the most popular, followed by X0. Therefore this is why I chose ‘XX INDIE’ as my final magazine name as if the magazine had the most preferred name for my target audience, people were more likely to purchase/read my magazine.
After I created this poll for my magazine name ideas, I put together a questionnaire with a range of multi choice questions/rating questions/basic question and answer question.
From looking at the overall results, My front cover was voted the most popular, with my double page spread following, and then my contents page as the least favourite. The reasons for this are because other people have stated that my photos were well thought out and the editing looked professional. My contents page was voted the least popular as several made comments that the contents page went off scheme, as even it carried the image of band and the same colour scheme, the overall composition didn’t fit in well as the contrast of the yellows in comparison with the dull/low contrast images of the band.
All my results stated that my music magazine followed the conventions of the ‘Indie’ genre and that it is the most similar to NME music magazine.
75% of people gave my photographs a 9/10 rating, the other 15% a 10/10.
50% gave my consistency a 8/10, 15% gave it a 7/10, and the last 15% gave me a 10/10.
50% gave my music magazine name 7/10, 15% gave it a 6/10 and the last 15% gave me a 9/10.
75% gave the colour scheme a 7/10, and the last 15% gave it a 10/10.
Out of the price range asked, none of the audience claimed they wouldn’t want to buy it; 75% said they would pay £1.75 for my magazine, whilst the other 15% said they would pay £2.00 for it.
Overall this feedback was a success – And by doing this questionnaire I have realised that my images were a success and are an important element of my magazine as they are what captures the readers attention first.
I have also learnt that my contents page wasn’t as successful as I thought; However after reading the comments, I have become more aware of the consistency throughout and that If I were to re-do my magazine, this would further be improved to ensure that it follows the same design/colour scheme.
(Questionnaire attached at the end to view).
To create my contents page, I used an image of a vintage wallpaper. I then took the photographs of the speaker and the chair and by changing the opacity in Adobe Photoshop , made these transparent in contrast to the background. I chose the speaker as it represents music, therefore it implies the genre of the magazine as a music one. The chair has no representation of music, however It follows the convention of the ‘scenic images’ in which are associated with Indie and the aspect of old/vintage furniture. I have also edited this by applying a red tint so that it copies the font colour. My font is the same style/colour as my front cover, this works well as it shows consistency throughout my magazine. I added a voucher at the bottom, as this is conventional in some magazines. It will also attract the reader, as when browsing it may encourage them to purchase. It also advertises the night club, this makes the magazine look more successful as The Welly Club is a big night club, and therefore to be associated with the magazine is good.
The image of the chair I have used is successful as stereotypically, Indie magazines/photographs contain old/vintage furniture. Therefore I took the same approach, and also added an old speaker in to follow this theme but also implying it is a big music magazine.
The picture I have used to advertise the ‘Vintage fashion fair’ contains the aspect of ‘Indie’ as I have used a leopard print coat to determine the ‘vintage’ side.
My other image is of the band ‘Kids at heart’ which are shown on the front cover and the double page spread; The reason for this is it is consistent and to unify my magazine house style. It also advertises the band again and shows the page in which the interview will be featured.
My text on my contents page has a faint white box around the headings and the headings are in capital letters. This is so that they stand out and are easily recognised as important titles.
Underneath the headings, the ‘blurb’ describing what is featured on this page is also in capital letters; however the white tones these down a bit making them not as noticeable as the main headings.
My double page spread, contains the image of the band spread against both pages. This is represented in the majority of music magazines.
I have applied a white box behind the text so that the text is easily readable, however the white looked too bold and detracted peoples attention from the background image; therefore I once again changed the opacity so that the background was slightly shown through.
The placement of my text over the image is successful as none of the band members face’s have been obscured, and the text fits between each person.
At the bottom left hand corner I added the bands name in the same font and colour as previous pages, this draws the readers attention to this so that it shows who the band are, it is also conventional
In the top left, I have copied a part of text ‘KORY SAYS: WE’RE CALLED KIDS AT HEART FOR A REASON!’. From looking at other interviews in magazines I have noticed they do this in order to draw your attention to the article and to give a brief idea what it is about, I have chose this specific quote as it may interest the reader. It also doesn’t give too much away about what he is answering, therefore this will encourage the readers to read on.
My magazine represents particular social groups, as I have added conventions in which aim at a specific age/music genre. On the front page I advertise a festival named ‘ZERO12’, Those who attend festivals usually range from an age of 15-30. Therefore this gives a brief outline of the age of my audience. Also, underneath this I have added headings giving some examples of bands being featured; This also suggests the genre as these all fit under Indie bands.
The Vintage Fashion Fair on my contents page suggests it is for females, as a female has been used in the picture, and the fact that shopping is usually associated with females, However this isn’t discriminating against males as it doesn’t state that it is for one specific gender.
My double page spread doesn’t contain any information that suggests age or gender, however it does once again suggest the ‘Indie’ genre by introducing the new indie band ‘Kids at heart’.
From constructing this product, I have adapted my basic IT skills, such as editing my photo’s and final composition of my work on Adobe Photoshop. I used this as it is the most popular, and professional editing programme. It allows you to use lots of techniques to achieve the best quality of your images. I also learnt how to create a blog on http://www.blogger.com/ and how to update my posts. This were basic skills I learnt when creating my College Magazine for my preliminary task, however I adapted these skills further.
Also from constructing my product, I have learnt from my previous mistakes made and ensured I didn’t make the same one’s in this task.
To the left is an example of my mistakes that I have made and corrected in my future drafts.
For example:
-Poor Lighting
-Stretched Image
-Text doesn't stand out
-Poor composition.
I have also looked at different institutions and compared these, to guarantee that I use the conventions used in other magazines.
I have also done extra research of conventional music magazines to make sure of this.
I feel NME would be an institution that may distribute my product because they are the biggest magazine that are associated with ‘punk rock’. NME distribute their work through music channels, magazines, ect. NME is a well-known and successful institution, therefore if they were to distribute my work, it would be easily sold/advertised.
Based on as I have mentioned above, due to the events/images, my product would be aimed towards a male and female gender group, the age range would be between 13-30, and those with an interest in music events such as festivals, or interested in the ‘Indie’ genre.
I attracted my audience by the use of specific imagery chosen. For example, the image of the band on my front cover, this will attract females as there is males shown on the front, however this will also attract males as the band could be seen as role models/inspiration.
I also attract my audience by advertising a festival, and including a voucher to get a free drink at a local night club. I put a headline on the front cover saying that my magazine includes images, this will attract teenagers who have band photos/posters on their walls.
