Goodbye

Thank you for reading my blog about my AS Media course. I hope you enjoyed learning about the process of making a magazine and the research we did. I am very proud of my final results and have learnt a lot about using different softwares and a lot of different magazines.

Thank you again!
Bye :) 

Evaluation: Question 7

Evaluation: Question 6

Evaluation: Question 5

I used Creatly to make a visual summary of how I attracted my audience. 

My magazine is based specifically on a certain stereotype of people, so by using contrasting colours like black, yellow, blue and red; bold words that stand out; music artists from the rock/pop punk genre; cover stories that would interest my target readership; I am able to attract my audience. My magazine will stand out as it is not like most magazines because it is so busy and different, so my target audience will be attracted to things that are different and not mainstream. 

The language I use will be very conversational and sometimes taboo, making my target audience older (17-20). It will be informal and full of humour, so the reader will enjoy reading it, even if they are more interested in the pictures, as my target audience is. If they are more interested in the pictures, using informal language makes it easier for the audience to read as they will enjoy it more because it's more personal. 

Evaluation: Question 4

Evaluation: Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Here is a PinInterest board I created showing magazines published by two media institutions I considered for my magazine:

Follow Honica Sharma's board Evaluation: Question 3 on Pinterest.

Bauer Media

Bauer Media already publish 3 major music magazines, Kerrang!, Mojo and Q Magazine. This shows how their standards are extremely high.The magazines are very similar to my magazine, especially Kerrang! magazine. I do not think Bauer would consider publishing my magazine because they are already such a successful company and would be looking to invest in magazines that are already well-known. Since my magazine has just started out, it will have to work it's way up. My magazine is also very similar to Kerrang!, meaning there would be a lot of competition within the institution. 

IPC Media

IPC publish two music magazines, a very well-known one (NME) and a not-as-well-known one (Uncut). NME is very successful and Uncut is a growing magazine which is doing very well. NME is quite similar to my magazine by it's genre of music, but it's more mature and aimed for young adults rather than teenagers (median age of 24) so there will not be such tight competition within the institution and my magazine will attract a wider age range to the company.

I would like to have IPC Media publish my magazine because it is a very successful company which will help the growth of my magazine as NME has a website which is "world's biggest standalone music site" and NME is "the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world". It would be extremely beneficial to be part of the same company as them. 

Evaluation: Question 2

Evaluation: Question 1

Final Pages

Cover Page 

Contents Page

Douple Page Spread

Audience Feedback

I printed off copies of my cover page, contents page and double page spread and shared it with other people asking for their feedback. Here's what they said:


1. Cover Page


"Move the 'Britain's answer to pop punk' to the right because it overlaps the cover photo."

"Add another coverline between 'Bring Me The Horizon' and '2014 Rock Chart' as it looks bare."

2. Contents Page


"Make the page numbers more distributed because they're very uniform."

3. Double Page Spread


"The text looks boring for your magazine, add some colour to make it more exciting."

I took on board what most people said. There were some things in which I didn't agree with, such as making the "Volt" in the contents page banner yellow. I think that would be too distracting as it's only meant to be a background graphic.

Double Spread Page Drafts

In the first draft, I placed the picture there first because then I can work around it. I also put the title on the page so I can see where to place the text. I was confused about which side I should put the title on and decided to put it on the left side as that makes the page look more dispersed.

In the second draft, I added a background to add more colour to the page. I also put the logo of the magazine as part of the background so it doesn't stand out but is still noticable. I took a quote from the article I've written and made that one of the main features of the page. I put the colours in black and yellow, continuing that theme. I also added the page numbers and Avril Lavigne's skull and cross bones logo, as she is well known for that and it works well with the colour scheme.

In the third draft, I added the text. I swapped between putting the text where the quote is and putting the quote where the text is, but I prefer it like this as it's much easier to read. 

Cover Page Drafts

In my first draft, I placed the photo of Jenny in the cover so I could work around it as a central. I added backgrounds for the straplines and placed the logo in the top left corner. I debated whether I should have the photo of Jenny overlapping the logo, and decided to keep that as it's very common with magazines and throughout the magazine, the logo will be shown so readers will become familiar with it.

In my second draft, I added a background as I had made an effect on photoshop to the logo of my magazine which I liked. I thought I would do the same effect with the whole page to make it different. I put text in the strapline at the top as it's important and one of the first things the reader will read. I added the price, bar code, issue number and date in the same place as they must be included and putting them all in the same place is easy for the reader to find. I also put text in the bottom strapline. For future issues, the 'POSTERS!' will be regularly there and so will contests. I put 'AVRIL LAVIGNE' across the cover as that is my main feature.

In my third draft, I added more coverlines to make the magazine busier.

Contents Page Drafts

In my first draft on the contents page, I have included the pictures linking to the pages, created a banner at the top where it says 'contents'. I didn't know where to put the logo for my magazine as everywhere I tried looked odd or distracting. I decided to make it part of the background of my contents banner which I think works well.

 In my second draft, I added dashed lines to section the page. This makes the page look busier, and that's the look I'm going for. I also added the page number, the logo and magazine website at the bottom right of the page. I made the page number graphic red to make it stand out.

In my final draft, I added the page numbers and titles. I made the page numbers yellow and the titles black to continue the yellow and black 'warning' theme. I put little annotations about the page below them to tell the reader more information about what on the page. I added an editor's letter to make it more personal, so I can introduce the magazine and myself. I also added a picture of myself and signed it. By putting a black background to my editor's letter, it makes the letter stand out and I can make that a recurring theme for ongoing issues.