AS Media EvaluationDan Proudfoot

First, a look at the progression from my school magazine to the final design of my music magazine

School Magazine

Music Magazine

How does my magazine use or challenge the conventions of music magazines?

On the following pages, I will show some comparisons between my magazine and other well established brands

Cover Page

Similarities

All have a consistent colour scheme “GTMM” and “Q” share the use of keeping the logos to

a corner A large cover image taking up the majority of the cover Box-outs containing features to entice a reader in “Kerrang” and “Q” both feature banners along the top

Similarities

Differences

“GTMM” and “Q”’s layouts are relatively simplistic and well spaced out, “Kerrang” is tight and cramped

“GTMM” does not make use of Banners along either the top or bottom

“Kerrang“ makes more use of pictures than either “Q” or “GTMM”

Differences

Contents Page

Similarities

“Q” and “GTMM” both feature a banner containing the word Contents and the Issue name

“Kerrang” and “Q” share the use of many pictures. In retrospect, I would have used more pictures on “GTMM”

“GTMM” and “Kerrang” both have a message from the editor in regards of what to expect from the magazine

Similarities

Double Page Spread

Similarities

Blocks of text are on their own white areas to let them stand out from the background pictures

“Q” and “GTMM” contain pictures of the full band together

All contain text asking the read to carry on to the following page

Similarities

Differences

“GTMM” uses more box outs than the other two magazines

“Kerrang” launches straight into the article, while Q and GTMM are introductory pages to their pieces

Differences

How does my magazine represent social groups? I believe my magazine uses quite a

fresh and almost spartan look, which is becoming ever more popular.

This means the magazine can target the late teens/early 20’s age group, who are renowned for always being on top of fashion

Similarly, the name of the magazine, while generic, aims directly at the readership

The age of the cover star, and those of the featured band closely echo the age of readership.

Media Institutions The magazine would try to appeal to a

mainstream audience, but I believe it would have nuances that would lead it to be on the fringes of what can be defined as mainstream.

I plan for it to be more in depth than other similar magazines, if it were to be published

Publishing As I have already mentioned, I plan to

make my magazine appeal to a niche, but to a niche part of a large market.

A choice of publisher is important, going with a large publisher like Bauer would make funding/publishing easy, but there could potentially be infighting due to similarities between existing products

Choosing a publisher like Natmags would be unhelpful, due to their lack of experience producing music magazines. They focus more on lifestyle brands

IPC media is a good choice, however, they own NME, which is a competitor to my magazine

Otherwise, independent publishers are an interesting place to look. They allow for a more niche style to be covered.

Reader Communication The language used is in-keeping with

the age range, but slightly more technical in places to appeal to those who want to know more.

The colours and images used are subtle and of a limited pallet, which is becoming fashionable. Gradients are only used when necessary, and not on every object. This also applies to drop shadows

To further expand the reach of the magazine: A website is essential to allow two-way

communication between the audience and the writers

However, a lot of websites go further by allowing instant communication via the likes of Twitter or Facebook

The next step up would be a move into the broadcasting area, either with a music radio station, or a TV channel

What I used to design the magazine The majority of layout

work was done using Adobe InDesign CS5

Graphics were handled in both Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Illustrator CS5

Writing work for the blog was done in Microsoft Word 2010

Improvements, Feedback and Personal Evaluation Suggestions for improvements have

been provided throughout, and they have been taken into account. For example:

I took this into account and applied the changes to my front cover

Personally, I’m happy with how this magazine resulted. The cover is pleasing to look at, and incorporates many standards of the magazine industry, while maintaining a sense of independence. The rest of the magazine follows suit, with a strong adherence to a design philosophy and colour choice. It think it impacts on the end reader effectively.