Make One Two - Evaluation

Louis Schofield

MastheadLead article

Price

Issue date

Main image

Tagline

Cover lines

Masthead

Main storyMain image

Features

Extras

Intro Main Image

Author’s nameInterview

Ways in which my magazine uses and

develops forms and conventions • MASTHEAD – The masthead is key in showing the reader the overall house style of

the magazine, for this reason I chose a fairly simple black font on a white background as this; a, makes the masthead stand out from it’s background; b, shows the reader the house style I was going for which, going by my survey results, was simple/easy layout, with not too much going on as my target audience seemed to be put off by magazines that were really busy with images, quotes etc.

• MAIN IMAGE – Another way in which a magazine will attract their readers is through the main image as it shows the reader the main attraction of the magazine. If the image is aesthetically pleasing it will increase their interest in purchasing said magazine. My main image is a two piece guitar band, this is easy to see as both are wearing guitars. I shot it against a white background as it means they are the focal point of the shot, and there is nothing distracting the reader.

• Lead Article and Cover Lines – These help attract the reader by picking out key articles and advertising them. If a reader sees something that he/she are interested in inside the magazine, they are more likely to purchase it. My idea was to have these dotted around the main image, so not to detract too much attention from the main article.

Ways in which my magazine uses and develops forms and conventions

• CONTENTS – The first thing the reader sees once opening the magazine is the contents page. A contents page needs to be clear and precise in order for the reader to know what articles are where. However it also needs pictures to entice it’s target audience. For the contents page in my magazine I used images to make each article more appealing to the reader, with the main article having the largest, then going down in size. I decided that the page number needed to be big, and in front of the article headline for the magazine to be easy to navigate. In my survey results it said that each person preferred magazines to be clear, and free of too much colour and pictures, as it distracts from the main point of a contents page – to guide the reader through the magazine. So this is why I made it minimal as possible.

• DOUBLE PAGE – Stereotypically double page spreads are there to show the main attraction of that weeks issue. It tends to involve and image of the band/musician with and interview/article on them. I have carried on with the format by having the image of my band in the middle of the page, with the interview/article around it. I wanted the focalisation to be on the article itself, so I made sure there was nothing else on the page that would distract the reader’s attention. I also made sure it wasn’t too wordy, as the feedback I got was that people didn’t want to read too much as they found it tedious.

How my media represents particular social groups

• A big way in which my magazine represents is through my chosen band, ‘gentlemen’. In the interview I took you see that they are regular everyday young adults, which the reader can relate to. In the image on my double page spread, we see that they are just two young guys who created music in their bedroom, they don’t have the latest expensive equipment. I think that this encourages and gives a good example as to what more and more young people are achieving at this moment in time.

• Also, through feedback I found out that teenagers feel that there are not enough magazines that cover youth culture as a whole, therefore I decided that this would be a good avenue to explore. Although the main focus of the magazine is up and coming, indie bands and artists (I needed to have some sort of base otherwise the magazine would become too hectic), I also included articles on skateboarding, gigs etc.

• As you can see in my mood board, I like to focus on what’s popular within youth culture, from films and gaming, to fashion, to festivals. All these things represent young people as a whole, and each aspect is used as a creative outlet by young people.

What media institution woulddistribute my magazine and why

• Looking at my magazine, I feel that the closest mainstream magazine to mine on the shelves at the moment is NME, therefore I would probably chose Bauer Media to distribute my magazine. This is because I think that the competition from NME would be too strong as they have been at the forefront of new music for over half a decade.

• Bauer Media distribute both Q and Kerrang magazine, both of which are also big magazines within young people in the UK, however neither of them would be competitors with my magazine as they both deal with different aspects the music industry.

• Within the magazine industry, almost every big company will have a website. I would like to go along with this convention as the whole point of my magazine was that it was like a blog in magazine form. By this mean that it is as up to date as possible with all the goings on, with other stories being put up on the blog throughout the week. I feel that magazines need to embrace the use of the internet, rather than compete, therefore I would make it much more accessible to the readers.

The target audience formy magazine

• Through my survey results and asking around college, friend groups I managed to come up with this reader profile, it shows what my audience listens to, watches, what they like to do with their spare time etc.

• I found out that the most popular music for a magazine would be indie/alternative/dance, however, it also became apparent that they wanted new music to listen to, therefore I decided that I would make sure my magazine would spend a lot of time focusing on up-and-coming artists.

• Another major thing that I found was that people wanted more than just music, they wanted other aspects of youth culture like art, photography. So I thought it would be a good thing to add.

• A big focal point was that they were interested in expressing what youth culture is really like. Many magazines skip over youth culture. So I decided that I would divulge into the ‘darker aspects’ of youth culture like drug abuse, running away etc.

Audience Feedback

• Age: 16 – 24• Gender: Both male and female• How would you describe my magazine?: Minimalistic, to the point, indie/alternative.• Is the contents page easy to navigate?: Yes, the page numbers were precise, easy to

see which picture fitted which image.• What could be improved: The general feedback was that is was almost too simple, a

bit more detail would’ve made it more aesthetically pleasing.• Would you buy this magazine?: 80% said they would.• What genre of music would you say my magazine focuses on?: Indie/alternative

music with new artists.

What have you learnt?

• I think that this project has improved my media based skills a lot, prior to this my Photoshop skill was minimal, now I can use it easily.

• I think that this project has only increased my ambition to go on further into media, and I will definitely be hoping to take media at A2.

• However if I could go back and do it again I would change quite a bit, and the end of it all I feel I could have done a lot of a better job with my magazine.