Magazine Evaluation

In this evaluation, I will be discussing my brief and what I aimed to achieve from my magazine.

Also I will be talking about my audience, the forms and conventions and the media industry as a whole. Finally I will evaluate my progress and conclude whether I believe I have been

successful in completing the given task.

My Brief I aimed to design and create a music magazine that would be both exciting and informative. I chose to focus on the alternative genre as that is my preference in music magazines as I read ones such as Kerrang! and NME, I took my inspiration from these. I chose this genre as I believed that I would be able to relate to it the most and I was most comfortable with the style of the writing and the layout. For my research purposes, I browsed the websites of Kerrang! and NME and also bought a copy of Kerrang! so I could establish the ratio of writing to images and how much slang was used. My research helped me to decide how relaxed to be with the language, how many images I should use and what sort of fonts would be appropriate.

Forms and Conventions I believe that my magazine follows the conventions of a music magazine, as I used fonts I thought would make my magazine have a modern feel to it, which is what most magazines aim to achieve. The Kerrang! music covers, contents and articles I looked at had a fair amount of images, and therefore I tried to mirror this convention in my final piece. I challenged the forms and conventions of the magazines in my genre by making my text a lot more futuristic, whereas the font of Kerrang! for example, is a lot more scattered and distressed, which reflects the genre of the magazine, however I aimed to create a timeless effect with my font choice. On my front cover, I included one primary image and one secondary image. On my contents page I included five images, which fulfils the conventions of music magazines. I decided to position my mast head in the left hand top corner, as this followed the conventions. The rule of 3 I used was red, black and white.

Social Groups I intended to make my magazine aimed at the younger audience members, i.e. Teenagers. This can be reflected in the price of the magazine, at £2.99 per issue it is affordable. The majority of the band content was probably leaning more towards the rock genre, however I did not specify in the magazine that it was a specifically rock magazine. Teenagers are represented in the magazine as members of the band of the primary article. Teenagers are often represented badly so I decided to show that they are not all badly behaved. Their clothes represent their social groups, and the interview shows that they can be individuals. I did not create sarcasm towards other social groups, however I did ask a question in the interview of the band were or were not ‘emo’. This could be classed as sarcastic towards other social groups, however it was not intended. Social class is not relevant in my magazine, as the language is not particularly formal, however I believe that the readers would either fit in group D or group E.

Media Institution I believe that my magazine would be published and distributed by a mainstream publisher, as most of the popular music magazines are. I would use a successful publisher such as IPC Media. If it was published by a larger company, it would have a better chance of achieving a higher level of readers as they would be able to provide advice and they would be aware of the techniques that are needed to make my magazine appealing to a wider audience. A larger company would be able to gain a substantial amount of advertising revenue, and would also be able to use synergy to gain readers. I believe that my magazine shows potential to be mainstream as it uses a fair amount of images, which make it attractive, and the language used is colloquial, yet understandable at the same time.

Audience I believe my audience would be anyone interested in the alternative music scene, or someone who enjoys finding new genres of music and unsigned bands. I picked this genre as I can relate to it personally as I enjoy al types of music, and especially finding new bands. If I was being really specific about my target audience I would say it would be people in their late teens, of either genre. I decided to attract this audience by using phrases on the front cover such as “ World Exclusive” and “ Best Gigs Ever”. The word gig, usually insinuates a concert, mainly for the alternative genre. I believed that this word would attract people that are interested in music as a whole, and not just a specific genre. I also tried to make my magazine appealing by using more than one USP on the cover, for example “Win a years supply of gig tickets” would make someone want to read the magazine for the chance of winning.

Technologies Through the development of my magazine, I have developed a few technological skills that I aim to develop more. One of these is my camera skills. I learnt a lot more about angles and effects that could be used to maximise the potential of my images that I chose to use. I also learnt how to use my Photoshop skills further also, and I managed to improve my cutting out skills, as can be demonstrated on my front cover and also my contents page. I used the gradient tool on the contents page to demonstrate that I was familiar with it. I also frequently used the free transform tool, which meant I was able to angle my images slightly to give the style a slightly more random feel, to go along with the house style of my magazine. I also used the drop shadow tool frequently, to either make an object more prominent or to make the colours stand out from each other.

Step- By- Step

Step 1;Open up the Photo and make it layer 1.

Step 2 – Using the eraser tool, cut out as much of the background as possible.

Step 3 – Using the quick selection tool, highlight the people.

Preliminary Task Looking back at my preliminary task, I realise now that there are a few things that I would change, and there are a few things that I have learnt as I have developed my music magazine. The fonts of my preliminary task do not particularly fit in with the genre, and I realise now that I would edit these if I was able to change them. I have also realised that one of the images is not of a very good quality, and also the quality of the editing was not good enough. These are the things that I would change, however the rest I am pleased with. Through drafting my music magazine three times, I was able to finally achieve the look that suited the genre best, which I now know to be the ‘futuristic’ look. I began with a plain background with a font called ‘distress’, which made the magazine look a bit too young for my target audience. I then changed my fonts but also made the background colour orange, which I later realised made my magazine look too ‘busy’. I finally settled with a plain background and fonts called ‘Good Times’ and ‘Thundergod II’.

General Evaluation Overall, I am satisfied with my final product. I believe that it fulfils my brief that I set myself. I wanted to produce a magazine that would allow people to have the opportunity to discover brand new types of music and brand new bands. I wanted to make it timeless and to appeal to all young people. I believe that this is reflected in the style of my images, in the fonts that I use, and also the colours. The red, white and black font colours are simple and appeal to both sexes, but they are also attention drawing. The background also helps to create a neutral feel. I like the layout of the pages and how I manage to involve a substantial amount of text, without making the pages seem crowded. I managed to include everything I wanted to say also. I like the layout of contents page and my front cover also. If I were to make another issue of MFN I would keep the house style and colours the same, however I would change the layout of the contents page to make each issue a bit different, and also make the image on my front cover be of a different camera shot. I would also change my primary article to be a review rather than an interview. Overall, this would give my magazine a bit more variation.

Feedback Positive Feedback; “The lighter background on the cover makes the image stand out and draw your attention to it. The layout of the images on the contents page gives the magazine character. Overall, a good piece.” “ I like the way that the font used on the front cover draws attention to certain articles.” “ The use of light backgrounds help to give the magazine a more spacious feel.”

Criticisms; “ The contents page and the article seem slightly crowded as there is a lot of information on there, therefore the spacing needs to be edited.” “ The front cover could be changed slightly, maybe using a different image, so more features could be included without covering the main image too much.” “The background could have had a colour to keep up with the theme of making the magazine random.”

Final Images