Monday 24 March 2014
Thursday 20 March 2014
Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When designing my magazine, I needed something to look up to for ideas. I thought that if I followed the style of one magazine along with its basic conventions, then I would be successful. I used NME magazine as I thought that it's a very professional and a popular magazine in the indie/rock genre. I also think that the house style works extremely successfully and fits in with the target audience.
My cover image of my magazine fits within the usual photographs that NME magazine uses. A close up image of the artist giving direct eye contact to the audience. This attracts the audience as it appeals to all different social types and draws them into purchasing the magazine as it grabs all of their attention. NME successfully uses this technique therefore I felt it was necessary to use as it is a magazine convention.
I have used the same colour scheme of red, black and white. The masthead however, is very different as I chose not to use a logo and just stuck with the simple word stretched across the main image; I chose not to go for the Black, red and white title as it's famously associated with NME magazine and I wanted to create my own feature that stood out and was easily associated with the magazine. I can use this masthead on any cover with any photo and it would still look realistic and professional. Black tends to compliment most colours so having it permanently in the house style makes the magazine very consistent and well-known. I decided to use a edgy font that isn't regularly used on front covers, I have capitalised my masthead to make it jump out from the page and catch the audience eyes. The typeface looks extremely scruffy however it fits in with my target audience.
The thing i liked most about the NME contents page was the band index. I have chosen to stick to my colour scheme and use a chunky, bold font with my title 'GRANITE contents' on the top right hand side of the double page. This stands out amongst the rest of the cover as
the black and red stand out on top of the white background. I like the fact that bands and artists are featured in not only my contents but some of them are also listened in the NME contents because it allows the audience to know which artists are going to be in the magazine that month, and immediately attracts fans instantly instead of them having to
guess or flick thought the whole magazine to find out.
I also featured the page number and artists name in two different colours, to make the artists names stand out the most. By having this feature it was a quick way to make my magazine appear different and effective as it's not a consistent feature in NME however I would continue to use it. Because i think it's a unique part that makes GRANITE.
It was important that I included the main artists head-line in big, bold writing which was placed at the bottom of the page underneath Charlotte in big black capitalised font. I decided to make this sell line the biggest on the front cover; my whole article inside my magazine is base on Charlotte and her life.
I think the magazine would look very bare and boring without the main headline appearing larger than the rest of text; it wouldn't look complete. Similar to NME, I featured the artists name in larger text of a different colour to draw immediate attention to it. Her name is also featured in a different font to the rest of the text to grab more attention.
The contents page included all of the conventions of a magazine such as the regulars, features and on the cover. I included plenty of images in my contents page to make it look more interesting as most contents pages look quite plain and actually turn the reader against looking at them. I chose to include an subscription box as I wanted to break up the text on the contents page so things popped out to the readers and it wasn't all just one big heap of writing. I included a social networking area on the bottom right hand side of the page as I want the magazine to interact with it's readers very regularly, which fits in well with their interests and the personal relationships of the uses and gratifications theory
The main article features many conventions of a magazine such as the big, bold pull out quotes, full bleed images, small single photos to one hand size of the page that where to do with Camden round house, Charlotte and some live gigs images. All images that are related to my article and strongly appeal to my target audience. From making some final adjustments I was able to make my magazine look more realistic and professional and most importantly appeal to the audience more. I chose images in this article that stood out well and represented the type of language that was included inside it; for example taboo language this fits in perfectly to the image of where Charlotte is standing leaning on the trolley pulling a aggressive face. This conveys that Charlotte is very careless and rebellious. I used 3 columns for the articles layout as it makes the magazine easier to read whilst giving it a professional look. I also used pull out quotes which grabs readers eyes even before they read the article. Using these conventions simply and easily allowed my magazine to look more successful and professional.
Generally speaking, by basing my magazine on an existing magazine (NME) and using its main codes and conventions, I think it has helped me to make my magazine look professional and realistic.
My cover image of my magazine fits within the usual photographs that NME magazine uses. A close up image of the artist giving direct eye contact to the audience. This attracts the audience as it appeals to all different social types and draws them into purchasing the magazine as it grabs all of their attention. NME successfully uses this technique therefore I felt it was necessary to use as it is a magazine convention.
I have used the same colour scheme of red, black and white. The masthead however, is very different as I chose not to use a logo and just stuck with the simple word stretched across the main image; I chose not to go for the Black, red and white title as it's famously associated with NME magazine and I wanted to create my own feature that stood out and was easily associated with the magazine. I can use this masthead on any cover with any photo and it would still look realistic and professional. Black tends to compliment most colours so having it permanently in the house style makes the magazine very consistent and well-known. I decided to use a edgy font that isn't regularly used on front covers, I have capitalised my masthead to make it jump out from the page and catch the audience eyes. The typeface looks extremely scruffy however it fits in with my target audience.
The thing i liked most about the NME contents page was the band index. I have chosen to stick to my colour scheme and use a chunky, bold font with my title 'GRANITE contents' on the top right hand side of the double page. This stands out amongst the rest of the cover as
the black and red stand out on top of the white background. I like the fact that bands and artists are featured in not only my contents but some of them are also listened in the NME contents because it allows the audience to know which artists are going to be in the magazine that month, and immediately attracts fans instantly instead of them having to
guess or flick thought the whole magazine to find out.
I also featured the page number and artists name in two different colours, to make the artists names stand out the most. By having this feature it was a quick way to make my magazine appear different and effective as it's not a consistent feature in NME however I would continue to use it. Because i think it's a unique part that makes GRANITE.
It was important that I included the main artists head-line in big, bold writing which was placed at the bottom of the page underneath Charlotte in big black capitalised font. I decided to make this sell line the biggest on the front cover; my whole article inside my magazine is base on Charlotte and her life.
I think the magazine would look very bare and boring without the main headline appearing larger than the rest of text; it wouldn't look complete. Similar to NME, I featured the artists name in larger text of a different colour to draw immediate attention to it. Her name is also featured in a different font to the rest of the text to grab more attention.
The contents page included all of the conventions of a magazine such as the regulars, features and on the cover. I included plenty of images in my contents page to make it look more interesting as most contents pages look quite plain and actually turn the reader against looking at them. I chose to include an subscription box as I wanted to break up the text on the contents page so things popped out to the readers and it wasn't all just one big heap of writing. I included a social networking area on the bottom right hand side of the page as I want the magazine to interact with it's readers very regularly, which fits in well with their interests and the personal relationships of the uses and gratifications theory
The main article features many conventions of a magazine such as the big, bold pull out quotes, full bleed images, small single photos to one hand size of the page that where to do with Camden round house, Charlotte and some live gigs images. All images that are related to my article and strongly appeal to my target audience. From making some final adjustments I was able to make my magazine look more realistic and professional and most importantly appeal to the audience more. I chose images in this article that stood out well and represented the type of language that was included inside it; for example taboo language this fits in perfectly to the image of where Charlotte is standing leaning on the trolley pulling a aggressive face. This conveys that Charlotte is very careless and rebellious. I used 3 columns for the articles layout as it makes the magazine easier to read whilst giving it a professional look. I also used pull out quotes which grabs readers eyes even before they read the article. Using these conventions simply and easily allowed my magazine to look more successful and professional.
Generally speaking, by basing my magazine on an existing magazine (NME) and using its main codes and conventions, I think it has helped me to make my magazine look professional and realistic.
Q2. How does your media product represent particular socialgroups?
My media product represents my particular social group by the use of costume, props and the type of language used in the magazine. My magazine is aimed at the social class, grade A, B and sometimes C1.
I've decided A and B will be main grade of social class for my magazine which is a very wide audience, however it means that it attracts mostly high/middle-class people who are interested in going to festivals and gigs and enjoy buying magazines monthly and don't mind spending extra money on subscription. I have tried to attract this social class by the use of my model and her costume, make-up and location of my photoshoot what is Camden and Shoreditch.
My model Charlotte Young, is a female in her late teens. She is posing as a popular rock artist for my magazine GRANITE. She has short purple hair that is styled messy and grunge like. For the images Charlotte is wearing, a tartan leather black and red coat, underneath dark red dungarees with black tights and big chunky Doc Martens with a over sized diamond neck less. Her make-up is very simple and plain with just some heavy eye-liner. I decided this outfit choice was appropriate for my target audience as in the indie/rock genre popular magazines such as: NME and Q haven't sexualised women. Becuase the audience are mainly int rested in the talent of the artists music then their looks. I decided to dress my model in the colours of black and red because they fit in with my house style throughout my magazine and are also the main colours of the indie/rock genre. The simple plain faced make-up indicates to my audience that what you see is what you get with Charlotte Young throughout the article in the magazine. Tartan and leather are worn a lot by the Indie/rock community because they're a very popular and fashionable fabrics that are worn by a lot of famous artists in that genre. Clothing is very important when trying to appeal to a certain social groups as they are all interested in similar clothing and styles.
For facial expressions, Charlotte mainly looked quite stern and aggressive giving direct eye contact to the audience in my front cover image I decided this was a good photograph to has a front cover because it will draw the audience in and capture their full attention to my magazine. Charlotte also gave silly faces opening up her mouth in shock and pointing at the painting of herself on the wall too to play on the energetic and exciting side of the magazine. I felt that smiling wasn't a very successful pose as it makes the artist appear to be sweet and innocent which would make my magazine look like it is aimed at a younger audience of the pop genre. however this would be more suitable for a magazine such as Top Of The Pops.
I decided not to use many props in my photoshoot my main prop was a giant metal shopping trolley i decided to use this because it portrayed my main artist Charlotte as a rebellious care free young adult. Who liked having fun. The trolley being heavy metal also fits in with some of the artists I will be featuring inside my magazine. I also used a guitar that is displayed in a small images on my contents page. I decided to use this as it fits in with the Indie genre of the magazine - this prop is musically related which will highlight the initial point of the magazine.
The language featured in my magazine is both quite formal and conversational, at some times some of the things mentioned are quite serious and emotional topics. I decided to use a lot of taboo language because it was appropiate for my target audience and was also popular in other magazines of my genre such as: Q and NME all use this similar lexis and it reflects the honesty and authenticity of the magazine. It makes the reader feel excited and a part of the magazine it could represent how the particular social group tend to speak and their overall vocabulary in a day to day basis.
The way my model Charlotte has posed its very important and it's one of the main things the audience first see. I would like the magazine to appeal to both males and females so there has to be images that suit both genders. I needed to choose a model that wouldn't mind pulling ridiculous faces but also keeping a stern and simple face. I wanted to portray Charlotte as someone who would be role model to my female audience but also attractive and talented to the males.
I have used a house style for my magazine within the colours of red,black,white and some purple. This was to keep it all together and have an professional look. I mainly used red, black and white's informs my audience to the genre of my magazine which again, appeals to my particular social groups. I want my magazine to be intresting whilst also quite simplistic and a little bit serious, adding bright whites and gory blacks with a vibrant red really implies what I am going for.
I've decided A and B will be main grade of social class for my magazine which is a very wide audience, however it means that it attracts mostly high/middle-class people who are interested in going to festivals and gigs and enjoy buying magazines monthly and don't mind spending extra money on subscription. I have tried to attract this social class by the use of my model and her costume, make-up and location of my photoshoot what is Camden and Shoreditch.
My model Charlotte Young, is a female in her late teens. She is posing as a popular rock artist for my magazine GRANITE. She has short purple hair that is styled messy and grunge like. For the images Charlotte is wearing, a tartan leather black and red coat, underneath dark red dungarees with black tights and big chunky Doc Martens with a over sized diamond neck less. Her make-up is very simple and plain with just some heavy eye-liner. I decided this outfit choice was appropriate for my target audience as in the indie/rock genre popular magazines such as: NME and Q haven't sexualised women. Becuase the audience are mainly int rested in the talent of the artists music then their looks. I decided to dress my model in the colours of black and red because they fit in with my house style throughout my magazine and are also the main colours of the indie/rock genre. The simple plain faced make-up indicates to my audience that what you see is what you get with Charlotte Young throughout the article in the magazine. Tartan and leather are worn a lot by the Indie/rock community because they're a very popular and fashionable fabrics that are worn by a lot of famous artists in that genre. Clothing is very important when trying to appeal to a certain social groups as they are all interested in similar clothing and styles.
For facial expressions, Charlotte mainly looked quite stern and aggressive giving direct eye contact to the audience in my front cover image I decided this was a good photograph to has a front cover because it will draw the audience in and capture their full attention to my magazine. Charlotte also gave silly faces opening up her mouth in shock and pointing at the painting of herself on the wall too to play on the energetic and exciting side of the magazine. I felt that smiling wasn't a very successful pose as it makes the artist appear to be sweet and innocent which would make my magazine look like it is aimed at a younger audience of the pop genre. however this would be more suitable for a magazine such as Top Of The Pops.
I decided not to use many props in my photoshoot my main prop was a giant metal shopping trolley i decided to use this because it portrayed my main artist Charlotte as a rebellious care free young adult. Who liked having fun. The trolley being heavy metal also fits in with some of the artists I will be featuring inside my magazine. I also used a guitar that is displayed in a small images on my contents page. I decided to use this as it fits in with the Indie genre of the magazine - this prop is musically related which will highlight the initial point of the magazine.
The language featured in my magazine is both quite formal and conversational, at some times some of the things mentioned are quite serious and emotional topics. I decided to use a lot of taboo language because it was appropiate for my target audience and was also popular in other magazines of my genre such as: Q and NME all use this similar lexis and it reflects the honesty and authenticity of the magazine. It makes the reader feel excited and a part of the magazine it could represent how the particular social group tend to speak and their overall vocabulary in a day to day basis.
The way my model Charlotte has posed its very important and it's one of the main things the audience first see. I would like the magazine to appeal to both males and females so there has to be images that suit both genders. I needed to choose a model that wouldn't mind pulling ridiculous faces but also keeping a stern and simple face. I wanted to portray Charlotte as someone who would be role model to my female audience but also attractive and talented to the males.
I have used a house style for my magazine within the colours of red,black,white and some purple. This was to keep it all together and have an professional look. I mainly used red, black and white's informs my audience to the genre of my magazine which again, appeals to my particular social groups. I want my magazine to be intresting whilst also quite simplistic and a little bit serious, adding bright whites and gory blacks with a vibrant red really implies what I am going for.
Q3. What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?
The institution company I've chosen to distribute my magazine is one that doesn’t yet distribute a magazine that is the same genre or style of my magazine. I believe that this is mandatory so that it can enhance the magazine’s audience who read similar magazines. I would not choose a company such as IPC Media or Bauer Media, who distribute extremely successful magazines such as Kerrang!, NME and Q. This is because my magazine GRANITE is extremely alike to these magazines therefore it’s too similar to use, when the distributors would want something different and unique to produce to their readers. Then it wouldn't be in competition with the other magazines.
These distributors, Future PLC distributes magazines that fit within my genre therefore my magazine would appeal to their audience. This displays that there is consistency within their magazines that they choose to distribute, as all of the magazines follow the typical stereotypes and demographics of male and female audience 16-25 producing magazines about indie/rock music and guitars and drums which are hugely popular within the indie/rock genre, as well as brands such as TOPMAN and Apple – which is generally the same target audience that I aim to reach out to. I feel like this is the most appropriate distributor to go for as they would do a successful job of publishing my magazine – it wouldn’t go unnoticed. Future PLC has great experience in publishing and distributing music magazines as well as involving itself with brands appropriate to the target audience, so it is almost guaranteed that my magazine will be successful with this distributor.
Future PLC have published many different magazines such as: Total Guitar, Musicradar an online magazine, Rhythm and Guitarist. Some of these magazines are not necessarily well-known to most readers; Guitarist is aimed at a different target audience to my magazine, males who are are in there 40's. They all fit within the same genre of my magazine therefore this would enhance my magazine’s readership and circulation as even just mentioning the genre of ‘indie’ or 'rock' would interest a lot more readers of whom read the other magazines as they all have similar attributes and qualities; this would interest future PLC as they would feel intrigued to try out my magazine as they are aware of the previous success from the other magazines that they have published; would like to have a magazine that is open to a wider ranged audience like GRANITE.
I have also decided to use Future PLC as my distributor is because they were named ‘Best Digital Publisher’ at the AOP awards in 2011. Although having a print magazine is very significant, my magazine is going to be a hit online as well therefore a distributor that can maximise the success of my online magazine is essential, especially to beat other successful magazines such as Q. As the new media is currently taking over the traditional, print media, it is necessary that I create both of these types of magazines as I want my magazine to appeal to as much of the audience that I can. I believe that Future PLC will be able to take advantage of my magazine with combined efforts, my magazine will be able to become highly successful.
These distributors, Future PLC distributes magazines that fit within my genre therefore my magazine would appeal to their audience. This displays that there is consistency within their magazines that they choose to distribute, as all of the magazines follow the typical stereotypes and demographics of male and female audience 16-25 producing magazines about indie/rock music and guitars and drums which are hugely popular within the indie/rock genre, as well as brands such as TOPMAN and Apple – which is generally the same target audience that I aim to reach out to. I feel like this is the most appropriate distributor to go for as they would do a successful job of publishing my magazine – it wouldn’t go unnoticed. Future PLC has great experience in publishing and distributing music magazines as well as involving itself with brands appropriate to the target audience, so it is almost guaranteed that my magazine will be successful with this distributor.
Future PLC have published many different magazines such as: Total Guitar, Musicradar an online magazine, Rhythm and Guitarist. Some of these magazines are not necessarily well-known to most readers; Guitarist is aimed at a different target audience to my magazine, males who are are in there 40's. They all fit within the same genre of my magazine therefore this would enhance my magazine’s readership and circulation as even just mentioning the genre of ‘indie’ or 'rock' would interest a lot more readers of whom read the other magazines as they all have similar attributes and qualities; this would interest future PLC as they would feel intrigued to try out my magazine as they are aware of the previous success from the other magazines that they have published; would like to have a magazine that is open to a wider ranged audience like GRANITE.
I have also decided to use Future PLC as my distributor is because they were named ‘Best Digital Publisher’ at the AOP awards in 2011. Although having a print magazine is very significant, my magazine is going to be a hit online as well therefore a distributor that can maximise the success of my online magazine is essential, especially to beat other successful magazines such as Q. As the new media is currently taking over the traditional, print media, it is necessary that I create both of these types of magazines as I want my magazine to appeal to as much of the audience that I can. I believe that Future PLC will be able to take advantage of my magazine with combined efforts, my magazine will be able to become highly successful.
Wednesday 5 March 2014
Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
My magazine suits the age range of 16-25 and both genders, I believe younger
readers are more interested in new music and artists and finding out about
them. My research and audience data also suggests this as it shows that young
people are more willing to research and find out about new artists whereas
older readers know who they like, and know their styles. I think the social
class and gender of my readers is a lot wider my results highlighted, females
and males were both interested in new media to keep up to date and to
engage with their favourite artists. This was useful as it meant that I knew it
could add more features using social media into my magazine, which I have done with Twitter and Instagram, and also decided to
create a website to watch exclusive videos and to enter competitions to win big
prices such as; Glastonbury tickets, meeting a band/artist. Because my audience
aren’t too old they would be computer literate so things like android phone
apps and viewing my website would be extremely easy for them.
I also worked out that my target audience enjoy going to festival, gigs, and buying music off ITunes. This emphasis that most of the people who are buying my magazine are from a middle class background; they will have to be able to afford festivals, gigs, buying online music and also buying my magazine what is priced at £4.50 monthly what is an affordable price for a monthly magazine. This helped me create the other features in my magazine including ‘100 greatest gigs ever’ and ‘Win tickets to Glastonbury’. I also have included QR scanners because in my research I saw that nearly all of my target audience had smart phones which have access to the internet so therefore I wanted to use this to my advantage so my audience can scan through and automatically open my magazines web page.
I also had a think about the style of bands and artists in my magazine. All of them are from the indie and rock genre. I decided to have my magazine focusing on two genres because then it opens a wider readership. However both of the genres fit in extremely well together and most of my audience will enjoy listening to both.
At the moment these two genres seem to have a very popular following online and mainly from young people. Because my target audience enjoy listening to new up and coming bands. They like to have their own taste and their not scared of what others think of their music choice. The indie-rock following is full of people who want to find new exciting bands and buy their albums, go to their concerts and support them online. A great way to get my audience to buy my magazine is to advertise a free ITunes song from either the rock or indie genre in each monthly issue. This would be a fantastic way for my magazine to be known; people would be wanting to buy it just to get the free song. However they will also have to read through some of my magazine. This could get them into liking my magazine so then they will carry on buying each issue. When thinking about the styles of the artists I also had to think about the way I would present these bands. I had to make sure the bands had attention grabbing headlines, and that the images were sharp, unique and interesting. I needed to make sure that my target audience would wanted to pick the magazine up and read it. It needed to be different from all of the others on the shelf it need to be bold and appeal to both gender and most ages.
The audience for my music magazine are 16-25 teenagers and young adults, interested in the genre and want to engage in new ways with my music. The social class for my magazine will be grade A, B and sometimes grade C1. A and B will be main grade of social class for my magazine; my target audience will mainly be, class A upper middle class, working as a higher managerial, administrative or professional. class B upper middle class, would be intermediate managerial, administrative or professional. Class C1 lower middle class, supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional.
These job types will impact on my magazine because the majority of my target audience will be earning a good quantity of money and will be extremely willing to pay the price of £4.50 for my magazine.The psychographics of my magazine will apply to lovers of music festivals, gigs and those who enjoy reading and being kept up to date with the latest news and information about music and their favourite artists. I believe that my target audience will fit within the 'mainstreamer' and 'reformers'; they are very individual and independent people who do not like to follow the crowd. Their social habits will be consumption via hard copies from shops such as WHSmith and newsagents, as well as reading online or on apps as they enjoy to be on the go.
I also worked out that my target audience enjoy going to festival, gigs, and buying music off ITunes. This emphasis that most of the people who are buying my magazine are from a middle class background; they will have to be able to afford festivals, gigs, buying online music and also buying my magazine what is priced at £4.50 monthly what is an affordable price for a monthly magazine. This helped me create the other features in my magazine including ‘100 greatest gigs ever’ and ‘Win tickets to Glastonbury’. I also have included QR scanners because in my research I saw that nearly all of my target audience had smart phones which have access to the internet so therefore I wanted to use this to my advantage so my audience can scan through and automatically open my magazines web page.
I also had a think about the style of bands and artists in my magazine. All of them are from the indie and rock genre. I decided to have my magazine focusing on two genres because then it opens a wider readership. However both of the genres fit in extremely well together and most of my audience will enjoy listening to both.
At the moment these two genres seem to have a very popular following online and mainly from young people. Because my target audience enjoy listening to new up and coming bands. They like to have their own taste and their not scared of what others think of their music choice. The indie-rock following is full of people who want to find new exciting bands and buy their albums, go to their concerts and support them online. A great way to get my audience to buy my magazine is to advertise a free ITunes song from either the rock or indie genre in each monthly issue. This would be a fantastic way for my magazine to be known; people would be wanting to buy it just to get the free song. However they will also have to read through some of my magazine. This could get them into liking my magazine so then they will carry on buying each issue. When thinking about the styles of the artists I also had to think about the way I would present these bands. I had to make sure the bands had attention grabbing headlines, and that the images were sharp, unique and interesting. I needed to make sure that my target audience would wanted to pick the magazine up and read it. It needed to be different from all of the others on the shelf it need to be bold and appeal to both gender and most ages.
The audience for my music magazine are 16-25 teenagers and young adults, interested in the genre and want to engage in new ways with my music. The social class for my magazine will be grade A, B and sometimes grade C1. A and B will be main grade of social class for my magazine; my target audience will mainly be, class A upper middle class, working as a higher managerial, administrative or professional. class B upper middle class, would be intermediate managerial, administrative or professional. Class C1 lower middle class, supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional.
These job types will impact on my magazine because the majority of my target audience will be earning a good quantity of money and will be extremely willing to pay the price of £4.50 for my magazine.
Tuesday 4 March 2014
Class presentation and feedback
When presenting my music magazine to the rest of the class it allowed me to confidently sell my magazine and identify all the reasoning behind all the features of my magazine. It also allowed me to find out feed back from my peers to see what they thought of my magazine overall. I took this opportunity to ask my peers to fill out a five sheeted questionnaire that helped me with improving my magazine. From receiving feedback from my target audience will allow to me identity the improvements needed for my magazine to make it the best it could be. My main concerns I decided to address to my peers were issues with my contents page and third double page spread.
Improvements for my third double page spread:. Add more images to the right hand side of the page
. Not have a full bleed image. As they've been used frequently.
. Use other colours than black.
Improvements for my content page:
. Include images of artists/bands performing live. E.g. Reading Festival or Camden Round House
. Fill in gaps at underneath 'On the cover' with a subscription box.
. Write more headings for 'On the cover'.
I have listened to what my peers have sign from my feedback forms, however I disagree with some of the improvements, such as: not using black so often. This colour fits into my music genre of Indie/rock. It's a popular colour that is used in many well known magazines such as NME and Kerrang. I have listened to some of the improvements from my peers; I agree parts of it needed improving.
I have now changed my contents page by adding in some photographs I took at Reading Festival this Summer, I also took some more photographs of different models, to look like they where in a band. This filled in the space down the middle of my page. I also added a subscription box underneath 'On the cover' I decided this would be popular with my target audience because they're in the Class A,B and C1 and also working as most of them are at an older age they can afford to pay a little extra each month to have GRANITE my magazine delivered to their doors. I also double checked all of my sell-lines on my front cover to make sure I had included them on my contents page. I realised that I hadn't included them all so I added one that I miss in to fill the space.
I personally didn't want to change my third double spread because I really love all of the full bleed images. I also think it's really appropriate for my target audience because they have the money to spend and my magazine is priced at £4.00 a month, what is quite pricey for a new magazine coming out. Printing full bleed images in colour is quite expensive, but I love it. Because it's something different and unique.
Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?
The main way in which I attracted my target audience was by the cover image and content featured inside the magazine. The main attention-grabbing feature is the mid shot image I used on the front cover which appeals to the audience and intrigues the audience to purchase my magazine. The colour scheme, of which follows my popular house style of red, white, black and purple attracts the audience as it's big, bright and bold which stands out and makes the magazine look attractive for the buyer. It's a very popular house style within rock music magazines such as: NME and The Rolling Stones. It also is suitable for both genders.
I decided to create a small competition with my magazine, by including quotes of song lyrics from the indie/rock genre, on the top of each double page. To enter the competition you have to tweet my magazines Twitter account, with the name of the song and the artist/band. The winner will then receive a free ticket to Reading Festival. I think this works very well with my magazine; my target audience enjoy going to festivals. From seeing this competition they would be more interested in my magazine. The front cover features the model giving direct eye contact whilst looking bare face but having a striking unique hair colour - this makes the model appeal to both genders as she can be seen as an idol to women and attractive and just a good performer to males therefore engaging both of the sexes to purchase the magazine to find out more about her as she lures them in.
When you first look inside my magazine, the reader will be automatically glued to all of the hot topics I have chosen to include in the contents page and they won't know where to look first. The list along the left hand side of the contents page is 'The band index' with a list of all of the artists in the Indie/rock genre, some that are well known and also some that would be up and coming artists. However my target audience are very open at exploring unheard of artists and like being unique and different listening to new artists and not following the crowds.
My article is very long and interesting. It's packed with exciting stories and news which keeps the reader interested. However towards the end some of my article uses taboo language and turns quite aggressive. This is appropriate for my target audience; the Indie/rock genre tend to have this in their magazine articles. My article is aimed at both genders and late teens/young adults. This has been made clear because of the choice of topic is appropriate for both genders and the, text is acceptable for the age range.
My article goes over 2 and a half double page spreads, that all have full bleed images. These images inside creates an personal relationships between the magazine and the buyer. By having a interview of Charlotte Young's gig inside GRANITE, allows the reader to find out everyone's opinion on Young and not just GRANITE. It also gives the readers something to laugh at and some factual information.
For the appearance of my magazine, I decided to make my GRANITE have a very unique, professional, grungy and edgy look. The house-style of my magazine is red, white, purple and black - colours which connote power, royalty, love and passion - all of which I believe my magazine has. Red is also a very gender neutral colour and highlights the beauty and loyalty of the magazine. Red appeals greatly to the audience therefore making it look professional and attractive to the buyer. This gives the magazine a style that people will remember and look for in the future, especially on shelves as it is very eye-catching. I decided to add some purple into my magazine so that it was a little more unique then all of the other Indie/rock magazine out there today.
I mainly have attracted my audience into my magazine by advertising well known bands and artists as sell-lines on the front cover. This will make my reader want to pick up my magazine and want to have a look inside.
By using all of my own images, It really gave the magazine a real and genuine look. Using photographs I took myself at Reading Festival this year. These images immediately inform the reader of the sort of concerts which will be discussed, whilst also indicating that the magazine interacts with the audience and credits the gig-goers by using their images - a lot of people are interested in being featured on GRANITE'S instagram account for their own personal taken images therefore using this feature has created a unique selling point for my magazine which attracts my audience.
In earlier blog posts, I mentioned using new media to attract my specific target audience as through research I discovered that my target audience are thoroughly engaged with spending the majoirty of their time online on social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. I have taken to these social networking websites by creating accounts with them to promote the magazine further. This enables the audience to stay involved constantly with the magazine and increase personal relationships with GRANITE and help them to gain more information. I have advertised GRANITE'S website on each double page spread in my magazine and also included their Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and Facebook account.
I decided to create a small competition with my magazine, by including quotes of song lyrics from the indie/rock genre, on the top of each double page. To enter the competition you have to tweet my magazines Twitter account, with the name of the song and the artist/band. The winner will then receive a free ticket to Reading Festival. I think this works very well with my magazine; my target audience enjoy going to festivals. From seeing this competition they would be more interested in my magazine. The front cover features the model giving direct eye contact whilst looking bare face but having a striking unique hair colour - this makes the model appeal to both genders as she can be seen as an idol to women and attractive and just a good performer to males therefore engaging both of the sexes to purchase the magazine to find out more about her as she lures them in.
When you first look inside my magazine, the reader will be automatically glued to all of the hot topics I have chosen to include in the contents page and they won't know where to look first. The list along the left hand side of the contents page is 'The band index' with a list of all of the artists in the Indie/rock genre, some that are well known and also some that would be up and coming artists. However my target audience are very open at exploring unheard of artists and like being unique and different listening to new artists and not following the crowds.
My article is very long and interesting. It's packed with exciting stories and news which keeps the reader interested. However towards the end some of my article uses taboo language and turns quite aggressive. This is appropriate for my target audience; the Indie/rock genre tend to have this in their magazine articles. My article is aimed at both genders and late teens/young adults. This has been made clear because of the choice of topic is appropriate for both genders and the, text is acceptable for the age range.
My article goes over 2 and a half double page spreads, that all have full bleed images. These images inside creates an personal relationships between the magazine and the buyer. By having a interview of Charlotte Young's gig inside GRANITE, allows the reader to find out everyone's opinion on Young and not just GRANITE. It also gives the readers something to laugh at and some factual information.
For the appearance of my magazine, I decided to make my GRANITE have a very unique, professional, grungy and edgy look. The house-style of my magazine is red, white, purple and black - colours which connote power, royalty, love and passion - all of which I believe my magazine has. Red is also a very gender neutral colour and highlights the beauty and loyalty of the magazine. Red appeals greatly to the audience therefore making it look professional and attractive to the buyer. This gives the magazine a style that people will remember and look for in the future, especially on shelves as it is very eye-catching. I decided to add some purple into my magazine so that it was a little more unique then all of the other Indie/rock magazine out there today.
I mainly have attracted my audience into my magazine by advertising well known bands and artists as sell-lines on the front cover. This will make my reader want to pick up my magazine and want to have a look inside.
By using all of my own images, It really gave the magazine a real and genuine look. Using photographs I took myself at Reading Festival this year. These images immediately inform the reader of the sort of concerts which will be discussed, whilst also indicating that the magazine interacts with the audience and credits the gig-goers by using their images - a lot of people are interested in being featured on GRANITE'S instagram account for their own personal taken images therefore using this feature has created a unique selling point for my magazine which attracts my audience.
In earlier blog posts, I mentioned using new media to attract my specific target audience as through research I discovered that my target audience are thoroughly engaged with spending the majoirty of their time online on social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. I have taken to these social networking websites by creating accounts with them to promote the magazine further. This enables the audience to stay involved constantly with the magazine and increase personal relationships with GRANITE and help them to gain more information. I have advertised GRANITE'S website on each double page spread in my magazine and also included their Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and Facebook account.
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