Flat Plan

As seen in this picutre, my brand identity can be seen throughout my magazine. The colour scheme, stars and hearts in the background, the models and their clothing, the banners. All of these factors have shown my brand identity as all they are cute and bright and their clothes represent the colourful life that they live in. One of the models hair and her scarf are matching showing the brightness of the magazine which is carried out throughout the whole magazine.

Evaluation - Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When I first started using Microsoft Publisher for my preliminary task, I found it difficult to get the hang of making a magazine. I did not know exactly how magazines were constructed or formed in order to attract a certain demographic. I also found it hard to focus on the mode of address because my target audience was very broad. This is why I believe that my preliminary task was not done to my best capability.  It was unorganised, the copy did not line up and the images were placed all over the place. The typography also did not represent my demographic which were students, parents and teachers. It was too funky and not as serious as a school magazine should look like. The pictures on the contents page also did not to any of the stories. This shows that I was unfamiliar to how magazines link everything and have the same theme throughout the magazine.

In magazines, there is usually a three colour theme throughout the whole magazine. Even if there isn’t a three colour theme, there is always some sort of theme colour throughout the magazine. This helps the reader to define between the different sections in the magazine. For my preliminary task, the colour theme changed from the front page of being black, baby blue and yellow to being on the contents page of dark blue, black and white. This made my school magazine look unprofessional and rather odd.

After researching about the structure and form of magazines, making my final music magazine proved to be a lot more time consuming however easier because I knew how to construct it so it looks more professional. For the front page and contents page, I found it a lot easier to form them to attract a certain demographic of young teenage girls. However, for the double page spread it was more difficult because we did not make one for the preliminary task so I had to find out and research the forms and conventions of a double page spread.

I found out how the front page, contents page and double page spread were constructed by finding two different magazines which were aimed at different demographics and analysing them. This helped me to see how magazines who are aimed at a similar demographic to me construct and form their magazines in order to attract their target audience. It provided me with the information I needed to in order to make my magazine look professional. It built up my skills in using Microsoft Publisher, using all aspects of the programme to make my magazine look as proficient as possible.

While making the preliminary task, the pictures I used which I took were not photo-shopped using Photoshop or Photo Sherif. However when doing my music magazine, both or one of these programmes had to be used. I decided to use Photo Sherif because I found it easier. From using this programme, I have learnt and gained a lot of new skills such as cropping the background, whitening and getting rid of spot blemishes. It look me a while to get used to using it because it was my first time using such a programme to manipulate photos to make them look better than life (hyper-reality). I did not airbrush my images or use cropping to make the models body look slimmer because from the research I carried out, it showed that it made the models look unreal and it gave the wrong image to young girls. The young girls look up to the people featured in magazines as inspiration, so if I did crop their body or airbrush them, it would make the young girls see something that isn’t real as being perfect.

Along with the technological skills, I have also gained insight into theories that magazines use such as The Male Gaze and Uses and Gratification theory. I learnt that magazines purposely use the pictures where the models pose fits the male gaze. They use this to attract their audience which sells their magazines. All magazines do this because as the theory suggests, we look at everything from a males perspective (the camera lens is seen in a male’s perspective). Magazines also use the Uses and Gratification theory in order to help the readers relate to the magazine and articles. This is so the reader can escape from everyday reality problems. This is why magazines mainly use interviews in their double page spreads. Interviews tend to draw the reader in because it makes the reader feel as if they are asking the questions and they are getting the answers straight away, so it is as if they are interviewing the person themselves.

Overall, I have learnt and developed many technological skills in order to make the final product from the preliminary task. Researching about magazines has helped me make my final product look more professional and formal. My preliminary task was not done to my best ability because I did not have the knowledge that I had about magazines when I made my final product. This is why my music magazine is better than my preliminary task of a school magazine.

Evalutation - Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I used Microsoft Publisher in order to contruct my magazine. This was a good programme to use in order to line up all of the copy and the page numbers as it had lines which went on the side of the page numbers which would let you know when the lining is right. There is also a wide variation of colours which can be used in the magazine which also helped as I wanted to go for a watered down colour. However, using Miscrosoft Publisher I came across some problems. For example, I couldn't get the exact same colour for the background on each page because Publisher would not save the colour that I had on the front page. Also, when writing the copy (article) on the double page spread, I realised that the text didn't fit around the quote well. There were a lot of spaces which made the magazine look unprofesssional.The text didn’t wrap around the quotes automatically so therefore I had to increase the gaps between some of the words to make the text wrap properly. Most magazines and newspapers do this so they do not have huge haps which would make magazines and newspapers look more qualified.

For the pictures, I used picture sherif. This helped me with the layout and editing of the photos. I used photo sherif in order to brighten the picture by using 'warmer', whiten the eyes and crop the photo. This is the first time I ever used photo sherif so it was a new experience which meant I learnt how to use a lot of the tools in order to edit my pictures. It was very easy to undo an edit if you did it wrong, which I did many times. This is how I made the pictures look professional and hyper-realistic without airbrushing them.

From using these technologies, it has shown me that the magazine creator has all the power to represent their magazine in any way they want. However, using desktop publishing in order to make my magazine fit or challenge the code and conventions was hard becuase this is not a professional standard software used by major magazines. Using sherif and photoshop has helped me in the learning process of contructing the mode of address.

Evaluation - Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

My front page will be the main incentive to attract my audience. The masthead is funky and girlie which fits in with the main image as they are seen to be girlie and cute. The main image identifies with my target audience as they are both young girls who are in their mid-teens. They are also seen as not the typical teens as one of the girls have an eyebrow piercing. This means that this magazine can also relate to the ‘unusual’, not typical young teens which means my magazine relates to almost every young teenage girl out there wanting to buy my music magazine.

On the front page, I have included free giveaways and competitions. I used the competition of winning 2 tickets to see Justin Bieber and a free giveaway of a make-up set picked by Katy Perry.  This is a way of attracting my target audience in order for them to purchase my magazine. I chose Justin Bieber and Katy Perry because they are very popular music artists at the moment and my audience like to listen to both of their songs. The promotion suggests that they can win the tickets. This will help my target audience engage with my magazine and use synergy. Due to the advancement in technology, the internet is more accessible to young children now compared to 30 years ago. As shown by figures by the ONS 77% of households have internet access. Also, I have found that 45% of internet users used a mobile phone to connect to the internet, and as more young people are getting mobile phones (smart phones) then the number of young children using the internet will be increasing.

Creating a user account on twitter and creating a fan page for my magazine will help my audience engage with the magazine using different social media platforms. I will also create an actual website where all stories and things on the printed magazine will be on the website. This helps in attracting my audience as most young teenage girls own a laptop and would rather use the internet than go out and buy a magazine.

Another way in which I have tried to attract my target audience is by the models and main images I have used in my magazine. It also links in with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as the main images are off to best friends which will attract my audience as they see friend ship to be the most important thing to them. Also, my magazine shows that dreams that we aspire to can come true. This suggests that my magazine is giving a sense of ‘Self-actualization’ as my magazines give the target audience a sense of believing that they can achieve their dreams and aspirations. This will make my demographic more likely to buy my magazine because they feel like they have a need to.

The Uses and Gratifications theory explain why we use the media. I have used this to attract my audience because we use the media in order to entertain ourselves and provide ourselves information. I have used this in my magazine in order for my demographic to feel entertained by the stories covered in the magazine, which also allows them to be provided with information about their aspirations. The magazine gives an escape from everyday life, and instead helps to be indulged by the stories and pictures on the magazine. As the article is an interview, it helps the audience get lost in the copy as it makes them feel as if they are asking the questions.

Personal identity is also another aspect of the Uses and Gratifications theory where the audience find reinforcement for personal values and finding models of behaviour. The people that I have used in my magazine are models for young teenagers. Integration and social interaction is used in my magazine to attract the audience as it is enabling the readers of my magazine to connect with society through reading the magazine.

Evaluation - Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

I decided that I would aim my magazine at young teenage girls aged between roughly 11 and 14. My demographic are still seen as children, past the age of around 14 their taste and interests change and become more mature.  

I chose my demographic by creating a questionnaire on QuestionPro (http://www.slideshare.net/Shivie18/questionnaire-results-12572904) and uploading it to Facebook and twitter. I also presented my media results (http://youtu.be/zwIjvGnaBgU). This showed the demographic that I will be aiming my magazine at. By using QuestionPro, it made it easier to pick out my demographic which I presented using graphs on Microsoft PowerPoint. From the questionnaire I found out how often my demographic buy magazines, their favourite music artists, who they aspire to etc. The results helped my construct and form my magazine in order to fit my target audience. From my questionnaire I found that most of my demographic listen to pop music, as supposed to heavy metal. I also found out that most of the music artists answered when asked ‘Who is your favourite artist?’ was pop music singers. This links back to when I found that most of my target audience listen to pop music such as Justin Bieber, One Direction and JLS. This therefore helped with who I was aiming my music magazine at, young teenage girls who listen to pop music. Also, as most of the artists chosen were male, it suggests that all young teenage girls think about are boys, showing that I will have to attract my audience by using pictures/stories about some boys in my magazine, however my magazine would not be covered by boys because it is not the best way to represent young girls and so therefore I would have free giveaways so there are other incentives to buy the magazine.

The results also gave me an insight into how often people buy magazines. Most of them said never, however a lot said once a month. This helped me decide that I will release my a magazine issue once a month but I will also get my magazine on the internet in order to keep up with the latest trends as more and more people go on the internet to look at the news or magazines. Most of the people who took my questionnaire wanted to be a tiger. This shows that they want to be seen as powerful and independent people. The results also helped me pick out a price range for the magazine. I will price my magazine at £2.00 because my demographic will not have jobs and their parents might also buy the magazine for them. So putting the price low will give them an incentive to buy the magazine because it will be cheaper than other girlie music magazines.

When asked who they aspire to be, most of them put successful people who have a lot of money. However, some said ‘no-one’, this shows that young teenagers would like to be themselves and wouldn’t want to change to be anyone else. This is showing that the media is encouraging the younger generation to become independent. However, young people still follow the celebrity culture by reading stories about them and wanting to have some of their success. From this answer, it helped me decide to put famous aspiring people on my magazine that the younger generation will be able to relate to. I then finally found out what they aspire to be when they are older. This linked in with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as they would like to be near the top at the ‘Esteem’ or ‘Self-actualization’ stage.

I then created an audience profile which contains everything that my demographic like and enjoy. It is the results of my questionnaire put into picture forms in order to make it look better so it is more visual what my demographic like.

The artists that I added to my magazine excluding the main image included music artists such as Justin Bieber, Victoria Justice, Cheryl Cole, The Wanted and Demo etc. The reason why I included these specific artists in my magazine is due to their publicity and screaming fans. Demo is a recently discovered artist who writes his own songs, like Justin Bieber. However, the difference is the genre of music, Demo is rap and Justin Bieber is more pop. They are both artists which young teenagers can inspire too as they were both studying when they got their big break and are still studying. I chose Cheryl Cole because of the amount of bad publicity she has had and with the recent events happening with her husband cheating on her, no matter how bad it was, she managed to get right back up. This is a good role model to young teenage girls as it shows that they can be strong and confident women too.

Along with the qualitative data from the questionnaire, I also gathered quantitative data. This is from the small focus group to which I handed the templates of my magazine too. I asked them about the construction and the form of my magazine, which one they preferred and why. This helped me in the construction, colour scheme and form of my final music magazine product. They liked the construction with the colour scheme of watered down colours pink and purple. The contents page and double page spread however looked emptier so they suggested adding more images. I took all their advice and criticisms on board when creating the end product of my magazine.

I also researched other music magazines aimed at a similar or the same demographic as me. This was to see their construction and colour theme. It would help me in order to make my magazine stand out more to attract my demographic as music magazines aimed at the same demographic as mine are seen as competition.

Evaluation - Q3. What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

There are many ways in which I could publish my magazine. There are major publishing houses such as EMAP and IPC, independent publishing houses and self-publishing houses such as Fanzine and Sniffin’ Glue.

Major publishing houses specialise in magazines which are aimed at mainstream audiences and have departments which are dedicated to specific areas in each magazine meaning they have more resources and money. This shows that major publishing houses are very powerful in the magazine industry. EMAP have three separate operating companies, focussed on customer needs in separate market areas; Events and festivals, Information services and Publishing. They own many magazines such as Screen International, Broadcast, Retail week etc. however they have owned other magazines in the past such as Smash Hits and Nintendo Office Magazine. EMAP have previously owned a magazine which is to a similar demographic to me  by owning Smash Hits, it shows that they will have the resources and experience in order to make my music magazine big in the young teenage demographic music magazine industry.

IPC focuses on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women. IPC publish very few music magazines and mainly publish life style magazines such as Look and Now. The main music magazine they publish is NME which is a very successful music magazine which is mainly aimed at men. They also have an IPC digital sales department. It reaches over 20 million unique users every month, across more than 30 sites such as www.nme.com and www.marieclare.co.uk. It helps the magazine producer to target their customers through a specific brand, defined audience group or relevant editorial context. This helps reach many of their target audiences as men, mass market women and upmarket women use the internet a lot more knower days than before. NME has built on its heritage and credibility to become a truly unique multi-platform media proposition. Across the magazine, www.nme.com, NMETV, NME Radio and the brand's live events and awards, NME reaches over one million music fans every week. Uncut is the most authoritative music and movie magazine. Every month, it celebrates all that is great in rock and film, both new and old, cult and classic. Using a major publishing house such as EMAP and IPC carries a risk as there is no guarantee it will be successful as they are not as passionate about the magazine as independent publishing houses are.

Another way to publish my magazine is through independent publishing houses. They generally focus on the high end magazines for a niche market. Normally if independent publishing houses magazine become successful and very popular, major publishing houses would buy it. One example of a independent publishing house is ‘Church of London’ which publish two magazines, Huck and Little White Lies, which embody their passion for creating something of their own, and in doing so connecting with other   like-minded individuals. My music magazine is not for a niche market and so using an independent publishing house would not be the best way to reach my mainstream demographic.

Finally, the last option of publishing my magazine is by using self-publishing houses which are online publishing, e-zine. Two main magazines use this Sniffin’ Glue and Fanzine. Sniffin' Glue is the name of a monthly punk zine started by Mark Perry in July 1976 and released for about a year. The name is derived from a Ramones song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue. Others that wrote for the magazine that later became well known journalists include Danny Baker. Although initial issues only sold 50 copies, circulation soon increased to 15,000. The innovative appeal of Sniffin' Glue was its immediacy. FANZINE is an online general culture magazine that was launched in August 2005 at the CMYK Independent Magazine Festival in Barcelona, Spain. Blogs are the cheapest, fastest and easiest way that gets your music writing out there – but that hasn't stopped a new generation of writers picking up the stapler and putting out a fanzine. Using a self-publishing house would get to my demographic of young teenage girls as more and more computers are being brought and so therefore more and more of my demographic will be using the internet. It will also help the environment as fewer trees would need to be cut down to make this magazine. However, publishing my music magazine online would mean that I would have to change the form of my magazine which would be very time consuming and may not be worth it if my magazine doesn’t hit/meet the target audience. Also printing a magazine would make the magazine look better as it would be more impressive and look more formal.

Taking everything into account I have decided to distribute my magazine using major publishing houses as I feel that my demographic is big enough for a major publishing house to be able to cater for. I think EMAP would be the best option for my magazine because even though IPC sell one of the biggest music magazines, EMAP have the experience in selling young teenage music magazine and with their knowledge and skills; they will know exactly what my demographic like and need. I will have to use synergy in order to appeal more to my demographic as the sales of magazines have been falling year on year becuase people can now get all their information on the internet. This means that I will use EMAP's knowledge in order to promote my magazine online and get the audience to interact with it. With any of the publishing houses due to audience fragmintation, I will be using synergy in my magazine by interpreting websites and advertising my product on other social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter).

Evaluation - Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I had to keep in mind who I was trying to represent when making the magazine and the way I construct my mode of address. As my demographic are young teenage girls, they perceive friendship to be the most important thing in their lives. They value their friendship with others a lot, which is why I have used two artists on the front of my magazine. They are best friends which will appeal to my demographic. The main images in my magazine are of the two best friends. On the double page spread there is a full length picture which shows their whole outfit. Both of the girls are wearing the same shoes and the same colour top (blue). I did this purposely because the social group I am aiming for, if they have a best friend, they would normally dress similar in order to make them look like one. Also, the pose of each picture is in line with the male gaze and the stereotypical image of young teenage girls. This is because the poses are very childish and seen all the time on social networking sights when young teenage girls take pictures of themselves. This also links with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as friendship is seen as ‘love/belonging’ however because the girls in my magazine have a sense of achievement and confidence as they ‘hit number 1 in the UK charts!’ (Contents page) which puts them in ‘esteem’, it shows that they are identifying with my target audience as my demographic will be able to relate with the artists as young teenage girls have friendships and confidence.

My images are not airbrushed and the girls are not wearing anything fake (e.g. fake nails, hair extensions). This is so I don’t represent my demographic in a hyper-reality view. Hyper-reality is used in semiotics to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a situation of reality. Airbrushing would have shown the girls in the main image in a non-realistic way and therefore make the images and magazine not relatable to young teenage girls. As shown by the Britney Spears image, where it adopts the hyper real theory of airbrushing and making the model look better than reality.  From data that I have collected from the ONS website. I have found that in a survey of girls aged 9-10, 40% have tried to lose weight. I have also foung that 10 year old girls and boys are dissatisfied with their own body after watching music videos. This shows the impact of  airbrushing and hyper reality on young girls and boys. Another report on young teenage girls in America found that 53% of American girls aged 13 were 'unhappy with their bodies'. This grew to 78% by the time the girls reached 17. This could be interpreted as a result and effect of the use of hyper reality in the media industry.

The typography I have used is mainly in lower case and seen as fun and cute. This is to help the typography and magazine relate to my target audience as it is a representation of femininity. Everything on the front page, contents page and double page spread has been placed there for a reason which is mainly to identify and attract my target audience. This is mise-en-scene.

Uses and Gratifications theory assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integration media into their own lives. It suggests that people use the media to fulfil specific gratifications. There are 4 categories for the different uses of media (diversion, personal relationships, personal identification and surveillance). I have used this in my magazine as my magazine has used personal relationships in order to represent my target audience. The personal relationships used in my magazine were the girls used in my magazine (best friends) and some of the stories on the contents page (Justin Bieber, dedicated new album to his new love and Demi Lovato, reveals secrets about her love life and ex boyfriends). Also surveillance has been used as the demographic will be ‘following’ the artists in the magazine by reading the articles and looking at the latest pictures of them.