I created a music magazine called ‘Jump’ which includes a front cover, contents page, and a four-page spread article. My magazine is aimed at teenagers to the mid twenties adult (13-25) and is more aimed at women than men. I chose to create a pop magazine for teenagers but also for older people in their 20’s, as this is the style of music that I prefer and know most about.
My product uses forms and conventions of real media products; I looked at various magazines such as Vibe and Blender and focused on conventions that they have used within them. I kept the colour scheme the same throughout my product; you will see I have used 3 different colours on the magazine which are Blue, Yellow and Black. It is recognisable that I have used four different fonts in my magazine which is a common convention when looking at magazines. I have used only one image of a model on my front cover (Emma Milne) as it would look unattractive and overcrowded
with other images on the cover, it looks just fine with the text as it looks spaced out and professional. I have also used an attractive model which will inspire the reader to buy it; this will appeal to both men and women. The price, date and bar code are at the sides of the cover so it doesn’t detract attention from the rest of the front cover; I have also provided a website near the bar code to give more information about the magazine. I obviously made my main title larger than the rest of the text on the magazine, so it stands out from the rest if the product and it will attract the audience to buy the magazine. You will be able to see that the head of my model is slightly over the top of the title, you will also find this in many magazines as it is once again a common convention. The text on the front cover curves around the models body, which emphasises her figure.
How does the media product represent particular social groups?
My product represents certain social groups; I would say it’s mainly for women as it has a more girly feel to it. With this magazine being a pop magazine it will be bought by social groups that are more into pop music rather than people who prefer other types of music. The story I have produced may have class issues as it’s basically about a young girl who was from a working class background who had never been able to get what she wanted, she always had to sacrifice something for the family needs and she’s been brought up in a tough life however, she has finally built her life up to be a singing sensation. My article talks about how rough her life has been so you could say that it has a negative look on working class but it has a positive look on the star at how she has made her way into the singing business.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product, why? I think I would use the company IPC to distribute my media product as it is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher. They publish a variety of magazines such as ‘Pick me up’, ‘Ideal home’ and are currently working with properties such as ‘NME’ which is the third largest music website in the UK, which would link into the music magazine that I have produced. IPC offers something for everyone so I think my magazine would fit in right with this company. It is known that over 26 million adults in the UK read an IPC magazine, so by choosing them would promote my magazine rather well. It would appeal to my target audience due to the variety of magazines that they have already published, as my target audience is from teenagers to adults in their mid twenties.
Who would be the audience for the magazine?
As I have said, my media product will appeal to both men and women but will mainly appeal to women. I don’t think that people over the mid twenties would be willing to by this genre of magazine as they may not be interested in the topics that it includes, this is why my target audience is from teenagers aged 13 to people in their mid twenties. Pop magazines are normally aimed at young women instead of men as men tend to keep the interest in music into a later life, by reading music magazines such as ‘Mojo’ and as my magazine is pop-orientated I chose to keep this target audience.
How much would the magazine cost?
The magazine I have created only costs £2.00; I made my price quite cheap because with my target audience starting from young teenagers they may not be able to afford anything over this price. Also with my audience being quite young, they may have to get money off parents or they may be working to keep having the money to buy the magazine. By keeping the magazine at this price will possibly engage more readers as it is cheap compared to other magazines and includes everything other magazines have to offer. This will keep the readers coming back for more issues, as they will enjoy what the magazine contains and will find the price very reasonable.
What I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I used Adobe Photoshop to create my music magazine, I learnt new ways in to use photoshop. However, in this process I simply developed my practical skills such as making sure the photo's I have used are cut out correctly, making font styles appropriate for the product I have created and making sure everything looks professional to be able to sell on the shelves and compete with other magazines of today.
How did I attract the audience/address them?
I have attracted my audience by using the story of Latoya Milne. This story may inspire many teenagers and possibly the slightly older audience as she has moved her way from a working class background to becoming one of the UK’s biggest sellers. I have used positive language throughout the story, even when talking about her past life and the troubles she has, it still tries to be positive. On the front over of my magazine I have used the model that is the main star in my magazine (Latoya Milne), this is used to attract the audience as she is an attractive young woman and her story is very interesting. The model that is used on the cover is looking out into the audience which once again is another common convention in magazines and will attract the audience. The choice of colours I have used can be aimed at both men and women as they are Blue, Yellow and Black, this will give me a mixture of readers. I would say my font style stands out and will attract the audience and possibly make them buy the magazine. I used features in my article to responses that I had from my surveys that I handed out, I also used features in my contents page that people said they would like to see inside of my magazine. As you will be able to see on my front cover, it has a hook to catch the reader’s eye and make them want to buy the product. Above the title it says ‘Win the chance to record your own CD with EMIRecords’ this will jump out to the reader and may persuade them to buy it. I chose two of the colours that people picked in my survey which were Blue and Black, the overall decision came down to either Red or Yellow and Yellow looked much better with the Blue and the Black, this made my magazine stand out. I used the theory of Blumler and Katz which was the uses and gratifications as my target audience will identify with the lifestyle. I have also used a model of a similar age to the target audience and it may reflect the lives and problems also in the readers life as well as the artists.
What I feel I have learnt from the progression from preliminary work to the full final product.
Looking back at my preliminary work, I feel that I have learnt lots in the progression from conceptualising to finally producing my full product. I think I have learnt lots as I have studied a variety of conventions of magazines and studied pop magazines which obviously helped with the progress with making my pop magazine. I feel that my product appeals to the target audience that it has been set due to the genre and many common conventions that I have included. With my product having to compete with other magazines, it had to look it’s best to go against other realistic products on the shelves today. I have also learnt many practical skills when creating my product such as making my text stand out which I found was very important to attract the reader and make them want to buy the magazine and making judgements about clear choice and colour choice, by picking the right colours could make a difference in who buys my magazine so it was important to me to get everything just right. The language that I chosen to use in my cover, contents page and article is very informative, yet I think that it has a friendly side shown towards the audience and is positive towards stories and topics within the magazine. Normally, the target age for pop magazines is 12-16 year olds, whereas my magazine is aimed at 13-25 year olds. This can be seen as convention breaking, but may be for the best. For example, Take That’s audience now is now both a younger age and an older age, I see that this is an appropriate choice for my product because it will expand the age range and possibly sell more of the magazine.
Image choice
I have selected certain images to use on my magazine. The model I used was Emma Milne, who is in the target age range for the buyers of the magazine. I chose this model as she is an attractive young girl who will make the audience by the magazine due to the poses, such as Naomi Wolf suggests erotic images of women will make both men and women buy the magazine.
Overall, I am happy with how my final product has turned out, I have used what people have chosen through surveys, used my own ideas and I hope it appeals to the target audience that I have chosen.