Evaluation question 2.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

During the research and planning stages of creating this media product the audience research, audience profile and band profile were very important in making sure my product represented a certain social group. Having this certain social group gave me a clear indication of the type of audience that would be buying my magazine product and also be having a huge impact on the genre and style that will be created by my magazine and band.

After doing my research on UK tribes I came to the decision that my magazine would represent the social group of indie scenesters and from this information i found about this social group i made decisions on what genre of music my band would be playing and the style that would magazine would have to use to show this social group i have picked. Choosing a all boy music band was down to my research into current indie bands, which most were all boy bands that apparels and attracts girls as well as boys which suited my target audience of both male and female aged between 16-25. The models used were of my target audience age group which i felt would help incite my audience more as well but they represented my magazine style perfectly.Their simply, bold, youthful and strong looks helped reflect more research i did on photographers (Craig Mcdeand, Richardson and Vauthier) which their style of photography is very much the same as whats used in clash and I-D magazines.

The costumes i dressed also represents the social group chosen i aimed my magazine at, their all dressed in white plain tops to make a simply style that indie scenesters style also uses, a simply and unique style which i hoped would incite this audience more. This band that i have created i feel will be an inspiration and idol to my audience by the way i have presented them in my article and photography, they come across as serious music artist but cool, that i think my audience and target social group can relate with and really aspire to and reflect well on my magazine.

Final Evaluation question 1.

Final Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation draft question 7.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I feel the big progression i have made from my preliminary is my skills on photo shop. I also think my understanding of how a magazine is created and developed in the industry has expanding and i now at the end of this project understand the full process of what goes into making a magazine and how in depth this process really is. 

My knowledge in photo shop has increased significantly, looking back at preliminary and my basic common layout, editing and precision that i used compared to my final product you can see clearly that its at a much higher standard. Using exposure and brightness tools to enhance my photos quality, using the grid to get precise measurements had enabled me to achieve a much more professional looking final product. I also do feel that due to my practice and deeper understanding of basic editing tools i am now much more efficient when it comes to simply task such as inserting and editing different layers and photos, which is something that during my preliminary task i found quite difficult.
Also my knowledge of the magazine music industry has very much improved and this knowledge came from the amount of research i did into real successful magazines and how they attract their certain audience and genre of music. I also believe i increased this knowledge during the drafting process of my magazine and when i got feedback on my research and drafting from my other peers, this meant that i could improve my work and increase my understanding of how i can make my magazine successful when produced.

I think my front cover and contents page of my preliminary to my final design show a key example of progression. The preliminary task was a very brief processes and not much thought went into what i produced and i had no knowledge of other successful music magazines or how the industry worked. I used no precise measurements and it was extremely basic designed, i had no influence of a successful magazine that inspired me, this design was completely off the top of my head. The images for my preliminary were taken in minuets, there's no thought into costume, style or pose that my model did in relation to the magazine genre and target audience. So when looking at my final cover and contents page and the depth of detail i put into the design, the precise placements of the image, subheadings, mast heads and information text all this makes the pages much easier for my target audience to use and more pleasing to look at it as i had some inspiration from successful music magazines of my genre as well. 

Evaluation draft question 6.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Photoshop- i used this program to create my magazine product. Each page i designed was created on Photoshop as you can layer different individual elements of pages over each other, to help create a desired effect which i used to edit all my photos, using a less tool to crop images or adjust brightness and exposure levels of my image, make a layout for my magazine by creating shapes using a shape tool, select and use different fonts available to enhance my magazines authenticity. A useful tool i also used was the colour picker, this allowed me to take a colour from my images or anything on the page and allowed me to use this in another place on the page to help get an exact match of colouring. But i had never used this software before so it took me a while to get the hang of using photoshop as i was very limited in my ability to use the folds and techniques needed and available on photoshop. Although i now after this project in making my magazine am confident in using the software and defiantly think i used it to the best of my ability for my magazine.

Cameras- For the cameras i used a Nikon D3200 which is the schools camera. It takes high quality pictures that i used to put on my cover page, double page spread and single article page. I feel with this camera i got the best quality pictures that i could have possibly taken for my magazine then enhancing their quality using the photo shop editing feature. I did have a Nikon camera myself but due to safety reasons i didn't want to use it for this project, so i already new how to use the camera and its features to its best potential. 

Lighting equipment- I used lighting for taking my images for my magazine to help them look more professional. But these lights made them look a better quality due to the fact that the lighting enhanced these images giving my band members a more natural look in front of the camera, all making my works authenticity. I hadn't used any lighting for photography before so it took me a number of shots till i got the hang of how to use them but it was easy to set them up and they had a positive effect on my images.

Computer/Laptops- When creating my magazine and doing all the research and planning for it i used both the school and my own personal laptop to produce this project coursework. My own laptop is an Apple Macbook Pro which i used mostly for the research and planning and blog update posts. I didn't learn anything new about computer technology from doing this coursework but i leant a lot about the softwares and programs i utilised on them.

Blogger- This was the first time id used blogger, therefore i didn't have much knowledge of the website or how to use it. So at the start of the coursework it took me a while to get the hang of it, although it is a pretty simply and easy to learn website. I found the labels very useful as you can group posts and therefore making locating them easier by the set up and layout of my blog making it easier for me to use and follow as well as other users. I made sure i posted regularly of every piece of research and stage of this process in making my magazine onto my blog, starting from my preliminary task to the evaluation.

Scribd- I used scribd for uploading any big and long documents onto my blog that had been done on Microsoft Word, as i could place text and images together more easily this way onto the blog. I used this to place my article, my mood board, Analysis of magazine titles, colour palettes, text fonts and analysis of cover pages, double page  spreads and contents pages. Id never used this website before so therefore from this i have learn a new skill in another software.

Internet(Google Chrome/Internet explorer)- I used all these services  as part of my research and planning. The search engine available on Google was vital in helping me fine magazine examples, information on institutions and useful images. All these web providers were brilliant in providing helpful facilities. I had used them before so i use them efficiently to their best potential.

Memory Stick- I used this as a back up, to save all my work and research so i had a second back up of this work and nothing could be lost in my magazine design process. I also used this memory stick as a sauce of transport of my work, so i could use and update pieces of work on the school computers to then doing it on my laptop, this gave me more time to complete my work successfully. I had used this device before to improve efficiency.

Microsoft Word 2007- I used this software in order tow rite up my double page spread article and all my analysis's that i made of cover pages, contents pages and double page spreads. I chose to do these pieces of work on a word document because i know it would encourage me to focus on the quality rather then getting distracted on photoshop or on a blog post by making it look good. Also this software had spell check and thesaurus facilities to help improve my texts article and analysis detail. I had used this software a number of times before i was new of all the facilities available and how to use it to its full potential.

Evaluation draft question 5.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

My target audience ranges between 16-25 year old young adults and teenagers, so i have designed my magazine with this audience in mind at all times to get them wanting to buy my magazine. By using artists that fall into this target age range, so the audience can related to them well. My audience is for both male and female depending on the issue and which artist or band is featured in the magazine so when attracting my audience i had to make sure i didn't favour one gender over the other. Although my band used is all males i made sure that their fashion style and pages graphology was simply and gender neutral to still be able to attract both genders despite the all male band. The cover lines on the cover page feature  a range of male and female bands and fashion designers creating this balance between male and female readers, but keeping this balance through every magazine issue would be difficult to achieve which i will have to keep into account. I have kept my cover very plain due to my minimalist and simplistic style which this audience will like as their style them selves is very simply and unique as well.

I designed my contents page the way i did taking into account this target audience and the style i used for my cover page that work welled to follow it through the rest of my magazine to accurately address the audience. The simply, semi literate approach i went for in the language on the contents page was from my genre and audience as i knew my audience wouldn't want to be reading big long words and paragraphs of information as that's not in their simply different style. As i made this contents page not very busy it follows this minimalist and simply style again of not being full with text and images also the same with the mono tonal colour scheme, keeping everything basic and simply in black and white, like the clash magazine does as well which also gives a very sophisticated look that i know my audience would like the look of as it makes them seem respected more and being treated like grown ups and it seems so different and daring as its so simply which will entice them more. 

The photograph i chose for my double page spread shows the whole band, to give more of an incite into the whole band together not just the leader singer which that page has the article about. But their natural and simply pose and look they give in this image suits my audience as they are relaxed and simply which makes the band come across as serious and cool. The cover line i placed on the page of the article is a quote from it to entice the audience to want to read on and know more about this band, addressing them directly because this audience are constantly wanting to be up to date with new bands and information which this double page spread does. For my article i decided to chose to do questions and answers as i felt this would most suit my audience my age group, as they won't be interested in reading heavy, uninspiring text. I did start with a paragraph of a brief introduction to my band artist, as this was appropriate with a new up coming band, whilst it also suited the indie\alternative scenester audience who like to be in the know of current new artists. The questions and answers i felt also address my audience as it provides them with relevant information about the band straight away and keeps them in the know. So the very informative style of the article in showing information right away to the audience attracts the audience of indie\alternative scenesters as this suits their needs to be up to date and current.

To conclude i do believe i have tried a lot of methods in an attempt to attract and address my target audience thats appreciated and understood by this audience iv tried to attract. I have done this by researching the target age group and their mannerisms through audience research and creating audience profiles, this was so i could create something that shows and suits the audiences needs and wants.

Evaluation draft question 4.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

After my research into my target audience for my indie/alternative music and fashion magazine i came to the conclusion that my audience would be ages between 16-25 is for both male and female but feel that with each individual issue it may differ which sex it appears to more due to who the main story is on and on the cover page. Also from my research on UK tribes, i found the perfect target audience for my magazine, indie scenesters. From looking on UK tribes these tribe are always up to date with current and new artists, they are dedicated to finding the newest music, which are what my audience will want in my magazine to tell them about new artists and fashion trends, keeping them up dated. The genre of my music and magazine is alternative indie and it focuses on new, upcoming artists or bands and up to date fashion trends, basically keeping the young generation up to date with their generation. Also in my research i found that this target audience has an open gap in the market for them to found out the latest indie bands and tunes as well fashion trends which is why on the front cover i mentioned some of the artists and fashion trends inside to show the readers and audience whats available inside. 

When designing my magazine i had the fit in with this target audiences style fashion and music to attract them. I tired to style my band artist as one of the target audience so they can relate to this band as one of them but also the magazine, that this magazine follows and holds their style as well by having this band in the magazine. Also being as my magazines not only does music but fashion i had to research my audiences fashion trends to make sure the fashion in my magazine would interest then, such as places like american apparel, zara, well gosh, the wardrobe and other indie fashion shops and styles that would appear in my magazine.

The following are two audience profiles of both sexes within my target audience, after doing research into my audience i think these would be the type of people who would be interested and want to read my magazine. 

                                   

Name:Abbie Green

Age:20

Interests: Indie/alternative music, fashion, music gigs, keeping up to date with current bands and artists, drawing, designing fashion.

Favourite music bands/artists: Foals, The 1975, Tom Odell, Kodaline, Lana Del Ray, Bastille, Mumford and Sons.

Favourite brands and shops: Topshop, I-D, Dazed, ASOS, House of Holland, Zara, Hotmess, American Appeal.

Profession/occupation: Finial year of uni in London, studying fashion design, in a part time job designing shop window displays for the wardrobe shops around London.

Name:Matthew Jones

Age: 18

Interest: Alternative/indie music, fashion, modelling, music festivals, golf, attending music gigs, art.

Favourite music bands/artist: The 1975, Little Comets, Foals, Kings of Leon, ArticMonkeys, Kodaline.

Favourite brands, shops: Topman, Clarks originals, Sound cloud, Carhart, Wellgosh, Dazed, Clash.

Profession/Occupation: Finishing last year of A levels studying art and design, media studies and graphics, going to uni in Bristol to do graphical design but in a part time job modelling for Hollister.

Evaluation draft question 3.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

After doing research into media institutions doing publications of magazines for the music industry i came to the conclusion IPC media would be the be the best media institution to distribute my media product. Earlier on in my research for my music magazine i already did some research into IPC media for being a possible institution to use for publishing my magazine and i found that they are currently going through a huge success with NME and receive nearly 26 million adult views on this magazine. They are also gaining a lot of their success online for media products they distribute which would hugely help and impact my magazine by adding another dimension to my magazine as using the internet and going online is massive in this generation which i am targeting for readers of my magazine. 

There's also a huge gap in the market for a new indie/alternative music and fashion magazine so i do think IPC media institute could have my magazine and make it a huge success with its history of successful magazine and wanting to be online and up to date with the current generation which my magazine very much is. There magazines being featured online would be ideal for my magazine as my target audience 16-25 year old, indie scenesters, up to date with this generations music and fashion and trying to be different and unique individuals would be found most online searching the internet for new different music and fashion magazines like my own.

Therefore with IPC's outstanding publishing reputation i know this institution would take my magazine far within the open market place down to their brilliant credibility and reputation within this market my magazine would fit into, as well as their know how into new publications which would be my magazine, ALT.