Music magazine evaluation

Music Magazine Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media media use, develop or challenge formsand conventionsof real media products?

My magazine is a Rock/Metal magazine which is mainly for the male skateboarding lifestyle. The magazine is layed out to look rough and 'gritty' to suit the audience of the magazine. The magazine is called 'Vert Rock!' because its mainly about skateboarding and rock music. The cover has the masthead at the top which is big and looks rough to show rebellion. There is a picture of two men on the cover lloking angry and shouting also to connote the rebellion. The double-page spread contains a interview and is designed to follow the central design theme of the magazine. Ont the left is a picture of the band being interviewed and on the righ the interview itself. The picture of the band is a close shot of two men looking like they are shotuing. When I was designing the music magazine I took ideas from other magazines such as 'Kerrang!' so I could get my magazine to look like it was made by professionals. My magazine is designed mostly for new rock bands trying to make a name for themselves and also for skateboarders to look for new equipment and find new idols.

My music magazine is for mainly males aged about 13 to 20, who are interseted in skateboarding and rock music. This magazine is suited to these people because it looks rebelious, as teenagers being rebelious from their parents as they were controlled as children. The magazine is like that as it looks like it disobeyed the rules. I have chosen to keep my magazine focusing on one social type to not mix any social prefferences. I think the magazine shows itself to be for rock lovers and not for any other type of music.

My magazine would probably be distributed by a medium institution so the design of the magazine wouldnt be controlled in the hands of the publisher, as i think the magazine would become more of a magazine for evryone rather than just one social type.

The language in my magazine is more slang than formal to seem like the reader is interested in what they read, as mostly teenagers read this, they'd want to read how they speak in everyday life so they get addressed by the magazine, and feel like its for them. The colours of the magazine are bright and dark, bright to draw attention and dark because it suits metal.

I used Photoshop to develop my magazine using lots of different effects including: Colour overlays, strokes, paintbrush and shadows to get it to look as professional as possible. When designing the magazine I had to try out different effects and techniques to make it follow the desgin theme throughout.

My own music magazine; initial ideas.

Woking title of magazine: Vert Rock

Target audience - demographic:
Gender- Male 70% Female 30%
Age- Teenagers, young adults (14-25)

Target audience - psychographic:
Music- Rock, Heavy Metal
Allegiances- Skaters (Skateboards)

Content:
Bands, Skateboarding Lifestyle, Guitars, Gig reviews

Style:
Dark colours, but brighter colours to bring attention.
Gritty and rough.

Kerrang!

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Originally uploaded by Josh Kemp88

Kerrang! Magazine cover

Rolling Stone

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Originally uploaded by Josh Kemp88

Rolling stone magazine cover

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Originally uploaded by Josh Kemp88

NME Magazine cover.

My magazine evaluation

My Evaluation

My magazine is called "Sixth Sense" and is a student magazine to let them know all about their college and whats going on. The magazine cover is an image of a student eating a muffin, smiling with his thumbs up; inviting people to read. The cover lines are up to date and suitable for college students giving an addressing feel. The title of the magazine is bold and stands out, it is also in the college colours. I decided to undertake research to ensure that the college magazine met the majority of expectations and needs of current students. I did this by asking students eleven questions about content and style that they preffered. By far the most popular requests were for college news and gossip and the style most preffered was 'chatty'.

My contents page is a mock-up of another magazine and is a design draft. It has no pictures or proper writing, just note form. I based the contents on the results from my research. College news was one of the most requested items and so this has been placed near the top followed by events and then the most popular request gossip. I think its important to include student achievements and sports results as this promotes a sense of community and belonging within the college. Of course students like to know how to spend their spare time so I have included film reviews, gig guides and music reviews. Finally to ensure all the students stay healthy so they can attend college(!) I have included a section on health.

The magazine cover I made was good and I found it quite easy to edit, but it did take some getting used to. If I would of taken more time on the magazine I think I could of made it better. The changes I would of made would have been to the writing i.e the title and cover lines could have been a more interesting font and brighter and eye-catching colours. My contents page could have been improved alot. It doesn't look like it would be in a college magazine as it is from an action cartoon magazine. I could of changed the colours and made it more grown-up for the suitable target audience.

What I have learnt while making this magazine is new techniques using photoshop. The thing I found most difficult was fitting the photo around the college title so that it looked professional. I also had to import pictures from other devices i.e digital camera and size these to fit onto college front page. I also realised the importance of research which ensures that a product is right for the target audience. Producing a magazine that needs to target a wide range of students is not easy due to the varied needs and expectations of students at college. And finally everyone knows that students are always skint and so I needed to produce a magazine that looks as professional as possible for the least amount of money.

My college magazine