I decided that my audience was to be similar to the audience of MOJO as it is a similar magazine to my ideas. I chose my target audience to be teenagers ranging from the ages 16 to young adults up to about 25. In my questionnaire for my audience feedback I asked “who do you think would purchase my magazine?” and all of my answers were teens-young adults. Also looking at the social economic status I’ve seen that students are placed at the bottom of the status and also have more time on their hands than many working adults. Young people in education are right at the bottom of the economic status along with unemployed people. I decided on these as my target audience will enjoy reading magazines more and also find the time to sit down and read. My magazine represents my particular social group as I have included the type of bands which my audience will probably like such as The Foals, Muse, Paramore and Arcade Fire. I have included young singers and bands which my target audience will be familiar with. I looked into a few magazine companies to find a few which were similar to my own that could distribute my magazine. I found my magazine to be similar to published magazines such as MOJO and Rolling Stones. I have a similar genre and I think they could distribute my magazine as their readers will be similar to the readers I am hoping to attract and will hopefully be interested in my magazine as it’s similar to MOJO but also a brand new magazine. I also think shops such as HMV and WHSmith would also distribute my magazine as these would be the most likely places for my target audience to look and find my magazine. Especially in HMV as this is a music shop, it is the main place where you would expect to find music lovers who would consider purchasing my magazine. Magazines can also be purchased on electrical devices such as and Ipad. You can download an app where you can download magazines. This also means that more people would be able to read my magazine without having to go to the store to purchase it.
I looked at the different conventions every magazine uses on there front page which are the masthead, main image, bar code, price, headlines, banners, logo, photography and issue numbering. I made sure that I included these in my own magazine as everything in the magazine is vital that it will attract the right audience in order for my magazine to be noticed by my target audience. The image has to be the strong point of my front cover as this is what will hopefully attract my audience and will be the first thing they see, so I made sure this was the case. I think my picture fits in with the genre of my magazine. I have used a female model to fit with the head-storyline on the front. I made sure that the costume she was wearing and the props fitted in with genre of my magazine. I chose for her to wear bohemian/rock style clothing which include, long knee high socks, headband, long necklaces and shirt. Also I chose for her to use a guitar in the image to fit in with the indie/rock genre. I used a digital camera to take the image which makes it look close to professional. I wasn’t able to use a professional camera such as Nikon as it wasn’t available at the time. However, some of my other images I have used were taken with a professional camera. I took a few shots in different angles to see which one would fit the cover best. I experiment with a few of them until I eventually chose the one I have used for my final design. I have used big bold writing on the front cover to show my titles and so that the writing stands out and doesn’t clash with the background I have put a colour background behind the text so it is visible. The name of my magazine is ‘Stone AGE’. I chose this for my name to fit in with the genre. My magazine includes a range of old bands and singers, so I tried to find a word which would fit in with new music and old music. I thought about when young people talk about the old times and some refer back to it as the ‘stone age’ when being sarcastic. I thought this would be the perfect name for my magazine. I first used a gold sand background to make a bronze/gold colour to make it look quite antique but I then changed it as I thought it look quite boring and plain. I decided to use a union jack to show that it was a British magazine and also it’s an association towards the genre and music I have included in my magazine. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have all had photos where they have had the union jack in the background similar to mine. I wanted my magazine to be influenced by the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s but also look modern.
My contents page I wanted to look similar to my front page, but also similar to other magazines. I researched some contents pages and looked at the different conventions they used and the styles and layouts and put these ideas with mine. I decided to use images from what would be in the magazine in the middle with the page numbers so that the readers could skip straight to the page. I tried to keep with the house style by using the same fonts and colours. I placed the page text on the right hand side of the page so that it was easier for the readers to look for the pages instead of having to flick all the way through the magazine or look all over the page. However I think need to include more pages as my magazine only goes up to about 23 pages. I included names of bands and singer which you could get posters of at the top of the page. The readers will start to read at the top so they will see these first. Also I have included a paragraph of text telling the readers if they subscribe they will receive a free Live Lounge CD. I chose the Live Lounge CD as this seems quite popular with my target audience. Also they have the same genre of artists and a range of different songs on the CD. I could have put these on my front cover where the readers will see it and may lure them into buying the magazine.
The artist on my double page spread is a new artist from America
I think Photoshop has helped a lot to make my magazine quite professional. I was able to adjust my images and the whole layout of my magazine. I have learnt a lot doing my magazine through Photoshop. I wasn’t very experience with photoshop until I started this project and now I am able to create pieces easily now I know what everything is and how to use it. This will benefit in the future for when I need to create other pieces similar to my magazine. One of the main tools I have learnt to do was photo manipulation. With this tool I can now change images to create a better view and I can also cut images from one thing and place them with another image without it being noticeable that I have changed it. Whilst creating my magazine I have also been updating my work on Blogger where I can share my work with other and vice versa. I wasn’t familiar with this website until I started Media. I knew about blogging and what it does but I hadn’t used it or looked more at it. This will benefit me as I now know how I can share my thoughts and ideas with others.
I think since my preliminary work, I have a lot more skills for creating a magazine than I did before my preliminary task. I have learnt all about the conventions of a magazine, what you need to include in a magazine and how you need to attract your audience. For my preliminary task I had to create a college magazine. This was the first time I’ve had to do anything like this using with Photoshop and creating a magazine and having to use the right conventions. Also it’s hard to create a college magazine which your target audience would purchase as a lot don’t find it as interesting than a music magazine. I tried to make it as interesting as possible but did find it quite difficult. Creating this music magazine I have found it more easier to know what the audience is looking for. As being a music fan myself I know what I’d be looking for in a magazine and I have a good idea of what people like to get for their money. I have especially learnt the specific detail that needs to be included in a media product. I now have more experience in creating similar products and have and understanding of distribution. After creating 3 pages for a magazine I have found the music magazine task to be more fun and successful as I have done a lot more work to when I created my college magazine. This time I made sure that I created my magazine to look professional and added everything in that was needed. Whilst looking at other published magazines I was able to associate with the different genres and how they decide on their target audience. I had an idea of some genres which I read about myself as I was part of their target audience but I also looked up about others which I wasn’t as familiar with. I have also learnt how their theme and conventions also have to involved around the main story.
Once I had created my magazine, I drew up a questionnaire for a number of 10 people to fill in. I asked some simple questions about my pages such as does it look professional, is the price reasonable etc. I concluded my results and found that my results were positive which gives me a positive outlook on my magazine. Putting my results together I found that everyone though that they would notice it if it was in a shop and it would stand out to them. 10/10 said that it looks professional, 10/10 agreed that it was readable, 8/10 thought it should be sold monthly, 2/10 thought it should be sold weekly. 8/10 thought that £3.00 was a reasonable price however 2/10 thought that it was too much for a 20 page magazine. I think I should have included more pages in so I do agree on this on some level. Everyone put the same audience down that my magazine is targeted at which is teenagers – young adults. This is a positive outcome as this means that I have created my magazine well to attract the right audience. A lot thought the genre was exactly the same as I chose. I asked a couple of people over 40 to fill out my questionnaire and they put similar to the young people I asked. This means that my magazine has turned out quite successful and how I wanted the outcome to be. 10/10 agreed that the house style was similar and that the colours and fonts reflected the genre of the magazine. Also as a positive this means that it will attract my target audience as a percentage of people I asked to fill in my questionnaire are my target audience. Overall I am glad with how my magazine and results have come out. I believe that my magazine has been successful.
