Evaluation

My media task was to create a professional looking magazine cover, contents page and double page spread based on a music genre of choice. I decided to use the target audience that the majority of music magazines are aimed at, males between the ages of 18 to 30 year olds. I did this because a high percentage of people that buy music magazines are between these ages, therefore my magazine will be more successful. By aiming my magazine towards a more niche genre of music, using indie alternative and introducing new bands to my audience, I challenged conventions and my audience. People are much more comfortable in buying something they see as normal and familiar, by trying to open the audiences mind to new music challenged conventions as many magazines around succumb to mainstream music far more than specialized genres. I think my product takes the form of magazines that are on the shelves today as it uses all the necessary devices that popular magazines use such as NME. My magazine represents many different types of social groups, as the genre of 'alternative indie' is broad and stretches across many different artists and bands. I wanted my media product to represent many different social groups, in order to be sellable, in particular the age bracket between 18-30, from research I have discovered that especially males, are more likely to have a job rather than continuing with education, therefore that more of a disposable income and are able to afford magazines. The type of groups I want to channel into buying my magazine are the sort of people that take an active approach to music. Instead of just listening to it, they also enjoy making, producing and writing it. They are very interested in seeing live music and my magazine can offer information on this. My magazine is priced at a reasonable £2, enabling the audience to easily purchase it once a month. The type of media institution that might distribute my product is most likely to be music shops such as HMV. My target market are the most likely people to go into music based shops as younger people may download their music instead of physically buying it. It can be easily accessible there and would be noticed by the right kind of people. It would also be a good idea to make it easily available online and easy to subscribe to, as my target audience would all be eligible to have a bank account and credit card.
The way in which I attracted my audience was to use a general running colour scheme throughout the magazine. The colours on my front cover are similar to that of leading popular music magazines such as 'Q' and 'NME'. My main article was about 'Ben Boot', a leading producer of music, this links in with the fact that my target audience enjoy all aspects of music, therefore being interested in the magazine at first glance. The use of a 'poster special' of live bands also attracts my market as from research I discovered they enjoy going to gigs. The alternative, 'scrawly' font is also aesthetically pleasing and looks different and stand out amongst over magazines. From the construction of this product, I have learnt that many different processes are needed in order to create a professional looking piece that is worthy of production. I have learnt that using photoshop plays a big part and the many different ways of editing and changing things is what makes the product look effective and successful. Photography also plays a big part in the production of magazines, using a high quality camera is very important and understanding settings and depth of field can really effect a photograph. Overall, if you do not have the right image for the look of your magazine, it will not attract your target audience and your magazine will not be successful.
Looking back on my preliminary task, I definitely feel I have progressed in my skills creating the product. I feel that on practically every area my main task is much more successful and I feel happy with what I have created. I now feel that I can make definite ideas much more quickly, and I know the look I want to achieve. Looking back on my preliminary task I now realise how amateur my work looked and how much I could have improved. You can see that the idea and thought is behind it, but is not executed in a professional manner. I have learnt a lot from moving onto my main task, mostly that of more skills in photoshop. By using simple effects such as a drop shadow on text will make your product look far more professional and much more aesthetically pleasing.
Production and completed task;
Front cover: My initial ideas for my front cover was that I needed to product an eye-catching page that would look attractive but entice the reader, specifically my target market. I based my layout similarly to that of magazines such as 'Q', which has a huge following but mainly males. The magazine uses neutral tones that makes it lively with one bright colour running through it. I have used black and white as my neutral colours, as they are sleek, easy to read and go together very well. I think decided to use the bold colour of red, which stands out and is often seen as a more masculine, harsher colour. Using the name of the magazine 'Vivace' (pronounced 'vee-va-chay'), I thought was a good idea as it is a musical term that the majority of my target audience are likely to understand. I decided to include the fictional character, Ben Boot, on my front cover and made this my main focus throughout the task. I used one character on the front of the magazine because from research I have found that people are drawn in more with one figure, using either a medium close up or a close up. It enables the reader the engage with the magazine. With photos I had taken from previous gigs I have been to I used them as a 'poster special' of live performances, using 3 strong images that would catch the audiences eye. From research I have found that it is more appealing when the reader can see and understand that there is a lot featured in an issue, to put this idea into my product I made a banner at the top and the bottom listing artists that are featured in that months issue. It is more than likely that someone that has picked up the magazine and is interested in alternative indie will like one of those bands, therefore making the magazine more successful. Overall I am very pleased with the way that my front cover has turned out, I believe that it looks professional and will work well with my target audience. From looking at other magazine covers with a similar target audience to me, I realise that I maybe could have included one more article, and made the cover look slightly more full.
Contents: My main thought for my contents page is that it needed to be informative and also tie in with my other pages. I carried on with the theme of black, white and red and used a column method. This will enable the reader to take in the information much more quickly. As my target market isn't really teenagers, I realise that my layout doesn't have to be as exciting and stimulating as it would if my market was much younger. Instead, I am trying to create something that is much convenient and quick to read. As a main feature of my contents page I have included the interview with Ben Boot, with a large medium close up image. This engages the reader and makes them aware of the main article this issue, following on from the front cover. I tried to keep the page as neat as possible to it looked professional and clean. Using bigger titles and small subtitles I based my contents page around this, including all the artists I had mentioned on the front of my magazine cover. Then, so to stand out, I used a gold colour for my 'festival special', this makes it stand out and makes the reader feel as though they have bought something special, and that it's not just an ordinary issue. I am very pleased with the way my contents page worked out and I think it ties in well with my front cover, however I could have included more images so that the reader could be more engaged and play an active role in reading the magazine.
Double Page Spread: Without wanting to smother my magazine in articles and images just about one artist I decided to design my double page spread about new bands on the music scene. Using a real local band called 'The Goodtimes', I did a photoshoot with them at London's Marble Arch, and the main focal point in the spread is this image. As my magazine concentrates on new bands I thought this would be a good idea for my spread. Once again continuing with the black, white and red theme I designed the page so it would be easy to read. Adding small details such as the writer of the article, and 'Vivace' logo appearing numerous times, it gives the spread a real sense of professionalism. I used two columns with small font and the article was about how the boys got onto the music industry. The language I used was relatively relaxed and informal and is seen as an 'easy read' that would not appear challenging to my target market. As well as an article about the band I decided to include a small column with other new bands entitled, 'Everyone's talking about' which featured 3 bands that were popular that month. It was a simple yet effective idea that could become and talking point with readers peers and inform them as to who was 'being talked about' that month. I am very pleased with my double page spread and I believe it looks professional and neat, well laid out and easy to navigate through.