Finished Product, New Music Magazine Front Cover, Double page spread and Contents Page

Response to Audience Feedback

After the completion of my front cover, contents page and double page spread of my new music magazine 'Chart Tracker', i decided to print some copies of all thre of these off and distribute them amongst some of my friends asking them for their feedback. When selecting the friends to distribute them to i decided to include two of my friends who are music lovers and regularly purchase copies of music magazines, i believe this gave me vital feedback as these people would be my magazines target audience and as they are music lover who constantly read music magazines they have a wide experience and so their feedback was extremely important. I also selected a few of my friends who are studying things such as ICT and Media, again i felt this gave me some relevant feedback on the structure and overall production of my magazine. Finally i decided to hand out some copies to just random people so that i would get a fair and broad range of feedback so that the results could help me to make my magazine bigger and better. I also decided to add a poll on blogger where my work is presented asking for people to evaluate my magazine and answer me some basic questions such as; Would you purchase my magazine? i believe the response from these questions was very positive and most people seemed to agree with the basis of my magazine.

Evaluation of Music Magazine Production Task

In what way does your Media Product, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real Media Products?

After spending a few weeks researching the many different types of music magazines and discovering their different types of codes and conventions i took on the information and interpreted it in my final design for my front cover, contents page and double page spread of my music magazine ' Chart Tracker.' I generally decided to stick to the main conventions typical of any music magazine. These are the Masthead, the sub-headlines which introduce the other articles, the main image which dominates the cover of the magazine, some smaller images relating to other articles in the magazine, however these are less important then the main article, the plugs, barcode, price and issue number. I incorporated these conventional aspects into my magazine. For example i chose to have the main image of my two artists dominate the front page as the main article was centred around them. I also chose to have some sub-headlines like ' your all new free CD' these introduce the audience to new articles and draw them into the many other different stories within the magazine. I also chose to stick with the conventions nad have my barcode, price and issue number all in the right bottom hand corner as after researching music magazines this is where they where normally placed. I also chose to have my masthead 'Chart Tracker', towards the top of my magazine, because the likelihood is my magazine is going to be stacked on a shelf, it was necessary to have my masthead close to the top so that it is still visible and isnt hidden away by magazines possibly being stacked in front of it. Because my magazine is new and is just breaking into the industry it is vital that my main title can easily be seen so that people can notice it, so that the audience can become familiar with my magazine. For this same reason i have chosen to have nothing blocking my title on my front cover as i want it to stand out and be clear for all to see, to help promote my magazine and catch peoples eyes. I also chose to place the offer of the free CD close to the title as the audience could immediately look at the title and should straight away notice the free gift included with this issue, this was extremely important as this can influence potential customers to purchase my magazine.

In doing this i felt that it helped to give my magazine a more professional edge. For example in most of the music magazines i looked at, i discovered that they chose to mainly have just the one main picture covering the whole front cover, i interpreted this idea in my design and i believe it worked well. I also noticed that for most of the double page spreads in the professional magazines such as NME i discovered they had one main photograph running across one and a quarter pages with the rest of the text filling the small space. I again liked this idea and thought it worked well and so i decided to base my double page spread around this concept.

I also discovered that most of the pictures of the artists in the magazines where taken it everyday, casual surroundings, eg, at bus stops, or sat on a bed. I thought about this carefully when considering my photographs and decided to follow this idea when taking my photographs, i decided to place my artists on the floor surrounded by beer cans, i thought this followed the style of photographs in magazines such as NME. I did however challenge some of the conventions of music magazines when producing mine. For example most of the magazines which i looked at had bustling contents pages, crammed full of text and pictures. I usually find myself ignoring these pages and just turning straight into the magazine and so i decided to go against this idea and decided to have my contents page set out with only a few major features running down the right hand side with some brief snippets of information and then a big picture to dominate the left hand side of the page. I believe that this made the contents page look much more clearer and would maybe encourage people to take a quick look at some of the main features included inside the magazine with their page numbers listed. Also the main features are the main selling point of the magazine and most of the readers probably only buy the magazine just for the main, big storylines and so i decided that these are really the most important ones. My magazine also challenged the conventions of music magazines as it gives away freebies. This is not a typical convention of music magazines and this helps to make my design stand out as the audience would immediately be drawn in at the prospect of a free CD with tracks from some well known artists

My magazine is also based on the ideology of uncovering new talent and promoting new bands, similar to the NME, again this would throw the two magazines into direct competition.

How does your Media product represent particular social groups?
I believe my magazine is centred towards the indie social group. However my magazine also represents young people. The main artists represented in my magazine are young as is my target audience so generally my magazine is centred around and represents the young people. However i am not ruling out older people from purchasing the magazine. My magazine represents young people as living a wild life, constantly partying, drinking and just generally having a good time and having fun. I have tried to incorporate this in all of my images. Firstly in the main image which dominates my front cover i have chosen to have my two main artists stood close in a dark alley holding each other, whilst looking into each others eyes. I believe this conotes that they are romantically involved with each other, i believe it displays the sexual tension between the two artists and again conotes the wild and irresponsible lifestyle which the young people are stereotyped as leading. I believe the young audience will be able to relate to my images and immediately notice what is going on in the picture. My second image also shows my two main artists who are sprawled out across the floor, surrounded by beer cans, holding vodka bottles and looking completely drunk. Again, young people are believed to lead wild lifestyles, constantly drinking beer, going to parties that last until the early hours of the morning before coming home drunk. I believe again this image represents the life of the young people which my magazine is targeted around. This could also influence the young people to purchase this magazine as they can relate to the things which are being represented and this gives the feeling that this magazine is made especially for them. My next image shows one of my main artists wearing a 'Hoodie', immediately young people who wear a hoodie are portrayed as being trouble and up to no good, however this is not the case and so i chose to have one of my main artists wearing a hoodie to show that not all people who wear them are up to no good, this also shows to my young target audience that the magazine is almost on their side, which could influence them to purchase the magazine.


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

I believe my 'Chart Tracker' could be distributed by an institution such as IPC. This institution is highly sucessful with magazines like NME which is one of the biggest selling music magazine probably the most recognisable in the music industry. NME is such a big magazine that they even have their own awards ceremonies, this highlights the fact that their name is constantly in the public eye. Due to NME's huge success and fanbase it is obvious that IPC are extremely good publishers and that they know how to market and promote a magazine. NME however is too similar to my magazine and is partly what the concept of my magazine is based on and so i do not believe that IPC would be a good institution to publish my magazine. This is because NME is a long running, reliable and highly profitable music magazine. IPC are not going to introduce a new music magazine as it would be too much of a risk for them. Firstly they have the NME which is probably the most popular music magazine at the moment, IPC would not want to risk introducing a new music magazine which could possibly take fans and the success away from the NME. Also IPC know how successful and popular the NME is, they would not want to invest too much of their money and time, promoting and marketing my magazine as it would be too much of a risk introducing a new product to rival their own product the NME, as the NME is extremely popular worldwide and my magazine nobody will have even heard of and so my magazine would probably go unnoticed and just slowly die away as IPC would not want to keep spending money on it, they would just concentrate their efforts on promoting the NME. Therefore for this reason i would want my magazine to be published by Bauer, who where previously known as EMAP.

I would say EMAP as my magazine Chart Tracker could then rival the NME and constantly get promoted in the battle between the two companies, this would mean more people would hear about my magazine and this could boost sales. Also again EMAP are a sucessful publishing industry with many sucessful music magazines such as 'Kerrang' and 'Q' and therefore i know the company would know what to do with my magazine in terms of promoting and marketing my magazine and getting it out there to the audience. Also NME have many websites, In todays technological society nearly everybody worldwide has access to surf the web and therefore my magazine would be promoted world-wide, this would increase the publics familiarity of my magazine and would help to create a bigger fan base, this could then lead to people passing the name of my magazine on which would result in more and more people buying my magazine. A website of my magazine could also be set up, like the NME's allowing people to read stories, subscribe to the magazine, purchase items and generally feel more like they can get involved.

Who would be the audience of your media product?

The main target audience of my magazine would be mostly young males and females. I believe my magazine targets a male audience more, however i am not ruling out older people. In this edition of my magazine i believe i am generally targeting the younger generation more.
When producing and coming up with the ideas for my music magazine my initial thought was that my target audience was going to be young, aimed at around 16-30. However now that i have completed my magazine i believe it is centred more around 14-40, however i do believe that some even older or even younger music lovers would be interested in the magazine, however i do believe this would be the main age range. I also believe the target audience of my magazine will probably be mostly boys interested in indie music. This is because my magazine is similar with the NME and their main audience is 70% male. I do believe that girls will purchase the magazine too, however after I had researched I discovered that girls mainly bought magazines based on real life etc. I also believe the genre of rock and indie which my magazine represents is liked by males more than females who tend to like pop and R&B music. Also after thoroughly researching different magazines, I discovered that Males purchase magazines more than females.


How did you attract and address your audience?
I attracted the audience to my magazine firstly by basing it around a certain genre of music. In this case Indie. Staright away the type of bands and music featured in my magazine would attract any Indie music lovers. I then also attracted people to my magazine with the bold title which dominates and stands out against the dark background. It instantly snatches peoples attention and holds it, i also believe the main photograph which i chose for the front cover of my magazine was quite interesting and would draw the audiences attention in. Another way in which i attracted people to my magazine was by placing offers such as subscriptions and free cd's. People like a good deal, saving money and freebies and so i included some in my magazine to try and influence people to purchase my magazine for the free things and the savings, hopefully once my audience has seen things such as this they may be encouraged to purchase the next issue of my magazine to see what deals and free things may be included, it also highlights the magazines generosity and cheap, good for money value for the ordinary workin man. I think my magazine also attracts the audience by the prospect of the magazine finding the next new big thing. 'Chart Tracker' magazine is individualistic in the way that it targets and promotes bands that no one had heard of and helps to promote them. With my target audience also being young people I believe my magazine represents this age group and their ideas and lifestyles, i chose to place many pictures of young artists partying and enjoying themselves for other young people to be able to relate to. As the magazine is mainly centred around the younger generation, i'm hoping that this will be another way to encourage my audience to purchase my magazine. I am also addressing the young people out there by placing issues such as drinking and references to sex that they feel they can relate to and issues that they may be experiencing as this would make them feel as if the magazine is addressing them directly and because the issues are referencing to them, this will make them feel almost as if the magazine is for them and this could encourage them to purchase the magazine.


During the process of producing my Music Magazine i heave learnt many new skills. Firstly i learnt a about photography and how to make a picture look more interesting, for instance by getting people to dress the way you want them to, and to stand or look a particular way to get the look you want. This really helped when i was taking my pictures for my magazine. For example it helped when i was imaging the different types of photographs which i could take and the type of look which i wanted. This helped my imagaination as it enabled me to think of the type of pictures which i wanted to represent the young people, this is where y graffiti, walls, ally-ways and general urban setting came from. I also learnt about how to manipulate photographs after they have been taken on Adobe Photoshop. This is an image editing software and with this the possibilites are endless and this helped me to create the exact style and look which i wanted my photographs to have. This software allows you to remove things such as blemishes or red-eye and even spots using the drop tool. This takes the sample of the colour of the persons skin around the area close to the spot so that you can paint over the spot or blemish with the same skin tone so that you cannot tell the image has been edited. It also allowed me to alter the backgrounds on my photographs, for example it allowed me to darken the photograph which i have chosen to place on the front cover so that it gives the ally-way a dark and suspicious feel to it, i believe this helps to add the story to the photograph. It also enabled me to fade way the corner parts of my photograph which i didnt want so that i could surround my photograph with the black background, i believe this helped create a dream like effect around the photograph which made it look more interesting. The programmes allows you to get the look you want. I have also learnt how to use Microsoft Publisher more effectively than i could before. I have learnt many more skills on Publisher which has helped me to produce my magazine to make it look more realisitic to a professional product. For example i discovered how to split my text on the page into columns so that i could set it out exactly like a proper music magazine. This helped my extremely when i was producing my interview on the double page spread, as it allowed me to set my text out to meet the conventional standards expected of professional music magazines. I also learnt about the drop cap tool. This allowed me to add a bold and bigger letter at the start of my piece of writing. This technique is used in most music magazines and this gave my magazine again, a more professional look. I have also learned how to edit the wrap points on your photographs so that you can edit out the background and almost cut the figures out of the photograph. I have used this technique on my contents page.

I also learnt about how you can publish your work up on the internet into a structured blog, so that you can look at it and display it.


Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel like i have learnt a lot and come a long way since the preliminary task of producing the college magazine. I feel more confident with what the codes and conventions of music magazines are and can include them in my productions. I also have learnt a lot more about taking photographs and how lighting and stance or props can get you the look you want. I have also learnt how to edit pictures on Adobe Photoshop to remove things such as red eye, spots or blemishes to make the photograph look more professional. I have learnt a lot about the different media institutions such as EMAP and IPC after researching the two companies and some of the magazines which they have distributed. I have also discovered what types of things go into magazines, such as adverts to help finance them and also the process involved in producing the magazine and the different jobs of the people involved. Finally i have learnt how to work hard independently and to keep yourself motivated to make sure the product is completed to the given deadline.

In conclusion i believe that i have made vast progress from the preliminary excercise of producing the college magazine. I believe the magazine which i have produced looks professional and meets all of the required codes and conventions of a real media product.

New Front Page and Double Page Spread Design

This is my contents page final design. After researching the different music magazines i decided that i preferred the style of contents pages in Rock Sound magazine. I therefore decided to interpret this idea in my magazine. I believe this contents page is easier to follow and people can easily spot the main stories and their page numbers without having to try and find them and possibly just giving up even looking at this page and just flicking through the magazine.

I decided to place a picture running down the left hand side of the page, the picture which i have chosen is of the artists who are on the front page of my magazine as they are going to be one of the main features. I have placed many pictures on them and talked about them quite a lot to promote the story and to influence people to read it. By seeing the constant pictures the readers automatically know that this is a big story, this may encourage them to read the story even if they do not know the band.

After looking at different music magazines, i discovered that most music magazines decided to list some of the features included in their magazine down the right hand side of the page. Although this was not the same for every music magazine which i looked at, i did seem to be a common convention in most magazines and so i decided to interpret this idea into my magazine contents page. I have also chosen to place the story about my main artists who are on the front cover, first in my list, directly across from their picture on the contents page. I believe people then only have to look at the picture and then can easily find the story which is about them, the small paragraph of writing underneath also gives more insight into the story for the readers. I have also chosen to add a section called 'Tracker Awards'. I believe that this almost makes the magazine a type of awards business as they are giving awards to artists who are voted by the public. This idea also lets the audience become more involved in the magazine and gives them more of a say as to what happens, again this could encourage them to carry on purchasing the magazine to see if the person they voted for wins, and to carry on voicing their opinions.

Subscribe to us. This is a small section which i have placed, however it is probably the most important. This is how the magazine is going to make most of its money and therefore i have chosen a small paragraph underneath to talk about special offers. People will immediately like the idea of saving money and getting something for cheap and this could again influence them to turn to this page and consider subscribing to Chart Tracker magazine.

I placed three blue lines around the border of my magazine. I did this as my title before i chose Chart Tracker was going to be 'Tune' and i was going to design this writing in blue with three lines running narrowly together almost like the idea that someone has written it with three blue pens all taped together. However i couldn't get this idea to work and i decided that this title wasnt really going to look good. the reason i chose to have the three blue lines was to match with the title of my magazine, however i decided to rethink my title and changed it to 'Chart Tracker' however i still decided that i liked the three blue lines running around the page and so i decided to keep this feature.

I also had the title of the magazine 'Chart Tracker' at the bottom right hand corner of the page, again i have chosen to do this to continue promoting te magazine and advertising it's name even whilst the readers and viewing it. The more they see the name the more that my audience will remember it. Hopefully if they like the magazine, they will remember the name and recommend it to other people, they may also be encouraged to look out for and purchase other issues.

I have chosen to ahve the title FEATURES at the top of my contents page, after looking at many different examples of contents pages some said 'Inside' and 'This Issue' I decided on having the title of features as i believe firstly this sounded more professional and i also believe that it sounded more like what was included in the magazine was special. The word features made the things inside my magazine sound exclusive and interesting whereas i believe the title 'Inside' was boring and made my magazine sound a bit dull.

I have also decided to change the colours to red and black. As after researching many different music magazines i discovered that the colours tended to be dark, bold and loud to stand out and grab the readers attention.



This is my final design for my Music magazine front page, double page spread and contents page production task.

Firstly when thinking of an idea which i could do for my double page spread and having researched many different examples from magazines such as NME and Q i decided to take my photograph in a typical, natural setting which shows the artists in everyday life. For this i decided to have my artists pretending to be drunk, surrounded by empty beercans and bottles. This gives the effect of the artists of been on a night out. I also added a blow up guitar as i thought it added a bit of humour and uniqueness to the picture as most of the pictures in the magazines which i had seen showed the artists holding real instruments. I thought this technique really worked well. Then, using my research i interpreted the ideas of the other music magazines which i had looked at and decided to have my main picture running over one full page and a littlle bit of the next page, leaving a small room for some text to run down the side. This is a technique which i noticed in the NME magazine which my magazine is similar to.

I then chose to add a police do not cross sign, across the picture. I thought this gives the impression of a wild night out, with the artists getting drunk and partying. I thought this captures the wild lifestyles of the music artists and the police sign highlights the fact that it is dangerous to cross as they have had a wild time. This links in with the 'Heading Home' text which i chose to place directly underneath the police sign. I believe the font in which this is written makes it look almost like the bars of a police cell which again indicates the wild night which it looks like my two artists in the photograph has had. Even though this is exaggerated i believe that this technique worked well and highlighted the point which i was trying to make. I also chose to have the words 'Heading Home' in red as i thought the colour had connotations with danger which again linked in with the wild party scene shown in my photograph.

To the right hand side of my page, i have chosen to have the text, which in this case is the interview between my two main artists which form the band 'The Voice.' I have chosen to do an exclusive interview as people are immediately drawn into a story by this and i thought that it would attract people to my magazine. Underneath all of the text on the right hand side of the page, i have the title of the magazine written in the bottom right hand corner. This technique continues to promote my magazine and continues to alert the readers attention to the title of my magazine, so that it sticks in their minds and will hopefully encourage them to buy it, if they are fans 0f the magazine.



I had many different ideas for the front page of my music magazine. After i kept re-drafting my many different ideas i decided on this one to be my final front page.

Firstly after researching music magazines i discovered that only a few of them offer free things inside the magazine. I believe people like freebies or good deals and this can sometimes attract the audience to a magazine and influence them to purchase it. Therefore i decided to include a 'Free CD' offer in my magazine to try and hook the readers attention and encourage them to buy my magazine. I have chosen t0 place an advert for the free CD in a bright yellow box in the top left hand corner of my magazine. I believe the bright yellow box and bright red font stand out against the black background, this is eye-catching and immediately draws peoples attention in. This is one of the first things which i want my audience to see as this could influence them to buy my magazine.

I have again chosen to place the same bright yellow box highlighting the free cd further down the left hand side of the page where the magazine displays a few of the artists who are going to be on the CD. I thought that this would help to direct the readers to where they could look to find out more about the free CD. I wanted to put some of this information on the front page, as many people would not bother to spend time flicking through the magazine to find out what artists it featured. Therefore i placed some of the well known names onto my front cover as these again would catch the readers attention in the same way which the prospect of the free cd would. I believe people would see some of the big names on the CD and immediately purchase the magazine just for the CD, if i was to design the full magazine i would explain some of the smaller acts on the CD towards the back of the magazine as they aren't going to encourage people to buy it, if it is a small band or artist which not many people have heard of.

Running along the top of my magazine, to the right of my free CD offer i have placed the text '15 New Tracks and Remixes.' i believe that the number of tracks on the CD would again be another selling point for the magazine. I have chosen to place this near to the offer,as it gives the audience a bit more information as to what is included on the CD. I have chosen to write this in a lively font as it stands out and catches the readers attention.

For the main picture of my magazine i chose to have my two main artists standing in an alleyway. I believe that this technique worked well. It stands out and instantly shows the relationship between my two main artists in my group. I also edited this image and faded the wall and background out to black so that it blended in with the background of my magazine. I believe that this technique worked well and almost give the photograph the impression that it is a paparazzi shot and that the audience are almost spying on them to see what they get up to. I believe the closeness between the two also highlights the intimacy between them and hints that they have feelings towards each other.

For the title of my magazine i decided to have it in the font of 'Welton Urban', I believe firstly that the urban font links in with the streets and society.This again highlights the fact that these two artists grew up on the streets and have made it big. It also highlights the fact that anyone can become sucessful no matter where you are from, as long as you have the talent.

I have chosen to place my main headline across the picture on the front of my magazine as this was a technique usually done when i looked at magazines such as the NME. I chose to have the main text as speech 'Were heading home'. I have chosen this text as the main story is centred around them going to their home city on their tour. I thought this text linked nicely in with the main story and the title gives a brief insight to the audience as to what the story centred around the artists on the front cover is going to be about. I have also seperately added some speech marks which i have produced in a larger font and a different colour to the speech so that th audience can clearly define the speech and that is what the two main artists have said. Underneath this i have then added the name of the band, this promotes the artists on the front cover as the audienceof the magazine will see any artists on the front cover of a music magazine as being sucessful and a good band and this could encourage them to buy the magazine to hear more about them. The name of the band underneath lets people who are interested know the bands name so that they can purchase their CD's.

I then chose to add some more storylines around my page, this gives readers more information of some of the stories featured in this issue and it also gives them an insight into what bands the magazine focuses on and what genre of music the magazine is centred around, which in this case is Indie. I also experiments with different typesof fonts to try and make the front cover look interesting and stylish as this is going to be the most important part of the magazine and is the magazines selling point. The audience notice the front cover and if that doesn't influence them to buy the magazine, they are not going to bother flicking through the magazine. I have the name 'Wilson' written in a heavy metal font. Underneath this is a conterversial story which centres around one of the artists calling the music industry. I chose the heavy metal font as i thought it looked the most controversial and firey which gives an insight into the story and into the artists personality. This font also helps as most people think of heavy metal artists as being controversial and always getting into trouble.

I have also added some text which runs along the bottom of the magazine. This starts with the word PLUS and instantly calls out to the readers letting them know that not everything which is featured in the magazine is on the front page. It also gives the impression of, theres a lot of great stuff in the magazine as shown on the front page, plus all of this other great stuff inside the magazine. This gives the magazine the feel of being sucessful and crammed full of good features and stories. This helps to constantly try and encourage the audience to buy the magazine.

I have also placed in a small white font the strapline. 'Your favourite Music Magazine'. This is almost telling the audience that it is their favourite music magazine. This could encourage people to read the magazine to find out how good it actually is. It also relates directly with the audience saying that this is their magazine and is almost bringing them into the magazine as if the readers are a part of the magazine. This technique could influence people to buy the magazine.

Finally i have placed the barcode, price and date in the bottom right hand corner. This is because after researching music magazines i dsicovered that this is where they generally tend to be placed. I also wanted people to quickly be able to see the price so that if they like it, they can find out straight away how much it is and buy it, without having to look all over for the price of the magazine.

front cover design draft

This is one of my drafts for my music magazine front cover, some parts of this have been put into my final design, however there where some parts in this design which i thought didnt work well and so i have changed my design around. For example I do not think the small picture in the bottom right hand corner, fitted in well with the rest of my magazine and it stuck out and looked out of place. I therefore chose to get rid of this in my final design. I believe this was the correct decision as my front page looked tidier after i had altered this.

I also changed the headline. Firstly I thought some of the text was hard to see across the picture, so in my final design i changed the headline to be smaller in size so that the text could be read and was clearer against the background. I also believe the headline 'The shocking truth', didn't work well and indicated that there was some shocking informationto come which i didn't do in the interview and so i thought i would change this headline to relate it to something in the interview which i had done for my double page spread.