Evaluation Part 7

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

Evaluation Part 6.

How did you attract or address your audience?

Evaluation part 5

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

Evaluation Part 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation part 3

                                                                                                      

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Part 2

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

I have decided that the media institution to distribute my magazine would be Bauer Media Group.

I chose this group due to their international success, it operates in 15 countries worldwide and would therefore give my magazine a great platform for sales, they have a worldwide circulation of magazine titles that amounts to 38 million magazines a week. Economically, I would be able to mass produce the magazine, this would allow me to keep the costs down which would benefit the reader by being cheaper.

Q Magazine is also owned by this institution. The indie music genre of this magazine and the great success that it has shows that they  have the right knowledge and basis for a highly achieving indie music magazine. As Q is the only indie music magazine that they own, I feel like there is a potential gap for another one to sell along side it. Although there could be some competition between the other indie magazine, my product still stands a good chance of selling well due to the fact that my magazine is slightly cheaper and is predominately aimed for younger people. 

The fact that the target audience of my music genre are very frequent users of technology is another good reason to distribute with Bauer as there is the potential to expand into television and radio, as Q did. This would give my magazine a better name for itself and widen my audience. 

I considered distributing with a smaller scale institution, such as the distributor of 'Shindig'. However these magazines are aimed at a niche market, and specialise in these genres only. I wouldn't sell as much with a smaller group and would have to increase the pricing, and wouldn't be able to afford offers and giveaways which attract more readers. 

According to the National Readership Survey's (www.nrs.co.uk)  statistics on Q magazine's readers, it becomes clear that their publisher is successful due to the large number of monthly readers that they have. Q has about 469,000 readers monthly. This implies that my magazine will hopefully too gain this level of readership. I also found that my magazine had a potential gap in the market because, despite it being an indie magazine as well, it appeals to a wider selection of the lower section of the 15-44 age range. Although this eliminates the older readers, it attracts more of the younger audience my magazine genre is primarily aimed at. Q includes older singers and artists whereas my magazine focusses on more regular, current singers. 

I would ideally stock this in a local supermarket, Tesco, for example. I chose to sell it somewhere like this rather than WHSmith, as it is much more easily accessible and there is so many of them. As people shop here regularly they are more likely to stumble across it as an impulse buy, also.  Having said that, regular readers can also pick up their monthly issue easily. Whereas in WHSmith for example, people go in there with the intention of getting a magazine like this, and my target audience are quite laid back they would like to be able to purchase it without any hassle. 

Evaluation Part 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluations

Now my main tasks are complete I will begin the evaluations:)!

Final Contents Page

This is my final contents page. 

The subject content is divided up into both monthly features that would be there weekly and possibly follow on into the next issue. Implying a successful, monthly magazine and also encourages the resale as people will want to see the 'new bands' for next month, too. The 'features' section is parts of the magazine that are exclusive to this month, giving the issue a special quality to it.
I have maintained the colour scheme of black, white and orange. This makes it look conventional. Q magazine, my style model, also uses maintains it's colour scheme.
In terms of the 4 f's, the Frame of this was influenced by the Q magazine as I felt that it looked professional all being aligned.
The male and female gaze of the image on this page is important. The model looks straight into the camera, which directly engages with the audience, perhaps encouraging sales.
Although the indie genre doesn't particularly rely on good looking people on the cover to sell magazines like an R'n'B magazine would, I still think that a good looking well dressed model was necessary to reflect the genre positively.

Contents Page

Here is a draft of my magazine contents page, I decided to put it along side the contents page that influenced my work. There are some noticeable similarities but I still think there is a potential for improvement.
I like the white strips on the page that hold the information that contrast on the background and the separation of features and regulars, as this makes it more easy to navigate around the page and readers can find what they want to faster. The top image in the corner gives the reader an idea of what the magazine entails, similar to the front cover. I think this image isn't right, however, as it is too blurry. I personally quite like it but it isn't very conventional. Another thing I think I need to change is to tidy it up slightly, make sure everything is aligned. This way it will look more professional.

MY FINAL FRONT COVER

After tweaking it once again, this is the result of my final front cover with the changes made from the feed back I received. Lets look at it in terms of the Four F's of Magazine Design....

FORMULA

"The Articles and Features should remain the same each month."

I believe my cover conveys this as being a consistent magazine that provides enticing offers and entertainment to the audience, that would make them re-purchase every time. The 'exclusive free download' for example, implies the specialty that comes with buying the magazine as they get this free offer that they couldn't without buying it. encouraging this re-sale. 

The cover also conveys consistency through its three-toned colour scheme. This makes it seem professional and not too dull, and not too painfully bright at the same time! I found it important to keep the colour balance just right, as did the Q magazine with the black and white cover that influenced me. 

Overall I think my magazine has aquired its own theme and is something that would become recognizable and the triangle or the orange colour, for example, would be associated with my magazine. 

FORMAT 

"What the magazine looks like."

As it is the front cover, it needs to be something my target audience would be attracted into buying as this is what sells the magazine because this is what they see first! The colour scheme would appeal to my target audience as the black and white has a relaxed, almost sub-dued look about it and isn't too in your face, almost reflecting the kind of music genre it is for with the guitar music. Also, the black and white magazine cover isn't used as often in terms of music magazines, which adds an element of individuality to it which would make it stand out more on a shelf and the idea of being original is a commendable trait in the indie genre. 

In terms of fonts, I used three different ones, while this is something that doesn't usually happen, I think I have pulled it off. I wanted the font that look almost hand written, as it reflects the relaxed nature of the indie genre. I think the type writer text is also interesting and quite different, in keeping with the individual qualities. I also wanted a simple font to make the sell lines and title easy to read, as it is important for the reader to recognize what is in the magazine at a first glance. 

The image is, again, something that is needed to relate to the audience and I think that it works. The boy on the cover has a style and is of a similar age to the people who I would ideally like to read the magazine. I did break a few conventions here as he isn't looking directly into the camera. This almost adds an element of mystery, I think, and he looks pretty relaxed and laid back. 

FRAME

"The margins and gutters"

For this F, I think I can apply my sell lines on the cover to this. The text in the black boxes was inspired from my style models and I think it means that the text doesn't get lost in the background image. Something I had to change from my previous draft was the alignment of the sell lines and to keep them straight like in Q magazine. I think this works well as it looks professional and is easy to follow as the reader would just read it straight down. As the target audience is teens and young adults with a busy life style, the easier to read the better. 

FUNCTION

"What the magazine is for"

The magazines audience is pretty clear, as people all guessed correctly when I asked them in my peer research. The Indie genre is conveyed through the young adult, the relaxed style of writing, the guitar, the fashionable clothing, all hints to the fresh, new music that the magazine is about. The slogan reinforces this by saying "Your music, from a whole new angle" it makes it personal and directed straight to the reader, and the "whole new angle" is a play on words to do with the triangle logo, and the idea that it is something different. The title 'Chord' is recognizably to do with a guitar, which again, is associated with the indie genre and music as a whole.