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

My preliminary task was a poor effort in terms of the visions i had of it becoming, very lacking in adventure and skill, i'd like to think that perhaps these are two of the things that i have picked up in producing the real magazine. I have learnt quite a lot of skills in the photoshop department, layermasking, probably being the most useful, however also the using the ruler guides is a very needy skill to pick up, as there is nothing worse than text that should be centred and is not. The prelim contents page looks disastrous, although i am not entirely pleased with my real contents page, it is a massive improvement on the prelim, perhaps with just more care towards colour and i would have been pleased with it. I feel the problem with the prelim was simply that I hadn't learned the appropriate skills by that time, however now, that excuse is not valid, I would have liked to have designated more time into the thought process of the magazine, perhaps even to have been able to continue this process throughout the beginnings of production, allowing me to enable what works and what does not work, however this could not be the case. Before we began, i was almost certain that the practical side of the work would be more my kind of project, however looking back now finished, i do have to say that the audience research and readership profiles, etc really were something i enjoyed doing, and i recognise that this simply is a must in order to produce a magazine that looks at least semi - professional!

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

Throughout this project i have not only used a wide range of software and hardware, i have also used them for the first time! I have had experience with photoshop before so I was quite at home with that, however adobe InDesign was new, SLR cameras were not something i was familiar in operating, and even the blog - i had no previous experience of blogging! I found InDesign fairly difficult to operate, but soon became familiar with it, translating digital files using its quickdraw feature, this meant there was a poor screen quality - which made it difficult to judge whether my work was actually of the quality that I had seen on Photoshop, and would see printed.
I was no stranger to specific file formatting before this course, however i do now keep a clear storage space, and have learnt the hard way that you should never only save a file as a JPEG, it is so important that PSD files are kept in case anything needs tweaked or edited at a later stage.
I was expecting to synchronise technology with my artwork skills a lot more than i have done, however for one reason or anything i found myself too focused on little tricks i had picked up in Photoshop and therefore making any artwork ideas i had obliterate.

5. How did you attract/ address your audience?

In order to attract the correct audience according to my specifications of who they should be, it is important that a relationship is developed between magazines of similar content, they do probably have to be published by the same institution, seeing as though UNCUT and NME have that link through IPC media, it is wise for me to try and emulate that working relationship link with MOJO on Bauer media. This would mean dedicating perhaps a couple of small adverts on the website and also full page adverts in the magazine to MOJO and their current issue, or perhaps their subscription plan in relation to ours, not as a comparison, however perhaps both could be linked as a bundle (similarly to the UNCUT & EMPIRE bundle available in shops).
We would also expect the same level of coverage in return from MOJO, obviously for them to do this it must be of some relation and not an exact replica to their own publication, their needs to be a unique selling point. The main unique selling point of my magazine would be the writing and art direction skills, obviously along with the slightly obscure yet sought after content, a more real product than the traditional 'stock' magazine with bland type, and dull ideas.
The plan would be for the first 12 issues (year 1) to dedicate each issue to a particular 'big event' within the music industry, however create interesting and original use of new graphic work, perhaps based on the artists design work of the time, or recreating old classic snapshots, with hand rendering methods. MOJO have touched on this sort of thing, but it is certainly not something they are known for doing. It is hoped, that the likeminded fan of older, now 'classic' music and the graphic design art world, will have a great interest in this magazine, and to those not too bothered about the art direction surely won't be dissapointed with aesthetically pleasing products each month.


In terms of the actual feedback i recieved from my targeted audience, it turned out that the most pleasing aspect was the double page spread - in particular the layout and fonts used. The front cover was described as being 'a bit clustered' by someone whilst being 'old school rock and roll' from another - the opinion did vary to each person asked, of course each was valued and taken on board.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Myself and another student (also having produced a magazine) went into Darlington town centre, clad with a fluffy boom mic (just for show), to ask our public what they thought of our magazine productions. We got many responses, I particularly enjoyed one response from an older man who said he 'liked' mine and that he was 'a bit of an old school rocker'. This is exactly the kind of response i was hoping for, unfortunately this clip and other footage became lost in translation and therefore unable to use. I have made a short montage of the footage i did have, unfortunately this is only one response, fortunately i have used exciting music that fits with both the footage and my audience's music tastes.
During the planning stages, my audience was quite varied, from an older perhaps near 50ish aged male market to a young and nostalgic mid - late teen audience, this is the case evermore, especially after the trip into Darlington town, both of the two categories liked my magazine and confirmed to me that they would buy it. I found one of my target audience (an older male) heading towards the Beatles remasters collection, i included this in my early audience research for the magazine, pulling all the strings together between my research and final magazine product.
Having now seen what is 'wrong' with the magazine, I can truly say that my audience is certainly not 'niche' and although it is a mixture of ages, this seems to benefit the magazine in terms of being a successful product. The fact that there is a wide age range, allows for people out of most social groups that buy magazines, to buy this magazine. 'Music man' has something for the indie crowd, the urban smart crowd, the rock and roll crowd and the rock crowd, there is a strong decision to banish 'scene' music and anything American punk pop based, other than stated, all are welcome.

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

The distribution aspect of the magazine process is crucial to it's success, without getting a good foot in early with reputable institutions, such as Bauer or IPC, a magazine will simply not be able to survive. The market of today demands, something new, it does not want the same as it as had previously, most of all it wants quality, this is surely the most desired aspect of production. It is also important you choose the right institution, this is the same with anything in media, a prime example would be the music industry - you would not send your jazz music to a heavy metal label such as Geffen Records!
Bauer Media publish Mojo magazine, whilst IPC Media publish UNCUT magazine, this covers my two main influences when it comes to my own publication, therefore it would be these institutions that I would strive to aim for with my magazine. I believe that parts of it do the job that they should, and would definitely be taken on by eiher of the two discussed institutions. However my main problem is that too much of my magazine is perhaps too tacky to be used in such high profiled institutions, and would therefore not be published by them. My contents page is the epitomy of this, the block colours are wrong and do not work in context with the page, the shaping of each part i do quite like, as it is interesting, perhaps successful institutions do not want 'interesting' though.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups represented in my magazine vary from middle aged rockers, to young and original scenes that may have been missed by the mainstream. Very often people within the music industry forget that not all teenagers are into the 'new' popular music, a lot do appreciate older stuff and would much rather read about the new music that share more than the odd similarity with older 'classic' bands, my magazine reaches out to these people. My cover model represents a typical 'lad' smartly dressed with a music sense, as the two became a good example of synergy within fashion and music in the sixies with the 'mod'. As for the two images featured above, i thought they were both typical of the same social group, there is the same 'not fussed' facial expression yet attitude seeping from both images. Both are dressed and are standing very similarly, and the whole outlook rubs off very much the same. Addressing the reader wih eye contact shows confidence and allows the reader to relate, it is important to avoid anything over the top though, as then the wrong audience becomes drawn in.

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

The masthead of the magazine is displayed in the now standard position of top page left orientation, with the often sophisticated and contrasting use of thin and thick blocks of colour within the typeface. I have strayed slightly from the 'norm' in placing the barcode, pricing and issue number in the top right of the page, appose to the modern day preference of the bottom right hand corner. Although this is an unusual decision, it is not completely unheard of, and in terms of my magazine, it definitely sits a lot easier in the chosen position of my layout. My reasoning for this is simple, a barcode is the least astheatically pleasing element of the cover, so placing it in 'dead space' i can ensure that no roomis wasted where something 'happening' could be placed instead.



In terms of the magazines content, i have challenged the conventions of the usual teenage music magazines, i had to do this considering teenagers were not my only intended audience, the content in my magazine is much more 'classic' orientated. However, the conventions are followed well enough to allow the reader to know what they are getting involved with, all the usual expected features are present, i suppose i should have made this not the case, in order to stand our further from the crowd of regular music magazines. Perhaps if making further issues this could be the case. However in terms of replicating original conventions, i am pleased with how my front cover has turned out, i certainly do not think it would be out of place sat in between nme and uncut.

Construction Process - Contents Page

I originally opted for a yellow colour as the 'main' colour (still out of my colour pallette) i thought this worked well with a sophisicated light bronze colour. For the main body of the contents page i have chosen to tilt both text and later images, this creates the feeling that perhaps the bands featured are maybe of difference in viewpoint to the magaine itself, or perhaps to show their 'wild' side.

I changed my mind about the yellow being the 'main' colour and instead chose a more subtle grey tone, which i felt fit nicely alongside the other colours. I did feel though that in order to differentiate the actual contents information and the online offer, i would leave the triangular shaped online offer with a yellow background. The text on the polaroid effect photos is supposed to look almost hand scripted to add to the almost home-made vibe.

The final addition was the inclusion of the web address at the top of the page, it is in an important position as it is important to the magazine. As well as the final insertion of the polaroid style pictures. The reason i have allowed the the block colour to overlap one of the photos is to make have slightly imperfect qualities, i liked the simpleness of it.

Construction process - Double Page Spread

Each of the three smaller photos used are outtakes from my photoshoot and have been edited to look like old style sepia photographs. The block background colur is an earthly beige colour as it seems most appropriate with use alongside the photos from my shoot and the Northern portrayal.

I have used a variety of font sizes to create an interesting arrangment for the article heading, it is bold and attractive to look at in accordance with the colour and photographs on the double page spread.


The final touches to the Double page spread were the addition of the page numbers, page heading of 'Overture' and also the formatting of the actual article. The page numbers are quite bold and in a white, simply as this suited best, the page heading features Overture highlighted in black with a white font, again simply as this suited the photo best.

Construction Process - Front Cover

Masthead font effets used are stroke, inner shadow and colour overlay, this provides a basic yet classy theme for the magazine. I have also used the circular marquee tool, with a white fill of a lesser opacity, as well as then inversing selection and painting a faded black loosely around the outside, creating a shadow effect. I have also used a stock barcode and created my own issue number, UK pricing and Canadian pricing.







I have continued to use the same text effects, however, used grey, blue and black as the theme for most sell lines and a rearrangement of the masthead colour theme for my pullout quote - the emphasis should be on this. I have arranged the text layout in a centered postition of the lower section, allowing all faces to be in full and detailed view.