Jess Pardoe AS Evaluation: Draft 1. In what ways does your product develop or challenge forms of existing media products?

The header of my magazine front cover is in a very bold font, similar to other well-known music magazines such as NME, Kerrang! Q, and The Rolling Stone; this large, bold font is also shown in other magazines such as Vogue, Elle, and Dazed and Confused. Also on my front cover I have used one single image to represent my fictional artist, Georgia. The picture is a mid-shot, the reader can see her face clearly, and her shoulders, but nothing more. These styles of camera shots are often found on music magazines; this is because the magazine is not focusing on the artists clothes or appearance in particular, but they choose to show who the magazine features as it informs the reader. I have taken a convention from an existing edition of Esquire magazine as inspiration for my magazine cover; the Esquire magazine had a scribbled font listing the features of the magazine surrounding the front cover image. I have recreated this in my own style as I have changed certain design features of the cover, such as the layout, image style, and text used. I found the scribbled font on a website, this is not how magazines in industry would find their fonts as they would have large computer packages with a range of fonts already available. My contents page is not a typically functional contents page; the main focus of the page is on the background image. I took the inspiration from this from a friend of mine who had recreated an existing magazine contents page from R.A.D magazine, from the late 90s. I used my own photograph, as all magazines would for all their pages; I chose a picture I took in New York City, its of a skyline from the Hudson River. The picture is suitable for the contents page as the colours are dull, which means text can be placed over it easily; the picture also has a large space in the centre where the sky is, this means the emphasis is still on the text of the contents page. The font I used on the contents page is the same font I have used for the article on my double page spread, which also matches the font used on the front cover for the date, issue number, and price. The font of the title matches the font used for the header of my front page, this shows continuity across my pages; existing magazines always show continuity across fonts and page layouts. My double page spread has the conventional 3 columns to a page that most magazines try to produce; I have used 3 images of Georgia that are all very similar to try and show her character through the photographs. My article is based on a fictional artist, Georgia, and her split from her former band. It is typical of magazines to interview artists after a recent event, whether its a gig, tour, festival, or change in style. I based my interview answers on a realistic perspective of Georgias fictional personality; her style is similar to Alice Glass so her responses can be quite blunt, and at other times, elaborate.

Jess Pardoe

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My magazine is aimed at the target audience of mixed genders, aged between 16 and 35. This outline is a basic target audience and people from outside this target audience may also read my magazine, although they would not be counted in the general age range. The genre of my music magazine is indie-alternative-rockpop, the genre sounds complex and varied, however it is not; most people of the ages 16-35 listen to some form of music within this genre however if someone is an R&B or Rap music fan, this would not be suited to their taste. I would like to think that readers of my magazine would not necessarily be the same personality-wise; my magazine can welcome a broad range of personalities all with a similar music taste in common. There is no particular indie-alternative-rock-pop style of clothing; therefore my magazine does not represent a specific social group such as punk, or hip-hop. There is no defined fashion to the genre of music that I have chosen as people can create fashion from whatever they want; people claim that there is an indie fashion however indie just means individual, which means that everyone can interpret their clothes, music, interests, in their own way. There is nothing particularly alternative about the way my front cover is presented; for example, if it was to appeal to a gothic social group there may be a darker colour scheme used and more dramatic hair, make-up, and clothing in the photograph. My contents page however does have more of a quirky, unpredictable layout compared to the structured front cover; I chose to recreate the design of R.A.D magazine because I thought it was a particularly eye-catching way of presenting the contents of the magazine. The main feature of the page is of a photograph of a New York skyline from the Hudson River. However this does not represent my indie-alternative genre, as New York City is an extremely famous tourist city; although some would say its individual as there is nowhere else like it on the planet. My double page spread is a simple constructed layout, and there is nothing particularly alternative about it in any way. I have followed typical magazine conventions by using 3 columns of text on each page; having quotes among the article in a bigger font; introducing the article with a short preamble. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? As I have looked at existing music magazines, I have particularly focused on NME magazine. NME magazine is an indie-alternative-rock genre magazine, and is published by IPC Media; this is the distribution company that I would probably use for my magazine if it were to be published as a real magazine. IPC Media as a company produce over 60 brands, most of which are iconic and extremely famous; these include: NME, Country Life, Now, Look, and Marie Claire, plus many more. From researching IPC Media it is clear that they do not feature in publishing music magazines alone, this could mean that my magazine would gain a wider audience range, which is ideal for publicity and promotion.

Jess Pardoe Distribution of magazines is restricted to mainly magazine stands, websites, and posting magazines to subscribers. However, some magazines are advertised on billboards and on television, which also brings about a wider audience; this is something that IPC Media have achieved as there are successful Now magazine advertisements on television, and some magazines appearing on billboards. Having an online magazine can attract more young people as they spend a lot of time on the Internet and on computers in general in the UK; this could make my magazine appeal to youths more, which is a main section of my target audience. Paid circulation would be how I would choose to distribute my magazine; the general public does not tend to pick up free magazines so the features of my magazine would be pointless. My magazine would also feature top stories and breaking news related to popular alternative artists. NME is available for subscription, as are multiple other magazines; I would choose to have this option available for readers of my magazine as subscriptions are well worth the money, and can include freebies and other privileges. 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? Katie Ford would be a typical reader of my magazine. At the age of 17 she has a huge interest in music, particularly artists of the indie-alternative-rock-pop genre. Katies favourite artists are among those of The Strokes, The Arctic Monkeys, and Julian Casablancas. Photography and music are two of Katies passions, she said, I love to read magazines to find out about up and coming bands, and gig reports, however I always look at the photography included in magazines as it can give me inspiration. As I previously said, my audience can be of a wide range of people, Katie is just one of the typical people to be attracted to my music magazine. Katie is a student currently studying A-levels so when she has free time she is always interested in reading and listening to music. Other people who could read my magazine are those studying at university, and young people without children who have spare time for reading. I would expect the audience of my magazine to be in touch with music at the time that the magazine is released every month; this is only so that they can fully appreciate the acts included in each edition. 5. How did you attract or address your audience? My audience can be attracted in any way in which they interpret my magazine; I have not particularly styled the front cover to be attracted to anyone in particular as I have used a combination of styles on this page alone. The photograph is of Georgias face, however she is pulling a funny facial expression which could appeal more to a younger audience as it suggests that she has a fun, outgoing character. The title of my magazine is very bold and simple to read, this shows that there is a level of sophistication within my magazine and that it is not just appealing to students. To contrast the bold, simple, title I chose to have a scribbled or handwritten font for the features of the magazine on the font cover. The scribbled effect can either look childish and messy, or can look organized in a playful way; by using a combination of fonts I have attracted both students and young adults. My front cover has a very simple colour scheme, black, white, and red; this is so that my magazine cannot be confused with a teen-pop magazine.

Jess Pardoe The types of magazines that are teen-pop are often filled with multi-coloured images and text, which is the opposite of how I have presented my magazine cover. My contents page is also organized in a quirky way, I have chosen to have text at the top and bottom of the page and a large photography filling up the entire background of the page. This comes across instantly as creative and fun for students to look at, however the photograph I have chosen is very scenic and bland so that the contents page is still accessible and makes it easy to navigate the magazine. The language I have used in my article on the double page spread is legible and written moderately formally. The layout of my article is an interview between FUGUE and Georgia; this is clearly shown by having colour coded F: and G: which shows that my article is clearly labeled and easy to follow. The way in which I have interpreted Georgias interview answers is to make the language and structure of sentences easy for people of all ages to understand. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? My skills with Adobe Photoshop CS5 have improved greatly by producing my magazine. I already knew how to work the program due to having it on my laptop at home; however I had to organize a large number of layers for my front cover and double page spread pages as there is a lot of content to them. My photography skills have progressed in terms of editing and lighting; I used a Canon 1000D SLR camera to take the photographs for my magazine, which was helpful as it is a high quality camera. I edited the photos of Georgia so that the lighting was altered, and the contrast balance appeared more realistic. I also used Flickr to upload my photographs of Georgia onto; this meant that I could show a wider audience my photography for my magazine. I also used Slideshare and Animoto, which are both websites that I am unfamiliar with, so I have now broadened my use of websites to present my work on for future reference. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your final product? From the start of this coursework to the end my skills have developed well, I feel that my product even since my draft magazines has improved. I have stuck with a similar design all the way through for my front cover and double page spread; however I changed my contents page dramatically. I failed to achieve the design that I had planned for my contents page so I did some more research in contents pages and looked at one of my peers contents pages which is where I took my inspiration from.