Evaluation

Lerato Tsiga

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

Masthead
Main Image

Coverlines

Flash

Main coverline

RULE

OF

THIRDS

RULE

OF

THIRDS

My front cover uses the same layout as the Billboard, in the way the cover lines are set out on either sides of the main image which allows the readers to see what else would be included into the magazine, the image has also a contrast which makes it stand out more and brings it out as the main focus similar to Billboard where Beyonce is slightly over taking the masthead and the way shes standing. The colour pallet on both front covers is minimal and simple the colours stay the same through out the cover and work well with the main images. Urban magazine has a barcode which is a convention of magazines.

In my focus group when asked As a music magazine does the front cover attract you Lacy replied Yes because of all the bright colours and the pictures are good which like uses the conventions of a real music magazine.

Masthead
Main image

Index Crosshead

Background to contrast the image

The contents pages are similar when it comes to the layout the page is divided into two clear sections, the image takes up one side and the index the right side, the masthead is bold and clear and is split up across the top corner of the page which gives it a unique look, the crossheads make it easier and faster for the readers to find what they want to go directly to.

Stand line

Images

Page Numbers Main image

In contrast to the colours used throughout the double page spread the colour scheme throughout the pages this makes the writing and the images not look to overpowering where as if you had a bright yellow background, the images have both been contrasted to stand out more which highlights and brings more attention to the Artists, the theme of the double page spread also reflect the theme of their stories the vibe magazine are more retro when it comes to the images and the contrast of black and white images with the main colour image compared to Urban where they're new artists so therefore there image is larger and full length.

Planning
Originally I wanted the cover to be true to its title of the magazine Urban, so I had an idea of having an urban feel to the image and having a group would have attracted more interest to the readers, the # element to the masthead gave it a modern twist and connected to twitter which is a worldwide trend, I found out from my audience feedback the brick layout give it more of the urban edge which was my aim.

I wanted to keep the contents page simple because having too much would have cluttered the page, with it being simple to read it would have been easier for the readers to find the pages, I followed my draft and found from my audience feedback the simple layout was better to read and more modern.

The draft for the double page spread I wanted to have a colourful element when it came to the text, and the main aim was to make sure the readers were attracted to the storylines, I kept the same layout when it came to producing the final double page spread, in my audience feedback the response of the images where positive and they liked the contrast of colours used made it stand out more towards them. Using one image on one side of the page was to relate more to the readers for them to feel more connected nad gave them more of a visual of the artist.

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

#2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The urban magazine highlights the female gender, the image used on the front cover with one of them standing upright leaning into the camera and both clearly smiling and represents strong and independent girl group and happiness, not going along with the conventions common urban or hip hop magazines use where they're showing some attitude to which isn't the stereotypical image you would see on a Urban based magazine which would consist of Males talking about their money and success with women. The ethnicity I have focused on is Black, which is the most known ethnicity when it comes to the genre urban music, the images represent urban funky style which is modern nowadays especially with the young people. The artists featured on my cover lines are mainly black which goes along with the urban genre stereotype, the lack of female artists mentioned on my magazine show the power males have over the music industry in the 21st century with urban music.

Most black young girls are stereotyped to be loud, full of attitude and very overpowering, where as on my images they're showing that they are happy and how they're happy to be working together not the usual rivalry black women are stereotyped to have towards each other.

The confident stance is what's used on my front cover, the rural background in the car park gives it that urban edge. The lack of white images on my magazine contrasts with the race issue associated with urban music.

TV programmes that my social groups would most likely be watching would be most likely be on channels like BET, who are a black entertainment channel and broadcast programmes who appeal to the ethnic races such as 106&Park where they broadcast mostly rnb, hip hop, urban music. They also hold events to celebrate the black culture and express their talents whether its within music, acting or fashion. This allows the ethnic social groups to feel like they have a channel they could relate with and celebrate their cultures within the television industry. Shows like Rip the runway which is held every year on BET expresses the fashion aspects in the black culture and is equivalent to the more highlighted fashion shows which are more aimed at the minority ethnic and social groups.

The music my social groups will be interested in will be Hip Hop music and Urban, RnB watching shows like mtv base and listening to radio stations such as Radio 1 extra who focus on the certain music genres that my social groups will listen to.

Artists

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

IPC media have a strong brand publication when it comes to the music industry, the produce over 60 iconic media brands, although they dont have a varied genre of music magazines, that will only make it more suitable for them to distribute Urban magazine. It would allow them to go outside their comfort zone and also open up their audience in terms of their common readers. But because the majority of IPC Medias target audience include Woman and for Urban having an independent female group on their front cover that would suit their woman readers and keep them within the same audience but drawing in the more urban readers. Although NME is the only music magazine they distribute and their target audience would be opposite, the different readers they attract the more sales they would receive

IPC Media has a large Woman based target audience with magazines that offer fashion tips, beauty advice and have main storylines based on strong woman influences to attract the mass women audience, so in regards to Urban magazine whose where most of the cover lines are aimed at the female audience. Although a slight gap whit IPC media when it comes the different ethnic groups they address which results to them losing out on sales because of the lack of diversity. Urban magazines main target audience is mass market women because of the artist being featured being the power couple which in the urban industry its the other way around. When I did my audience feedback the girls I surveyed said they found the magazine more appealing to them because they were 2 Girls on the front cover but with the ethnic race they said ot would apeal more to the black ethnic race.

In January 2010, IPC Media restructured around three key audience groups: men, mass-market women and up-market women.

Johnson publishing company main focus is to celebrate the black culture and one of the many things they do is publish magazines like Ebony which is a highly female target based magazine in contrast to the publishing groups in the UK, they appeal a lot more to the ethnic black races especially women and the UK lacks that publishing group where there's that link with the ethnic groups.
Linda Johnson Rice carries on this legacy and maintains JPC's position as a Black owned company. JP Morgan Chase recently became an equity partner in the firm. The corporate mission of the company focuses on education, financial literacy and aids prevention. With over 20 million readers each month the company is thriving to impact these three areas. An elementary charter school was recently opened in Chicago in honour or John H. Johnson

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

Target audience for #URBAN -16-24 year old -Social class C2/E: As long as they have enough income whether its from their parents or they have a part time job as a student to afford the monthly price of the magazine

-Females: Most topics in the magazine would appeal more to females than males, although urban/hiphop is seen as a male dominated genre the magazine does have topics for all genders.
-Ethnicity: Predominantly black but urban music appeals to all ethnicities -Overall Profile: For people who love the music, fashion and television side to Urban, they follow the latest trends with Artists so would be interested in the latest tours available, my main headlines would attract females and by my research on who the most popular artists are in the urban genre in the charts I used them for my cover lines because they would attract more of the trending teenagers onto reading the magazine.

#5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The things that attract my social class especially teenagers or students is the benefits of getting a free item, so by advertising the free Trey Songz who is known in the urban genre as a sex symbol would attract the females to purchase the magazine and getting the free poster.

By using a controversial topic that has been trending in the urban genre scene would interest the audience and make it different to all the other magazines who would normally try and hide the topics they think would shock the audience and therefore cause controversy to the whole magazine.

The masthead is bright and bold so therefore would attract the readers because the red outline would stand out whilst on the magazine stands, the red also contrasts with the whole magazine front cover so gives it more of a professional look and appeal more to the audiences.

The simple but yet colourful layout of the contents page attracts the younger and both older audience because theres not to much to look out and the set out of the index of pages is precise. The image with the girl whose wearing an iconic artist could also attract the audience.

Addressing my audience in a way where they would feel as if they're getting a first glimpse and exclusive onto an upcoming artists first performance would attract them more to the magazine cover lines.
Where the questions where asked on the interview of J&J including personal ones of their relationships would have intrigued the audience and including the facial expressions they did through out answering the questions makes the audience feel like they're more involved with the interview.

Audience Feedback
Does the Front cover relate to the Music Genre targeted?
10

0 Yes No

I asked 10 16-18 year olds around college whether they felt the front cover was appealing to the urban target audience and by the feedback giving back the front cover does appeal to the aimed target audience.

How much would you pay for #Urban?

3.00

2.50

Amount of money

2.00

1.50

Series1

1.00

0.50

0.00 1 2 Number of people 3 4

Which magazine do you prefer?

Urban Student #Urban

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

I've learnt more of a advanced knowledge compared to my previous Magazine I created using both Photoshop and InDesign. Whether it was editing the background to an image or changing the contrast on the image to make it stand out more and with InDesign simply inserting the Stand first which made it relate more to the conventions of a real music magazine double page spread.

Photoshop

Originally the brick layout at the back of the front cover image was clear but to achieve more of a professional look to the magazine I blurred the bricks which also made the group J&J stand out more in terms of highlighting them and making sure the readers knew they were the main cover line. I clicked on filter and selected Gaussian Blur which led me onto the minimized view of the area I had highlighted in this case being the bricks. The toolbar allowed me to choose how much blur effect I wanted onto the image which you can clearly see compared to the original image was a significant amount, the audience research also highlighted how they liked the background on the front cover which was the aim of me editing the image.

I created the different formats to the font to highlight the importance of the word power and by clicking swatches it allowed me to select a colour that would stand out from the other purple font.

Creating the overlays on my text to make them stand out more and choosing a bright colour red made a big impact and highlighted the Masthead more. I could easy change how much overlay I wanted by increasing or decreasing the capacity

I used this selector tool to select and crop the areas I wanted to edit for example when I created the blur with the brick background. Using the drop shadow effect allowed text to stand out more by having the background shadow.
I separated the contents masthead by suing different textbox's for each section and moving them around to position them the way I wanted and what reflected my planning.

By using this my paragraphs in my double page spread were evenly spread out in a precise order.

I applied the stroke when it came to having a slight effect on the artists name which made it stand out more when it came to the background and attractive to the readers

On my contents page the original background layer was the bricks where as I created a background to add a bit more contrast to the magazine and with this I played around with the colour used some of the colours used on the front cover and inserted them in diagonal style, but yet making sure it wasnt to much overpowering the text.

I changed the contrasts from the original image to enhance the quality of the image and appeal it more to the audience using paint and selecting the area I wanted to have the higher contrast in this case being the whole image.

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

I've learnt how to make the masthead stand out more so thats the first thing that catches the readers eyes.

Editing the images to make them look more conventional to real magazines, ie blurring the bricks. The format of the cover lines I've learnt to differ the styles to make it more modern and attractive to the readers.

RULE

OF

THIRDS

RULE

OF

THIRDS

Learnt how to change the colour contrast when it comes to the background to give it more of the urban funky twist.

Again with the images learnt with the Blur to change the background and link it with the image on the front cover.

The layout of the index I learnt from my audience research keeping it simple is the most effective and its easier for them to find the pages, although I learnt adding more colour would attract the readers more