Evaluation

1. Evaluation Jaina Badesha AS Media

2. I have created a music magazine called ‘Vibe’ aimed towards a teenage/young adult audience who are interested in R’n’B/Hip Hop/Rap music.

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

4. Masthead: I used the font ‘college’ for my masthead as I thought that it reflects the youth of my target audience as well as fitting in with the R’n’B/Rap style of the magazine. Alike to most magazines in general, my masthead is the largest text on the page and aside from the image, is the first thing the reader sees. Part of the masthead is hidden by the main image which indicates that it is a renowned magazine brand which is easily recognisable by style and layout alone. Furthermore, I chose to Language Style: Throughout the magazine cover I tried to incorporate some journalistic writing techniques such as ‘WIN TICKETS’ which would entice the reader into purchasing the magazine as there is both an imperative and a chance of a reward. I also featured a rhetorical question on my cover which would immediately engage the reader and peak their curiosity. This is a common feature amongst magazines in general, with NME being the most prominent from previous research. use the colour black as it not only fits in with the black/white/red colour scheme but is also salient. Colours: The colour scheme of my music magazine is black, white and red. I also used this colour scheme in my preliminary school magazine task and found that they work well together. I think these colours compliment each other well but also help to create a chilled/relaxed/calm mood which reflects my chosen genre of music. This idea stemmed from Billboard magazine as I think their use of bright colours reflects the variety of genres they promote. Graphics: One graphological technique I used was to insert a banner at the bottom of the cover. This not only helped to share more information with the reader, but also made the cover seem more diverse. The sheer black background is for both saliency and aesthetics. I got this idea from Kerrang, although they tend to put their banners at the top of the cover. In addition to this, a sheer white background was used to enhance the sell lines of the magazine. Furthermore, I used a thick black line in the main sell line to aid cohesion and make the text easier to digest. It also acts as a barrier between the colour change of the fonts either side of it. Images: I chose to use a single image for my music magazine opposed to one main image and a couple surrounding ones. Magazines such as Billboard and V often showcase this minimalistic style which I thought to be very effective in capturing the readers attention. I edited my photo to be in black and white as I felt that this helped to capture the relaxed mood of the magazine. Although the style of the image is a professional photo shoot look, the model herself is in a very casual, unusual pose which would help to peak readers’ interests. Fonts: The main font I used was ‘Microsoft Sans Serif’ which was an already installed font on Photoshop. I chose to use this basic font mainly for readability. As much as I would have liked to have made each font dynamic and interesting, I felt as though it didn’t fit with the style of my magazine. I however did use a different font for the artist’s name ‘M.K.B’ to act as an official logo of the singer. I used different colours for different pieces of information for saliency. In addition to this, less important information, such as the date, were put in a smaller font whereas more important information, the sell lines, were put in a larger font.

5. Brand Image: I showcase the brand image of the magazine by putting ‘Vibe|page 1’ at the top of the contents. The font used is the college font that was used for the masthead so to readers, it is instantly recognisable. Furthermore, the colour scheme is the same all throughout my three pieces of work. This helps to link them all together and shows a consistent pattern throughout the magazine. Structure: The layout of my whole contents was inspired by a Billboard magazine contents page I came across whilst researching. The main feature of it was the thick, black lines you can see I have incorporated into my own work. I really liked the look of this layout as it not only matched the style of my own magazine, but also helps dramatically with aiding cohesion as it cuts down the amounts of text the reader needs to digest. As a result of this, the contents page is split into easily readable sections which each feature different types of information. The first section tells the reader about an artist featured in the magazine. The way I have chosen to display the text in this section is stylistically dynamic as it is different to anything else on the page. This was inspired by a variety of different fonts I had seen and thought it would look good if they all came together. The use of colour, positioning, size and spacing helps to draw attention to this area of the page. Below is an image of the artist to help create a visual aid for the reader. This image is different to all my others as it features a different model and is in colour. The right side of the contents page informs the reader what is on each page. The first section addresses all the sell lines that were on the cover whilst also adding in some more minor ones. The layout of this was inspired by an issue of V Magazine I saw whilst researching: Larger font for the title, smaller font for the explanation, larger font and different colour for the page number. I feel as though this really helps to break the information down but also looks aesthetically pleasing. The last section of the contents page informs the reader of the upcoming music festivals. The title ‘Who’s Headlining?’ draws the reader in as they want to find out the answer to the question. The use of the ‘+’ sign also reflects the laid back, relaxed style of the magazine opposed to using the word ‘and’.

6. Page Hierarchy: I used the same dynamic font from the cover for the name ‘M.K.B’ as it shows continuity. The sub-heading beneath it was put in a smaller, white and more basic font to make the heading stand out to the reader. In addition to this, emboldening, italicizing and changes in colour were used for saliency. The colour change from red (question) to black (answer) also helps with cohesion. One thing I did that is very rarely done in music magazines was to type the body of the article in capital letters. I chose to do this because I wanted to make my own magazine style a bit different from others. Plus, the text is still easily readable, maybe even more so. Images: I chose to use two images on my double page spread (one main image and one supporting image), both in black and white to further create the chilled mood of the magazine. I used Photoshop to elongate the background of the main image to cover the whole double page, creating a solid background for my text. This image is different to all my other ones as she is looking directly into the camera which helps to create a link with the potential customer. The other image is shot from an over the shoulder angle which adds some diversity to the whole page. It is also more casual than the main image as it is not designed to look like a professional photo shoot but more like real life. At the bottom of the spread I also incorporated the twitter icon to aid the link to the artist’s twitter account. I have seen this being done on various magazines such as Billboard with several different social media icons. Brand Image: I represented the brand image on my double page spread in the same way that I did on my contents page. For example, the colour scheme(black, white and red) is apparent in all three of my pieces and showcases both the brand and the mood of the magazine. Furthermore, the use of the ‘Vibe|Page 28’ showcases the brand image, most prominently because it is also used on the contents page which shows a clear continuous link. Content Style: I chose to format my double page spread into an interview. I have seen this done on many magazines including Kerrang, Q, and Clash. I myself find it interesting to read when a musician does an interview with a magazine, and so thought that it would be a good technique to engage readers. Language Style: Most of the language used on my double page spread is quite basic and can be read from any perspective, whether you love music or not. However, the article has a clear lexical field of music, as shown by words such as ‘album’, ‘song’, ‘guitar’, and ‘radio’.