Evaluation: Addressing an audience

Production Schedule

The first thing I did for my magazine was look at other magazines that were aimed at similar target audiences because I wanted to get an idea about what they were like and what the design of them was like. 
Then I drew drafts of what I wanted my magazine to look like, I tried to make it different from all the others I had looked at because I didn't want it to be exactly the same as all the others.

After planning them I started making them, I used photoshop for my front cover and contents page and I used indesign for my double page spread. 

I started with my front cover and made a plan of where everything was going to go on photoshop so then when I had my photos and knew what I was going to write I could just add that in. 
Whilst designing my pages I also started taking the photos for my magazine. I took a lot of the photos used on my first photoshoot for the magazine but some of them didn't look write when they were actually on the magazine so I had to take some more, which also helped add more variety to the magazine because before all the photos were very similar and you could tell they were all taken at the same time.

The pages of my magazine changed a lot as I was making them just because I either didn't like the way things looked or I changed my mind about them, I ended up starting again quite a few times.
The front cover was the page that took the most time because it would be the first thing people saw of the magazine and obviously it had to look right, it had to be eye catching and able to grab peoples attention. 

I based the contents page off of other music magazines contents pages but I also tried to make it different because I didn't want it to be an exact copy.

My double page spread also took a while to get right because it was important it looked like a double page spread and all went well together, rather than just two separate pages that were just put next to each other. 

Location, Props and Costumes

I decided to take the photos for my magazine at Priory Gardens, which is a park because I thought it would look nice in the magazine, also I thought taking them outside somewhere would be more interesting than just in a studio. All my photos were taken at the same place, except some of the photos, like the one on the cover, have been changed so you can't see the background because they needed to stand out more. 

I didn't use any props in my photos because I didn't think they were needed, I wanted my photos to be quite simple so I just had one person on the cover.

I chose to have the person who I was taking photos of wearing her normal clothes because then she would be dressed similarly to how the target audience dress and this may help show who the target audience is. Also, I wanted the photos to be quite natural, so if she was wearing something that wasn't as casual as she is, then they wouldn't look as natural or simple.

I think having the person in the magazine dress casually can help connect with the target audience because often people in magazines are all dressed up and can be quite aspirational people which the readers will want to be like but might not necessarily be able to whereas in my photos they are just normal clothes, so the reader might look at the photo and realise that they don't need to be all dressed up.

The Magazine Industry

The magazine industry powerpoint from kelseybell7

Contact Sheet

Contents Page

Target Audience Mood board

This mood board is quite similar to my advertisers mood board but that's because both of these will be interested in the same thing. Advertisers will want to include adverts that a younger target audience will be interested in, and the target audience will want there to be adverts they will be interested in. 

I have included things I know people my age are interested in, I tried to include things that interest both genders so it didn't look as if it was specifically aimed at one gender because hopefully both boys and girls would like my magazine.

The things I have included on this mood board fit in with the magazine because they are things that the people reading the magazine would want to see, it would also fit because everything else in the magazine is aimed at a teenager target audience, which is what this mood board is about.

Evaluation: Technologies

Rough Sketches

Front cover

Contents page

Double Page Spread

Questionnaire Analysis

Questionnaire analysis from kelseybell7

Font Mood Board

Evaluation: Forms and Conventions

Forms and conventions from kelseybell7

Colour Mood Board

Evaluation: Skills Development

Evaluation: Target Audience

Magazine evaluation target audience from kelseybell7

Evaluation: Institutions

Institutions

Based on the target audience, which is teenagers, and the style of my magazine I think I would want it to be produced independently because although there would be a lot of advantages with getting it produced by a big company, I also think there would be disadvantages because bigger companies, like Bauer Media Group, produce so many magazines I don’t think my magazine would be as recognisable, it would just be another title on a list of magazines that that company produce, whereas if it was independently produced then I think people would recognise it more because it would be the only one produced by that particular company. Although, this might mean people are more reluctant to read it because it will be a bit unknown to start with, but that could be helped by publishing the magazine online, that way it would reach a wider audience of people and people might prefer reading it online than actually buying a copy.

However, there obviously are disadvantages of independently publishing the magazine, it may be more likely to fail, like so many other magazines, than magazines that are published by big, well-known companies because people might not be interested in reading it if they aren’t familiar with the company that produced it. Also, the magazine might not have a lot of readers but this can be helped by advertising it in other small magazines, people will also be able to sign up for a monthly subscription to the magazine, then there will be people guaranteed to get a copy each month and there will also be a copy published online.

To start with my magazine obviously won’t be distributed by a big company like Market Force or Front Line but eventually if the magazine became really popular I think I would want it to be distributed by Menzies or Market Force because they distribute a lot of other magazines. I would want the magazine to be distributed to major retail spaces like WHSmiths and Asda because then it is being shown to a wider audience of people, it won’t just be my target audience that will see it, it will be a lot more people who may be interested in the magazine, especially if it is with all the other music magazines on the shelves. This will mean the audience expanding and hopefully the magazine will become more popular, because a lot of magazines fail within their first three years.

If the magazine did do well, in the future the magazine could expand and create other things, like radio stations, lots of popular magazines do this, like Kerrang! Also, because of the genre of music the magazine is about there are other things the magazine could be linked to, like sponsoring award shows, which is something both Kerrang! and Q magazine do.

Representation