My brief for this project was to create the front cover, contents and a double page spread of a music magazine using original text and images. I recorded my research and construction on my blog as well as creating a production log.

This can be found at:http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/category/production-log.

My target audience was teenagers of both sexes aged 16-22. I thought that seeing as I fitted this criteria, I would be able to produce a magazine that knows it’s target audience.

I started by researching existing music magazines. I annotated front covers, content pages and double page spreads of the following magazines:

• BBC Music
• Kerrang!
• Mixmag
• NME
• Uncut
• Mojo

I used a structured template for my research looking at the good and bad points of the magazines:

• Colour schemes
• Use of images
• Language
• Layouts
• Font

I gained a lot from the research and it really helped me decide what I could do so that I could create my magazine to a professional standard.

My research can be found here: http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/category/foundation-production-main-task/research/

I found out that I should use tags and puns to grab the readers attention. Bold and different font help to create kickers making articles stand out amongst the page. Another good way to attract attention is to use box-outs by separating an article using a coloured box different from the rest of the page.

I looked at what the magazines had in common that made the magazine work and listed some conclusions I’d made.

These can be found here:

http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/9-front-cover-analysis-060309/

http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/production-log-170309/

http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/production-log-190309/

I then went on to do some target market research. I created a questionnaire which I handed out to 15 girls and 15 boys between the ages of 16 and 22.

My questionnaire can be found here:

http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/researching-my-audience-questionnaire/

Before looking at the results of my questionnaire I made some predictions. I thought that most people would be classed as Grade E income so wouldn’t want to spend much on a magazine. I also thought that those earning more would buy magazines more often. I predicted that boys would want to see males on the front cover of a music magazine and girls vice versa. I was quite surprised by the results of my questionnaire. Most of my predictions turned out to be wrong although some turned out as I expected.

From my results I decided I was going to create a rock/indie/ acoustic music magazine priced at £2.50, with a variety of articles especially on new bands and gigs, and with a mixture of sexes inside. I chose the genre because out of the five most popular, these went well together. £2.50 seemed like the average price most people would pay for and I decided I would make it a fortnightly magazine so that my readers were getting their moneys worth. I did ask whether my interviewees would want a magazine more if it had a free CD and majority said yes, however I thought it would be hard to sell a magazine so cheaply if it had a CD with it.

The results from my questionnaire can be found here:

http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/production-log-120309/

Using my research and results from my questionnaire I produced three layout mock ups using plain fonts and images from the internet. I printed them off in colour and black and white (so that the colours didn’t distract the person from the layout) and did a survey of ten people to see who liked which ones best. I also got feedback and criticism which helped me plan my final design.

My polls can be found here:

http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/front-cover-poll-130309/

http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/13-contents-page-poll-180309/

One problem I did have was I accidentally deleted the poll for my double page spreads and regretfully was unable to retrieve the work I’d done and the images in time.

I used several sources to come up with my magazine name. I started by looking on the website for NME an existing music magazine. I looked at language and existing bands and brain stormed some ideas. I also used a dictionary and thesaurus to help inspire me. I chose to go with the name ‘Pick Up’. This was inspired by indie band The Dykeenies who have a song called ‘Pick you up’. I chose it because it’s a positive word which means a lift. It’s also a phrase for the effect of some drugs, which could be a good thing and also relates to the stereotypical lifestyle of a rock star. The name is a reflection of the magazine and could also be a subliminal message (pick up the magazine). I went on www.dafont.com and chose a cartoon font because it is quite childlike and I think it’s suitable for my genre as well as appealing to my target audience. I also got a lot of good feedback on the font.

Before I planned detailed content for my magazine I took my images. I took photos of a girl in the park. We didn’t have many props so we used a daisy and a park bench. I was happy with the photographs and how I had edited them, but I felt that the daisy pictures were too unoriginal and the park bench was depressing which wasn’t suitable for my genre. I also didn’t like all the green and my model was wearing quite punky clothes which weren’t suitable for the magazine I was making. I tried to create a magazine cover around one of my images, but it ended up looking really amateur and almost heavy and depressing which I didn’t like.

My second attempt for original images turned out really well and I was happy with them. They were simple because I used a plain background, but I used accessories to dress up my model and felt I would make the images more interesting using editing.

I created my front cover using an image of my subject standing up. I used a circular selective tool to create a spotlight effect on my artist which draws attention to the magazine. I then added other images I’d taken that day and previous images I’d taken of band a couple of weeks earlier and used plain text just to get the feel for the magazine.

The band names I used were all either just thought up, or from fake name and band name generators I’d found online.

My work for this can be found here: http://welovezoe.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/band-names-160409/

I used a mixture of boys and girls on my front cover and made sure they looked rock, but not like they were from a goth band.

For the contents page I used a lot of the articles from the front cover, but did variations on the text used and used different photos, I think this made it more exciting. I used a grey background because I thought this was quite safe because white was too boring whilst black too depressing, I also thought bright colours would distract attention.

I wrote my interview with a small paragraph at the beginning to set the scene for the readers. I it based on the generic ‘grew up on a council estate now I’m rich and famous’ music artist. I used question and answer format with not too much questions and focused mainly on the interview. I also added a bit of interest to it by talking about deep personal stuff and related to a quote I’d placed on the cover to entice readers ‘I once did crack out of a shoe’. I placed an image of my model looking up and decided that I was going to place the artists name above so it looked like she was looking up.

I got feedback from my peers about my magazine drafts and wrote down all the changes I had to make. I edited the main photo to perfect it and also changed another photo because it was too unprofessional. I changed some of the font to American Typewriter because it was simple, but fun and I kept consistency. I didn’t change much on my contents page, mainly the font and adding an editors letter. I did this because I found there was a lot of space which made it look amateur. My double page spread had the same problem as well so I solved this by adding three fun looking photos in boxes stacked up next to the main image. I also found it quite hard to recreate my mock up spread, but found other ideas came quite easily.

I am really pleased with my finished product I think the changes I made have made a massive difference. I think it would appeal to my audience because the bands and artists are young and fun looking. There also a bit naughty such as the photo where someone is smoking and the interview which talks about drugs. This might have a negative opinion from an older audience, but then again a safer magazine would be boring to teenagers who want to live dangerously, and if they can’t do it themselves at least read about others doing it.

I used fairly simple, informal language because I didn’t want to intimidate the reader, but I also used persuasive, positive language and tags such as ’sensational’ and ‘exclusive’ to catch their eye. I also didn’t make the magazine too text heavy because I wanted this to be a light magazine, not an essay.

When I made my first drafts I was content with them, but didn’t think they looked anything special or professional. Since making the changes I think my magazine now has the charisma to match an existing music magazine as well as reaching criteria set by the media. I think my target audience would enjoy my magazine because it’s for your average student who doesn’t have to be clever to read it and also the genre can be quite broad.

My magazine uses conventions that I saw in existing music magazine,placement of the masthead, edition, price and barcode because I wanted it to keep to these standards. I did try challenging some conventions such as not using descriptors on the contents page next to the images, but I wasn’t happy with how this looked.

My magazine represents teenagers as fun and determined. I think my interview showed that you can go from being a ‘normal’ person to a big artist and that you can overcome things. I used photos of teenagers in rock like clothing and hair styles as well as piercings to emphasise the genre of my magazine.

I think my magazine will appeal to my audience because it’s written by someone ho is like them and know them and what they want to see. Instead of talking down to them and telling them who some older people are listening to.

Through doing this project I’ve expanded on my photo editing skills and also learnt a lot more about the blog that I’m writing this on.

Overall, I’m really pleased with my magazine. I think I spent a little too much time on my research particularly the front covers and that affected the rest of my work. However, I think the research was a very important thing in this task and in order to create a good magazine I think audience research and looking at existing media is vital. If I could change anything in my magazine I would add more musical elements to it particularly images, but the reason I avoided this in the first place was because I didn’t want a magazine that looked like everyone elses, with a microphone, headphones and a guitar on it. However, I think my magazine suits its purpose and reaches the criteria set in the brief.