Evaluation

The media product I have created is a front cover, contents page and feature page of a pop music magazine. Throughout the production of the magazine I learned how important conventions are and the way they help structure a magazine and create the genre. My target audience is female students aged from 12-15. The purpose of the magazine is to promote new music artists and inform my target audience about the latest news from the music industry. The front cover features a new girl band which is quite conventional as pop magazines normally feature stars that are on top or very popular. For example the recent ‘Top Of The Pops’ featured YouTube star Caspar Lee, who is very relevant to my target audience. Also on the front cover there are many teasers which revolve around celebrities and their lives. For example, ‘Zayn & Louis feud over’ this will cause the consumers to be more interested in the magazine as it would probably be one of the most talked about topics due to Zayn no longer being a part of One Direction. Also my colour scheme is very limited causing the front cover to look very neat and put together. However all the important information is highlighted. Furthermore, my masthead is bold and easily noticeable. This is conventional for a magazine cover as it allows the audience to be able to spot it from a stand. My contents page is also conventional as it is organised into different categories including news, about you, music and fashion. This allows the reader to be able to easily find what they are looking for. The double page spread includes an interview with the brand new girl band. This is a convention of a real magazine because it informs its audience of an upcoming music act. The interview gives an insight to the band's past, how and why they got into music.

My media product represents female students aged from 12-15. The layout of the front cover is a conventional ‘Z’ layout. This causes it to be easier for the audience to read it. Also they would find the colour scheme to be appealing as the colour pink connotes cuteness and joy. Also the stories are relatable to the things my target audience is interested in. For example, the new featured girl band is wearing fashionable casual clothing which relates to my target audience as they can identify with them due to their costume. Furthermore the celebrities featured are of a similar age or older. The group members are represented as quite happy and cheerful, as they are all smiling. Moreover, they are standing all close together which shows their unity and love for each other. However, they all have individual personalities which may attract a wider variety of my target audience. The representation of personalities has been made through the different body language and facial expressions of the girls. For example, the band member Mia (left side on front cover) is seen as the cute innocent individual of the group. This will allow girls who may be more shy to appeal to her and her persona. My target audience may identify with one or more of the members or another celebrity of a similar age and look up to the older ones as they are seen positive role models. Also, other features of the magazine, for example fashion may be useful to my target audience as it will be specifically aimed at them.

A media institution that can distribute my magazine could be Bauer Media as they are a global giant. Bauer Media UK has the biggest commercial digital radio audience, with over half of total Bauer Radio listening taking place via a digital device, across 19 countries. This will allow my magazine to be advertised in many different countries so the consumption rates would increase resulting in increased sales. Also the magazine will be available online at www.beatsmag.co.uk and on many social medias including Twitter. This will allow it to be accessible to my target audience around the world, therefore increasing its popularity. Furthermore, due to the development of Web 2.0 the website would be more interactive and will allow the viewers of it to participate in polls, share pictures and interact more with the website (zoom on photos).Web 2.0 is quite important for this age group as they are use to the new technology and it is expected for a website to be interactive so my audience is interested in it.

The target audience for my magazine are females aged 12-15. They are most likely interested in the latest gossip so they will be interested in the content of the magazine. Also they will be interested in the newest albums and trends going on. My demographic will be secondary school students. However, I believe that other females which are interested in the music industry and its celebrities.

As my audience are mostly students under 16 it means that they are unable to earn money, so this is why the price of the magazine is quite low at £1.99, so they are able to afford it. The magazine's content would also attract my target audience as the content is relevant to their interests e.g. celebrity gossip, new music that came out. Furthermore, the house style of the colour scheme of pink and white through the magazine causes, the magazine to be more appealing to my audience. Moreover, the language that is used is applies to my target audience as it is the restricted language code. Due to this the target audience will find it easier to read the magazine and relate to it. The magazine is also easier to read as my target audience doesn't really like to read a lot of heavy paragraphs due to their short attention span. A lot of my knowledge about my target audience has originated from my market research. The findings allowed me to chose the most appealing colour scheme and price. Furthermore, it gave me an insight to what types of layouts are the easiest to follow and what will interest my audience most.

Since the start of the project I learnt quite a lot about new technologies and undertook many different roles. When I was taking photos for my magazine (took on the role of a photographer) I learned how to set up the lights and experimented with coloured filters on the lights. I didn't use any of the photos with the filter as I didn't think it looked natural so it wouldn't appeal that much to my target audience. Next, when the photos were all taken I learned new features and functions of photoshop. For example I learned how to edit a photo; getting rid of red eyes, removing blemishes. This is an example of the role of an editor. Furthermore I learnt about the proliferation of hardware and how devices now are much cheaper and efficient.

Since the preliminary task I feel like I massively improved my skills and knowledge of the print media industry. I improved my design skills; spacing images and text across the page. I also improved my  improved my skills and knowledge of the print media industry. Furthermore, I believe that my research skills became of a higher quality as the information I use is more detailed and focused on my target audience and product. I conducted a lot of research to make my magazine look as realistic as possible. This research included analysing front covers, contents pages, feature pages, creating a questionnaire for my target audience to fill out, mood boards, flat plans and much more. The questionnaire gave me the most insight as I got real feedback from my target audience. The research helped me to get a better idea of what my target audience finds appealing and what is conventional for a pop magazine to look like including the typography, images and house style. Moreover, due to this I believe that my product looks more realistic and conventional.