7) Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I've learnt in the progression from it?

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6) What have I learnt about technologies in process of constructing my product?

5) How did you attract/ address your target audience? - double page spread

5) How did you attract/ address your target audience? - Contents page

5) How did you attract/ address your target audience? - Front cover

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

The ideal reader

The ideal reader for my magazine would be people of both genders from the ages of 16-30 this is because I want to target my magazine at a niche audience and this is the age group that would listen to Bhangra music the most, the people with in this ages group who listen to this genre of music would be interested in some of the same things and would come from similar social groups.

The way in which the target market for my magazine would listen to the music would be on an ipod/Mp3 player, this is because cds are hard to get hold of with this type of music, they would have to buy the songs off Itunes because applications like spotify would not have many songs from this genre on it but they would have a few. Most of my audience would still be in education, being in school, college or university. Indians are usually stereotyped as being doctors, dentists, lawyers or teachers so they would be either in group A or B in the Jincar scale. They would shop in usual places like Tesco or Asda as my audience is young they would want to go somewhere where the food is cheap and they would go to the usual high street shops like new look, topshop to buy their clothes as they would want to save as much money as possible. My audience would either live at home with their parents, in a flat or have a small house; this is because again my target audience is a young age so they would not have that much money to buy a big house to live in. Asian people are seen as being quite religious, so they would value religion in their life, they would also value family status as in the asian culture this is important. When they spend their free time you would usually see them drinking, especially if they’re Indian, Bhangra music is made around drinking and most of the songs are about drinking so this is a big part of their culture.

What my ideal target audience would look like...

Some of the questions that I would ask my target audience

1)      Would you buy this magazine in the shop if you saw the front cover?

2)      Would you pay £1.99 for the magazine?

3)      What attracts you to the magazine?

4)      What is your favourite page?

5)      What improvements would you make?

6)      Any other comments?

Response to the questions by someone from my target audience.

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

2) How does your media product represent social groups?

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

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Final products

Front cover

Contents page

Double page spread

final improvements to DPS

I have improved this double page spread by adding some page furniture on to it, this adds more content on to the double page spread that people would be interested in, I have also added most of the different conventions that are needed for an effective double page spread.

DPS improvements from previous idea

From this you can see the improvements that I have made, from before this now looks more professional then how it looked before, I still need to improve it to make it look more like a professional double page spread.

dps mock up

After changing the background, i have finally chosen this one, to improve this I need to change the fonts and add more features to it to fit my magazine housestyle.

DPS mock up

This is one of the first mock up ideas that i had come up with, as you can see I have made massive improvements since.

dps development mock up

I have changed the the colours of the background and moved around the font, this is so that it added more effect and when you are using your visual syntax then you would usually start reading from the left to the right, although the page looks over crowded so i will need to move the things around again.

dps mock up

Here I have created another double page spread mock up idea, I have changed the font to make it look like the front cover, i have changed the font of the quote to link with the contents page. The background does not look that great against the font so I need to change the background again.

DPS mock up

This is a double page layout that I have come up with, there are some good things about it and some not so good things about it and things that need to be changed, the background and the colour of the masthead could be changed as it doesn't look effective.

mastheads

To improve my double page spread I have been trying out using different mastheads as the one I originally had (the one in blue at the bottom) didn't really link well with the page, even though my housestyle font is blue I feel that to make this page more effective I would have to use a dark shade of blue to make it look professional.

double page idea 2

From this idea you can see the development that I have made, I have added a background image and I have added a title and a pull quote in to draw the audience into the writing in the paragraphs. More text needs to be added to make the page more full and I feel that the writing needs to be changed that has been used on the masthead as it does not fit the layout of the page.

Double page spread layout 1

To start off my double page spread layout i put in the guidelines and added some pictures, although this might change through out the process as it does not look very professional at this stage, a title also needs to be added to it and some other conventions of a contents page.

Page furniture

Page Furniture is used to make the double page spread look unique and different to all of the other pages that contain text, it makes it look more interesting and not boring, colour and bold text is used to make it eyecatching for audience, page furniture includes...
-Pull quotes
-Cross heads
-Opinion box
-Boxouts
-Slugs
-caption/Caption header
-Byline
-Header
-Drop Cap

Double Page Spread layouts

Analysis of double page spread

Picture
The picture on the right page (long shot) stands out the most on the page, this is because it is the only thing that is in colour. The woman is wearing a red dress, red is a harsh colour so this makes it stand out from the rest of the black and white. In the picture, again like in the contents page the woman is showing alot of skin, this portrays females in a negative view again. There is a black and white banner at the top and the woman is posing in different ways, she is still wearing the same dress but the picture is in black and white so this brings more attention to the larger image of her.
Colours/house style
The colours of the font that has been used on this magazine are black grey and blue which contrast with what the R&B artist Solange Knowles is wearing.As the colours of the fonts that have been used on this article not very bright or eye catchy this shows that Solange Knowles is the core of the magazine. Her name is written in blue in the heading, this shows that people may not know who she is and therefor need to.  The blue colour makes it stand out more.
Layout
On the double page spread the author of the article has used a pull quote of what is in the magazine, this would lure the reader in even before they have read the article. It has been written in a large, bold font (the same font that has been used through out the magazine. I feel that the picture has been placed in an awkward position as it is placed in between the article, this would interrupt the visual syntax that a reader usually will have when reading an article.
Headline
There isn't a large masthead on this page but there is a quote in bold writing that would make you attracted to it, the important words are highlighted which shows that it is an important concept for that page.

Key codes and conventions of a double page spread (DPS)

Final Contents Page

My final contents page has changed dramatically from the starting point that I was at, at the start of the making process. On my final contents page I have met many of the different conventions that you would find on a contents page (Masthead, Images, Numbers, banners and much more). I have stuck with the blue theme (the house style of my magazine) as this adds effect and makes it look effective.

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contents improvements

From this you can see the improvements that I have made from the previous one, you can see the changes that I have made and  that I have tried to make it more effective, I have moved the banner from the top and added a masthead. I have also now shown a basic layout for my contents page.

contents ideas

This is my layout for my magazine contents page, I have added some pictures, these pictures will link to a page. I have added a banner at the top and at the bottom, I have made it blue as it is the colour of the front cover and links in with the house style for my magazine. 

content masthead ideas

These are some of the masthead ideas that I have come up with for my music magazine contents page, the way that I have created all link to the house style of my magazine, the colours that have been used are the same colours that I have used on my front cover. I have decided to use a different font to what I had used on my front cover.

pictures

These are some of the pictures that I am planning to use on my music magazine contents page.

These are other images that I may use on the contents page, these are just a few ideas that I may use in my magazine contents page.

content page layouts

 For my contents page layouts I have chosen to make a double page spread of it. On these contents pages I have made sure that there will be some key conventions that you would find on a contents page which I have spoken about in a previous post.

On these contents page layouts I have shown where the text will go and the images, I have placed them in places that I would like them to go and I have included the estimated sized that I would like them to be. I have not included things like colour and font size and style as these are only layouts and this is not needed. I have made 8 different layouts, all of which are different to each other and all contain different amounts of images and text, some have more images than others whilst some have more text.

Analysis of existing music magazine

Picture
The picture is a long shot photo, the photo is of Nicki Minaj and Shannel, although their names are not featured on the contents page, this means that the reader needs to carry on reading further on into the magazine to find out more information about these artists and who they are.The producer of the contents page has only used one image, where as for my magazine I am planning on using more and go for the box technique rather than the picture dominated style that this magazine has gone for. The representation of the women on the contents page have been portrayed in a negative way because of the revealing clothes that they are wearing. The background of the contents page is grey and very plain this will draw attention to the images and the text. 

Masthead
The way in which the word 'contents' is written is in a recognisable way for the audience, as vibe magazine has this type of house style through the magazine and tries to keep it the same throughout as it suits the magazine, this is also shown through the colour of text and back grounds that they use as they try to keep it the same throughout the magazine but then in a different magazine they try to change the colours but still keep the same house style. The masthead is in a large, bold text, which you would expect. The masthead goes over three lines which allows the image to take up more of the room on the page as the style of this contents page is picture dominated. 

Other key conventions of a contents page that have been used
Subtitle - the subtitle way again has been written in a way which is recognisable to the reader and fits in with the house style of the magazine and what they are trying to do with the magazine. 
Features - Underneath the subtitle features have been used, again these link in with the house style of the magazine. It is also a clear font which allows the reader to read it more easily.
Colours - The magazine has used very dull and plain colours, this has been used because they would want the picture to stand out more, and match the outfits what the people on the front cover are wearing.

Conventions of a contents page for music magazine

The contents page can be either one or two pages, if you use two pages then you can use more of the conventions of the contents page. 
Pictures – You would use pictures to make the page stand out more, the pictures could also have page references on which could link you to the article of which the picture relates to. There are many different styles of how you could use pictures to make a contents page more appealing and useful. You can use from a minimum of one picture to about ten; this is because if you have more the page will start to look too crowded and unattractive. 

Title – The title of a contents page is usually ‘contents’ this is usually situated at the top of the page where it can be seen. It is usually in a clear font so that it can be easily read. The title would be the main colour of the page, this would lead to the rest of the page text being that colour which links in with the house style that my magazine will have.

Columns – the columns are used in the contents page because it will make the page easier to read, it also makes the page more organised and makes it look more professional. This will also help with the visual syntax for the reader.

Banners – The banners on a page would make the page look more attractive and formal. It would add colour and importance. The banners will also make it look more effective.

Page numbers – The page numbers will guide you to the page that you want. On the contents page you would not need to put the words ‘page’ or ‘pg’ before the number. The number is usually large which allows the reader to find the page they want easily.

Information – the information that will be in the blog is usually a blurb, the blurb usually gives a quick summary of what is in the magazine. The information would also include headlines and features.

Headline and features - The headline and features will include the information that the page will have, it can have many things in it for example quotes and other informational text. The headline would be a larger text and the features would be smaller underneath the headline.

Issue dates – these are dates that will be shown of what issue the magazine is so they usually say ‘February 2014’, this will benefit people in whom collect the magazine on a regular basis. This would also allow the reader to know that they have got a more up to date magazine.

Structures layout – the structured layout will allow an easy read for the reader via visual syntax. The layout also makes it more professional and if it isn't layed out correctly then it can easily not look professional. 

Colours – the use of colour will attract people and make the page more attractive. The colours link in with the house style of my magazine, the page will have the same colour scheme.

Final Front cover

For my final front cover, I have changed the layout to make it look more professional and eye catching for the audience.  I have included a Masthead, headline, pull quotes, barcodes, pugs and a picture, I have also tried to use different sized fonts to add affect and the house style for my magazine is that the colours all co ordinate with each other to make it look more professional and eyecatching for the audience to see. The colours which I have used makes it stand out more.

I have added many different conventions that you would have on a front cover. I have included a Masthead, headline, pull quotes, barcodes, pugs and a picture, I have also tried to use different sized fonts to add affect and the house style for my magazine is that the colours all co ordinate with each other to make it look more professional.