Thursday, 23 October 2014

Reader Profiles

The purpose of Reader Profiles are to show who is your target audience based on statistics from results from tests I used in the form of questionnaire to the public. A key point I had observed is that reader p;refills are very open to ambiguous in terms of any strict guidelines with the only guideline considered is that it has to be related to results from questioners and the genre I have aimed my magazine towards for a target primary audience.


From my results:

-9/15 was of the age of 16 years.

-8/15 was female whilst 7/15 was male.

-6/15 preferred to listen to music by phone

-5/26 preferred rock, which was the highest result for choice of genre.

-7/17 preferred to read Vibe magazine.

-12/16 preferred to download music via ITunes.

-5/17 preferred to listen to music at 11-15 hours per week.  

-10/26 preferred to read about articles of artists in music.

-6/18 agreed that Celebrity interviews attracted them to a magazine the most.



With these results as the highest within each choice I can gather what is most important to my audience and who my magazine is best aimed towards. 


-Unisex audience

-Between 16-24 years of age

-Belongs to the socio Economic group of C and D.

-Prefer to download music as opposed to buying a physical copy

-Enjoy Rock genre, which is still popular

-Prefer a stylish magazine in term of layout and structure

-Can listen to music for a healthy amount of time.
-Enjoy articles about new artists and bands as well as popular bands and artists


With these finding gathered I will now create a reader profile with these findings as conventions to display and explain who would be interested in my magazine.


Name: Mark Cassaway

Age: 20

Sex: Male

Background: Mark is a self-conscious personality who enjoys going out towards gigs with friends, a very sociable person, Mark is employed at a manufactures and has income coming into his life. Mark has a definite passion for music within rock and constantly goes out with friends across the UK to multiple gigs in his spare time enjoying himself out drinking and dancing when listening to the music at the gigs he attends. Mark also enjoys listening to new experimental types of music within the genre of rock and will listen to any new artists or bands as long as he is with friends enjoying himself. Mark also whilst travelling will download songs of bands onto his phone via Mp3 Downloads and ITunes to play on his travels to work and to gigs and festivals. Mark also likes to discuss and fell connected to his chosen genre of music as a community and has many accounts on the Internet to discuss about the music he loves with the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as well as Internet forums.



Name: Amy Farsdale

Age: 18

Sex: Female


Background: Amy is very self-conscious but likes to experiment with her clothing and likes to stand out from the crowd. Amy likes to go out with friends at the weekend to go to music gigs and festivals in the genre of rock and goes out and enjoys herself drinking and dancing to the music. Amy is currently a university student freshman and also works part time at a fast food restaurant to gain income and to be able to go out at weekends with her friends. Amy enjoys listening to new types of artists and bands but prefers to go and see really popular bands at festivals and gigs in her area. On Amy’s travels to work and University she listens to music on her phone from downloading music of multiple rock bands on download sites such as ITunes. Amy also uses social networking sites to connect with her friends to discuss where the latest gig is and how to get there.








I designed this mood board as a rough image of who my readers are within my reader profile and therefore who the target audience I am aiming my magazine towards too. 















Assessment at pervious work

In this update I have understood how the practical coursework has been marked with the use of the structure of the mark scheme, and by carrying out the task on how I, and a small croup consisting of four people would mark previous work created by past students on the same subject we are proceeding with.

Within the process of marking we had been given three mark sheets for each section of a magazine that we will also be creating in the future, which consisted of a magazine cover, a magazine contents page and a magazine double page spread of the main article related to the front cover on the magazine cover page. Within the mark scheme we had to assess and grade what we thought was appropriate for each section within the assessment grade sheet.

The sections that we had to mark and assess were the following:

- Produce material appropriate for the target audience and task
- Show understanding of conventions of layout and page design
- Show awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size
- Accurately use language and register
- Appropriately integrate illustration and text
- Shoot a variety of material appropriate to the task set
- Manipulate photographs as appropriate to context including cropping and resizing

The grades we had to assess for each following included:

-       Level 4 which is the equivalent to a grade A/B
-       Level 3 which is the equivalent to a grade B/C
-       Level 2 which is the equivalent to a grade C/D
-       Level 1 which is the equivalent to a grade E/U

The first previous work we had assessed was a magazine titled “Revolution” and the group and I had given the following grades for each section within the magazine cover page.



-       Level 4 for producing material appropriate for the target audience and task. We gave the magazine cover, contents and double spread this mark because the cover looked professional and appropriate for the target audience it was intending to be aimed at due to that the magazine cover followed the conventions of its genre in terms of following codes of colour within the magazine cover, dress codes and props in terms of the main image of the magazine cover, The layout was structured, clean and uniform for the magazine colour in terms of where all the sell lines, masthead and title were placed within the magazine cover.
-       Level 4 for showing the understanding of conventions of layout and page design, and we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread this mark because the magazine cover kept to a colour scheme of 3 colours of black, red and white in addition to background of grey in which all contrasted and none of the text blended in with the background. The sell lines were also around the main image and not crossing on top or over the main image which would have cluttered the magazine cover


-       Level 4 for showing awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size, and we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread this mark because the person who had created this magazine had used multiple fonts for different contexts and content within the persons magazine, for example she uses a different font for the masthead, another font for her sub-heads and another different font for her essential info.


-       Level 4 for accurate use of language and register and we gave it this mark for the we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread as the tone and the use of language with the genre of the magazine is following convention with the socio-economic group this persons magazine is aimed towards.


-       Level 4 for appropriate integrated illustration and text and we gave it this mark for the we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread because the person who had created this magazine had appropriate layout of each image and text, showing that nothing was too cluttered and produced  original imagery that was conventional to her genre of magazine.



-       Level 4 for shooting a variety of material and appropriate to the task set and we gave it this mark for the we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread because the person as all their imagery was original and all editing was of the persons original images as well as the editing which went to the magazine.


-       Level 3 for manipulation of photographic images to the context including cropping and resizing and we gave this mark to the magazine cover, contents and double page spread because we saw that she had resized and edited her images, however we found the use of background was unprofessional because it was just a wall inside the models house and we felt that this made the images look cheap and unprofessional, in addition we also felt that the personal could and should have edited lighting or light sources into the images as we felt the image looked too dark, which added more unprofessionalism.

The main strengths we found within the magazine was that the magazine did look professional in layout and followed convention of the chosen genre the persona had aimed their magazine towards with appropriate and clear layout throughout the persons magazine, however the areas we felt that the magazine needed to improve was the manipulation of the images, as we felt that the images could have been brighter or tinted to be more colorful to keep the target audience engaged with the imagery.





We then assessed another magazine another ex-student had created which was titled “Loud!” and our group assessed and graded each section of this magazine.



-       Level 4 for producing material appropriate for the target audience and task and we gave the magazine cover, contents and double spread this mark because the magazine looked quite professional due to the structure of the magazine following the convention its genre to appeal towards its target audience due to that it had a very controlled code of colour with a large use of greys and whites but a subtle use of more brighter colours such as red and blue to gain the audience attention


-       Level 4 for showing the understanding of conventions of layout and page design, and we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread this mark as all of the props, layout and structure were conventional to the genre towards the primary target audience, the magazine was aimed towards such as the clothing props were conventional to see in a rock magazine fulfilling audience expectations.


-       Level 4 for showing awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size, and we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread this mark because the person who had created this magazine had used a variety of fonts that were appropriate towards the type of size and composition of the text, for example there is more creative fonts that are used for the masthead and the sub-heads and more clear text that are used for the sell-lines and the essential info.


-       Level 4 for accurate use of language and register and we gave it this mark for the magazine cover, contents and double page spread as there was appropriate use of language for each section such a there was a straightforward, snappy tone when the text on the cover was to gain attention of the reader and elsewhere on the magazine the tone was more casual and personal such as in the double page spread the tone of the language was more laid back and careless which gave it a personal edge since it was an interview with an artist.



-       Level 4 for appropriate integrated illustration and text and we gave it this mark for the we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread because the illustrations and text were appropriately composed and looked quite neat and conventional within the persons magazine such as in the contents page of the personas magazine there are a wide variety of images all towards one neat section of the magazine whilst maintaining the essential info in appropriately sized text.


-       Level 4 for shooting a variety of material and appropriate to the task set and we gave it this mark for the we gave the magazine cover, contents and double page spread because there was a very wide variety of images, fonts and backgrounds used within the magazine for example the background for the cover of the magazine was white and on the contents page there was a grey background and on the double page spread there was a black background, in addition every image on each section of the magazine was different such as the main image on the cover of the magazine was a close-up portrait image of the main artist within the double page spread of the magazine, whilst the images were different within the contents section as they were mid and long shots of the main artist, again but this time he was what appeared to be a studio practicing, and in the double p[age spread it had more different images used of the main artist in a rural environment as well as a different image of the main artist practicing in a studio.


-       Level 4 for manipulation of photographic images to the context including cropping and resizing and we gave this mark to the magazine cover, contents and double page spread because there have been editing in the images such as some of the images in the contents page have a gray or cold tint in the images as well as images fading in to black in the double page spread.

The strengths we found within the magazine is that the magazine looked professional throughout the magazine as there was an appropriate structure and layout within the magazine that also followed convention of this persons chosen genre, showing us that the person who had made this had paid quite an amount of time into research into their genre, however we did feel in areas to improve on this magazine is that we did feel that some of the images looked slightly pixelated and so we thought the persona should have made or edited their images to be sharper.  




Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Choosing a Music Institution

The role of the media institution for a music magazine is to mass-produce media that people like so that they can sell more to fund the magazine licenses they have bought. The media institution helps with selling music magazines through the use of advertisement of the magazine and knowledge of where the magazine will generate the most sales.

I have decided to choose Bauer Media for my institution to fund my music magazine as they appear to sell towards my target primary audience in terms of socio-economic groups and that they also have experience into the genre I have chosen with the ownership of a similar magazine to mine which is Kerrang! Magazine. They are also highly successful in the UK with a reach of 22 million adults a week and sell very large quantities of a music magazine, for example Q magazine is aimed towards the genre of rock and roll sells 52,700 magazines a month.


The Institution, Bauer Media links in to my genre and reader profiles because they aim their music magazines towards the younger generation, which is my target primary audience as shown by the questionnaire results and analysis earlier and therefore will sell magazines that are more price appropriate towards my socio-economic groups as they know that the younger generation will not have as much income as someone who is employed which will also attract the unemployed as well as another target group for the socio-economic group.

Time Inc. UK

Bauer Media

Immediate Media

Monday, 20 October 2014

College Magazine Analysis


The main thoughts of this college magazine of what I had in mind was to create a magazine cover and contents page within the theme that it had to be an informative college magazine and to fulfil audience expectations on an informative magazine I had to create a primary audience to aim my magazine towards. I chose as my primary audience as a unisex audience, aged 16-19 years of age as that is the type of audience who would gain the most benefit from a magazine because that is that age group that is will be the majority in college in terms of an audience code as well. I chose a unisex audience as the current demographic for college students is a heavy mix of both genders and therefore to gain maximum attention out of my target primary audience I would require that the magazine becomes a unisex magazine. My secondary audience would be people interested in attending college and older students of 20-24 and they are my secondary audience as they may already have some experience in college in the past and may not require as much information as someone who is experiencing college for the first time, however may still want to read the magazine to read specific articles about the college they are attending. I have learned about how to use Blogger in more detail on terms of how to create new posts and how to add images into the my blog posts by using the insert image icon in the toolbar in the software and this has helped me as I could post my images alongside my texts in a blog post which can help me alongside my music magazine as I can show unedited images which I can show unedited in a post and I can showcase images I have not used and explain why I have not used them. I learned the skill of using the lasso tool in which I could draw on a section of imagery that I did not want and then I could press the backspace button in which I can delete the selected amount that a drew around with the lasso tool and this helps me improve the attractiveness of my magazine which will draw my primary target audience into my magazine. The second tool I used which I learned about was the crop tool as that helps me to take out large proportions of an image I do not wish to use and in addition save time by cropping as opposed to using the lasso tool or the erase tool, I also learned about the erase tool which allows me to erase small details on images that I feel may not be needed on my image, I could also increase the size of the erase tool allowing me to take out smaller details on my images, the differences between these reduction tools is that the eraser can be used at its maximum effectiveness for certain sizes and to smooth out lumps and curves however the eraser is a fixed shape so it is not the best at taking out oddly shaped excess in which the lasso tool is equipped for, as I found that the lasso tool can take out the excess detail that are odd shapes with the use that the lasso tool is custom and you can draw the shape to erase that detail, and whilst it can be used to take out lots of large proportions of detail, that method is very time consuming, whereas the crop tool can take out large proportions of excess detail however unlike the lasso tool and the erase tool, the crop tool can prove cumbersome to the final details I may want to erase from an image. I also learned how to use the blur tool in which that allows you to blend images into the layers behind and the background as well, it is good to make sharp edges smoother which helps an image look more natural and consisting to its background and looks more professional. I can apply this knowledge in skills as it can help me make my images within my music magazine look more professional as the images I will use can look as if they will be blended and contrast into the background as well. I am personally unsatisfied with my magazine, although I feel I had achieved all the conventions to fulfil audience expectation with the main image use, colour, placement of text and essential info I feel as if the colour yellow, while unisex looks too childish and may have cheapened the aesthetic of the magazine, furthermore I feel as if on the cover of the magazine that I don’t think I should have used any tools to erase any part of my main image of my magazine and used the yellow in replacement as I feel that has also cheapened the look of the aesthetic of the magazine making the magazine look unprofessional and childish. The only aspects  I do like on my college magazine cover and contents are my logo I had edited to take the white background out band the use of text in both cover and contents as I feel as they look professional within my magazine.

Monday, 13 October 2014

Questionarre Result Analysis


The purpose of my questionnaire is to find out what the current demographic is for music magazines but to more importantly find out what the public prefers within my genre of rock and what they expect to see within a music magazine.

 

My first question was asking the age range of the public within the questionnaire and the answer with the results was answer A) of 16 years of age, followed by B) 17 years of age along with G) 22 years of age. The results show me that most of the people who answered my questionnaire were of young teens and young adults showing that I should target my magazine towards that age range.

 

My second question was asking the gender of the public that answered my questionnaire and the highest results of the question were that B) Females were the highest result with eight followed closely by A) Males with the result of seven. This shows me that whilst the most results were of females the target audience for my magazine still should be gender neutral as there are still a high number of males that read music magazines.

 

My third question was asking the public how they listened to music and the answer with the highest results was C) Phone with 6 results followed by B) Internet with 5 results followed by D) Music players with 3 results followed lastly by A) Radio with one result. The results show me that the times have changed from the decades past since the introduction of the Internet and downloads and that most people choose to listen to music on their phones as opposed from buying in the form of a CD or Record, and this helps my magazine in terms of advertisements as it shows me it would be more useful to advertise a link to a website for a chosen album or a single than to tell the audience where to buy the album or single as it appears the majority does not go out to buy songs as much anymore.

 

My fourth question was asking what genre of music the general public, listen too with the highest result was A) Rock with 5 votes, followed by a joint result of D) R&B and H) Rap which both gained 4 votes followed by another joint result with C) Pop and F) Indie rock in which both had 3 votes. The results show me that rock is still one of the most popular genres within the music industry and will therefore contain a large audience which means that there is a large potential of a target audience who will read my magazine. Another point of note is that whilst it was one of the less voted options, option F) Indie rock was still quite popular within the choices I had made showing that a sub-genre of rock which reinforces my results that rock is still a popular genre for the public.

 

My fifth question was asking what popular magazines do people read; with the result with the highest score was E) Vibe with 7 votes followed by a joint second highest result with B) Kerrang! And C) Q magazine with 4 votes followed by A) NME magazine with 2 votes. This shows me that in terms of magazines people prefer to read Vibe magazine which could be due to its wide variety of genres and mass advertisement in many types of stores instead of being just limited to a select type of store.

 

My sixth question was asking how people bought music with the most popular answer being A) Itunes with 12 votes, followed by B) Official Websites with 3 votes followed by D) CD’s and DVD’s with 2 votes. This shows me a reinforced point that people defiantly prefer to download music as opposed to buying it, but a further point of interest is that people also prefer to download on popular download brand sites such as Itunes which helps me as it shows me how I can be more specific to help my target audience further in how to and where to download albums and singles.

 

My seventh question asked how many hours people listened to music per week with the most popular result was C) 11-15 hours with 5 votes followed by A) 1-5 hours followed by a joint result of B) 6-10 hours and D) 16-20 hours with 3 votes for both. This shows me that people will listen to a lengthy amount of time which helps me as it shows what would be the appropriate amount of time to look for in terms for advertising festivals and gigs to my target audience.

 

My eighth question was asking what was the most important feature which attracted my target audience towards a music magazine and the most popular answer was B) Artists with 10 votes followed by C) Music with 7 votes followed by a joint result with A) Celebrities and E) Article titles, both with 3 votes. This shows me, that people are most interested in artists and articles about artists and this helps me with my magazine as it tells me that I should add in articles about artists.

 

My ninth question asked what articles attracted my target audience the most and the highest result was A) Celebrities with 6 votes followed by D) Upcoming festivals/gigs with 5 votes followed by B) Albums and singles with 4 votes. This shows that my target audience is most interested into celebrities who are connected to the genre of music such as bands and artists. Another interesting point of note is that each highest voted answer is very consistent showing me that each option was still quite popular which helps me with my magazine as it shows me that I can still gain large amounts of interest if I were to focus on the other highest voted options as opposed to the highest voted option.

 

 

What the results tell me is that people are most interested in celebrities, gigs and festivals; prefer to download music as opposed to buying as opposed to buying it in a store and that most people are aged around 16-22 who read on music magazines. This helps me in terms of how to advertise to the present target audience to draw my target audience’s attention into my magazine and to generate further interest into reading the articles.