Final piece

Front cover ideas

these are the type of colours that would be featured in my magazine very normal colours that are apart of our everyday lives nothing too vibrant to take the readers eyes off of the coverlines apologies because there is not cover star reasons for that is because they all haven't uploaded properly but this is a little insight to what MERGE could look like 

Flat Plan Idea

I have created a flat plan because I thought that by making one it would be more easier for me to know the content of  my magazine, the production of my magazine would be easy because i have everything mapped out right in front of me. This is beneficial because of the fact that i can now focus of the information that will be put into my magazine i can now find out more about each article featuring in MERGE, if this task was not done then collecting information would have been more time consuming as i would have spent hours on just one page whereas because now that i have created a plat plan i don't need to spend so much time thinking what will be in my article because now i know.

Mag proposal presentation

i noticed that i didn't present any ideas for my DPS or CP so here are some ideas i don't really know what my contents will look like as of yet i just wanted to do my photoshoot first then decide from the pictures i take

Mag Propsal

Magazine proposal

Type of magazine: my magazine is mainly based on the genre alternative pop/ rock and hip hop/rap music , mainly it focuses on artists that aren't necessarily thee biggest names in the music industry but have a very nice feel to their music as well, it will also look at the upcoming artists that need to be discovered. I would like to involve  non mainstream artists so that it has a very unique style to it and it shows its individuality compared to the other magazine who do feature the a wide range of  mainstream artists but  on the other hand i would feature mainstream artists that do produce alternative pop/rock and hip hop/rap  to allow my fan base to grow because once they spot their favourite artists they would want to buy it but at the same time it would be able to publicise upcoming artists also some main stream artists (artist that are usually on the TV screen and are constantly on the radio) do produce very successful songs that fit the genre of my magazine so i would include them since they fit the image.

Publisher

The company I chose to publish my magazine is Hearst magazine because they have published magazines such as women’s health, Elle, cosmopolitan and good housekeeping. These magazines are very well known and are very successful which would cause my magazine to gain publicity. Hearst publishing doesn't feature any music magazine so my magazine would be the very first and Hearst doesn’t cover any hip hop/rap or alternative pop/ rock  artists so it would be very interesting to see Hearst publish its very first music magazine that covers hip hop/ rap and alternative pop/ rock.

My influence “CLASH” and “XXL”

XXL explores rappers such as Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, August Alsina, Lil Wayne, Nas, and many other hip hop artists. Whereas CLASH magazine is a magazine that is slightly softer, CLASH tends to look at artists such as Lana Del Ray, The 1975, Florence and the machine, partynextdoor, Birdy and other artists.  Both magazines feature artists of the hip hop/rap and the alternative pop/ rock which is the two genres that are going to be explored

My target audience

My target audience is aimed at those who are interested in alternative pop and rap/ hip hop music.

 The age group will range from 15 year olds to 35 year olds those who are young or feel young and like to explore that type of lifestyle. My magazine isn't really aimed at a specific sex I wanted my fan base to consist of males and females as both sexes like the genre of the magazine.

My magazine name

I have decided to call my magazine MERGE because it merges two different styles of music together it fits two  complete opposite ends of music together that actually work really well together for example imagine dragons and Kendrick Lamar’s collaboration of radioactive and m.A.A.d city and disclosure ft. Vic Mensa- when a fire starts to burn. It will include:

What makes MERGE stand out?

MERGE would stand out amongst the other magazine because it explores two opposite genres hip hop has a harder feel it and to mix and merge it with alternative pop music would be very unusual and it would also allow my target audience to grow and expand further because people who enjoy alternative pop would want to purchase it and so would those who enjoy hip hop/rap music

It’s very common to see magazines that stick to one particular genre but I've included two opposite genres that work very well together.

Colour scheme

 The colours that are going to be used in my magazine are going to be neutral colours or very pastel colours so that the cover star could be noticeable and the cover lines could be noticeable.

Price?

my magazine will be sold for £3.oo as it is going to be sold monthly rather than weekly also if my magazine is monthly it will allow my audience to be ready for next months issue and the excitement it holds as I want my readers to always be Intrigued about what will come next in my issues as I will make every issue unique and less predictable like other magazines.

Who my publisher will be/ Hearst publishing

Publishing

I have chosen Hearst Magazine publishing to publish my magazine as they have published many successful magazines such as:

• Elle 
• Good Housekeeping 
• All about soap
• All about you 
• Best magazine 
• Company magazine
• Cosmopolitan
• Esquire 
• Fetch 
• Real people 
• Mens health 
• Womens health 
• Reveal

and many more popular magazines. I would like for Hearst publishing to publish my magazine because usually their target audience are people who are in their middle ages and my magazine considers the younger generation, although Hearst publishes gossip magazines which is something that  would capture a younger audience it doesn't really have a magazine that could be dedicated to them also my magazine would be the first music magazine they would publish further expanding their audience and readers as my magazine will help bring in a younger audience so that it becomes more popular, it would brings in those who have a love for music this would give my magazine the opportunity to be published as i have found a huge gap in the market as my magazine is of two different genres that are completely at opposite ends of the spectrum and its the only music magazine Hearst would publish.

Reader feedback for pitch

Reader/ audience feedback pitch vid

The comments I had received for my pitch was from a questionnaire I had given out outside of my media studies lesson, I was given to friends of mine that met the audience profile, it was an structured questionnaire but it was done I front of my just in case they didn't understand a question I had out down.

To my audience the pitch was successful as it was very informative and it allowed the reader to really understand what the genre of my magazine is and how it will look because as I first explained it; the genres I chose weren't clear but as I started including my case study which was Clash magazine and XXL the readers started to understand the look and the style of the magazine I was going for. Also there was a question asked about pricing “was the pricing of MERGE magazine fair?" The answered I was given positive as they agreed with the pricing meaning that making my magazine £3 a month would have been fair at the end of the question I asked "if so then why?" Which was then followed up by "if the pricing isn't fair what would be your ideal price for my magazine?" Most of the answers said that the pricing was fair as it's only £3 a month whereas if it was £3 a week it would be pricy for the audience which is predominantly students in school, college and university. However I did see a comment that said “I would change the pricing of the magazine to £2 or £1.85 per month as this might be more convenient college students". I took this constructively but as most of the answers were "no's" and” the price is fair enough" I believe that from what they have given me the price of Merge was fairly cheap.

Another thing that went well was the understanding of the artists that would be in the magazine which were artists such as Lana del ray, 1975, birdy, London grammar, disclosure, Haim, Tyler the creator, TDE, Vic Mensa, Eryka Badu, odd future, the weekend and mac miller. When I played the songs that would be in the music magazine they automatically understood who were the chosen audience for the magazine and concluded that the magazines target audience was clearly directed toward hipsters, skaters or those who tend to look vintage from the era 1990.

Another thing that went well with my pitch was the choosing of my publisher they believed that my idea if choosing Hearst magazine was very effective and they also personally liked the fact that I was able to enter that field being the only music magazine this was because there was a question given that said " do you believe the publisher that was chosen was a good idea?" The answered I had received for this question were agreements, my audience loved the fact that I was entering a publisher that had never published a music magazine before also they have never considered the target audience I have which would allow Hearst to have a bigger fan base and a bigger audience as my magazine looks at those who are younger and Hearst's audience is usually aged between 25-35. However during my pitch I mentioned that the target audience would be gave between 15-35 as I was taking the predominant age of Hearst's audience into account but when I looked at some answered to my question "do you believe that the age of the target audience (15-35) is suitable?" Majority of the answers were no's as 35 is seen as too old for the genre and 35 year olds might not be interested in it or the genre so it would be pointless directing it to a 35 year old.

To conclude I believe that my pitch was successful as the main issues such as understanding the

Music genre, fair pricing and the target audience and publishing were understood and agreed upon by those who filled out my questionnaire. My target audience is directed to skaters, hipsters and the vintage population who are aged 15-25. The publishing will be done by Hearst as the group questioned agreed that it was a suitable publisher and lastly the mix of alternative pop and hip hop genre has become clear and is a genre that is enjoyed by 15-25 year olds do will be directed toward them.

photography day 1

photography plan

Evaluation for college magazine.

College mag evaluation
After producing my college magazine I gathered up a group of my peers, I questioned them about my magazine and their opinion of what they thought went well and what did not go so well.
For my front cover one member if the group said that they liked the look of my. Model and the fact that she looks very casual, young and natural captures the looks the look of being a college student as she isn't hap easily done up. However another person within the group stated that the photography of my magazine could have been a lot better and through editing I could have full removed the shadow behind my model also using photoshop. I could have filtered the picture for the picture to stand out and grasp the attention of my readers also for the picture in it self to look more professional but due to amateur Photography I was not able to do so without the image still looking unprofessional as it was my first time using this software I hadn't come to grips with how to use all the tools too.

There was also another comment in the focus group. This individual spotted that my cover lines could have used a different font to capture the essence of real magazines as my font wasn't suitable enough this person further added that they enjoyed the fact that I branded my magazine by embedding the colleges logo ensuring the reader knows who the magazine belongs to.
With regards to my contents page I received comments from my focus group that entailed that my main image in the background of my contents was (in itself) a good image that gives a slight insight to college. Also it captures the actual building and the main entrance of the college I did this because I was inspired to my building as I saw this done by my case study which was college magazine. The listing and the font of the listing was said to not be suitable as it didn't agree with the background because my background was very fussy and so was the font of my contents and the colour of the actual words. Lastly when editing my my magazine because I used a outline box and then out a text box in the outline box I was left with a black box around the content that was listed which wasn't my intention as it made the contents look out of place.

To conclude I believe that my magazine was successful to an extent because I was proud of my front cover of my magazine as it included the main features of a college magazine I personally thought my model was successful as my cover star looked natural which stuck to the theme of day-to-day college life which was similar to the case study college magazine, on the other hand I believe that my magazine could have been better in a sense that my cover didn't include a price which would have been better because it would have made my magazine look more appealing to the audience however because my magazine was targeted at students I suggested that not having prices would be more realistic as students pay less for a lot of things therefore there would be no reason to sell a college magazine at any price because the target audience is students. In addition to this I believe that my contents page could have been better as the colours and the main image of my magazine was very fussy which didn't allow my listing to look appropriate and the colours of the font didn't end up looking the way I wanted it to.

Lastly I believe that considering the fact that it was my very first time using software such as in design and photoshop my college magazine was successful because my magazine adopted the style that was set. because of the fact that my magazine I used the conventions that the case study followed and was able to make my magazine look remotely close to the real product (college magazine) I also believe that it was successful in a sense that my cover star made my magazine look very natural as she wasn't dressed in a way that suggested that she wasn't a college student but however in order to improve I could remove he box and during journalism I could insert text as text instead if using a outlines box and when producing the real product (my music magazine) I will use professional Phtograohy as the pictures I used in my contents page and my cover were of a amateur level.

XXL press pack

XXl are all about evolving rap and hip hop music also they tend to keep their readers updated about who the biggest names are in hip hop, R&B and rap. XXl's audience tends to predominantly male as 78% of their target audience are male consumers, for my magazine  i want my magazine to have a mixture of genders allowing my fan base to be bigger i have no preference in the gender of my audience as its genres that both genders enjoy.
 Again predominantly the age of the target audience is 27 for my magazine i want my age group to be of the same age or at least slightly younger.
The main ethnic group that purchases this magazine is african americans which is fairly obvious as it seems that that particular ethnic minority enjoys that type of music style, for the magazine that i want to produce i would love their to be a diversity in the purchase i would like to see there be a mixture of ethic minorities purchase the magazine as it isn't aimed specifically for a type of ethnic minority it is aimed at individuals that enjoy the genre of my magazine.
Classified rate- XXL make $11.95 for 14 word per minimum hopefully my magazine will be as successful as making that amount per 14 words more maybe more.

The readers of XXl magazine are aimed at those who want to make music anywhere those who have a general love and passion for R&B music and Hip Hop music, similarly i would like my readers to feel as if they are apart of a movement i want my readers to feel as if that the collaboration of music styles in my magazine would allow them to feel as if they are creating a new genre a genre both ends of the spectrum have made together which results in something so extraordinary and so unheard of it becomes addictive and creates a lifestyle of music that people can live.

Further to this XXL has given its readers a lifestyle to live by and a dress code to go by that suits the genre its aimed at people who dress in a particular way as so is my magazine, my magazine is aimed at those who are of high fashion and those who have a mixture those who can dress and live the high street lifestyle but also those who love heard hitting beats and wear backpacks trench coats New balance and a walks around with a skateboard those who like Odd Future but can still listen to london grammar and lana del ray. 

case study 2

case study 1

magazine contents page

Media mag front cover

Evaluation for 'piracy and the music industry' article

Evaluation for my media article

For this assignment i had to produce a double page spread for a magazine i had to write a 500 word piece of journalism in which i had to cover both sides of the argument, when gathering resources it was fairly easy because before conducting my journalism my class mates and i had to debate whether if piracy is in fact destroying the music industry or making the music industry. I was put onto the disagree side of the argument so when i typed up my journalism so when it came to typing up my coursework i took some of the information i used in my debate in my article also had to reference where i had taken  my information from. when u wrote down my points for the agree side of the argument i had to search into google to find out some facts and to find some quotes, just like with the disagree sides information i had to reference my where i found my statistics, facts and quotes.

In lesson we were taught how to use Indesign and we were taught how to create our double spread sheet and how to produce the page of our magazine we were taught how to make boxes in order for us to write in and to put pictures in. after i created how my page would look  like i had to copy and paste the journalism i typed up into the boxes after this i simply took pictures off of the internet (via google) of artists that featured in my article such as Schoolboy Q, Earl Sweatshirt, Beyonce and Kanye west. i then finished it by filling  my blank page with a purple colour that was spotted on beyonce stage wear. After finalising my work by putting a page number at the end i signed up to Gmail in order to create my blog and once i had done that i created my blog and published my wrk for my assessors to see it.

I think i could have improved in many ways, one way i could have improved would be through word dropping because that way i would have captivated my audience better and quicker which could have resulted in more views and a wider audience, I could have also embedded more quotes from other celebrities  to see real artists point of view of this matter. i also could have gotten rid of the black outlines around columns to make my article look more professional but it was my fist time using In design  so mistakes were inevitable.

To conclude i believe i created a strong piece of journalism because i included pictures that related to the article i also created a fun and colourful piece that i knew would appeal to my audience (ages 15-25) i included the right vocabulary and although it was mainly aimed at females i did consider the male audience by name dropping some male artists. so all in all i believe i stuck to the requirements of my brief and i also completed the tasks set successfully.

First mag cover

College Mag Analysis

what will happen in the for the duration of the course