shauna mccormick as media coursework blog: 2015

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Monday, 16 March 2015

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

The audience I want to address my magazine to is girls around the ages of 14-21, who have a keen interest in the latest fashion, beauty, celebrity gossip and pop music. I made sure the language used for my magazine would appeal to this audience. I used colloquial language and used abbreviated slang terms that a younger audience would understand, with words such as “celeb” and “omg”. Using this kind of trendy up to date language will appeal to this target audience as it’s the type of language that is commonly used on social media sites such as twitter or tumblr, and that is a keen interest into my target audience so they will be familiar with the language making them more connected to the magazine. I also used first person pronouns to address my audience directly, using words like ‘we’ and ‘you’ making the reader feel more involved in content of the magazine making it feel more personal.

The font used was modern and old. The bold fonts were used to catch the eye of the audience, making key features, that I felt would particularly be of interest to the reader, stand out, attracting them to the magazine. The font was modern and elegant looking , making it look trendy and fashionable. The colour scheme used was to attract my target audience as the colours black and white are used to make the page look orderly and are seen as very sophisticated and trendy colours that really set out a clear structure to the magazine, whilst the blue gave the page a little more colour and vibrance. Also I used the colour blue to attract my audience as although it’s stereotypically a boys colour I decided to challenge this stereotype and use it for the main colour scheme of my magazine, as I felt it would stand out among other magazines that traditionally use more ‘girly’ colours like pink or red.

The image on the front cover attracts the audience as it’s of a teenage girl aged 17. The model is looking trendy in a casual black top and with natural looking make up. This makes the audience relate to the girl on the front as she looks like a stereotypical reader of Demoda magazine, who would possible have the same hobbies and interests as well as fashion and beauty styles. The model on the front makes the audience believe like they can aim to be like her making them want to buy the magazine to find out some on the content included. Also the fact that shes perceived as a celebrity, addresses the audience as a part of my audience come under the social group ‘fangirls’ and they are interested in dedicating their time to certain pop stars meaning they could potentially become a fan girl for the model on the front. It also appeals to the townie side of my target audience as they like the latest trends and seem to ‘go with the flow’ of things so they would like to hear about the newest pop stars.

The title of my magazine ‘Demoda’ addresses my target audience as it is very unique and seems trendy and cool. It’s short and snappy and simple to pronounce. Appealing to the younger audience and it also means fashionable in Spanish, but having the text written in a foreign language adds to the originality of the magazine making it stand out.

Sunday, 15 March 2015

Question 4

The target audience for my magazine is young females from around 15 to 25. They enjoy shopping and the latest trends. They shop in high-street fashion outlets like top shop and River Island, and portray a trendy, up-to-date look. They enjoy wearing the latest fashion statements and take care in their appearance. They go from enjoying wearing comfortable casual clothes like converse and skinny black jeans to dressing up in heels and an evening dress.

When it comes to music my target audience enjoy a more pop, pop/punk type of music vibe and listen to artists like 5 seconds of summer, Ed Sheeran and One Direction. They tend to listen to chart music but are willing to try other genres of music from various artists and have a reasonably wide music taste.

My target audience dream of having the lavish lifestyle and would potentially love to live like the stars. They dream of having a big modern home in a large city like London and also want to travel to more fine cities like new York.my target audience like bright lights and bug cities.

Other than the latest fashion trends, my target audience enjoy the latest trends in other aspects like the latest films and books like the fault in our stars. They enjoy the whole teenage romance and sad films/books.in addition to this they also love a good Disney film.

My target audience aspire to live like the celebrities they love and to achieve a cheaper feel of this lifestyle they like to own the latest I phones, the higher end make up brands, jewellery like Pandora and dream of owning a trendy car like a cream mini cooper or a white range rover.

Although they enjoy the fun side of things like hanging out with friends, being twitter addicts and enjoying themselves at concerts they also enjoy reading and try to achieve big things by doing well in school and trying to be in high end jobs to achieve the lavish lifestyle they dream of.

Stereotypical reader of DeModa magazine

Question 3

I think my magazine is most likely to be published by the magazine publishers Bauer as there is not really anything appealing for a younger audience with their publishers and the target audience for my magazine is around 15-25 year old girls. Bauer publishes magazines with content on gossip and celebrity life and my magazine will features segments of this, but in the music section of Bauer’s magazine range there is nothing for people who enjoy pop and chart, music and that is a massive industry that has millions of potential consumers, meaning there is a place for my magazine in the market in Bauer magazine publishers.

The possible problems that can be faced with publishing with a big magazine publisher like Bauer is that a new magazine could potentially get over shadowed by the already popular magazines published by the company, however there is a clear gap in the market for a more pop vibe magazine, with elements of fashion, film and technology, which is already proving popular in the publishing company, with magazines such as Closer and Heat being published. Another factor that could be affected by being published with a larger magazine company is the editorial independence, as it’s such a big publishing company with high expectations they may take over the role of editor and change things to suit what they feel the audience wants in order to make profit, and this could lead to my initial target audience being adjusted.

A great advantage of publishing with a large magazine publishing company is that , a new magazine can be fundamentally supported by the company and can escalate quickly to become a more popular magazine and can even progress to becoming a more advanced media segment, by potentially having its own website, TV show etc.

Question 7

Thursday, 12 March 2015

original ideas statement

My plan for my magazine is to create a magazine aimed at young adults and teens who have an interest in fashion, beauty, the latest trends, celebrity gossip, and the latest pop music. I don't want my magazine to be solely on music so I want there to be features of fashion, beauty and celebrity based content as well as music. My magazine is aimed at entertaining my target audience and keeping them up to date on the latest news, gossip and trends.

Drafts for three products (electronic versions)

construction schedule

Location, props and costume report

My magazine is aimed at a target audience consisting of teens to young adult, who have an interest in fashion, beauty and primarily chart music. So I felt my image on the front cover should be of a young girl who looks like she could be a potential reader of the magazine. I decided to go for a close up face shot so the setting wasn’t too important as it wasn’t the focus of the image, however I wanted a professional look to the image so I decided to take it in a photography studio with studio lights to create this effect and to get good lighting. I took a set of photos using a green screen, however when it came to editing the image it was difficult to cut out the image due to their being a lot of fine hairs in the shot, so to overcome this we took some shots in the studio with a white background. My image was very simple and standard so I didn’t need any props I simply had a close up shot of the model., which meant no costume was needed either, she was simply wearing her ordinary casual clothes that would appeal to my target audience as they are trendy and fashionable and could be something they would potentially wear themselves.

copy of the college magazine questionaire

Questionnaire – college magazine

Are you male or female?

· Male

· Female

Do you read the college magazine?

· Yes

· No

How much would you be willing to pay for the college magazine?

· Free

· 50p

· £1

· £1.50

· £2

How often would you like it published?

· Weekly

· Fortnightly

· Monthly

· Every half-term

What features would you like in the magazine? (Choose your top three)

· Film

· Music

· Sport

· Technology

· Events

· Horoscopes

· Competitions

· Problems page

· Subject page

· fashion

What are your hobbies?

What colours would attract you to the magazine?

Would freebies encourage you to buy the magazine?

What type of image would attract you to the magazine?

· Student

· Technology

· Teacher

· Celebrity

· Other

Would you like to contribute to the college magazine?

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Image samples

Monday, 9 March 2015

Qestionaire responses

Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When it came to creating my music magazine and evaluating it, I used a variety of free, online software including:

Blogger- I used Blogger to present all my coursework in a tidy, easily accessible way and although I already have some experience of it because I read blogs anyway, I did learn a couple of things. One of these was how to link videos and power-points into the blog post so they show up using the HTML code. I had no idea of what they were or what they are used for until constructing my blog.

Survey Monkey - I used Survey Monkey to create questionnaires to collect information about my target audience. I haven't learnt anything specifically from it apart from how to navigate the site and that if a computer has already been used once to complete the survey, you can't reuse it which is helpful when trying to make sure different people take the survey but annoying when somebody tries to use the same computer as the other people who have filled it in.

Photoshop has allowed me to tie all my media photos, text, knowledge and everything else together. I was able to make my front cover, my double page spread and my contents page all on photoshop, the advantages of using photoshop are, being able to correct errors or problems on pictures, which i learnt you can use various tools like, healing brush, clone stamp and quick selection/magic wand tool. But i also had problems with layers. As when you’re creating a massive product like a music front cover, double page and contents, you end up with a lot of layers that overlap, and it gets really confusing. For example when using marquee tools, they can attach themselves to previous layers, and then you can end up having to start again.

The only other two programs I used during this project were Microsoft Powerpoint and Word, which I used in my planning and preparation. Powerpoint was a useful programme for making moodboards to display my initial ideas and I used Word to write up my magazine article before putting it onto the final design.

There are pros and cons to using free software on the internet.

Pros;

·         Its more interesting to have different websites linking in to the main blog than just pages of writing
·         Its quick as long as your connections good
·         It’s easy to access from anywhere
·         Gathering information in simple
·         There’s lots of variety and choice of which software to use depending on personal choice
·         Its free
Cons;
·         Technical issues could occur, for example being blocked or if the website crashes
·         People can access and plagiarise your work
·         Software doesn’t always work correctly and can be temperamental
·         Free software has its limitations because the companies aren’t earning a profit so they charge for a more improved version of the software
·         Security breaches could occur and you could lose control of the site

Question two

Question one

contents page analysis

Sunday, 8 March 2015

font mood board

Font mood board review

The style of my magazine has to appeal to a young female audience around the ages 15-25, who are into the latest trends and are very up to date and modern this mood board shows a variety of potential fonts that I feel would fit with my magazine genre.

The fonts used are clear to read, which appeals to the younger audience so they won’t struggle with reading the text. They portray a modern and classy look, as they are quite slender, and not very childlike, I feel the fonts used appeal to my target audience as they have a more elegant feel to them.

The type of font(s) I decide to choose with will signify my magazine and represent it throughout. For my magazine I want a font that looks sophisticated, professional, elegant font making sure it’s bold yet clear, as I want my magazine to catch the eye of the consumer, making it easily recognisable.

All the font previews I have used are reasonably similar, but I want the magazine to look professional and orderly and to achieve this I want my magazine to be of a reasonably consistent font throughout.

advertiser mood board

Advertiser mood board review

This mood board represents the companies that I believe are likely to advertise in my magazine, as it fits with my target audience meaning they could potentially take interest in the advertisement from these companies.

As my target audience are very much into their fashion advertisers like Topshop, Zara, H&M and boohoo would advertise in my magazine. These clothes shops in particular would advertise in my magazine as their range in clothes is up to date and trendy and appeal to a younger female consumer, which would be of interest to my target audience.

My target audience are very dependent on the media and spend a lot of on social media sites.my audience like to spend a lot of down time at home and enjoy watching TV /films, listening to music and being on the internet, so I believe that advertisement from companies like; Netflix, ITV, capital FM, BBC and twitter would be ideal for my target audience.

My audience take pride in their appearance and like to look after themselves so advertisement from; the body shop, Rimmel London, bed head TIGI, Benefit and MAC would appeal to my target audience greatly.

My target audience enjoy music and love going to see their favourite artists preform live, even if that means having to travel miles. So advertisements form companies like Ticketmaster and Travelodge would be ideal as first they have to get the tickets, and ticket master is one of the most popular ticket companies and they may need a place to stay the night so travel lodge would go well with this.

Advertisement from Apple, T mobile, Vodafone, and cannon would appeal to my target audience as they are greatly dependant on their phones and technology.

My target audience are young so stereotypically enjoy junk food from time to time so advertisement form companies like; subway, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, costa and Starbucks would appeal to them.

colour mood board

Colour mood board analysis

My magazine is aimed at a young female audience aged around 15-25, this mood bored represents some of the colours that may be used in the colour scheme of my magazine. The colours I mainly used on this mood board that I plan to feature on my magazine are; black, white, pink, blue, purple and red. I don’t plan on using all these colours on my magazine as the normal maximum is around ¾ different colours to prevent the page looking untidy and overcrowded.

The colours black and white were highly recommended from my survey results and the colours black and white make the page looks neat and tidy and gives the page a sense of order and sophistication, and I want my magazine to look professional and modern whilst looking elegant and classy, so it appeals to my target audience. Black is associated with power, elegance, formality and I feel this would fit well with my magazine. White is a pure colour and is seen as the colour of perfection and I feel that this being on my magazine would add a sense of organisation and give it a professional feel.

The colour blue was also highly popular in my survey results so I felt this had to be featured somewhere on my magazine. The colour blue appeals to a wide range of people, and adding it to my magazine will give it a bit of colour making it more vibrant and appealing. I plan on using one of the shades of blue featured on my magazine as I feel it will fit nicely with my target audience, as it can look modern and trendy. Blue is also a very common colour when linked with social media and logos such as twitter, Facebook and tumblr all are dominantly blue and as my target audience Is people who are interested in social media, it creates a sense of recognition.

The colour pink and purple are stereotypically recognised as female colours, and as my magazine is primarily aimed at a female audience I feel this will suite the feel of my magazine well.

The colour red was also a rather recommended colour. I feel that red could fit well with the style of my magazine as I feel it would appeal to the target audience as it’s seen as a glamorous, sophisticated colour when used in moderation. Red brings text and images to the foreground. The colour red also attracts the eye making my magazine more noticeable on the shelf among the other magazines. There are various alternative shades of red that I may use on my magazine such as; maroon, burgundy, scarlet or crimson.

target audience mood board

Target audience mood board I believe this mood board represents my initial target audience. It looks at a variety of aspects of their life. I feel that from this mood board you can get a sense of what my potential target audience will be.
The target audience for my magazine is young females from around 15 to 25. They enjoy shopping and the latest trends. They shop in high-street fashion outlets like top shop and River Island, and portray a trendy, up-to-date look. They enjoy wearing the latest fashion statements and take care in their appearance. They go from enjoying wearing comfortable casual clothes like converse and skinny black jeans to dressing up in heels and an evening dress.
When it comes to music my target audience enjoy a more pop, pop/punk type of music vibe and listen to artists like 5 seconds of summer, Ed Sheeran and One Direction. They tend to listen to chart music but are willing to try other genres of music from various artists and have a reasonably wide music taste.
My target audience dream of having the lavish lifestyle and would potentially love to live like the stars. They dream of having a big modern home in a large city like London and also want to travel to more fine cities like new York.my target audience like bright lights and big cities.
Other than the latest fashion trends, my target audience enjoy the latest trends in other aspects like the latest films and books like the fault in our stars. They enjoy the whole teenage romance and sad films/books.in addition to this they also love a good Disney film.
My target audience aspire to live like the celebrities they love and to achieve a cheaper feel of this lifestyle they like to own the latest I phones, the higher end make up brands, jewellery like Pandora and dream of owning a trendy car like a cream mini cooper or a white range rover.
Although they enjoy the fun side of things like hanging out with friends, being twitter addicts and enjoying themselves at concerts they also enjoy reading and try to achieve big things by doing well in school and trying to be in high end jobs to achieve the lavish lifestyle they dream of.

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

contents page analysis

Thursday, 12 February 2015

feature article

magazine cover analysis

Full review of Q magazine

Q is a monthly magazine that focuses on content on rock and roll. The magazine was launched in 1986 and is an international magazine. It contains content like, world exclusives, definitive album reviews, outstanding production values and an inimitable sense of humour, Q shapes music in the UK and beyond.

Q has featured the world’s biggest artists with content from U2 to Adele, Oasis to Rihanna and loads more have featured on its land-mark cover. With Q’s online presence, a new interactive iPad edition, social media, Q Radio, live events and of course the world famous annual Q Awards – the most exclusive event in the music calendar – the message is everywhere. Music sounds better with Q.

Q is the UK’s number one actively-purchased music magazine. It’s about quality and character. Q’s readers prize its lavish photography, in-depth reporting and sense of humour. It is also about authority and opinion. It stands for the music that matters, the stars who make it and the people who love it. Q is trusted and influential. A positive review in Q can make a band’s career – and Q’s major interviews reverberate around the world. It gets unparalleled access to the biggest stars in rock and roll. And the audience is younger and more affluent than any other music monthly. 97% of readers rate Q as a quality magazine. In research it outperforms competitors on measures such as best interviews, writing and awards winning photography.

The majority of Q’s audience is male at 68.3% which is quite a lot more than female readers. The majority of their audience (70%) has an ABC1 profile. The age range ranges from 35.5% being 15-24 to 1.4% being 65+ meaning the magazine has a younger based audience.

Q magazine has its own award show called ‘The Q Awards’. The Q Awards are the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine Q. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. This appeals to the target audience as a lot of young people like to watch award shows and support their favourite artists, it also gives the opportunity to get a bigger fan base for the magazine as other will hear about the awards , enticing them to buy the magazine.

Q magazine has a rather popular website, which is WWW.QTHEMUSIC.COM. It has 329,000 unique users, 12,886 email subscribers, 569,659 page impressions. The online access is ideal for many users as its less popular for people to buy a physical copy a magazine now a days, most people would rather just read the online copy, rather than going out of their way to go to a shop and buy it.

Q magazine has a Facebook page with 32,556 Facebook fans and a twitter page with 69,549 followers. As Q magazine has a younger target audience it is ideal, as teens and young adults now a days are more likely to be on social networking sites, and if the magazine is on these sites then people who read the magazine can stay updated and other people may stumble across it on their newsfeed enticing them to buy or subscribe to the magazine.