Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group I am targeting is cool 17-25 year old females who love to have fun and are interested in music, festivals and fashion.

The magazine I have produced represents the particular social group it is aimed at in a number of ways. Firstly I made a mood board of my typical readers’ interests and purchases and from this I could then incorporate ideas to represent the general common interests of this particular social group. I have chosen to feature certain bands and up and coming events which I have assumed this social group would listen to/wish to attend.

The cover photo I used was aimed to make my magazine seem more inviting to my audience because I have used a female, slightly older than my target social group in order to act as a role model. This is a common technique used on magazine covers for teen magazines. The style of the girl who I used isn’t too glamorous unlike many magazines similar to mine. I have done this because I aim for a more honest and real theme to it where the girls don’t feel they have to look plastic to fit in.

I have reinforced the stereotype that girls have a heavy interest in fashion and clothing however I did make it clear that this isn’t their only interest. I made sure that it was clear that music was the most predominant interest as after all this is a music magazine.

As far as the language and text in my magazine is concerned I made sure that the vocabulary I used was colloquial to give my magazine a relaxed and informal tone. I address the reader for example “which ones for you?” to make them feel as if they are part of the ‘in-club’.

Evaluation question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

In the magazine industry there are large companies such as IPC and Bauer who together own 46% of magazines in the industry in the UK. There are medium sized companies such as Dennis and also individual publishers. I have looked at all of the different size companies and have used this to come to a conclusion on which I would opt for if I had the choice. There are many advantages of going with a large company to support and distribute your magazine. They have many useful and relevant contacts and could easily increase the size and success of a magazine. Economies of scale means they could keep costs to a minimum and therefore make profit more likely. Furthermore there would be far less financial concerns and implications as there is already money in the company to back the new magazine. Within the stable IPC are magazines such as Look, NME, Woman’s Weekly, Soap Weekly and InStyle; All targeting similar readers as Thumper. There is a wide variety in types of magazines they own and I feel for my particular magazine there aren’t any which are exactly the same as the concept I am aiming for. Because of this I feel like Thumper magazine could fill the gap in the market and would be something IPC may be interested in representing. The fact IPC own NME magazine is a bonus for my magazine as one of the concepts of THUMPER is that it is a feminine NME and therefore my unique selling point to IPC would be that it could act as NME’s “little sister”, just like Uncut magazine (also owned by IPC) is branded as NME’s “big brother”. NME’s circulation has steadily decline over the recent years. Its circulation is now 23,924 copies per week where as in the 70s circulation was 200,000 and therefore IPC may be interested in pursuing Thumper as a way of generating sales and perhaps even raising the profile of NME via cross media advertising.

Evaluation question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to grab the attention of the audience I ensured that my magazine would stand out on the shelf in any shop. To do this I have used a bright and vibrant colour scheme using a gold/yellow and a fuchsia.

When taking the cover photo I knew that I wanted the model to have a direct gaze at the camera (direct address) and therefore the audience because that really grabs attention. It was important that the model came across inviting to the particular audience I was aiming at so I needed her to look more of a role model but with a slight edge. The main cover photo is very important because it is what will initially focus the attention to the magazine before they have even seen the cover lines.

However cover lines are also a very tactful way of attracting the audience. I made certain that all of the cover lines were relevant to my particular audience and used specific bands which I know this audience would be interested in. I made use of second person pronouns and use questions which command an answer for example in my puff I used “Which ones for YOU?”

I used a masthead which was a bold font which stands out and incorporated the similar colours used amongst the cover. The fonts I used were a mixture of both serifs and san serifs to give the more serious cover lines more impact. One of the serif fonts I used was (insert one which was used for confirmed) and I found this worked very effectively.

Evaluation question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Since I began the process of creating this media product I have learnt many things about using different technologies. I have used the computer, a camera, various photography equipment (mainly lighting), Adobe PhotoShop CS6. The technology I used which I was least familiar with was photoshop, in fact I had never actually used it before. Photoshop has many useful tools and I have learnt how to use clone tool, guide lines, magic wand, quick selection tool, red eye tool amongst others. As seen in the image to the right one of the tools I found most useful was the ‘blending options’. Within this I could change the intensity of shapes and words. This was by doing things such as adding a gradient overlay.

I have learnt how useful many of the free websites available to me in order for me to actually become a self-publishing producer of my media product Thumper. These websites include Blogger, Da Font, Survey Monkey and Flickr.