Foundation PortfolioEvaluation

My classmate, Poppy Saplamides, and I created two different issues of a pop music magazine. We decided to work together as we both wanted to look and research pop magazines and our ideas were similar. I created a front cover, contents page and double page spread which follow the conventions of real, existing pop music magazines such as Top of the Pops or We Love Pop. I have used these two pop music magazines as an inspiration and examples for my own designs.

The mast-heads of pop music magazines stand out and the readers eye is drawn towards it as it also relates to the genre of music represented. This makes it easier for the target audience to choose. I believe “Pop-It” is an appropriate masthead for a pop magazine as it is fun and reflects the pop genre. The cover line has a link to the artist featured on the magazine, who attracts the chosen target audience. The barcode is in a corner, at the bottom of the page and it is not eye-catching. The posters in “We Love Pop” are presented as “poster amazingness”, this inspired me to give the posters a fun, quirky name such as “wall candy”. This language attracts the readers. The colour scheme is girly, pink is very often used in pop magazines and I adopted this feature.

Front Cover

The contents page of pop music magazines include a variety of page numbers which allow the reader to find the certain articles they are looking for. They are usually in big fonts and bright colours so that they stand out. Contents pages contain subheadings which inform the audience. It also includes images of the artists featured and the attraction is driven towards the main article. Most pop magazines contents page include a fashion section, so I decided to include one in my own magazine. It is typical for a contents page to include images alongside important titles. I decided to add an “Editor’s word” section as I believe it is a great way to address to my target audience and it is quite frequent amongst pop magazines as it allows a direct contact with the reader. “Top of the Pops” introduces the contents page by using “Inside the mag…”, which inspired me to use “Inside Pop-It”.

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Double page spreads of pop music magazines include a range of images of the artist featured. They usually feature artists that are popular at the moment or promoting artists that are trying to get into this industry. The double page spread presents an interview which is supposed to interest and entertain the readers. The questions are fun and quirky and so are the answer, as the language used is informal and easy to understand for the target audience. This inspired me when it came to creating the questions and answers for the interview.

Social GroupsMy three pieces create a representation of young girls, who are the intended target audience. As it is a pop magazine, girls are more interested in the features included and the artists presented. Girls are the main target audience for pop magazine, therefore my presentation is conventional. “Pop-It” represents a particular age group of 14-18 years old girls, there is no specific race it is aimed at, class or region. It is also a representation of youth as it shows what this generation enjoys and their role models.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a UK-based international public-service broadcaster. It is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, with about 23,000 staff, in total and 16,672 in public sector broadcasting. The BBC sponsors and distributes the magazine “Top of the Pops”. As this is a very successful pop music magazine amongst young teenage girls, I believe the BBC is the media institution that is most suitable for my media products. Because of its popularity, it would help my magazine grow and people would also trust buying it.

Target Audience“Pop-It” targets teenage girls aged between 14-18 years old. They are girly, sociable, into pop music and one or more artists represent their role models. Because my magazine is about the pop genre, it is suitable for my target audience. The reader of “Pop-It” enjoys gossip, fashion and spending time with their friends, therefore we aim to produce the best articles which will both entertain and inform the target audience.

In order to attract my target audience, I followed the codes and conventions of existing pop magazines.

• “Pop-It” includes posters, puffs and a variety of images, these features are typical

• I have used girly colours which would appeal to my target audience

• The masthead stands out • I have directly addressed my audience by using

“you” and “I”, this gives the magazine a friendly feel which is appropriate for the pop genre and the audience it is aimed at

Technological skills• I have learnt a variety of new skills since the beginning of this

project. I know how to edit an image in photoshop and manipulate it in order to obtain the product wanted. I have used photoshop for all three pieces of work I have produced.

• I have also used blogger ( www.claudiaionescuaslevelmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk) in order to present the work I have produced. It is easy to access and public.

• www.slideshare.co.uk helped me add my products on my blog

• I have mostly used powerpoint for my presentations • These are the main programmes used, however I have also

used YouTube and Google in order to gather information

Looking back…• Looking back at my preliminary task, I realise I

developed many skills. • I am much better at working on Photoshop now. • I am well aware of the conventions of existing pop

magazines, therefore I gathered knowledge which might be useful later on. I also acknowledge the amount of work put into creating a magazine.

• The contents of my pieces of work is the area I have improved on as they are better now than they were in the preliminary task.