Danielle's Indie Music Magazine.

During my research of Indie magazines, I discovered that my magazine would be competing with two mainstream magazines; NME and Q.
NME would be a big competition as they're within the same age range as my target audience and they both have a similar layout/colours.
Q would also be a big competition as it's more popular with my maturer audience and again has a similar layout to mine.

What is so different about 'Indie Jam'?
Indie Jam isn't entirely different to mainstream Indie magazines out today however, I believe my magazine would bring a youthful feel to shops around the country. Although NME is aimed at my target audience, I feel that they haven't done the magazine justice with their fonts and the entire layout. With Indie Jam, I've tried to stick to who I believe my target audience should be so, with the questionnaire I carried out before I started this project, I made sure the people answering the questions given were within that age range.
With NME and Q, it's all about mainstream celebrities such as Kings of Leon and Lily Allen. Although they are both great celebrities to be inspired by, with Indie Jam, up-coming artists around the country and across the pond will be more of the main focus of this magazine to give my readers the sense that they could be on the cover of Indie Jam one day.

Overall experience of creating a music magazine...
Creating this magazine was hard work as I always had to focus on one thing; my target audience. However, with my research and planning that I carried out before creating the magazine, I feel I have done my magazine justice. I've managed to stick to my colour scheme; red, black and white which I believe has made Indie Jam look like a real life magazine. As I want a career in journalism, I feel this project has helped me enhance my skills with Photoshop and websites such as Picnik. When writing up my interview, I feel this has helped me develop my writing skills as I now know how to write a professional interview for professional artists.
As I said, working on the magazine has been hard work however, I have thoroughly enjoyed the course and look forward to seeing my final AS grade.

Below is the evaluation I created on the presenting website www.prezi.com for my music magazine; Indie Jam.

Evaluation of Indie Jam Music Magazine. on Prezi

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My magazine is conventional in the sense that it uses the exact colours and fonts to other existing indie magazines. My inspirations for my magazine were Q and NME. On the front cover of my music magazine, I tried to stick to NME’s theme of red, black and white. For example, my masthead is similar to theirs as I’ve used the exact colours and it pretty much covers the entire top of my magazine. My model has been positioned in a laid back style to portray his laid back attitude. With my main image, he takes up most of the page making him the exclusive purpose of this issue. My double page spread also follows the conventions of a real life magazine as I’ve included a bold letter at the beginning of my article to show the start. I’ve included two main images on my double page spread which are often presented in real life magazines.

How does your media product represent particular social groups? Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience would be people who like to listen to indie music varying from 16-20 years old. I think I’ve achieved this by looking at colour, images and language. My magazine divides social groups through gender and age. Throughout my magazine, my model is shown wearing a blue plaid shirt representing that this magazine is male oriented. As I have used a male model this attracts both males and females. He is also between the age range of my target audience which makes my magazine appealing to teenagers and young adults. If I had used a much older person on my front cover, this might not have appealed to my audience. In order to represent the social group ‘indies’, I researched into existing products (Q and NME). After noticing what stereotypical Indies wore, I tried to include this in my magazine. I also researched into hobbies so I could include them in my magazine for example live concerts. Most of my representation comes from my contents page.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

After researching the two magazines that were inspirations for mine, I discovered that NME had announced that they were joining with John Menzies Digital to create an online version of their magazine. However, I think my magazine would sell best with Bauer Media. This company operates in 15 countries and often produces and distributes popular magazine. They own Q which means they have expertise in selling to my target audience. I believe I could distribute my magazine in music stores such as HMV, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, an official website and music festivals just to name a few. Digital publishing is now becoming more popular with young audiences (17%) therefore; this would enable my product to be spread across a wider audience. With over 500 million Facebook users now online, I feel this will enhance my magazine's appeal.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel I attracted my audience in a variety of ways (colour, layout, text and images). For example on my front cover, my model takes up pretty much the entire page which instantly grabs my target audience’s attention. I used Jake as he is within the age range of my audience (17 years old). I also took into consideration what my model would be wearing throughout my magazine as I wanted my audience to relate to the magazine (and people with the same style.) The fonts I’ve used are conventional for an indie magazine which I think also appeals to my target audience as it’s simple and easy to read. The colours (red, black and white) I’ve used are quite neutral so both males and females would appeal to the magazine. For the text, I’ve used colloquial language in my interview on my double page spread to represent how young my model is which then appeals to the target audience. As my model also likes The Beatles (which was inspiration for the font of Jake's name on the double page spread and was also included in the interview), I believe this would appeal to a more mature audience who also like the band as well as my target audience who also have similar interests.

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

Although I’ve used Photoshop before, I feel from the process of constructing my magazine, I’ve developed my skills when manipulating photographs (such as using the magnetic lasso tool and changing colour levels) Before, my cuts would often to be sloppy which did affect my grade for my preliminary task. When creating my blog, I feel I have developed my blogging skills such as creating new posts, importing videos and images and re-arranging my layout. I also decided to show off my blogging and design skills by finding various buttons on the web and putting them onto my blog for example, I found a button that says ‘life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself’ which indie kids often do.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

By looking at my preliminary task, I feel that it has helped me in many ways when creating my final product. One major factor was time management for example, updating my blog on time and manipulating my photographs on Photoshop. I feel I’ve used my time effectively as I would often spend most of my time manipulating other images rather than just one at a time. When manipulating images during my preliminary task, I wouldn’t take my time which left my photographs looking sloppy. However, with my final product, I took my time when manipulating which in my opinion makes my magazine look professional and like a conventional indie magazine. I have also learnt a lot more about the music industry by looking at various music websites and reading a variety of music magazines which made a positive impact on my finished magazine. Overall, I feel like I’ve done myself justice with my final product and hopefully this shows when through my overall grade.