Kerrang Analysis from mjwilcox
Tuesday 21 October 2014
Monday 20 October 2014
Friday 17 October 2014
Tuesday 14 October 2014
Main Task- front cover analysis (genre research)
Q magazine is a mainstream
music magazine focused on popular music, and is published monthly by the Bauer
Media Group. The colours red and white are a trademark of this magazine, making
up the Masthead and being used in plenty of the front cover's text. Judging
from the liberal usage, they are core components of the house style. The choice
of colours also attract attention: the magazine shares the same colour scheme
as attention- attracting objects like lighthouses. Its mode of address is quite
informal: the colloquial language used suggests it is targeted at, and appeals
to, teenagers and younger adults (likely in their twenties).
The magazine breaks with
some conventions of feature placement, such as locating the barcode away from
the bottom-right corner. In addition, all text is moved towards the edges,
allowing for a clearer view of the central image. The splash, for example, is
located at the bottom, the strapline on the left and coverlines are on the
right. The main focus of the image is even in front of the masthead, emphasising
his importance. A common feature of Q is the large circle, again red and white,
which contains a few coverlines. The circle draws attention, making these articles
stand out. This helps appeal to the audience, as it advertises articles they
would most likely be interested in reading.
Billboard is another pop
music magazine. It is published weekly by Prometheus Global Media, and is in
fact one of the oldest trade magazines in the world.
As with Q, the central image is placed before a lot of the other features of the cover. Some writing is obscured, but never enough to render text unreadable. The primary colour scheme here is blue and white, and yellow, with the latter two being used in text and the former for the background. Red is also used in places, to make text stand out even more.
As with Q, the central image is placed before a lot of the other features of the cover. Some writing is obscured, but never enough to render text unreadable. The primary colour scheme here is blue and white, and yellow, with the latter two being used in text and the former for the background. Red is also used in places, to make text stand out even more.
Almost all coverlines are placed in a large
block, instead of being spread around the page. The only exception, perhaps to
draw attention, is a coverline in the top right-hand corner, below the
masthead. The barcode and price are, unusually, nowhere to be seen, and are
likely on the back.
Again, like Q, the language used is rather colloquial, indicating a similar (young but mature) audience. The rather structured format of the coverlines, and by extension the front cover in general, also supports this idea: it would appeal to a more ordered, mature individual.
Again, like Q, the language used is rather colloquial, indicating a similar (young but mature) audience. The rather structured format of the coverlines, and by extension the front cover in general, also supports this idea: it would appeal to a more ordered, mature individual.
Introduction to Main Task
For my main task, I need to produce a music magazine's front+contents pages, as well as a double page spread.
Wednesday 8 October 2014
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My product uses several conventions of real media, such as a splash, masthead and coverlines, allowing it to be identified as a magazine. I tried to create a generally happy connotation with my central image, which is of a smiling student, an image which also allows the product to be recognized as a student magazine. The house style reflects the college colours in the blue and silver elements of its colour palette.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In my product, the sole social group being presented was that of students. My magazine attempts to represent students as being happy, pleasant people to be around, keeping a firm distance from the 'rowdy party' stereotype. I used colloquial, fairly informal language throughout to give a sense of familiarity and friendliness. The central image on the cover also contributes to this impression, presenting a smiling, happy female student.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As a magazine designed specifically for a college, my product would not be suitable for a large, mainstream market. However, it would be printed by the college for internal usage, for the students and perhaps also their families. Additionally the magazine could be sent out to local secondary schools for the benefit of year 11 pupils thinking of enrolling at the college. For these reasons, it is most likely that a fairly local business would print and distribute the magazine- there would be no point in going to a publisher working on a national scale.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My product is specifically aimed at teenage college students, an audience which has determined the magazine's mode of address. All the writing is fairly informal, colloquial for this target audience. Additionally, it is designed to be readable and interesting to all (or at least most) students, ignoring details such as gender.
How did you attract/address your audience?
To make the magazine attractive to teenagers, I made sure to use a variety of colours when creating the textual portions of the front cover. This, combined with the central image of a fellow student and familiar, informal language, clearly defines the magazine's as being a student magazine. I also made sure to make usage of my research and feedback here, including much of the requested or recommended design features and content to make the magazine more appealing for a student to purchase.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When constructing this product, I learnt a lot about the usage of the InDesign software, and I liked the ease at which I was able to construct my magazine. However, I was frustrated at the software when dealing with the insertion and sizing of images- it was a bit tedious having to browse a file each time instead of simply pasting in the desired image.
I also used digital cameras. I was happy with the performance they gave, but there was a bit of a wait transferring the photos from camera to memory stick.
This blog was another new thing for me. Blogger's design made it easy to do what I wanted, and I was not at all disappointed in it's performance.
My product uses several conventions of real media, such as a splash, masthead and coverlines, allowing it to be identified as a magazine. I tried to create a generally happy connotation with my central image, which is of a smiling student, an image which also allows the product to be recognized as a student magazine. The house style reflects the college colours in the blue and silver elements of its colour palette.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In my product, the sole social group being presented was that of students. My magazine attempts to represent students as being happy, pleasant people to be around, keeping a firm distance from the 'rowdy party' stereotype. I used colloquial, fairly informal language throughout to give a sense of familiarity and friendliness. The central image on the cover also contributes to this impression, presenting a smiling, happy female student.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As a magazine designed specifically for a college, my product would not be suitable for a large, mainstream market. However, it would be printed by the college for internal usage, for the students and perhaps also their families. Additionally the magazine could be sent out to local secondary schools for the benefit of year 11 pupils thinking of enrolling at the college. For these reasons, it is most likely that a fairly local business would print and distribute the magazine- there would be no point in going to a publisher working on a national scale.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My product is specifically aimed at teenage college students, an audience which has determined the magazine's mode of address. All the writing is fairly informal, colloquial for this target audience. Additionally, it is designed to be readable and interesting to all (or at least most) students, ignoring details such as gender.
How did you attract/address your audience?
To make the magazine attractive to teenagers, I made sure to use a variety of colours when creating the textual portions of the front cover. This, combined with the central image of a fellow student and familiar, informal language, clearly defines the magazine's as being a student magazine. I also made sure to make usage of my research and feedback here, including much of the requested or recommended design features and content to make the magazine more appealing for a student to purchase.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When constructing this product, I learnt a lot about the usage of the InDesign software, and I liked the ease at which I was able to construct my magazine. However, I was frustrated at the software when dealing with the insertion and sizing of images- it was a bit tedious having to browse a file each time instead of simply pasting in the desired image.
I also used digital cameras. I was happy with the performance they gave, but there was a bit of a wait transferring the photos from camera to memory stick.
This blog was another new thing for me. Blogger's design made it easy to do what I wanted, and I was not at all disappointed in it's performance.
Friday 3 October 2014
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