iMusic

1. iMusic Music Magazine evaluation Michael Kilkelly

2. Evaluation • I am evaluating the following: • Forms and Conventions • Audience • Institutions • Distribution • Using different technology. • Improvements

3. Forms and Conventions Front Cover I edited the picture like this to make the model stand out more. I made all of the background grey and the tried to make the writing also blend in with the background but also still be visible. I tried to stay with the three same colours: Black, White and Grey. This also makes the magazine cover look more simple. The title of my magazine is ‘iMusic’. I put this in black so it contrasts with the column inch and makes it more eye-catching. I named the magazine iMusic because it represents technology and that it contains advances in technology. The tagline for my magazine is ‘Driving music forward’ this also represents an advance in technology. The column inch is in white to help it stand out more. All the text have different effects to help them stand out more

4. Forms and Conventions Article For my article I used a picture of the same model, but not as close up. The title is also a light blue colour. I edited this on Photoshop to make it look younger and funkier. I pasted an interesting part of the interview and put it here to draw the reader into reading the article. I put this in white again to contrast with the background and to make the text stand out more to readers. I decided to add a theme of light blue, this is throughout the page and also on the contents page. It goes with the colour of the sky in the picture of Rory and is used in a few different places on the page.

5. Forms and Conventions Contents Page I have added the logo of my magazine in the top right hand corner of my contents page, it reminds readers of the magazine title. Again I have used the light blue theme on my contents page. This makes the magazine look like it should be together The page numbers are slightly larger and in a different colour to the rest of the text to help them stand out more and help the reader remember them. I decided to use a different model for the contents page as I have used the same model for my front cover and article. The biggest and main articles are in isolated in boxes and accompanied by a picture to show they are longer and more important than the other articles I lassoed this picture and copied it onto the contents page. I then moved it to make it bleed off the page as though he is out of control and cannot be confined to one page.

6. Audience My target audience would be people aged between 25 - 30 year olds. This is because the music genre in this magazine is mostly listened to by younger people between this age group and will appreciate the magazine more. This however would bring the price of the magazine down because young people and students may not have a lot of money to spend on the magazine. My secondary audience would be 31 – 55 year olds. They are my secondary audience because my magazine would not feature much music which would be to their taste. My magazine would feature more modern content which would not attract people of this age group

7. Audience Feedback • My feedback came from friends and family (primary audience) • My audience feedback on my magazine was quite positive. They liked the contrasting colours used. • The pictures for the front cover and the article were liked because it helped to show you the attitude of the subject without reading any of the text. • People liked the competition on the front cover and that competition with a good prize would attract them towards a magazine more. • One complaint was that the magazine didn’t have a very wide variety of genres and that as a student without a job, the magazine would be a bit too expensive to be bought on a regular basis.

8. Attracting the audience • To attract my primary audience, I wanted to make my magazine as attractive as possible. To do this i considered: Colours, Tag lines and Callouts. • Colours are very important in a magazine because they are what draws potential readers eyes and appeals to them. Bright colours or contrasting colours are best to attract readers/buyers. • Once the colours have attracted someone, it is then the callouts job to draw the reader in further. Readers will read the callouts or bold text that stands out the most first. So callouts are very important on a magazine cover. They contain the articles that readers ay be most interested in and are often a sentence from an interview that will confuse readers and make them want to read on. • Tag lines are important because they are small and catchy and are designed to stick in the readers head so they will remember the magazine and perhaps go back to buy the next edition. 8

9. Institutions and Distribution • Every magazine company has to know how to distribute their magazine correctly and effectively. • This magazine could be produced by a magazine publisher such as Bauer media group who produce magazines such as ‘Mojo’ and ‘Q’ magazines. This would be a good company to distribute my magazine because they could afford to produce my magazine in other countries which would raise the popularity of the magazine. • Another possible publisher is IPC media group who also produce NME • My magazine could also could be advertised in other magazines distributed by Bauer or advertised on CD’s or on the music channels on the TV.

10. Using different technology • During my project I have used lots of different techniques to make my images look more professional. To create different effects, such as having my front cover image over the title of my magazine. • I learnt how to use Photoshop especially the lasso tool, where I was able to cut out an image and copy it onto another picture. • I also used InDesign to make my double page article. I found this much harder because I had just got used to Photoshop and it wasn’t as easy to use effects on InDesign. • I also learned how to use ’wordpress’ to make my blog. On this I have added all of my work which I have done so far. Including, my planning, final project and my evaluation. This was much more straight forward than the other programmes I had been using. I liked being able to change the theme and colours of my blog and personalizing it.

11. Improvements • The first magazine cover I made was not very good. I think this may have been because I had never used Photoshop before and didn’t really know how to work any of it. However, when It came to my music magazine I was a bit more practised and knew what to do more than during my student magazine. • When making my music magazine I was more confident with Photoshop and could use more effects than the first time round. For example. Moving the magazine title behind the main picture, using the effects to make the column inch stand out more and using dafont.com to use more interesting fonts on my front cover. • I also warped my title in my article cover to make it look more interesting.