Main task

For my main task I was instructed to produce my own music magazine which must consist of the front page, contents and a double page spread of a new music magazine.

The first thing I did in creating my music magazine is think of a name and what genre my music should be. I researched different genre and decided to have a grime music magazine. I came up with a name “THE UK AZN M" and then had to make a logo for my magazine. I created about 4 logo's and choose the one that best suited my magazine during the creation of my logo I looked at other logos of different music magazine and found that most magazine had bright logos to attract reader attention and thus I followed. Then, I sketched about 5- 6 pictures of which helped me in taking my pictures for my magazine as it allowed me to be prepared on what photo’s i should take and in what angle I should take them and what kind of shot it should be.

Then I drew out my flat plan of my front cover and the content page of my music magazine this would then allow me the process of creating my magazine easier as I would know how the design of my magazine should look like. During this process I was thinking about what type of conventions i should use such how big my masthead should be, what type of font and what colour should i use to maximise the attraction of my magazine. Also i was thinking about what type of pictures i should use for which pages and at this stage I was choosing who to promote in my music magazine and what type of people it should be.

After I completed my flat plans of my music magazine I started creating the magazine by using the skills I learnt from using Photoshop on my preliminary task it was much easier in creating my music magazine as I was familiar with the programme. I added the photo which are all originally taken by me from my camera and made my music magazine and the content page I found the process more easier as I already had flat plans of my music magazine and knew what to do . After completing the front cover and the content page i started creating my feature page which had to be a double spreadsheet. I decided my feature to be an interview which had to be longer than 1000 words.it was easy in creating my feature page thanks to the programme called pages. I first typed up my interview in words and just copy pasted it to pages where it was really easy to use as i just had to create columns and just add the photo’s and put effects on them to make it look attractive.

ORIGINAL IMAGES USED IN MUSIC MAGAZINE

In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing music magazines?

While I was researching other music magazines which are in my folder I realised that the majority music magazines used bright colours for their masthead which was easy and clear to see. It is known that a bright colours draw attention to readers and thus I followed the same style by using a bright colour like orange on my masthead on a dark background. Also using white to allow the readers to clearly see what is being said and attracts the reader’s attention. I also advertise the interview in my music magazine in the front page in the form of a lure. “I was like wooow”, I use this line from the interview because it creates interest as people would want to know why he said “I was like wooow”. The main image represent the main artist and the main attraction to the music magazine, he has a serious a pose on which represents the music magazine has a serious music magazine with only one thing in mind advertising and informing about music more accurate the grime scene. Also the fact there is hardly any advertisement on the front cover shows that they mean business and is only about music.

How does your music magazine represent particular social group?

The UK AZN M is oriented towards grime music creators and fans. : A youth culture that attracts primarily teenagers, mainly from Asian (Bangladeshi, Pakistani Indian etc) backgrounds. The content of the magazine represents the work of iconic figures contributing to this music genre, there visually presented in the images that are displayed; yet on a more subtle level essential characteristics of the social groups associated with the production and the consumption of this music to be symbolic represented in the stylistic conventions which I have used. E.g, font, choice of images, and the predominant colours in the design.

Scholars in cultural studies such as Dick Hebdige, focused specifically on researching subcultures have long recognised that membership to counter cultures is often indicted by symbolically signifying means such as clothes, accessories ,language code etc . This is why in my project I have attempted to use stylistic conventions that reflect the main characteristics of the social group I address.

The main image portrays the typical representative of grime culture’s producers and consumers: a discontent teenager dressed in a gangster way. The rest of the visual materials included in the magazine aims to replicate the defining rough and unpretentious look that predominates in grime such as this music video clips.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6pMD1qhedE ) even the language in which the magazine is written aims to reflect the language characteristic of this social group: unpretentious language that is easy to assimilate, slang. The very name of the magazine “AZN” is reference to the shorthand chat language used by youths.

What kind of institution might distribute your music magazine and why?

Some of the institutions that might be intrigued by my product are big stores such as HMV, ZAVI etc: my research indicates that they are commercially interested in providing a range of materials that is as diverse as possible and embracing both main stream and niche culture. Importantly, a central element in the image which both stores try to maintain is a commitment to “access to the widest possible range” of music titles and materials.

On the other hand, small stores focused exclusively on a single genre and a strictly defined group of consumers might also be interested to distribute my magazine-not only will they be interested in provoking awareness and promoting an alternative music form but doing that will help them reinforce further their niche character and strong emphasis on exclusivity.

Unlike the promotional and distribution methods used in mainstream music cultures, my distribution strategy relies on unconventional tools which are specifically chosen to be in correspondence with the very type of culture which my magazine focuses on. Taking into account the strongly informal and outgoing character of grime culture, it was considered that one of the most efficient means for the magazine’s distribution would be by taking advantage of teenage social networking and street gatherings. Teenagers will be hired to deliver and promote the magazine at social gatherings. Furthermore, mailing lists and promotional material will be provided at parties in order to generate interest in the magazine and to attract visitors to the website who might eventually decide to subscribe online to the magazine.

Who would be the audience for you music magazine?

Young adults and teenagers will be hugely attracted to the magazine due to its strongly youthful character, playful everyday and unpretentious language as well as its focus on young grime stars. For them THE AZN M it would be not only a source of entertainment and a pleasant distraction from school work but also an important source of information for the novelties on the grime music scene. In this way the magazine will have an important function in teenage socialisation as a resource, mainly, for up to date interesting information and but also for role models recognised in the face of big grime stars. Getting acquainted with THE AZN M’s information on the latest music releases might also be of particular interest to grime stars themselves: the magazine provides them with the opportunity to observe changes in their popularity by regularly following their position in the magazine’s ranks, and also acts as a valuable source for new talents with whom they might be interested to collaborate with.

In close correspondence with its content focus on asian grime stars, my target audience will consist predominantly of male from an asian background (e.g. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan etc). The magazine price of £2.50 is also in line with the income of young teenage groups from this social background.

How did you attract/address the audience for your music publication?

As already noted, the grime music fan is addressed by THE AZN M in diverse ways (by both content and style) and on multiple levels (through both a visual and a verbal language “code”). In this, main demographic factors such as age and social characteristics were taken into account.

Undoubtedly, following the model set by major music magazines, the key attraction for the grime music fan in my magazine is the focus on iconic figures from the grime scene. On a marketing level, the interest of fans is secured through a skilfully designed promotional strategy which centres on the distribution of free fan material. By announcing the free promotional materials (CDs, posters, access to free music downloads) to be included in each subsequent issue of the magazine, it secures fans consumption in advance by constantly stimulating interest in the following issues. In addition, the marketing strategy for THE AZN M heavily relies on interactive element such as, quizzes, votes, comment invitations etc. My decision for this was informed by recent media and communication research recognising the crucial significance, in terms of marketing, of establishing an active relation between consumer and media text: especially in the case of TV shows the most successful and popular formats were demonstrated to be the ones involving viewers active response and participation.

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

One of the benefits of constructing my magazine was the opportunity to get acquainted with the basics of a different computer system – apple Mac. More importantly, however, was the awareness I built of the creative opportunities that technology (editing software) provides for manipulating media content in a way that enables me to create a truly “eye catching” product. Acknowledging the static and distracted nature of magazine reading which can easily lead to a loss of attention, learning how to use adobe Photoshop for manipulating visual content was important for creating designs which not only attract but keep the reader’s interest. For example, Photoshop allowed me to change images by cropping or zooming in, in order to create a desired effect ( also, instead of leaving blank pages with text I used Photoshop to crop the outline of the image which I insert as an eye catching background of the text). The Pages programme in addition allowed me to further diversify the design of my articles by creating original effects in the columns appearance and arrangement. In this way I learnt that knowing technologies possibilities is important in dealing with the “distracted viewer”.

Looking back at your preliminary task, of designing the front page of a school magazine, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The progression from my preliminary task to my full media product was of particular importance for getting to know the range of creative possibilities provided by technology (for more detail, see question above). Also, the research I did in preparation for both tasks taught me that my magazine address to audience has two important dimensions: not only content (choice of feature artist) but also style (expressed in images and language). Finally, as I progressed through my project I became increasingly aware of importance of research for:

· Setting a target group for my media product.

· Getting well acquainted with the social profile of my desired reader.

· The marketing significance of getting to know my targets readers lifestyle culture for designing an efficient promotional and distribution strategy.