AS MEDIA MAGAZINE

COURSEWORK:

Evaluation.
Research:
• There are very few music magazines for
young girls, most have been discontinued or
have become increasingly unpopular, the
only music magazine which I have found is
‘Smash Hits!’. In order to gain a wide range
of styles which I could use which would
appeal to a young audience, I have focused
on other magazines too, such as ‘Shout’ and
‘Mizz’ which are fashion-gossip based
magazines for a young demographic. I was
inspired by ‘Shout’, ‘Mizz’ and ‘Smash Hits’
these are all fairly new magazines which
have recently been brought out in order to
reach a young demographic. I have
dedicated all of my research to these three
magazines, using there online websites and
‘hard copies’ for inspiration.
Inspirations and influence:
•All of these magazines initially, influenced my
own through the way that they addressed
their readers. The style was very colloquial,
informal and chatty, this created a friendly
style which I wanted to incorporate, because I
felt, as the reader, included and as if the
magazine was talking directly to me. Another
element of such magazine which inspired me
was the colourful, eye catching designs of the
front cover, from my research, I found that all
Colour theme of the covers, particularly ‘Shout’ had a colour
demonstrated through
use of yellow and theme of two or more colours and this
purple. continued through to the contents page and
other following pages of the magazine.
CODES AND CONVENTIONS:
• Centred images of high-
profile pop stars/Bands
•Bold, eye catching fonts
•Front covers which are
‘busy’ and cluttered
•Bar codes
•Bold text contrasted with
curly, feminine fonts.
•Usually a colour theme of
two or three colours
•Taglines
•Side panels
•Mastheads
 Where is the room in the
market?
• I believe there is room in the market for a music magazine which is
for young pre-teens who are just starting to consume their majority
of media, its unique selling point being the fact it is a current
magazine which instead of being a lifestyle for ‘tween’ girls which
primary focus is fashion and beauty. Disko would act as outlet for
mainstream pop music which is currently in the chart, giving reader
information on new albums, singles and releases from their
favourite pop singers, but instead of the dated styles of some of the
magazines which I have researched; it is fresher and aimed much
more specifically at a particular demographic, enabling me to create
a house style which is identifiable. Also, I wanted to include
interviews with mostly, female pop artists who are older, therefore
young girls could look up to.
 Representation of social
groups:
• Representation of the social groups of my magazine is young
females, typically ‘tweens’ aged 12-15 who are just starting
to experience popular culture and consume media by
choice. I believe that this social group is represented
positively as Disko magazine gives of a vibe of optimism,
enthusiasm and ambition through its content of interviews
with suitable ‘stars’ who give it’s readers advice, and ‘words
of wisdom’. I attempted to represent young people in the
opposite way to how they are usually portrayed in the news,
as young, fresh minds with a new outlook on the world and
with a lot of ambition and ‘’zest for life’’ rather than the
‘trouble makers’ which teens are generally represented as.
 Ideology:
political/social/cultural
• The ideology for my magazine is for
it to represent culture and young
people in the 21st century, in a
positive way which focuses on the
things which will inspire young girls
to ultimately ‘follow their dreams’
and offer girls role models who
they can look up too. It would
similarly give them something to
feel a part of, offering them a way
to make friends and become part of
a group.
Who would publish ‘Discko’?
• The publisher of a magazine such as mine
would be EMAP, a huge British publishing
institution who have published similar
magazines such as ‘smash hits’ they
specialise in music magazines, radio and
television. The institution also owns
multiple radio stations and the well know
‘hit 40 UK’. I believe that this publishing
company would be right for my own
magazine because of the similar line of
media products.
Target audience/demographic
• Typical Profile of my reader:
• The typical profile of my reader would be a young girl,
potentially in year 7, 8, 9 and 10 of secondary school, who
watch television programmes such as Hannah Montana,
Wizards of Waverly Place and Tracy Beaker. The types of
bands and artist they would listen too would be mainstream,
well know people such as Black Eyed Peas, Miley Cyrus,
Britney Spears and Katy Perry, these artist are all ‘role
models’ in which young people idolise for their success, and
aspire to be in their position. A lifestyle outlook which they
exhibit is free spirited, carefree and naive, perhaps a little
immature. They would enjoy activities such as shopping with
their friends and family, eating at fast food restaurants like
Mc Donald's (reflecting their budget)and dance. Their
priorities would be centred on their friends, family and how
they are viewed by other people. Their main interests would
be based around the way they look, make-up, hair and
clothes would be high on their priorities, and they would be
particularly interested in the music artists who offer upbeat,
fun , pop music.
Target audience/demographic
• The purpose of my media piece was
primarily to entertain, and act as a
‘friend’ figure to young readers, but
after starting my magazine, I realised
that informing my reader of the newest
information became a big priority. So,
the purpose became to entertain and
inform towards the end of making my
product. The Media theory which would
tie into is that of Blumler and Katz: uses
and gratifications. I believe that the
reason people would read my magazine
is for escapism and ultimately to escape
reality, and to immerge themselves into
the lifestyle of people who they admire.
 Analysing my front cover:
Colourful side Masthead in bold
bar font

Addressing the Barcode

reader
personally
Main, centred
image of ‘star’
Fun, colloquial
language which Making
appeals to the everything sound
reader exclusive to them

‘Celebrity’ quote Bold font contrasted

which is apparent with a girly, curly
on researched font.
magazines also
 My adopted house-style:
Discko magazine
• Using a three colour theme of yellow,
purple and pink: these are feminine colours
which are eye catching to younger girls
• Bold fonts for titles, quotes and features
• Feminine, curly fonts for names of artists
• Coloured blocks and squares behind any
writing on the front cover
• Speech marks for main quotes
• Multiple shapes (circles and squares) all
being present throughout the magazine.
• A colloquial, youthful use of language-
relating the audience
• Constant shortening on words in order to
make familiar phrases ‘OMG’ and ‘BFF’S’
Attracting and Addressing my
audience:
• My audience is young and perhaps a
little immature, so I centred their
attitude to life into the Language
which I used. I chose colloquial
phrases such as ‘OMG’ in order to
connect with my audience who
would use these terms on a daily
basis. I also called any ‘celebrities’ by
their first name, for example ‘Lia’ and
‘Miley’, this is assuming my audience
are aware of who they are already,
acting as a familiar friend figure.
 Attracting and Addressing my
audience:
• . I think that the informal language I have adopted is in order
to make my audience feel confident, comfortable and as if
they are being addressed by an older friend. The photograph
I have used has been used in magazine like Mizz, and sugar.
My front cover is of the ‘star’ from the lead article, a
interview with female pop artist ‘Lia’, the photo is a head-
and-shoulder shot of her posing in a cheeky way which
conveys a fun, inviting illustration to the audience. She is
wearing ‘geek’ style black glasses which I have photographed
with her because it wanted it to be a trademark look which
the readers would automatically associate with the artist.
Attracting and Addressing my
audience:
• I chose to make my masthead a in a very bold,
eyecatching font –this would make a young girl pay
attention to ‘Discko’ magazine if it was in a shop.
• Using celebrities names ie. Miley and a ‘star’ on the
front cover in order too aim it at girls who would
admire and look up to such artists.
• Creating a girly, colourful and attractive magazine
through my use of colour themes in order to engage
with ‘tween’ girls.
• Offering interactive quizzes in the front covers which
gives the girls something to do within the magazine
and this relates it to themselves and their own day to
day lives.
• Making the audience feel as if they are a ‘friend’
through the uses of words such as ‘exclusive’
 Evaluation:conclusion
• Through the process of making my product, I have learnt
to create and adapt a house-style in order to attract the
target demographic of my magazine, I have learned to use
Photoshop a completely unfamiliar editing programme,
which enabled me to edit photo is in a subtle or obvious
way, this allowed me to make my photos look a lot more
professional compared to my preliminary task, in which
the images where over-edited and look heavily tampered
with, rather than slightly edited in order to make them
look brighter, more colourful and overall more fitting to
my style of magazine.
 What I have learnt:
Preliminary to Final Product

• From making my preliminary task, I

have realised the importance of
research and finding a similar
product, which appeals to the same
audience to inspire you when
making your own emulation of it.
• Again through my research of similar
products I have realised how to use
the Photo shop in order to make the
product as close to professional
looking as possible.