Question 7 - Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product?

Question 6 - What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

Question 5 - How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

Question 4 - Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

Question 3 - What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

Hello and welcome to my podcast where I will be explaining my reasons for choosing which publishing company I would choose for my magazine, Vibe, to be published by.

When deciding which company I was going to choose I realised there were many different factors to consider as each company offers something different, so I had to decide which would benefit my magazine the most. After much consideration I chose Bauer Media Group as my publishers.

Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group; Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Their strategy is to connect audiences with excellent content through their broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Their wide portfolio of influential brands gives us advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors.

Today the Bauer Media Group is Europe's largest magazine publisher and a market leader with its titles, including the key markets of Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Poland and the USA. The company has a presence in a total of 20 countries. In the 1980s the internationalisation of the media company began with Heinz Heinrich Bauer's expansion into the USA. In 1981 Woman's World was launched on the market there as the first weekly women's magazine – a best-seller of millions of copies even at its beginning. In the 1990s the publishing company successfully adapted to the beginning of digitalisation. The integration of printed and digital media steadily increased: the brand world of the people magazine launched in Great Britain in 2000, heat, naturally then includes the Internet portal heatworld.com and the broadcaster heat radio. 

I would use Bauer Media for my magazine as they are a conglomerate company who would make my magazine known throughout Europe, like they did for magazines such as ‘Q’ ‘Mojo’ and ‘Kerrang.’ I believe they have a gap for my magazine genre on the market as all these magazines have a more older and mature demographic, so there is space for my magazine. Bauer Media have pre-established systems for large scale distribution which would benefit my product as it would provide multiple points of exchange. Being the largest publishing company in Europe, they will have many connections within the industry which would mean they would get regular customers for my magazine and their high status would ensure that good quality products are provided.

In contrast to this ‘Mixmag’ have an independent publishing company, with their product aimed at a smaller audience. This type of company would not be suitable for my magazine as I have a large target market, who should have easy access to my product. I believe Bauer Media would be a better publishing company for my magazine as they have better brand recognition and have a space in the market for my product as they don’t publish any other pop magazines. In recent years there has been a massive expansion of technology so therefore I would like my magazine to be available on apps such as facebook and snapchat, as my demographic are the people that frequently use these sites and therefore it would be a good and useful way to promote the magazine so that they see it. I would also like a twitter page for my magazine so that my demographic can communicate with the magazine itself and get their ideas inside it and heard by the company. Another magazine I looked at was ‘DJ’ which is a self published and ran by Thurst. This company is so small it doesn’t even have a website, so therefore I would not choose this comoany as it wouldn’t get me the large target market that I’m after. Although DJ is quite a well known magazine, it is not as well-known as other brands such as ‘Q’ and I believe that they don’t have a space for my magazine as DJ’s demographic is too similar to my magazine.

To summarise this I would like to chose Bauer Media to publish and distribute my magazine as it is the largest publishing company in Europe and it has a gap for my genre. It will help get my product known and create Vibe its very own brand identity. Alongside this I would also like to use social networks such as facebook, twitter and snapchat in order to introduce the magazine to my demographic and attract them to become constant readers of my magazine.

Question 2 - How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

How does your media product represent social groups from JessPattrick

Question 1 - In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

FRONT COVERS

VIBE MASTHEAD

My masthead is very conventional as it is a third of the page and goes across the full width of the page. It is positioned behind the head of my artist which is conventional as it shows that my magazine is well established as the readers will already know the name of my magazine, so don’t have to be able to see every single letters in the masthead to know what the name of the magazine is. The pale pink colour of my masthead sets the house style for the magazine. Above my masthead you can see my puff which is positioned conventionally as it is placed above my masthead, which is one of the first things a potential buyer will look at, so therefore they will see the puff quickly after picking up the magazine. I used a superlative for my puff in order to grasp a readers attention.

Q MASTHEAD

Q’s masthead does have conventions however it is not fully conventional. The depth of the masthead is a third, which is the conventional size for a masthead however it doesn’t spread across the whole page, it is in the left hand corner. Due to the large size of the letter Q and the contrasting colours of the masthead compared to the rest of the front cover, the masthead is still a very prominent feature, even without being the conventional size. It is able to do this as

Q has a strong brand identity and is well established. The artist’s heads are still positioned in front of the masthead which is the company’s way of portraying that they are a well-established magazine company. Their red a white masthead sets the house style for the magazine. Their puff is positioned in the same way as mine which is above the masthead in order for the potential buyer to notice it quickly.

VIBE PHOTO

My feature article photo is a teenage girl pop artist. I chose a single person and a medium close-up shot as I believe it helps the reader or potential buyer to engage with the artist. To emphasize this point I also made sure that my artist is making strong eye-contact, which is conventional of a feature article photo. My photo is in the centre and her shoulders go close to the sides of the magazine and her head is just over half way up the masthead which is a good and conventional size for a feature article photo. She is showing attitude in order to attract potential buyers to the magazine.

Q PHOTO

Q’s feature article photo is of a world famous band U2 which shows that Q are a very accomplished, well known and significant company as U2 are one of the biggest bands in the world, that everyone knows of. Their photo is unconventional for a feature article photo as the image has not been cut out so therefore all the mise-en-scene is visible behind, which gives the reader a greater understanding of their location which gives a hint to what the article may be about. They are also not all making eye contact which means the reader can only engage with the two that are.The camera is just below eye level so that the members are slightly looking down to make them look more intimidating, which is conventional of a ‘rock star’ style.

VIBE COVERLINE

My coverline is conventional as the font is a lot larger than that of the fonts of the plugs making it stand out to the reader and therefore making it clear that it is the main subject of the magazine. It is also in bold and completely capitalized which emphasizes the importance of it to be seen quickly by the reader. I used a slightly unconventional technique of giving the letters an ‘outer glow’ as I believe that this works well with the glitter of the cover stars dress and connotes glowing lights, such as spotlights, which link to fame therefore representing the star featured.

Q COVERLINE

Q’s coverline is very unconventional as it is tilted and goes over the centre of the feature article photo. As the photo is a long shot, this doesn’t block the artists in the photo, or draw all the attention away from them, so although unconventional - it still works well. It is also unconventional due to the font used, the coverline is written in the same font that is used for the U2 logo, and therefore helps it relate to the artists. Where my Vibe Magazine used a glow to represent my artist through the coverline, Q used a font. Although most aspects are unconventional, it does still follow conventions such as the font being much larger than the font of the plugs and being bold so that it stands out straight away to the reader.

VIBE PLUGS

Vibe has three sets of plugs that are flushed right, flushed left and along the bottom.The plugs along the bottom unconventional as it is rare for plugs to be central on a front cover as this means going over the feature article photo. As my strip is only thin it doesn’t block the photo too much and I also changed the opacity so the rectangle going across is transparent and therefore the photo can still be seen through the plug. The plugs at the sides are conventional as they are flushed left and right and do not obstruct the feature article photo. It is also conventional that I have used a variety of fonts and colors in my plugs, but have still managed to stick to my colour scheme of pink, yellow and white.

Q PLUGS

Q’s plugs are unconventional as they going across the entire width of the page and over the feature article photograph. This portrays that even though Q are conventional, they can be ‘rebellious’ and ‘break the rules’ which represents their demographic. All the plugs are in the same font as the U2 logo font which means that whilst a reader may be reading about another artist, the attention will still be on the main feature article. Q are unconventional here as their font or colour doesn’t vary at all in the whole of the yellow strip, except for a few slight font size changes. Another thing that is unconventional is the fact that there are small photos with the plugs, which is unusual as a front cover usually only has one photo, but this gives Q a sense of individuality and makes it unique and different to other magazines. However the plug running across the bottom is conventional as two different colours are used and it is written in a different font so there is some variety.

Overall I believe both Q and Vibe are conventional music magazines, with unconventional features which makes them unique in the magazine industry.

CONTENTS PAGES

VIBE TITLE

My title is unconventional due to the font I have chosen to use. I chose the font ‘Finger Paint’ as I wanted to portray how my demographic are fun and creative, and don’t always stick to the rules. The position of it however is conventional as it is in the top left-hand corner which is the first place a reader would look.

Q TITLE

Q’s title is conventional due to them using a sophisticated font that is bold, capitalised and clear to read. It is also conventional that they have positioned it in the top left-hand corner as it would be the first place that a reader will look. They have also been conventional by using their colour scheme of white, black and red which means that they’ve immediately carried their house style through to the contents page, and a reader will see that from the first word they read.

VIBE (COVERSTAR) PHOTO

The photos on my contents page are fairly unconventional due to the amount of photos that I’ve used, however my cover stars photo is slightly larger than the photos of the other artists which is conventional as it shows to the reader that she is the main focus of the magazine. However the size difference isn’t really obvious as I believe that the article was already highly promoted on the front cover and I wanted to make sure I covered many other artist articles as well, to make my magazine appeal to a wider group of people. I used a posed shot with a lot of personality and attitude to create energy in the photo and make the reader intrigued to see what the article is about.

U2 (COVERSTAR) PHOTO

Q’s magazine is similar to my magazines and is again quite unconventional due to the amount of photos they have used. Again, unconventionally, the cover stars are not the biggest photos on the page as there is another band that have a ’21-Page Special’ in the magazine and therefore have the biggest photo. I believe that this is done due to U2 already being highly promoted on the front cover, and therefore making this band bigger gives them the chance to be promoted as well. This photo of the band New Order is unconventional as it goes across the two pages of the double paged contents, but I believe this works as it quickly catches the readers attention as it is in the centre of the contents page. The photo of U2 is very similar to the photo on the front cover, it is from the same photoshoot which is a conventional thing for a magazine to do. But this helps any reader who looks inside the magazine to find U2 after looking at the front cover as they will recognise the photo quickly which means that it doesn’t matter that the photo itself if smaller than how it conventionally should be.                                                                                                                                                                             VIBE GOSSIP COLUMN

My ‘Gossip Columns’ are conventional for pop magazines and are often used in magazines such as ‘Top of the Pops’ and ‘We Heart Pop’ however they are unconventional in magazines as a general. Even though the columns aren’t particularly about music, they’re about the daily lives of the people who make the music which attracts readers as they like to know what the artists are up to.

VIBE REVIEW COLUMN

I have included Q’s idea of a review column. This is unconventional for a contents page, however I thought it would be a good thing to include as I believe it strongly appeals to my demographic. The social groups of my demographic are new affluent workers and emerging service workers, both of which are into concerts, festivals and clubbing, which is what the reviews in this columns are about.

Q REVIEW COLUMN

Like the review column in Vibe magazine, it is unconventional. However, again I think it works as it appeals to Q’s demographic and brings originality to the magazine.

VIBE GENERAL LAYOUT

Vibes layout in general is fairly unconventional as it is a double page spread, and also has more photos than typically conventional. However it does have conventions such as clear page numbers and headings for the artists and the actual photos themselves are fairly conventional in terms of size and poses.

Q GENERAL LAYOUT

Q’s layout is unconventional as it is also a double page spread and has more writing and photos than that of a typical contents page.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

VIBE TITLE

The positioning of my title is unconventional as it follows the shape of my models body. It is also quite short as it is only one-word long. I decided to create my title to be quite unconventional in order to bring originality to my magazine and also so that the reader sees the photo and title as one so there is a clear link that they are connected. Although unconventional, l I did follow a few key conventions such as my title being big, clear and bold and also it being positioned at the top of the page.

Q TITLE

Q’s title is conventional. It is big and bold, and the colour contrasts to that of the background so it is very clear to read. It does its job of giving the reader a brief idea on what the article is going to be about. The font used is also conventional as it is bold and formal so clear to read.

VIBE PHOTO

Vibes photo is unconventional as it goes along the top of both pages of the double page spread instead of just taking up one whole page. It is also unconventional that the photo is not cut out and that all the mise-en-scene is visible. I did this so that the reader would have an insight into how the artist made her album, as the photo is taken in a music studio. Although the positioning is unconventional, the size is still conventional as it is still the same large size, it is just landscape rather than portrait.

Q PHOTO

Q’s photo is very similar to Vibe’s so again is unconventional. It goes across the top of the two double pages rather than just being the size of one of the A4 pages, however it is still just as large as it should be, so the size is conventional.

VIBE COLUMN (MUST KNOW)

This column is unconventional, however I got this idea from Q magazine. I believed that it would be useful for my demographic, who would be serious about music themselves, as it gives them an insight into the steps a successful artist has took to create her album. It also gives them the names of producers and songwriters to help give others a starting place when trying to produce their own album.

Q COLUMN (MUST KNOW)

Like Vibe’s Must Know column, it is unconventional. However I believe that it gives the double page spread a sense of originality and makes it unique to other magazines. It offers its demographic something that other magazines don’t – and that’s the information they need if they want to become a successful artist, like the star shown, which helps the reader engage with the magazine.

VIBE PULL QUOTE

My pull quote is a conventional feature, as it is a part of the text that is pulled out and enlarged. I chose the quote ‘This life I had been living wasn’t me’ as I knew that a potential reader would read that before anything else, so needed something that would intrigue them to the article. I thought this quote would be suitable as it makes the reader want to read and find out, what the life she had been living was like, why it wasn’t who she actually is and who she really is.

Q PULL QUOTE

Q’s pull quote is conventional as it has been pulled from the text and been bolded and enlarged. They also chose a suitable quote that would intrigue a potential reader as ‘I was on tour drinking too much and going off the rails’ makes the reader want to know what caused her to do this and what she did exactly that was going off the rails.

VIBE DROP CAP / STANDFIRST

My drop cap is conventional as it is much larger and bolder than any of the other letters in the text and goes down the conventional depth of 4 lines. This means that it is bold and eye-catching and directs the readers eyes to the start of the article. It also follows my house style of pink, yellow, white and black and it is pink and white and the pink matches the pink of my masthead. My standfirst is conventional as it is a lot bolder than the other text in my article however, it is unconventional as I have used two different colours. I did this because I wanted the artists name ‘Aaliyah Hart’ in a different colour  so it could stand out boldly so it is clear what the article is about.

Q DROP CAP / STANDFIRST

Q’s dropcap is conventional as it is at the beginning of the article as is the conventional size of a dropcap. It also sticks to the colour scheme of the magazine as it is red and white and therefore continues the housestyle. Q’s standfirst is also conventional as it is a lot larger than the other text in the article and is also a different colour so it stands out.

VIBE COLUMN

My column is unconventional in general of a double page spread, however it is quite conventional in pop genre magazines. Not all artists can have an entire article written about them so this feature gives them a bit of advertisement and also gives the reader an insight of other artists and what they will be up to soon. This range of artists and information gives Vibe the opportunity to wider their demographic and expand their magazine.

Q COLUMN

Q’s column is unconventional for a double page spread however it gives lots of extra information. It gives information on other artists which don’t have a whole article to themselves which helps readers and their fans know what they’re up to and what they can expect from them soon, which adds originality to their magazine and also gives them a chance to expand their demographic.

VIBE RUNNING HEAD

My running head is conventional of a pop-magazine. It carriers the house style immediately through as well as giving the reader a brief sense on what the articles on. I used the pink that I used for my masthead so that the house style is clear and also changed the opacity of it so the mise-en-scene of my phot is still visible behind.

Q RUNNING HEAD

Q’s running head is conventional of a music magazine. It continues Q’s house style through to the double page spread as it carries on the read and white colour scheme. It also gives the reader a brief insight into what the article is about.

VIBE PHOTOS

It is conventional for a double page s[read to also include some smaller photos. Although, unconventionally, I positioned them all together, this was to show, in order, the journey the artist went on to create her album and the different steps she took. Then below these photos I included a captioned photo of her album cover that I made to show the finished product of her hard work, and to portray to my readers that this is what you can achieve if you don’t give up.

LI’S SIGNATURE

Including an artist signature is an unconventional feature however it is a unique feature that I have decided to use as I believe that it gives the reader a personal engagement with the artist and highlights that this article is her story, from her personal point of view.