Q7 Evaluation

Q6 Evaluation

Q4 and 5 TA

What I did before was add more shapes because I thought that this would make it look more appealing to the reader, however after looking over my magazine TA I realized that the shapes make my magazine look like it is for more of a younger audience. So because my TA was originally for a teenage/adult reader I removed some shapes so this boosted my TA up to make it look suitable for a teenage/adult audience, however because I thought some shapes were appealing to the reader I left these in so my TA became an older teenage reader.

Q3 institutions

My original institution choice was IPC,because they produce more country magazines and less rocky themed magazines, so because my magazine is a country and western, I thought this institute would suit my magazine the best and would most likely publish my magazine. IPC are a magazine company that produces magazines for a mixed age group, so mine would have suited them in that aspect because my magazine is a modern magazine for a teenage TA. This is a magazine called NME who is produced by IPC. This magazine features 'Paramore' who is a modern music artist, this suggests that this specific magazine is targeted at teenagers/young adults, so my magazine would sit their company.

Another magazine institution
that I looked at was Bauer media. At first I thought that this magazine company only produced rock themed magazines, however after all my research I have found out they produce modern magazines like Q who use modern artists on their front cover. I analysed Q magazine a lot in my magazine research and found out they target a mixed aged audience, because I have seen modern and older artists feature on their front cover. Also I feel that they focus on the theme of rock and pop because the artists on the front cover are usually rock artists or pop artists, or even sometimes pop artists dressed like rock artists. I feel that my magazine would suit this company because they produce magazines for a modern audience and they produce all types of magazines with different genres, but after looking into the magazine types that they produce I found out there is a lack of country magazines, so my magazine would work because it is modern and will attract a new audience of country magazine readers to their company.

Another institution that I analysed was 'Hand media' because they produced Maverick magazine, which is a modern country/rock magazine. I used some ideas from Maverick magazine in my magazine because I felt that this related well to a modern audience and made the magazine look intriguing to the reader. This company is not as big as the likes of Bauer but is still a good company because they produce modern country magazines which my magazine is. As you can tell this magazine uses a modern well known artist on their front cover, which attracts a larger audience. I might not use this institution because they already have a modern country magazine so they might not want to take on mine.


Overall I will use Bauer Media because their company has a lack of country magazines so I feel that they would want to take on my magazine so they can attract interest from a larger audience which will enhance their reputation further. This is a modern magazine company which can relate to my magazine and because they are such a big company, this will advertise my magazine more to people so they will want to buy it.

My magazine would go between 'What Bike?' and 'Your Horse' because my magazine starts with 'YE' and as it runs down in alphabetical order it would fit in here. There is a gap in the market for Bauer as they have very little 'Country and Western' magazines, so this tells me that my magazine will be successful as Bauer would want to attract a larger TA. However it might not be as successful as my magazine would be placed near the bottom of the page so it would not stand out to the reader unless they went to the bottom of the page.


Bauer not only distribute magazine companies, they also produce 'Radio, Digital and TV' stations so my magazine would be avertised by each of these. This would be successful as it would make my magazine gain popularity with a larger TA and can be published by different types of media. Cross media convergence is also created here: Bauer use TV to advertise their brands so my magazine could be shown between TV programs so more people would notice it. My magazine would work in cohesion with Bauer as I have included social media links in my magazine and have included iTunes links for country music on my front cover.

The TA of Bauer really suits my magazine as they produce magazines for a Millenials audience. This proves that my magazine will be successful with Bauer as my TA is inside their TA boundaries. Furthermore for their image to represent the Millenials, they use young, vibrant people, which works well to show the TA of their idustry.

"Brand media packs" are provided by Bauer, this shows us again that they are trying to interact and engage a modern day audience as they are using social media to advertise their brands which would appeal to a younger audience. Upon reflection I am happy that I included downloads in my magazine as this makes my magazine more suitable for a modern audience and can link to the TA of Bauer. This image tells us that Bauer have many different brands as they need a search bar at the top so it is easier for viewers to find the brand they are looking for.  

Q2 front cover, contents and dps representations [screenshots from word]

Q1. Evaluation of front cover, contents and Dps

I have adhered to conventions by having a single/solo male singer on the front cover, this draws in females by having a strong representation of a male country singer, where the artist is represented as being good looking and modern. Also I used the theory of Mulvey 'the male gaze' on my front cover which also draws in females because of Olly's looks. However I also have him wearing headphones and a plain top to make him look 'cool' because it makes it look like a modern country artist which could also attract a male audience to the magazine. This is a code that is used in most teen magazines to attract a wider, younger audience. 

I have also adhered to conventions by having trees in the background of my front cover. The reason I did this was because I wanted to adhere to some conventions but also it is good for a background to blurr because there isn't much detail and it has a green nature colour which adheres to the country theme. However it also lets Olly be the main feature of the front cover because there no distractions.

The picture is a medium close up with the artist in the centre of the page which is quite conventional for a country magazine. Also I adhere to conventions by having Olly holding an acoustic guitar which is symbolic of country music, but because I wanted Olly's face to be the main feature I only have a part of the guitar showing.

My font for my masthead is a code of a younger, fun audience because of the colours and the serif font type which makes it look more appealing. However because my masthead is fun and cartoon like, it makes my magazine look like it is for a younger TA so this made me lower my TA of my magazine. The font style that I used is called 'figuratitive' which I found on 1001 fonts. I used this font because I felt that it was very artistic and fun, but also because of the lines which made it look like it was made of wood. I wanted this theme/style from the beginning because I felt that the style suited my genre really well.

The font that I used for my headline was different to the font I used for my masthead because I wanted it to stand out to the reader and I wanted to use more of a plain font because that is also quite conventional of country magazines. I supported the theory of Neale "repetition and difference" with this because even though I have used a san serif font, I made it look different by having the same text and font behind it, in a different colour but positioned it so it looks like a shadow of the text. I used the colours black and yellow because I felt that they stood out in front of the green background and I also stood by my colour scheme, by having colours that I use throughout my front cover.

I followed conventions and created synergy by having a wooden theme for my banners and keeping that theme throughout my magazine. I feel that the wood effect works well with my country magazine because the 'wood theme' is very conventional of country magazines because country people usually have a lot of things that are made out of wood like guitars, barns, carts etc. So this is an indexical sign of country. According to Ryall "genre provides a framework". I used this in my magazine because I based my magazines layout and features around the genre conventions of country, by using wooden themes and a natural background.

I challenged conventions by having my model wear dark clothing [a black t-shirt] and my masthead having bright colours. The reason I did this was because I felt that a plain t-shirt is conventional of country magazines, however they are usually white so I wanted to change mine and give the audience something different. Also I did this because country magazines usually use bright colours so I wanted to change mine so it is different. But I had my masthead in bright colours so people could recognize that my magazine is a country magazine.

I manipulated conventions by having Katie [who is a cover story] interacting with my masthead so it appeals to a teenage audience. I feel that it appeals to a teenage audience because it makes my magazine look more fun and in my opinion I think that magazines that have images interacting with masthead are more appealing and make them look more professional. Q magazine use this in their magazines and Q are a very well known magazine and are very popular with all ages.

I decided to have text aligned on my front cover so the text looks more balanced, however I used different sizes and fonts so the audience can recognise what the subheadings are and what the information is. I had the information on Olly in large, bold, white writing because he is the main feature so I wanted it to stand out the most to the audience. Also I used the white font because I think that it works well with my models black top, because if I used a black font then it would be hard to read so I used the opposite colour so I used it as a strap-line and I knew that it would stand out and be easy to read.

I used a box-out to make the text "talks to YEEHA" I wanted this to stand out because it works in cohesion with the text above it "Exclusive interview" so this is letting the audience know that Olly has officially talked to 'YEEHA' magazine so they know that everything that is said inside comes from him. Also it attracts a larger audience because people would want to hear his story and learn more about him. I kept my masthead for the 'YEEHA'  in the yellow box so it stands out to the reader and lets them know that it was this magazine that he talked to.

I adhered to conventions by having a buzz phrase to capture readers and make the magazine look good. I made it look more fun by having it arched around my masthead which could relate to my magazine and shows the reader that the magazine is fun and jolly. This works in cohesion with my masthead 'YEEHA' because the word 'YEEHA' is a happy, fun and enthusiastic phrase; by having the text bent makes the text suit the mood of the magazine. Originally I had it in a straight line under the masthead but I thought this was boring and did not suit the feel of my magazine.

I included a freebie notice on my magazine front cover to attract readers, because as I found out from my TA research more people would buy magazines if they include free stuff. The notice is in a star shape which is symbolic of country and relates to Olly because he is a music 'star'. Also I followed conventions by having a pull quote at the side of my page in a big font to make it stand out so the reader would want to read the magazine, because the text says "the Spice Girls of country" and this will attract people because the Spice Girls were such a big group so if the group in the magazine is being compared to them then they must be good. However originally I had a paragraph of text that was text wrapped to go down Olly's neck, but I changed it because I felt that the text was too small for the reader to read and would not fit on the page if I increased the font size.

I adhered to conventions by having a puff on my front cover. My puff has bright colours and is round so it looks like a sun which is symbolic of country because the sun is seen outside in the country. I used this puff as an advertisement to advertise a song inside my magazine. I also put the 'iTunes' logo so people understand where to download it from. I challenged conventions by having my puffs in the corners of the page instead of scattered in the centre. I did this because I wanted Olly to be seen and didn't want him to be covered in text or images.

My banner at the bottom of the page featured a lot of things. I included quotes from people inside the magazine which makes people want to buy it more and find out about the star. Also I use it to include an advertisement for Olly's new album and let people know that it is a number 1 album. I also included my barcode and price tag in the banner which manipulates conventions because other magazines usually have the barcode and price above the banner or near the top of the page. I also manipulated conventions by having the dateline above the barcode instead of having it inside the barcode. I did this because I thought that it would be more noticeable and so I could have my dateline going along the top of the barcode and the price tag going down the side of it so they are both angled.

I adhered to conventions because I manipulated Olly's looks by airbrushing him to make him look more attractive to females. I manipulated him by covering spots and darkening his facial hair to make him look cleaner and make his beard look stronger and more powerful. Another reason I did this was to male him look more perfect to readers and give my TA somebody to idolise. Magazines do this to make them look appealing to the audience so people would want to buy the magazine.

I have a tag down the side of the page "Plus" this is to highlight the additional information. I have included names of big artists in this section to attract a wider audience, names like "Taylor Swift" who is a huge country artist and lots of people idolise her so people would buy the magazine just to read about her. When I included the features in this section I noticed that the text was not all clear so I originally included a shape to border the text but I changed it because the shapes made my magazine look like it was for a younger TA so I removed it. However I then noticed that not all my text was clear because I used a black font and it was over the top of his black top, so I changed the text colour of the text that was over his top so the audience could read it.
I challenged conventions by having two banners because usually country magazines have one or non. The banner at the top of the page tells people the different stories that feature in my magazine. But I used a different font colour for the different acts so each story stands out to people. I used the red to represent the stories as being important and to highlight the future stars and the ones that are coming through.

In my research I said that I did not like the masthead being behind the model, however I did this in my magazine because I wanted my masthead to be big and I wanted Olly to fill a lot of the page but they got in the way of each other so I decided to place Olly in front of the masthead. I feel that this works because it allowed me too use different tools and help me use them.

Q2 from Morganbullock

DPS Final