This was my original idea for my front cover. Since I have changed my mind about having it completely black and white as it wouldn't be as noticable as it would be with colour.

This is my idea for my contents page for my music magazine. I will be using this font and a bold background picture. The features will be in a row going down the middle of the page with the title and page number on them. There will be 4, or maybe 5 features.
The editor’s note will be in the top left, just under the title. The general pages will be in a column down the right hand side.

This is my final front cover. I kept everything apart from the

picture in black and grey, like I did in my draft front cover.

Conventions are where things are laid out in a magazine, for example the title placement, where the subheading is on the page, or where the pictures are. They exist as norms for magazines and newspapers etc., though they can be changed around occasionally, although some parts, such as the title, are mostly kept at the top of the page, so the reader immediately knows what the page is about.
My magazine genre was rock, but much more alternative rock than what is seen usually in Kerrang! I took most of my influence from Kerrang! but I toned it down a lot more in terms of the colourful pictures as my magazine is for an older generation to those who would read Kerrang!.
My contents page follows the regular connotation that a lot of magazines have. For example, the title is large and is the largest text on the page, it is bold and an alternative colour to the rest of the text, making it stand out. This is the same as the Kerrang! cover. I copy the use of the word ‘plus’ and then add titbits of information of what is inside this month’s issue. The barcode is in the same place. My magazine also contains an extra picture apart from the background picture, although it hasn’t got as many pictures as Kerrang! it’s much less overcrowded.
I wanted my magazine to be for people who like Kerrang! but aren’t as mainstream, as recently Kerrang! has been featuring much more mainstream pop punk, rather than proper rock music. I used to buy it until it began doing this. :’)
My feature page isn’t as similar to the Kerrang! feature page as my cover was to the Kerrang! cover. I chose to do this because I didn’t want them to look exactly the same; I wanted my magazine to be at least a little bit diverse compared to Kerrang! so that my intended audience would be able to see the difference more. I wrote the feature in a different way to how the vast majority of Kerrang! does their interviews, most of theirs are more like stories about the band or artist. Mine was meant to be questions which readers had posted to because a question and answer interview with the band. I did choose to keep the quotes from the feature because I think they add character to the people you are reading about and it obviously makes it stand out a lot more.

Question 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

These are two images I am comparing. The first image is the one of my friend which is on the front cover of my own magazine. The second I found in a magazine similar to mine about an unsigned artist whom I think my image resembles. The postures of the two people are similar with the way that they are standing. They are both are slightly leaning forwards towards the camera lens. Their facial expressions are also similar because they both are pulling quite straight faces. The angles they are taken at are similar but the other magazine image has been taken from a higher height than my own image I took. They are both midshot images which aren’t too close up. The background in both are different with my one being edited to a plain image because I thought it would make my model stand out more on the front cover. The other image isn’t from a front cover so it doesn’t so much matter about the background. In the background in the other magazine image is dark and of a floor. You can tell they have used flash because his face is really bright. Their clothing is very similar because they are both wearing jeans and t-shirt though they are different colours. Their hair is both darkly coloured and in the same style across their face though my models hair is swept the opposite way. They both have similar piercings on their face with them both having snake bite piercings on their mouths and their septum pierced. The differences are that my model has his bridge pierced and has angel bites. You can tell that they both have their ears stretched because you can see their plugs in their ears. They are different sizes though. My image represents the class that would be interested in my magazine because he has the look what other people in my target audience would look like. He is a student too which the majority of my audience would be.
My magazine has pro- consumerist adverts which would be showing CD’s and gigs in that genre and food and drink which my audience would also have which is relevant. The drinks would be something like energy drinks or maybe alcohol because my audience is old enough to drink it. Also I would advertise clothing which would be the bands merchandise because it is relevant to the music.

Question 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

4. Who would be the audience for your media product? A. The demographic profile for my target audience is aged between 17-21. These fit into the audience class of C1 and C2. The gender for my magazine 70-80% male and the rest would be female. The race of my target audience would be somewhere of 80% white readers. The physiographic profile would be individuals. This is because they are young and still uncertain what they want to do when they are older. The slightly older ones would know but they wouldn’t fit into the aspires physiographic profile. The life style subsets for my audience would be young individuals, because at that age they want to do what they like and things that interest them. Some of these things would be going to gigs, socialising with friends, possibly having their own band with the same sort of music which is featured in my magazine.