CLOSED BLOG NOTIFICATION

Centre Name: Norbury Manor BEC
Centre Number: 14343
Candidate Name: Aliza Naqvi
Candidate Number:1141
Unit: G321

Final Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final DPS

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation Question 6

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

Evaluation Question 5

 How did you attract/address your audience?

Here is an online powerpoint I made outlining the ways in which I attracted and addressed my target audience.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Here is an infographic I used on picktochart to show who would be my audience and what I did to my magazine to address my target audience.I also mentioned some of the decisions I made.

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Here is a prezi showing the different types of institutions that may distribute my media product and how technological convergence will help my media product to be distributed.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Here is a Powtoon outlining my target audience and how my media product represents particular social groups.

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
 Here is emaze I made outlining how I challenged, developed and conformed to the conventions of existing pop music magazines and how I addressed my target audience by making the decisions I did.

Artist Interview

Rae-Marie, the new rising superstar, has shocked millions of people with her first single, ‘Don’t Let Go.’ She is the upcoming sensation of the pop music industry. By releasing videos of her singing on Facebook and YouTube, she started to build a huge fan-base, with many people from the audience requesting to meet with her. From a normal student to a wild Popstar, find out how Rae- Marie changed her life drastically, in no time. Her fans are getting hard to tame!

So, Rae-Marie, how would you describe your journey to your fans?
I am actually speechless because I saw my life flash in front of my eyes. I never imagined I would one day become known for my singing and I would be standing on a platform where people would be cheering me on. It feels so nice to have people who care for you and enjoy your music. I feel proud as to where I stand today. To be honest, it has been a very long and stressful journey but then again, I am happy that I have gained so many remember when I used to upload stupid videos of myself singing and my peers would fans and have managed to make my single hit the Top UK charts. I still compliment it; I remember like it was yesterday but here I am today with a big fan base and recognition for my own effort.

What inspired you to become a Pop artist?
That is a tough question... hmm well; I love pop music because I personally and I think it brings out the inner self in me. I can be crazy whilst listening to it and it wouldn’t look bad but if I was jumping around on a Jazz song, it wouldn’t fit. I feel like I can have fun and express my feelings. Sometimes, I would read Pop magazines in my free time, when I was a student and the stories featured in the magazine would inspire me a lot. At that time, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the music industry and I did do my research. I have a passion for upbeat, pop songs so I thought I would love to make my very own pop songs.

Who are your inspirations?
I would have to say my biggest inspirations are Taylor Swift and Katy Perry as they are well known pop artists and I enjoy their style of music. I feel like I can relate to their expressions and their style and I look up to them both as my idols. I sometimes even copy their fashion style [laughs], but then at the end of the day, my biggest inspiration will have to be my dad. He encouraged me to carry on pursuing a career in the music industry although my mum wasn’t too happy with me doing this. My dad was the one who allowed me to take part in performances at school and perform at his bar where people would ask him about me and this also attracted customers as well as fans. When I was small, Selena Gomez was my inspiration from Disney Channel but now it has changed to these two.

How did you adapt to the ‘famous lifestyle’?
I did find it hard to keep up with the heaps of work from signings, writing lyrics, producing songs whilst also taking out time for my family and myself. I have to say that even though it is hard being an artist, I do enjoy it because it means I can do something I love. I look forward to every new day because I can come up with new ideas for my fans. Even if it doesn’t mean making a new song every month, I can them up-to-date with whatever is happening in my life.

Why did you choose these platforms, (Facebook and YouTube) to reach your fans?
I thought Facebook was a suitable place to post videos of my singing because the videos can be shared, even worldwide and that is exactly what happened to my video. The same video was uploaded by me and other onto YouTube where I had around 1000 views in 3 weeks. I was over the moon!

Your fans are obviously waiting to hear about any upcoming events in the near future... would you like to tell us?
I am glad to announce that in a couple of months, I will be doing very own first tour to the UK, O2 arena. The date is yet to be confirmed but I request anyone reading this to come along and support me.

Would you like to give a personal message to the fans out there?
I thank all of you for helping me reach this far. I wouldn’t have done it without you. Thank you for the lovely messages on my birthday that was a couple days ago; they made me smile a lot. Each and every one of you makes life worth living.

What are you doing now and where do you see yourself in the future?
Right now, I am working on a new song so all you should look out for any teasers. On the side, I am also planning to open my own music academy for children. This is for the free time I have. It’s in the process at the moment but eventually, I will sort things out. For the future, I don’t really know what it holds for me but I am hoping I make the most of it. I do want to make collaboration videos with the top pop artists to get a global recognition by people so I am looking forward to it. That’s it really, I can’t say much. It’s all up to my destiny and fate.

DPS Research: Interview Writing

Make your own mind maps with Mindomo. Here is a mindmap I made whilst conducting my research on existing interviews in pop magazines. I have mentioned how I am going to adapt the features from these interviews into my own by following conventions.

DPS Links to Front Cover and Contents Page

DPS Image Decisions

Aliza Naqvi's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow

Here is a slidely showing my final image choice and why I didn't choose the other images I took for my DPS.

DPS Linked to Research/Layout

DPS Stand First

Here is a powerpoint showing how I conducted my research for existing stand firsts and my attempt at writing my own. I adapted similar features from existing ones to my own to make my stand first eye catching and recognisable as a pop music magazine stand first.

DPS Market Research

Contents Page Colour Choices

Here is a powerpoint on the colour choices I made for my contents page. I used the same colours from the front cover on my contents page to make it consistent and make the two pages link together.

Contents Page Layout

These images show the process of my contents page. I have outlined what I added and changed in order for it to look consistent and link to the front cover.

Contents Page Image Choices

Here is a video I made on Stupeflix which shows all the test shots I took for my contents page. Most of the images are suitable for the contents page as they are mid-shots. Although the model is in black clothing, the red lipstick really stands out and is quite eye-catching so I think these images are still suitable for a pop magazine. The poses are creative and unique and the lighting is very effective as it makes the model the centre of attention. The third image is one of my favourite as the pose is creative and the model has a wide smile which is very eye-catching. The eighth image is also my favourite because the lighting has created a shadow and the way the model's hair falls down is really unique. I will have to choose my image carefully because I have limited space on the contents page and I need it to fit in.

Contents Page Research

Front Cover Target Audience Feedback

Created with Padlet

After conducting feedback from my target audience, I  found out that the potential readers liked my front cover however, they did make some criticisms which could overall, affect my magazine because I could use their advice during the production of my contents page and double page spread. By using the criticisms, I could adapt them to make my magazine consistent and look like a magazine from my intended genre which is pop. This feedback may impact my magazine as I could use my target audience's opinions to construct a contents page and DPS that will linked to front cover and the features added will reflect their opinions. 

Front Cover linked to Research

My market and audience researched helped me a lot in the making of my front cover as I used the opinions from my target audience to make it according to the features suggested. I made the masthead bold and vibrant and by adding a white background and white outline on the graphic, it makes it more eye-catching. I also made my artist quite large to make her the centre of attraction, I used a couple of graphics, I added relevant coverlines with suitable images and I used two bright colours as well as black and white for the text. I think pink goes well with all the other colours on the page because it looks consistent. Overall, my market and audience research has helped me with the making of my front cover as I was able to incoorporate all the features mentioned by my target audience.

Front Cover Features and Cover Layout

Here is my front cover which isn't fully complete because I still need to add other features on it. I used paint to outline the existing features on my front cover.

To begin with, I chose to place the masthead on the top left corner of the page as one of the existing 'WE HEART POP' magazine had its masthead in the top left hand corner and it was rotated so I adapted the same features into my own magazine front cover. The blue line outlines the masthead. At first, I only had the 'Spark' by itself but I saw that the 'WE HEART POP' magazine had a graphic behind the masthead so I incoorporated the same convention into my own magazine.

Most pop magazines have busy covers and many other features on the front cover so I got some Justin Bieber and Chris Brown albums, tookk pictures of them, and then photo shopped them onto my cover. I then added relevant cover lines which have been outlined with the red lines. This advice was given to me by my teacher and I thought it worked quite well as the pictures had to be original and my own so adding in album covers was relevant and unique.

I chose to place the model on the right hand side of the cover because whilst conducting research on existing Pop magazines, I saw models were usually placed on one side of the magazine and I also chose to follow my flatplan as closely as I could. The yellow outline shows my model on the right hand side and I think so far the spacing has been used effectively.

Underneath my artist, I added her name and a quote. I saw that the 'WE HEART POP' magazine had everything rotated in one direction for example the masthead, coverlines,quotes and the artists name and so I decided to follow this convention. I think my quote isn't quite relevant but it could work because I could use the same quote on the double page spread and add it to the artists interview. The pink outline shows how I have rotated the name and quote in the same angle to match that of the masthead and coverlines.

I noticed that many pop magazines have some graphics on the front cover so I added a star shaped graphic and chose not to add a fixed price because 'under a fiver' seemed more eye-catching' and I saw that some pop magazines did not have a fixed price on them. This has been outlined in green and again, I rotated the writing inside the star to make my front cover consistent. The star graphic is pink and outlined in black because it matches with the masthead graphic and makes it look consistent and the artists name is also in pink.

I added a text box at the bottom of the page because when I was conducting my research, I saw that pop magazine front covers had text boxes either on the top of the page or the bottom with the latest coverline and I followed this convention and added the textbox to make it eye-catching. My teacher gave me advice to change the colour to something different like purple and magazines usually have 2 or 3 main colours so I made it purple to make it stand out. This is outlined in black to show how I followed the conventions of pop magazines as well as my flatplan.


Last but not least, I have outlined some missing space in purple because it looked quite empty and I thought I would more coverlines to complete my front cover as well as add a barcode underneath the red outlined coverlines. Overall, I think the spacing has been quite well but I could've made it better by making it more professional because my target audience is older teenagers and adolescents. I will add a barcode and more coverlines to complete my front cover.

I first thought I would cut my model out because I was finding it hard to adjust the lighting and colour but taking advice from my peers and teachers, they told me it look quite unprofessional so I decided to just add the picture back into Photoshop and work with it. I watched multiple videos and figured out a way to blend the picture into the background and make it look a part of it. My masthead was dull pink colour which I picked up from the models flowers on her dress but pop magazines are bright so I changed the colour to a brighter pink.

After changing most of the features and colours and adjusting the light levels, I made the picture blend into the background, changed the colour of the masthead and added the artists name and a quote. I saw a huge difference as it now looked more professional and more like a pop magazine.

Examples of Photograph Manipulation

This is an 'emaze' that I made showing some photograph manipulations during my construction period.
Here is a link to the page if it doesn't work.

http://www.emaze.com/@AFZZRFRF/examples-of-photograph-manipulation

Masthead/Font Decisions

•When I first started to think about masthead ideas, I was inspired by existing mastheads. These consisted of the words: King of Pop, Bust, Popstar, Express, Glamour and Blender. Two words that I came up with were RazzleDazzle and Spark. King of Pop reminds everyone of Michael Jackson so it wouldn’t be a suitable name, Bust has negative connotations and it could link to Hip-Hop and Grime music, Popstar is quite informal and may relate to the younger teenage audience, Express is already a famous magazine, Glamour sounds like a makeup and beauty magazine and Blender doesn’t sound like a Pop magazine but rather links to a health and food magazine. I then came to the conclusion that RazzleDazzle was also quite informal and wasn’t suitable for my target audience. I made a final decision to name my magazine Spark. I think this is a suitable masthead because it is quite formal and relates well to my genre of music, Pop.
•I first chose font 1 as I thought it represents the word ‘spark’ quite well. However, it doesn’t relate to the pop theme and I don’t think mastheads with the exaggerated serif work well with the theme of Pop. Also, at this point, I hadn’t researched other fonts so I thought this was the best one.
•Font 2 is my final choice because after asking my peers, my teachers and investigating for myself, I quite like this font because it has connotations of a bubble and links well to my theme. However, I experimented with different colours as you can see in fonts 5,9 and 10. I think font 10 is targeted towards younger teenagers so it isn’t suitable for my target audience but it reminds me the typical ‘spark’ colour as its yellow. Font 5 and 9 are quite suitable for both my target audience and my theme and I will experiment with the colours after I do test shots as I can use the model’s outfit for the colour inspiration.

•Font 3,4,6,7 and 8 are some other fonts I got hold of  but after looking at different fonts, I realised that these ones didn’t suit my theme so I will use font 2 as my final font because it suits my theme and my target audience as it is quite ‘mature’ and the spacing of the letters is quite effective. 

Test Shots, Final Shot and Model Consent Form

Here is a video I made on stupeflix.com where you can see all the test shots I have taken for my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

 The first shot I took was a mid-closeup shot of my model standing up and she wasn't posing. I decided that this shot wasn't suitable for my magazine because the model looks too simple and this doesn't match the conventions of a pop magazine where the model is usually posing. However, I like the model's smile and the angle of gaze as it looks quite intriguing. This shot might be suitable for the contents page or the double page spread as these are usually simpler compared to the front cover.

 The second shot I took was a mid-long shot where my model was posing. Her pose isn't too over the top but still makes it relative to my theme. Her wide smile is also eye-catching however, I personally think that it will be hard to work with if I made it my front cover image but it could work for the contents page or the double page spread.

 The third shot is my final shot for the front cover of my magazine. I think this is a unique angle and the angle of gaze is also innovative. In this mid-closeup shot, my model was sitting down and slightly looking up at the camera which makes her the main focus on the cover. Her wide smile is also very hooking and the natural lip colour goes against the conventions but the colours on her dress make it better. When it comes to my masthead choices, I will consider making it brighter so that my cover has some bright features.

 The fourth shot I took was a long shot of my model standing up with her hands in front. I think this is a different pose which isn't usually seen on pop music magazines. I could use this for my contents page as it looks good and very eye-catching.

 The fifth shot is also a long shot of my model sitting down with her legs out. This is suitable for the double page spread because I have intended to use a sitting down image of my model with her legs out and this is preferably the best one. She doesn't have a wide smile which could help me write a suitable interview and this could also help me make up a quote.

 The sixth and last shot I took is a mid-closeup of my model sitting down and this one is very similar to my final decision however, I liked the third shot better compared to this one because this was a little blurry near the eyes. However, I like the angle of gaze and the shot angle.  The last picture on this video is my model holding her model consent form to show that I used her consent when taking these test shots.
When I was taking these pictures, I didn't add enough lighting to the background so it came out came dark and hence, some shadows were created. I thought this would be a big problem but I will fix it when it comes to manipulating the images.

Overall, I like the images I took as I think they are suitable for my target audience and also suit my theme. They aren't targeted towards younger teens because I would've used brighter colours but I used some natural colours to make it suitable for this age range. Last but not least, when I was taking these images, I didn't follow my shots as I didn't take all of the shots I had planned to. Although, I didn't follow the shot list, I managed to get a good variety of images.


This is my final shot.

Shot List

Shot 1 shows my model with both hands on her hips, with her mouth open wide. I thought I would use a multi-coloured background so that it would link to the Pop genre.

Shot 2 shows my model holding a microphone with a hat on and I thought these accessories link well with Pop and would make my model stand out. I chose to make it a white background so that it would be easier to use the photo later on.

Shot 3 shows my model holding a bag. I thought this shot wasn't quite suitable for a music magazine because it would look like an image for a fashion magazine.

Shot 4 shows my model with her hands on her mouth and her mouth wide open. The expression on her face will be eye-catching as her angle of gaze will be straight towards the camera and her hair could be styled for it to look more as a part of the Pop genre.

Shot 5 shows my model with both of her hands on her hips and she's looking in the distance. This is to make her attractive and make it unique but I think it would be most suitable for a double page spread as the angle of gaze isn't eye-catching for the front cover.


Shot 6 shows my model sitting down and her whole body can be seen. Again, I think this shot is most suitable for the double page spread because an interview can be based around the image and the space can be used for efficiently.

Shot 7 shows my model posing with sunglasses and I thought is accessorie would make it unique and make my model stand out on the contents page. I am thinking of adding other models on the contents page because the conventions of a Pop magazine is that the the front cover and contents page are usually really busy and full of different features.

Shot 8 shows my model standing on the right hand side and her angle of gaze is towards the interview given by her and this type of shot is inspired by an existing magazine I saw whilst conducting my research on music magazines and their double pages spreads.


Shot 9 shows my model standing on her side and I thought I side view would be appropriate for the double page spread as it would be unique and could also link to the models interview.

Shot 10 shows my model with her mouth wide open and her hands on her mouth and she is placed on the right hand side of the double page spread with the interview on the left side. The big pull quote links well with the model's expression and I thought I would add more images of the model at the bottom of the interview to make it all about her.


Shot 11 shows my model in the middle of the page to make her the centre of attraction and the models name will be in large lettering to make it stand out. The interview will be on the bottom or one either side. This is suitable for the double page spread because most DPS' show the model's long shot and the outfit is quite exaggerated.


Shot 12 is my  last shot which shows my model standing on the left hand side and the interview is on the right hand side. The model is looking at her name which will be above the interview and will be in large, bold lettering with a couple of images inserted in between the interview.

Flatplan Feedback

Created with Padlet

Flatplan Deconstruction

This is a flatplan of what my magazine may look like. I used this edition of the 'We heart Pop' magazine for inspiration. As you can see, I have outlined the features put into my own flatplan. First of all, I have drawn the model on the right hand side of the magazine in a similar way to how Cheryl Cole is placed on the magazine. This is highlighted in the blue pen. I have drawn the model in a way that it looks like a mid-shot just how Cheryl is posing and I have left a significant amount of space under the drawing of the model to place her name and a pull quote just how it has been done in the pop magazine. This has been outlined in the orange pen. I outlined the cover line in the purple pen and the masthead is outlined in red pen as I have placed it round about in the same area as the pop magazine. Last but not least, I have included some extra features on the bottom just like the Cheryl Cole magazine and that's outlined in green and on the left hand side of the front cover, there are images and coverlines/captions to go with them which I have also interpreted into my own flatplan which is outlined in the brown pen.

My contents page is also quite similar to the existing pop magazine as I used some of it as inspiration however, I didn't add a lot of the things from the pop magazine to my flatplan. I have used the purple pen to outline the masthead which is at the top and the biggest font on the page. I then used the blue pen to outline the image, numbers and text I will add to the left hand side of the page and I did the same with the orange and yellow pen.

Finally, this is my flatplan of a double page spread. I used this double page spread with Miley Cyrus on it, for inspiration. Although it doesn't look quite similar to the real magazine, I picked out some features that I liked and interpreted them into my own. I drew my model against the wall or sitting down just like Miley Cyrus as I thought this was a unique style and I outlined this in a purple pen. I put the masthead above the model and made it the biggest font on the page just like the real magazine. I outlined this in pink and outlined the text on the page with a red pen but I will also add a couple more images.

Visual Moodboard

This is a time-lapse video I made showing words that came to my mind when thinking about my chosen  genre, pop. The words that came to mind were: BRIGHT, VIVID, BOLD, EYE-CATCHING, TRENDY, GOSSIP, FASHION, BEAUTY, UNISEX AND COLOUR. I will need to consider these words when creating my magazine so that my magazine is unique and reflects the genre well. 

Reader Profile

Artist Profile

Here is an artist profile for "Rae Marie" which I have created for my Pop music magazine. It will be targeted towards the audience of people in their late teens and early twenties.

Fashion Images of Pop Artists

 The first thing I noticed was that female pop artists are usually put in front of the masthead to make them the centre of attraction. In this one,  Katy Perry is accessorised and placed in front of the masthead, making it harder to read. There isn't much text placed around her and she seems like the main focus. The angle of gaze is straight at the audience, making the front cover eye-catching and more personal. Her name is in the largest size again making her the most important person on the front cover. The other text around her is quite small, making it less important. The spacing is used quite well however, she seems like the only thing that matters to the readers so text is very minimal. The colour scheme is also very consistent and not too over the top.


In another edition of the Billboard magazine, Beyonce is put in front of the masthead, making her the focus. Her angle of gaze is straight at the camera, making people pick up the magazine. Again, her name is the largest text on the page apart from the masthead, making her the centre of attraction.  The colour scheme is also quite consistent on this magazine but her name is the only text that is an ombre shade making it stand out.

On this one, it is almost impossible to read the masthead unless you are familiar with it. Taylor Swift's angle of gaze is straight at the camera and her whole outfit is on show, making her stand out. Also, the fact that she is in front of the masthead, it makes her the main focus. Her name is not the largest text on this magazine however, the way she poses is very eye-catching. In my opinion, the spacing isn't used as well as it could've been as the puffs and coverlines are all the same size, making them less important. The colour scheme is very consistent as the same three colours have been used throughout.





On this one, Chery Cole is smiling and again, she is in front of the masthead, making her stand out. Her 'big' hair is very eye-catching as well as her wide smile. She is the main focus of the page as all the other celebrities are smaller in size and therefore, less important. There are only a limited amount of colours used on this page such as pink, purple, black and white. Overall, these front covers can inspire me with my production work as I can incorporate many of the features into my own magazine.

 Many pop artists wear fashionable, bright coloured clothing which usually reveals some of the artist's skin and body. Most of the accessories worn by the artists match the outfit for example Katy Perry has green hair which goes with the bright green sequins on her outfit. Ariana Grande is also wearing a black, cat-eared headband to match her black sequins outfit and Miley Cyrus has her nails painted red and her lip colour is also a bright red which matches the red sequins on her outfit. Most of these outfits are short and the artists' legs are on show, which attracts a lot of people. Overall, the outfits worn by pop artists are quite bright, eye-catching and revealing.

Market Research- Pop Music Videos and Analysis

This is Katy Perry's song, 'California Girls.' This video is the perfect example which relates and shows the link to the genre of pop. In this video, colours are being played with and the whole atmosphere is bright, relating to the bright theme usually in pop music videos. In pop music, it is all about the way the artist is dressed as well as the atmosphere around them but the music isn't noticed as much. Katy Perry wears outfits made out of candy, making the video seem quite childlike at the beginning where she seems really happy when licking an ice cream.There are also animated gummy bears in the music video and Perry's expressions link well with the upbeat music. However, as the video proceeds, the gummy bears swear and Katy is wearing nothing in one scene making it jump from suitable for young teenagers to PG as explicit scenes are shown. Snoop Dogg also features in this video and he wears a candy suit relating to the whole theme too. The overall lighting and colours of the video are really bright and fits to the theme and beat of the song which is quite upbeat and fast.




This is Taylor Swift's song, 'We are Never ever getting back Together.' This video is really different compared to Katy Perry's 'California Girls' as it is a bit slower but still has a fast, upbeat tune. The lighting is a bit dull and not many bright colours are used in the video however, at the beginning, Swift's outfit has some bright colours and the setting of the room has random pop of colour such as a red cushion and her lip colour is also red, making it stand out and literally 'pop' out to the audience. At the end of the video, there is party held at her house where the lighting is even duller but some people are wearing outfits with bright colours and playful costumes relating to the pop culture and genre quite well. Taylor's expressions are not too over the top or exaggerated although they are very clear. The video is her talking about her experience with a tune and beat to accompany her speech which is a creative way to reach the audience and this in itself is quite unique and pops out to the audience as its different from all the other pop music videos.



This is Meghan Trainor's song, 'Lips are Movin' and this is a very upbeat and eye-catching video. The lighting is very bright and the colours used are also very bright. At the beginning, the mic is painted red which is the main colour used throughout the pop genre. The video also consists of some real pop art such as big red lips and this has a link to the genre a lot. Also, Meghan changes her outfit a lot throughout the video and most of them are brightly coloured and one of her skirts is multi-coloured and striped, relating to the genre. Everyone else in the video are also wearing bright coloured clothing and Meghan's nails are also painted red. At the end of the video, there are other images with the colours red and pink used to make the video eye-catching. The whole set is brightly coloured and attractive and most of the colours pop. Overall, it is a very bright and fun video.

The History of Pop- Mind Map

Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.

Audience Research (2) - Interview

Here is an interview I carried out with a 19 year old female. In my opinion, interviews are more personal and the interviewee is more prone to speaking their opinion as done in this video as I think a focus group might affect the views or opinions of the other people present. I think she was a good person to interview as she fits into my target audience well. The three main questions I asked were: which magazine appeals to you the most and why, what features are appealing/less appealing to you and why and what conventions can you notice. The overall opinion I collated was that Pop magazines are eye-catching and stand out the most when compared to other magazines of different genres which in this case were Hip-Hop and Rock. She also mentioned that Hip-Hop magazines are not her preferred genre because the female models have to be sexualised or objectified to be noticed and the Rock magazine wasn't too intriguing. She said that the colour scheme of the Pop magazine was the best as well as the layout because the colours used were vibrant and the spacing was used quite effectively. She noticed that the main conventions were that the masthead was very bold and bright and that the all artists portrayed on the front cover were the main focus or centre of attention. This has helped me with my research as I found out that Pop magazines were more popular compared to other magazines.
Here is the model's consent form.

Audience Research (1) - Online Survey and Analysis

To carry out my survey, I used Survey Monkey to gain opinions from a group of people that I contacted via Facebook and text message. I got a total number of 10 responses and this way, I got a clear idea of what people think about Pop music magazines. I created a survey with 5 simple questions which consisted of both qualitative and quantitative data and from a limited number of questions I can get a general idea of what my target audience would and would not like to see on a Pop music magazine. I asked people from the age of 12-19 and by making the age range quite wide, I can gain a wider opinion on peoples' preferences.

 The first question I asked my audience was: 'Do you read or buy magazines? If yes, why? If no, why?' In my opinion, this was a useful question to ask as I now know if people do read or buy magazines and the reason for their purchase. 50% of my audience said that they do not read magazines as it does not interest them, 20% said they do read magazines in general as they are interesting, 10% said they read one online instead, another 10% said that they don't like reading as it bores them and the remaining 10% said that they do like reading magazines to find out about new artists or something new about the genre they prefer.


 From this question, I found that over half of my audience do not even read magazines and so I will need to consider the remaining opinions from my audience in order for my magazine to be successful. I chose to customize this question into a rows format so that it would be clear to me which option/ opinion got the most votes.

From this, I can see the exact amount of votes for each option and the percentage for each choice making it easier for me to interpret this information when creating my own Pop music magazine.

The second question I asked was: 'What is the main thing that stands out to you when buying a music magazine?' This question was useful to ask because I could gain an understanding of what is eye-catching to people when they buy magazines and this way I can adapt the chosen conventions to match my genre and to make my magazine a successful one. Around 30% of my audience said the colour scheme of a magazine is the feature that stands out most to them when buying a magazine. Around 50% of my audience said that the image on the front cover was the eye-catching thing and the remaining 10% chose other where they did not specify what it was.

This shows the exact percentage of votes for each option and the option that has the most votes will help me decide what to put on my own magazine and how to make it stand out to my audience.


The third question I asked my audience was: 'how often do you buy music magazines?' This is a good question to ask as it can give me a general idea of how many people buy magazines and how often they buy it. As you can see from the pie chart, the majority of my audience never buy magazines whereas some buy one every few months and a couple buy one once a month. The reason for people not buying magazines may be that they do not have time to buy one so due to advancements in technology, magazines can be read online for free which also saves time.

This quantitative data shows how many people buy magazines out of the total number of responses and how often they buy a music magazine. This has made it clear that many people from my audience do not usually buy magazines and so I will need to consider this when making my own magazine as I want mine to be unique.

The fourth question I asked was: 'What feature on a magazine is less appealing to you?' This was a very useful question to ask as this would help me with my production work. By asking my audience what feature they didn't like or notice that much, I can incorporate these opinions into my own magazine to make mine more appealing and eye-catching. From this data, I can see that the masthead is the feature that is less appealing to the audience as it doesn't really matter what the magazine is named, as long as it somewhat relates to the genre. People also said that the quality of images does not matter to them whereas 10% voted for the image on the front cover, another 10% for the layout and the remaining 10% for the content or stories on the front page. This has helped me gain an idea about what not to include in my magazine and to make my magazine appealing to my target audience.

This shows me that many people have various opinions on what they think is the least appealing feature on a music magazine. From this, I can see that people don't really bother with the title (masthead) but more with the content and stories on the magazine and so I may need to follow the basic conventions to make my magazine successful.

The fifth and last question I asked my audience was: 'What do you expect to see on a pop music magazine?' This question is the most important question I asked as I could gain a better understanding of what my target audience would expect to see on my magazine. My magazine could be successful if I put these features into my own magazine as it would be what my audience would be expecting and this way, my magazine will be appealing. The most votes were for random colours and by this I meant a limited number of  bright colours used on the front page which you wouldn't normally expect to see on a Hip-Hop or R&B magazine such as pink and yellow.

This shows that many people do not expect to see an artist of the specific gender as no one voted for a male artist or a female artist meaning. Another feature that people do not expect to see on a pop magazine is dark colours which is quite obvious and so to make my magazine successful, I will need to follow these simple conventions. Last but not least, people expect to see top songs and artists on a pop magazine and so I will need to consider this when creating my own pop music magazine.

Market Research- Pop Magazines

Here, I searched pop music magazine front covers on Google images and a variety of magazines showed up. This way, I can clearly spot the conventions of pop magazines and get a good look at what pop magazines should consist of. From this collection of images, I can see that all pop magazines have bright colours used on the  front cover and the models angle of gaze is straight at the camera. This makes the magazine more personal to the reader. This is a pull factor for the audience as it attracts them to read on. There isn't a fixed colour scheme as random colours are used and so when I come to making my own pop magazine, I will need to consider these conventions in order for my magazine to be successful. Previously, when I deconstructed a pop magazine, I noticed the same conventions which I will be incorporating in my own magazine. Another thing that really stands out is the model's name and this is usually put across the model itself to make it stand out and the main focus of the front cover. However, some of the anchors are put behind the artist but still placed effectively where the name can still be read. This is also something I will need to consider because I want my model and their name to stand out rather than any of the other features. I have also noticed that most pop magazines have female artists but also small pictures or information about different artists placed onto the front cover. Overall, I will need to look at more examples of pop magazines to familiarise myself with the conventions so that I can successfully put them into my own magazine.