Evaluation for Vybzing

Presentation 11

Content Page

Double Page Spread

How did you attract / address your audience?   

While creating my music magazine and building a name for it I have been advertising it widely using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I have used this accessible resources because it is the way in which every young adult communicates and gets there voices heard out there. They also tend to be on there smart phones 24/7 and tend to be on top of the trend most of the time.
I then decided to begin making a new trend on twitter even though I needed a minimum of a thousand #Vybzings, I still managed to get a few people to promote my brand.
Pictures of my logo were posted on social networking sites such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram to make my audience aware of the 'hype' that is occurring.
This was successful as many of my target audience began asking me "what is Vybzing", "Why are there these pictures of 'Vybzing' online?"

My first encounter with my target audience was at my friends birthday party where my genre was being played continuously. When engaging with many and talking to them about the genre I asked them how they managed to keep up to date with all the latest music trends within Afrobeats and how they found out what to listen to. Many replied with "I hear it off my friends play list" or "Dj abrantee's Saturday night broadcast on capital xtra" but no one replied with a magazine.

When I informed my audience that I was making a music magazine specified to Afrobeats many were astonished because they had never heard of a music magazine offering Afrobeats as a genre. 

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

Through out my journey I have learnt so much about Photoshop and how it is applied into real life, everyday objects such as music magazines. It is only when you are creating a magazine on this programme that you realise how much detail goes into a magazine.

I have learnt that there are many techniques on Adobe software which are all methodically structured to insure that every detail is precise in size. For example while I was making my front cover, content page and double page spread I was zooming in and using a grid to ensure that all of my fonts and pictures are in line and its helps create accurate space. 

Who would be the audience for your media product? 

I have choose to target 16 - 19 and 20 to early 30's because they are more prone to being influenced and also the younger audience are more in touch with the new trend and also the older generation because this music was also around and at its peak when they were teenagers so it is a magazine that allows them to reminisce on their 'good old days'.
I have kept in mind theories such as Maslow's theory and the effects theory in order to fully understand what my target audience want as well as what they see from day to day.
I even went down to little small details such as my cover stars hair in the front cover picture.
Because I was limited in resources but still wanted to make my magazine look as professional as possible I created a 'blowing away' effect with my models hair using my hair dryer.
This was just something extra I thought I'd put in to blow my audience away. 

My audience liked the fact that I used current, fresh names relating to my genre on my sell lines as they felt it was more realistic and they could relate to it.

What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from your preliminary task to the full product? 

When comparing my perliminary task to my official magazine, there is a noticable difference in the time and effort aswell as the planning and techniques used in order to fully complete a professional magazine.
I feel as though now I am more confident using adobe software such as Photoshop and  indesign.
I used indesign for my double page spread but then I decided that it would be more easier for me to use Photoshop instead as I am more aware of all the tools. 
I first came across indesign when I was searching techniques as to how to make a double page spread.
I then watched a few tutorials but realised it would take me quite a long time, time in which I didn't have, to create my double page spread on this programme.
I instead went on top Photoshop and began my process their. 
One of the biggest key points to my progression is the fact that in my actual magazine I used techniques such as the grid to make sure all my layers are lined up to precision, cutting my photos out to ensure that I didn't have a background if I didn't need one, to use tools such as brightening to make my photo look more professional.
All of these techniques are new techniques I have learnt which I know I will be using in future. The fact that I have managed to manipulate my entire photo in order to sell it to my audience is something that I had never thought to do in my preliminary task.

In reviews of my magazine, my interviewers responded with positive comments such as they likes the fonts and the colour.
The male figure also mentioned the fact that the sex appeal worked as he was highly attracted to the female and therefore wanted to continue reading it.
Both of my interviewers commenting on the use of a simple layout of my content page making them want to continue reading and one of them said that "Words speak louder then images".


 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Through out my target audience research I have been observing social behaviour and what type of teenagers and young adults listen to my music.

My audience are of a working/middle class background. Immediately we think they come from rough area's and are stamped as 'hooligans' because of economical connotations that come with those classes when in reality the majority of youths strive to learn and want to express their emotions in their own way.
My social group contains the majority of ethnicity's including; Asia, Africa, Afro Caribbean and Hispanic. 

Due to my genre of choice originating from Africa my cover star's appearance comes across as from that part of the world so the audience can associate her roots with her successful music career. 

I think my magazine in particular represents people of African/Afro Caribbean descent as people who, yes may have struggled socially due to issues such as economy but however do work hard and come up gradually. This goes unrecognised What my magazine intends to do is represent the black community in a more enlightened way because in the previous, recent years media has been targeting young people of African/Afro Caribbean, Asian descent and has been painting a negative picture prior to the London riot. 

It is said that the majority of London rioters were aged in their teens.
Although this may be true not all teenagers are mischievous; many are creative and look to do better. My magazine uses 'Cleo'  who is a teenager that comes from East London (quite a poor area in London) in order to show a different light of youths living in deprived areas by showing that they work hard in order to get what they want and aren't trouble makers. My cover star is a mascot, an idol for future generations to look up to. 




In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?

Through out my production I have learnt so much that can be reflected in both my preliminary task and my actual music magazine.

My media product is one of a kind as there is no music magazine known that covers the genre Afrobeats and sub genre; Bashment in stores.

This doesn't directly challenge a convention but it tackles a different section of music that no other company has decided to venture as this genre is still building in the music industry and is still gradually making its name in Britain. The typical genre used in music magazine for my target audience who are aged between 16-19 and 20 - 25 are Rap, R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz and Rock. 

Because these are very mainstream typical genres that are guaranteed to attract that specific target audience magazines such as Vibe, The Source, Blender and Billboard have already established and claimed the lime light and caught the attention with those particular genres.

I have decided to use Afrobeats because not only is it not mainstream but my audience still know a lot about the genre and therefore are able to engage and understand the music on a deeper level.

When I went to interview a couple of my younger target audience's they mentioned the fact that they knew the songs but they didn't have much access to finding out the latest 'tunes' and had trouble keeping up to date with the trend that is Afrobeats.

In addition they also mentioned the fact that they have never seen a music magazine offering the genre Afrobeats or Bashment. I saw this as a large marketing opportunity and also an opportunity to encourage reading amongst the younger generation as they depend on the Internet for most of their information.

My initial plan was to have Two cover stars on my front cover page.When I asked my target audience for there opinions many said although the photography was exquisite the cover stars were taking up to much of the space which I also realised as it didn't leave enough room for my sell lines. 

I also wanted to use this photograph as my front cover picture because it had a background but it naturally blended in. When I researched deeper into magazines and analysed how many had backgrounds and how many didn't it was a low ratio. I then decided to cut both cover stars out in order to make my magazine look more professional. 

As I continued looking at the quality of the photo it just didn't seem natural and the proportion of the page still wasn't accurate enough as I still didn't have enough room for my sell lines. 

I then further persevered my editing skills and cut my male cover star out to leave my female star.

At first I wanted my header to go towards the left side of the page because I thought it would be something different and I also wanted to challenge conventions as most magazines have their fonts running across their page. This would give my magazine its own sense of identity which is what my younger audience are still looking for as they are still at a stage where they are finding themselves. I was influenced by the rap magazine XXL.  

In the early stage of my production I have decided where my slogan, website and social media links are going to go. This was the simplest stage because I placed them in places which didn't the catch the attention of the reader instantly. I also made sure they didn't consume a lot of space by having specific font sizes and keeping them as brief as possible. 

I also began to challenge the conventional rule of thirds at the beginning of my production as my cover star was not in the centre of the page but more to the right. I intended on having most of my sell lines on the left but then reconsidering the circumstances I decided to position my model in the centre of the page because this magazine is still gradually making its name and I don't want to take any risks with my  target audience as they maybe less attracted to it thinking it isn't a notable, legitimate music magazine. 

In addition I wanted my cover star to look confident as if she owns the page and therefore the Vibe I wanted my audience to get from this front cover confidence and therefore inspiring.  

In my content page I began to challenge conventions as many music magazines do not contain a background on there contents page.
Music magazines such as Q and Kerrang, who are very established in the music magazine industry, do not have backgrounds. I then saw an oppurtunity to create my own franchise recognition to put a background on my content page.
Because many magazines have some sort of logo establishing who they are I decided to draw my own logo and manipulate it on Photoshop to then make it the background of my content page.
The only magazine known to do this is 'Vibe'.
I choose a simple layout, meaning not a lot of pictures and not to cluttered,for my content page because I didn't want to have a cluttered page; I wanted it blunt and straight forward so my audience didn't get bored or easily distracted and could easily continue swiftly through on to the articles that await. 
I was inspired to do this my Q because it isn't conventional of many magazines to do this and my magazine genre is unconventional in it self so I decided to make it stand out.

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

Currently the music magazine industry isn't booming very well in the UK at the moment. Magazine's such as Q, who were once widely read by the majority of young people has slowly faded away due to the decline in readers and the take over of technology. The readers of NME, a heavy rock, metal mag have dropped drastically during the prior year with a staggering 16.6% loss and a further 3.7% in the past 6 months. UNCUT lost 14.4% year on year circulation followed by Q and NME as worst hit music titles in 2011.

I have decided to use Bauer media as they are a multinational institution meaning the future of Vybzing

will be bright especially because they can become global slowly as the impact they have had on the UK becomes recognised on a global scale using viral marketing such as sharing on social networking sites e.g. Facebook, twitter. Then many more countries will want to know what the 'hype' is about.  In addition Afrobeats has been realised on a global scale since the 70's so the latest Afrobeats music will be widely available to more teenagers. 

It's mostly teenagers and young adults that will listen to this music and read this magazine because the music is featured in many young atmospheric places such as carnival, parties and raves. However there will be a small majority in their late 30's-40's that will listen to this music and read this magazine because they were teenagers themselves during the 70's where Afrobeats was very popular and will want to relive the 'glory days.'

"Bauer Verlagsgruppe has been managed by four generations of the Bauer family. Originally a small printing house, The Bauer Publishing Group has grown into a worldwide publishing and media company. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises 300 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations. Bauer started in the UK with the launch of Bella magazine in 1987 and as H Bauer Publishing became Britain's third largest publisher. Bauer further expanded in the UK with the purchase of Emap Consumer Media and Emap Radio in 2008 to become the UK's biggest publishing group.

The group acquired Australia's largest magazine publisher, acp magazines from private equity firm, CVC in 2012, increasing the company’s value to more than €2 billion." 

-source; Bauer media group website.