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

I wanted the tone of my magazine to be insightful and inspiring to the reader and give a sense of exploration as my demographic are at the age where everything is new and exciting. To reflect this tone within the pages of my magazine I wanted to achieve an almost ‘guide-book’ like magazine for my audience with a modern edge to it. Ensuring my magazine had a mode of address that was both alternative and concise. 

After carrying out my research I found that there was a gap in the market for an NME type magazine for girls, I started to refine my demographic. I wanted the magazine, through the use of the images, the article and design layout, to come across as confident. Through the article especially I wanted it to portray my audience as do-it-yourself through the theme of the article being ‘a small-town girl makes it big in the music industry’, especially off her own back. To do this I emphasised the fact that Eliza-May used social networking sites such as YouTube to promote herself and this displays the fact that if you put your mind to it, you can follow in those footsteps too and make anything happen for yourself. This again refers to the guide-book theme which represents the do-it-yourself approach on a smaller scale. This also reflects my audience – thereby representing them within the pages – as sharing similar dreams and aspirations of success, adventure and freedom to Eliza-May. This links to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as the ‘self-actualisation’ need is being fulfilled through my audience’s ability to relate to the content within my magazine. In doing this, it challenges dominant ideology in promoting an image of young women as confident, independent and powerful.

I also used colloquial language such as ‘Other Stuff’ on my contents page and ‘Big-Thing’ on my double page spread. This is to make my magazine easily relatable and again, empahsises the hand-book theme, almost coming across as not being bothered to write the full and proper words. However, this is not to come across as if my demographic don’t care which is a strong stereotype of teenagers and young-adults and is not the impression I want to make. My demographic are making the transition from high-school to university or work so this is a time of hard-work, so when this magazine is an outlet for them in their down time, they don’t want to have to use complete proper English when relaxing. 

Additionally, I wanted to firmly set the idea that it is not just males that enjoy listening to alternative music. Up until my magazine there were no popular magazines that included alternative and indie music that were aimed at females. Girls would buy magazines such as the NME and Q, even though they were aimed at men so I wanted my magazine to be taken seriously amongst the ‘big guns’. To do this I wanted to represent my demographic as being as serious about music as the guy’s magazines were and one way I did this was by adding more artists’ names along the top banner as well as the bottom banner instead of putting another article. This also attracts my audience as they believe my magazine is all about the music and confirms the fact that my demographic and magazine take music seriously like the men’s music magazines.

A usual stereotype of magazine images is when women are photographed in line with the male gaze and the way in which photoshopping has contributed to the idea of a hyperreal perception of women. Jean Baudrillard was a social theorist who examined the way technological processes affect social change and worked on the way advances in media technology have changed representations of reality. He developed a theory that tried to explain the effects of these changes on society. This theory was that every human experience is a simulation of reality rather than reality itself. The media and its advances in digital technology in programmes such as photoshop are key to the creation of what Baudrillard described as a hyperreal world where all reality and meaning is replaced with digitally enhanced signs and symbols. He termed examples of hyperreal as simulacra and argued that there is no such thing as reality anymore. Photoshopping has created an impossible reality which is planted into the minds of girls and boys from a very young age through the means of media. This coincides with the ‘self-actualisation’ part of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as people believe what they see in these images is real-life and feel they are not meeting their potential if they do not look like these images. However, people still aspire to the dreams and aspirations represented in magazines, even though these images represent a figure which could never be achieved by anyone as it is not real-life, only an enhancement. They still buy into this impossible lifestyle when they purchase my product, which is why these representations are so powerful and, according to some people, potentially damaging. This, along with using techniques from the theory of the male gaze, reinforces the submissive role of women within society. Taking this into consideration and feeling the effects the media can have on girls of any age made me want to include natural girls with natural beauty to show girls that they can be beautiful and powerful, naturally. However, after carrying out a task where we examined the effects of the male gaze on girls of a young age without their awareness of the theory I found that my magazine would have to approach the male gaze. The assignment was to hold a focus group of around 20 eleven year old girls who were asked to individually rank the cards seen below in order of attractiveness. They were then asked in groups of around 5-6 why they ranked the way they did. Some answers we received were ‘she looks ill’ (referring to image number 6) and ‘she looks like a man’ (referring to image number 5). They also mentioned that the first image (the most photoshopped image) was ‘pretty’ and ‘she is touching her face’ which was an astounding comment as the male gaze uses poses where women touch their face to create a child-like image, therefore being submissive.

After conducting this research and coming to terms with the reality that young girls are moulded into this way of thinking from such a young age, that I would have to incorporate images which stood in line with the male gaze and photoshop these images to create a hyperreal perception of my model as this way of thinking is imbedded within my demographic and to challenge it would be too radical for my target audience. To be able to challenge such an established way of thinking means that my demographic would have to understand the theory of the male gaze and hyperreality to be able to go against it and this is not something I can be certain of when constructing my magazine and in the end, I want people to buy my magazine and this would deter people from doing so. However, I photographed my model in a powerful way to represent my hardworking and successful demographic but used photoshop to still attract my audience. 

The age of my demographic is between the ages of 16-24, a time when big decisions are made and the step into adulthood begins. Decisions are made on whether or not university is an option which, leads to my representations of social class. I wanted my magazine to be enthusiastic about the idea of exploring new things and embracing individuality, however, these experiences come at a price which some people may not have the opportunity to take part in. Gap years and the opportunity to travel is very middle class and so is the prospect of university. However, I wanted my magazine to relate to people of the ABC1 demographic which includes higher-working class people as well as middle class people. This is why my article, even though not directly relating to class, gives the idea that anything is achievable no matter what background you come from. Additionally, the idea of the blog means that my audience can interact with one another so even if my magazine comes across as if it may not relate to working class girls, they are still able to seek advice on gap years/universities which may suit them through the online blog, compiled of other readers which may be of the same social class as them. This means that my magazine does not come across exclusively for middle-class people and gives a more inspirational tone to any prospective reader from any social class.

3. What kind of media institution will distribute your media product and why?

When considering which institution will distribute my magazine, there are many options I could take. The majority of distribution companies come under one of these three categories: Major publishing, Independent publishing and Self-publishing. I researched into these categories to see which would suit my magazine best to create the correct mode of address for my audience. 

I feel the best kind of media institution to distribute my media product would be a major publisher such as IPC or Hearst. As my magazine is a feminine twist on the popular magazine NME, a publishing company with the same knowledge and networks as the NME would be ideal. The publishing company for the NME is IPC who also distribute many other successful titles such as Look and Nuts.

However, I also explored the idea of distributing my magazine through boutique publishers to target a more specific section of my demographic. I looked into companies such as Zest who distribute their only magazine ‘Absolutely’ to AB households in upmarket destinations around London. I also researched into Stack, a boutique company that specialises in individual magazines for very niche audiences. Stack distribute magazines such as Little White Lies and Huck which are known in their line of work as being new and innovative with their design and article choices. 

 

 

I also researched into self-publishing which is exactly what it states in the name. This is where people publish their own work independently, without the help of major publishing houses or even boutique/independent publishing houses. There are two general types of self-publishing which include a fanzine and an ezine. A fanzine is a more traditional form of self-publishing, originally done on paper with hand-written articles and amateur photography pasted in the pages. ‘Sniffin Glue’ is one of the most famous fanzines and was very popular among punk/rock culture in the 1970s due to its ‘do it yourself’ attitude. Moving into modern day, an ezine is an online method of self-publishing in the form of a directory or a blog. There are no limitations to self-publishing and, if by word of mouth your magazine travels, it can be quite successful. However, it does solely depend on word of mouth and networking to make your magazine a success as there is no funding, little resources and therefore has less chance of reaching a larger audience. 

Another point to consider is the efficiency of the publishing houses vertical and horizontal integration. This is where a publishing house has access to advertise your media product on a wide range of media platforms. The bigger the publishing house, the more platforms they have access to. For instance, IPC is a subsidiary of Time Inc which is also a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner. This means that they get a lot of funding and coverage to promote their magazine amongst many groups of people. 

Although I want to make my magazine individual and appealing to my demographic, I am also aware that codes and conventions are important for my demographic to stay familiarised with my magazine. My target audience is derived from girls who read the NME and other music magazines aimed at men as there are no such magazines aimed at girls. To make the jump from the set codes and conventions of the NME etc to a boutique and individualised way of design would be too far out of my demographics comfort zone. Additionally, although my audience like to believe they are open to new and exciting ways of publishing, they are also young and have been almost programmed by media’s codes and conventions to like things designed in a certain way. Due to this I will be using a major publishing company such as IPC to distribute my magazine. 

4. Who will be the audience for your media product?

I knew from the outset that I wanted my demographic to be a young demographic of girls around the ages of 16-24. However, I did not know what genre of music I wanted my magazine to be based around so I created a questionnaire using QuestionPro. It included around 10 questions which explored and revealed the type of audience I was looking at and what they wanted from my magazine. In order to get a wide range of results in the easiest way possible, I posted my questionnaire onto popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I then turned this information into a PowerPoint presentation to analyse my results and recorded myself presenting the information which can be seen through this link. After gathering all my information and getting a sense of my demographic I created an audience profile.

My readers profile was made prior to the changes I made in the name and demographic but most of this still applies to my new demographic. I included images of music festivals which are a big feature in my magazine as we look at festival fashion alongside line-ups and reviews. Even though my demographic do like alternative music, they are still female after all and enjoy things such as make-up, underwear and hair products so I think this is another thing my magazine can tap into as my audience are into their fashion and I can provide that which male music magazines can’t. I also included fashion brands such as ‘Topshop’ and ‘Zara’ which are leading high street fashion stores which are affordable for my demographic.

Even though I tweaked my target audience after this, most of this information still applies and this can be seen when I discuss my survey results and how they fit into my new demographic in the following video:

The ideal reader for my magazine would be a female around the age of 18-19 who is just going into adult life. What they would want from my magazine is a plethora of new and exciting ideas which they feel they can interact with via their phones and new technology and get the most out of their experience with my magazine. What they feel they would need from my magazine is a place where reliable reviews and articles on music which they enjoy and that no where else are supplying. They need to be able to feel included within the pages of my magazine and this is done through representing them in my pages. My main demographic are of an ABC1 demographic which is explained below.

This means that my demographic are a working to middle class set of people which enjoy better quality production and styling and also have a basic knowledge of what to expect from a good-quality magazine.

Another way in which I can refine my demographic is through looking at customer categories. Here are the main customer categories:

From these definitions, I would say my demographic lie somewhere between ‘explorers’ and ‘aspirers’ meaning my demographic consist of adventurous student-like people who are up to date on new brands but are generally swept away by the excitement of it all and don’t tend to look at the main content of things. The ‘explorers’ category gives the impression that these people take gap-years and like to travel which my magazine supports. However, this is a very middle-class quality which puts my demographic at the top end of the ABC1 category.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

After carrying out my research I found that in order to attract a wider audience, one of the main things I had to do was photograph my images in line with the male gaze. The male gaze is a feminist theory which Laura Mulvey established in 1975 within her essay: ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. This Marxist theory suggests that within the media industry the camera is male, therefore placing society in a male’s perspective. This can be seen in the pictures below where the men imitate the sexy and beautiful poses that the women do, but are automatically seen as unattractive and funny, reinforcing the idea that society think through a males perspective.  

This places men in an active position and women in a passive position which reinforces dominant ideology. However, women also aspire to these representations, even when they are the ones being placed in the subordinate position. Women see how men react to these representations of women and view them as successful, in turn making women want to be that object. These women collude in the pictures and demand the gaze of men, making them seem like they are in control. This however sends out a message to women that in order to be successful and powerful, you need to present yourself as weak in comparison to men. This again reinforces hegemonic values that men are the dominant sex. This, along with hyperreality through the use of photoshop can have a long lasting and arguably damaging effect on girls exposed to media representations. However, I am creating a business so in order for me to make profit from my magazine, my images have to address these media conventions. 

By photographing and editing my pictures in this way I made the model on my front cover desirable, therefore aspiring to be like them. This is in line with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which outlines human beings basic needs which, once fulfilled, develop into higher needs. The stages are as follows; ‘psysiological’ needs, which consists of basic necessities in order to survive and function adequately e.g. food, water, sleep etc. The need of ‘safety’ which entails a known security for family, employment and physical safety. Once these first two stages are fulfilled, a humans needs become more dependent on social interaction. The next stage is the need for ‘love/belonging’ which focuses on emotionally based relationships such as friendships, families and sexual intimacy. The next stage is ‘esteem’ which, according to Maslow, is the need to be respected, have self-respect and also respect others in order to gain confidence. Finally, the need to be the best we can be and reach our full potential was classed as ‘self-actualisation’. Magazines use this theory as they know that we as humans have a need to strive for bigger and better things, hence why humans have dreams and aspirations in life. However, rarely are humans satisfied even once they have reached one of their dreams and continue to look for harder and higher ambitions to achieve. Taking this into consideration, magazines harness onto this idea and advertise themselves as a ‘dream’ which their audience literally buy into. This theory works alongside the theory of hyperreality as photoshopping and the manipulation of photographs has made it possible for magazines to advertise their contents as a ‘dream’, as dreams are rarely practical and achievable and neither are the images which are displayed in their magazines. 

Knowing this and understanding the impact it can have on young girls, I wanted to address these theories, but not overtly, as I still wanted to attract an audience. I did this by taking images which were not completely in line with the male gaze e.g. striking, forward facing photographs, but manipulate them in line with hyperreality. This way, my audience are not seen as inferior to men but are portrayed as a desirable image for women through the use of photoshop manipulation as, after all, my audience see themselves within the pages of my magazine. 

Another way in which I attracted my audience was to use colloquial language such as ‘big thing’ and ‘other stuff’ which are common in my demographics age group of 16-24. However, I didn’t want to over-do it on colloquial language as I wanted my magazine to be taken seriously and adding phrases such as ‘OMG’ and ‘LOL’ on the cover of my magazine would deter my audience from even picking it up as they may feel these terms are too mainstream to use. Due to this, the buzz-words I used were also different to common buzz-words on a magazine. As my demographic are very associated with their music, it becomes a huge part of their lives so I used actual artists names as ‘buzz-words’ for my audience. If they see that one of their favourite bands or artists is on the cover and will feature inside the magazine, this will prompt them to buy it. This is also why I filled my top banner with more artists names instead of another article as the more artists on the cover, the more music content my magazine appears to have which will attract my audience to buy my magazine. I also included language such as ‘exclusive’ and ‘latest’ to create the sense of a community amongst my readers. If they feel they are the only ones to know an exclusive story on their favourite artists, it will get people talking about the article so they feel as if they are part of a community and this reinforces the ‘personal identification’ stage of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs as readers sympathise with the cover stars. 

I also used additional incentives to attract my audience. This was an advertisement which said ‘FREE DOWNLOAD’ which I emphasised with the use of a button. To claim their free download they have to sign up to the website which will send them monthly newsletters and e-mails about what will be in the next issue of the magazine and give them an opportunity to subscribe to the magazine and receive a copy and additional offers each month. This promotes the idea of synergy as my magazine advertises my website which instantly advertises my magazines brand. This is a vital part of keeping magazines alive as it has become extremely hard for magazines to compete with online information which is available for free.

Another feature I have incorporated into my magazine may become a unique selling point that will attract customers. This is the idea of an online blog through an account made on my website which will have message boards where people can ask questions about university, festivals, gigs etc and create a COMPASS community. Through this, my customers will be able to interact with one another, instead of all information coming straight from the magazine and getting advice from people who they can relate to as this is a time of exploration and doubt for my demographic. In doing this, I have also created a page within my magazine which will feature the most popular questions that month and will be a regular page within my magazine. This will give my customers an incentive to sign up to COMPASS’s website and start interacting with one another for a chance of their questions and answers appearing in the magazine. 

An additional way I hope to attract my audience is through retail psychology. This is when shops strategically place magazines at the front of shelves and at eye-level with customers. This will give my magazine more of a chance of getting noticed. My magazine already stands out from other magazines due to its size and form but additional techniques such as retail psychology can make a big difference when attracting your audience.

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

When carrying out the research for my magazine I found that using the internet was the most efficient way or obtaining information about my target audience. The internet made the process quick and easy and gave me access to a wide selection of people. Using QuestionPro made carrying out my questionnaire simple and effective as I was able to post them onto social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter which opened my questionnaire up to a lot more people. As well as benefiting me, it also benefitted the people answering the questionnaire as it was easy for them to complete online. If I had done this by hand it would have taken up a lot of time and people would have been less likely to answer it. This gave me reliable and valid results which made it easier to convert into graphs and charts for when I analysed my data. I also used the internet to easily attain secondary research from sites such as www.stageoflife.com.

During the construction of my magazine I used Adobe Photoshop to adapt and manipulate my photos in order to create a hyperreal effect which my audience wanted. This was the first time I had ever used this software before and was quite overwhelmed. However, with some guidance from others and perseverance I quickly grasped the basic techniques and found how quick and easy it was to edit my photographs. 

This was the initial picture.



I then used the Magic Lassoo Tool to trace around my image and get rid of the background.

I then used the spot healing brush tool to get rid of any imprefections on my models face.



I then used the auto contrast setting as this gave me my desired settings.

Moving onto my double page spread image, i also got rid of the background on this using the magic lassoo tool again.

I also got rid of any imperfections on this image using the spot healing brush tool.

As i wanted my image behind the text, i still had to make the text readable so put the offset adjustment on high to make it a little more transparent.

I then used the rubber tool to get rid of the offset adjustment on most of my image so it was only transparent on the part of my picture where the text would be.

This was the initial picture of my contents page.



I also got rid of the background on this image using the magic lassoo tool again.

I used the rubber tool to make my models legs slimmer.

I also used the same tool to make the hole here bigger for my model to appear skinnier. 
 

 After editing my photographs I was able to construct the layout and design of my magazine pages. I did this using Microsoft Publisher. I found this software very user-friendly and I was able to move things into my desired place quickly and easily. I had also been using this software from a young age so knew how it worked which saved me a lot of time and effort. Even though this programme is not as high quality as the programmes they would use in major publishing houses, I felt this was still sufficient and helped me greatly in constructing my magazine.