Evaluation - Draft 2 : http://www.slideshare.net/chantelleswainmedia/magazine-evaluation-draft-2

Here are the hyperlinks on the slide in case they stop working: 
Slide 3: 

http://chantelleswain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/research-into-similar-products-analysis.html
http://chantelleswain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/drafting-planning-self-assessment-of.html


Slide 7: 

http://chantelleswain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/drafting-planning-masthead-research.html


Slide 9: 

http://chantelleswain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/analysis-of-contents-pages.html


Slide 11: 

http://chantelleswain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/research-analysis-of-similar-double.html

Slide 14: 

http://chantelleswain.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/drafting-planning-further-improvements.html

Slide 16: 

http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands
http://chantelleswain.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/empty.html


Slide 21: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BSGTSGY
http://chantelleswain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/target-audience-survey-monkey.html

Draft Evaluation: http://www.slideshare.net/chantelleswainmedia/evaluation-powerpoint-draft-1

Research into similar products: Evaluation - Section 3

I am going to write about which company will distribute my magazine tomorrow. (Wednesday 18th)

Bauer Media

Bauer Media Group is a large European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany that manages a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world. The portfolio extends to include print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services.

Bauer owns and distributes Kerrang! magazine, which has a similar demographic to Rocksound and to the desired audience of Stone Cold. This demonstrates that Bauer would be the best company the market and distribute Stone Cold to the largest target audience possible because not only does it already have an established similar audience (Kerrang!), but it owns music radio and TV stations on which Stone Cold could be advertised on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauer_Media_Group
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands

I have researched companies that produce/ distribute music magazines in order to establish why I have chosen Bauer Media:

IPC Media/ Time Inc

Time Inc. UK formerly International Publishing Corporation (IPC Media) is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the UK, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Here are some of the brands that Time Inc/ IPC distributes:

 http://www.timeincuk.com/

Among the items in this list is NME which is the only music magazine that IPC produces. NME has a different target audience than Kerrang! and Rocksound, and more importantly Stone Cold so I think it would be inappropriate to choose IPC media as a distributor for Stone Cold.

Axel Springer

The creator of Metal Hammer Wilfried F. Rimensberger approached some of Europe's largest publishers such as Springer, Ringier and Bauer, but none were interested. This shows me that Axel Springer is open to a niche market. In addition to this, metal hammer seem to have a similar target audience to Stone Cold.

I did seriously consider using Axel Springer as a distributor of Stone Cold because of the similar target audiences of Metal Hammer, but Freeway Press took presidency over these other distributors mainly because it is the actual distributor of Rocksound, therefore it is the most well suited distributor for Stone Cold.

http://www.axelspringer.de/en/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Springer_SE

Target Audience: Feeeback on contents page.

I found the feedback from my target audience about my cover very helpful so I decided to conduct a similar test of my contents page, as this is the section of my magazine that I am most unsure about.
I asked the same 10 people that are within my target audience range which part of my contents page they liked the least, and whether it was holistic with my front cover:

1. Age 15- You need to add more pages. I know you have 94 but if this is monthly it needs to have more than 100 pages. I wouldn't buy a monthly magazine with only 94 pages.
2. Age 16- The font is a bit overwhelming. I think you should choose a different font for the title or the stories. But don't change both or it wont match with the fonts on the cover.
3. Age 16- It looks good but there's not enough pages so the magazine would be bad value.
4. Age 15- You used Impact too much. Rocksound uses different fonts.
6. Age 19 - The stories are too long. When I used to buy rock mags like Kerrang the stories were short.
7. Age 15- I really like the the 'Regulars' has been put in a box because it matches with the cover. But the downside is there arent enough stories in the review section. Normally if Kerrang does  reviews of albums there is more than 4.
8. Age 17- Impact as a font is too overused on the contents page. You should change the title into a different font.
9. Age 18- I really like that the background colour has stayed consistant because it helps the cover and contents page to match and it makes the magazine flow. The thing I think is bad is the amount of page numbers. Weekly magazines have about 50 pages and monthly magazine have like 100 so the numbers need to be bumped up a bit.
10. Age 22- The contents page and contents page does match but maybe a little bit too much. The font of the stories fits well together, but my advise is to change the title font because impact is used a bit too much when you compare it to the front cover.

I took these comments on and created a new version of my contents page that fulfils the needs of my target audience better than previous versions:

My target audience liked the continuation of the 'white on black' effect that I used on my cover and contents page. They also liked the grey background colour used as it was a continuation of the house style that was used on the cover.

The downsides were that I had too few pages for a monthly magazine, my story descriptions were too long, and my album review section was too short. These were the main issues that could make my target audience disinterested in Stone Cold.

I have bumped the page numbers up to 106, and the Redding festival set list would be 4 pages, so the magazine as a whole is now 110 pages instead of 98. This will convince my target audience to buy Stone Cold as they are getting better value for their money. In addition to this, I shortened my stories. They now entice the potential audience to buy the magazine, instead of explaining the content before they can even read it. As well as this, I added 'You Me At Six - Cavalier Youth' so that the Review section of Stone Cold is longer. As this is a regular feature, adding more content to the Review section will encourage my target audience to buy the next issue of the magazine because they will be receiving a sizable amount of content.

This is the contents page I will submit as my final piece.

Organisation: Evaluation.

I will begin my evaluation over this half term holiday. I plan to start work on my Powerpoint presentation on Monday the 16th and I will do one area of my evaluation per day.

I plan to organise my time in this way so that no area of my evaluation is rushed and is explained thoroughly.

Monday 16th-

1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• Cover - Influences from Rocksound
• Contents - Kerrang
• Double Page Spread - Influence from Kerrang

Tuesday 17th-

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

• Women -role models
• Young people 15-24

Wednesday 18th-

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

• Research about Bauer Media, IPC and Axel Springer 
• Suitable?
• Reasons for choosing Freeway Press

Thursday 19th-

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

• Males and females
• 15-24
• Rock lovers
• Similar audience to Rocksound

Friday 20th-

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• Link to SurveryMonkey

Saturday 21st- 

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

• Dicuss paint.net / page plus
• Easier/Harder

Sunday 22nd-

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

• Compare covers
• Compare contents 

Monday 23rd-

8.How successful do you feel your end product is in fulfilling the task? How well does it fit the brief?

In my opinion my end product fulfils the breif successfully because it conforms to the vast majority of the codes and conventions of music magazines, appears professional, has the correct attitude for a rock music magazine.

I have chosen to plan my time like this as even if I do not finish on the 23rd February I still have a few spare days to finish it before the draft deadline.

Drafting & Planning: Self assessment analysis of Stone Cold front cover

I decided to analyse my own work in order to reflect on the codes and conventions that I have studied and learnt over the course.
I have included a a large amount of the codes and conventions of magazines and I am confident that my piece resembles a real, professional-looking magazine.
I have also included the codes and conventions of Rocksound magazine such as free posters, exclsuive interviews and large, bold coverlines.

I plan to include this self analysis in my evaluation of the project because it demonstrates my learning, understanding, and fulfilling of the task.

Drafting & Planning: Cover Improvements from Target Audience Feedback.

I decided to re-do my cover in a similar way on page plus instead of on a publisher file because the photo ends up being bad quality after its been copied too many times. It was particularly important for me to make sure my photo and text isn't pixelated because that was one of the criticisms when i asked my target audience.

Evidence of work in PagePlus:

Using PagePlus gave me the opportunity to darken my photo and slightly increase the saturation. This made the white text on the front cover more readable and so made my cover more professional.

Final Cover: