1. Heidi Stevenson

2. ‘Simply pop’ uses the forms and conventions of real music magazines as it as it informs its readers of
celebrity gossip, the latest news about the music industry and interviews with musicians. My magazine
uses the forms and conventions of a typical music magazine because of the carefully selected model I
used on the front cover of ‘Simply Pop’. The teenage model is posing with her hand on her hip and is
holding the prop of a guitar above her head. The pink guitar is used as a prop to symbolise the ‘pop
music’ genre. The models dress code of a pink and black dress is also suitable for the dress of
musicians typically seen within the pop genre. The pose the model is pulling is also typical of
magazine photo shoots as seen in a magazine I researched ‘We Love Pop’.
My magazine challenges the forms and conventions of lots of
popular music magazines on the market today. ‘Pop’ magazines
such as ‘We Love Pop’ and ‘Top of the pops’ mostly use the colours
pink, orange and light blue which symbolise innocence and
femininity and are suitable for the target audience. I used the
colours pink, orange and black on my magazine and followed this
through to the contents page to create an established house
style, which the target market of my magazine will recognise.
I used the colours bright pink, purple and
black for my font style to attract the readers
eye. I used a ‘bubble gum pink’ and black
colours on the masthead which stand out
against the rest of the page, they also
match the costume of the model, making
the mise-en-scene look more effective. I
decided to name my music magazine
‘simply pop’ as I thought it was important
to have the word ‘pop’ in the title to clearly
associate with the pop genre.

3. ‘Simply Pop’ is a pop magazine and is therefore aimed at 10-16
year olds interested in pop music. I have represented the ‘Pop
genre’ through the use of mise-en-scene. On my front cover the
model is holding the prop of a pink guitar and is wearing a pink
and black stripy dress, which is a typical costume of musicians in
the pop genre. The model on the front cover of ‘simply pop’ is a
teenage girl, as I thought it was important for the model on the
front cover to relate too and represent the target audience, which
will make the magazine more popular with the target market.
Simply Pops target audience is
10-16 year olds. Research
from other pop magazines
suggested that 85% of readers
are girls and just 15% were
boys. Therefore I tried to aim
my magazine more at girls this
is shown through my
language, mode of address
and colour schemes. I used
feminine colours such as pink
and yellow to appeal to
girls, these colours also
promoted innocence and had
an essence of fun.
I tried to represent my target markets specific age group through the use
of language to create a chatty and friendly mode of address. I used the
word ‘you’ to address the target audience so that the audience would
personally connect with the magazine, and feel like it was aimed at
them, making them more likely to buy the magazine.

4. I believe my magazine would have to be published with a popular media institution such
as the BBC( British Broadcast corporation) . If my magazine was distributed by the BBC it
would be seen as having a high standard as BBC has a good reputation as an media
institution. The BBC have published ‘top of the pops magazine’, ‘girl talk’ and ‘the radio
times’. The BBC have more that one million subscribers of their magazines, and have
expertise in digital platforms. The BBC uses cross media convergence to maximise the
impact of its media products and owns many radio stations.
BBC might publish my magazine as it publishes similar products such as ‘top of the
pops’ and ‘girl talk’ which are both aimed at a younger teenage audience and have a
similar target market to my magazine.

5.  The target audience for my media product are 10-16 year olds, I think my magazine will appeal mainly
to girls. The age range I am aiming at is similar to the BBC’s ‘ top of the pops’ magazine. My research
into institutions showed that 85% of the magazines readership are girls and just 15% were boys. Based
on this research I decided to target my magazine at girls aged 10-16. I made sure that my magazine
would appeal to girls of this age group by researching popular magazines already on the market, aimed
at a similar target audience to my own. I found that the pop music magazines already on the market all
had typical media conventions, which I tried to follow to make my magazine more successful in
appealing to my target audience. I used bright vibrant colours to attract the readers eye, and prop and
magazine to make my magazine fit with the typical conventions of a pop magazine.

6.  I think I attracted the target audience to my magazine using some media techniques such as Mise-en-
scene, language, colour schemes and font styles. I think 10-16 year olds will be attracted to my pop
music magazine because of the front cover. The model on the front cover is a teenage girl and is
therefore a similar age to my target audience, I think this will help my target audience connect with and
relate to the magazine making them more likely to buy it. The costume and prop on the front cover will
also help attract my target audience as they associate with the pop genre. The language I have used in
my magazine will also help address the target audience. I have used the tag line ‘the pictures they
didn't want you to see’ by using the word ‘you’, my magazine addresses the target audience personally
and creates a friendly, chatty mode of address which will appeal to teenagers. I have also used some
‘slang’ words such as ‘eek!’ which mimics the way teenagers speak, enhancing the informal mode of
address. In addition to this I have included typical content of pop music magazines into my
magazine, such as interviews with popular ‘pop stars’ and celebrity gossip. I think that interviews with
musicians are one on the most important aspects of attracting the 10-16 year old age group because
this specific age group are highly influenced by celebrities and see them as ‘role models’ therefore if
their favourite musician is in the magazine they will be more likely to buy it.

7. The skills I have learnt during the process of making my music magazine has improved my
finished product dramatically. As you can see from the below pictures my original image had a
brick wall in the background, I then made this background white using Photoshop. Using
Photoshop has improved the quality of my product dramatically as it makes the finished
magazine look more professional and similar to many magazines on the market today. I have
also learnt to use a Mac to work on my product, using a Mac made my finish product look
more professional rather than using a simple word document to create my magazine.

8. I think my skills in making a magazine have improved a lot since completing the school magazine preliminary
task. The school magazine looks very bare and dull compared to the music magazine, this is because I have
gained a greater understanding of the conventions of a magazine, such as font styles, layout, and mise en
scene. I improved my main task music magazine by adding more interesting font styles to catch the readers
eye. I also used a wide range of different images across the front cover, contents page and double page
spread which makes the magazine look more appealing to the target audience. The colours used on my music
magazine are more appropriate for the pop genre and are bright and vibrant which will catch the readers eye.

9. Question 1- All 10 people Question 5- 3 people of the 10
answering my answered that the model stood
questionnaire thought my out the most on the front page.
magazine belonged to the 5 people thought that the bright
pop genre. colour scheme stood out the
most. 2 people thought that the
Question 2- 9 out of the 10 masthead and logo of magazine
people surveyed thought that stood out the most.
my magazine was targeted at
10-16 year olds. Question 6- 5 out of 10 people
thought that the colour scheme
Question 3- All 10 people was most prominent on the
answering the questionnaire contents page, 3 said font and
thought that the photos used masthead, 2 said the scattered
on my magazine were images.
suitable for the pop genre. Question 7- 7 out of the 10
Question 4- 8 of the 10 people thought that the main
people surveyed image was the most prominent on
thought that the font the double page spread. 2 said
styles used were that the masthead stood out the
appropriate for the pop most, 1 said the font style.
genre. Question 8- 7 out of the 10 surveyed
said that they would pay £2 for my
magazine.
Question 9- 5 out of the 10 people surveyed
said that I should change the font styles to
improve my magazine. 2 said I could add
more images and 3 said to improve I should
make font bigger.
Question 10- 7 females and
3 males answered my
questionnaire.