elizabeth tuft media coursework 2016
I
attracted my audience initially through my front cover as it is the first thing that my audience would see. I chose to have the main image of the artist in the centre of the page with a white border cut out. I made sure that the layout and overall appearance of my cover was simple enough not to look overpowering but not too simple as to look empty as I chose not to have words surrounding the main artist. Ths gives off the impression that the magazine has a lot to offer the audience but isn't cluttered and completely overpowered by a load of information. The image I used was casual and didn't look too staged which I thought would work better on the cover as it created a relaxed tone which involved the audience as my model used a direct mode of address by straight down the camera lens as though he was looking straight at the audience.
I felt that this would attract my audience as they would feel closer to the artist and would therefore be more involved and more inclined to buy the magazine. I used a mid/long shot on my cover so that I could make the image bigger in order to take up more space and not look too oversized on at the same time as it was the central and main focus of my cover.
chose to use hand drawn icons as it looks as though more thought has been put into the magazine which is appealing to any audience really as they know that the rest of the magazine will have the same amount of effort put into it. Also, the drawings create no anchorage to the images which allows for an element of mystery which is something I believe would attract a niche audience as they are all about new things that nobody else has discovered yet and it means that the images can be interpreted in whatever way the audience chooses. By giving them the choice of how they interpret the magazine, my audience will feel a sense of liberation as they are usually presented with a specific image or ideology whereas i have left this open to the audience. Fanzines such as 'Sniffin glue' inspired me to do this as they just had a random line written just below the masthead with odd images pictured centrally below. Instead of having words I just changed it so that there were images instead so that my cover looked more intriguing. I chose not to have any other writing that referenced to what was in the rest of the magazine on the cover as it would have clashed with the drawings and taken attention away from the main image.
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I didn't comply with the conventions of a typical magazine layout, my magazine is therefore unique on a larger scale within the magazine industry as the way I structured things on my contents page and cover page in particualr wasn't typically recognisable from a media perspective. The actual images and drawings themselves spark interest but I believe it is the placement of the elements that draw interest as they have been placed in such a way that is certainly different but aesthetically pleasing never the less. For example, I chose to have a column of images on my contents page that were slightly off centre so that they wouldn't be mistaken for the focus of the page. They were all placed on an angle which made them look as though they had been simply tossed onto the page which gives off a relaxed, casual vibe to the magazine which is good as an overdone magazine can be intimidating.
I chose to have them look like polaroid images by placing a white rectangle as a border, similar to the traditional border you would find on a real polaroid photo. This relates back to the idea of the 90's nostalgia that is associated with my target audience. I am pleased with the name I chose for my magazine: 'REVERB' as it has many connotations that are open to interpretation (similar to the music style) but ultimately communicates a rebellious, bold attittude - the kind of music that the reader would find inside the magazine.
I
based my audience from the information I found on the site: UK Tribes. From this site I found that my audience liked to subvert from the mainstream trends in terms of fashion, music trends, etc. These are elements that I could control and exploit in my magazine in order to attract my target audience's attention. My main targt audience was the 'Young Alts' but more specifically the 'Niche Alts' who adhere to the idea of being hipsters but in a slightly darker sense. Because of this, the genre I chose was ideal as grunge incorporates the indie/alternative underground bands that traditional hipsters would want to listen to whilst having a grittier twist in terms of fashion and the variation in music style. also grunge bands such as Nirvana have become more fashionable recently in niche groups which made it easier to market as my audience would be curious to know what else was popular within the genre in order to follow the trend and have a specifically different identity to other subgroups.
I thought that by keeping an open mind and trying out unique ideas that showcased the conventions of the genre that are recognised by my target audience and that are desired by those who want something different such as the use of hand drawn icons on my front cover. I marketed my magazine with the idea that the more unique I made it, the more desirable it would be.
The
way I have chosen to to address my audience through my magazine fits within the conventions of the grunge/alternative genre as it subverts from stereotypical magazine layouts and doesn't adhere to the mainstream ideals. I have also looked at the way the artists in the genre speak and the way that the writers of similar magazines tend to write and portray their genre. I noticed that they used a casual tone when writing so I took this on board and wrote in a more casual manner in my own magazine. Whilst I remained casual, I wrote in a way that was eloquent and still communicated a professional feel towards my magazine.
