Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I aimed for my magazine to represent the indie social group which I think I have achieved in a variety of ways. Firstly, I think the colour scheme I have used of red, grey, black, and white particularly fits well with my target group as similar colours are found in magazines such as Q and NME. Instead of using a brightly coloured red I opted for a much darker red as I thought this colour is often used in indie style clothing – the colour is also used in my models outfit which furthers my reasoning. In addition, the black, grey, and white that I used in my magazine overall, gives my magazine a more professional look.

On my front cover I also considered the sell lines used and how they will link and relate well to my audience. Therefore, I included sell lines to do with bands in the indie/rock genre and stories that related to these bands to build interest for my reader and to make them want to buy my magazine e.g. ‘Behind the scenes with Coldplay’. This also links into the competition that I used on the front page, my ideal reader is someone who enjoys attending gigs and festivals, as a result I knew that a competition relating to the reader winning tickets to a concert would interest them greatly.

For my contents page I included a variety of articles that again would interest into my reader, I sectioned each page under a heading e.g. ‘Features’ so it was easier for my reader to navigate to their desired page; this also linked into the typical conventions of a music magazine. At the bottom of the page I included social networking logos such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ as my target market would typically be teenagers/ young adults therefore these services would be used often by my readers. 

How my model was dressed and how her hair and makeup was styled was also key as the style of someone can greatly signify what social group a person is from. On my front cover, contents page and double page spread I used a variety of shots ranging from a close up to a long shot to illustrate my models clothing etc. The clothing I used for my model linked into the indie style as she wore a maroon coloured dress with a checkered shirt underneath and some unusual patterned tights, her hair was in the style of messy waves and her makeup was very natural. Overall, this was a very independent style therefore highlighting the indie social group as they continually desire to be independent in their style and to not fit into the fashion that everyone else is following. The style of my model also is something a potential reader would wear to a festival or an outdoors event. 

Finally the image I used on my article page showed my model wearing different clothing than the other pages, on this page my model is pictured wearing a dark green jacket looking away from the camera, additionally, my model can evidently be seen wearing unique jewellery e.g. a ring in the shape of key and the model also has unusually painted nails as each nail is painted in a different colour which highlights the indie style.