Summary of what I have learnt so far

Summary of my work so far

So far, I have completed 7 tasks during my research project in to the (music) magazine industry, in this summary of what I have learnt so far, I will go back and reflect on all the research I have done so far. I will reflect on everything I have learnt so far from all my research and use it to help me later on in the course when I’m producing my own magazine cover, contents and double page spread.  These tasks have also helped me to learn how to use new computer programs which I mag have not even heard of before such as powtoon, slide share and final cut pro etc.

1.     Introduction to me and the brief- In this task I investigated the brief to find out exactly what was wanted from me and what was expected for me to achieve throughout the course. It gave me an insight on what I would be learning and how I would be learning it. It also gave me a good idea about what to start thinking about and what to look out for in places such as shops before I had even started working in class towards this project. 

2.     Magazine industry context- from doing this first blog task, I started building some knowledge on the magazine industry in general but also more deeply into the music magazine industry which I didn’t have any prior knowledge about. This helped me in many different ways because I really got to know what the course was about and gain a deeper knowledge into the industry rather than skim over the brief, which I did in the task before. 

3.     Key concepts applied to a music magazine- In this blog task I started to learn about the actual hard copy of a music magazine (rather than the industry), some of the conventions that they involve, how they appeal to there audience through concepts like genre, audience, institution and representation, I also learnt more general facts about (music) magazines such as the history and the differences between newspapers and magazines. This research task again added to my knowledge on what we are studying and topped up the knowledge that I had been gaining throughout the tasks I had completed to this point.

4.     Analyzing magazine covers and there similarities and differences- in this task I analyzed 6 different magazine covers in depth, this task therefore helped me to start gaining knowledge on how magazine appeal to there target audiences, attract there target audiences and therefore generate profits. This task helped me to begin to understand what is needed to create a successful magazine as well as show me what type of music magazines already exist. I then compared the codes and conventions used throughout all of these different magazines to know what I should try and use in my own magazine cover. This task really started to broaden my knowledge on music magazine codes and conventions and why the author/illustrator/publisher???? Uses these conventions.

5.     Music magazine names- in this task I researched into the names of music magazines that already exist in the industry, I did this by using both the internet and going to shops and seeing what music magazines were on offer to buy so I could use the names of them for my research. With all my findings I then put all the information on music magazine names into a wordle, this is a way to show my finding in a clear, organized way. I found this task to be very useful because when I come to making my own name I have a really good idea on what is already on the market and so not to use one of those but also what makes a good magazine name and what people tend to go for to make my magazine as popular as it could be.

6.     Music magazine publishers- in this task I did research into two different music magazine publishers, one being bigger than the other however they both produce music magazines that sell well/have a large circulation (bauer) but anthem had a smaller circulation. This task helped me to understand what type of people and companies are behind music magazines. This information that I have gained from this task will help me when I am creating and designing my own music magazine later on as I will have gained understanding of what is needed and what is common on a music magazine for the companies to produce and sell them.

7.     Music iconography- in this task I created a mind map of different music iconography for all different genres. For example I found in the rock genre lots of artist are very serious in photos and color schemes include darker colors. This connotes the danger sometimes associated with the music. The way I created my information was clear and precise and so will help me later on as its not hard information to understand. I enjoyed learning about all the different music genres and this research will help me later on when choosing the genre to use for my own magazine.

Im really enjoying this project so far, and im looking forward to furthering my knowledge in this area of media but also technology (from using my blog) as it is something that I have never looked into in this much depth before but is a subject that I really enjoy and look forward to learning about in both lessons and independently in my own time.