Evaluation Question G: Representation

Evaluation Question G: Representation

I feel as if my product has done a very accurate job in representing the punk culture that my magazine is trying to portray, though I have mentioned previously that the whole culture is a large range of people and gender isn’t even considered as a difference within my audience, I have still found that the stereotypical demographic is a working class young adult; this is what I have planned around when designing. In order to appeal directly to them I had to understand and fit their known demographics into my magazine, this is what influences my house colour choices and cover lines etc. Throughout my research I found that the common punk fan wore fairly dark colours, this explains the black and dark red that I had used, the yellow and white was used in order to contrast with these to stand each concept out to the audience. Due to it being a magazine targeted towards males I used the majority male models, except the author’s picture, females would appeal to them however they would feel as if they have a connection already due to them being male and has something to relate to instantly; this is a convention followed by most punk rock magazines. When presenting what I have included in the magazine I have used news that would impact my audience in one way or another, these cause interest so they’ll read further into the edition. Sections I have included in my magazine such as ‘gigs’ are directly relatable to this audience, an activity that I have found is something that they do regularly to spend their time with friends for example. Other stories that I have featured are ones that will certainly grab the attention, the death of Lenny which is one of the most well-known rock stars in this culture so the majority will be mourning over his death creating a large impact on my audience in this aspect. Other audiences won’t be as affiliated to this kind of story as others, an audience of middle aged mothers whose hobbies include gardening will be the last person to pick up this magazine, they will not be seen as the kind of people to be interested in the merchandise that’s been given away free or the competition entries due to the prizes not being aimed towards them. 

Other design ideas had to be aspired towards in the sense that I had to consider even my language when writing my feature article for example. The language that I had used was intended to make it seem as if they are talking to someone else of similar interests to them, that the magazine was seen to be as having personality, to perform this and increase my consumerism within my selected audience I included words that would be found in a general dialogue between my audience including curse words and slang, this is also the way the lyrics in their favourite songs will have be written in order to direct it towards the same audience I am marketing for. Other than swearing and slang, I had to write the magazine so it will be as basic as I can make it without becoming patronising, an easy read is something that will be appealing to this audience, but they don’t want completely simplistic words as this won’t make them feel good considering even magazine brands that supposedly are on their side, become against them as well as society which they are trying to escape. However, this kind of language will only be suitable in this style of magazine whereas if I look at trying to target an elderly generation none of this will be seen as acceptable, possibly offensive, so I had to ensure that my content was written suitably. Images are a large part in creating a magazine for this audience, looking at the likes of ‘Kerrang!’ which are heavy users of imagery to promote their stories meaning that this convention is a very effective feature as it will draw more people in. So all my images had to be priority to me, the models in my magazine look as if they are to be taken seriously, though fun is no depravation of theirs still considering that some of them are made to look as if they enjoy their craft and want to do it as if it’s not a chore, this puts people off their music as they want passion, many fans of this music are happy just that I have taken similar photos to those I have seen in other magazines.