Evaluation: Looking back at your preliminary task (College magazine) What have you learnt in terms of progression from that to the full product?

 

By comparing the front covers of the two magazine I created it's easy to see how much improvement has been made. The preliminary task was to get used to the basic of photoshops, like changing the brightness and adding in coverlines.  After learning the basics it became easier to learn how to change colour and add in different effects. I realised after creating my college magazine that having the writing horizontal instead of slanted made the magazine more professional so in my actual magazine I made sure I didn't slant any of the coverlines. I also added in more coverlines as the preliminary magazine looks very plain and has a lot of blank space so I made sure any blank space was filled in without the magazine looking untidy .
By improving my basic skills I was able to learn how to air brush images, however I didn't need to use this skill as simply by changing the brightness improved the image and there wasn't anything to airbrush out.

Evaluation: In what ways does your media product challenge forms and conventions of real magazine products?

I decided to use simple conventions as I felt using more complicated ones would make my magazine tacky. However the genre pop is popular with magazines and it was hard to find a basic style to follow except for smash hits which is now out of business. Some structures of smash hits front cover was easy to replicate and change. Every smash hits magazine had a colour scheme that they followed so I decided to add this into my magazine.

In order to make my music magazine look professional, I took the essential features such as issue numbers, barcodes, advertisements and often a twitter link. I also noticed that most magazine front covers have a plain background so when planning my photoshoot I found a pale wall that I could use instead of a white screen. By doing this it made it easier when constructing my front cover as i didn't have to remove much of the background except a few marks and unnecessary shadows on the wall.

When researching other magazine I noticed that for each coverline on the front cover the font changed so it was easy to seperate each coverline. So I made sure that I did this for every coverline so that it was easy to tell them apart when they were in a list format.

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represent young teenage girls and the images I used were of people in girly clothes, such as jeans or leggings. In one of my images the model is wearing sunglasses as this is something that this social group tend to wear, especially in summer. I have also represented this group by adding in a free one direction poster as this band is one of many artists that this social group listen too. X factor is a program that this social group tend to talk about so I featured contents and some other things about the X factor in my magazine. My media magazine represents this social groups with the style of images and the models used in them, the articles featured in my magazine and the colour scheme used.

Evaluation: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Media instituions like HMV might distribute my media product as the shop sells media products such as DVD's, CD's, computer games, posters, books and some music magazines. My media product would fit in the section where the music magazine and books are. HMV is a media based shop and sells all kinds of media so they might distribute my product as it goes along with the style of the shop.

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your media product?

My media product is aimed at girls between the ages of 11-14. I chose this to be my target audience as they are more into pop music and pop artists like Justin Bieber, than any other age group. The genre of my magazine is pop so it's perfect for the target audeince. My target audience also like girly colours which is why I chose pink to be one of the colours that would feature through-out my magazine.

Evaluation: How did you attract your audience?

In order to attract my audience, I made the front cover colourful by using a colour scheme of pink and green. I also made the main image quite big and bright so that it caught my audiences eye. I made the main coverline big so that they could see what was in the magazine and I also used images that were associated with other articles in the magazine, this made the front cover more interesting rather than just having written coverlines all over the page.

Evaluation

Double Page Spread after feedback

After the feedback, I have added a barcode that readers can scan to order the artists new song. This has filled in the empty space that was there and make the double page look complete.

Audience Feedback On Whole Magazine

I showed some people pictures of my whole magazine so they could see how they looked once next to each other:

Most of the feedback I was very positive and for my front cover and contents page there was nothing I should change. The poeple I asked said they could tell each page belonged with the others because of the colour scheme and style of these two pages. They also said that the layout wasn't too complicated and therefore it complemented the colours.
However a few of my repsondents said I should add something to the top right of my double page spread as there is some empty space, once this was done they said the magazine would look really good.

Finished Double Page SpreadThe article itself is structured in 3 columns so it doesn't look messy. Each column have answers to 3 questions so 9 questions in total. This double page spread is like my style model as their is a quote that has been made bigger above the article, and the article also has questions and answers. The image itself is different from my style models, as its a long shot not a mid shot. I think the double page spread looks organised and the colour scheme targets it at my target market.



Double page spread layout.

I used an a3 size page so that when it was split in two each side would be a4. The main article will be below the quote on the right and the question will be above the answer in pink writing. The quote is taken from the article and has been made bigger so that the readers will be intrigued to read the article and find out about the quote. The line underneath describes what the article is about in more detail than the coverline on the front cover. The colour scheme has been copied through out the magazine, I decided to use green writing across a pink bar as this is the opposite to the way it is on the contents page.

 Image for Double Page spread.

I chose this image as the model represents the target audeince well. The model need to be closer, so I am going to crop the image, and get rid of the unnecessary background around the edge. I am also going to make it brighter, so that the model stands out more then the tree behind her.

This is the edited image of the original. The model is more central and the focus is completely on her as I have cropped out the unnecessary background. The brightness enhanced her clothes, and made her stand out more from the tree behind her.

Double Page Spread Style Model

The style model through-out my magazine has been smash hits, except for my contents page where I used Q magazine.
This is the layout and structure that I want to use on my double page spread. The only thing I will change is getting rid of the mini picture, and the box under the article. I will also swap the two pages around so the the image is on the left as when you turn the page you see the image before the article so it doesn't catch your eye when reading the article. I also like the idea of having the magazines name at the top of the article to show its the main article/interview.

Double Page Spread Example 2

This article is in the question and answer structure that I want to use in my double page spread. The question is written in blue and the answer in white. For this I will use my colour scheme, and ask the question in either pink or green.

I don't like the layout of the page, the writing on the image is too busy, and takes the attention away from the article. The second image also does this and there isn't much writing on the page. In my magazine I will only have one image and that will be on a seperate page to the article so it doesn't take any attention away from it.

Double Page Spread example

This double page spread has the article on one side and an image on the other. I like the layout of this double page but I don't like the structure of the article. With my article I want it to be questions and answers as this will give it a better structure.

I think I will use the layout of this double page spread by having an image on one page and the article on the other. But I will change the structure of the article.

Finished Contents Page

The advertisments will in the space, without having too much writing which an editors letter would of.
All of the space on the page has been filled, which it have been on all of the contents pages I have looked at. I think the image fits in really well with the rest of the page and it doesn't draw too much attention away from the coverlines and advertisements. I noticed in a few contents pages that there was a twitter account featured on it, so I thought adding one would make it look more professional, and it also filled in some empty space.

Almost complete

The coverlines take up most of the page, but the image breaks this up and makes it look organised rather than messy. The empty space thats left I am going to fill with the competition off the last contents page, and some other advertisement as I think there is enough writing on the page with the coverlines.

Contents with Picture

I think the picture works really well with the colours on the page. Dulling it down made it fit in better. The box on the image shows that the image is for the main article and what page it can be found on.
I put the page numbers in pink as it mades them stand out more, but also brightens up the coverlines a bit. When I have added the rest of the coverlines this page will look quite full, but will be organised so it doesn't look messy.

Contents page image

This is the image I have chosen to put on my contents page. I am going to make the picture slightly duller, as I think it will be too bright and won't fit in with the rest of my contents page as the colours are like pastel colours. I am also going to crop the cars and the othrer tree out of image.

This is the edited picture, the image isn't too dull but the brightness is less noticable. The crop made the focus more on the model than on the background as shes more central and closer.

New Contents Layout

Aswell as changing the layout I added in different subsections to the contents to give it more order. Monthly and Monthly Specials are the ones I have added in. In the green bar I have put the issue number as when looking at contents pages they all had the issue number on.

New contents style model

I looked at different contents layout to see which one would work best with my magazine. I like this one as all the space is filled, which was an issue with my contents page. I also like that there's different sections with in the contents page. The box at the top is similar to my contents page, so I will keep that feature. This layout is simple, but tidy. Instead of having a review at the bottom I will have more coverlines and some advertisements as I needed more of them.

Contents feedback

When I asked people what they thought of my contents page, some people said they really liked it but it was missing something others said:

1. Doesn't look professinal, look at other contents pages and copy the layout
2. Colour scheme works well, the layout doesn't.
3. Puff doesn't fit in
4. Looks quite empty, need to fill the space around pictures
5. Need more advertisements
6. Can't read website, too small

I am definately going to take on board point 1 and look at some contents pages. All the feedback I have shows that I need to change my contents page, especially the layout and then tweak the other things.