Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

Question 7 from Niamh1996

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

VIDEO: 

"In order to make my magazine I had to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop. I had never used this programme before, so it was hard for me at first. However, I did a few tasks beforehand to develop my skills. ‘Photoshop Development Skills’.

I had never used SurveyMonkey before creating this product. I found this programme easy to use. It was also very quick and easy. To get an audience to give me feedback, I posted a link to my survey on Facebook.

Facebook is a programme that I am extremely familiar with. I found that posting links on my Facebook helped me develop my knowledge on who my target audience was and what they wanted from my magazine. It is a dependable source to use to gain feedback from friends and family. 

I had never made any type of blog before constructing this product. I found ‘blogger’ very easy to use and would defiantly consider using it in the future."

Using Photoshop, I edited this photo of 3 of us and turned it into a image purely of me. 

Also using Photoshop, I edited an image of myself. I think I edited this image to a good standard and used the tools correctly. 

These are all of the programmes I used in developing my product: 

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your target audience? 

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your magazine?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95040385@N08/sets

Evaluation Question 3

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

Try our slideshow creator at Animoto.

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Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conversations of real media products? 

This is my magazine front cover, and an issue taken from Billboard Magazine. In the process of creating my magazine, I particularly got inspirations from Billboard Magazine. 

My magazine contains real conventions of real media products: 

• Skyline 
• Website 
• Date 
• Issue number 
• Price 
• Dominant image 
• Barcode 
• Bold text 
• Sell lines 
• Consistent use of fonts 
• Masthead 
• Website 
• Main sell-line connected to the dominant image 
• Lots of space - nothing is cramped/too busy 

By having a main dominant image on my magazine is the main convention used. Every magazine that I have researched features a main image on the font page which is linked to the main article. 

Essential information is a key feature to include as it makes the cover appear realistic - they were typical conventions to include. 

By having the barcode and price, this makes it look like it can actually be bought in a supermarket. 

I have positioned the price in a small font underneath the barcode. I did this because on most magazines, the price is usually very small. This is usually so that the buyer doesn't consider the price before they actually have to. 

£2.99 for a magazine is quite expensive, however as it is a monthly magazine it is justified. 

Every magazine that I researched stuck to a 3 colour scheme. This is why I also kept to a house style colour scheme when creating my magazine - pink, yellow, white. 

By doing this it appears neat, consistent and professional. Also, my colour scheme is bright and eye-catching, this appeals to my audience. 

My contents page contains conventions of real media products: 

• Title 
• Colour scheme 
• Structured 
• Headings 
• Top singles and albums 
• Issue number and date 
• Images 
• Busy 
• Page numbers 
• Advertisement to get involved 

I have organised my magazine into 4 sections, all of which will appeal to my target audience: music, interviews, must haves and events.

Underneath each heading I have listed the names of all the magazine articles – some sections, such as music, hold more articles. As it is a music magazine, I intestinally made this section bigger.

With having my contents page structured, it will help my the reader to easily locate which article they want to read first. Also, with holding more sections it makes this magazine unique and stand out to other music magazines that are available. This broadens the target audience as it means the magazine caters to a bigger variety of people – i.e. people who are interested in hearing solely about upcoming events. 

By having a busy appearance, it automatically makes the magazine look more interesting. Therefore more appealing to a reader.

Again, it contains both the date and issue number. This is because most magazines do this as it helps keep track of what each issue contained and when it was published.

I also stuck to the same colour scheme and the same text. By doing this, it helps the magazine look neat and tidy. It is also a convention that other magazines use.

Having a advertisement on the contents page will help create more buyers as it makes them want to ‘get involved’. 

My double page spread contains conventions of real media products: 

• Dominant image
• Text led 
• Caption 
• Page numbers 
• Pull quote 
• 3 columns 
• Small black font 
• Layout 
• Headline 
• Colour scheme 

The dominant image has been positioned neatly on the DPS, thus making the page look tidy and professional.

I have changed the colour scheme on my DPS, but not drastically.

Before, I was using: pink, yellow and white.

With my model wearing a light green/blue colour, I thought the colours would clash. Therefore I changed the colour scheme to: pink, white and blue.

With having a pull quote, this catches the readers eye first and makes them want to read the interview.

I have kept the text continuous throughout the whole magazine – again giving it a realistic and structured look.

In a magazine, the text is always in columns. Especially when it comes to interviews, there is usually always 3 or more columns.

As my magazine is aimed at older  teenagers, I wanted to make my magazine slightly more text led rather than image led. Therefore, I included one image in my DPS. The image is quite large so it is eye-catching, also what she is wearing is fashionable and appealing - this may appeal to the reader.

Having the article in small black font is one of the biggest typical conventions in magazines. 

Contents

Brief

Key Features of aMagazine Cover

PowerpointPresentation – Deconstructions of 3 Music Magazine Covers

Blog Post –Deconstruction of 3 contents pages (essay form, using headings from handout)

Preliminary TaskFlat Plans

Preliminary Task

Deconstructions ofDouble Page Spreads

Main Task ProposalTable

InspirationalTexts – Music Videos

Previous StudentsWork Table / Evaluation

Photoshop SkillsDevelopment 1 – Jarvis Cocker Task

Photoshop SkillsDevelopment 2 – The Simpsons Poster Task

Stage 2 MagazineProposal

InstitutionalResearch

Proposal Tablewith Potential Problems

Audience Researchand Analysis of Data

Front cover,contents and DPS flat plans with written rationale

The Recce

PhotoshootPlanning

The Conventions, The producer and The Target Audience of My Text 

Sample fonts for my magazine 

Sample background colours for my front cover 

Photographs –which ones used, which ones you haven’t used and why

Front cover updates: 

Update 1

Update 2 

Update 3 

Update 4 

Final update 

Contents page updates: 

Update 1 

Update 2 

Update 3 

Update 4 

Update 5 

Update 6 

Update 7 

Update 8 

Final update 

Double page spread updates: 

Update 1 

Update 2 

Update 3 

Update 4 

Update 5 

Final update 

Final Update - Double Page Spread

For my double page spread, I again altered a few little things. 

Firstly, I read through my article and corrected any spelling mistakes I made. A one that I made a few times was 'schedule', I was writing 'scheual'. I also corrected some other grammar mistakes that I made: sence instead of sense; adding a full stop at the end of a sentence; adding in words that I missed out; and correcting 'too' to 'to'. 


I have also added page numbers at the bottom of the page, thus adding to make it look realistic. When adding these page numbers, I used the ruler tool so that they were both in line with one another. 


For the pull quote, I wanted to make it more eye-catching. To do this, I used the blending options and gave it a black outline. 

I also edited the positioning of the caption, by doing this it fits better into the page and looks neater. 

Final Update - Contents Page

On my contents page, I made a few more changes. 

On the left-hand side of the page, I had a blue column which held the 'Top 40 Singles of the month' and the "Top 15 Albums of the month". Now, I have changed it so that it is now a pink column. With doing this, the black text is a lot more clearer for the reader to read. On top of this, to make the headings "Top 40 Singles of the month' and 'Top 15 Albums of the month' stand out, I went onto blending options and gave it a black outline. Thus making the heading stand out more. 


Also, I have altered the headings that sector my magazine: music, interviews, must haves and event. All of these headings were different and not consistent, therefore I wanted to change this.  I made it so that each heading was exactly the same - I made them all have a red glow. 


I also had a few spelling mistakes, such as 'MUST HAVS' instead of 'MUST HAVES' and 'TICKTS' instead of 'TICKETS'. So I re-read all of my page and fixed these mistakes. 


Also, when writing in the contents of the magazine, I have not consistently used a capital letter for each word. So I went through and changed 'Pop takes over' to 'Pop Takes Over'. By doing this, I have made it look consistent throughout and more professional.