1. Evaluation

2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
Front cover
real media products? Contents page

3. • For my magazine to follow the typical conventions of a magazine, I
researched several magazines and analysed them in order to see
the construction of a magazine such as where the masthead is
placed, use of main images, sub stories and cover lines. I also took
into consider the genre, as things are often layed out in different
ways to suit the genre of the magazine. Some front covers are quite
simplistic but can give off so much information, however there
could be front covers with loads of information on the front but its
too cluttered ruining the main image and making it to difficult to
read. As well as looking at genre we looked at classes and genders
of the target audiences. I had to consider this when constructing
my college magazine making it targeted at students, and using
things that will relate to the college and student life. For my college
magazine I think both my front cover and contents follow the
conventions of a magazine as I have inluded a masthead, main
image, sub stories, barcode and cover lines are all included.

4. This is a standard student magazine in which
influenced my college magazine.

5. Music Magazine
• When researching music magazines the conventions are still the same as any other
magazine, they follow the usual rule of a masthead, main image was always placed
in the same place etc. However I furthered my research from more music
magazines before playing around with layouts for my front cover contents page
and double page spread
I really liked this double page from nme
magazine. I liked the simplicity of it , how
most of the double page was taken up from
the image, then there was the article down
the right handside. I also like the colours
and lines on the page, they tie in well with
the background creating quite a moody feel
for the photo.

6. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My college magazine represents particular social
groups, mainly being students. This is due to the
fact the articles within the magazine all relate to
the college in some way or another, such as
ofsted reports, new courses available etc.
However the magazine may attract college staff
and other workers around college, so they are up
to date with the latest news around the college.
It could also be targeted at high school kids in
there last year at high school before moving on to
college. It can be used as a ‘taster’ to attract
them to some of the things our college entices.

7. From looking at my contents page, you can
immediately see that it is aimed at students
aged 16+ this is because the usual age of
joining college is 16. I was able to attract my
audience further by use of quite exciting
pictures and stories to accompany them.
For example there an article on the students
photography gallery. I have also advertised
new facilities within the college which could
be of major interest to people that enjoy
media related subjects.
There is also a competition to our local
Oscars night to win tickets for free entrance
and VIP seats. Again its related to a college
event.

8. My music magazine represents a social group based on there musical
interests this time. Meaning the appeal will only be to those who like
the genre of music I have chosen to make my magazine on. Although
this cuts down a lot of the target audience it can still be made to
appeal to others and draw them in. I have done this again by adding a
quiz to win tickets to another festival which has many different genres
of music so this in some ways balances it out. The main genre of my
magazine is ‘indie’. This is expressed through the fonts I have used
and also the colour scheme. My target audience would be between
the ages of 15+. I think people of all ages above 15 would be
interested in my magazine as it has a mixture of mainstream artists as
well as a few not so well known. Again I think my magazine can
appeal to both genders. My colour schemes are neutral so it doesn’t
favour a male or female vibe. However the artist on the front is
female, but this again can attract males and females.
I think the media institutions that would distribute my magazine
would be less known music magazines. Although I have main stream
bands within my articles I still feel that due to a lot of the up and
coming artists within my magazine it wouldn’t be taken on by a
mainstream business such as NME.
I was able to attract and address my audience through the solid
colours I have used in my writing, their quite striking and make you
want to read on. Also there is elements of male gaze. This is due to
the fact I have used a female artist, and this could attract males
between the ages of 16-19.
Including the section about winning free tickets to a festival is another
very common and typical convention of magazines. When things are
offered for Free it definitely pulls the reader in.

9. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
• Overall I have learnt that there is a lot of effort needed to make a
magazine. So much time and effort goes into them, and it isn't as
easy as it looks. Even though you have the programs to make the
products, it’s a skill in itself to put the piece together. You need to
have knowledge of these programs in order to produce a quality
final piece. Throughout this project I have further enhanced my
knowledge of each of these programs which shows when you
compare my college magazine to my music one. I did my college
magazine on Microsoft word and paint, using standard tools such as
copy and paste to put them together. After building up my
knowledge of other programs such as Photoshop , quarkxpress and
publisher I was able to enhance my music magazine in order to give
it a more professional feel. I liked how I could use different filters
for my pictures and more advanced tools. For my music magazine’s
contents page, I used a range of tools such as cropping images
down, font adjustments and Polaroid filters.

10. I created my own background
for my contents pages using
picnik for the effects.

11. Experimenting with different programs
Experimenting with picnik.
Experimenting with double page spreads
on quarkxpress.

12. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
• Looking back from the preliminary task we were given, I think I have learnt quite a lot. Originally I
thought the project was quite a straight forward one, however it wasn’t till further on in the
project I seen how much work was actually needed to be put in, to create a presentable magazine.
There is so much precision involved within each magazine. Taking the images are the easier tasks,
its when you actually being constructing the magazine from them, is when you realise they may
not work or suit the style of your magazine. It always helps to edit your images as you may need to
crop them, or change the contrast in order to fit the colours of the magazine. All of these factors
need to be taken into consideration when designing a magazine. Throughout the project my front
cover contents and double page were all changed quite frequently as other magazines may have
influenced me to alter mine is someway. The texts I used for my magazines came from Dafont.com.
There was a wide selection of fonts to choose from, and I think the ones I chose have really
enhanced the look of my magazines. You can definitely see the difference in skill between my
college magazine and my music magazine. Obviously due to being more knowledgeable and
familiar with the programs I could enhance my music magazine making it clear and standing out. It
definitely pulls the reader in. where as my college magazine is quite basic and standard. My final
project in my opinion has turned out really well for each my college mag and music one. Im
pleased with both and I'm happy with the contrast between the two as it clearly shows the change
in ability between each magazine.