Evaluation part 7

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

Looking back at my preliminary task, I can see a huge transition of skills I had at the beginning of the course, and at the end of the course. My abilities have far exceeded my expectations. Although I had a vague idea of what magazine I wanted to create, I didn't have the sufficient resources or skill-set to create what I had planned. However, thanks to the creation of my final magazine I have learnt many skills that has helped me and will help me in the future. I was able to create many different drafts of my magazine, and experiment with different colours and styles. This gave me more of a broader level of skills which I have used through my course. I have learnt to be less safe with my ideas and take risks, which I have done for my final magazine. Ultimately it has led to a much better product which will appeal to my target audience. Photoshop is extremely useful as it allowed me to change my magazine's look COMPLETELY. This was very time-consuming but proved worthwhile in the long run. I knew the idea that I wanted my magazine to have and that was simplistic, with the use of minimal writing and the main image in the middle of the page I knew that research would pay off. Although my magazine genre is Indie, I was able to make it appeal to all audiences, by using different techniques such as different font styles and differnet background colours. Colours also helped me differentiate my work, as I was able to research the different meanings of colours. Red is passion and love, yellow is energy, green is nature etc. Finally, the terminology used throughout the course was very new to me. I didn't know what conglomerate institutions were, but now I have learnt it's meaning I am able to use it in my Media exam work. These conglomerate institutions has one sole leader,(like Time Inc), but controls many smaller brands to further extend profits and audiences. This is all information I was able to obtain subconsciously throughout the course. Finally, I was able to look at how the editor was able to connect with the reader, whether it was with colloquial language or formal text, it allowed me to absorb some of the traits, which I could then go on to use in my magazine. Learning about different aspects of the magazine was really helpful when creating my final piece as well. Things such as sidebars, mastheads, coverlines and more features allowed me to experiment with my magazine and convert my mental knowledge in to physical work easily. This was helpful and allowed me to further apply my knowledge to my work I had already done to make it look much better in my final piece.

Evaluation part 6

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

From what I can see by looking bat at my preliminary task, I have been able to exceed my limitations and further learn a wide variety of techniques which has helped my create my magazine at the optimum level, throughout the course. The most common application I have used, and the one that has consistently been able to exceed my expectations is 'Photoshop'. I have used this frequently as it has a wide range of techniques on it which I was able to experiment with. When I first started creating my magazine, I was limited with what I could do with it, in the sense that I didn't know of many options I had. However, when I used 'Photoshop', it allowed me to express my ideas in a way that I didn't think was possible. I had completely re-worked my magazine cover page, which I was only able to do with the expertise that 'Photoshop' had to offer. I was also able to change an ordinary image of my model into something that looked classy, and inspiring.

It was good to have such a variety of options available. This is relevant as I was able to create a much better looking magazine, rather than a magazine that I didn't like the look of. It was useful to check what kind of style I like the most as well.

To conclude, I believe that having a wide variety of platforms to create your magazine on has been useful to both make your magazine better, and to expand your knowledge for future products. With my evaluation, I used a variety of platforms, and some of which I hadn't used before. To be given the chance to use it has allowed me to push myself further and to get the best possible outcome.

Evaluation part 5

Evaluation part 4

Who would be your audience for your magazine?
My target audience for my magazine is young adults and teenagers aged 16-25. This is due to their outgoing nature and their interest in both music and reading about their hobbies. Audience' is a very important concept throughout media studies. All media texts are made with an audience in mind, ie a group of people who will receive it and make some sort of sense out of it. And generally, but not always, the producers make some money out of that audience. Therefore it is important to understand what happens when an audience "meets" a media text.When a media text is being planned, perhaps the most important question the producers consider is "Does it have an audience?" If the answer to this is 'no', then there is no point in going any further. If no one is going to watch/read/play/buy the text, the producers aren't going to make any money or get their message across. Audience research is a major part of any media company's work. They use questionnaires, focus groups, and comparisons to existing media texts, and spend a great deal of time and money finding out if there is anyone out there who might be interested in their idea. Whilst conducting my research I have found out that the main target audience is 16-25 year olds, just like my magazine. Research also shows that these individuals are more engaged in social media, thus allowing to spread the latest trends and even the latest music magazines.

My magazine genre is Indie, and my target audience is relevant to my genre as the majority of Indie music fans are in this category. It isn't stressed enough flexible this age group is, due to the ever changing society, and the growing use of social media. Although my target audience is this specific range, my subculture is aimed at middle class people aged 21. This is, I believe, the optimum group which can increase my magazine's popularity and distribution across the country, and potentially across the world.

This shows my targeted subculture and it shows what kind of things they enjoy doing. For example, music and shopping. This is relevant to my magazine as  my music magazine is easily obtainable, since it is free to obtain. Although middle class people are seen to be rich, it is convenient to have a free magazine. Also, the music that is featured in my music magazine is to be played in clubs, which my first picture shows. Going to clubs will be seen as 'edgy' and will immediately accept an individual for the stages that they undergo to join that subculture, such as going to a club.

Evaluation part 2

 How does your audience represent a particular social group?

The Social group I am trying to portray is that of a young and independent nature, this often collaborates with the music style of indie, or 'hipster' genre. Also, this involves being yourself and not being like modern day society, in the sense that you copy what other people do. The age range of this social group will be about 16-25 and although this is quite a large age group it allows diversity and variety within the group. My magazine is relevant as it has no restrictions and allows different interpretations from different types of people.

This is the image I used for my cover page. This image has been chosen due to the carefree look on his face, and the fact that he isn't wearing mainstream clothing, but instead he is wearing a T-shirt with a strange design, a tiger on a rainbow-like path. Also, the clothing looks quite comfortable and slightly edgy which appeals to the 'hipster' genre. Although he is trying to look serious, his face still has a sense of him being carefree, suggesting that serious isn't something that he usually relates to. The fact that his attire consists of many colours represents his mixed emotions and styles, with red passion, yellow energy, etc.

Evaluation part 3

Evaluation part 1

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

In my music magazine, I have decided to challenge some forms and conventions, whilst generally using the typical conventions of a magazine. Throughout the course I was able to identify many different conventions in the world of music magazines, but only one really appealed to me; Indie music was a music magazine that typically had very simple yet edgy styles, which, when I experimented with, made my magazine look much more effective. The main examples of this look are magazines made by 'NME'.  This type of magazine appealed to me the most as it was easy to understand yet eye-catching at the same time, which was extremely effective. I have used this type of style in my magazine so that it allows me to create a simple cover, which is still very effective and it creates quite a mystery, whilst not giving too much away about the chosen topic, so the reader must read on to solve this mystery. I have decided to put the title of my magazine (Zenith) on a black highlight to contrast against the white background. This is so my magazine title will stand out and I have used a fairly catchy name to make it memorable to the audience, so that it is easily referable to in the future. This is effective as it appeals to my target audience and gives a sense of relativity, and to make it more aesthetically pleasing towards my audience, instead of having a lot of clustered coverings and many colours which could potentially confuse some people.

I have decided to use a similar form in my magazine to that of an Indie magazine. This is because there are some very distinctive feature in Indie music magazine which appeal to both myself and the audience. For example, the use of a background highlighting the title allows the magazine to stand out from other magazines, and it also appeals to the audience as it is potentially going to be the first thing they see, compared to other magazines that may just have their magazine title on the background of their cover, which is much less appealing and can be easily forgettable. I have also chosen to have a simplistic design of my image, and then some coverlines, (a quote and his name), which relate to my image. This is so the audience knows what the main story is and it will also appeal to new readers who are a fan of the individual's work. The quote that I have used is an edgy quote which I have seen been done during my time researching. This has proven effective as the audience will want to know more about what the individual has to say and this will trigger a chain reaction, where the reader will hopefully enjoy the magazine and continue obtaining it. I have also used the idea of making my magazine free. This idea I had picked up from the music magazine 'NME'. This has proven effective as my audience is focused on young people who, may or may not, have disposable income to use to purchase luxuries,  such as music magazines. Making my magazine  free will not only be convenient for my audience, but for new readers, who may pick it up because it is free, and so they won't be wasting any money, if they do not like it. Similarly, if they do like it then they will continue to pick up the free copy. This will help make my magazine much more obtainable and much more diverse, in the sense that anyone can obtain it. 

Formative feedback - Miss Hunter

WWW: Thomas - your recent updates are good. Your ideas are becoming more detailed and developed. The most recent update to your magazine front cover looks convincing and professional.




EBI: Work quickly to make sure that you have time to complete your magazine and to evaluate as well. Ensure you publish everything as you go. Choose a final cover and move on to contents page/double page spread.




Next steps: Push yourself to complete your magazine and to begin your evaluation.