Evaluation: Question 7

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

 
My full cover                                      My preliminary cover

 
My full contents page                         My preliminary contents page

My final cover looks much more professional;

-          The editing of the picture for the final magazine looks more real as I had a better grasp of Photoshop,
-          The articles are in line (compared to all over the place in prelim),
-          The font is much more visible on the final one.
-          The font for the final one fits much better with the style of the magazine.
-          The picture in the prelim magazine looks as if it is spontaneous not planned.
-          The final has a bar code, allowing the customers to pay for it; however, it isn’t needed in the prelim magazine as it is free.
-          The title is much brighter in the final magazine, grabbing the consumers’ attention.
-          The layout of the final magazine is much neater and more professional than the prelim which is all over the place in terms of layout

I feel I have evolved much more advanced editing skills, especially on Photoshop. As the picture in the finished cover looks realistic, whereas the eyes and teeth in the preliminary task quite frankly look scary. This is because I didn't know when to stop with the dodge tool, now though, I feel that my skills are much better, and I know the limits when editing a person to ensure that they look realistic. I feel that without doing the preliminary product, however, my final piece would have been just as bad as my Photoshop skills wouldn't have been as finely tuned as they are now.

I have also learnt new skills on Photoshop, how to add makeup for example, which I did with the dodge tool on the cover picture as it wasn't quite how I wanted it.

When it comes to layout skills on InDesign, my skills have improved drastically, as I was new to using InDesign, and found it extremely complex, so not knowing how to layout a magazine didn't help here at all.
After looking at other covers for both tasks, I found it easier to see how to lay things out, however, for my preliminary products the layout is too spaced out and doesn't look professional (although that may have something to do with the fact that I just looked at magazines other students had made to help make mine). For my finished products I had a much better idea of what I was doing, and they look much more professional, this is shown a greatly with each comparison, as the article titles are all over the place on the preliminary cover, and are too spaced out on the contents page.
Another thing that has improved is my idea of what fonts should be used. The preliminary tasks use a calligraphy type font for the front cover in too many colours that doesn't look good, and a simple font for the rest of it that looks amateurish which looks even worse paired with the overly-big numbers.

I think I can safely say that I have learnt a lot more when it comes to what does and doesn't work in a magazine since my preliminary task, and that the preliminary task helped my to hone my editing skills.

Evaluation: Question 6

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

At the beginning of the course I found using technologies I used, i.e. Adobe InDesign and adobe Photoshop, very complex as I had not previously used them before. However, after using them for months and getting used to the controls and different features of the programmes through watching YouTube videos, teachers help, and general practice, I feel I have gotten a lot better at using them.
For example, at the beginning of the year, I would have found it difficult to tell you where the dodge tool was on Photoshop. Now I can move a person to a different place on a photo using the quick select tool, and fill in the missing space with the clone stamp, spot healing tool, and blur tool, making it look like it was always there.
I am a lot more comfortable with using the technologies now and have learnt many new and useful skills from them as demonstrated in my work.

Evaluation: Question 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I included a wide range of artists and music in my magazine, both oldies and debuting artists. Because of this wider range, I believe that more people will buy 'M', as people who are familiar with a certain artist may see them on the front page, and because of that recognition, buy the magazine.
There is a large picture of the featured artist; Lola Summers, on the front cover of my magazine, in order to draw in fans of them. As she is young. like my target audience, it is likely more people would read it as they can relate to her more easily.
The bright colours on the front page; red, white and blue, as well as my bright masthead, help to attract my audience as they are more inclined to pick up something that look fun and interesting, as these colours are.
I have used a conventional layout to address my audience, as a confusing cover page is more likely to push potential buyers away, rather than attract them, so the title is at the top, the picture is in the middle and the article titles are around the edge, as most magazines are laid out.
Things like font were also taken into consideration, so I have used a bold font, as it looks exciting and grabs attention. The button on the cover looks different, so will attract my audience as they are individual and will appreciate something which looks original.

Evaluation: Question 4

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is fans of indie music aged between 18 and 21, as this was the age range which most people buying music magazines were in. However, as I feel that this is a very exclusive and small range, it will be extended to a secondary audience of 16 to 25 year olds.
The magazine will be mostly gender neutral, with a slight lean towards women as many music magazines are aimed towards men.
I am doing this because I feel there is a gap in the market for a younger, fresher magazine, and because of this, I feel that it would sell well.
The typical 'M' reaader will be young, fun-loving, up to date, and alternative (as this is the sort of music which will be featured in my magazine).

Evaluation: Question 2

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

My media product represents a younger indie social group through the use of brighter colours (red, white) which appeal to a younger audience, and the inclusion of obscure and indie artists in the content of the magazine.
The inclusion of top 10s and other such lists encourages the readers to get involved and go and see for themselves if they are really that good, and the interactive features of the completions and the website encourage readers interact with the magazine itself and have a say in what is written, making the magazine a form of we-media, written by the people for the people, because although it will be written by journalists it will have the readers input in it. This interactivity is something that appeals much more to a younger audience of around the age of my target audience, as this generation is a digital age, and people's opinion is something that is shared widely, especially the indie social group, as indies are independent thinkers so will all have their own opinion on things. If my magazine can include this feature then it will appeal to this social group more.

Evaluation: Question 1

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

My media product imitates the conventions of the indie-rock music magazines by sticking to the general bold writing, the fun-loving artists (which I have imitated in my photographs), and the colour red which seemed to be a very popular colour used for this genre.
I have chosen the same distributor (Bauer media) as many other music magazines, including 'Q'.
I have designed my double page spread article to be a Q & A, which is typical of music magazines, and have kept one page for the picture and the other for mainly writing. However, I have challenged conventions here by keeping the picture running throughout both pages and using the picture as a background to my article which worked as this was snow so the black writing showed up well.
My contents page was heavily influenced by 'Q', using a red, white and black colour scheme and keeping the article titles to the left and the pictures to the right. However, I developed the style to suit my magazine by having a letter from the editor, a column on the right hand side containing a list of artists, and a much larger 'monthly' section.
I felt that by doing this I could entice a larger devoted following as having more monthly articles meant that there was more for people to enjoy, whether they were into festivals or competitions. Another way in which I developed my magazine away from conventions was by including a large amount of content on festivals rather than artists (although I still had plenty of those). This meant that my demographic was kept to my younger target audience as younger people tend to go to festivals.

Contents page

My finished contents page:

I have added in another line at the bottom to create a slight border.
The letter from the editor has been moved to be smaller and I have moved the picture to the corner as the writing going around the picture wasn't very readable.
I have increased the number of articles and decreased the font size to make the page look more full, and given the feature of the issue; Lola Summers, her own section, named 'Summer special'. This part is boarded by yellow and the colour of the title and numbers is the same yellow, which is a summery colour.
The monthly articles section has been increased to fill up the space underneath the photo.
The fonts have all been changed to the same as on the cover; market deco, and the descriptions are all kartika. This is because I felt the other font; outsiders, didn't work with the genre of the magazine.
The title of the column; 'M's 10 debut acts' has been changed to 'watch this space' as I felt there were too many top 10s etc. in the issue.