Evaluation

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

For my front cover, I have decided to use the genre of R&B to represent music. While I was designing my front cover, and doing research on existing front covers, I noticed that there were many similarities and differences between each and every magazine. The first similarity would be that the colour scheme of the majority of magazine are carried on throughout the magazine. I have taken this idea, and adapted it within my front cover. The same font is mainly used throughout the magazine, and the magazine articles. Another thing is that for the front cover, the cover lines are not all one colour, they change colour, which attracts the reader more to the magazine, and makes it more eye catching. The colour scheme that I have used on my front cover is very eye catching, and I have also made sure that I have changed colour of the cover lines, which makes it look professional.
On magazines nowadays, there is barely any space left on the front cover, which is normally either taken up by the image, or by cover lines. For my magazine, I have tried to take up as much space as possible, but at the same time, made it so it doesn't look too clustered. I did this by experimenting with different sizes, and different places of the cover lines and the images. I even put text on top of the image, which has its advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, it makes space for other cover lines to be placed on the page, however if the image consists of a few different colours, it could make the text on top of it fairly hard to read.

For the contents page, the principals are basically the same as the front cover. The font, size, and colour scheme are mostly carried on from the front cover, which creates a house-style theme for the magazine. Starting with the title, many magazines only have "contents", instead of "contents page". The purpose of this would be to cut space, so that there is more space for the image, and the article titles and description. Another reason is that simply, it doesn't need to be there. For the colour scheme, like I said before about the colour scheme carrying on, I kept it the same, using a blue and orange colour, with a grey and white background. I noticed that these colours didn't contrast the background very well, and it was fairly hard to read the text. Because I had also put some text over the image, this also made it fairly hard to read. On most magazines now, they make the text easy to read. If I was to do it again, I would have changed the colour to a more darker colour, to contrast the background colour, which would also compliment all of the other things on the contents page, such as the image and the title.
I also noticed that even though some magazines are in columns for the contents page, some of them won't. I picked up on this, and didn't use columns on my contents page. This makes the magazine look more professional, and like it is a real magazine. For the image, I decided to only put one image on the contents page. most magazines have more than one image on the contents page, however I think that this makes it look to bunched up, and doesn't leave very much room to include the article titles, and the article descriptions. I wanted to make the image have a direct mode of address, meaning that the person on the image is looking directly at the audience. This draws the reader in, to read the magazine. It also makes the person in the image look more superior to the audience.

For the double-page spread, while doing my research, I noticed that the principals were the same again. The font, colour scheme, and size of font all continue through the magazine, giving the whole magazine a house-style theme, and giving it an element of continuity. For the images of the double-page spread, I decided to add more than one image, which is considered the norm for magazines nowadays, as I found in my research. As well as the other images throughout the magazine, I wanted to have the image in direct mode of address, again, looking straight at the reader. As for the the colour of the text, I noticed that most interviews in magazines have at least two different colours. One for the question being asked, and one for the answer from the person. I have done this in my magazine, having the blue colour from the front cover as the question being asked, and having the orange for the answer given. However, I had the same issue with the double-page spread as I had with the front cover and the contents page. The colours are too light, so they don't contrast the background colour that well, so it makes the text quite hard to read.
The use of space on the double-page spread is also the same. Again, I tried to take up as much space as I could, without the article looking too cramped, or too busy. However, I didn't put any text over the image on the double-page spread. Most double-page articles don't have text over the image, which makes the images easily seen to the reader. This makes the reader understand the article more, as they can see in their peripheral vision, what the person being interviewed looks like.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product has represented age as a young, fairly mature audience. The target audience that I chose for my magazine was 15-18. I have taken images of people within that age group, which makes this target audience age group seem more believable. I have chosen to make up my own R&B artist for the magazine, which I believe to be within the age group that I have selected. For the person in my images while I was taking the pictures, I wanted to have him wearing stylish clothes, which he was. This represents this age group, as this age group is more likely to want stylish clothes, and are more likely to copy from their idols.

As for gender, I have chosen the male audience. The colour scheme of all three of my products have fairly masculine colours, with a masculine colour background. If I wanted to include the female gender in my product, I could have maybe substituted the orange colour with pink. Stereotypically, blue is associated as a masculine colour, and pink is associated as a feminine colour. Therefore, I would have made my magazine for both genders, in which case it would be classes as unisex. Because I have chosen the genre of R&B, again, this is stereotypically associated with the male audience, as the genre seems to have quite a bass to it. However because I have used males in my images, it could also appeal to females. Females could be attracted to the male figure in the images, who then may be attracted to buy the magazine for this reason.

My product shows sexuality because it doesn't show that any sexuality is greater than the other, I have shown that they are all equal. I haven't shown, in any way, that any sexuality is greater than the other, so in this case, I have shown that all sexualities are equal.

Social class is represented in my products by suggesting that the celebrity that I have made up, is a rich and famous R&B star. People who read this magazine would idolise who they want to be, as people who buy this magazine would mainly be working class and lower class, so they would want to be the star in the magazine. Because I have used a white person as the main person in my magazine, this is stereotypically associated as upper class. If I was to use a black person as the person in my images, they would stereotypically be associated as a working class. However, it could be perceived as ironic that black people live the rich and famous lifestyle.

My product represents physical ability as a positive, and disability as a negative. All of the people in my images have no disability whatsoever, which shows that my magazine is showing disability as a negative. If I had a disabled person as the main image on my front cover, people that buy my magazine wouldn't idolise to be them, and wouldn't want to know about them, so they wouldn't necessarily buy the magazine and read it.

Regional identity isn't really represented in my magazine, but it could be shown by showing that American are more superior to the likes of England. This is because I have included more American R&B artists on my magazine than I have any other regional identity.

My product represents ethnicity by not discriminating any type of ethnicity, this is shown by making my magazine appeal to everyone in one go, by having white R&B stars, and black R&B stars' names on my magazine front cover. However, my images only contain one ethnic group, which is white, which I could have improved by putting more than one ethnic group for the images on my front cover, contents page and double-page spread.

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

For this, I have looked into 3 different media groups. These were http://www.ipcmedia.com/, http://www.condenast.com/ and http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/.
Firstly, I looked at the IPC Media website. I looked at the brands that they do and I then came to the conclusion that this media group would not be suited for my magazine. Even though they have many well known magazines, they only have one type of music magazine, which is NME. This is a magazine that I had analysed in my research, and I discovered that this magazine is concentrating more on the rock genre than the R&B genre of my magazine. Because of this, I don't think that this media group would not be suited for my magazine. If I was to choose to distribute my magazine with this media group, I think that their inexperience in ths music magazine industry would be a worry, because of their expertise in distributing lifestyle magazines such as "Nuts", and "Ideal Home".
The second media group that I looked at was Condé Nast. This media group seems to be for the more exclusive magazines, so I don't think that this media group would be ideal for producing and distributing my magazine. Because they don't have any music magazines, this media group is more unsuited than the previous media group. If I was to go with this media group to distribute my magazine, I don't believe that it would do well at all, purely because of their inexpertise in music magazines.
The third media group that I looked into was Bauer Media. Out of the three media groups, I believe that this would be the best one to choose to produce and distribute my magazine. This is because they have more experience in distributing popular and well known music magazines, such as "Empire", "Kerrang" and "Q". However, none of these magazines are of the R&B genre, that I chose for my magazine. Therefore, this company could have a space for a magazine of this type. They would also be entering a market that there is no other magazines of this type, so therefore I think that this is the media group that I think my magazine would do best in.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

For my media product, I wanted the target audience as between 15-18, but I was hoping maybe to capture the whole youth in general, so maybe a little bit older than that. People of this age are the people that are most into the R&B genre. Even though people younger than this age could be into the R&B genre, I think that the minimum age of 15 is more appropriate for my magazine. People of this age range are also beginning to see who their idols are. People who read my magazine could maybe make the R&B star their idol, and want to be like him when they are older. To capture the full attention of this age range is a hard task. This is done mostly by including bright text, and large images, and not too much text. This is because people of this age range don't normally read texts, they just look at the images, so the images have to tell most of the story.

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract and address my audience, I have used a few different features. Firstly on the front cover, I made sure that I used bright images, even though they didn't contrast well on the background. I also used a fairly big image to attract the reader to read about the person on the front cover. I also did this by using a direct mode of address, which draws the reader in to read the magazine, as it builds a relationship between the  reader and the person on the front cover. By using other well known celebrity's names on the front cover, this also attracts the reader, as they like to read more about it inside the magazine. People would recognise the names of the well known artists straight away, which would help to promote my magazine. I also put these names in a bright colour, to make them stand out to the reader.

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

During the process of constructing this product, I used many different types of technology. I used cameras, computers, different programs, and I also used this blog, which I have never used before.

For taking the images, I had to use a camera. I only have a basic knowledge on cameras, so I only know basic things, like how to turn the flash on and off, how to take the picture, and how to view the picture on the camera, but that is about as far as it goes, so photography isn't my strong point. There were different modes for the camera, and I didn't know which mode it was in, so I just hoped for the best. I knew how to put the pictures on to the computer, I knew that you needed a card reader, and needed to plug it in to the computer, but I didn't have any idea on how to edit these images for my magazine.

The next problem I had was how to edit the images, as I was new to photo manipulation. I used Macromedia fireworks, which I had never used before, so I was new to the program too. I began learning how to use this program thanks to the Preliminary task, but I still only had a basic knowledge of how to use the tolerance tool and the rubber tool to take the background out of the picture. This then became a lot easier as I progressed with the project, creating the front cover, contents and double-page spread.

To create the products, I was using Microsoft Publisher, which I was familiar with, as I have used this quite a few times before, so I knew what I was doing with this program. However, there were still some things that I was still unfamiliar with, such as the crop tool, and the transparent tool, to help me with the images.

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

From my preliminary task, my products have improved dramatically. The standard of my preliminary task magazine cover is nowhere near the standard of my final front cover. This helped me to understand the programs, which helped me to design my final front cover, contents page and double-page to my full capability. I also learned how to maximise my search results from Google, to find more results. I had also analysed some magazine covers and contents page on my preliminary task, which helped me to analyse the magazine covers, contents pages, and double-page spread article for my final project. By doing the preliminary task, I have realised just how important the analysis of existing products is. Without analysing the existing products, I wouldn't have known what to include in my magazine front cover, contents page or double-page spread

Music Magazine Double-Page Article Audience Feedback

This is the audience feedback for the double-page article that I have made. I will show the positives and the negatives, and what they have said about it.

Daniel Smith
Positives - I think that the colour that is used in the background compliments the text as they are both colours of the text are clear to see. I think that the positioning of the images are good because they stand out and placed well around the text.
Negatives - There are no page numbers on the DPS.

Oliver Warden
Positives - The colour scheme is linked from the colour of the text and the colour of the t shirt image link up and is an attractive eye catching feature
The text does not overlap the images and makes it clear to navigate the page and to read the text
Negatives - The orange writing doesn't fully contrast the background colour and strains your eyes to read it.

Alex Smith
Positives - I like the way that you have taken the colour blue from his top and used in throughout the magazine, I think that this works effectively because it looks more professional and more presentable. I also like the way that you have a quote, I think that this is an aspect that is used a lot throughout magazine and like the way that you have added it into this. I also like the way that you have used the photos so it grabs the readers attention more
Negatives - I don't like the way that your question before the quote is off line from the rest of the columns I don't think that this looks as professional as it could be.

Louisa Osborne
Positives - I really like how the pictures have been edited to fit around the text. The editing itself of the photos is really precise and professional. The article is very clear and 'easy on the eye' its not too busy which could annoy some audiences. I like the quote that has been placed in the article as it will attract someone to read on.
Negatives - Even though I liked how clear the article is, it might be a little too spacious for this type of magazine. I'm not too sure on the colour scheme either but this may be biased because i am a girl. The columns aren't in line with each other which might confuse readers. Dean could make the width of the first paragraph smaller to proportion everything out a bit better.

Music Magazine Contents Page Audience Feedback

Oliver Warden
Positives - The colour scheme is eye catching and attractive. The guy in the image looks directly at the camera and directly addresses the audience.
Negatives - The blue numbers do not stand out on blue t shirt.

Harvey Dhaliwal
Positives - The colour scheme is very eye catching, it is the first thing that caught my eye, also the way the numbers are big and then there is the caption underneath, its very easy to understand the contents. Also I like the pose of the person in the background and how his t-shirt goes with the colour scheme.
Negatives - There has been a lot of space been left that could have been filled up.

Louisa Osborne
Positives - I like the colour scheme on the contents page. The blue and orange really stand out against each other. I like how the image is central to the page and the article titles surround this image.
Negatives - There is a lot of space between each article title and because they are so separated from each other this might confuse readers. Some of the number colours are the same as the models top so this might want to be edited.

Alex Smith
Positives - I the way that the orange is a contrasting colour against the blue, it makes it stand out and look professional. I also like the lay out of the numbers, which also looks professional and original. I like the way he is looking in direct mode of address.
Negatives - The blue on the numbers is hard to see against his blue top.

Music Magazine Cover Audience Feedback

This is the target audience feedback on what they think about my front cover. Here I will show the positives and negatives that they think of the front cover.

Daniel Smith
Positives - I think that the mix of colours is good. The orange and the blue contrast with each other to allow them to stand out when they are against each other. I like the way that the cover lines are placed around the side of the image. I like the way that the barcode background is grey and not quite as it allows it to blend in with the page. I think that the way that the mast head is placed is good because it allows it to be the clearest thing seen on the page.
Negatives - I don't like the way that the cover line of swagger is placed over the image, I think that this makes it hard to see. I also think that it is hard to see the 50 on the grey background. Perhaps if it was lighter it would be better.

Oliver Warden
Positives - The colour scheme works well as colours of cover lines, masthead and sell line link up and make the page look attractive. The use of space effectiveness is good because the cover lines and masthead all fit on the page and also doesn't leave too much space.
Negatives - Some of the text is hard to see on the background as it doesn't contrast the background colour and hurts the eyes to read it.

Alex Smith
Positives - I think that the colours of the front cover are really good, I like the way that they contrast against one another, I also think that the way you have separated the titles of each cover line and the story, i think that this gives it a professional look. I also like the way that you have but the main cover line across the picture. I like that your cover line says swagger and he is also standing with his hands in his pockets with an attitude approach.
Negatives - I don't like the way that the background colour is the same as his trousers as it looks like he is just floating.

Callie Bilverstone
Positives - I like the way the colour scheme matches the clothes that the main picture is wearing. The title looks professional as it is slightly hidden behind the top of the picture. The cover lines are spaced out well.
Negatives - I think that there should be more cover lines as they are the things that sell the magazine. Could place the barcode somewhere below the bottom.

Music Magazine Double-Page Article Production

This is the process in which I created the double-page spread for my magazine. I decided to create an interview, with the colour scheme carrying on from the front cover and the contents page.

This is the first step I took creating the double-page spread for my magazine. I started by measuring the middle of the A3 page, and then I added the images, creating the text around the images, as I did not want the text to go over the images at all. The background is the same as the front cover, and the contents page, as again, I wanted to have the same colour scheme, and this is also what is in my target audience feedback. I had noticed that the introduction paragraph was hard to read, and hurt the eyes with the background colour, but I left it because I was going to see if I could change it later, so it was more easier to read. I then had to add my questions, which was the thing that took the longest out of the whole project. I was pleased with how my double-page spread was starting to look. 

By this stage, I had added more questions and answers to the double-page spread. By now, I had noticed that not only the orange was hard to read, but some of the blue text was beginning to become hard to read. Again, I left this and continued on with the production, hoping to fix this issue later.

Again, By this stage I had added more questions to thee interview. I had also added the quote "I'm not arrogant!" to the page on the right, but it is very hard to read due to the background colour again. 

To try and fix the issue of the text being hard to read, I decided to change the background colour, and some of the text colour. I changed the introduction paragraph colour from orange to black, also in an attempt to make the text easier to read. 

This was how I had planned to finish the double-page spread, before I got feedback from my audience. 

In order to make the text easier to read, I changed the background colour again, to a much lighter colour, which makes the text a lot easier to read. I also noticed that there was a big space next to the picture on the right, along the top, and there was also some space next to the picture on the left. I decided to add more questions to fill the space on the right, and then added 'Bass' Exclusive Interview', and for the space on the left, I moved the text over slightly to take up this space. I then noticed that there was quite a big space on the bottom, so I then added a website address, which also makes it look more professional. 

After looking at the previous double-page spread, I noticed that I hadn't put any page numbers on, which are another common characteristic for a magazine.

Music Magazine Contents Production

This is the process in which I created and completed my music magazine contents page.

This is the first step, in which I created the background for the magazine, and included the title. I used the same font as I did for my front cover, as this is what the audience would like to see in my magazine.

By this stage, I had started to add the article title and description, not putting it in columns, instead they were spread out over the page. Again, I was using the same colour scheme, and the same font as my front cover, as this is what the audience feedback said to do.

This is where I had added the image. However, when I added the image, I noticed that there was a white border around the image, and I could not get rid of it. I then had to re-edit the image from scratch, to create another edited image, and then put that on my front cover.

This is what the edited image looked like when I put it on my contents page. I did notice that the blue on blue colour was quite hard to read, as they did not contrast each other very well.

This is my final contents page. From the previous one, I had changed some of the article titles around so that some more space was filled up. This is where I began to see that the orange colour was becoming slightly hard to read on the background colour. However, the background colour is the same as the one for my front cover, and the audience would like to see the same colour scheme on all three products, so I decided to leave it.

Music Magazine Cover Production

This is the process in which I created my final front cover.

This is how I started to create the front cover. I had already known that I was going to use the colours blue and orange, but I didn't know which shades I was going to use, as I knew that there was going to be a problem with the background, being that some of the text would be fairly hard to read. I had also already known that I wanted to use a grey colour for my background, but again I didn't know which shades of this colour I wanted to use.

By this stage, I had started to put the colour scheme on different sections of the magazine cover, such as the names of the artists on the right hand side. I had also changed the colour of the masthead. This is because I thought that it stood out to the more masculine audience, which is what I was intending to do. I had also changed the colour of the 50 on the left hand side. This is because it was fairly hard to read, and now a house style is beginning to emerge.

On this stage of the process, I had added the "Leeds Festival" cover line, and I changed the background slightly, to compensate for the colours, as I was beginning to realise that some of the text was hard to read. Now I can see that the frame of the front cover is starting to emerge, and I think that it looks professional.

This is the final front cover before I added the main image, and the barcode. When I was looking at the previous front cover, I noticed that there were a few changes to be made. One being the gap between the 50 and the R&B passage of text, so I minimized this. I also added the final cover line that goes on the left hand side, to make use of the space. All I need to do now is insert the image, and the barcode and then the cover will be complete.

This is the final front cover that I made. I am pleased with the outcome of this front cover, and I think that it looks like a realistic front cover, that would be used for a real magazine of this genre. The colours that I have used, blue and orange, are contrasting colours so they really stand out to the audience. With the background being grey, this also helps these colours to stand out. For the little bits of black that I have used, it stands out because of the lighter background colour, being a lighter grey than the bottom of the page. However, the cover line that says "Leeds Festival" is fairly hard to read. This is due to the blue colour not fully contrasting the background, so the audience may not be attracted to read this information as much as the other things on the front cover. This is also the same for "Usher" on the right hand side. The main image in the centre of the magazine cover I am also pleased with, as I believe that I have edited it quite well, leaving none of the background on the image. I think that I could have complimented the space more, meaning that I could have filled up more of the space, such as under the barcode, and to the left and the right of the legs of the person on the front cover.

After reading the audience feedback, and taking it all into account, I created this final front cover, as apposed to the previous one. I have changed the background to a lighter colour, which contrasts the colours more, which makes them easier to read, and don't hurt your eyes. This is more obvious on the "Leeds Festival" story line, and the "Usher" of the artist names. Thanks to the audience feedback, I was able to improve my final front cover, to make it better.