The student evaluated their production process for a 1990s fashion magazine FMP. Their strengths included thorough research of existing magazine covers and a rave flyer, which helped them understand conventions and informed their own designs. Their planning was detailed and helped ensure they could adapt to any issues. Weaknesses included neglecting research of other magazine elements beyond covers. Their time management was good for production but poor for research, limiting detail. Overall the experience helped them learn to better balance research across elements and manage time more efficiently.

1. Evaluation
Alfie Jones

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research
• The strengths of my research was that when I researched existing products, I did 4 in-depth analysis of 3 magazine front covers and 1
rave flyer/poster as I was keen to focus on the front cover based on my feedback from my adventure project as that was my worst
graded product from that project, so by focusing on making the front cover look the best it can was my main aim for my FMP.
• With my analysis on the front covers I went into detail writing about the mise en scene of the cover artists, the key conventions of the
cover, why I chose to analyse the product and what the cover lines, images and masthead all suggest. By analysing in detail, it allows me
to get a better idea of what I would have to do when it came to making my front cover. I analysed two NME front covers, which had a
lot going on the cover, and an i-D front cover, which was the opposite as it was very minimalistic but still very effective. I chose to
analyse two different types of magazine as it would allow me to get a good perspective on what style I want to go for, and whether I
want to go for the simple and minimalistic design or the full-on style where there loads of colours and writing.
• My analysis of the 'Rave Krispies' rave flyer was in detail about the colour scheme, the font, the type of image, and the little key details.
By analysing the rave flyer in detail, it allows me to get a much better understanding on how to create one for my FMP, which helped
because I couldn’t have gone to any raves in the 90s so I wouldn’t have seen all the different types of flyers first-hand, so
I thought analysing one would really help me get a much better understanding and allow to make a flyer that looked like it was from the
1990s.
• My research helped my product as it helped me get a much better understanding of the different products that were released in the
1990s as I already had a good understanding of the rave scene/fashion scene of the 90s, but by researching existing products and
subject research it broadened by knowledge, which influenced my products as I tried to take some inspiration from each different
products that I researched.
• By doing a survey for my primary audience research it helped me get an understanding of what my target audience wanted to see in a
fashion magazine and was big strength for my research; as I was creating a product with a 90s twist to it, I wanted to get
different responses from people who weren't particularly target audience like people who lived through the 1990s and fulfilled the
experience of the rave scene as they will have seen it first-hand. For example, one of the questions was 'Would you be interested in
reading a 1990s fashion magazine? If so, why?', and the answers from the people who are 45+ were that they wanted to relive their
youth by reading a 90s fashion magazine as they would see outfits from their youth and get a sense of nostalgia.
• Another strength of my research was my practical research as I wanted to use a 35mm film camera for my main images, but since I had
never used a film camera before I had to use a roll of film to experiment with different levels of light and different angles to see which
ones looked the most professional, but still had a look of homemade to them so it looks like it was taken on a film camera and not just
edited on an app or through photoshop. This helped my product as it gave it a vintage and retro look to my products and makes it look
like as if it was taken from the 90s but still a modernised twist to it because of the background, which links in perfectly with the genre of
the magazine.

4. Research
• The weaknesses of my research was when I analysed existing products, I only analysed front covers and rave flyers/advertisements as
they were the main things I wanted to focus on, but I should have done a mixture of products including contents pages and double page
articles as it would have given me a better idea of what they look like and how to create one to a professional level. I think by looking at
my products you can see my front cover and advertisement is the most professional looking out of all my products, and that links back
to my research as I neglected the contents page and two double page spreads as I was too focused on making my front cover and
advertisement the best it could be when in hindsight, I should have spread my focus across all the products equally.
• To improve my research, I could have analysed a bigger variety of existing products for example 1 of each product so it is a fair analysis,
and then I can get a better understanding of what I need to create, and I can get a more broadened inspiration that will influence my
product as I could have taken some key conventions that different magazines used to make my product the best it can be.
• The effect this would have had on my product was that the contents page and the two double page spreads are nowhere near as good
and professional looking as they could have been, and that is due to not using my time wisely when it came to research and not
spreading my time for each product correctly, so if I spread out my time and effort more evenly the final product could have been a lot
better.
• Another weakness of my research was my secondary audience research as I only analysed two magazines, which were NME and i-D
magazine, and this was a weakness as if I analysed more existing products that has the same target audience as me for my secondary
audience research, I would have a better understanding of how I could make my products like theirs, but still have my own unique twist
on it so it is original. I did struggle with finding existing products/companies that were like mine as there was a scarce amount of 90s
rave fashion magazines, so to find something to analyse was difficult as I wanted to use a magazine that was the exact same genre as
mine, but I should have just analysed modern magazines instead.
• To improve my research, I could have analysed magazines or rave flyers for my secondary audience, and gone in much more detail
instead of generalising, for example saying that 'The target age for NME magazine is 16-25... and my magazines target age is 16-25 as
I want to aim it at people who have never experienced a rave, so I want to try and give them an insight on what they would've
experienced.', so instead of just stating I should have explained why my target audience is 16-25 and why I want to give them an insight
on what a rave would be like; by doing this is would not only get me a better grade as more detail is always better, but it would show I
have a better understanding of what I need to do when it came to making my product.
• The effect this would have on my product would be that I could have got more inspiration from different magazines, who I am trying to
steal ideas off and be inspired by their work, so by doing a more in detail analysis on more than 2 products it would have really
benefited me.

5. Planning
• The strengths of my planning was that I went into detail in every slide and made sure I had a solid plan so if something were
to go wrong, I had a backup as I wanted to make sure I was ready for anything to go wrong so I could stick to my production
schedule or only change it slightly.
• Specifically, the slides I went into detail in was the colour scheme, potential cover designs and fonts. The reason I went into
detail for these specific slides was because for the colour scheme it is one of the first things that will catch the
reader/buyer's attention so by focusing on the colour scheme and making sure it is not only eye catching when scene from a
distance, but that it matches the theme of the magazine, so by having a bright colour scheme I wanted to have my main
image in daylight because if it was in darkness with flash on for example it would not have fit the theme of the magazine,
which is a vibrant magazine showing youth culture and rave fashion in a positive light. By going into detail writing about the
colour scheme it was important for me because I feel like the colour scheme of the magazine is what catches the eye of the
reader on the shelf initially.
• For the fonts it is again the same as the colour scheme because the font is one of the first things that will catch the
reader/buyer's attention when it is on the shelf, so by making the font big and bold with a distinct colour scheme it makes
the magazine stick out from the rest, so by spending time looking for many different fonts was essential for me because not
only did I want it to look as professional as possible, but I still wanted it to have a relaxed and informal look to it as well; I
wanted to have a similar font to the NME Madchester magazine where it is quite blocky but also quite rounded at the ends.
• Focusing on the potential cover designs was vital for me as it gave me the best insight to what my potential layout would be,
if my chosen font worked, and it allowed me to experiment with different placements of the masthead, cover lines, price,
barcode etc., and it let me figure out which one worked the best, so I did two potential cover with different themes. The first
one was as if it was taken on a disposable camera which is the look I wanted to originally go for and the design I stuck with
in the end, but the second cover had a more informal look to it with the Acid House smiley faces across the bottom, which I
liked but it didn’t look right in my opinion, but I was keen to incorporate the Acid House smiley face somehow, and I
managed to do that through my second double page spread.
• My planning helped my product massively as being organised was key for me as I struggled with organisation in the other
projects, so I tried to be prepared for everything and that was helped by my contingency plan as any problem
that happened, I was prepared to deal with it.

6. Planning
• The weaknesses of my planning was minimal I think, but there still was some weaknesses that could have been improved,
which were my style sheets as I didn’t go into enough detail with them as I had a clear idea in my head on what I wanted to
make and how I wanted my models to look, but I didn’t express my thoughts onto my PowerPoint, which is something I
struggled with the previous projects and have clearly struggled with this project.
• To improve my style sheet, I could have gone into my detail when writing about the costume and layouts for the different
products. The slide for the costume I could have done some detailed annotations for each costume instead of a general
description of what they will be wearing, and I should have done multiple slides for each outfit for each model instead of
one slide with a few outfit ideas on it. By doing a more in-depth analysis for the costume slides it would have given a
clearer idea of what I wanted the models to wear as the style of clothing was very similar as it was for a 90s fashion
magazine, but the exact clothing was different because not only were the two models opposite genders, but had a different
look/aesthetic to them, so trying to change their usual look to a 90s look was quite challenging.
• The effect this would have had on my product was that my costume style sheet would have been a lot clearer and would
have had a better explanation on why I wanted my models to wear specific things, and what accessories would be used and
why.
• To improve my layout style sheets I could have gone into more detail instead of some general annotations for both the front
cover style sheet and the double page spread style sheet. Going into more detail would include writing why I want
my product to look this certain way, for example why I want the main image in the centre of the page and why I want a
certain location to take my images because it would clearly show what I wanted to achieve when it came to making my final
product as I had an idea in my head of how I wanted my products to look, but I could have explained my thought process on
why I wanted certain things to look a certain way. I could have also done a style sheet for each product that I was making
instead of just two style sheets with one for my front cover and one for the double page spreads as it would have again
shown clearly what I wanted to make or a clear idea of what I wanted to make, and it would have shown my clear
organisation as it would show what I needed to do in terms of images, editing and the layout.
• The effect this would have had on my product was that my layout style sheets would have been a lot clearer on why I
wanted different products to look a certain way, and the occurring themes throughout the different products like a
similar colour scheme and similar fonts used.

7. Time Management
• For my production work I managed my time well because I finished all my products on time, and I could have finished all my products with
time to spare but I wanted to use all the time I was given to make the little changes, but not change too much as that can make the
product worse. The reason why I wanted to wait until the final day to submit my final products was because I needed to wait for the
images from my film camera to be developed, so I could import them into all my products as I was predicting they would look better than
ones from my phone with a bit of editing done to them. For my production, if I had additional time, I think I could have improved my
products, specifically the double page spreads as the layouts are the same and I would have liked to have a bit of variety for my double
page spreads, but when I was making slight changes towards the end it was just changing font and image sizes, so when I concluded that I
wanted to change my double page spreads layout it was too late as I would have liked to use mutliple photos, but the photos I had to
import were not up to standard, and it was too late to go take more as I would had to use a full roll of film and get it developed in time. If I
had more time to produce my final products, I would have taken more photos for my first double page spread with Lucy as the model, and
I would have chnaged the layout, so it had a main image and then a secondary image landscape across the top, which would have meant
downsizing my interview.
• For my pre-production work I again managed my time well as I got everything finsihed with time to spare to make slight adjustments to the
previous powerpoints, specifically the research powerpoint as there is always room to improve especially the exisiting products analysis. In
terms of improvements, I could have improved my style sheets like I mentioned in my weaknesses for my planning and the reason why I
didn’t do more style sheets was because I was more focused on adding detail to my research powerpoint as I didn’t manage my time
well on my research powerpoint. If I did have more time for my pre-production powerpoint I would have added more to my style sheets
and do some more potential cover designs as I think that would have helped me in the long run.
• For my research work I didn’t manage my time very well as I got the base of the work completed, for example the exisitng product
analysis, the primary audience research and the experiments, but the slides were nowhere near in as much detail as they should have
been, and they were not to the point where I wanted them to be. For the other slides like the secondary audience research and subject
research I neglected these slides as my time management wasn’t good, so when I had to move onto the pre-production powerpoint I had
to focus on completing that powerpoint first, and then I moved back to the research powerpoint to start the secondary audience research
and subject research and then add extra detail to the semi completed slides, which is down to my time management. My whole
powerpoint would have definetly improved if I had more time because I would have been able to focus on getting all the slides done in the
given time limit instead of having to keep going back to it when I have finished my other work. If I had more time to work on my research
powerpoint, I would have focused on the primary and secondary audience research and the subject research as I think that would have
helped my pre-production powerpoint because it would have helped me plan possibly a better outfit for the models and write better
interviews as I could have focused more on what my target audience would have wanted to see, and the subject research could have
helped me see what outfits were more popular during the 90s rave scene as I already had a good idea of what the 90s rave fashion was,
but I think more research would have helped me.

8. Technical Qualities
The similarities of my front cover to the cover of i-D magazine is that they're both quite a smiple design, which is what I
wanted to achieve as I felt like I had two options which were to go for the design of overloaded colours, pictures and
cover lines, or go for the simple design like this i-D magazine, which I think looks better as it is still very effective and
catches the eye of the reader/buyer with the colour scheme and bright main image. The simple layout of having one
main image and writing around it without any clear cover lines works well for both magazine front covers. The
differences of the magazine is that the i-D magazine doesn’t have an image as they have just used an edited Acid House
smiley face with the iconic winky face, and my magazine has a main image as it is a fashion magazine, I wanted to show
off the model's outfit rather than have a smiley face. My magazine has a clear colour scheme as I think it works and
looks a lot better than having too many colours going on like the i-D, and mine is based off the colours of the model's
clothes, so by having a pink or green on the front page it would take it away from the main image.

9. Technical Qualities
The similarities of my contents page and NME's contents page is that they are both clear on what the page is through
the page numbers and descriptions of each page, which I think is very important in a magazine because if the reader
cannot identify what they are reading or looking at then it is not effective and clear; each magazine contents page has a
clear and concise colour scheme as it is not overwhelming with too many colours, and it doesn’t take it away from the
images and the information about the pages. The differences between the two contents pages are that mine is that
mine is more clearly structured with the page numbers and information on the right with the images on the left, but the
NME contents page has images in various places, and bits of information scattered about with no real main images.
Another difference is that my magazines information about the different features and articles of each page are explicit
on what they are without telling the reader too much about them, but with NME's contents page there are different
amounts of information for a variety of pages, which is something I could consider for next time as I think certain
articles need more information than others.

10. Aesthetic Qualities
In terms of aesthetics, my rave flyer is my best-looking product
as it is bold and distinctive, which was my main aim as rave
flyers from the 90s either had an interesting design to catch the
reader's attention, or they had a big and bold design like having
an Acid House smiley face, so I went for that option as it was
more achievable with my lack of photoshop skills and personally
I think it looks better. My rave flyer is a creative product even
though it is on the simpler side of rave products, but I think with
the colour scheme and black border around the yellow empty
rectangle it makes the product look a lot better compared to my
first couple of drafts of this product. The main aspect that I like
of it is the Acid House smiley face in the middle with the words
'Acid House' curved around it instead of just having it straight
across in the middle as I think it looks cleaner being curved. The
strengths of my product are the colour scheme and the simple
but effectiveness of it, which I think is through the details like
having the location down the side, and a moto at the bottom,
which can not only be identified with my magazine, but with the
band Happy Mondays as it was the title of their biggest album.
The weakness of my product would be the lack of originality as
most rave flyers from the 90s featured an Acid House smiley
face with a location and time, so to improve it I could have gone
for a more original design but my photoshop skills would have
hindered this, so I think by going for this design is the best I
could have done.

11. Audience Appeal
I have appealed to my target audience as when I completed my questionnaire for my research, one of the questions was
'What type of interview do you want to read about in a 90s rave fashion magazine?', and one of the possible answers
was 'With a rave attendee', and it got the second greatest number of votes so by doing a double page spread on a rave
attendee would be catering to my target audience's interests, so if I was to not do a double page spread on a rave
attendee it wouldn’t make sense, and would be doing the opposite of what I want to achieve which is getting people to
read my magazine and be engaged in it. I have also appealed to my audience through the use of fashion as in my
questionnaire for my research another one of the questions was 'Would you be interested in reading a 1990s fashion
magazine? If so, why?', and the most common answer was yes because of the fashion and music, so I dedicated my
focus for this double page spread to the outfit of the model and the interview mentioning fashion and music heavily, so
it appeals to my target audiences desire.

12. Peer
Feedback

13. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
I really like the consistent colour scheme that runs throughout
the magazine i think it all ties in nicely together. I think the
choice of outfits were really good as well as straight away you
can tell it is a 90s fashion magazine. I also really like the font
you have used on your front cover, it is really bold and will
entice people in.
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
One improvement i think you could potentially make is to try
out a variety of fonts especially on your double page spreads
maybe you could change the titles so that they are in a
different font.

14. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
• Overall I really enjoyed the magazine, I feel you've
captured the 90's aesthetic really well, it is clear you
have done your research on the scene. A favourite of
mine is the 'best to ever do it' page.
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
• One part I would potentially change is that you could
maybe change the page layouts from page to page. I
feel this would keep the magazine alive for the reader
as they are flicking through the pages.

15. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
• The colours bring together the 90s feel and really hold the piece together,
making it look very coordinated and concise. The layout is good and makes
it easy to read, giving directions to which way to read. The pictures are a
good focal point and all the images match together to create a theme.
• What improvements could have been made to the product?
• One thing I would change is the font as I feel it looks too modern and
doesn’t match the theme as well as it could. And maybe make the text
colour stand out more against the background colour.

16. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer feedback?
• I agree with that I have captured the 90s feel/vibe well through the outfits
especially because that is something I tried to focus on as I wanted it to be
easily identifiable as a magazine from the 90s, but with a slight modern touch.
I also agree with that I could have changed the layout from page to page as
that was something I wanted to achieve, but due to my time management I
wasn’t able to do that.
• What do you disagree with from your peer feedback?
• I disagree with the comments on my font being too modern as I specifically
chose that font as I thought it had more of an older look to it as it has quite a
blocky look to it, but not too blocky. I also disagree with that I should change
my fonts throughout as I appreciate it adds variety and originality, but I think
by keeping the same font all the way through makes it more recognisable and
more identifiable to my magazine.
• What changes would you make to your product based upon your peer
feedback and why?
• The change I would make would be changing the layout of my double page
spreads to add a bit of variety as I already identified that as being an
improvement, and I would do this because I think it doesn’t look professional
enough and looks lazy on my behalf, even though it was down to my poor time
management.