Final evaluation

1. Media
Evaluation

2. • The aim of this project was for us to create the
cover, contents and double page spread of music
magazine for our own chosen genre, suited to an
audience of our choice. In order for our final
piece to be effective, this project process
included individual market research for our genre
so that we had an idea of what conventions make
a great magazine, also to get feedback from
people that would be our target audience to see
what they would like to see in their ideal
magazine, since they would be the ones buying it.

3. • My chosen genre was POP music
because I enjoy listening to it and
tend to buy quite a few pop
magazines myself. The music genre
is very fun and in your face which
meant that there was a lot I could
explore. Also I realised that POP
music seems to be exploding the
charts currently and that a lot of
girls enjoyed it. This lead me to an
idea for my target audience, in
which in the end I chose girls
between the ages of 12-18. By
choosing my target audience this
enabled be to begin my market
research.

4. • Because I am a frequent user of twitter and other
social networking sites, I decided to ask some of my
followers that were in the age range of my target
audience what they would like to see in my magazine.
Using social networking sites were affective because
most people in my target audience use the net, it was
also very quick and easy to do. This process of
interacting with my target audience enabled me to
really understand what they would like in their ideal
magazine. By posting all of my market research on my
blog, I was able to refer back to it throughout this
process.

5. • The researching and studying of current music
magazines within the pop genre was really
effective in helping me to realise what things
worked and were eye catching to the reader. It
also gave me an idea of some of the
conventions that I could possibly use in my
magazine.

6. As I expected, my final turned out completely different from the scamps
I drew at the very beginning of this project. Looking back on the scamps
I drew I kinder think “What the hell was I thinking”, but it just goes to
show when you research more about your genre and really start to pay
attention to detail on other current pop magazines how drastically your
original idea change, to create a more realist looking magazine.

7. • After doing the intense market research needed to
create the ideal magazine for my chosen target
audience, I then had to take some test shots of my
artist that I would possibly like to use in my magazine.
Leading me on to the topic of my artist, I decided to go
with my niece who is young, new and fresh. I realised
that creating a whole artist story around her would be
pretty easy and fun. I decided to make her story like
the amazing Justin Bieber, the whole discovered on
YouTube thing and now selling out arena tours, I’m
sure you get where this is going. I thought this would
be a good idea because lots of young girls would relate
to my artist’s story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ES
vLgxymCM&safe=active

8. These were some of the shots I took. What I liked about these
was that they were all fun and inviting. I decided to use lots of
medium close ups and some medium long shots to created an
inviting look, so that the buyers are drawn in. By using these
type of shots I feel like it creates more of a bond between the
artist and the reader as the readers would feel like they are
really getting an up, close and personal insight into the life of
the artist. The majority of the shots are also very bubbly and
fun which represents the pop genre and the audience I am
trying to appeal to. I also took shots that would show off
different sides to my artist, showing that she is a regular
young girl who goes through all the things a girl her age
would. This makes her relatable to girls her age and my target
audience. People like to read about people just like them and
like to feel they have something in common with the artist
they like which is why I tried to make my artist as relatable as
possible.

9. Since I chose the name OMG for my magazine, I decided to go with the picture
above since her face is showing a shocked expression that suggest “I know
something you don’t” which is what the title is all about, new, exclusive amazing
gossip. My initial front cover that I started to explore with and like was the picture
on the right. However going further along with it I bucked up on a load of problems
which was that first of all it was too dark to be a pop magazine and it was hard to
find colours to co-ordinate with it without it looking un-coordinated and in effective.
Getting the text to stand out was also an issue and therefore I went through a series
of trials and errors to eventually come out with something that was still bold yet
readable and more magazine like.

10. • Through trial, error and feedback from students and my
teachers I eventually decided to go for a simple white
background. In order to achieve this I had to cut out the
image on Photoshop and create separate layers for each the
image and the background so I could manipulate them to
what I wanted the image and the background of my front
cover to look like. This is something I found tricky in the
beginning because I don’t particularly have the most steady of
hands, however through help from Mr Varghese I was able to
learn ways that were easier and suitable for me during this
process. By keeping the background white, enabled me to
play around a bit more with my colour scheme and there
wasn’t issue with the text not standing out anymore. Also it
made the images stand out a lot more too, making my artist
the centre of attention.

11. • Through the process of creating my front cover I
learned that less is more, because at first I got carried
away with using lots of fonts and bold colours because
that’s what I thought pop was. However by paying
close attention to details on the current pop magazines
out I realised they use bold colours but not loads of
colours. Also the majority of pop magazines use a
maximum of 3 fonts. This lead me to change my
confusing, crazy front cover to something that looked
more cohesive. At the beginning my text was all over
the front cover, taking the attention away from the
image, however I learned how to adjust the text to the
left and to the right which made a cleaner cut finish.

12. To evaluate how
effective my
magazine front
cover, contents and
double page spread
is I decided to
compare it to
current pop
magazines to see
how well mine
matches up.

13. By comparing my pop magazine to a real pop magazine made me
see whether I did everything needed to make a successful, realistic
looking pop magazine.
Masthead
Caption
Cut out
Issue
Barcode
Pull quote
Puffs

15. • Overall I think my front cover is very conventional
and I didn’t really challenge the conventions of a
pop magazine on my front cover. I stuck to the
bold, loud look because I think its effective and
eye catching, meaning that people would want to
buy it, also it really does portray my target
audience affectively. I realise it is important that
you magazine is eye catching because you have to
spot it in the midst of other magazines that
would be on the same shelf. So it is important
that people would want to buy yours.

16. Unlike my front cover, my double page spread does challenge the conventions of a pop
magazine double page spread. The majority of pop magazines have the image of the artist on
one side and the text on the other with a quote from them. However I decided to have a trail
of pictures at the bottom of my page showing the different sides of my artist and the motto she
lives by on top of them. This re-enforces my idea of showing my target audience that my artist
is relatable and has many different sides to her. This also left a good amount of space for the
interview, meaning that her fans could have a detailed insight to her life, so they feel like they
are getting to know everything about her. This could make them feel apart of her fame, like
they are taking the journey with her. By doing it this way also allowed me to have more than
one image without losing lots of room for where the text could be. I think the big R in the
middle which is the first letter of her name, and the text revolving around it works really well
because it symbolises it being all about her.

17. • My contents page was quite conventional
however it was less cluttered than pop
contents pages I had researched. I tried to go
for a neat look, structured contents page but
still with all the Bold colours. My fonts were
cohesive throughout as I used the same
fonts that I used on my front cover and
double page spread, so that the overall
magazine had a nice flow. I used the Top Of
The Pops magazine contents pages as
inspiration for my own as I liked the lay out.

18. • I think that my music magazine represents the fun and
boldness of young teenage girls. The colours and the images
are very inviting. My magazine although made for the age
range of 12-18, I think is relatable to all young girls who look
at a pop magazine and wish it was them on the cover. The
story of my artist is also very relatable to young girls
Personally I think teenage girls will read/buy anything that
looks interesting, whether there is a guy or girl on the front
cover, it just has to look eye catching and relatable. All
teenage girls can relate to each other therefore my magazine
shows that social group of teenage girls, who probably aspire
to be a star, or have a crush on certain male celebrities...etc.

19. • By mentioning the likes of Justin Bieber, The Wanted, One direction...etc
on my front cover really pulls in my target audience as they would be
attracted to look inside of the magazine and find out more about why
they have been mentioned on my front cover. The use of pull quotes also
tease my target audience making them anxious to by and read more.
Teenagers love Freebees and competitions and therefore by putting
these advertisements on my front cover would attract them therefore
making them more willing to buy it. My magazine is quite friendly so my
target audience feel like they are apart of the magazine. The language
used wasn’t too formal so it feels like more of a conversation rather than
like they are reading a Broadsheet newspaper.
I think that the Off license would sell my magazine, and supermarkets. I
say this because I see a lot of pop magazines in these shops. Not only
this, but teenage girls usually stop in Off license shops before they come to
school, usually to buy lunch and a magazine to read on their way. I’ve also
chosen for my magazine to have a website, meaning it can be distributed
online, this is good because people are becoming very dependent on the
internet and download more than they go out and buy. I think it would be
pointless to mass market my magazine as only a segment would by it due
to its target audience. However a mass market would help my magazine to
become worldwide and well known.

21. • During this project I have learned how to successfully
manipulate an image effectively using Photoshop. I
have also learned how to make things stand out and
also what works and what doesn’t. Through practicing
on Photoshop I have also learned how to get a
crisp, clean and well structured finish that helped make
my magazine look my realistic. Looking back on my
preliminary task I realised that it was awful and that
there was so much more I could have learned on photo
shop. I have also learned that fonts, colour scheme and
grammar makes a real BIG difference it terms of the
effectiveness of your end product. This process has
also enabled me to realise less is more.