FMP

1. FMP Evaluation
Tamzin Twose

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research
• Through conducting primary quantitative research, in the form of a survey, I was able to clearly see what
genres of gaming my audience would prefer and what style of magazine they found more appealing. This
led me to conduct additional research on magazine conventions and styles, where I looked at PC Gamer
magazine which was the most popular choice. It also showed me that despite magazine’s having more of a
masculine look and theme, that females still find them appealing. This allowed me to tailor my magazine
design to suit the featured game, rather than having to focus on making it too feminine.
• A weakness of conducting a survey was that I had originally wanted to create gaming news products about
a genre that I wasn’t as familiar with, as in the real world industry you don’t always get to choose what
products you create. Unfortunately, the people that I asked to fill out my survey were heavily interested in
simulation gaming and I didn’t really want to create another simulation feature article, as I’d already
created that style of magazine for my visual project. Also the top three genres were not quite what I was
expecting, so any ideas of games that I could feature as articles on my cover or within my feature article,
had to be changed.
If I could conduct the survey again, I would try to target a more diverse audience, so that I had a clearer
view of different genres of gaming that my audience would find appealing and also to get more male
responses, as the majority of people that answered my survey were female. This could potentially have
changed the genre of game that I featured on my magazine cover and within my feature article.
• A strength of conducting primary market research was that it led me to set up the layout in a similar style
to PC Gamer, which I feel fits more into my own style of magazine creation. Originally, I had thought about
creating my feature article in the style similar to Edge magazine, but Edge magazine pushes the
conventions of magazine design to the boundaries, with pictures overlapping and less organisation, and I
feel I could have ended up with a messy product as a result.

4. Research
• Another strength of conducting existing product research is that I was able to see how a magazine can look
bad if you overuse a colour scheme. I researched a product from 1996, where they heavily used the colour
orange, a colour which I chose to use, but on their magazine they used it to highlight everything and this
made it unappealing to look at. By seeing how overusing a colour can look bad, it made me more aware of
using colours subtly so that they stand out but are not unattractive.
• A weakness of conducting existing product research was that I spent time researching blog websites.
When it came to production, after creating a magazine cover and a 4 page feature article in Photoshop, I
felt that creating a blog website wouldn’t showcase that I had a wider range of skills. Instead I changed my
idea to create a video advert, which meant I didn’t have additional time to spare on researching videos or
planning it in detail, so I had to make the video by utilising existing assets.
• For my primary quantitative research I conducted interviews. A strength of this was that it helped me to
get more insight into what style of article to write. I learned that informal articles with honest, informative
information was preferred. This led me to try to input my own opinions and feelings about the game
featured in my article, rather than just stating facts, which I feel helped me to create a better quality
article.
• A weakness of this form of research was that I found it difficult to tailor my magazine to suit both my
survey audience and those that took part in the interview. The answers, although more open and honest
and containing answers in greater detail, were subjective and unless conducted on a wider scale, I wasn’t
able to put enough of the results into action in my products.

5. Planning
• A strength of creating my initial plans is that I had a clear idea that I wanted to create a gaming magazine
brand from the start of my project. It was an idea that sparked the most ideas of what products I could
create and because of that I felt confident and passionate about creating it.
• A weakness of this was in my mind map I had thought of all the different products that I wanted to create
for my brand, but I didn’t have the time to make them all and with additional time I would have loved to
make a website and create my own animated game to feature in the magazine or on a website. Had I only
planned a few ideas, I might have had a clearer focus on the ones that I was able to create.
• A weakness of creating an initial audience profile, before conducting research, was that the results of my
survey almost completely differed from the audience profile I had originally created. This definitely altered
the colour scheme and content that I had in mind, which meant my magazine would have looked
completely different had I stuck to what I had initially planned. However, it did open my mind to trying
something that was out of my comfort zone, which is good experience for working in the real world
industry where I won’t always get to create what I want.
• A real strength of carrying out my pre-production planning was that when it came to producing my
products, I had a clear plan of what colour scheme and fonts I wanted to use. This saved me so much time
on production and was extremely useful. If I’d had to search for all of them whilst carrying out production,
it probably would have led me to feel anxious and could have spoiled the finished result of my products.
• A weakness of my pre-production planning was that the article I wrote for my feature article was a lot
longer than I’d expected to be able to write, so the set up of my mock layout plans weren’t suitable for my
actual products. This meant I had to spend time trying to find another way of fitting my content into the
article, which I could have spent creating additional products.

6. Planning
• A strength of planning what content I wanted to include in my article, before production began, was that I
was able to really focus my attention on the topic. Had I tried to write it whilst setting up my feature
article, I don’t think I would have been able to write as much as I did and I feel like the quality would have
suffered because of it.
• A weakness of planning the text content for my article was that I didn’t know how much space I had to
determine the word count of my text, so my article ended up being too long. This meant I had to create an
additional set of pages for my article, which led to me having to write more for the article, because then I
didn’t have enough to fill another page. However, this did also lead me to create a much more detailed
article and an additional fun page that linked to the featured game, which would make the audience feel
like they are getting good value for money.
• By carrying out my production experiment, I was able to try out my colour scheme whilst practicing with
different styles for my brand logo/masthead. This led me to discover a version that I was so pleased with,
that I used it in my final products. It also helped me see that although I’d chosen a blue and orange for my
colour scheme that contrasted well, that in fact they would work better if I didn’t use them directly next to
each other, or in a large black of colour.

7. Time Management
• I feel in the beginning of my project, I managed my time really well. I completed the majority of my
research and planning to schedule. The only part of my research that I did struggle with was finding
people to take part in my interviews. I had been so focused on making sure I got my survey filled out and
my product research completed that I hadn’t given enough thought to how long it would take to find
people who were willing or capable of giving helpful answers.
• I feel for the magazine cover and four page article, I completed the products in a reasonably good time and
I feel I created them to the best of my ability, however, because my article was too long to fit on one page,
I had to spend additional time working on a second set of pages and writing a little more to fill out a
second page. This time could have been spent creating additional products, like the website or social
media pages, or copyediting the feature article into a blog post.
• When it came to creating my video advert, it took a lot longer than expected due to technical issues with
Premiere Pro on the college computers. I hadn’t anticipated this when creating my contingency planning,
so I was slightly unprepared for it.
However, I was quick to think of a solution whereby I chose to spend the time in college completing my
production reflection and made a start on my evaluation. I then carried out my production work at home,
on my study days, as I knew my computer was more reliable to run Premiere Pro.
• With the technical issues with Premiere Pro, I realised that I didn’t get chance to set up the social media
accounts that I had planned to create. With additional time I would have loved to have set these up and
also create the website. One of the ideas I’d had was to link the products, featuring a blog article on the
social media sites and then I could have featured the video I’ve created on the website.

8. Technical Qualities
The existing product has
quite a dark background with
lots of special effects and
detail. I wasn’t able to create
such a detailed background,
because it is more advanced
than my skillset.
I chose to use the stone
background that is regularly
used with the feature image.
I found a wallpaper with a
large portion of the stone
background and removed the
image using the rectangular
marquee tool so that I could
use the background image on
my cover.
If I’d used an image with the
stone background attached
then I wouldn’t have been
able to reposition the
character layer over other
elements, without also
moving the background in
front of them.
For the masthead, my
product differs from
that of the PC Gamer
cover because they’ve
used a colour block
behind their
masthead. I tried this
in my production
experiments but I felt
it was too heavy on
colour. Instead, I
created two text
boxes, alternated the
colours of the words
and positioned text
layer so that it created
a coloured shadow.
I also opted for a more
modern stylish front,
rather than just a bold
sans serif font as I felt
this make the
magazine more
appealing to a younger
audience
For the competition plug I used the ellipse tool to create a circle and then used the rectangle tool to create a box to highlight the word
“WIN!” I created these in separate layers rather than just painting the background, so that I was able to move them around. I had originally
placed the plug in the bottom right-hand corner, but as I developed the magazine I found it fit better further up to the left. Had I just
painted the background, I wouldn’t have had the option to reposition the plug.
The conventions are similar to that of the PC Gamer cover, except that they have left-aligned their plug along the edge. This works well with
their plug because of the rectangular image and also because they’ve positioned the circle over the edge of the page, they’ve created an
edge to line up the text with. For my plug I felt centring the text and images worked better, especially with the round style of image.
To use the headphone image I had to use a combination of the magic wand tool and the polygonal lasso tool to cut out a white background.

9. Technical QualitiesFor the feature image, I had
to use the magic wand tool
and polygonal lasso tool to
remove a white
background.
By doing this it allowed me
to adjust the layer
positioning so that the
feature image sat behind
the main cover line text. If
I’d left the white
background attached it
would have looked messy
as there would be a white
block over my stone
background image.
Also I was able to place the
feature image so that it sat
slightly over the masthead
line. This is a common
convention that I was able
to create because the
image was separate.
For the Kingdom Hearts 3 cover line I decided to be a little bit more creative with
the images. I cut the images out using the polygonal lasso tool and positioned them
behind a rectangle which highlighted the game title. I then repositioned the cover
line so that there was space for the key to sit between the words. Using the
rectangular marquee tool, I selected the part of the key that I wanted to sit in front
and duplicated it into a new layer and moved it up the list to create a 3D effect. I
had originally used a square image for the game, but I felt it looked too colour
heavy and this was more creative. I also moved it from the top right to the bottom
right as there was more space here to feature the images.
For the reviews plug,
PC Gamer placed
there’s in a circle, but
with my magazine
cover already having
the competition plug
high up to the left, I
felt this wouldn’t look
good. So instead I
chose to highlight the
words “10 Page” by
creating a rectangle to
emphasise the words
and then wrote out
the heading and
subheading with the
text tool, making sure
the text was right-
aligned and
uniformed.
The existing product used the official game logo/font
for the main cover line. I tried to use the official
game logo for my main cover line but, unfortunately,
the game logo was not suitable, instead I found a
font that was very similar and wrote it out using a
text box. Because I had a contrast of light and dark
colours, I needed to make my font stand out, so I
wrote it in the red associated with the game and
added a 5px stroke to outline it.

10. Technical Qualities
For the running head, PC Gamer
used a bold black line. I decided
that I liked this convention, so I
created a line using the line tool. I
chose to use the red colour from
the Apex Legends game, instead
of black, so I used the eye
dropper tool to pick out the
colour from the magazine cover,
and altered the colour. I did this
to create continuity and brand
recognition for the colour scheme
and game.
For the headline PC Gamer used a
simple text style headline. For my
magazine headline I added in two
images and resized them using free
transform to create a banner style
image. For the character image, I
was able to find a png file which
already had the characters cut out,
otherwise I would have used the
polygonal lasso tool to create this
effect.
For the kicker text, I created a
drop cap like that of the PC
Gamer article, but instead I used
the rectangle tool to create a
square colour block behind and
used the eyedropper tool to pick
out the orange from the brand
logo in the folio.
For the page colour I decided to
add in the stone background from
the front cover, where as PC Gamer
have left their page colour white. I
did this to contrast the darker
colours, as a white background
looked too bright.
For the featured images the layout
is the same, both of which follow a
common convention of article
creation. To create the spacing
between the images I used free
transform to resize the images and
also used the rectangular marquee
tool to crop the images to the right
size.
I also had to use the clone stamp
tool and a gaussian blur on the
images to remove the names of the
other characters within the game,
to protect their privacy.
Both articles have the body text
structured into columns. To follow
this convention I set up guides for
each column and also a guide at
each edge of the column to leave
a small amount of white spacing.
Both articles have a small line to
define the columns of text, I
created this using the line tool
and used the eye dropper tool to
pick out the orange colour.

11. Technical Qualities
For the final two pages of my
feature article, I followed the
column guides and placed text
boxes into the columns using
the horizontal type tool. I used
free transform to resize the
featured image and the
rectangular marquee tool to
select and remove a small
portion of the bottom of the
image. Had I not done this the
body text would have been too
close to the image and it wasn’t
an option to make the text
smaller as it would have been
too small to read.
Where as the PC Gamer article,
has switched the layout to have
a left hand page of images and
a right hand page of text and
have set up their article pages
in a similar layout to their first
set of pages.
For the additional page, I created a
top 5 characters section. I did this
by creating boxes using the
rectangle tool and changed the
radius of the corners to create a
curved edge. I added in several
additional rectangles, to create the
definition lines and using the eye
dropper tool I picked out the
orange and blue from the
magazine cover and alternated the
colours. I could have just painted
the background, but if I’d done that
I wouldn’t have been able to
rearrange the boxes, which would
have caused a problem, as I had
issues finding the right size to fit all
of the text for each character.
For the images I took screenshots
of the characters, in game, and
pasted them in. I then resized
them using free transform so that
the characters sat within the box
and used a combination of the
rectangular marquee tool and the
eraser tool to crop the image so
that it looked like it was within a
frame.
Also for the images associated with
the characters abilities, I was able
to find png files with transparent
backgrounds, otherwise I would
have sourced alternative images
and used the polygonal lasso tool
to remove the background.
To begin creating the final two
pages, I duplicated the first set
of pages and renamed the file.
This saved me a lot of time,
otherwise I would have had to
set up all of the guides again.
So in this article the edge
spacing, running head, folio and
column set up is identical to
that of the other page, except
for the altered page numbers.

12. Technical Qualities
Gamers Unite Advert PC Gamer
Advert
For my video product, I had initially wanted to create a radio advert, but soon after beginning the creation I decided that a visual video
would be more appealing and would suit my skillset more.
I wasn’t able to find a video specifically advertising a gaming magazine, but I was able to find a promotional video by PC Gamer.
The PC Gamer video uses filmed shots of two members of the PC Gamer team, delivering the information on their promotion.
For my video, I didn’t want to film myself or someone else as I don’t like that style of advert. Instead, I recorded an advertisement
speech, detailing all the features in Issue 1 of my magazine and used visual cues.
The PC Gamer promotional video, at times felt quite gimmicky, which I feel would appeal to a younger audience, whereas my video was
informative, which fit in with the style of information that an older audience preferred.
For the visual cues, I didn’t have access
to game footage for all of the topics I
was talking about, so I felt the best way
I could present the information was to
utilise the assets that I had already
created for my magazine cover and
article. I used the background and
colour scheme from the magazine
cover and article to create continuity
and brand recognition and I used the
magazine cover, to grab the audience’s
attention.
I used the text tool and set up key frames to animate bullet points for all of the key
information as they were spoken, whereas PC Gamer used images and text randomly placed
around the video which I feel is messy and disorganised.
To keep my information organised and structured, I set up guides to split the screen in half,
showcasing the magazine on one half and the information on the other half. I felt this would
ensure that the audience would know exactly what to expect from this magazine and the
organisation would make it feel professional and that the brand could be trusted.
Also by inserting logos for the two main games featured in the article, that this would create
brand recognition and draw in fans of those games.
Finally, I added a music track, to create an upbeat, happy tone. To ensure the volume didn’t
overpower the voice recording, I used key frames set at lower volumes to gradually reduce
the volume of the music.

13. Aesthetic Qualities
By creating a border around the
magazine edge and using guides, I was
able to ensure that all of the elements
of the magazine were lined up, which
is a common convention of magazine
cover creation. This ensured that the
content looked professional and
organised.
For the masthead I chose quite a
modern stylish font. From
conducting research, I new that
most magazine brands use a
standard sans serif font, but I
wanted to be slightly different and
more creative.
For the colour scheme, the main
colour I wanted to use was the
orange. When I was looking up
connotations of colours, I specifically
looked for one that connoted
community spirit. I feel that making
the unite stand out in orange,
further emphasised the message I
was trying to get across.
The real thing that actually turned
out better than I thought was the
selling line above the masthead.
I wrote it out using a regular sans
serif font, but for the words “gamers
together”, I thought it would
emphasise my community theme
even more if I styled those two
words in bold and coloured them the
same as the masthead. What I didn’t
realise until afterwards is that it
actually creates the impression that
it says “Gamers Unite Together”,
which is perfect.
For the feature image I used the most
popular character from Apex Legends.
This character represents a positive
role within the Apex Legends game. To
make the character appear more
important I followed a common
convention of magazine creation by
placing the image just slightly over the
masthead line. The image, surprisingly,
fit perfectly into the gap of the words
“Gamer’s Unite”, which was perfect as
with a new magazine I knew it would
be silly to cover the name of an
unestablished brand.
For an extra artistic touch, I added in
the Apex Legends picture logo, behind
the feature image. I felt this framed
the character well and brightened the
stone background image slightly. I also
added a stroke around the edge to link
in the red in the main cover line.
As an additional touch to create continuity for the featured
image and article, I added a stroke around the main cover line
and anchorage to tie in with the featured image, as the main
character is drawn in a cartoon style with a slight outline.
To ensure that my magazine didn’t look messy and overwhelm the
audience, I ensured that I didn’t cram too many elements around the
feature image. I tried them in different places until I found the way that
they worked best, to ensure that I made good use of the white space.

14. Aesthetic Qualities
To make my sub-article cover line and subheading stand out I created two rectangles and coloured them in blue and orange, by doing this it
continued the colour scheme across the magazine. For the supporting image, I cut out the three main characters for the game and
positioned them behind the cover line. This was very time consuming but I feel it was worth it. I duplicated a portion of the key and placed it
in between the words “Kingdom Hearts”. I felt this was a creative way to show the importance of the key, which also links in with the
subheading, “Friendship is key”. I intentionally used repetition of the word “friendship” to not only tie in the theme of the game but also to
link in with my magazine’s community spirit theme. The use of alliteration in “defeat the darkness” further emphasises the importance of
working together. Finally the three characters in the game work together as friends to defeat the darkness, so it further links it all together.
The only thing I would alter is to run the orange sub-heading box right up to the edge and maybe reposition Donald a bit more to the left.
I used a similar font to that of the
“Apex Legends” game to create brand
recognition. I had wanted to use a
real logo but the style didn’t suit the
cover. I used the red which I picked
out from a logo of the game to colour
the text, which further added to the
brand recognition. This colour
worked really well in contrast with
my own colour scheme, especially
with the blue.
For the competition plug I placed the
supporting image and heading within
a circle. I coloured the circle in blue
to continue my colour scheme and
used an orange box to highlight the
word “WIN!”. By making the plug
stand out, I feel it would really grab
the audience’s attention. Finally, I
added in the SteelSeries logo to
create brand recognition; by linking a
popular brand it will make my
magazine seem more reputable and
the product on offer links into the
fact that it’s a gaming magazine.
For my colour scheme, I wanted to use a
combination of orange and blue as orange
connotes community spirit and blue
connotes trust and wisdom.
I tried to ensure that I didn’t overuse the
colours, especially the orange, and made
sure that they were evenly spread out
across the cover.
I feel that I used the colours well,
especially within the masthead and selling
line. The blue I was originally going to use
was actually a slightly different shade, but I
saw that it was very similar to the blue in
the feature image, so I altered the shade to
match the game. I felt this would further
tie in the feature image to my magazine.
For the Simulation Special article, I used
alliteration in the title to make the article
seem interesting and catchy and to add
importance to the article. I also highlighted
the words “10 PAGE” with a white box with
blue text to emphasise that the audience
would be getting a lot for their money. I
used the blue because I felt using orange
would be too overpowering near the
masthead.

15. Aesthetic Qualities
To ensure that my magazine conformed to the
common conventions of magazine creation, I
used the rulers to set up guides. I then used the
guides to create an even edge around the article.
Looking at both articles together and at the PC
Gamer article in my technical qualities section, I
realise that had I taken this into the real world
industry that there should have also been a
centre edge as well, to split the pages.
For the heading I used the Apex
Legends logo and a picture of
the characters. I really like how
the characters look like they are
coming out of the page and the
two images work well together
to create a banner style image. I
also placed them slightly over
the running head line to show
importance.
For the page colour I used the
stone background image that
I’d used on the magazine cover.
I felt this would create
continuity for the featured
game, but I also felt with a
white background that the
white was too bright and didn’t
contrast well with the darker
images.
For the featured images, I
ensured that I used pictures
that supported the article. I
used captioning for any
pictures that I felt might need
an explanation. I would have
used a black box with white
text, as this is usually how
captioning is set up, but I knew
that it wouldn’t have
contrasted well with the darker
images so instead I opted to
use the blue from my colour
scheme with black text.To structure the text into
columns, I split the page into
three and also added extra
guides to create a spacing
around the edge of each
column. This ensured that the
body text was clear and easy to
read and it also makes it look
more professional. I gave the
text clear subheadings that
linked to the body text.
For the kicker text, I set up a
drop cap using an orange square
with the first capital letter of
the text centralised within it.
This is a common convention of
magazine articles and I feel it
looks artistic and clearly shows
the beginning of an article. I
also spread the kicker text
across the first two columns so
that they would be shorter and
easier to read.
To break up the text slightly, I added in a pull
quote. I specifically chose a positive team based
quote to show that working together is key. I
made the font larger than the body text and set it
to bold in order to catch the audiences attention
and intrigue them to read the article.
I also added a set of lines one above and one
below the pull quote to highlight it and make it
stand out further.

16. Aesthetic QualitiesFor my second set of pages for
the feature article, I only had
the summary column of text
left to add in. I didn’t want to
remove any of the article that
I’d written, so in order to create
another page of text, I decided
to write more for the article.
This was slightly time
consuming but I felt it was
worth it. It gave me a chance to
talk more about the gameplay
which helped link the
screenshot images featured
with the text that I wanted to
include.
By setting up the guides in the
first set of pages and
duplicating the document, I was
able to save myself a lot of time
because I already had the
guides in place. This also
ensured that there was a clear
continuity between both article
pages. It meant that the
running head, folio and column
layout stayed the same, except
for the page numbers. This
makes it look professional and
appealing, because if I’d set up
the guides again, I wouldn’t
have been able to get
everything lined up the same.
For the pull quote I used a sentence that I felt would grab the readers
attention. I actually changed the ending of the quote which originally
said “before your enemies come knocking” to “enemies get you in their
sights.” I felt this really tied in the featured image and the picture of the
rare sniper rifle in the bottom right.
I had originally left the pull quote at the bottom of the page, in line with
the picture and summary box, but I felt the text was too blocked
together. In order to break up the columns of body text I moved the pull
quote further up. I had to copyedit this part of the article to fit in as I
had one line too many, but after scanning the article, I found a few easy
words to remove that weren’t significant.
For the final page I wanted
to create something that
linked to the featured game
and gave the reader some
additional fun information to
make them feel like they
were getting good value for
money.
I decided to break the page
up into 5 boxes and a title,
detailing the top 5 Apex
Legends characters.
To create this page I set up 5
boxes and alternated the
numbers and the pictures. I
felt if I’d lined it all up on the
same side it would have
looked too colour heavy and
the pictures would have
looked too dark all together.
It was very time consuming
to set up this information,
even with a whole page to
work with, as some
characters had more text, in
their ability descriptions,
than others.
I do feel that it looks
creative, though, so it was
worth it and offers the
reader additional
informative information in a
fun way.

17. Aesthetic Qualities
To begin the opening of my video I transitioned in
each word to give it emphasis and ensure that each
word appeared in time with the audio cue.
To emphasise and create consistency for my brand, I
utilised the masthead that I had already created and
placed it centrally. I made sure it was larger than the
other words to make it stand out and used a cross
zoom transition to make it seem more important.
To turn to a new set of information I
added a cube transition to roll from
one scene to the next. I felt this
showed a clear definition of
information and allowed me to
create a slight pause in my voice
recording.
I animated bullet points using key
frames to highlight the key
information. I ensured that I used the
same colour scheme from my
magazine cover, by writing the bullet
points in blue.
For my video product, I wanted to
create an advertisement for my
magazine. In order to deliver the key
information, I chose to place the
magazine cover on the left hand side
of the video. This gave me a clear
space to the right to deliver the
information along with the voice
recording. With no access to game
footage for some of the articles, I felt
the best way to set the video up,
would be to utilise the assets from
my magazine.
For the exclusive interview scene, I included the logo for Insomnia Gaming festival and for the
competition scene I named the brand and used an image of the headset to visually attract the
audience.
I feel that by using official logos and images that it will draw in the attention of fans of those
brands and would make my magazine appeal to a wider audience. Of course if I were to take
this into the real world industry I would seek permission to use the logos, before using them.
If I could change anything I would alter the insomnia logo to black, the same as the magazine
cover, to ensure that it stood out as I do feel that upon reflection, it doesn’t quite contrast as
well as I would have liked.
Also another change I would make is on the competition scene I would add in the SteelSeries
logo rather than writing the name out in text.

18. Aesthetic Qualities
After listening to my video with just my voice recording I felt that it
needed the addition of some sound effects or music. I found a track
called “Payday” from the YouTube audio library.
I chose this track because it is very lively, upbeat and happy and gives a
real feel-good vibe. The perfect part was at the beginning of the track it
started with a drum roll which really emphasised the introduction of a
brand new product. I allowed the volume to be slightly louder for the
drum roll to really grab the audiences attention and then used key frames
to reduce the volume gradually so that when it came to the important
information, the music wouldn’t overpower the voice recording. I feel it
was subtle enough to not make the audience pay too much attention to
the fact that it was gradually getting quieter.
For the ending of the video, I wanted to reaffirm the brand name in the
audiences mind. I also then read out the slogan from the magazine to
really send a positive message that this magazine is for everyone.
The use of repetition of the brand name at the beginning of the video
and at the end and the repetition of the word “Gamers” makes it catchy
and appealing and creates brand recognition.
To end the music I used an exponential fade to fade the track out
gradually. I felt if I added a jingle to the end, it would have been messy
and crammed in. This was a much more effective way to end the video.
Finally, throughout the whole video, I ensured that all of the assets were
lined up strictly to guides, so that it was organised and professional and
to create the impression that the brand can be trusted.

19. Audience AppealTo ensure that my magazine cover appeals to my primary
socioeconomic status, the working class, I have featured a low
attractive price, a competition, a 10-page Simulation Special
and a variety of articles so they will feel like they are getting
good value for money.
The featured article will also appeal to them because it is a free
to play game that they don’t need to buy.
My magazine cover will also appeal to my secondary
socioeconomic status, the middle class, because the cover is
well presented and structured giving it a professional feel and
the price and competition would also be attractive to them.
To appeal to my primary age group, 25-44 years, I created a
positive community spirit for my magazine with the selling line
and “Gamers Unite” brand name.
Also, by using an attractively low price and competition, it will
make them feel like they are getting good value for money, as
they might be more inclined to spend their money wisely.
To appeal to my secondary age group, 16-24 years, I’ve featured
articles on new and current games, which are very popular in
the gaming world and by featuring a free to play game that is
very popular with a younger audience.
Also, by using a modern stylish font in the masthead, it makes
the magazine more current and relevant.
My magazine cover will appeal to my primary psychographic,
the belongers, because they like to be part of a community and
I have created a clear community message with “The magazine
that brings gamers together”. They are also brand loyal, so I
appealed to them by featuring games that are popular and by
featuring a branded product in the competition plug.
My magazine cover will also appeal to my secondary
psychographic, the needs driven, as they tend to act on impulse
and will be attracted by the competition and the exclusive
article for Insomnia gaming festival.

20. Audience Appeal
From my survey research results, I found that the most popular
genre of gaming was simulation. I’ve already created a
magazine for my visual project, which heavily featured
simulation games and I wanted to push myself to create
content that was less within my comfort zone, so for the main
feature article I chose to feature a game that fit the first person
shooter and action genres.
However, in order to still tailor the magazine to appeal to the
fans of simulation gaming, I created a side article heading on
the magazine cover, featuring a “10 Page Simulation Special”,
which will make them feel like that genre is getting a really big
focus within the magazine.
To make my magazine cover appeal to my primary gender,
females, I have featured a female character who plays a positive
role as a combat medic in the game, Apex Legends. She is
someone who they might aspire to be like.
The use of a lighter background would appeal to them more
than a darker background which would connote masculinity.
Also, the Kingdom Hearts 3 article would attract a female
audience because this game connotes good versus evil and by
the clear positive message that “Friendship is key” and that
friendship is powerful.
However, Kingdom Hearts 3 is not exclusive of males, because
the main character is male and the game uses fighting scenes in
order to defeat the darkness.
To also appeal to my secondary gender, males, I have featured a
first person shooter game which connotes action and danger
which they might find thrilling. Also, they might be attracted to
the competitiveness of the game and want to be the best,
which links in with the competition to win an “ELITE” headset.
Also, the use of orange, red and blue in my colour scheme
creates a more masculine feel which might make it more
appealing to them.

21. Audience Appeal
To ensure that my feature article appeals to my primary
socioeconomic status, the working class, I have featured a free
to play game called Apex Legends and within the article I have
written about the features like the apex packs and battle pass
that require real money to access and whether you can play the
game without spending real money. They will find this
appealing because it will give them an insight as to whether the
game is really free. This will also be appealing to my primary
age group, 25-44 years as they will be more money conscious
and if they have children who want to play the game, they
might want to know whether their child could play it without
having to buy them the items.
Also by writing an informative honest article, they will feel like
they were getting something out of reading it and it is time
worth spent.
To appeal to my secondary age group, 16-24 years, I have
featured a popular, current free to play game, which they don’t
have to buy in order to play.
Also, by featuring a fun extra page related to the Apex Legends
game, which features the top 5 Apex Legends(characters), they
will be able to see which characters are the most popular and
what their abilities are which will create excitement and give
them knowledge on how to be good at the game, if they
choose to play it.
My feature article will also appeal to my secondary
socioeconomic status, the middle class, because by structuring
the article pages so that they look professional and consistent
they will feel like the magazine is trustworthy and a reliable
source of information.

22. Audience Appeal
My feature article will also appeal to my secondary
psychographic, the needs driven, by creating hype for a game
that is very popular in the gaming world.
Also by giving them a rating, they may see that it has been
rated highly and that they must get the game because it’s
popular, otherwise they’d be missing out on something great.
To make my feature article appeal to my primary gender,
females, I have featured images of the main character from the
magazine cover and she is also the top Apex Legend to play.
This might make them feel empowered that a female character
is number one.
Also the team up aspect of the article connotes responsibility
and that working together is important, which females might
be more attracted to, as males are more likely to want to be
number one themselves, rather than in a team.
This will also make the feature article attractive to my primary
psychographic, the belongers, because they like to feel part of a
community and I think they will prefer to play a game that
heavily features working together as a team.
To also appeal to my secondary gender, males, I have featured
images that connote action and danger, which they will enjoy
and by featuring a rare customisation for the sniper rifle, it will
create excitement for finding something so sought after.
Also, by giving them an honest informative article, they will feel
like they have the knowledge to be the best and that will
appeal to their competitive nature.

23. Audience Appeal
My advert will appeal to my primary psychographic,
the belongers, by featuring the branded games that
appear in my magazine. By using assets like the
magazine cover, brand name and colour scheme, I
have created brand recognition which will further
appeal to the belongers because they are brand loyal.
Also by including the selling line, “The magazine that
brings GAMERS TOGETHER” they will want to buy the
magazine, because it has a strong community message
and they like messages that link to being part of a
community.
My advert will appeal to my secondary psychographic
group, the needs driven, by including an exclusive
interview and latest news for Insomnia Gaming festival
and by including information about the competition
featured in the magazine. These will appeal to them
because the needs driven are impulsive and wouldn’t
want to miss out on exclusive content and the chance
to win such an amazing product.
To make my advert appeal to my secondary age range,
16-24 years, I have featured information about games
which are current and vastly popular. By including the
competition and the image of the Siberia Elite
headset, they would be attracted to winning such an
“elite” product that connotes superiority.
Also, I have included the Gamers Unite logo, which is
written in a modern font, which makes the brand look
current and appealing.

24. Audience Appeal
My advert will appeal to my primary gender,
females, because I have included the magazine cover
within the video, which features a popular female
character from Apex Legends, who plays a positive
role as a combat medic.
To make my advert appeal to males, I have included
information about the feature article, Apex Legends,
which is a first person shooter game that connotes
action and danger.
My advert will appeal to my primary age range, 25-
44 years, because I have ensured that the video is
structured to look professional and included
informative information about the contents of issue
1 of the magazine. Also by listing all of the features
they will know exactly what they are getting for their
money. This will also make the magazine appeal to
my secondary socioeconomic status, the middle
class, because by making the advert look
professional they will think that Gamers Unite is a
brand to be trusted and is a reliable source of
information.
To make my video appeal to a wider audience, I have
included information about multiple genres, across
all platforms of gaming.
To appeal to the fans of simulation gaming, which
was the most popular genre in my survey results, I
have included information about the “Simulation
Special”. This will make them feel important,
especially by stating that there’s 10 pages.

25. Peer
Feedback

26. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
– Gamers Unite brand: I very much like the Gamers Unite magazine brand. The logo font is bold and
appropriately “technological”. The motto, too, “The magazine that brings gamers together” is good,
playing on the sense of community and camaraderie among the members of the gamer fraternity /
subculture, and indeed aiming to bring them together in adopting this magazine for this purpose.
The £2.99 price tag is also very appealing.
– Cover and content of the magazine: It’s clear that the magazine has been written by someone who is
an experienced gamer themselves, which enhances the credibility of the magazine and the Gamers
Unite brand.
The cover is bright and bold, with an image of a suitably-friendly female character, and plenty to
tempt the would-be-reader to buy it and look inside.
The four-page feature article on “Apex Legends” is fun and informative, with plenty of in-game
screenshots and other images to clearly illustrate the subject and also to add further information
about the subject and get an idea of what the game experience is like.
– Video: I enjoyed the video. The background music begins with a suitable introductory drum roll,
leading into unobtrusive and upbeat instrumental music. The voiceover starts immediately, clearly
introducing the topic of the video (the first issue of the magazine) in both narration and text, and it
leads the viewer into the next screen. I like the visuals, with the front cover image on the left and
simple narrated bullet points appearing in sequence on the right, succinctly listing the first issue's
key features and main topics, and then ending on the magazine's title again and the motto, "The
magazine that brings gamers together." The voiceover is suitably clear, professional and upbeat /
enthusiastic.

27. Feedback 1
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
– I very much like the product, so it’s not easy for me to suggest improvements. Perhaps on the
magazine cover an italic font might be used (say “The magazine that brings gamers together” and
“Friendship is Key: Use the power of friendship to defeat the darkness”; or “The latest contender to
join the Battle Royale craze”. This might signal action and add movement and emphasis.
– Also in practice there would need to be an empty border down the centre of the pages where the A3
sheets are stapled or bound and folded, to make sure that all of the content is visible when the
magazine is opened (especially if the magazine is quite thick and doesn’t open flat), and so that each
page has an aesthetically-balanced border around the content.
– Not sure how the video could be further improved. Maybe the image on the opening screen could
shout "new!" and "exciting!" louder?

28. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
– Magazine cover and article: I like the use of fonts and balance between images and text. Bright
colours and easy labelling. I like the top five character reviews. The Gamers Unite logo is punchy, and
looks professional. Strong image on the cover grabs attention.
– Video: Informative. Some nice transitions. Good use of the cover image and logo.
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
– Article: Show me images of top 5 weapons or highlight a few with a small bit of info.
– Video: If possible once the magazine image transitions from right to left, keep it there until the final
split transition. More dynamic font.

29. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
– Magazine: It looks very professional. I especially like the cover, which teases the features and
contents nicely, without giving anything away. The main feature stands out, but balances well
without taking over, allowing a casual glance to still spot other key features - such as the competition
prize. I also like the tag line “The magazine that brings gamers together” it is a clever line taken from
the magazine title. The feature pages are well structured, with a good balance of text and
screenshots. The text is informative and gives a really good overview of the game. I also liked the
character breakdown.
– Video advert: I really like it. It is very professional. The voiceover information is excellent and doesn’t
just read out what is on the screen, so the two inputs compliment each other and help to get more
information across, or force home important messages. The voice doesn’t sound false, patronising,
or like a hard sell, which I feel is very important, as these things always stink of desperation. The tone
is a good level.
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
– Magazine: The only thing I would maybe like to see on the cover would be perhaps a little more
colour, as the background colour is a little bland.
– Video: My only improvement suggestion would be a little more time spent on other features of the
magazine, even a brief montage of pictures, as opposed to a list. But this is a very minor point, as
overall I think it is excellent.

30. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer feedback?
– I agree that the centre of the article pages should also have a border equal to that of the outer edges
as that would ensure that part of the picture or text is not cut off when the magazine is bound. This
is something I noticed myself when I was comparing my article to the PC Gamer article in my
technical qualities section, as I saw that with both of the PC Gamer pages side by side that there was
white spacing in between.
– I agree that I could have given more emphasis to the opening of the video. It took me a few attempts
to record the voice over, as I kept making mistakes, so once I had a version I was happy to use, I stuck
with it.
– I agree that maybe the stone background image could be seen as bland and boring, however, for fans
of the game, that background would be easily recognised and would further add to the brand
recognition of the game.
– I agree that the Gamers Unite advert would have benefited from more imagery. I was so busy trying
to find the best way to utilise what I had already made that I missed the fact that I could have added
in some little extras that weren’t seen on the cover of the magazine. I think maybe what hindered
me a little was that I’d read a script and recorded it and although I’d managed to speak clearly and
enthusiastically, that it was still scripted, so I had to time the visual cues with the spoken word.
– I also agree that the advert might have looked better, had I only transitioned the magazine page
once, I was trying to create the effect of changing to a new scene, but maybe just changing the
information would have been sufficient.
– Finally, I agree that the advert could have used more dynamic fonts within the video. With the
technical issues in the beginning of producing the video causing me delays, I didn’t have as much
time as I would have liked to tweak things like font styles.

31. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you disagree with from your peer feedback?
– I disagree with writing an entire sentence in italics to emphasise action. I know it can be used to
emphasise specific words, but that is as far as I would probably use it.
– I don’t fully agree with the suggestion to have a top five weapons section somewhere within the
article. I know the game involves using weapons and shooting other players, but I feel that there are
other ways to showcase the game, as I had done. I like the idea of showing that there is more to a
first person shooter game than just shooting enemies. That it’s more than just what it is stereotyped
as; violent and bad for people. It also promotes the importance of working together as a team to
succeed.

32. Peer Feedback Summary
• From my peer feedback I would ensure that my magazine article has an equal amount of white spacing
down the centre, between the pages, to ensure that part of the images and text aren’t cut off when the
magazine is assembled.
• I would consider using a different background image for the magazine cover. By focusing on trying to tailor
the front cover to suit the Apex Legends game, some of my audience may find it boring with the stone
background.
• For the video, based on my feedback, I would re-record my voice over to try to emphasise more that
there’s a “NEW” and “EXCITING” magazine available. This would make the video stand out more and
would make the magazine seem more attractive.
• I would include more imagery and more dynamic fonts, to make my advert more visually appealing. Some
people respond more to visual aids and by including a collection of pictures, or short video clips of the
games it would further add to the brand recognition of the featured games which would have incited
further interest in the magazine.
• Also, I would include information in my advert about features that weren’t mentioned on the cover, to
further create excitement and to make the magazine appeal to a wider audience.
• Finally, I would also remove some of the transitions in the advert to make it more subtle, as too many
could be distracting for the audience, and seem too amateur.