evaluation of college magazine

1. Evaluation Of College Magazine

2. 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Mast Head – I thought it was obviously
essential to include a mast head in my work as,
all magazines have a distinctive mast head on
the front cover. I think that the mast head is
placed well on my front cover as most mast
heads are usually seen at the very top of the
front cover. However, I think that the colours I
have used are not very well chosen as you
cannot really see the words clearly. If I were to
go back I would re think the colour scheme so
the words clearly stand out to the audience.
Puff – When looking for
inspiration, I noticed many
professional magazines include
puffs. I created a puff and put
information inside of it. I think that
the colour of my puff does not
compliment the colour of the text,
and strains the eyes. This does not
make the magazine look
professional and I would certainly
re-think this in the future.
Date/Price/Issue Number – Again,
another essential I thought was
nessacary to include was the date,
price and barcode. I have used this
as it would inform the
audience/readers the things they
might want to know.
Main Cover Line – Nearly every magazine I have came
across when researching has one main cover line. The
cover line displays the main story of the magazine
which may draw the audience/reader in. By including
this to my magazine, it makes sure that it contains the
right codes and conventions of the magazine genre.
Background - Unlike other magazines which have a plain and
simple background, I chose to experiment and keep mine the
same as the original photo. Although it is unique, I would not
do this again as I think it effects the text on my front cover as
the colours blend and it does not stand out enough unlike
other magazines I have looked at.

3. Images – Linking back to my front
cover research, I found that most
contents pages also have images
included. By adding images it gives the
audience/reader a feel for the
magazine and what is going to be
included inside. The photos I took
were around college, in places like,
the reception, the LRC and the Wicked
Café.
Sub Lines/Page Numbers – Also through
research, I found that not only the sub lines
were included but also a short description of
what each page was going to be about. I
decided to include to make the contents
seem more professional and well thought
out. Additionally, page numbers were an
essential too, I included page numbers to
again, make the contents seem more
professional but also to help navigate the
audience/reader through the magazine.
Contents Is Shown – By having contents
show in capital letters and a larger font
than the other text, it helps it stand out
and tells the audience/reader what the
page is. This is obviously something
needed to help create professionalism in
my magazine. However, I do not think that
the boldness of the text stands out as
much as it should. If I were to go and edit
my contents page, I would make sure that
the text was larger and more bold.
Date/Issue Number – All contents pages I
have seen always include the date and the
issue number. By adding this convention, it
informs the audience/reader. Although
most contents pages also include the
name of the magazine, I decided not too.
Instead, I have stated what edition the
magazine is; to make this better I would
definitely add the name of my magazine as
it is then desensitised in the
audience/reader and they will remember it
in the future.
3-4 Columns – In my contents page, I have
only used 3 columns. By doing this, it spaces
the text out and it does not look cluttered.
This helps my contents page to look like a real
one. Nevertheless, I do feel that my contents
page looks more like a list than an actual
contents page. If I were to go back and
change it I would make sure it looked less like
a list and more like a contents page.

4. 2) How did you use new media technologies in the construction of your
media product?
The media technologies I used to create my media product were; Photoshop, Quark and Cameras.
Camera
To take the images for my magazine, I used a camera and experimented with all types of different shots to
find the best ones to include in my magazine.
This is my front cover photo. The reason I
have used a medium close up shot in my
front cover is because, when researching, it
is apparent that all front covers have this
shot with manly direct mode of address.
These photos are included in my contents
page. The shot types here are, over the
shoulder, two low angles and a wide shot.
By incorporating a variety of different
shot types, it makes my magazine unique.
All these photos were also taken on the
same camera as my front cover photo
was taken on.

5. Quark
I used Quark to create my contents page for my magazine.
Firstly, I added a text box all around the page I would be
working on.

6. I then added three columns to my page. I only
added 3 columns to make sure the contents
page did not look unorganised and most
magazines I have seen only have 3 columns.

7. I then added a picture box to include a
photo. The photo I included in the
picture box was;

8. I then added 3 photos in each column and the sub lines.

9. This is the final piece. I went back and
colour coded each column and added colour
to whatever text I wanted colour on.

10. Photoshop
I used Photoshop to create my front cover.

14. 3) What are the strengths and weaknesses of both the product and your
use of new media technologies?
Quark
When using quark, I found it quite
difficult to fit the pictures into the
picture boxes. This affected the
final product as the pictures in my
contents page look unprofessional.
Photoshop
Photoshop was the most difficult media
technology to figure out. The reason my
background is not plain is because I
could not cut around the image as it
kept going wrong.