1. Coursework
college magazine
Evaluation
music magazine

2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
For my college magazine I looked at magazines of a
range of genres. I wanted my layout to be simple and
easy to read. I wanted it to appeal as something a
student or parent could quickly pick up and read
without it being too taxing. I noticed magazines such
as ‘Heat’ cram full the front page will sell lines and
I wanted mine to be the opposite but not look empty
at the same time
Simple sell lines listed. Makes the
image the main feature. Have copied
this layout on my piece

3. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products continued….
For my music magazine I wanted to appeal to a vast audience and therefore used a
main music event to base my magazine on. I got this inspiration from looking at ‘Q’
covers and noticed that for special events they used collectable covers. I noticed a
lot of music magazines contents pages are normally full of pictures and small text
featuring a range of articles. For mine however I felt including the articles was more
important and didn’t want to fill the page with pictures as well. This challenges
normal forms of music magazines contents pages as I noticed in my research the
page is normally filled with a large image and then a list of text whereas mine is
mostly text. My double page spread I have completely split into two separate pages,
one filled with text and the other the image. This is a format that is used recurrently
used through music magazines
Regular layout
used throughout
music magazines

4. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
My college magazine is meant to represent
college life and college students. I have made
this clearest through the sell lines I have
included on the front cover. Also the image I
have used on the front cover is of a student so it
automatically shows that the magazine is about
them. I wanted to make this magazine appeal to
all so didn’t want to make it biased to a certain
gender. I used the main colours of blue and
maroon and then white for the text. I felt these This colour scheme works better with
colours complemented each other well and main image
wouldn’t be more appealing to certain people.
This was the colour scheme I was always going
to use but after adding the main image onto the
page my original sell lines, which were maroon,
had to change colour as they didn’t stand out I wanted my contents page to carry through the
from the image well enough to be read. simplistic theme I used on the front cover. Again
using this theme I felt that the magazine would
represent the whole of college not just a certain
group of people. The articles I featured on this page
would appeal to all college students and were not
aimed at certain people on certain courses. I
wanted to make sure my magazine did this as to
not limit its audience. Throughout college there are
a range of courses and I didn’t want to isolate
certain groups.

5. How does your media product represent
particular social groups continued…
Within my double page spread
article I used simple and informal
language so it appealed to younger
people and wasn’t strenuous to
read. I did this because the social
I wanted this magazine to apply to a larger audience than groups who would read my
my college magazine. I did this by basing the issue around a magazines would be reading it for
main music event. ‘V festival’ takes place every year and the latest music news and this
appeals to most people who enjoy mainstream, chart language would be easier to read. I
music. I wanted my magazine to apply to a young audience laid it out in conversation format so
and I could easily get feedback on my designs throughout it was easier to understand as well
the process from students within my class.
I used inspiration from ‘Q magazine’ for the colour scheme. I noticed they used red and black
throughout and I thought this worked well as the colours complimented each other well and
would appeal to most people. I have featured articles from recent artists and included
information that would apply to the younger generation, such as gigs and latest reviews.
Similar colour schemes

6. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
It could also be possible to release my
For this coursework I made magazines so these would be magazines as E-readers. These are magazines
distributed by the print industry to go on to sell in newsagents available to read on iPads, iPhones etc.
and supermarkets. Distributing it this way makes it available to Releasing my magazine in this format would
everyone and can to available in large numbers. As my magazine make it more available to other people who
has a large target audience I feel it would be distributed within don’t generally go to the shop to buy a physical
many different shops. Some supermarkets only stock around magazine.
two maybe three magazines for each genre. Whereas going to a
specialist newsagents where they are likely to stock all types of
magazines on a genre. As my magazine is aimed at most people
I feel this could be found in most shops such as ‘Tesco’ as well as
‘WHS Smith’ rather than specialised newsagents
On the front cover of my music magazine I have
included Twitter and Facebook symbols. I have used
these to show that parts of the magazines could be
available online. Most people are involved in some
kind of social networking so this link can keep
consumers up to date with the magazine if they
cannot buy it

7. Who would be the main audience for your
media product?/ How did you attract/address
your audience?
The main audience for my college magazine would be college
students, parents and people considering the college to further
their education. To attract this audience I included articles and sell
lines which would appeal to this group of people. I also kept to
using simple language without a large range in the vocabulary.
As this was meant to be a free magazine for all
students I wanted to keep it simple and include
things that would appeal to all. I did this by
including articles on the contents page not just
about college but also things outside of college.

8. Who would be the main audience for your
media product/ How did you attract/address
your audience continued…
The main audience for my music magazine are those interested in the type of
music and artists featured within the magazine. I felt the main way to attract
the audience would be mainly through the front page. I used complimenting
colours that would attract to most and included artists that are very popular
at the moment.
People will only buy the magazine if it features their favourite artist or
artists they like. I thought the easiest way to put across the artists
featured was some kind of list featured on the cover. When designing my
front cover I found that making long lists filled a lot of the page. I included
sell lines about other articles so I wanted to put across that there was
more on these acts. I did this by titling this list with ‘plus’ when doing this
however it covered too much of the main image so I changed it to a ‘+’
sign.

9. Who would be the main audience for your
media product/ How did you attract/address
your audience continued…
Previously I have mentioned using a chatty tone within my double
page spread interview. I did this to address the audience in a
friendly manner and therefore making it understandable to
anyone as any class or social status can be interested in the type
of music my magazine features.
As my music magazine was aimed at all
of those interested in music, this could
cover all ages, social classes and
professions. I wanted to make my
magazine appeal to most and therefore
gave it a cheap price of £2.30. I felt this
was affordable to most. I wanted my
college magazine to appeal to everyone
within the college so made this a free
magazine. I also felt it was just simple
and included important information
and personally I wouldn’t have wanted
to pay for it

10. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
The main program I have learnt to use more
in depth is Photoshop. I have used this in my
music magazine to cut out backgrounds of
pictures and design fonts on. I already knew
how to make font designs and change text
style but I have learnt the best way to change
pictures within the program.
While editing out the background of my images I had
trouble making them not look like they had been cut
from a background. I wanted the images to look like
they had been taken in front of a white screen. I
wasn’t totally happy with the overall outcome of the
images but as they are partly covered by text I
thought they looked okay as not all attention was on
the image.

11. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product?
Throughout this task I have learnt a range of things in designing a product to print and that will appeal to many.
When comparing my two magazine front
covers the thing I have learnt most when
designing them is how to use the page
more efficiently. My college magazine
doesn’t feature many sell lines and the
page isn’t filled as well as it could be. With
my music magazine I featured more sell
lines and made them stand out more.
While designing my music magazine I also learnt
how much of an impact certain fonts are. My
masthead and the sell lines I have designed
using a font which I designed in Photoshop.

12. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product continued…
Again looking back at my college contents page compared to my music
one I think I have used the space available on the page better and linked
the contents to the cover more. In my college magazine the only link I
used was the fonts and simple layout. Within my music magazine
however I use the recurring themes and layouts. This kept continuity
throughout and it could be easily seen they were all from the same
magazine.
Continuing layout,
colours and fonts

13. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product continued…
I also learnt which colours look best together and
what stands out most on a page. On my college
magazine I used a white and blue colour scheme on
the cover and now looking back at it I decided these
wouldn’t stand out enough against other magazines.
Also when reviewing my college magazine after
completion I found that the picture I initially used
didn’t suit the page enough. I changed this to a mid-
shot as I thought using an image more close up
would be more appropriate.
The image I used on my final design on my magazine was
also not my original picture I was going to use. The first
image I was going to use, didn’t look right behind the
main layout I had already designed and again made the
page seem to empty. Using the close up image, which I
kept with, meant the sell lines fitted around it and they
didn’t cover most of the image.

14. My thoughts on my media products…
I used a basic Microsoft Publisher document to design my
magazines on. I feel that to make my music magazine more
professional I could have used a more advanced program such as
Quark or involved Photoshop techniques more within my magazine.
I think I managed my time well over this product. If I re done it I
would have taken my photos earlier and before I started designing
my magazine overall as after designing the main layout I then had
to change this to make the best picture look right placed behind the
sell lines etc. If I had more time to make my music magazine within I
could have found actual bands and got a real interview with them. If
I got the chance to design my college magazine again I would use
more professional fonts that would stand out more and better
colours as after reviewing it I found the sell lines, which I had
coloured white didn’t stand out against the picture. Overall I am
happy with my outcomes and comparing the two can easily notice
what I have learnt during this process, about colour, text, layout and
the use of pictures.