Magazine evaluation

1. Nieeve Quinn
Evaluation
Whenfirstmakingmymagazine I setout to make a fashionmagazine thatwastargetedatfemales
aged18-23. BydoingresearchI usedcoloursthat I thoughtwouldattracta female audience as
magazines representationof femaleaudiencesuse stereotypical colourse.g.pink,purple.Male
audiences wouldbe more masculine e.g.blue,green.Inmymagazine Iusedthe colourblack,white
and redas I thoughtthe red would representfemaleswhile the blackandwhite made itmore
sophisticatedandmodern. ELLEand VOGUEdothe same. AnotherconventionthatIhave usedisthe
keyimage. Keyimage usedonmymagazine usesdirectmode of addresstocatch the audience’s
attention andthe image isof a female whichagainattractsthe female audience,fromdoingthe
researchI have learnedthatusinga female keyimage attractsthe audience astheymaylookupto
the image and see themasa role model. If Ihad useda male image the magazine maynothave
attractedas manyfemalestomy magazine.AnotherconventionthatIfoundinmy researchisthe
anchorage text;thistextisthe highestpiece of textonthe frontcoverand is placednexttothe key
image thisisdue to the contentsof the text. The fontalsoisimportantas it needsto relate tothe
audience e.g.be stylishnotchildish.Thiscanbe done byusingsansserif fontas thiswayit makes
the don’tlookmodernbutnot intendedforanolderaudience due tothe sophistication.
The creative decisionsImade are changingthe colours,myoriginal ideawastoojusthave the
coloursblackand white throughoutmymagazine butthoughtitlookedtoomasculine andoldformy
target audience.Idecidedtoadda bitof colour to make certaintextstandoutand catch the
audience’sattention,Ichose red.Redwaschosenasit wentwell withthe othercoloursusedbut
alsoworkedwell whengoingwiththe targetaudience andmade the importanttextstandout
againstthe others. On myfirsteverdraftI useda backgroundthatrepresenteddistressedwoodthat
made the magazine lookrustic,Idecidedtochange thisas I wentdeeperintomymagazine research
as I realisedthatthe majorityof the magazine covershada plainbackgroundthatwas eitherblackor
white.Iaddeda lightgreybackground afterI deletedthe distressedwoodasthiskeptthe blackand
white theme butalsolookedabitbetterthanhavinga plainwhite backgroundasIthoughtthe grey
addedsomethingdifferent.OriginallyIhadanimage coveringthe whole page whilethe textwent
overthe top of it,I decided tochange thisas itwasn’tthe bestoptionto do as itwouldmake the
texthard to readand wouldcovermostof the image up. Lookingintomymagazine researchI
realisedthatmostmagazine contentshadalot of textwith smallerimagesthatwere relevanttothe
text– I chose to use quite a lotof textbutwithbiggerimages.Ichose to do thisas thismade the
contentsmucheasiertoread and enjoyabletolook atand knew thatmost people preferlookingat
imagesinstead of text.
My magazine followsalotof the formsand conventionsthata professional magazine hassuchas a
mastheadonthe front cover,the mastheadtakesupa lot of space onthe frontcoveras it isa quite
importantpiece of text. Idecidedtoplace the masthead soitwas partiallycoveredupbythe key
image to show it’sa highendmagazine thatishugelypopularandiseasilyrecognisable sodoesn’t
have to be fullyshown. Iputsky linesatthe top of the mastheadto give hintstothe audience about
whatis inside the magazine,mine isbrightredtostandout and isspacedapart to make each word
easiertoread – the sky line bringsthe whole magazinetogether. Iputthe anchorage textnexttothe
keyimage as it’sthe highestpiece of text howeverI didn’tputithigherthanthe keyimages’eye as
thistookthe attentionawayfromthe mainimage. Iput barcodesonmy magazine toshow it’sa

2. Nieeve Quinn
professionalmagazine asthis convention hastoalwaysbe featuredona magazine;Iplaceditat the
bottomso itdidn’tdistractthe target audience awayfromthe keyimage andwasn’teasilyseen.
The strengthsinmy magazine are the imagesandcolourscheme as I thinkthisfitswell withmy
intendedaudience andmakesitlookmore modern.The weaknessesare the contentspage asI think
I couldhave improvedthismore byplacingthe textsomewhere else onthe page tomake it look
more professional.
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