Evaluation

In the evaluation the following four questions must be
addressed:
• In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How effective is the combination of your main product and
ancillary texts?
• What have you learned from your audience feedback?
• How did you use media technologies in the construction
and research, planning and evaluation stages?

My production conforms to the codes and
conventions of many other regional magazines I
found in my research. My final front cover used a
bold, recognisable masthead with a serif font as I’d
seen it used in several other magazine examples.
The masthead acted as the magazine’s logo and
identifier, hence I carried it through the magazine,
putting it on the contents page, website, and
billboard so an audience would be familiar with it
straight away, recognising it simply by colour, font,
or the word ‘Hideaway’ itself, whichever they
noticed first about it.
The masthead on my front cover is at the top of the
cover and is intentionally large to draw the
attention of the reader. I chose to place my
masthead here as it followed the conventions of the
other regional magazines I’d seen, and was
something my focus group agreed looked good.
I also used a slogan with my masthead in the same
colour and font, however put it in italics to create a
slight contrast between the two. This gave the
audience another thing to remember my magazine
by, as if they were to see the slogan on it’s own
they’d associate it with my magazine through the
slogan itself, as well as it’s font and colour.
Above, my finished front
cover, below, an example
with a similar masthead

The photograph on my front cover is of a
local lighthouse in Thanet, the area my
regional magazine is based around. I used
this image not only as it gives the audience
a familiar place to identify with, but also as
it demands attention from a reader by
being a bright, attractive looking location. I
followed the usual codes and conventions
of having the main object as the primary
source of focus in order to establish a
direct mode of address with the audience,
as well as depicting Thanet as a
picturesque place to attract those not from
the area.
Using a place as my picture rather than a
person also conforms to the codes and
conventions in most regional magazines I
saw, and although some did go against
these conventions and have people on the
front cover, I chose to choose a location in
order to sell Thanet as a place, rather than
for the people.
Above, my finished front cover,
below, an example with
location as the main image

The sell lines on my finished cover are all
placed to the side of the main image, using
pale colours to fit in with the colour of my
masthead. I put them at the side on my
cover as it meant they wouldn’t distract
the audience from my main image, but
would entice them into looking closer at
the magazine to read the sell lines.
I also used direct modes of address in my
sell lines, saying things like ‘your
entertainment,’ your creating a personal
relationship with the reader, something
that was influenced by media theory and
researching how to fully engage with a
reader.
I also used a shadow on the serif font in
the sell lines, making them stand out
against the background of the sky. This
was to ensure the white font was readable
against the cloudy background, as well as
meaning they stood out in general to the
audience, demanding attention from the
readers.
below, an example sell lines
around the edge of the main
image

My front cover conformed to many
stereotypes of regional magazines,
using little details such as a barcode to
make it seem realistic. I placed the
barcode in the bottom right corner of
the front cover to keep it out the way
so it didn’t distract the audience from
my masthead, sell lines and main
image, but still added authenticity to
the appearance of my magazine.
After taking uses and gratifications
theory into consideration and the way
the audience uses media, I chose to use
words such as ‘Exclusive’ to sell my
magazine whilst making it appeal to
readers, giving them the chance to
learn new information from my
magazine and get something back
from it. My magazine also used a price
tag, date and issue number to conform
to the usual stereotypes of regional
magazines.
below, an example with a
barcode, date, and issue number

My contents page conformed to codes and
conventions of other example contents pages I
found that belonged to regional magazines.
A lot of the contents pages I looked at went out
of their way to involve their audiences, be it by
having a direct mode of address or by
including reception theory to involve the
audience in their creation process. In my
contents page, I included my audience by
having a section of ‘photos of the month,’ all
taken and sent in by readers. This was to help
create a personal relationship with the reader,
as well as conforming to other contents pages
that had similar sections, examples being things
like subscribers of the month.
I also had a section with editor that included a
picture of her looking straight into the camera. I
made this a part of my contents page to form a
direct mode of address with the audience,
enticing them into reading. Having a picture of
my editor actually challenged the expected
conventions of a contents page, as, usually in
ones I found, there is a heavy male presence in
the pages, usually being white and either
middle aged or elderly. By including my
female, young editor, it went against the
stereotypical conventions, something I did
purposely to help attract a different target
audience than is usually expected.
Above, my finished contents
page, below, an example with 3
male, white, middle aged to
elderly models.

In my contents page, I chose to have the picture of the editor
as the only person on the pages. This rejects the typical
stereotypes of a regional magazine, and is something I chose
to do so I didn’t reject an audience, rather, by including the
‘pictures by you’ section, made efforts to include them
instead. Although having more people on the contents page
would’ve meant someone people could relate, most regional
magazines only included white, middle aged males, hence I
chose to have one young female on the contents page and no
one else as an effort to both invite a younger, female audience.
This is an audience most magazines reject, hence my
inclusion, but the choice to include no pictures of other people
meant I the magazine could still appeal to others, for example
the readers who’d sent pictures, rather than heavily using one
set of models as most other magazines do.
Using a lot more pictures of scenery rather than people also
rejected the usual conventions of regional magazine contents
pages as they usually have more models than places, where as
I decided to use more places. I did this in order to try and sell
the place my magazine is based around, as it is a regional
magazine after all, rather than sell it for the people. I chose to
do this so the magazine could also be an interest to people not
from the area who could look, be attracted to the place and
choose to read the magazine, rather than see the stereotypical
white male they don’t recognise or relate to and put the
magazine back.
page, below, an example with
more models than places.

In my contents page, I followed the
conventions of other example magazines by
referencing the different media formats my
magazine uses throughout. At the bottom of
my contents page, I put my magazine’s
website, something that would help show an
audience that the magazine is doing its best to
provide for them as well as addressing their
needs and being practical for them, following
reception theory.
The style I used in my contents page is very
structures and easy for the reader to follow, a
convention of the majority of other contents
pages. I used coloured titles to help draw the
attention of an audience, something done in
other magazines, as well as using the
conventions of simple serif fonts, and having
writing to the left hand side to make the
contents page look sophisticated, an element
which appeals to a middle class audience
who’d want a sophisticated look. Although I
didn’t intent to target a class, it just so
happens that the sophisticated look is one I
thought worked best in other example
magazines, hence used it myself, as it also
made the contents page look professional.
page, below, an example with
magazine links on the right.

My ancillary text of a billboard follows the
conventions I found in the one billboard for a
regional magazine and other billboards in
general.
The example for a regional magazine I found
had three main colours, as did the other
example billboard, hence I chose to follow this
convention and use three main colours in
mine to make it easily identifiable to an
audience. I also followed the conventions of
having a easy to read, serif font, and having
big words, usually the title, near or in the
middle to demand attention from a passer by.
I also followed the convention of showing my
magazine as being available in different
formats by having social networking icons like
twitter and Instagram to show my magazine is
available to people in many ways, as well as
being available on an iPhone and an iPad,
whilst having the website link at the bottom.
Having so many different ways to find my
magazine on the billboard showed the
audience that my magazine is listening to
audience demand and suiting their needs, an
element of reception theory in involving them
in the decisions I made for my magazine,
being to be available in different formats.
Above, my finished billboard,
below, an example of a
billboard for a regional
magazine ‘the resident’ and a
newspaper.

My ancillary text of website conforms to the
codes and conventions of usual magazines as
it captures the attention of the audience with
an image, enticing them in and making them
want to discover where the place is, hence
reading the magazine. It also has social media
links in the top right corner, something I
found was used in a lot of example websites to
show an audience the magazine is available
on multiple platforms, meaning it’s meeting
the needs of the audience, following reception
theory that involves listening to and involving
the audience, hence listening to their requests
of social networking and following that.
When you scroll down on my website you
find a brief summary of the site, selling the
magazine, a picture of the most recent edition
and links to an archive and photo gallery. The
links follow the conventions available on other
websites, as well as having the links under the
main title, making it easy for an audience to
navigate the website. Having a photo gallery
also follows codes and conventions, as does
the archive, as they all help entice an audience
into discovering the region and reading the
magazine.
Above, my finished website,
below, an example website.

My research into adverts for jewellery found
that most of the adverts had simple colour
schemes, sticking to 3 main colours, as well as
having simple layouts with little distractions. I
followed these conventions as it’s clear they
work well in adverts by using gold, white and
black as my scheme, as well as having the
necklace in a box as the main image to draw
an audience’s attention. I followed another
convention of having the brand logo as being
one of the biggest pieces of writing to make
the audience recognise it, as well as following
the conventions of having a website at the
bottom of the ad. This showed the audience
my brand was easily accessible whilst
following conventions, as did having an
address for a shop selling the necklace in one
corner, and the name of the necklace in the
other. The font I used was an easy to read,
serif font, in gold and white, fitting in with the
conventions of style and colour schemes.
Having the address and necklace name in the
bottom left and right corners also follow the
conventions, making sure not to distract the
audience, whilst still giving them the
information they need.
Above, my finished advert,
below, an example.

I think the combination of my ancillary tasks and
my main production is very effective in selling my
magazine. I made it so that throughout my
production, on the contents page in my magazine
and on the billboard I included a link to my
magazine’s website. This helps to establish a link
between my ancillary tasks and the main
production, something I also managed to do by
repeating my slogan throughout the products. This
helps give the audience something to recognise my
magazine by, making them familiar with it and
knowing the ancillary's all represent my main
production. The masthead logo for my magazine is
also repeated on the billboard advert, making it
clear it is selling my magazine and establishing the
brand image, as well as showing an audience what
my product actually is, getting them interested and
giving them ways to find out more about it.
By using the same house style, the same fonts, logo
and colours, I made a clear link between my main
production and ancillary's, making the audience
recognise any of the pieces. Due to linking the
production and ancillary’s in so many ways, I
think they link very well, having good effects as it
gives the audience things to recognise my
magazine by as a whole, making it a well known
brand.

My audience feedback played a crucial part throughout
my production in finding out what made my magazine
appeal most to a real audience, hence helping me
understand what to do to make a good magazine. I made
a focus group on Facebook as an easy way to ask
questions to the group, and whenever I faced difficult
decisions I asked them for help. My focus group were all
young adults and adults and an even split of male and
female, hence giving me a good view of many as to how
to shape my magazine. I asked for opinions throughout
my magazine, an example of one from an 18 year old
male being, ‘I don’t like the billboard as the magazines
look like they’re floating.’ Due to this, I went on to edit
my billboard and make it simpler, more appealing for an
audience, and a decision the focus group supported. On
some subjects my focus group didn’t completely agree,
hence I had to make the decision based on what I thought
with their support, however they all liked the final
production. Sophie, 18, described the front cover as ‘a
really nice image, one I’d definitely notice in a shop. I
think if I were to buy a regional magazine, I would buy
this, it looks professional and although I don’t have
much interest in the sell lines, the image does stand out
and I would look inside to read it and probably buy it.’
Sophie’s review of my finished production did give some
criticism of the relevancy of the sell lines, but is over all
something I’m happy with. I think it proves I have taken
the advice of my focus group and used them to my full
advantage, although the finished production isn’t perfect,
it’s a professional looking magazine.

To present all my coursework I used the site blogger,
something I’d already used in AS to present work, hence
knew how to use. Blogger had already proved a good
way to display research, production and evaluation,
hence using it again was a good move. For my research I
used google to find many examples of different
magazines, specifically going to magazine websites and
using old example work from previous students to get to
grips with regional magazines as a whole. Without the
older blogs or the use of google, the research would’ve
proved to be much harder and taken much longer, hence
using it was a practical way to research.
For my focus group, I used the social networking site
Facebook as an easy way to keep in contact with people
and ask them opinions as I constructed my production,
as it was an instant way to stay in touch with the focus
group and get replies about how I should shape my
magazine production.
I used the site Weebly to create my magazine’s website,
as it was a free way to create your own website, having
the ability to upload any pictures you like and create
links to as many pages as you wish, hence I could upload
pictures of my production to the site, and have links to
the photo gallery of pictures from the magazine and an
archive of my magazine. Weebly was quite easy to learn
to use, as it simply involved dragging text boxes onto
your site layout and uploading anything you wished.

I used Photoshop to create my production, something I’d
used in A2 hence was familiar with, but still had to
search on YouTube for help on certain features as a
reminder of how to use it. Photoshop allowed me to edit
all my photos and create the actual production so it met
the professional standard I wanted it to, which, without
Photoshop, I wouldn’t have been able to do as I’d have
had to use a simpler programme instead.
To take all my photos I also used a Nikon D3200 camera,
something that had the ability to take high quality photos
very quickly, hence was suitable to use, and had an SD
card meaning I could transfer photos easily. Without the
camera, I wouldn’t have been able to take the high
quality photos I needed to make my magazine look
professional, and I’d have had to use slower ways of
transferring photos from cameras to computers, meaning
my production time would’ve taken longer.
I also used the programme Powerpoint to write up my
research into codes and conventions and to write this
evaluation. Powerpoint is an easy way to write up the
information I want to convey, being easy to use and easy
to upload when using the website Slideshare. This meant
I could layout my research and evidence easily, making it
a useful media technology throughout my coursework.

Evaluation

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