This document evaluates a food magazine project created by Fatima Ali for her media studies course. It summarizes the development and production of the magazine, which focuses on dessert recipes. The magazine uses conventions of the genre but aims to stand out with its name and graphic design elements. It targets both teenagers and adults and will be distributed both online and in stores. Throughout the project, Fatima developed skills in photography, graphic design using Photoshop, and online research and planning tools. Hardware included a camera, laptop and software included Photoshop and online platforms like WordPress and Google.

1. EVALUATION
AS MEDIA STUDIES
Fatima Ali

2. 1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it
represent social groups or issues?
For my print media task, I developed a product which is a Food magazine, its sub-
genre is a dessert special magazine. The magazine overall uses all the conventions
a dessert issue would because it is the conventions that allow a specific genre to be
attractive and understood by the wider public. I wanted my magazine to be simple
yet unique.
Names of food magazines whether sweet or savory are never really very
complicated, the name I chose is a mix of two works “Food” and “delicious”. The
reason why this attracted me and my audience (after I surveyed using
surveymonkey) was because the name was very casual and gave away a very
overt meaning that would not only make it easier for audiences to understand but
be able to connect with it.
This picture shows the rest of
the cover page of my Dessert
Issue. I tried to follow all the
basic conventions- keeping in
mind that according to my
research, not many food
magazines have a lot of
cover lines; it is mostly just
the appetizing image that has
the spotlight. The cover- line I
chose was something very
simple yet true, “Cupcakes
that make your day!”
The rest of the cover lines
were placed very simply but

3. would most likely leave an impact on audiences. My product doesn’t really
challenge the conventions but uses most of them because that’s what the target
audiences would be attracted to. Also- keeping in mind that this cookbook is not
only a guideline with certain recipes but has ideas for inspiration, such as our
celebrity chef, Bushra Mustafa is featured in this; she is nothing less than an
inspiration for youngsters whether girls or boys to be able to pursue their talent
along with their studies.
The double spread page is one of the most important features in a magazine, it is
important for this page to be as attractive as possible because it captures reader
attention quite easily. The double spread page I made is not like usual pages- I tried to
incorporate more graphic elements in order to make it look interesting. Cut out of
images i.e, the cupcakes have been used instead of placing the whole picture which
would give a rough look. The caption is somewhat similar to what was on the cover
page, this creates a connection between the two and allows the reader to actually be
interested in what is being presented. Graphic elements have been used which give
off a very pleasant look: not overly done.

4. 2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be
distributed as a real media text?
My product is a food magazine, dessert issue. The most important part of the
magazine is the cover page and it is extremely essential for it to be able to attract
audiences in order to have a good market. The cover image is of a delicious cupcake,
probably everything one needs on a long day, the colours of the product are very
subtle but they give away a very mouth-watering appearance.
Since the picture is only focusing on one product it allows it to stand out to a great
extent. Also, high quality, tempting pictures tend to engage with audiences and allow
them to be fascinated by what are the details related to the product and what does this
particular issue include. As said by many, “Less is more”, and too much of everything
is harmful- not having a lot of text and items made it look very restrained.
The masthead colour was chosen keeping in mind the colours on the cupcake and
hence it matched the decorative flower, the rest of the cover- lines were mostly
focused with the use of white colour since there was already a lot of colour on the
cover. The colour of the strip matches the base of the cupcake. So we can see how a
lot of colour combination is kept in mind so nothing looks out of place or too much.
Handwritten, thin and somewhat fancy fonts were used to go with the genre.
The language and expression used in the magazine is casual yet respectable, it is
understandable by the general public and it has been made sure that the magazine is
customer- friendly and whether teenagers or middle aged people, everyone can have
a good look at it and be tempted with what they could do with a beautiful medium of
art, food.
The colour scheme of the double spread page is pretty simple, trying not to over-do it
with too many colours and images, along with gradients. More of graphic effects have
been used making it a little different from usual double spreads. The article is spread
on just a little more than one whole page with a delicious nutella mug cake recipe and
some special tips from our chef!
Distribution of the magazine has been kept in mind while developing the final produce.
The magazine will be published online because users are digital natives and want
their product available online and on every platform, this will even reach a mass
audience. The online magazine can be more engaging and interactive as two way
communication is possible between the reader and the author by giving feedback or
questions related to the magazine. Another form of distribution can be done by
offering users mobile applications where they can download Foodilicious magazine

5. and read through it on their mobiles conveniently. Hard copies of the magazine can be
sold at local stores where the target audience can easily purchase it.
In conclusion distribution of the magazine as a real media text can be done online or
by distributing at the local stores. As long as it targets the right audience.
3. How did your production skills develop throughout the project?
For the print media task in AS level, the development of my magazine was done with
extensive research and genre planning. Before carrying out the preliminary and final
task, I needed to have a good knowledge about all the codes and conventions used in
various types of magazines and then specifically about the genre I chose. Extensive
research and planning was a great way to enhance creativity.
At the start of AS, I prepared a school magazine, cover and contents page. Although
this was a short preliminary task it allowed me to develop sufficient photoshop and
photography skills to be able to develop a magazine for my AS level final task. In the
post production stage, my photoshop skills such as image cropping, resizing and
adjusting the image were one of the first steps to the development of my magazine.
Later, when I was working on my final task I experimented with gradient tool, shapes,
margin adjusting, enhancing the picture etc which allowed me to polish my skills
throughout the project.
The photoshop skills I have developed as I have used a variety of fonts on the front
cover and I have also used a number of different font sizes. These skills have
effectively helped me to produce the product that I wanted to create as the main cover
line is clearly displayed in larger text than the remaining cover lines, and is therefore
more noticeable.
For the images used, my photography skills developed to a great extent as I was able
to capture exactly what I had in mind eventually- even though I know there were a few
flaws when it came to getting the perfect picture but I tried my best to cover up by
using photoshop which is always of a great help. For the cover page the image was a
close up of the cupcake so all the details of the product can be seen vividly and for the
double spread the images used are of a smaller size and are mostly cutouts dragged
into the composition adding a great graphic element to a very simple page. For the
content page I wanted to make sure that it didn’t have too much on it- at first I thought
I should add various effects such as glow, drop shadow, bevel and emboss but it felt
too heavy with a topic like desserts and instead I made it more graphic-y which would
attract a large amount of consumers.

6. Photoshop allowed each and every skill to be polished with practice and the use of
proper techniques. For the final magazine I did an extensive research which set
objectives or rules which I applied to my magazine in order for it to be more affective
in reaching the audience.
4. How did you integrate technologies- Software, hardware and online- in this
project?
Hardware and software assist in producing media. Hardware technologies used to
produce the project were just laptop, camera, and usb. DSLR camera was used to
create high quality images and was one of the most important components of the
production process as it made the shoot look professional, for an extensive
production process to take place a laptop was necessary for the editing using
Adobe PhotoShop and took keep a record of all that was being done by blogging
online on wordpress.
The software used was photoshop which allowed me to perfect the images I had
and enhance them in whatever way possible. The technologies were used
efficiently in order to produce the final product and without adobe photoshop the
development of my magazine wouldn’t have been possible. The softwares used
online included wordpress for blogging and google for extensive research for the
completion of both, the preliminary and final magazine tasks. These tools allowed
pre and post production processes a lot more easier.