This document contains an evaluation of a media product created by the author. It discusses several ways in which the author's media product both uses conventions of real media products and challenges some conventions. It addresses how the product represents a particular social group (young people aged 16-18) through techniques like cover images and bright colors. The document also discusses what type of media institution might distribute the product and who the target audience is. It describes how the audience was attracted through elements like colors, images, and cover lines. Finally, it reflects on what was learned about technologies and the creative process through constructing this media product.

1. Evaluation
BY THOMAS HAROLD

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
One way that my media product challenges the conventions of real media products is that my
product has cover lines on both sides of the left and right hand side of the page. This challenges
convention because conventionally magazines have cover lines only on the left of the cover. This is
due to the way magazines are usually stacked in shops, where behind the front you can only see the
left side of the cover so that is usually where cover lines are put.
One way that my media product uses conventions is that my product, specially my contents page,
follows the pop music genre convention of having bright vibrant colours. This is to young pop
audiences and to convey that the magazine is in the pop genre and make readers think of pop
music videos and which are often bright and colourful.
Another way my media product uses conventions of real media products is that my media product’s
main image is centrally framed and has a direct mode of address. This attracts the audience by
showing them exactly what will be in the magazine and the direct mode of address makes the
reader/audience think the person in the image is addressing them specifically making them more
attached to the person and wanting to read about them.#
A final way my media product uses conventions of media products is that it has a large masthead
and the contents page is largely labelled. The bold masthead is similar to that of ‘Q’. This helps to
grab the readers attention and get them to read the front cover and then potentially more.

3. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product is aimed at and attempts to represent the social group of young people aged
between 16-18. It achieves this aim using a variety of techniques.
One technique is to use a cover image of a person in that age group. This is so that people know
what the target audience is and also how they are non-stereotypically dressed. The reason she is non
stereotypically dressed is because stereotypically pop stars, especially women are dressed in a short
skimpy outfit where as on my front cover it is quite the opposite therefore she is dressed non-
stereotypically. The reason she is dressed non-stereotypically is because more people in that age
range can typically relate to the image.
Another technique used is bright and vibrant colours. This represents both the pop music genre and
people aged 16-18. This is because stereotypically this is what people aged 16-18 and those in the
pop genre are associated with using and wearing.
Another technique used is the cover lines. The cover lines of ‘why Miley Cyrus has gone bad’ and
‘Interviews: Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, Will.i.am.’ all represent 16-18 year olds because older
people don’t really care about or like that sort of music and the cover line with Miley Cyrus could be
seen as too mature for anyone younger. Also all the singer mentioned are pop stars.
Finally the font is sans serif which is in some ways stereotypical of young people as serif text is seen as a
as a old-ish style.

4. What kind of media institution (publisher) might distribute your media
product and why?
The media institution (publisher) who might distribute my media product might be IPC Media.
This is because they are a very large consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United
Kingdom with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.
They publish the magazines Marie Claire, NME and What's on TV and many more, so I think
they would publish my magazine because they don’t have a specific type of magazine that
they publish so they would probably publish mine due to the fact that pop magazines always
sell well and so would give them a more attractive profit.

5. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my product will be young people aged between 16-18 who like pop music. This is
because when I done my research most were aged 16-18 years old and most also said that pop was
their favourite music genre.
Considering the genre of my magazine there will probably be more women reading the magazine
than men.
19%
18%
9%9%
18%
18%
9%
Favourite Colour
Grey Red Pink Purple
Blue Green Dark Blue
33%
6%
6%7%7%
7%
7%
13%
7%
7%
Music Genre
Rock Pop Edm Ska
Rap Swing Blues Metal
Hip Hop Alternative
45%
55%
Gender
Female Male
27%
55%
18%
Age
Age
Age
Most of the people I researched were aged 17 years and only 5% more were male than female. I also from
my research that more people don’t buy band/ artist merchandise than those who do and those who do
buy merchandise buy T-shirts/ tops wristbands posters and other items. I found out that more people would
not expect a free gift, however one on those who said that they wouldn't expect a free gift said that they
would be more likely to buy a magazine if it had a free gift inside.

6. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience in multiple ways, one being the use of bright and vibrant colours. I used
bright vibrant colours to attract my audience because they stand out more and are more ‘attractive’
to look at. Also the target audience are more likely to read a pop magazine with bright colours than
a pop magazine with dull colours.
Another way I attracted my audience was through the main cover image. This is because of the pose
which is similar to how someone in that target age 16-18 would pose in a selfie and so can relate to
the image. The direct mode of address also attracts the readers attention and makes the want to
read on.
Another way I attracted my audience was through the use of my cover lines putting stories people
would want to see. I used my research to see who peoples favourite musicians were and used the top
3 most popular in the magazine.
I also used clear/relatable fonts so that the audience could see the text clearly and not move on due
to not being able to read the magazine.

7. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing
this product?
I have learned a lot about technologies from the technologies from the process of constructing my
product. I have for example learned how to use InDesign and found out the advantages, being that
it is fairly easy to use and is very good for creating a double page spread using the good gridlines and
bleed, and disadvantages of that some parts of it in my opinion are needlessly complicated e.g.
putting in pictures and adding backgrounds.
I have also learned how to use blogger
while creating my product. Blogger has
been used for presenting all of my
coursework and is a very good website to
use.
I have also developed my skills using Photoshop more from GCSE. I have learned how to use Photoshop more effectively
manipulate images to make them look better and also I have learned to better merge layers to create a more
professional looking product.

8. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full product?
In the progression I feel as if I have learned many things, one of which being that I have learned to
manipulate images better. This most visible when comparing my two front covers.
I think that looking back I have clearly learned how to better
present my work and make my work look more like something from
the real world.
I also think that I have learnt how to better layout my work and get
the designing and construction done quicker than before.
Looking back on the preliminary task I feel I have
learnt a lot when looking at the contents pages. I feel
I have learned to better space out my work and
present it in a cleaner more professional way. For
example, as can be seen, I have got better colours
for the genre of magazine and a better image to
work around.