My evaluation of my final products.

1. Evaluation

2. 1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?

3. One typical media convention I have followed is a large
masthead. On most existing magazines, the masthead is one of
the main focuses of the cover especially, but also throughout
the magazine. My masthead is on all 3 pieces of my work but is
particularly large on my cover and contents page, this way it is
memorable and clearly visible which separates it from other
magazines. The fonts I have used are Birds of Paradise for ‘Riff’
and 60’s Stripe for ‘magazine’, the first font is bolder and
generally more eye-catching which is important when grabbing
the reader’s attention whereas ‘magazine’ isn’t as important
which is why I decided to use a plainer font. I followed a
layout similar to that of Q Magazine by having my masthead in
the corner in a square format as I think it is effective to have
the focus mainly on the image.
Another convention I have followed is the use of pull quotes.
This is a useful technique as it attracts the reader by showing
them a snippet of what’s inside the magazine/article, I have
used a pull quote on my cover as well as my double page
spread as I think these are the most effective places for
them to be.
Throughout my work I have used a colour scheme of red,
white, black and different shades of blue. The use of colour
scheme is also a typical media convention and I decided to
develop this as I believe it makes the magazine look more
consistent and professional. My particular colour scheme is
very gender neutral, I purposefully did this as my target
audience is 16-19 year olds in general, and I think these
colours will attract people of this age of both genders.

4. One convention that I challenged
specifically on my cover and
double page spread was the use of
space. A lot of the magazines I
researched included a lot more
images and text than I have done
on these pieces of work, but
throughout all my planning I was
set on the idea of my cover and
DPS only having one main image,
and I think the outcome has been
successful as it means the focus is
only on the celebrity and the text,
rather than smaller images/shapes
that look cluttered. For example,
I followed the convention of
having one main large image on
the front cover.
Unlike most magazines, the pictures I used in my
work were all very similar; they were all taken
in a studio with a white backdrop and they are
all posed. Other than two images that feature on
my contents page that I took myself at V
Festival. While doing my research I found that a
lot of the pictures in the magazines were similar
to this but also included many pictures from
outside the studio or album covers, I chose to
challenge this convention as I think the studio-
shot pictures look very professional and the
posed element of them allowed me to control
how they looked. With the pictures of my main
artist, I made sure these photos all looked
similar and that she was wearing the same
clothes and makeup, to ensure they looked like
a photoshoot that a magazine would include.
Contents page images

5. 2. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?

6. My product represents predominantly teenagers of ages 16-19, because of this I
have used language and texts styles that suit this group. As teenagers are
stereotypically lazy I made sure that my double page spread article was not too
long winded and easy to read, by using techniques such as pull quotes. I have
represented my target audience by making my magazine as current and
fashionable as possible, as this is another stereotype of teenagers. I have done
this by dressing my models in fashionable clothing and makeup, and included
current artists that will appeal to them.
My product is aimed at middle class readers who buy popular brands, but that
aren’t too expensive, for example in my DPS article I have mentioned Topshop
which will appeal to a lot of the readers as it is a popular brand among teenage
girls especially. By middle class I am referring to those who have enough money to
buy extras such as magazines. Similarly, I think the targeted group will attend
concerts/festivals and I have also mentioned these throughout the magazine. The
models used in my products are all of white ethnicity and this is a typical
convention of the music industry, however I have mentioned artists from different
countries which means my product represents a variety of social groups therefore
making it more diverse.

7. My magazine represents mainly women/girls and
the main way I have shown this is through the use
of my models. I chose models that were of a
similar age to my target audience because I think
this is a good way of making readers relate to the
product, and as I mentioned before I had my
models wear fashionable clothing and makeup
because these things are often related to teenage
girls.
The poses the models are doing, such as pouts and big smiles are
similar to that of the poses that my age range may do in their own
pictures, this is again making the reader feel like they can relate to
the product and represents the modern teenage girl. However, while
my product does mainly represent women, it can also appeal to men
through the use of images (as pictured) as the models I have used are
all very attractive and have sexual connotations such as red lipstick
and this is typical of images used in magazines.

8. 3. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?

9. My media product would be distributed by one of the main
publishing companies, such as Bauer Media Group. They are
Europe’s largest privately owned publishing group, publishing
over 300 magazines in 15 countries. They publish magazines of all
genres and therefore I think my magazine would have a place
here, they aim their magazines at all ages but some are targeted
at the same age range (16-19) as my magazine and so they would
already have the attention of this age range when my magazine
would be distributed.
They already have a large audience and a good reputation
therefore I think it would be very beneficial for me to have Riff
distributed by them, and would make money for both parties.
Media institutions are companies that publish and market media products, such as magazines.
Some examples of media institutions are the BBC, Bauer Media Group, and Sky.

10. 4. Who would be the audience for your media
product?

11. I chose to have quite a young age range mainly due to the responses from my survey but
also because of my own age, as I believe that being within my own target audience I
would be able to product content that would be appealing. My survey results also
decided what format I would produce my magazine in, this is why I chose to only publish
a paper copy of my magazine. I was unsure whether to create an online/app version of
my magazine due to my target audience being used to using technology, but in my results
I saw that the majority (56%) would prefer to have a physical paper copy.
My survey results came back as 77% female, and
from this data I decided that it would be best to
target my magazine at females. From this data I
could use my other results as a guide for the rest
of my magazine, such as the type of subscription.
My targeted age range is 16-19 year olds as again,
the results from my survey revealed this age group
responded the most (92%).
My average female reader within my age
range would be middle class, trendy and
current, interested in fashion and might buy
brands such as Topshop, River Island and
MAC. They would follow the trends of the
time regarding clothing and makeup, and
attend musical events like festivals and
concerts. They would listen to a broad range
of music, mainly featured in the charts.

12. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?

13. On my cover, I advertised a free CD in the top right
hand corner. I put the text onto an image of an
actual CD to attract readers attention to it, as it
contrasts from the rest of the cover. Similarly, I
advertised that readers had a ‘chance to win’ on the
banner at the bottom of my cover. This banner is
bright red with white writing to again, contrast and
grab the readers attention. I included these in my
product because the data I received in my survey
revealed that 82% of people would want to receive
free concert tickets the most, rather than a CD or
poster.
One way I addressed my audience is by including colours
that appeal to both genders, even though my magazine is
predominantly aimed at women I wanted to appeal to
men too in order to widen my readership. For example, I
used red a lot throughout my product as this is a colour
that has female connotations, and I also used different
shades of blue as this is a male-associated colour, but I
included black and white too as these are relatively
gender neutral colours.
Throughout my magazine pages I tried to keep an even
text to images ratio, my magazine is aimed at teenagers
and this social group is typically lazy. I therefore tried to
make sure that my magazine wasn’t overrun with text but
still included information people wanted to read about,
while making sure that there was sufficient images and
spacing too.

14. My target audience would read
magazines that celebrities feature
in and therefore I have tried to
edit my images in a way that
resembles professional magazines.
For example I edited my images on
Photoshop so that they look the
highest quality possible, and I
asked my models to do poses that
are similar to the poses models do
in real magazines so that it looks
professional and this would make
people more likely to buy it.
As I mentioned in question 4, my target audience
would be interested in the latest trends regarding
music, fashion and celebrities. Because of this I
wrote headlines that featured very popular artists
and brands. This will attract my audience as they
will be interested in reading about the artists they
like.
In my survey, I asked
which type of story
people would prefer to
read about, celebrity
news, gossip, factual or
interviews. The results to
this question were fairly
even and therefore I tried
to address my audience
by writing headlines and
my article accordingly,
but revolving these
around music due to the
genre of my magazine.

15. 6. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this
product?

16. I used many programmes and websites throughout my project; such
as Photoshop, PowerPoint, InDesign, Word and Blogger.
I had used some of these prior to constructing my magazine but I
have learnt many new skills in all of them, which have helped my
edits my work in the best way possible.
Throughout this project I have presented
my work on Blogger.com, I had never used
this website before but I have learnt that it
is a very effective way of keeping all your
work in one place and being able to
present it how you like, by being able to
upload and edit things easily. When
uploading PowerPoints to Blogger.com I had
to use SlideShare, another website I was
unfamiliar with, which allowed me to
embed slide shows.
I used Word and PowerPoint a
lot through my project. Although
I had already used both these
technologies before constructing
my work, I found them very
useful for planning and
organising things such as my
research analysis and drafting
my interviews. They were
helpful as they both make it
easy to write, edit and view
your work as you go along.

17. In order to create a flat plan of my magazine while I was
designing, I used Excel. I chose to use this over other programmes
as I think it is the easiest for creating something like a flat plan as
the boxes are already there and you just insert your own content.
I had already used Excel prior to this project but I had never
made a flat plan before so I researched this before I started in
order to make it look as realistic as possible.
SurveyMonkey was another technology I learnt how to use
during this project, I learnt how to construct my survey and
publish it to receive results, as I mentioned I also shared my
survey onto Facebook so that I could widen my responses.
When picking the fonts for my project I used a website
called ‘Da Font’, in order to use these fonts in Photoshop
and InDesign I had to learn how to install these onto the
computer. This is a new skill I learnt through constructing
this project and it is very useful because it opened up a
whole new set of fonts I could use and meant I could find
one that was the most suited to my magazine.

18. Photoshop Work
Prior to making my magazine, I have
only ever used Photoshop a few times,
including making my college magazine
cover. I probably used Photoshop the
most out of all the software I used
because I created my cover and
contents page on it. Through this
extensive use I learned lots of new skills
which helped me to make my work look
as professional as possible.
One new skill I learnt was how to use
layers, they allow you to move and view
things quickly and also allow you to hide
certain things that you can later add
back in which is really helpful when
editing.
I leant how to manipulate my images in order to
make them look how they would on a real
magazine, and go with the text on the page. For
example I added a ‘stroke’ to the 3 images on
the left to make them stand out and not be
undermined by the text around them.
before after
Another feature I
have learnt how to
use on Photoshop is
how to add shapes.
This is quite a
simple tool but I
think it looks
effective on my
final piece. As you
can see the Q
Magazine contents
page is very
structured around
shapes and I think
it makes the whole
page look a lot
more organised.

19. InDesign Work
A typical convention of magazines are pull quotes. I decided
to include one in the centre on my article as I have seen this
in a lot of the magazines I have researched, and I like the
way it breaks up the text, I was able to do this by learning
how to wrap text boxes. I also used the guide view to make
sure the pull quote was centred.
In order to make my magazine consistent and realistic, I included my
masthead/logo on every piece of work. As you can see I chose to have
my logo in the bottom left corner of my double page spread as I didn’t
want it to be too big and over powering. I did this by downloading the
same fonts I used in Photoshop onto InDesign, and when placing it I
worked against a screenshot of my masthead on my cover to make sure
it was the same, and then deleted this once I was finished.
I learnt a lot about using InDesign in this
project as I had never used it before
creating my double page spread, I found it
a useful tool for making my work look like a
real article by being able to control how
the page was structured, for example how
many columns I had.
InDesign enables you to view you work as a
preview or with guides. This is really helpful
when deciding where things will go in order
to make the page look organised, as you can
see whether or not things are aligned. This
helped me particularly because I knew how I
wanted my DPS to look so I was able to
structure it exactly.

20. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?

21. In preparation of creating my final products, I did lots of research regarding my audience and existing
magazines. From this I knew what I needed to include in my magazine and could create further
developments, such as potential layouts. I did no preparation for my college magazine and I think that is
reflected in how it looks. By doing research I could take bits I liked from existing magazines to create
my own, well thought through product.
When taking the image for my preliminary cover, I
hadn’t thought of how I wanted the model to look
and we just played around with different poses as I
was taking it, however with all of the images in my
final work I planned how I wanted the models to
look based on my research, so that it would look as
realistic as possible.
Similarly, when planning my music
magazine I took a lot of time deciding
which fonts I wanted to use from Da
Font to make it look eye catching and
relatable to my magazine, where as
with my college magazine I used simple
fonts from Photoshop and put little
thought into the ones I picked.

22. I feel like my knowledge of images that are in
magazines has progressed during this project. The
image I used for my college cover contrasts
dramatically to the image I used for my music
cover; I used a tripod to ensure I could take the
photo at the right angle and length where as when
taking my preliminary image I took the photo free-
hand. The first image was taken in front of a white
wall, and my music cover was taken in a studio.
This allowed me to control the lighting and
background and made it more private which made
the model more relaxed. I have also learnt more
about the type of shots, and poses that are used in
magazine images.

23. As you can see, by developing skills
in different areas, such as
Photoshop, photography and editing
I have been able to create a front
cover that is significantly better
than my preliminary work. It looks
more organised and most
importantly more realistic!