The document evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of a student media product and their use of new media technologies. For the front cover, strengths include a large masthead and cover lines positioned similarly to real magazines, while weaknesses are small cover lines and unused space. The contents page layout is organized like real magazines, but the main image could be larger. Photoshop tools were used well to create text and shapes, but Quark skills were basic. Overall, conventions of real magazines were followed but some elements could be improved.

1. Evaluation
By Jacob Crossley

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Front cover
A real life masthead is the biggest piece
of text on the magazine cover and stands
out. My masthead does the same.
The subject looks directly at the
camera and covers a large proportion
of the cover. This is used in real life
media products.
Cover lines are used and are
positioned at the sides.
The main cover line is larger
than the others.
Splash’s are used in my front cover
they are brightly coloured like they
are in magazines so that they stand
out to the audience.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
Contents page
Text is used to summarize the magazines content.
Numbers are used to tell the reader where the
information is located.
Pictures are used which shows what’s in the magazine as they
relate to the stories.
It doesn’t have the title of the magazine on the contents
page but it does have an image of the cover there. This is
sometimes done in real magazines.
The colour of the contents word and numbers is the same is
similar to the red on the masthead.
In a real life magazine the contents page is always organised to
make it easier for the audience to navigate through it and find the
stories or articles they want. My contents page uses the same
idea. The text is positioned into columns with numbers down the
side. Clear headings make it easy to find what the audience is
looking for and the pictures are organised at the side or bottom to
not complicate the page.

4. How did you use new media technologies in the
construction of your media product.
I used the colour wheel on Quark
to changed the colour of the text.
I used the advanced colour
setting on Photoshop to
changed the colour of text and
shapes.
I used the shape tool
to create splash’s.
I used the box tool to draw a box to then
insert an image into it.
I used the text tool.

5. What are the strengths and weaknesses of both the product
and your use of new media technologies.
A strength is that my media product has a large
Mast head that stands out. We can see that the
Empire masthead is very large as well.
Front Cover
I have cover lines at the side
of the page and the main
cover line centred at the
bottom.
My cover lines were quite
small and didn’t stand out as
much as the ones on the
Empire magazine.
I have included a barcode, issue
number and date which is included on
real magazine covers. I also added
two splashes . There is a splash
present in the Empire magazine.
My subject covers a large amount of
the page which is good as it is a
main focus for the audience. The
subject also is looking at the camera
which gives an interaction with the
audience.
I could have added a banner
or positioning statement
because these are used in real
magazines to give a brief
summary or to make the
reader want to read on.
A weakness would be
that there’s quite a bit of
space on my cover which
needs filling in. I could
have added more cover
lines and made them
bigger.
Even though my
background colour was
mostly white it had different
greys in there that made it
hard to read the text.
Strengths Weaknesses

6. What are the strengths and weaknesses of both the product
and your use of new media technologies.
My contents page has an
organised layout which makes
it easy for the reader to
navigate. Using columns for
text and numbering is used in
all real magazine contents
pages.
My main image needs to be
larger as in magazine
contents pages the main
image covers at least half of
the page. In this example
we can see it covering the
entire page.
I could have added in
the name of my
magazine above the
contents title.
The pictures next to the text are
organised at the side and link to
the feature and regular stories in
the magazine.
I think I used the tools in
Photoshop well. I created
lots of text and changed the
font, colour and size. I also
used the shape tool to
create splashes. I could
however have used more of
a variety of tools and skills.
I think my skills
when using Quark
were weak. I only
new basic skills
which I used such
as the text and
image tool. It would
be better if I could
learn and practice
on Quark to create a
better look.
Contents page
Strengths Weaknesses