Rian Doherty reflects on their media evaluation project. They learned that creating a magazine involves challenging conventions of real magazines and representing social groups. Their target audience was those interested in indie/alternative music aged 18-26. They chose Page Plus software to construct their magazine as it had flexible layers and was easier to use than Paint.net. Looking back, Rian recognizes progression from their preliminary task by properly using conventions and design elements to fit the genre of their magazine. They feel their final product successfully fulfilled the task and brief of creating an indie music magazine.

1. MY EVALUATION
Rian Doherty

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

3. On my front cover, many of the
conventions I used were
influenced by other magazines
with a similar genre.
I researched in to some of these
on my blog:
http://riandohertymedia.blogspo
t.co.uk/2013/10/spin-magazine-
music-analysis.html
http://riandohertymedia.blogspo
t.co.uk/2013/10/billboard-
music-magazine.html
Main cover star isn’t giving
direct address but is
appearing strong as present
so draws the attention of the
audience this way.
Cover lines, on the left side
so are able to be read easily
Image of the
band precious
influence to see
the main star in
her band.
I think my masthead is fitting with the
convention of an indie rock magazine

4. My contents page for the magazine
was influenced by the idea of collage as
well as the visual layouts of some of the
other contents pages I researched here:
http://riandohertymedia.blogspot.co.uk
/2013/11/contents-page-analysis.html
The contents headline
matches my masthead to
show a style throughout
my magazine
My contents page is a collage
of images that relate to the
articles inside, so the readers
can see visually what is inside
of the magazine.
The main
features are
also written
down to help
readers
locate where
they most
want to read.

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

9. • The lead singer in the band featured in my magazine is a
woman, which challenges the gender representation in some ways. As
women are usually represented as being more passive. Her dominance
within her group, as she is the one who is marketed most, is another
challenge of the stereotype as it’s stereotypically males who assert the
power and dominance over females.
Other magazines showed a similar representation of women here:
http://riandohertymedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-second-artist-i-chose-
to-do.html
• However, stereotypically, women are also often represented as more
motivated so her ability to manage more work, such as the media
coverage of her band, follows this stereotype. The double page spread
interview, looking deeper into her life, includes her emotions and past
experience, the allowed vulnerability is commonly associated with
women, as often males attempt to present a strong ‘macho’ exterior.

10. • My inspiration to create a lead singer like this, came from bands such as
Florence and the machine, where Florence Welch is the main face of her
band.
• I did some research into her and her previous magazine covers on my blog to
find out her style and see how she presents her femininity along side her
power and assertiveness.
• Her careful balance between vulnerability and femininity compared with her
dominance and motivation, create a perfect example of a lead female singer as
she retains the ability to relate to others.
http://riandohertymedia.blogspot
.co.uk/2013/10/florence-welch-
from-florence-and.html

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

12. • Due to the niche market of the band, it is likely they would be featured on a
magazine that isn’t distributed by a major distribution company, as the
likelihood they’ll be unknown to the majority of the mass audience for the
magazines they distribute, they are likely to loose money, sales and credibility.
• Therefore, my magazine also has a niche audience, one that will appreciate the
features and style of the magazine as well as being likely to recognise the band
due to them being in the niche market of the magazine being purchased.
• An example would be SPIN magazine, who have an individual company
called Spin Media LLC due to the selling of the magazine to McEvory group
LLC. Their audience is aimed towards those who like indie rock and
alternative music largely. A company like this to distribute my magazine
would be ideal.
• I looked into spin magazine more on my blog here:
http://riandohertymedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/spin-magazine-music-
analysis.html

13. Distribution company
• The distribution company I have chosen to distribute my magazine is
IPC media, as they distribute many magazines of a similar genre.
• One of the magazines they distribute is NME magazine, a magazine that
has been a big inspiration behind my own.

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

15. • The target audience for my media product would
be those interested in indie rock/alternative
music. Although directed towards and age range
of 18-26 often older people may still read for the
featured artist or a particular feature.
• On my blog I’ve made a post for my target
audience and have also compared to a magazine
with a similar audience already in circulation:
http://riandohertymedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/
blog-post_2550.html
• Although the genre is found to be more widely
listened to by males, with the increased number
of popular niche female singers a new female
audience has begun to be created. This magazine
is possibly more geared towards a female
audience due to finding insight into particular
artists life which is usually appreciated by female
readers. However, the band technical information
and upcoming tour dates, along with many more
of the features in the magazine, are likely to be
enjoyed by males as well.

16. QUESTION 6
What have you learnt about the technologies
from the process of constructing the product?

17. • I’ve found that some of the programmes I’ve used during the creation
of my magazine have limitations. For example, paint.net, although
allowing brilliant photo manipulation and layering, was difficult to
navigate often. Also, if the image was flattened, there is no way to
change the positioning of the parts of it as they have become one, so if
flattened before finished could result in having to start over. When
doing my preliminary task, I flatten by accident when saving and had
to restart due to not being happy with the work. I thought paint.net was
a good programme but very time consuming and technically difficult
to use.
• For my final magazine, I used page plus to create it. This programme I
found easier to use and learn. Despite only beginning to use it a few
weeks before, I knew more about how to make the most out of it than I
did paint.net.

18. Strengths
Publisher/Word Paint.net Page Plus
Ease of use Image manipulation Flexible layers to allow
change at any time
Range of fonts and sizes
with ease of editing them
Wide range of tools to use
image and text
Quicker to use in
comparison to paint.net
Spell check More options for photo
manipulation
Accurate print previews

19. Weaknesses
Publisher/Word Paint.net Page plus
Can’t save as a jpeg Most time consuming
software of the three
Background removal
can be tricky sometimes
The movement of text
and images can be
difficult
Unable to edit layer
after deselecting so can
be frustrating
Temptation to overuse
effects
Can’t edit photographs Less high quality with
the effects

20. http://riandohertymedia.blogspot.co.uk/201
3/10/blog-post.html
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=42527905
67850580552#editor/target=post;postID=30849009057
42564436
This is the magazine I created when
practicing my use of page plus features.
Although creating an issue of a magazine
that already exists, It gave me new ideas due
to discovering the new things I was able to
do. For example, The contents page collage
is an idea I carried forward into my final
magazine as I thought it was quirky and
effective.
My use of paint.net in the
preliminary task was
more limited.

21. Photographic choices
I used Kellie Evans as my model for the female
artist in the band precious influence.
I took a range of photographs to maximise my
contentment with the ones I chose.
I chose the photographs I did based on their
conforming with the style of the magazine, for
example the black and white photo on the front
cover matches the image I wished to portray of the
artist best.

22. Blogger
• I think using blogger was an effective tool for storing and displaying all of our
work. The blog posts meant that we would be able to access our work from
anywhere with an internet connection rather than a folder on a specific
computer.
• Although you were unable to add posts in at the times you wanted to after the
day, posts could be doubled on another post to add it in.
• Also the ability to add html as well as text and image is useful when displaying
slide share presentations.
• Posts are easy to edit and remove if necessary
• In my opinion blogger is a useful and efficient method of storing our work
http://riandohertymedia.
blogspot.co.uk/

23. QUESTION 7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what
do you think you have learnt in the
progression from it to your final product?

24. I feel my work has progressed a lot since the
preliminary task. The use of fonts for the
cover lines is poorly chosen and the
placement on the page doesn’t fit. The
magazine does look disjointed but it
solidified my knowledge of the conventions
of a magazine as I was conscious to include
as many as I could. Therefore I was able to
use it as a reference tool throughout the
creation of my final product to ensure I
included all of the necessary conventions.
Another thing I do like about my magazine is
the font used on the headline – it looks
drawn and was the inspiration behind my
final choice of font for my music magazine
title.
http://riandohertymedia.blogspot.co.uk
/2014/01/masthead_31.html

25. Compared to my preliminary task I think my
work has improved as I’ve learnt to use the
conventions properly. I think my magazine
fits the genre of indie/rock music magazines
well as it has some similar conventions to the
other magazine that have a similar genre.

26. When comparing the two magazines you can see where I’ve improved as well as where I have
gained inspiration from first creating a magazine cover.

27. QUESTION 8
How successful do you think the end
product is in fulfilling the task? How
well does it fit the brief?

28. OVERALL
• Overall I am pleased with how my magazine creation went.
Although I found it difficult to maintain the time management
of the blog, I thought that the final product turned out well. I am
most pleased with my cover page as I like the photography that
has been used, as I think it is fitting with the genre.
• If I was to change anything I would have ensured my blog posts
were made more regularily.