Coursework

music magazine

college magazineEvaluation

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

For my college magazine I looked at magazines of a range of genres. I wanted my layout to be simple andeasy to read. I wanted it to appeal as something a student or parent could quickly pick up and read without it being too taxing. I noticed magazines suchas ‘Heat’ cram full the front page will sell lines and I wanted mine to be the opposite but not look emptyat the same time

Simple sell lines listed. Makes the image the main feature. Have copied this layout on my piece

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products continued….

For my music magazine I wanted to appeal to a vast audience and therefore used a main music event to base my magazine on. I got this inspiration from looking at ‘Q’ covers and noticed that for special events they used collectable covers. I noticed a lot of music magazines contents pages are normally full of pictures and small text featuring a range of articles. For mine however I felt including the articles was more important and didn’t want to fill the page with pictures as well. This challenges normal forms of music magazines contents pages as I noticed in my research the page is normally filled with a large image and then a list of text whereas mine is mostly text. My double page spread I have completely split into two separate pages, one filled with text and the other the image. This is a format that is used recurrently used through music magazines

Regular layout used throughout music magazines

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My college magazine is meant to represent college life and college students. I have made this clearest through the sell lines I have included on the front cover. Also the image I have used on the front cover is of a student so it automatically shows that the magazine is about them. I wanted to make this magazine appeal to all so didn’t want to make it biased to a certain gender. I used the main colours of blue and maroon and then white for the text. I felt these colours complemented each other well and wouldn’t be more appealing to certain people. This was the colour scheme I was always going to use but after adding the main image onto the page my original sell lines, which were maroon, had to change colour as they didn’t stand out from the image well enough to be read.

I wanted my contents page to carry through the simplistic theme I used on the front cover. Again using this theme I felt that the magazine would represent the whole of college not just a certain group of people. The articles I featured on this page would appeal to all college students and were not aimed at certain people on certain courses. I wanted to make sure my magazine did this as to not limit its audience. Throughout college there are a range of courses and I didn’t want to isolate certain groups.

This colour scheme works better with main image

How does your media product represent particular social groups continued…

I used inspiration from ‘Q magazine’ for the colour scheme. I noticed they used red and black throughout and I thought this worked well as the colours complimented each other well and would appeal to most people. I have featured articles from recent artists and included information that would apply to the younger generation, such as gigs and latest reviews.

Within my double page spread article I used simple and informal language so it appealed to younger people and wasn’t strenuous to read. I did this because the social groups who would read my magazines would be reading it for the latest music news and this language would be easier to read. I laid it out in conversation format so it was easier to understand as well

I wanted this magazine to apply to a larger audience than my college magazine. I did this by basing the issue around a main music event. ‘V festival’ takes place every year and appeals to most people who enjoy mainstream, chart music. I wanted my magazine to apply to a young audience and I could easily get feedback on my designs throughout the process from students within my class.

Similar colour schemes

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

For this coursework I made magazines so these would be distributed by the print industry to go on to sell in newsagents and supermarkets. Distributing it this way makes it available to everyone and can to available in large numbers. As my magazine has a large target audience I feel it would be distributed within many different shops. Some supermarkets only stock around two maybe three magazines for each genre. Whereas going to a specialist newsagents where they are likely to stock all types of magazines on a genre. As my magazine is aimed at most people I feel this could be found in most shops such as ‘Tesco’ as well as ‘WHS Smith’ rather than specialised newsagents

It could also be possible to release my magazines as E-readers. These are magazines available to read on iPads, iPhones etc. Releasing my magazine in this format would make it more available to other people who don’t generally go to the shop to buy a physical magazine.

On the front cover of my music magazine I have included Twitter and Facebook symbols. I have used these to show that parts of the magazines could be available online. Most people are involved in some kind of social networking so this link can keep consumers up to date with the magazine if they cannot buy it

Who would be the main audience for your media product?/ How did you attract/address your audience?

The main audience for my college magazine would be college students, parents and people considering the college to further their education. To attract this audience I included articles and sell lines which would appeal to this group of people. I also kept to using simple language without a large range in the vocabulary.

As this was meant to be a free magazine for all students I wanted to keep it simple and include things that would appeal to all. I did this by including articles on the contents page not just about college but also things outside of college.

Who would be the main audience for your media product/ How did you attract/address your audience continued…

The main audience for my music magazine are those interested in the type of music and artists featured within the magazine. I felt the main way to attract the audience would be mainly through the front page. I used complimenting colours that would attract to most and included artists that are very popular at the moment.

People will only buy the magazine if it features their favourite artist or artists they like. I thought the easiest way to put across the artists featured was some kind of list featured on the cover. When designing my front cover I found that making long lists filled a lot of the page. I included sell lines about other articles so I wanted to put across that there was more on these acts. I did this by titling this list with ‘plus’ when doing this however it covered too much of the main image so I changed it to a ‘+’ sign.

Who would be the main audience for your media product/ How did you attract/address your audience continued…

Previously I have mentioned using a chatty tone within my double page spread interview. I did this to address the audience in a friendly manner and therefore making it understandable to anyone as any class or social status can be interested in the type of music my magazine features.

As my music magazine was aimed at all of those interested in music, this could cover all ages, social classes and professions. I wanted to make my magazine appeal to most and therefore gave it a cheap price of £2.30. I felt this was affordable to most. I wanted my college magazine to appeal to everyone within the college so made this a free magazine. I also felt it was just simple and included important information and personally I wouldn’t have wanted to pay for it

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

The main program I have learnt to use more in depth is Photoshop. I have used this in my music magazine to cut out backgrounds of pictures and design fonts on. I already knew how to make font designs and change text style but I have learnt the best way to change pictures within the program.

While editing out the background of my images I had trouble making them not look like they had been cut from a background. I wanted the images to look like they had been taken in front of a white screen. I wasn’t totally happy with the overall outcome of the images but as they are partly covered by text I thought they looked okay as not all attention was on the image.

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

Throughout this task I have learnt a range of things in designing a product to print and that will appeal to many.

When comparing my two magazine front covers the thing I have learnt most when designing them is how to use the page more efficiently. My college magazine doesn’t feature many sell lines and the page isn’t filled as well as it could be. With my music magazine I featured more sell lines and made them stand out more.

While designing my music magazine I also learnt how much of an impact certain fonts are. My masthead and the sell lines I have designed using a font which I designed in Photoshop.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product continued…

Again looking back at my college contents page compared to my music one I think I have used the space available on the page better and linked the contents to the cover more. In my college magazine the only link I used was the fonts and simple layout. Within my music magazine however I use the recurring themes and layouts. This kept continuity throughout and it could be easily seen they were all from the same magazine.

Continuing layout, colours and fonts

I also learnt which colours look best together and what stands out most on a page. On my college magazine I used a white and blue colour scheme on the cover and now looking back at it I decided these wouldn’t stand out enough against other magazines. Also when reviewing my college magazine after completion I found that the picture I initially used didn’t suit the page enough. I changed this to a mid-shot as I thought using an image more close up would be more appropriate.

The image I used on my final design on my magazine was also not my original picture I was going to use. The first image I was going to use, didn’t look right behind the main layout I had already designed and again made the page seem to empty. Using the close up image, which I kept with, meant the sell lines fitted around it and they didn’t cover most of the image.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product continued…

My thoughts on my media products…

I used a basic Microsoft Publisher document to design my magazines on. I feel that to make my music magazine more professional I could have used a more advanced program such as Quark or involved Photoshop techniques more within my magazine. I think I managed my time well over this product. If I re done it I would have taken my photos earlier and before I started designing my magazine overall as after designing the main layout I then had to change this to make the best picture look right placed behind the sell lines etc. If I had more time to make my music magazine within I could have found actual bands and got a real interview with them. If I got the chance to design my college magazine again I would use more professional fonts that would stand out more and better colours as after reviewing it I found the sell lines, which I had coloured white didn’t stand out against the picture. Overall I am happy with my outcomes and comparing the two can easily notice what I have learnt during this process, about colour, text, layout and the use of pictures.