Evaluation - Question Seven

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

When looking back at my preliminary task and comparing it to my final front cover, contents page and double page spread my preliminary task looks unprofessional as it was made in powerpoint rather than photoshop, the layout is bland. When I look back at my front cover I find that the barcode in the bottom right is too big for the front cover and that there isn’t enough information on the front of the magazine, stating what articles will be involved I also don’t think I should put the date, name of the magazine and the quote underneath in the same font I should of experimented with fonts like I did in my final front cover, although I still did the same main image style as in my final piece I used only one image for the who front cover. Therefore I have learnt that you should include more information on your front cover and vary your types of font. Also on my final front cover I have used photoshop to edit my photo which has made it look more radiant and stand out, whereas in my preliminary task no editing was done, which made it look less professional.

When looking back at my preliminary contents page I can tell that there was no strict layout the articles just looked jumbles and messy and the title down the left hand side made the contents look unprofessional, the colours used were just black and white which made the page look boring and non eye catching, I also used powerpoint to create this, whereas compared to my contents page which I made in photoshop for my final product, the page has a lot more structure a clear colour scheme has been used, the photos are appropriately placed which the correct page numbers and article titles. The page also contains a lot more information than the school magazine, but due to the clear layout still look professional and easy to read.

My double page spread and contents page have changed from the sketches that I originally drew, these changed occurred as I felt that a list format on the contents page would have been more appropriate and on the double page spread I wanted to make the name of the artist/ band more prominent with some extra added information, I also thought that a 3 column layout was better than a 2 column layout. Due to these change is has been made clear to me how important planning can be and how changes can still be made once your plan had been drawn up.

Evaluation - Question Six

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

There was many new technological programs I used whilst planning my final product and the constructing the final piece itself, also I had never experienced using a blog before, so uploading to the blog and using different websites eg Scribd to add powerpoints to the blog to publish my work.

Also during my preliminary task and my final task using photoshop was new programme, it allowed me to edit my photos and create my first magazine front cover (skins magazine). This made me more confident with using the tools that photoshop has too offer and then became the programme in with I made my final front cover, contents page and double page spread.


Another programme with I had never used before starting this project was Prezi, this allowed me to present my ideas in a new way and put them on my blog, It allows you to present your information and ideas in a fun way and you can also include photos and colour to make your information more interesting and fun.


Lastly I used my Samsung Intelligent LCD 10.2 mega pixel to take all of my photos with, this allowed to vary in the different types of shot I was able to take and change the focus of the shots I wanted to take.

Evaluation - Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

Once I had made a clear choice of who my target audience was going to be I did a questionnaire, this asked people who were in my target audience question and the layout and colour scheme of my magazine, this then gave me an idea of what people felt worked well in a magazine and what they thought I should include in my magazine, these factors included things like the colour scheme I chose of re, white and black, this attracted my  target audience because it isn’t specific to one gender and can appeal to both, it give a professional but edgy look at the same time and makes the magazine bold and stand out. Another way I attracted my target audience was by giving them a variety of photos which I included in my front cover, contents page and double page spread this made sure that the audience were entertained throughout and had a variety of things to look at. Do to the way my magazine is very modern and up to date I think it will attract the target audience intended, as this what the people in my 16-25 age bracket would want from a magazine.

Here is a video asking whether my target audience was reached, what went well on my magazine and what improvements can be made.

Evaluation - Question Four.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

When thinking about the audience for my media product of a rock music magazine I used Burtons and Hartleys theory to try and classify my target audience, Following Burtons theory that people are either socially grouped or media grouped, Hartley elaborated on that by introducing the ways you can be grouped, these included age, gender, class, ethnicity etc. An overview of rock music magazines is the relationship and the connection they was to make with their audience, they do this by creating emotional lyrics that the audience can relate too,  they often speak about situations that there fans may also have been in e.g relationships.


In rock music videos, they are often very emotive and overwhelming which allows the artist and the fans to connect on a deeper level. When it comes to social grouping it tried to make my range of people a wide as possible, I think the main section is your age group as the lifestyle and language may not be suitable for people who are younger than my target audience, however I don’t think that you social class or ethnicity determines whether you are able to be in my target audience therefore I think I have my audience easy to fit in to, I also haven’t made it specific to one gender I think my magazine can be read by both boys and girls.Therefore I would say that my target audience would be male and female frame the ages of 16-25 interested in rock music.

Evaluation - Question Three.

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

The kind of media institution who might distribute my magazine would be the Worldwide Magazine Distribution Ltd (WWMD). This is an institution which has helped to publish magazines such as Q, Elle, Company and heat. This an organisation which I would like to distribute my magazine due to the major success that has occurred in the magazines that it already distributes. I would like the WWMD to help me on my magazines distribution due to the way it say that its priorities are that “create innovative sales, marketing and distribution solutions for our clients, enabling exciting opportunities to reach customers in the UK and overseas, with magazines and associated products in niche and specialist arenas.” They are also able to provide contact such as WHSmith who would also be able to distribute my magazine and due to the wide range of people who shop in WHSmiths I know that my target audience will be reached with this institution.

Another media institution who would be able to distribute my magazine successfully would be Menzies Distribution, this institution is in charge of all the magazines which are distributed in all the leading supermarkets such as Tescos, Sainsburys, Asda etc. Due to the majority of people who use these company’s on a day to day basis my music magazine will be viewed by a wide range of people, you can tell the dedication of the company also as there aim is to: “get the right products to the right customers at exactly the right time.” This shows the motivation they have for achieving sales to the target audience and displaying your media product to a wide range of people. They are also are worldwide as they export media to more than 40 countries on five continents, which enables my magazine to seen sent around the world to widen even more the viewing of my product. This also highlights the success of the company as they have achieved worldwide status. Due to this I think Menzies Distribution would be a good institution to distribute my media product.


Due to my target audience being that of a 16-25 year old I also think that technology would be a good way of distributing my magazine as there are many forms it can take, for example you can make an app for volume magazine, be able to buy monthly copies and have them sent to your phone so you don’t have the inconvenience of carrying around the print version instead you can have an online magazine. As many people of this generation have smart phones where these apps can be downloaded it would be good to take advantage of this and use it as a type of media distribution.                

Evaluation - Question Two.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There are many ways in which media present particular social groups, examples of this would be Mise-en-scene, colour, fonts, language, camera-work and editing. Therefore when making my magazine I kept these things in mind so that I knew throughout my magazine I was connecting to the social group which I wanted to attract.

I think that I strongly attracted the social group I wanted with my front cover, contents page and double page spread, firstly I had to make sure I had an idea in my mind of what type of social group and target audience I wanted to attract, I then had to think about the factors above and try and work all of them into my magazine in a way that will attract my desired social group, my social group which I wanted to attract was a male and female frame the ages of 16-25 interested in rock music.


Therefore I tried to make my front cover, contents page and double page spread suitable for that audience. For example on my front cover the main image used is of a young male aged 22 which I think attracts the target audience as they are in the same age group, this represents the target audience as they are likely to be of similar age and style as the artist on the front cover. The way he is dressed also represents the target audience due to the popular bland label show on the top he is wearing, he is giving off a indie look which is a popular style in my target audience, I kept the colour scheme to black, white and read as this doesn’t direct to a specific gender and is common in most rock magazines, the language used on the front cover is slightly informal as this type of magazine and the social group I am trying to represent are more likely to be attracted to this type of language and can relate due to the age of the social group represented. The image on the front cover is edited as I felt it need to be more vibrant as it was the main image on the front cover and need to catch people’s attention.  


On the contents page I widened the age range of the people in the photos so that it isn’t subjected to a certain age, this would represent my social group as it would interest the youngest and oldest people of my target audience. Once again I  kept the colour scheme to red, white and black as I thought this looked professional but edgy at the same time which links into the genre of music in the magazine, I didn’t edit the photos on the front cover as I wanted to keep them simple, and didn’t want to overdo it. The language used in the contents page is also informal and uses some ‘slang’ terms that the reader will be able to relate too and understand. The lighting on the photo has been kept bright so that the photos look less intimidating and more inviting for my chosen social group. It also helps to present my target audience in a positive light due to the way that they are smiling in the photos and I think it helps present the younger generation as civilised, the opposite of how people would stereo-typically judge people of 16-25 to be. The font used on my contents page has been kept simple but more than one font has been used so you are able to get a variation, this has once again been done in the colour scheme chosen, so that there is a connection between the pages of a magazine and so that it looks more professional.


On my double page spread the main image is edited so that it looks brighter and more appealing to my target audience, the same colour scheme has again been used to show a professional and edgy side to the magazine. The double page spread represents my target audience due to the way that I wanted it to be bold and strong so that it stood out, The column layout I chose for my double page spread shows the formal side to the target audience without becoming too formal as the question and answer technique has been used, the language used in this is informal and also uses ‘slang’ terms which allows the target audience to connect with the artist. 

Evaluation - Question One.

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

Print is a form of media and my task was to create a front cover, contents page and a double page spread for a music magazine, magazines are only one type of print media and after doing research into rock magazines and comparing generic conventions I was able to find similarities between magazines to base my layout and ideas around.

When researching front covers for my rock music magazine I started by doing mood boards of front covers I had found and then analysed them so that I gained wider knowledge into the common layout and what features came up in most magazines, by doing this I managed to gain an insight of what occurred most on a front cover, most magazines usually had one striking image which took up all of the front cover, this shot was normally in colour and was a mid shot of a artist or band. Due to the photo being such a prominent piece is was clear that this was what attracted the target audience to the magazine, I then followed this layout as I think it gave a good effect to the magazine and gave it a professional look. The logo of the magazine or the name was also very prominent and often found in the top left hand corner of the front cover, as this occurred in many magazines, I decided to use this and develop and create my own logo for my magazine ‘Volume’ which I could then place in the top left hand corner and also on my contents and double page spread. For this I stuck to my colour scheme which I had already selected, of black, white and red. I created a red box which had white font in it which said Volume, the size of the ‘V’ was enhanced to draw attention to the name of the magazine. The writing of the magazine was placed over the initial photo of the artist, I kept the writing black separated by red lines which I think gave the front cover a simple and professional look, and which I found most effective when researched magazine covers myself, I then added extras to the front cover including a bar code in the bottom right hand corner which I also found was most common.


When doing my double page spread, I found it was most common to have a list style layout on the page which included a main title and a little comment underneath which stated what would be included in each article, the page numbers were also placed next to the articles in the same style of the logo; red box and white writing, this highlighted the most intriguing articles which I thought would catch the audiences eye, I found that in many conventions of the rock magazines there was a main image which was bigger than all the rest which was made clear that it was the main focus in the magazine, there was normally a maximum of about 5 photos, one being the most prominent and others made smaller and placed around the larger photo, all photos also have a page number in the same style of the list. I also found it was common for there to be a footer at the bottom of the contents page which included the logo I had created, the page number, and the date. It also included a website which you can subscribe to the magazine. These were the generic conventions I followed when thinking about the layout of my contents page.


When doing research into double page spreads in rock magazines a generic convention which was made clear in most and one which I followed was that one the left hand page of the spread had the main image on it whereas  the text was found on the right hand side, the name of the band or artist was made very prominent on the top of the right hand page so the audience knows instantly what the article entails, I developed this idea as I also wanted to make the artists name/band bold and eye catching, I then also found that many magazines followed a column layout which I also chose to replicate I chose to do 3 columns, and a question and answer style article as I feel this that a better effect of the audience as it allows you to gain a real understanding of the artist. Again I stuck to the theme of red, white and black, and also added the same footer found on the contents page, which allows the magazine to flow as they can see similarities between pages.

Final Double Page Spread Of My Rock Music Magazine.

Screen Shots Of My Double Page Spread (Photoshop)

These screen shots show the stages i went through when producing my double page spread.

Final Contents Page For My Rock Magazine.

Screen Shots For My Contents Page (Photoshop)

These are the screen shots i took while making my front cover in photoshop, these show the stages i went through before i came to my finished final contents page.

Final Front Cover For My Rock Magazine.

Screen shots of my front cover (Photoshop)

These are screen shots i took when i was doing my front cover in photoshop, these show my progress and what stages i went through to reach my finished front cover.

Photo Shoot For My Contents Page.

These were the photos i took for my contents page i want to get more long shots as my front cover is a mid shot, i also got some close shot and i wanted them to be varied, i like the background of these shots as i like the effect of the wall and the circles painted on it, i also tried to get a range of emotions in the shots so i a wide range to choose from when it came down to the selection for my contents.

Photoshop Editing: Before And After (Front Cover)

This is the photo i chose to go with out of all the photos from my photo shoot, i then edited it in photoshop to make the photo look more vibrant and enhance the colour of the photo, i also added some shadowing and highlight which also made it stand out, i also evened out the persons skin tone and made it more radiant and bright ready to be used for my front cover.

Photoshoot For My Front Cover

These were the photos that i took for my front cover, they are all mid shots as when i researched magazine this shot was the one that was mainly used, i tried to make the person used look more edgy and rock by adding sunglasses, this links to the theme of my magazine which i rock and will attract the target audience. Once i have found the photo that i want to use for my front cover i will edit the photo is photoshop and then proceed with adding the font and the name of my magazine till my front cover is finished.

Planning My Magazine.

Planning Of My Magazine. on Prezi

Sketch Of My Double Page Spread.

I found it most common that on a double page spread one whole page of it would be taken up by the artist themselves, i then added a quote to the middle/right of the double page spread and in the top right had corner, added the name of the magazine and the person who was being interviewed. I then chose to do my double page spread as a questions and answered layout, which i did in two colums which spaced out the writing more.

Sketch Of My Contents Page.

I found that on the contents page it was necessary to make the title of it stand out, i then chose a main image which i wanted to be the biggest image and put that on the right of the contents page, i then chose my other smaller images and placed them around the main image i also included comments on the pictures which linked to the articles in the magazine and allowed the reader a slight insight into what the article will include.

Sketch Of My Front Cover.

This is a sketch of my final front cover, from my research i have found that the front cover usually has a main image which takes up the whole front cover, the name of the magazine is made very bold in the top left hand corner which i have also imitated, i have kept the main stories which are involved in the magazine down the left had side to keep the front cover tidy and and added a quote from the artist to the right hand side of the magazine.

Results From My Questionnaire.

Charts for My Magazine Questionare With Annotations.

A Filled In Questionnaire.

This is the same questionnaire, i just took a photo of it once the participants had answered all the questions.

Blank Questionnaire.

This is a blank questionnaire, i used this questionnaire to help me find out what a varied group of people wanted in a magazine, it included questions based on how much you think the price of the magazine should be to the name that the magazine should have, this helped alot when making the decisions about my final magazine.