Evaluation

Q: Who would be the audience for your media product?

In regards to an audience, I feel that my ideal magazine readers would be between the ages of 11 and 18. These are the ages of students who attend the school. Students, I feel, are a much better audience to target my magazine at instead of parents. This is because the pupils of the school are much more affected by the "goings on" around the school, thus making the articles inside my magazine much more relevant to them. I also feel that the design of my magazine helps appeal to my target audience. For example, the front cover uses bold,vibrant colours such as strong shades of blue and yellow. These colours have connotations of fun and excitement, something that a target audience of 11-18 years would relate to. I have also tried to keep text to a minimum on my front cover in hopes of, yet again, appealing to my chosen audience. From verbal research I found that 11-18 year olds do not like excessive amounts of text. This then prompted me to ensure minimal text was evident on my cover.

For my contents page I decided to strive towards simplistic visualisation. This was again due to the various comments I received on how a simple design is much easier on the eyes which also helps the reader to navigate through the page. This was ideal for a target audience of 11-18 years as peopele of this age group prefer to read less text.


Q: What have you learnt about technologies form the process of constructing this product?

During the process of constructing my magazine I have learnt a variety of new skills that, I feel, have allowed me to excel in the technological aspects of this task. During the early stages of the process I was unfamiliar with various editing software such as Adobes Fireworks. However, in time, I came to terms with how the software operates and have thus acquired a variety of new skills. These skills include removing parts of images, creating drop shadows, editing a variety of Mastheads and learning how to professionally edit photos. All these different aspects of technologies has taught me how many different features there are to editing, and has broadened my field of expertise in the subject.


Q: In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of school magazines?

My product has aspects of both conforming to and subverting various conventions typically found in a school magazine. For example, my Masthead is big, bold and takes up most of the space in the top half of my magazine. This is true not only for school magazines, but magazines in general. My main image is of a school student engaging in an everyday school situation. This can be seen in most school magazines and is a common convention they all follow. My strap lines are all placed to the left hand side of my magazine and follow the same house style, yet another common convention my magazine uses. During my research I found that most school magazines were colourful and vibrant. I then tried to follow this convention via my Masthead and house style by incorporating a variety of different colours such as Red, Yellow and Blue. The challenging of conventions however can be seen in my contents page. Within my contents page are two cropped images. These images are cropped at unusual angles, something that was not present in my research of school magazines. Although minor, I feel that by editing the images in this way has given them an extra flair and is a feature that is unique to my magazine.

Final Contents Page & Analysis

Final Magazine Cover & Analysis

Thumbnail Sheet and Images Used

These are a collection of images I have taken to feature in my Magazine Cover and contents page. I have chosen to stick to the theme of lockers, and have thus experimented different ways to incorporate various objects into the theme. I have experimented with things such as lighting, distance and how much a person is in the shot. For example, I first had only had a persons hands and their books in the shot, which was originally going to be my main image. However, after receiving feedback and learning more about the conventions of a good magazine, I realised that having a whole person in the image would show a greater understanding. I also took a variety of other photos consisting of various things around the school. Well known objects such as the school computers, the Apple Macs and the honours board are all things people instantly recognise, making them ideal to feature in my contents page. All of these photographs are of a documentary style. This meant that, through a pose, I was able to create a sense of what typically happens at the school.




IMAGES USED

Main Image

This was the image I decided to use in my final front cover. I feel that this picture instantly symbolises school life and a hard working atmosphere. The inclusion of lockers also sticks to the theme I intended to use, as lockers are common throughout all schools and are easily identifiable. The inclusion of a person, I feel, follows the conventions of a typical magazine cover. By following this convention I feel that my magazine is more likely to entice audiences.

       

Contents Page

These are the two images I used in my contents page. They consist of  a school computer in the LRC, and a school honours board. Both of these images are widely recognisable throughout the school, which is why I felt they were appropriate to feature in my contents page. They are subtle images, but really emphasis the school and a working atmosphere it strives for.

Images Needed for my Magazine

These are just a sample of images that I hope to take inspiration from when constructing my final magazine. The main focus of my main image will be school lockers. I feel that this will really emphasise school and school life. I hope that my final image will have the lockers as the main focus, and a blurred out background of students walking by. Documentary photography is an extremely common convention in school magazines, which is why I feel this form of photography will benefit my magazine.

Contents Page Layout

These are my six layout designs for my contents page. Through these visual syntax's I have stuck to the common conventions of a typical contents page.I feel that all my designs are varied and include all the features a good contents page should have. I've tried to include a good ratio of text and images, to ensure the visual success of this page. The contents title is given the same amount of space on each design. This is because I want it to be clear to the reader what page it is, and by having the title the largest feature on the page it will definitely inform the reader. 

With these visual syntaxes I've tried to experiment with the positioning of various features like the Starbursts, text and images. My text is arranged in columns, a common occurrence when it comes to the layouts of contents pages. Each starburst is placed strategically so it doesn't cover text, but is strong enough to stand out on its own. With regards to images, I've included a range of different sizes. If the image is large, it will be the only one on the page. However, I've also included more smaller images in some of my designs to experiment with the difference a variety of images can make.



Contents Page Analysis