Critical analysisDone by: Samra Awan

IntroductionMy final As level course work includes a magazine about prom. The Title

of the magazine is BELLEZZA. It is aimed at teenage girls between the

ages of 14 to 18. It contains tips and tricks on all things prom.

Bellezza US is for the modern teenage girl who wants to lead a fashionable

and beautiful life. She cares about the latest trends on the runway, and she

takes her beauty seriously! Reading Bellezza every month is essential

because it’s her stylish guide and her perfect escape

Questions• How does your product use or challenge conventions and

how does it represent social groups or issues?

• How does your product engage with audiences and how

would it be distributed as a real media text?

• How did your production skills develop throughout this

project?

• How did you intergrade technologies-software, hardware

and online- in this project?

How does it challenge conventions and

represent social groups?

• In this issue of Bellezza magazine,

representation is focused on young teenage girls.

It portrays them to be feminine and delicate. In

some ways we can say that it is a Stereotype of

what teenage girls are like, including all things

fashion, make up and hair.

The Conventions challenged and displayed in my

magazine include,

• Barcode- The reason as to why I placed my barcode at

the bottom left because it is always placed there in all

magazines and also so that it does not interfere with the

magazine cover. In some magazines, barcodes can be quite

large and tend to take the main attraction away from the

cover page, but in my instance I chose to make it small but

still visible and place it in front because I personally

thought it looked. The purpose of a barcode is always to

identify the amount or price of any magazine.

• Font(Masthead) - The font I used for the masthead is one known as ELEPHANT on word/publisher. The reason as to why I chose this font was because it is large and eye catching as to grab the audience attention. I chose the color PINK also to appeal to my target audience.

• The reason why I chose to add a word art font is to look girly and feminine again here, this font is shown to be more appealing to girls. Teenage boys would not be attracted to this kind of font, they are more appealed by straight lined fonts for example IMPACT .

• The name BELLEZZA in Spanish means

BEAUTY. I decided to use this name because in

my opinion All women and girls are beautiful no

matter what.

• color style- The color scheme and style that I

used in this magazine includes mostly Pinks,

Blues, Oranges and Black. These are colors that

teenage girls are more familiar with and those

that appeal most to them.

Black used

Oranges used

Pinks used

• Dates- These are the numbers placed right

underneath the masthead to show when the

release date of the magazine is.

• In some cases the price is included alongside

the release date

• Pugs- The use of Pugs in my magazine is a way

of advertising and grabbing the audiences

attention and just to add little more character to

the cover

• Puffs- This is also another way of advertising to

catch peoples attention. In other words to appeal

to the audience

• Another convention is the language used. Here the

language used is simple and clear for the ease of teenage

girls

• Here we see phrases like ‘BYE BYE FAT DAYS’ and

‘Dress heaven’ these kinds of phrases will not attract

teenage boys and this is why I chose my target audience

to be teenage girls.

How would it be distributed as a real media text?

• In terms of distribution The Bellezza magazine would

be sold at several book stores, make up stores and

grocery stores. This issue of The Bellezza magazine will

be advertised in such as billboards etc.

• Another way in which I will distribute my media text is

through high schools. I will distribute this magazine

edition because it is a prom edition and the high schools

can relate to this.

• Cinemas- another way to distribute my media text is to

sell it on stands at the cinemas as this is where teenagers

tent to ‘hang out’

• I will also have an app on Androids and Apple devices

for every monthly issue including special edition issues

too. This app will update the users on what the

magazines are about and will allow the users to read the

magazines online for free.

How did your production skills develop throughout

this project?

• When doing this project, several aspects of my

production skills had developed. From

familiarizing myself with the Photoshop tools to

the complications of exporting and importing

through InDesign. Doing this project helped me

know and understand more about how to work

with applications such as Photoshop and

InDesign. Getting my self familiar with such

apps help will definitely help me for future

purposes.

How did you intergrade technologies-software, hardware and online- in this project?

• I did so by combining online pictures and ideas and

making them into my own. By using editing software's such as Photoshop and InDesign. And by using hardware machinery such as printers, laptops and paper to bring all my ideas and work together.

• Here is an example of some of the inspiration I got onlinefor my final magazine project.

Inspiration My creation

My contents page

• My contents page includes the initial magazine cover on the top left with the pages clearly pointed out alongside the cover storylines.

• The contents font used is big and clearly visible as well as the font and language used is simple and straight to the point.

• The colors used in my contents page include mainly pink. In different shades and gradients. I also used a very pale and light yellow color as my background color.

Double page spread.

• My double page spread includes two different articles

including one about teenage girls self esteem and one

about different body types and how they should dress.

• The cover page font is quite clear and visible to the

audiences and this goes hand in hand with the font color

as well. Which is mostly Pink as the titling and black and

blue with the article itself

• I created my entire print project with a combination od

software's such as Windows Publisher, Photoshop, InDesign and even Microsoft word.

• Overall I faced several challenges in the making of

this magazine. One of the biggest challenges I faced was the clarity of the pictures and the colors. I over came these problems by seeking help from other professionals, in this case the help of a photographer. At first I did not know who my target audience would be or what the content of my magazine would consist of. During the course of this project I have learned and developed in several media skills.

• During the making of this magazine, I went through

several changes of the magazine layout, with the cover

especially. I changed my initial cover page picture to my

present cover page picture now. And to show the change

in images, I added my initial cover page to my contents

page

• In the next slides I show you how I integrated

my ideas and images into one final product for

my audiences

• Here are step by step pictures of how I brought

all my ideas and combined them into one.

STEP ONE

Add masthead,

font and color to

my magazine

Add an eye-

catching puff to

the cover

STEP TWO

Add cover story

Add pug. To grab

attention

STEP THREE

Add main cover

line story

STEP FOUR

Add the

rest of

the cover

lines.

Add cover

picture.

STEP FIVE

Combine

everything

together. Finished

product

Another way in which I integrated technologies-

software, hardware and online- in this project is by

creating my very own Blog to help a variety of

audience know more about what my final product

will consist and to allow them to see the step by step

stages of how the final product came together as one.

In my blog I also included, the budget used , the

actors/characters used, the location used and the

software as well as hardware products used.

1. On average how often do you purchase magazines

• Daily

• Once a week

• Once a month

2. What are your favorite types of magazines

• Fashion & beauty

• Celebrity/tabloid

• Music/entertainment

• Food/Travel

3. What types of articles do you usually skip in magazines

• Surveys

• Personal experiences

• Interviews recipes

• Self esteem articles

• Educational articles

4. Do the magazines you buy influence

The way you dress

Wear your hair

What products you buy

What music you listen to

I used questionnaires on my intended audience and

unintended audience. This helped me to know more

about what my audiences think of my finals product.

And most of the intended audiences gave positive

feedback and were pleased and happy with the

finished media text.

Thank you for

watching