Jessica White

Evaluation of Magazine Task

Front Cover Title – I used a serif font because this is a typical font used

for titles throughout the magazine because it’s clear, concise and demands attention from the audience. It draws the most attention with the colour being white on top of black. This contrast is eye-catching.

Headlines – I have used a sans-serif font in contrast to the title. This is because I want the reader to focus on the storylines a lot more by keeping in theme of three colours (white, purple and black), this allows the reader to become drawn in. Some fonts are also italic, which give the impression that these story lines are calming, other fonts have also been underlined to illustrate that this is the most relevant piece of text.

Date – This is a smaller font which is clear to read and which is below the title of the magazine. It allows the reader to remain focus on the multiple headlines and image.

Issue number – This is also a smaller font which is clear to read and purposely placed beneath the title.

Barcode – I have placed the barcode in the right hand corner to make the magazine look more professional as if it was going to be sold in stores.

Price – The price, I decided, should be next to the barcode. This was because I want the magazine to seem more like a real magazine, without any special price offers. Also, the price by the barcode can allow stores to price the magazine, using the barcode, correctly.

Image – The use of one image allows the reader to become drawn in to the one main storyline. It also allows the reader to become attracted to each story without any distractions.

Title – In contrast to the front cover, I decided to use a darker colour font which clearly show the reader that this page is the ‘Contents’ page.

Text – I decided that I should use a different font compared to the font used for the title. This is so the writing can be easily read so they can locate where each story is, they are interested in, with ease.

Images – The use of various images allows the reader to become drawn to more than one storyline. Purposely, I have used two separate images, of the band, to focus the readers attention towards the main story without them noticing.

Contents Page

Double Page

Spread Image – I decided

that by using an image which doesn't fill up the page, it would allow the reader to concentrate more on the interview itself rather than the image.

Title and Text – On this page, I decided to use a sans-serif font for the title and for my interview because, it provides an adequate contrast to the font I used on the front page and contents. This will help make the text easier to read and decipher. When mentioning the magazine title within the text, I made this italic to point out that this is.

Feedback“The images you have used on your

contents page have been edited well Jessica. I think you may have used too much detail on the actual contents page items. Your front cover looks good Jessica, do you think that it needs a third colour introduced? “ Victoria Hussain

From this feedback, I have decided to act upon the comments and edit the magazine to the best of my ability to fit the target audience I have aimed for.

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

Front PageUse – I have used 3 main colours (Black, Purple and

White). I have also used a similar layout to other magazines; the prominent picture, masthead and smaller headlines against the edge of the cover.

Develop – I took the idea of a large central image and altered it. I wanted an image that would be radically different from all other cover images. I understood that no photograph could accomplish this , I set about producing a cover photograph with a digital style that would attract an audience based on its sheer difference to other magazines on the market.

Challenge – Most magazines tend to have their masthead placed deliberately behind the models head. This is to focus the reader to a particular story, involving the model. Popular magazines will do this as their readers will know what the name of the magazine already is. I have challenged this and have positioned the masthead in front of the models head to draw more attention to the “brand” I am hoping to establish.

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

Contents

Use – Articles and page numbers in a list format. It also utilises pictures with corresponding page numbers. It also has the large title showing the word “Contents”.

Develop – I decided not to pack the page as much as other examples did. I wanted the emphasis to be on the articles, not the pictures and various celebrities. I also put two images of the same article in; to draw more attention to the main article as well as other articles.

Challenge – I left the background a very dull white. This was to draw more attention to the table of contents and the images. Also, by doing this I could keep in theme of the colours

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

Double Page SpreadUse – It maintains a continuous double page spread as it is

common in these kinds of magazines. The title is large and prominent on the left hand side which is also common. The interview is also in columns which go vertically downwards. The photo is of every member of the band which illustrates that this is the page about them.

Develop – The positioning of the photo develops the conventions of real media products. It is still fairly large and prominent, however, it has been scaled down into the corner, merely scraping over the second page. This was done in part because of the large scale of the interview, but also because I took the photo on a unique angle and having it enlarged would make the image disorientating.

Challenge – From the placement of the photo, I tried to not challenge the conventions at all. To me, keeping it simple and not changing too much from normal magazines would help make my magazine accessible to the readers.

How does your product represent particular social groups?My chosen models for the magazine was of young,

trendy teenagers, which was the target audience I was aiming for. I also felt that by making my main model, one of the band members on the front page, an attractive model would bring in purchases from love-struck teenagers.

I ran articles on a multitude of different areas of the music industry, ranging from the rock bands, to reuniting pop bands, even to the managerial side of things. This vast diversity reflects the diversity in my target audience I have aimed for. Teenagers and young adults have varying interests and I hope to capitalise on that by printing all these varying articles.

Who would be the audience for your product?The audience for this magazine will be

teenagers / young adults, specifically with an interest in music. It has been established that this social group has the most disposable income and by not trying to target any particular social groups, I will maximise target audience and appeal to a wider audience.

How did you attract/address your audience? Front Cover – I used one large image, of a band member from

my main article, to draw my target audience in to the specific story at hand.

Contents Page: Again, I used a large image with various smaller images, enough to catch the readers attention to the main story as well as other stories. This allows the reader to become drawn in and want to read multiple other stories.

Double Page: Not a very big image but it shows that the story is about them. I have done this on purpose to draw the reader towards the interview. Also, a smaller image mounted onto a background shows that this is an album cover. The quote is thought provoking and encourages the reader to read the interview to hear it in context. The titles large font also draws attention downwards towards the article. The image is taken at an unusual angle that draws in the eye line to see whether the image is straight or not.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?Photoshop – I already had a basic

understanding of Photoshop so I did not learning anything new in regards as to how to use it.

Camera – Whilst I understood the basics on how to use a camera, I feel I have learned how to frame a picture better, through variables such as lighting, background colours and pixilations. I learnt the hard way that I needed to take photos with a blank background and little to no movement; this would result in an easier and cleaner Photoshop editing process.

Adobe Photoshop 6.0 During the production of this magazine I learned how to use

Adobe Photoshop 6.0 in greater detail. I believe that this was the best program to use as it allowed me to edit pictures and titles that I wanted to put onto the magazine simply and effectively. There was a vast array of tools to help me create the look of the magazine I wanted.

Here are some of the many tools I used in creating the magazine:

Camera For taking the photos for the magazine, I decided to use a

regular digital camera rather than any other type of camera because of the high quality photos that it can supply.

A file format is a way to encode information for storage in computer files. There are different types of file formats for different kinds of information. JPEG (Pronounced JAY-peg) – Is commonly used

format by digital cameras and to save photographical images. This type of format is also commonly used to store and transfer images on the World Wide Web.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) – Is a format which is commonly used to support animations.

TIFF – Produces large files with no loss in quality. This file format is used to save images form Photoshop.

PSD / PDD – Are file formats which are mainly used to save images from Photoshop.

BMP – Is used for any type of bitmap (pixel based images. There is no benefit from BMP compared to TIFF except, you can use it for a windows wallpaper

Photos in the JPEG format made it easy to transfer the photos from the digital camera to computer and to edit them for the magazine.