Evaluation - Progression from preliminary task -improved

My preliminary task was to create the front cover for a school magazine. The conventions on the preliminary task are very different to the ones on the music magazine which was helpful because when it came to doing the main task I knew how to improve it. Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have progressed a lot in my end product, I have used many more conventions of magazines in my music magazine and the layout if much better than the layout on my preliminary task. Through the planning and creating of my preliminary task I was able to produce better images and text as I knew what would and what wouldn’t attract the target audience. I think the main skill that I have developed since my preliminary task is the layout and also the text that I have used to fit the genre and attract the right audience to the magazine.

I think I have improved a lot from my preliminary task, although they are both very different genres and are aimed at different audiences, I think that that my final product follows the conventions of the music genre much better than the preliminary task follows the conventions of a school magazine. Looking at the two magazines I think I have made a lot of improvements, the layout is better and the images are taken better. The fonts a choose in the main magazine were found through researching of similar magazines whereas the fonts that I used on the preliminary task were just fonts that I thought would suit the magazine, on the main product I tested various fonts to see which looked better and stood out best.

On the preliminary task the layout is very simply and there isn’t much text on the page, also the fonts are very basic and I didn’t think much about the mise en scene that I used for the image as it doesn’t really fit in with the genre of the magazine, also on this cover there isn’t really a colour scheme, I just used colours that I thought would go well with type of magazine and some of the schools colours. Whereas on the main product and had done a lot of research into magazines and questionnaires so that I would know what the audience would like to see in a magazine that is for the audience of there age, the image on my main product is very different to the image on my preliminary task, I thought about the shot of the photo and also the mise en scene so that it would fit in with the genre of the music magazine, I have used a variety of fonts so that the audience don’t get bored of the same one throughout and it keeps there attention also I think the magazine looks better with different fonts. I have used a colour scheme on my main product, I decided on the colour scheme my doing a questionnaire as part of my research which was answered the audience I wanted my main product to be aimed at, by doing this I knew what colour scheme would attract them to the magazine. There is more text on the main cover and the image is positioned better making the layout look a lot better.

Evaluation - Technologies

 

I used many technologies but my main one was the computer, I had also used a camera to take the photos and fireworks to edit them. When I edited them I just cropped bits out of the image to make it look better on the magazine and I also changed the light to a few of the images.

To make the magazine I used publisher, this made is easy to add and remove text as well as move things around the page.

  

 I used the internet for Google to find out information in means of researching, I also used survey monkey to create he surveys to gather more information I needed relating to my product and then I used the internet to send the surveys to people to do.

Blogger was the technology I used the most as in allowed me to upload my work.

Evaluation - Appeal to target audience

In the primary optical area there is date, price, issue number, barcode and there is also the beginning of the masthead. This is what people want to see first, because they want to see if it is the newest issue and then they what to see what the price of the magazine is. The masthead is the first thing they look at and this follows the beginning of the route of the eye, it is the largest piece of text on the page therefore it is eye-catching which is the way it needs to be that people see the magazine, it is a purple colours with a black shadow to make it stand out, these colours go with colour scheme of the magazine and get the right audience looking at it.

The cover lines are all in different boxes of the principle of thirds making them stand out on their own therefore the audience will see each cover line.

The route of the eye goes though the title the image and then the cover line at the bottom, this is the what the audience will see first and these are the most important parts of the cover as it well attract them to the magazine.

Continuing with most magazine conventions they only use two or three fonts on the cover, which is also what I have done on the cover of my product I have also used a bolder font for the main cover line and also for the mast head as this is the most important text on the page.

Once I had finished the product I done a survey and here are two questions about the front cover, by doing this I found out what the audience thought about certain parts of the front cover and what I could change if necessary. Again I uploaded the survey to my blog and to my facebook, all my result were from people that were aged 14 – 17 and 5 were female, 3 male. 87.5%  said that the front cover did appeal to them and then they gave me feedback on what I could improve on the front cover.

The contents page is the second thing the audience turn to when flicking through the magazine. I have made the contents page clear and easy to read because the audience aren’t going to what to be spending ages trying to find what they are looking for.

To appeal to my audience I have used singers that people are going know, and wrote pages on things people can relate to and have heard about because they aren’t going to what to read something they don’t care about.

Along the route of the eye in goes through the title then the list of articles in the magazine and then reaches a 'subscribe' box. This is something that is conventional to be advertised on the contents page.

I added an editor’s letter to the page which makes it seem more realistic. The language used appeals to the audience as it is talking directly to them. I have also put a picture of the front cover on there which again is conventional and this is in the primary optical area.

 I asked about what people thought of the contents page in the survey that i done so that i could find out what people like about it therefore knowing what attracted the audience, i also what to know what could be improved so that i would be able to change it is i needed to so that it would appeal to the target audience.

 The main picture on the double page spread is a mid-shot. I wanted to represent her as a stereotypical teenage that the audience would relate to, I have used a mid-shot because the audience are then able to what she is wearing as well as her face. The route of the eye were the image is it goes through her face, then her body and then to the advert about her album at the bottom of page, I have done it like this because that is the way the audience are going to look at it and I think that is the way that is going to stand out to them more. The route of the eye of the text goes through the title and then the text again this is the way that the audience are going to see it and the title needs to be the first think that they see so that they know what they are reading about. The colours appeal to the audience, I have used basic colours so that the audience notice the text rather the colours on that page.

On the survey i done a question to see what people thought of the double page spread, and from these result its seems that the double page spread was the page that people liked most. Again doing these question i know what appealed to people on the page.

Evaluation - Target Audience

The target audience for my magazine is 14 – 17 girls; I decided to aim the magazine as this audience because from my pervious questionnaire I got more information as to what this audience would like to see in a magazine. The results from the previous survey told me that people like a variety of music therefore I have tried to put different style of music into my product.

I posted the survey onto my blog and also onto my facebook so that I could get results from a range of people which would help me with my target audience.

As you can see from the question, I decide to choice my target audience to be 14 – 17 as got the most results from this age group, also I got more results from females therefore I aimed the product more to females but it wasn’t just for this gender. Also there was a mix in the type of music people liked so I added several different genre’s into the magazine.

Here are the other questions that i asked in the questionnaire, and i based my product on the results that i got.

http://mels-media.blogspot.com/2010/11/questionnaire-results.html

Evaluation - Institutions -improved

Like in my research a planning I thought that a media institution that distributes magazines such as Q and NME may distribute a magazine such as the one I created as they are similar products. My magazine is similar to NME and also Q i have used conventions from both the two magazines, and the music in my product are similar to the type of music in both the two magazines. The layout of my product is much more similar to NME but the images are more similar to Q.

I found that Q is produced by bauer media group who are a private publishing company.

It says that “Bauer Publishing is the largest privately owned publisher in Europe,
publishing in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Additionally, H. Bauer   publish in the United States and Mexico. H. Bauer Publishing entered the U.K. market with Bella magazine in 1987. Introducing a new format that mixes previously unseen real life editorial and exciting service features, Bella made a significant impact on the women's market. The company gained attention again in 1990 with the launch of Take a Break magazine. Touching the lives of millions of women with its unique blend of upfront real life and competitions, the title quickly became market leader. Despite strong competition, Take a Break has maintained its no.1 status, currently selling over 1 million copies a week. The 1990's saw H. Bauer further strengthen its portfolio with the launch of TV Quick in 1991, that's life! in 1995 and TVChoice in 1999. There are also fifteen successful puzzle titles within the stable. Managing these distinctive brands, H. Bauer Publishing is a major presence in the UK magazine market with a considerable market share. At the beginning of 2008, Bauer expanded its portfolio further by acquiring Emap’s Radio and Consumer Magazine divisions and changed the name of these new UK businesses to Bauer Media. With the recent addition of the former Emap Consumer Media titles, Bauer is now the largest consumer magazine publishing company in the UK.”

 

NME is published and distributed by IPC media, they are owned by Time Inc, who is owned by Time Warner. IPC media is the UKs leading consumer magazine publisher, there have produce over 85 magazine and their magazines are read by around 27 million people in the UK and they have online branches which reach to almost 20 million monthly users. Through them making so many different magazines all aimed at specific target audiences they reach everyone. Similar to my magazine they are both similar genre of music however mine contains more recent music rather that particular artists. They also all tend to use the same kind of layouts in the pages making sure all the relevant info is included. There is relevant coverlines in the same way to mine but mine targets teenage girls and not so much boys. My product has a different target audience of girls and the colours, fonts and language reflect that. Since IPC has never published and distributed a music magazine that is very much the same as mine, I think they would have a change and also it’s another specific audience they can reach. 

BBC magazine produce Top of the pops magazine, BBC magazines is a department of BBC worldwide who are owned by the BBC. BBC magazine is the UKs fourth largest magazine publish and the third largest publisher in terms of revenue and the UKs numbers one publisher for subscriptions. BBC magazine is not just in the UK, it has 43 licensed editions of magazines in over 55 countries.