College magazine evaluation

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

When creating my college magazine front cover I have complied with the codes and conventions of real magazines as I have a cover star and have made sure that they are looking at the camera, this makes the reader feel like they are looking at them personally. I have used a main cover line on the front which is the main feature in the magazine. I have then placed various other cover lines around my cover star, making sure that I did not obstruct their face. I have included a bar-code, date and issue number in the bottom left corner which is seen in other real magazines. I have placed a puff in the top right hand corner and put the price in it. I have priced the magazine at only £1.99 which makes the reader more enticed to buy the magazine as they think they are getting a bargain. There is an incentive banner at the top of the page which I have used to attract the reader by offering them a chance to win a free Starbucks. I have used a large masthead at the top of the page which catches the readers attention and makes it clear as to what the magazine is called. I haven’t challenged any conventions when creating my front cover.

When creating my college magazine front cover I have used many conventions of real media magazines such as I have used various images on the page to interest the reader. I have numbered these images to correspond with a page in the contents list. I have used a bold contents title and have coloured it black to stand out on the page. I have ordered the contents list in chronological order. I have not challenged any conventions when creating my college magazine.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction of your media product?

The media technologies that I have used when creating my front cover and contents page were Quark, Photoshop and a DSLR camera. I used a DSLR camera to take my photographs for my front cover and contents page and them uploaded them to the computer to be used in my designs. I learnt how to use the camera effectively to take a clear and focused photograph. I used Photoshop to create my college magazine front cover design. I used the text tool to add my text to the page such as the masthead and cover lines. I have changed the hue and saturation of my image to make it look more professional. I learnt how to use stroke tool in the blending options to make my masthead and main cover line stand out the most on the page as these are the most important features on the front cover. I learnt how to use the shape tool to create my puff and inserted the price into it using the text tool. I also used the shape tool to insert a box behind one of my cover lines. I used Quark to create my college contents page design. I used the shape tool to make a border around the page and between the pictures to give the page more structure. I have used the picture import tool to add my photographs and positioned them leaving enough room to fit my contents list in next to them. I have used the text tool to add my contents title, contents list and page numbers to my photographs. I used the colour tool to select the colour for the border and the background behind my contents title and contents list.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of both the product and your use of the new media technologies?

Strengths of my product

A strength of my product is that I have used a cover star that is looking directly at the camera which makes the reader feel like they are looking at them personally which attracts the reader to the magazine. This is a strength because it means that more people would be interested in the product and more copies would be sold.

Another strength of my magazine is that I have included most of the codes and conventions of a real magazine in which makes my college magazine look more professional and that it belongs in the industry.

A strength of new media technologies is that I have used the blending options on Photoshop to add a stroke effect to my masthead and main cover line which makes it stand out on the page and attracts the readers attention. This is a strength as it emphasises the important elements on the page.

Weaknesses of my product

A weakness of my college magazine is that the image of my cover star has not been edited to a high level in which a real magazines cover star would have been. This is a weakness as it does not look very professional.

Another weakness is that my magazine only has one image on the front and does not have any smaller images to relate to the cover lines on the page. This is a weakness because it means that it is not as interesting to the reader as it would be if there were more images included on the front cover.

A weakness of using new media technologies is that I haven't used interesting fonts that catch the readers attention, as I just used the ones in Quark and Photoshop. This is a weakness because I could have used more interesting fonts when using the new media technologies.