Jasmine foster

Written Evaluation

For my media AS I had to design and then create a music magazine in photoshop. I had to have a front cover, contents page and double page spread.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?My front cover is quite conventional because I haven’t challenged the regular forms of real magazine publications. I have a sky line offering a freebee. Then I have the mast head which I got from www.dafont.com. I picked it because of the sketch style writing and I felt that it went well with the style of the magazine I was aiming for. I have used the classic ‘Z’ plan on the front cover which draws the reader’s eye down the page, and I have focused on the ‘left third’. I added a free C.D to the bottom left; this is to make the reader want to buy it. I also used cover lines and a pull quote as well as a sky line. On my contents page I used the same font as the Mast head, this was to carry on the house style throughout the magazine. I used three small images of singers/ D.J’s that were in my magazine, I used effects on these to make them tie in with the Genre of music, I also used brushes on the background and picked bright colours so the contents stood out. The text for the contents is easy to read and still fits in with the house style. They are also numbered for navigating through the magazine.Again, I used the same font on the header for the DPS. I also used the same brush effect on the front cover, but in different Colours and the eyedropper tool to use the purple background on both the contents and the DPS. For the main article I used Times New Roman in word. I then chose red for the questions and black for answers so the reader could easily define between the two. I also added a ‘fact file’ with black text outlined with red.

How does my media magazine represent particular social groups?The images I used in my D.PS and front cover represented young men, by the way in which the models were stood and sat, the clothes they were wearing and the poses and looks upon their faces. For my main image the D.J was stood up, with his right hand resting on his chin and left arm hanging down, this was to show is relaxed. He is wearing a brand named t-shirt that is brightly coloured and a hat and glasses to give him a ‘cool celebrity’ look. Calvin Harris is a similar artist. He promotes himself through his style and the way his image is put across to the audience. This is where my inspiration came from. The artists on the contents page represent young women, men and music celebrities. They represent the age of the audience that would read my magazine. For the Double page spread article with Parrow, the way he speaks reflects his age. It is a ‘cool’ way of talking, and includes slang.

What kind of media institution might distribute my media product?Distributing my magazine online would be a good idea because it would get to a wider and also younger audience. It would also cut down on distribution costs, which could lead to a bigger profit. We could sell advertising space on the website, to make more money. Issuu.com would be a typical website that would publish my magazine online. I could also distribute my magazine traditionally in shops such as WHSmiths, through a publisher such as IPC Media. IPC Media generally aim for 18 to 34 year olds so I would still be aiming for the right audience. Selling them in this way is the

Jasmine foster

most popular way, and many people prefer a copy to hand rather than viewing from a screen.

Who would be the audience for your media product?The genre of music I used was Clubbing and Dance music. The audience would be both male and female. They would be around the ages of 18 to 25 however this doesn’t stop slightly older or younger people from reading it, Because of the genre of the magazine the audience will generally be into dance music, clubbing and the ‘Ibiza scene’.

How did I attract my audience?I attracted my audience by aiming for the right age range. I also had young models and bright colours on the magazine as well as a free C.D. 57% of the people that took my survey on www.surveymonky.com were female. Half the people that took my survey were 18-20, followed by 15-17 years old at 29%. 21% were 21 or over. No one under 15 took my survey. Most people thought my magazine was aimed at dance music, this was correct and so I feel I got the genre across well using photoshop. Equal amounts of people liked the images I used and the style of the magazine. They also liked the text and fonts I used. Most people that took my survey said they disliked the colours, so this is something I could improve on, and no one disliked the style.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?During the process of making my magazine I used lots of different technologies, many of these were completely new to me, others were not, such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word. Some of the new ones I have used are websites on the internet. I have used www.surveymonkey.com several times now; this has helped me get feedback from the audience of my magazine. www.Issuu.com and www.slideshare.co.uk allowed me to upload my work to the web, and www.blogger.com allowed me to get all my work in order in one area.

Looking back on your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression to the full product?Before starting this course I had never used photoshop before and it was all new to me. Looking back to my college magazine, I feel I have learnt a lot more about Photoshop as a whole. I believe I am more confident at using the different tools and Effects and I have discovered different things just by trying out something I have not used before. I am now able to use text style’s I have found using Dafont.com and import them into photoshop, I am able to use brushes effectively and I have also experimented with all the different effects. Looking at the images I have taken for the music magazine, think you can see that they look more ‘professional’ than the ones in my college Magazine, and I have used better effects on them. I have also improved my research skills, looking at different magazines and how their layouts work.

Jasmine foster