Student Magazine Evaluation

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

I think the main features of a student magazine are the image on the front cover, masthead, strap line, cover lines, and the special feature that usually is linked with the main image on the front. I incorporated all of these elements into my design and some others too, like the price and date of the magazine. My main image is one I have taken myself, along with all the others, and the font I found of a free font website. I wanted my font to be different and to stand out from the crowd so I downloaded one I thought is unlikely for other people to use. I used this font thought all of the text I used, to create an idea of a house style. I think this worked well and gave the magazine a professional feel.  I Also kept the masthead at the bottom of the page so that whilst still looking like a magazine, tried to do something different to others. I think this worked well because it is in a different place but still looks quite good. I also included a price, this I think stands out the most as it is a bright colour, and takes up a lot of room, not many magazines have a price on the front, but I think it adds another touch of uniqueness to my magazine, if a bit bold at least. Compared to my layout designs I did have to move the strap line to the top of the magazine as I think it looked much better than on the side. I chose this layout design other than the extra one I had made despite of comments made that the other layout was better. I felt that having the masthead at the bottom was a better choice for my overall design. I do regret not making my special feature not stand out enough. It could have benefited from having

A background applied to it.

 On my contents page I tried to include as many images as possible to give the reader something more interesting to look at than just writing, and keep them interested in the magazine. I tried to make the images and page numbers stand out the most, so that if it were a real magazine the reader could just go straight to the article they intended to look at on purchase. I do think the contents page background colour is a bit dull though, and could benefit from being re-worked, or looking at it longer for future designs. First car contents page also uses many colours as well as sticking to a colour scheme, this makes it stand out an seem interesting, as well as using an attractive font.

 

I think when put up against a professional magazine it doesn’t look as good, due to the face that the other magazine has real articles inside that they can advertise on the front, but I had to make some up to fit in with the images. I also think that their magazine has a successful colour scheme, where as mine is a little plain in comparison, and the red on the price isn’t exactly the same shade as on the strap line and cover lines. The image on the ‘New Car’ magazine is slightly tilted and brighter, I think my own photograph would have benefited from not being in the shade.

Many aspects that ‘New Car’ has used are mirrored in my design, and I think these aspects make my own design look professional and unique. Some of the aspects are located in the same place on both magazines; such as the strap line, special feature headline, and amount of images used for the over lines.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social group I think I have represented in my magazine are college students. This is mainly due to the special feature and the images I have used. The cover line for my special feature says “Navigating A New College”. These was aimed for students starting a new college and were possibly looking for advice on subjects that were featured in the article also many images in my contents page do reflect college life and the words “Ludlow College” are found in a few images. I tried to keep writing to a minimum as students are mainly motivated to by a magazine by the images on the cover, and the writing I did have I tried to make stand out so at a glance they couldn’t help but read it, and maybe influenced into buying it. I also used certain words influenced by current events that students are experiencing like X-Mas, as this also may help relate the student to the magazine, another option could have been a feature on fees’. I think I represented this social group well, and used many features they would be interested in.

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think the main institutions that would feature my magazine would be colleges, and youth centres/ clubs. As this are where the main people who would be buying my magazine would be and these institutes already feature similar magazines offering similar help. I think especially colleges as it offers educational help as well as features that may interest student’s free time. Although there may be other magazines that better represent the same features in my magazine, I think mine would also be featured as it may serve a better interest to the student than a fully educational magazine.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think the main people that would purchase my magazine could be anyone but mainly, as it’s a student magazine, students between the ages of 16 and 20, male or female, at college or about to enter it.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

In my magazine I included aspects to attract the viewer, such as cover lines that included images and text about articles that may grab the attention of readers. I also used an interesting font and special feature. It uses language that addresses the reader directly as well so they can feel like the magazine is attracting them especially.  I also made sure I have feedback from my audience and adjusted my work to suit it.

• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 I used Microsoft word to create my magazine, as I didn’t have the software available to make a proper publisher document, I also took the images on my mobile phone, so I was already used to all the technology that I used.