FINISHED :)

Thats my Student Magazine finished and the nest thing I am going to do is create a music magazine

Evaluation

During this project I created a cover and contents page for a student magazine. This involved taking a photoshoot around college of images to be used in the cover and within the magazine and then editing and creating a cover and contents around these images that would appeal to 16 - 18 year olds.

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

The magazine I created is simular to some other magazines on the market as it uses simular layouts and conevections. The main features within my cover page varies. The dominant feature is the backgrund image and is used to attract the audience although the mast head is just as important as it titles the magazine. I also used one main cover story and three smaller stories to try and encourage the viewer to buy the magazine for the articels that are inside. Although the competition in the strapline on the top of the page which may also encourage students. The contents page is more unique as it features images up one side of the page and the editorial at the bottom however typically contents pages tend to feature the editorial on the top left hand corner of the page as it would be the first thing you would read and images scattered around. Although my layouts are quite simple I think the are overall succesfull at creating a professional look.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The media product presents differant groups within the college. I chose to use the front cover image to create a sophisticated and neat look that applys to the college however I used more casual photographs within the conetnts and photoshoot that applys more to the students as they tend to capture the time spent in frees. None of the images create a negative view of teenagers and the more relaxed images create a fun and more apealing look for students that are enjoying themselves in most photographs. This creates a postive view  of the college overall. The magazine itself also appeals to differant social groups within the college as they are attarcted to differant articles within the magazine for example I chose to include a 1st year page and a 2nd year page seperatly as differant things would apply to the differant years.

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

The product would be most succesful being sold in a college location such as the canteen area or reception where students could access it easily. Although it could also be sold in local shops to attract more people into the shops and support locate buisnesses. Media insitutions that may publish the magazine are ones that already publish magazines for other colleges and universities or local buisnesses that would be interested in getting invloved within the college.

• Who would be the audience for your media product and How did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine was aimed at students at our college in particullary so aimed mainly at ages 16 - 19 of both gener. One major thing that would attract students to buy the magazine is the images I used. This is because I used students and well known college locations in my photoshoot so that the students can recognise that its a college magazine easily. The images of other students may also encourage people to buy the magazine as they may want to see their freinds photographs or themselves that are featured in the magazine. When designing the cover I decided to keep the colour scheme simple and use the images as the main feature in both the cover and contents however I used bright colours like red in some parts to catch the viewers attention and draw them to text that could encourages them to buy the magazine such as competitions.

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

I have to use alot of new technoogies to create the magazine. One thing I had not used was a blog. This prooved an easy skill to master and once I had grasped the concept of it I was able to publish the posts and update my blog easily to display my work and use the blogs feedback to develope my origanal designs. I also had to use the programme Gimp for editing photographs I took for the cover and contents. This was alot harder to understand and was quite time consuming although I was able to edit my photographs simply once I had worked out the tools and effects of the software. The rest of the cover and contents was created on publisher which I had already had experience with so was an easy process to follow and I was able to munipulate the images and text into the design I wanted effectivly. In conclusion I found creating the magazine a challenge although I think the overall finished product is a success and would appeal to my target audience within the college.

Photo Shoot Images

These are the imges i produced to be used on the cover or the contents page of the magazine.

Front Cover Improved Final Design

This is my final design for my contents page.

Front Cover Improved Final Design

This is the improved final design for my cover of a student magazine.

Front Cover Final Design

This is my final desig for the front cover of my magazine.