Evaluation Charlie Randell

In what ways does your magazine design use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real magazines? (Front cover )•My magazine follows some normal conventions and challenges

others. Some examples of conventions my magazine follows are: The masthead because it is positioned at the top of the page. Another example is the main image which is placed in the middle of the page. I Have also followed the conventions with my colour scheme because I have used a range of 3 different colours. These colours are Red,White and Black. The reason I have only used 3 colour in my colour scheme is because I feel if you use to many colours the magazine becomes to crowded with colours and becomes unpleasant on the eye. You will also find my main coverlines in the usual position on the page.This is because I feel in the position the main coverline is framed nicely and the position also helps people make the link between thee Main Coverline and the main image

•I have challenged the conventions with the position of my coverline. The reason I did this was because I was trying to create a modern edgy feel with my magazine to help me appeal to my target audience of 16 to 21 year old males. I have challenged this convention because it helps separate my magazine from the others found on the market today, The reason i didn't challenge all the conventions was because although I wanted to create this edgy feel with my magazine, I still wanted my magazine to be recognisable as a music magazine.

In what ways does your magazine design use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real magazines? (Contents page )

• I have followed a lot of the usual conventions of music magazine contents page. Some examples of these conventions are as follows; the position of the masthead. Reason I have place the mast head at the top of the page is because I feel the Masthead is framed nicely by the main image in this position. I have also followed the normal conventions with the placement of my main image which is found in the middle of the page and I have decided to use this image as the background image of my contents page. I have used a combination of 3 colours for my colour scheme this follows the trend from my front cover of using the colours Red, White and Black. You will also find the anchorage text linking each subheading to its article this again follow the normal conventions of a music magazine

• I have chosen to use a large main image which doubles as background image. This is unusual for a contents page, as normally there is a lot of text rather then a large image. I have chose to do this because I feel the image frames the text well and as you can see everything is positioned around the image.I have also used a slightly unusual positioning with my text which you find on the left of page.

In what ways does your magazine design use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real magazines? ( Double page)

• My double page spread follows a lot of the conventions of a normal double page spread. For example you will find my main image on the left side of the page and you will find a Question and answer session on the right. This is very typical of a double page spread because you normally find a image of the artist featured in the main article. As well as you normally find a either background information on the artist or a question and answer session with artist. You will also find my masthead in the normal position at the top of the page.

• I haven't challenged or develop many convention with any of double page spread. The only thing I have developed slightly is the position of my text in the question and answer session found on the left of the page. I have slanted the text slightly to help create a modern and edgy feel with my magazine.

How does your magazine represent particular social groups? • I used this system a lot when making decisions about my magazine. My magazine is aimed

towards a combination of groups, consisting of groups E,D and C. My target audience is males that are aged 16 to 21. This meant I had to aim my magazine at students, which is social group E. However some of target audience would be found in group D such as workers because some people in my age range would not of continued education and would have gone straight in to work. This also means I would have to consider group C as well because some 20 to 21 year olds finish education and become newly qualified professionals such as white colour professionals. This effected me when making decisions like the colour scheme that my magazine followed. This led to me using colours with darker tones with very few light tones. The reason I made this decision is because males found in group C,D and E tend to like darker colours. The idea of use darker colours also led to me editing a lot of my images to suit this style i.e changing images to grainy black and white using a Photoshop tool. These groups also tend to like things that look new and modern, this led to me breaking a few conventions within my magazine to try and create this feel. An example of one of these conventions is the position of my main Cover Lines on my front page, which are slanted and to the right of the page.

What kind of media institution might distribute your magazine and why?

• I feel Bauer could distribute my magazine because it is the main distributor of magazines and media within Europe and already distributes big name music magazines like Kerrang and MOJO. I feel Kerrang is very similar to my magazine in some ways because has a gritty feel to the magazine like mine. Meaning Bauer would be able to reach the audience for my magazine In addition to this Bauer are also involved with a lot of radio stations which play the style of music my magazine is associated with. An example of one of these stations is KISS 100. This could also offer a advertising opportunity for my magazine.

Who would be the audience for your magazine• The target audience of my

magazine will be males ageing from 16 to 21. That are interested in the genre of music that is Rap or Grime. I have used the media class system to aid me to make decisions about my magazine such as colour tones I have used for my magazine. which are darker shade in the hope of appealing to more of my target audience. I also handed out a questionnaire to help me make decisions about my magazine such as the style of text used and the content of the main artist and I made decisions using the results of this questionnaire. I have also challenge a few conventions though the design of my magazine. In the hope of creating a modern edgy feel that will appeal to my target audience.

How did you attract/address your audience? • I have targeted a young audience of males ranging

from 16 to 21 in age. I have tried to attract this audience by doing a number of things with my magazine. For example I have distorted the face of my main artist though out my magazine because I feel this adds feeling of mystery and will attract my audience As well adding a modern feel to my magazine. I also feel my colour scheme is well suited to my target audience because I have used quite dark colour which suits modern gritty feel of my magazine,which again I think will attract my audience. I have also ensured that my magazine contains artists that appeal to my target audience and their taste in music by using artists like Drake and Lil Wayne. I have used modern english to try and appeal to more of my target audience as well a making it relatable and understandable for my audience.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your

magazine? • During the design of my magazine. I used Adobe Photoshop for

a lot design editing that I needed to carry out. During this editing I used range of different tools that this software offered such as polygon lasso tool cut unwanted content for the images I had taken. Another tool i found very beneficial when trying to create the modern edgy feel to my magazine was was the text effect tool specifically the texture tool. This left each individual letter of a word with it own coloured background as shown;

• I also carried out research into the different types of technology used

within media such as different styles of software like Adobe Photoshop or promotion software such as digital advertising using mobile apps. I

also learnt about physical technology such as the use of cameras to capture photos, as well as learning about different style of camera

shots and how they are used. This information helped my a lot when capturing my main images. I tended to use either long or medium shot. this was because i wanted to capture the body language portrayed by

the the artist. In addition to this I also looked into how the actual magazine were made. They are created by large printed presses, This

technology allows you print large quantities quickly .

Looking at your preliminary task - what do you feel you have learnt in the progression

from it to the full product?• I feel my designs have improved drastically between my preliminary task

and my main task. As I feel I have more knowledge of the media industry and how to appeal to different people. I feel that my preliminary task lacked imagination because followed a lot of the conventions within media, making it very similar to other magazine on the internet. Where as my main task I feel I have used the right combination of following,developing and challenging conventions to help make my final magazine more appealing and exciting for audience. I think my use of colours has improved as well because in my first task I used a combination of 6 colour in my colour scheme such as Red ,Yellow, Blue, Green, Black and White. I think this uses to many colours that do not compliment each other as it is too wide of a range, making the magazine look unprofessional and unappealing to the eye. where as with my final task I have used 3 colours that complement each other. These colours are Red,White and Black. I now have a much better knowledge of tools found programs such as Photoshop.This helped me add lot of minor detail to my design helping it appear more professional unlike my preliminary task which looked rushed and unprofessional. A lot of the design decisions on my final task were aided by my knowledge of the class system that is used in media to categorise people depending on their life style. I feel this helped me appeal to my target audience more with my final magazine, however I struggled to do this properly on my preliminary task due to lack of knowledge