POST- CONSTRUCTION EVALUATION TASK

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

When designing and finalising my magazine my intentions were to create something different and unique form of magazine. I wished to create a detailed, sophisticated and formal magazine in which can be enjoyed by real music enthusiasts. My aim also was to communicate with the cultures and social groups associated with music fanatics like the other music magazines of the same time.

In terms of the magazines content, I have followed the conventions of the usual music magazines, I had to do this considering teenagers were not my only intended audience, the content in my magazine is much more 'classic' orientated.

However, I feel that the conventions are followed enough to let the reader to know what they are getting involved with, all the usual expected features of this type of magazine are present, which can be advantage but also a disadvantage because there's less unique features in comparison to competition. I chose to follow these conventions to keep my design professional and not to different but the disadvantage is it doesn’t stand out further from the competition of magazines.Although in terms of replicating original conventions, I am happy with how my magazine has turned out overall, and I feel that the attention to detail of the particular areas will allow it to keep up with the competition such as Q, MOJO or UNCUT.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS ?

My magazine like most music magazines of its type provides for many different types of social groups instead of one in particular. The album reviews and articles displayed in this issue are all recent events along with articles based on the past. The contrast of both the past and present allows many social groups to be explored, for example indie crowds, rockers, MODS, and folkies are common examples of groups that are explored in the magazine.

Although there are many articles on the various cultures and groups all articles are written in the same amount of detail as the magazine covers a wide spectrum and provides an in depth outlook on the areas of music.

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY ?

Within my magazine it clearly demonstrates a sophisticated but informative music magazine, so in contrast of what institution would distribute them would need to familiar with the type of content and quantity of the each monthly magazine.

Magazines for the institutions such as Pick me up, OK or Glam would not be sufficient for the required distribution in terms of time of distribution (monthly and not weekly) and the amount of paper used in each monthly issue.

My magazine would suit an institution such as Bauer that provides for magazines such as Q, MOJO, KERRANG and EMPIRE. Most of these magazines are monthly and has more substance in comparison to the magazines Pick me up or OK. It is important that the institution I would choose to distribute my magazine with is familiar with the amount of content my magazine includes and how frequently the magazine is distributed, this is why I would pick Bauer as my institution.

50 pages

116 pages40 pages of

adverts 64 pages editorial

Comparison of quantity

Examples of institutions

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT ?

My primary audience I identified within my questionnaire, was towards a music enthusiast enjoying and appreciating music from across the board. Many of my primary audience enjoy magazines such as UNCUT and MOJO which suggests they have an intellectual outlook on music of the world which is what my magazine has to offer. The consumers age may range between 17- 21 but the age in which magazine can be enjoyed by in any as the topic is enjoyed by most ages.

HOW DO YOU ATTRACT/ ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE ?

In order to attract the correct audience which I identified when using my questionnaire, I found that it was important that a relationship is developed between magazines of similar content, they do probably have to be published by the same institution, seeing as though UNCUT and NME have that link through IPC media, it is wise for me to try and emulate that working relationship link with MOJO on Bauer media.

This would mean showing perhaps 2 small adverts on the website and also full page adverts in the magazine to MOJO and their current issue, or perhaps their subscription plan in relation to ours, not as a comparison. However, they could also both be linked as a bundle in the shops like UNCUT & EMPIRE are in a bundle in shops.

I would also expect the same level of advertisement from MOJO, but obviously for them to do this it must be of some relation and not an exact replica to their own publication, their needs to be a unique selling point.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT ?

As I have mentioned in previous areas of my blog, after my preliminary task I have developed sufficient ICT skills that has progressed my first and final design. My preliminary included no Photoshop's or editing effects such as shadows, contrasting backgrounds or tinted effects.

My first design included a photo shopped image with very minimal detail in terms of editing and the background was boring and white.

My final design included photo shops and techniques such as layer masking, tinted pictures, shadowing images, and a contrasting background with a scroll effect.

My original design

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE

PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT ?

My preliminary task was a poor effort for what I intended my magazine to become, I felt that I lacked in all areas of my design reflecting my poor ICT skills. My preliminary task allowed me to realise this so I knew which areas I needed to work in order to achieve what I wanted in my design.

My main focus was learning to photo shop, most of the images in my preliminary task had no photo shopping skills which reflected on my contents page when I had a green background around the image. Layer masking was a key skill I learned in photo shop along with the ability to edit areas of the images to increase the clarity.

I found that the worse part of my preliminary task was my contents page, My final design contents page follows a weird structure but overall is a massive improvement from this task.

My final design