Evaluation

Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The Audience for my Magazine would be students of Plantsbrook school who would be between the ages of 11 and 16 as I won’t include sixth formers in my target audience as I don’t believe they will be as interested in a magazine as those from younger years. I also won’t make it orientated around parents as I believe that if students feel as though its more orientated around them it will create a better interest in school activities and parents have things like the newsletter which is more formal and less enticing for students. Also I have constructed my school magazine around Plantsbrook School but making it appear more informal which may appeal to the students.

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

I feel that throughout my time creating my magazine I have built up a better understanding of programs such as Adobe Fireworks CS3. When I initially used Fireworks it seemed alien in comparison to programs that I was used to using such as PowerPoint 2016. But after a couple of lessons I felt comfortable with the software and felt as though I had built up a greater understanding of the software, which in turn meant that my coursework had drastically improved and I was able to go back through some of my initial designs and create better versions of them that look more aesthetically pleasing.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of school magazines?

I feel as though my magazine develops and challenges the regular conventions of a school magazine; for instance, in one of my magazines I have got a small masthead in the top left of the magazine but most school magazines have a large masthead that spans the top of the page or at least two thirds of it, I have done this as I feel like it makes it appear to be more unique which would in turn make it more recognisable. But I do follow the conventions of a magazine as I have included pictures on my front cover of students working, I have done this as I believe it gives the students a positive message about lessons.  

Final Designs

Contents Designs and Analysis

School Prospectus

This is a wider collection of "documentary " style images used on school prospectuses to make the school look friendly and like a good place for the students to learn, which means it look more enticing for family that may potentially be sending their kids there. Theses images may be used so that people will fell as though its a good school and they know their kids would learn and enjoy their time there.

Front Cover Design Jusfitication

The way I made these two magazines were by initially creating my mastheads which I created on www.DaFont.com. I then created six template background. Then I had to decide which out of my six designs to choose. Then once I had made a decision I had to create my magazines as best I could from my initial design plans (below).

After that I had to choose a headline and from that select a placeholder image that corresponds to my headline. I slightly differentiated from my initial design and decided to make it a feature of the article as opposed to a pull quote. Also on my first design I moved the pug from the top right of the magazine to below the masthead as I feel it will be easier to spot for people scanning the magazine.

In my first design I chose to have the majority of the colours red, white and black as they are the school colours and I believe it also makes the magazine look more professional. I have used Andalus font on the magazine front cover as it makes the magazine look more professional and organised, also it’s an easy font to read therefore it makes the magazine look professional. I decided to make the headline red as I believe that it will draw more people’s eyes to it and it may intrigue people. I decided to make the feature white as it stands out, easy to read off the background. I decided to make it a rhetorical question as it will hopefully peak peoples interests and make them want to read on. Then along the bottom I have decided to create two boxes for the coverline’s as on the one hand it makes it easier to read and it makes the magazine look more professional as the writing is contained in a box and not all over the page. I also put the pug in the top left corner underneath the masthead is so that It can draw people’s interests and as it has the WH Smiths logo it will catch people’s eyes. I have chosen my masthead to look like an analogue clock as the magazine is called school time.

In my second design I have decided to have a plain black headline that is larger than any other text and is in bold as its aim is to catch the readers eye and as it’s a vague headline its aim is to intrigue people and make them want to know the answer. I chose that background as it features a lot of white and it doesn’t clash with many other colours which means that the writing looks professional as its all the same font (Andalus), same size (10) and the same colour (black).

For the masthead I created on DaFont I decided to make it read as it is contrasting to the rest of the page and it will draw people in and gain their attention. Also as its unique it won’t be mistaken with any other magazines creating its own unique style.

Magazine Designs

Masthead Justification

The reason I chose these designs as I believe they represent the school well as it has the school colours of black, red and white. Also as It’s in an organised style which makes it look more formal and organised like school. On the school time I have chosen digital 7 as it looks like an analogue clock as it looks unique and it makes it more distinctive. I also have kept it very simplistic as I believe that the focus of the magazine should be on the news or on the main image. I also believe that all of these styles of masthead look unique and therefore creates its own brand and style for the magazine. Another thing is that it looks unique so it won’t be mistaken for any other magazine. I also made some of the designs appear more abstract in the aim of making it appeal to more people.