Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine) what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Here is my front cover I made for my preliminary task, I feel it is very badly made as I could not use photoshop at all here and it lack any real layout or theme. Although elements are correct I feel this does not look at all professional or like a magazine cover. The font is too basic and the main image is badly taken, images are not well edited, there is too much dead space and it’s un-engaging, overall a bad product.

My new cover I feel is much better, I feel it could be marketed as a magazine cover and be believable. It looks professional, fits the desired genre, is aimed at a suitable demographic and is well constructed. It is informative but not overcrowded and there is no dead space. There is only one image because of the minimalistic genre conventions and I did not want to take attention from the cover artist. The masthead and topics are also tailored to my consumer and made appealing. I feel this would fit on a shelf in a record store and not look out of place.

 My preliminary contents page is again badly made, due to my previous photoshop skill. Although the conventions of columns and an image are used they have not been applied correctly, making it look disjointed and unfinished. The image is also irrelevant as there is no caption or pull quote to support it. A website was included as an attempt at convergence however this product remains unfinished and unprofessional.

 My new contents cover looks well made and uses the same signs as my cover (colour use etc.), making the product come together better than my preliminary one did. Having the text well margined makes the product appealing to the consumer and not intimidating. After learning the effects of conventions such as pull quotes and competitions I applied them here in order to make the best product possible.

Photoshop: These are the 4 main tools in photoshop that helped achieve my product - 

• Rulers - especially on the feature article. The helped find the centre of pages and equally space text and images, helping my design and layout greatly.
• Quick Selection Tool - this is particularly handy as it allows the user to locate and change what they want instantly, this greatly speeds up the production of the product.
• Black & White Options - this was used only on my cover and I used them to greyscale the image and leave the jacket lining its original color, without losing definition in Kate's face.
• Layers - as well as the quick selection tool the layers are an easy way to locate things within the document. They also keep things very well organized, making things effortless to alter and adjust. 

Overall I think this project has massively widened my knowledge of magazine construction and photoshop, I feel comfortable using it now. I feel my products were a success as they are aimed at the audience I wanted and represent my intended genre well. 

Original Images

Here is a selection of original images I may use for my product:

Evaluation Question 6

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

Photoshop:

Before this project I had never used photoshop so at first I was anxious about it. After a couple of weeks of learning about it I feel my product was a success. For my cover I used the contrast tool and black and white effects heavily, this was so the lining of the jacket stayed red and Kate was in black and white yet still appeared clear and powerful. I always knew I did not want to over-edit my product because of its genre so I kept these effects minimal, yet effective.

I used the colour dropper tool a lot to ensure my colour shading stayed the same across text and images.

I also used the type tool to ensure my fonts all matched and were spaced well. The main canvas with options surrounding it makes photoshop ideal for producing products such as magazines as everything is organized and mistakes are easy to rectify. 

The advantages of photoshop include the layering, making it easy to construct my product. Other advantages included easy function and layout and easy usage.

I found no real disadvantages of photoshop once I was used to it.

Blogger:

This was the only other technology used and it was to present everything on. I found it very easy to use at home and college; I like how easy it is to customize the design and layout as this benefits me. Advantages include being able to go back and edit posts and easily attach images etc. to posts. I again found no disadvantages with this and would use it again.

Camera:

For my magazine photos I was going to use my canon 60d DSLR, for practical reasons however I ended up using the camera on my iphone 5. Where this was not ideal I feel I made it work and photoshop allowed me to enhance the images to a magazines standard.

 

Font:

My fonts were from dafont.com, this is because their fonts all met my genre conventions as it has thousands of ready to use fonts. After finding the ones I desired you download them to be used through photoshop or word, this was very practical for me and I found it easy to use. Advantage is much more artistic input in the design and a more professional finish, my only disadvantage was occasionally I would have to re-download the font due to saving issues. 

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience? 

The title for my magazine is ‘Rinsed’ this word signifies being washed out and connotes exhaustion. I chose this word because its how musicians would feel after playing a gig and I want my audience to relate to their lifestyle.

The cover is designed to appeal to my target audience; I have done this through typography and text placement so that my consumer reads things in the right order. The colours used would probably attract more males however is not exclusive to a male audience. I used rule of thirds to achieve a conventional layout with my cover artist and coverline being the main features. I used other conventions such as a bar and QR code. This is to make my product convergent across media platforms. I used a controversial pull quote to position my audience to purchase my product. The font in the middle third is in alternating italics, this is unconventional and makes my product look edgier, it also emphasizes that it is my main feature line. The competition line at the bottom attracts my audience because they will like that band and want the opportunity to see them, especially for free.

My contents page addresses my audience in the same way as my cover; I have used the same colours and topics. I was careful for my language to involve the audience and not talk down to them. This is because I want my product to appear friendly to the consumer. My contents page is well structured and easy to understand so that the consumer can easily navigate the magazine. I used signed repetition of ‘Rinsed’ as it is a new magazine and I want it to be memorable to the consumer. I used an image of Adam, from the magazine on the contents page to again make the consumer feel more involved. This links to uses & gratification theory whereby the audience uses the magazine to feel part of something bigger. I decided not to include an editor’s note for the reason of wanting to involve and not appear superior over my consumer. Overall my contents page is quite conventional and attracts my audience in a way suitable to the genre.

 My feature article purposely meets most conventions and addressed my audience how most magazines would. This is because I feel the article is the most informative element of my product so I wanted it to come across sincerely. I included exclusives and previously unknown information from the artist. This also contributes to uses and gratification theory and will make the consumer buy later issues because of this exclusive information. I included the same colours as on the contents and cover and added more that were relevant to the band. The interview is only with one member so my image is of her alone to represent that. Normal conventions used to attract my audience include the drop cap, pull quote, page numbers, columns, side bar and tour dates. The language used by the interviewer here is very stereotypical of a music magazine and I was sure to include additional information about the interview, again to involve the consumer. I did not change Kate’s responses, as I wanted the piece to remain genuine and honest, traits that conform to my genre.