Evaluation

· In what ways does your Media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
When I did my research at the beginning of the task and looked at different magazine front covers it helped me to see different conventions that are used on magazines. My final product includes lots of conventions that would be found on most magazines. I have a masthead, main headline, sub headlines, main photograph, bar code, issue number and date. One thing I did forget to leave off was a price for the magazine. My magazine uses these conventions and helps make my magazine appeal to the audience, for example without the main picture my front cover wouldn’t look appealing. This is why it is important to use conventions such as photographs and main headlines.

· How does your Media product represent
particular social groups?
My magazine is a college magazine so therefore represents college students. It was important to represent students in positive way so that the magazine draws the attention of the right audience. Therefore the model I used is a student herself; she is not a student at Wyke College but a student none the less. The model is dressed in a simple, neutral style so as to not alienate any of the potential audience.

· What kind of Media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
The most likely place to distribute my magazine would be the college, as this is where the potential audience would be so is therefore likely to sell the maximum amount of copies. However the magazine could be offered on the Wyke website as parents of students may also be interested in purchasing a copy.

· How did you attract your audience?
I attracted my audience by making the front cover look as appealing as possible. I turned a very plain, simple photograph into something more interesting. The headline that relates to the picture “In two minds?” is a play on words this makes it more interesting than a normal straight forward headline and shows the magazine is being targeted towards an intelligent audience. I made sure the headlines and articles included would involve the audience and be of some use to them.

· What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot from different technologies when creating my magazine cover. Before I started to construct my product I had never used Photoshop before, but in order to create the picture I wanted I had to use Photoshop to make this possible. I learnt lots of techniques and skills in using this programme though it did take me a while to learn how to use it. I also used Windows publisher to create my contents page and add some finishing touches to my front cover. I had used this programme previously but I extended my knowledge of how to use the programme and found this a lot easier to use than Photoshop. Finally I learned how to use a blogger to post all my work up; this was easy to come to terms with and a very simple way of displaying my work.

· Looking back at the preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression
from it to the full product?
Throughout the progression of my final product I have learnt how to use several different programmes on the computer. Also by doing research on several different magazines I have extended my knowledge of different media conventions and how they are used. Also I have learnt how different aspects of the media use conventions to attract audiences. I have also learned the basic layout of magazines which will help me further when it comes to creating my product for the main task.

Mock-up of contents page

After I had finished my front cover I had to create a contents page to go in my college magazine. I created my contents page on publisher and decided to keep it quite simple. I did not want to spend too long on this page as it is only my preliminary task and I wanted to start on my main task as soon as possible. Therefore I decided to use publisher as I knew it was quick and easy to use.

My contents page has a similar layout to most magazines. It is a simple and easy to read layout. I placed the name of the magazine, and the word contents, at the top of the page in a border where it stands out. I used a plain simple text that is easy to read and I again stuck to the colour theme of blue and white. These colours represent Wyke so I thought it was important to keep this colour theme running throughout the whole magazine.

Underneath the border, I had a list of features written down the right hand side of the page. This lets readers know what is coming up in the magazine and lets them know which pages to find things on. Most of the features mentioned on this page are also mentioned on the front cover. However there are also other features included such as; embarrassing things students have been caught doing and events that are coming to Wyke. These features will interest readers, a lot of gossip magazines include an embarrassing story page and this is where I got my idea from for doing my “You’ve been caught” page. Also the “Coming soon to Wyke” page will interest students as they will be keen to know what is coming soon.

I have also put some pictures on my contents page so that it is not just a list of features. I have chosen pictures that compliment the articles which appear on the front cover. I put a picture of some students graduating university and another of people in the work place; this goes with the article about choices of the future. I also placed some pictures of someone skiing and one of New York lit up on a night. This shows places students could go and get away with the college; it will make the readers want to read the article to find out more about the trips. I got my pictures off the internet to help my contents page look a bit more exciting.

College Magazine- final piece

This is the final product of my preliminary task, a college magazine. I changed a few things from my draft but kept the majority of things the same.

In the end I decided to call my magazine Wykeipedia. This is a play on words from the website wikipedia, which is a free encyclopaedia. You can search for anything and it will come up with information about whatever it was you searched for, it gives everything you need to know. I therefore decided to give my magazine the name Wykeipedia. My college magazine is aimed to all students at Wyke, giving them lots of different information about various topics, specifically choices for their future. Hence I gave my magazine the name Wykeipedia, everything the students need to know. The strapline underneath my masthead says “Everything you need to know”. I made sure my masthead was in a large font so that it stood out more than any other text that featured on my front cover. My masthead is done in the colour blue because this is the colour that represents Wyke so I decided to keep this colour theme running throughout my magazine.

My photo is the main feature of my magazine. I took the photo of a young adult so that it represented the students of Wyke college. I took a simple close up shot with a plain background because I knew I was going to Photoshop my picture so therefore the simpler the better. The main theme of the magazine is choices for the future, most students will not know what they want to do and will be "In two minds". I therefore decided to copy my picture and flip it so that the image is doubled. This links in with the idea that students are in two minds about what to do in the future. Also it makes my picture more unusual, therefore making the magazine more appealing. I manipulated my photo in Photoshop and as I had not used the programme before it took me a while to be able to create the look I wanted. However, when I finally sussed it out I was able to create the picture I wanted.

My main headline is the second largest text after the mast head, it had to be fairly large so that it stood out. Underneath my main headline I have a sub heading saying "Don't know what to do with your future? Your questions answered..." This gives readers more of an idea of what is featured in the magazine and what the main article is about. Other headlines featured on the front cover are about winter wonderland and trips away with the college. These will again let the audience know what is featured in the magazine and inform them about social events that are happening. This will appeal to the target audience, as students always like to know about social events. I did all my headlines in white apart from the main headline which I did in blue. I decided to keep the colour theme on my magazine blue and white, also the white headlines stand out more clearly against the dark background.

Other things I decided to put on my magazine cover were a bar code, issue number and date. This makes the magazine more realistic as all magazine feature these things on the front, however I did forget to include a price. I placed these in the bottom left hand corner because it is not essential for these to be seen clearly. In the other bottom corner I put the college logo and slogan, “Wyke College, freedom to achieve”. This will be recognised by the target audience and help make the magazine more personal to the students.

I didn’t include anything else on my front cover as I didn’t want it to look too busy and over crowded. When I did my research on other magazine covers I liked the layout of vogue magazine which was well spread out and not over crowded so this was the look I tried to create on the front cover of my college magazine.

College Magazine-Draft

This image shows a sketch of my idea for the layout of my front page. It gives me a rough idea of where I want to place things when it comes to creating my magazine.

Masthead
To help me come up with an idea for the masthead I had to think about the content of the magazine and who my target audience would be. I decided against aiming my magazine at a specific group, for example students who study physical education. Therefore, I decided to aim the magazine more generally, to all students at Wyke College.

My magazine is going to inform students at the college about their different options after A levels; such as, going to university or getting a job. This will appeal to all students, as they need as much information and help as possible to ensure they make the right decisions about their future. However, the magazine will also include other articles of interest such as, activities and social events. As my magazine is an information based publication I needed to come up with an appropriate masthead. A few ideas I had where:-
Wykeipedia
Your future, your choice?
Student Answers

Image
My photograph will be the main focus of my front cover along with the masthead. I therefore have to make sure my photograph is done to a good quality. The image will take up the whole of the front cover so must be eye catching and link into the themes and ideas of my magazine. It has to be a photograph of a student in a medium close up. I will make sure my image represents the students of Wyke College; however it is difficult to represent every student through a single person in one image. By making sure it represents the right people it will appeal more to my target audience. I will aim for my photograph to create a good impression of the magazine.

Main headline
My main headline is going to be about the choice students have to make after college. This will give the readers an idea of what the main article in the magazine is about. It will entice them to read further in a hope of maybe having some of their questions about the future answered. I will also make sure that my image links in with my main headline. The headline will be situated over my image, and be quite large so it stands out. However I will make sure that it is not larger than my masthead.

Other headlines
Down the side of my front cover I will have several other headlines that will give a taste of what is to come in my magazine. My headlines will include a variety of topics, such as social events. By having a variety of different topics it will ensure that my magazine is reaching the largest audience possible. Underneath some of my headlines I will include small images to make the contents easily understood. I will make sure that my headlines are not situated over the important parts of the main image, but instead in the background areas. This will make good use of the page so that there are not many blank spaces on the front cover. However, I do not want my page to look over crowded I want it to have a sophisticated look about it, like the Vogue cover.
Also on my front cover I will have a bar code, price and issue number to help give the feeling of a real magazine.

Textual analysis- Men's Health

The third and final magazine cover I chose to analyse was “Men’s Health”. Hopefully analysing these different covers help me extend my research into what media concepts are used on different magazine covers.

Men’s health is the world’s largest men’s magazine brand. It has 38 editions worldwide and a monthly circulation of 1.85 million. It covers fitness, nutrition, sexuality, lifestyle and other aspects of men's life and health. It was launched in 1987 by founding editor Mark Bricklin. It started off as a health-orientated magazine but its direction has changed and it is now more of a lifestyle magazine for men, covering all aspects of a man’s life. Men’s health is aimed at men aged 25-45, well educated and professional, C1-A.

The front cover is has a lot of headlines and writing and doesn’t rely on the pictures as much as other magazines might. The masthead is yet again the largest text on the page yet it does not dominant the page as much as “heat” and “vogue” did. Part of the masthead is covered up by the models head, this shows that publishers and editors are confident enough that audiences will recognise the magazine even though some of the masthead covered. The masthead is written in a red colour, this stands out agains the plain white back ground. The text is quite a plain, easy to read font, yet classy.

All the headlines on the page are in the same colours, either red, blue or black. This makes sure the page ties together without having lots of different colours. The background and main photograph are in black and white so this means the headlines stand out even more. The headlines cover lots of topics to highlight the different articles that will appear in the magazine. The articles covered; diet, exercise, sport, health, sex and even gossip, may once have been considered only appropriate to appear in womens magazines. However, now these ideas and issues are now being targeted towards men. In the past womens magazines have been critisied for being too stereotypical in trying to create the “ideal” women. Whereas the stereotype of the typical male was he would “age gracefully”. Now male magazines are redressing the balance by encouraging a new generation of men to become the “ideal” man. Subtley suggesting ways to become younger looking, fitter, healthier and sexier.

The main photograph is in black & white. It is a picture of a young man, in his twenties, in very good physical shape. The photograph has been taken in black & white to encourage men to buy the magazine; because it is considered more likely that a man would feel uncomfortable when buying a magazine if the half naked man on the cover is in colour. This is why Men’s Health have always has their pictures in black & white. The model also has a warm, friendly smile on his face to make readers feel comfortable when buying the magazine. There is also a smaller picture underneath one of the headline, it is about sex and valentines day. The picture of a woman in her underwear, is in colour rather than in black & white. To appeal to the male reader.