Evaluation Questions 1-7

Evaluation

Question 1: I think the layout of my front cover wasn’t too complex. The social networking icons were all aligned and put together. Also the cover lines were all aligned with each other so it looks neater and I also kept it within a margin. What I mean by margin is that I didn’t place the text at the very edge of the page; I left a gap so it looks neat. I also used a barcode as vibe used barcodes on their front covers. The image I used, I think, was a suitable image to use for my front cover and to represent the genre of the magazine. The model gave direct address to the audience and his facial expressions suggest what kind of magazine this is. Whilst taking the pictures in the photo shoot room, I had to bear in mind how the model should pose and what expressions should be on his face. When I thought I had finished creating my front cover, I realised that there was something missing, it did not look complete. I felt like I had to develop it even further. I changed the title of my magazine because I started to dislike it and I wasn’t sure if it would suit the genre of my magazine. Also the position of how my model was posing, it would have been difficult to see the masthead of the magazine therefore I had to choose a different title for my magazine which was short. I also included social networking icons so the audience will know where to find more up to date details of my magazine. As we all know, teenagers do not really go onto the internet and search for what’s in store for the magazine, they usually have social networking apps and find information through there. The only thing I am disappointed about is that I felt like I didn’t challenge myself as much because I was trying to relate my magazine to Vibes’ and copy some of their techniques they used but I ended up not doing anything unique with my front cover which was a shame. However, I still stuck to the rules of when creating my magazine. For example, including cover lines, making sure they are aligned, including the masthead making sure it comes behind the model, and including barcodes. I realised that Vibes’ font used in their front covers were different to the font they used in their contents page. So I decided to do the same thing. I also liked the fact that we had to create our own logo and we had to place it on every page. The font, in my opinion, was suitable for the contents page because I think it looks very professional and formal. For my contents page, I didn’t want it to be like Vibes’, I tried to copy what NME do with their contents page. I know that NME and VIBE are a bit different to each other (genre wise), however I thought that he layout of NME's contents page looked appropriate for my magazine. I also included suitable pictures for my contents page which related to grime. When I looked at Vibes’ contents page, I noticed that usually use one huge image. I did not want to do that so I challenged myself and used several images. This is because I wanted the audience to engage with the contents page more and by looking at different images, they would engage in different stories. Usually, images are the main key to attract the audience’s attention. So using one image would not have caught their attention as much as using several. For the DPS, I liked having the massive bold quote where the model was because the big font is what will attract the readers. And by reading the quote, the audience would want to read the journalism. I stuck to a simple task which was to have the image on the right side of the page and the journalism on the left. I developed this by having three long text boxes on the left side of the page and I also added the logo on the top of the left page. Because most of my texts were interviews, I wanted the audience to know straight away it was one. So I had to use colour coordination red for the questions and white for the answers. I challenged myself by just using a question and answer structure, vine did not do that.

Question 2: The social group that my magazine represents are similar to my target audience. This is because the artists I have included in my magazine are roughly the same age as my target audience. A lot of the grime artists are blacks but that does not mean only black people listen to grime. Many other races listen to it too. The majority of grime artists came from a struggle they were in their past life and for all the people who are struggling in life, they can relate to these tracks. Again it does mean that only people who are struggling in life should listen to it. Now as the genre grime is to do with struggle and pain, the model of my front cover gives direct address to the audience and the facial expressions he makes suggest he is serious. Also in the DPS, the clothes he is wearing is not smart, it is casual and most likely what people wear in the ‘hood’. My magazine is trying to represent a positive vibe to show that anyone can make it if they try. And as grime is stereotypical as people say majority of the artists are black, well my model is Asian so this will gain the audience’s attention and think, why there is an Asian artist in the grime industry?

Question 3: When researching to see what publishers should publish my magazine, I had to bear in mind what kind of genre they publish and how successful they are. I finally decided that I will choose SpinMedia to publish my magazine. They currently publish VIBE, Celebuzz, The Frisky, Idolater and more. Vibe represents R&B and hip-pop and it relates to grime because R&B and grime are quite similar. When I was researching SpinMedia, I saw that they did not only publish magazines in shops, they also publish magazine online. This is an advantage because my magazine will be accessible online and gain the popularity of the magazine. Also the layout of Vibes’ website looks more attractive as it contains a lot of big pictures on the main homepage with minimal text. As teenagers are not into reading, they including big pictures with minimal writing on the front page to grab the audience’s attention straight away.

Question 4:

My magazine is for both males and females but it is mainly for males. I know this because looking back at my press pack, the genre was similar to grime and 70% of males were interested. And as I listen to grime myself, the lyrics used in the tracks are not related to girls. As the genre of my magazine was mostly related to males, the colour scheme I used had to be suitable for males and I think I did that successfully. My magazine is not only for a certain social class, it can be for anyone within the range of the target audience.

Question 5: I attracted my audience by the images I used in my magazine by the models I chose because they suited the ‘bad boy’ image. This is by the clothes they were wearing and also by the facial expressions they did. And as the genre of my magazine is most targeted for males, all the models in my magazine are males.  For my front cover, I did not want to add too many cover lines and too much text because I wanted the audience to focus more on the model. The model for my front cover also appeared in the DPS and I chose him in particular because of his race, audience would want to find out more about the artist. I included sky lines in my front cover so the audience know who else is featured in the magazine. Also, the clothes that my model wore relates to the genre of the magazine.

Question 6: I have used many technologies so far in my coursework. I learnt to use the DSLR cameras for my photo shoot. I was amazed how the cameras were synced with the lights and as soon as you took the shot, the flash from the lights will occur. This was an advantage with having the lights because they made the image look better. The pictures came out very clear and the lighting used was perfect. I came to realise that the quality of the camera makes a very big difference. When using Photoshop, I didn’t need to learn anything as I have learnt how to use it before and I was already familiar with it. So the editing side was not a struggle for me. It helped me to construct my cover lines, skylines and mastheads easily. InDesign was similar to Photoshop but had minor differences and I adapted to it very quickly.  I prefer Photoshop than InDesign in my opinion as I am more familiar and comfortable with it. I learnt how to use Prezi and TimeToast. TimeToast was a simple online software to use as it was very basic. I think it was suitable for the production schedule. I did not produce anything on Prezi yet at the moment, but I did get a feel of it because I might consider using it for my evaluation to upload to blogger. Blogger was a site that I was already familiar with before so I had no issues with it at all.

Question 7: When I first constructed the student magazine, I knew how to work on the software and how to edit things but I didn’t consider some of the techniques that need to be used. For example target audience. Would the colour scheme be appropriate for my target audience? The language used? Also the layout of the magazine was important. I knew the basics but I didn’t know about the model being placed in front of the masthead to make he/she stand out. I did not know that information on the cover lines were important. I realised later on how much information should be included. The clothing of the model was important because the clothing suggests what kind of genre my magazine is.