My Contents Page evaluation

I feel that my contents is a dramatical improvement on my front cover. The contrasting colours of white red and black work very well and immediately draw attention to the important part of the contents, the page numbers. The advert for subscribing is also effective as it draws yours attention straight away and importantly, fills the gap at the bottom of the page. The subscribe advert also uses the contrasting colour scheme which I have tried to keep throughout the whole magazine. The "plus" section also works well as this makes my magazine look real and professionally done.

My Front Cover evaluation

This is the final draft of my music magazine front cover. Although overall I am happy with this, I feel as though I could have made it much better. I am happy with the name but the fact that the advertisement of the poster is larger than the name is not good. The little circle that advertises the MGMT tickets works well with the main headline. The barocde and date and issue number are all there which is essnetial for a magazine. I feel that the black and white writing on my model's arm works well and I am very pleased with that. One major change that I would make would be me either retaking the photo or cutting it out and cropping it better as this could be dramatically improved.

What have I learned from my preliminary task

From my preliminary task, I have learnt that I need to spend more time on the layout of the page and also to take more care when taking a photo. Another thing that I have learnt is to use language that doesn’t feel laboured to read and that is also very boring.

What have I learned

I have learnt how to effectively use Macromedia Fireworks. This includes me learning about how to accurately cut out a photo which is something that beforehand, I had no idea what to do. I can now also accurately organsie and take a photo of models which is something I had no clue what to do. I also haev obviously learned the basics of designing a magazine.

Attracting my audience

To attract my target audience, I named bands that make music of this genre, I used bright, contrasting colours, specific language that my audience would use and used similar aged models as the target audience. They would be able to easily relate to them and this would make it a more enjoyable read.

The Distribution of my magazine

The media institution that would probably distribute my media product would probably be IPC Media. I think they would distribute this because they also produce NME which is a similar magazine to mine. Although they may not choose to distribute it as they already have a magazine of similar fashion. Or they probably would because they wouldn’t want a rival magazine being distributed by a rival company.

Representing certain social groups

My product represents the social group that is associated with rock & indie as it uses similar language and that involves similar music and bands. The models used also highlight the importance of representing social groups and I tried to design the magazine in reference with this and to make it seem as interesting to my target audience as possible.

Conventions of Real Magazines

My media product uses a house style all the way through which is important for a real magazine. I have tried to take professional photos in similar fashion to real photos in real magazines. The layout of my magazine also looks similar to a real magazine which shows that I have done at least slightly well to make it look like a magazine a bit. The page number style and font and colour also stays the same which makes it seem like its professional.

Research into similar products

I researched many different magazines that I felt covered the same genres of music and intended readership as there would be no point in researching for example classical magazines when I am covering rock. This was a very important part of my planning as I had to review how each magazine your different features such as font style and the continuation of it. I researched magazines such as NME and Q to see how they designed each aspect of the magazine. I assessed each magazine to make sure I had a wide variety of concepts and ideas to create my magazine around.

My Music Magazine - Audience

My audience for my music magazine would probably be people who are interested in the kind of music I am basing my music around such as rock, alternative and indie. The age group for my magazine would possibly be 16-24 and would be for both genders. I made this decision because I like this genre and I feel it would be easier to concentrate on the genres I like.

Presentation Evaluation

I had to produce a presentation outlining my ideas on creating a music magazine. I had to incorporate many different design ideas to make sure that my magazine would attract audiences and actually sell. Firstly, I gave a brief summary of the basic ideas of the magazine such as the target audience. I then went on to describe my double page spread design ideas, my front cover design ideas and my contents design ideas including pictures higlighting what I would prefer to do. Then I included my questionnaire and an analysis of it to help convince that my magazine was a good idea to create. For my final slide, I had to explain what made my magazine unique and how it would differ from other rivals. I was then given feedback on how to improve my presentation and magazine from those who saw my presentation which helped me edit my presentation and overall, my magazine.

Evaluation of Premilinary Task

The preliminary task taught me many things that would help me progress my music magazine. The title is something very important to magazine as this is what attracts people to the magazine if it was a well known brand or if it was very, very catchy. As my title was pretty pathetic, this is something I will need to concentrate more of time on. The font of the title is also something to be considered as if it was unrecognisable; no one would be able to recognise it. My font was very clear but I’m not sure people would find that attractive enough so I will have to find a more interesting and accessible one. I also did not include a date of the magazine or the price which is essential to any magazine. The photo on the front cover is also integral to the success of a magazine as it has to be eye-catching and attractive enough to grab people’s attention and make them buy it. Although my photo was average, a better background would have been more appropriate. The effect of the photo is also the same effect as the headline because if this doesn’t interest the target audience, the magazine won’t sell. I can improve what I have done wrong with my preliminary task for my music magazine hopefully using what I have learned.