G321 Foundation Portfolio Main Task

The Front page, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine.

Evaluation

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

My media product develops common conventions found in media products. I have adapted what designs i have researched and planned for my school magazine. It has a few aspects of layout and design which can be seen in magazines today but I have created new aspects as i have developed my magazine. For instance most magazines feature one eye catching cover image, whereas my magazine has tow bold images which are both on an angle. this means that there is more space for information and text but still maintains a good image to text ratio. Another adaption is for my contents page I had initially drafted it as being majority text with a rather dull and simple layout but as it progressed i decided to maintain the house style seen on the cover page and built a complicated design which involved the use of images and more detailed paragraphs attached with the image. Overall as a task i would say that it has adapted and changed some common conventions sen in the layout and design of magazines. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

My media product presents the social groups through the design and house style. I would say that it is aimed people in interested in arts and creative subjects like photography. the bright colours make it stand out but they are well suited so don't put people off and create a quite modern yet welcoming effect. The design represents art because it is built up of many layers of linear squares too create a bold and eye catching layout. It doesn't just feature a singular image as most do so it is more creative and features more skill so should a more creative audience.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Since this is a "school" magazine the school would distribute the product. this is because it is created by one production company for one audience instead of being targeted at many audiences like music and celebrity magazines.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for this product would heavily be students because i have designed and created it around an audience aimed at 16-17 years old's. I have used a modern and vibrant style which is eye catching but could be classified as quite loud for some viewers. it could also be aimed at the parents of the children because it contains information about the school and upcoming events. Overall though this is aimed at the upper sixth form who are interested in photography and digital technology and i think that i have covered this with the appearance and written information.

How did you attract/address your audience? 

In my magazine i used common conventions that i had found were popular and well used in other magazines i had researched. Since i chose a older teenage audience my magazine is more technical and more formally presented whilst maintaining a vibrant eye catching theme to it. From my research i had learned that it needs to have more text than images but still needs to have an element of joyful vibrancy to it so it can keep the audience interested throughout.

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

From the construction process of this product, i have learned that magazines are complicated to create and require more thought and planning than i had initially anticipated. Adobe In Design is much harder to use than Photoshop and requires a lot more skill and understanding to create a good product. on the next task i would rely much more on Photoshop as it provides an overall better quality of construction tools and equipment to create good layouts for my magazine. The digital photography element to the task was straight forward as i already had a great understanding of cameras and how they function, since i'm taking an A level photography course.

Final Copies of the School Magazine

Overview

This is the final piece after hours of adjustments and changes. It features ideas from my drafts whilst using my initiative and advice from teachers to adjust it as the project developed. It has a bold colour scheme and eye catching images to attract the audience which is now a mix of smart and rather more casual 16-17 year old's.  

Final Version - Cover Page 

This is the final version of my School Magazine. It has a contemporary style and features a range of text, images and boxes to create the layout and design. This design took a few different forms and only incorporates small bits from my drafts but is heavily based around on advice from teachers and my wider knowledge and understanding that i have acquired by researching other school magazines. Both of the cover images have been edited in Photoshop CS6 to make them stand out and attract greater attention to my magazine. From the previous version i have made slight alignment changes to the text covering the images but that's all that needed to be changed. 

Final Version - Contents Page

This is the final design for the contents page. It features a more complex version of the layout i had designed for the "Kent Town" drafts and incorporates a greater deal of text and descriptions. This was pretty straight forward after i had designed the basic layout for it because i had no drastic changes to make to it and i did not have to re-organize the general layout. The changes i made from the previous version are as follows: i extended the blue box at the op an word the features to it, i changed pages to regulars and aligned the numbers on the images so that they did not overlap onto the white. 

Evolution of my School Magazine

Draft A - Cover Page

This was the most basic version of my School Magazine. It was so early on that it didn't feature a contents page and did have much detail. after a short discussion with my teacher, i found that the layout could be altered to make it visually more appealing and engaging. I liked the colour scheme and i think the photos overall fit the house style very well. I also had to re-adjust the use of space and make sure i made the most of it. 

Draft B - Cover Page

This was a completely new layout but featured some of the original text and boxes. It is overally more engaging and makes better use of space than draft A. I used more boxes in different way to a build a basic layout for it all before i added the text and images back in. Although it was not complete it only needed slight alignment changes and a couple of extra boxes added in to complete it. 

Draft B - Contents Page

The contents page was pretty easy to construct after i had discovered the overall house style. It would feature a compilation of various sizes boxes to layout how and where text should go. The colours are the same as previously seen on all other drafts. At first i thought the colour scheme wouldn't work very well and would overall be to loud but, it seemed to suit the age range i was targeting and in fact made it feel more contemporary and stylish.  

Draft C - Cover Page

This was almost complete now and only featured a few basic changes to the overall layout and alignment of text and images within the boxes. I had to remove some of the text and others in as peers and teachers didn't think that some of it added anything to the magazine. But overall this was basically finished. 

Draft C - Contents Page

This similarly to the Title page only had minor changes to layout, alignment and text. In the left column i had to make headings for the text so that they were clear and stood out from the short descriptions. I had too also move the numbers on the pictures so that they weren't so cluttered. Finally i had to adjust the font of the text on "contents" so that it matched the Cover page.