Evaluation of my student magazine

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

Before I started creating my own student magazine front cover and contents page I looked at examples using the internet and found that many of the magazines had similar characteristics, such as bright colours, subject that apply to the age group and clear and eye catching text. My student magazine has used an unique font for the masthead. It differs from many other student magazines that typically use bold, bright, large and eye catching titles. Other student magazines generally vary the size and font of the cover lines to draw attention to them, however I kept to one font and size but used a range of two eye catching colours. To improve I could have used a variety of sizes to make the magazine front cover look more full and eye catching. I used a puff for my magazine front cover, which are often used for all kinds of magazines. I kept it simple to give the magazine a formal look and to give a sense of maturity which may attract more focused students. The central image I used is a natural picture outside nearby the college, this may differ from other student magazines as many opt to use images of students holding books or something that involves the college itself. For my contents page I kept it mainly simple but added two images and some mistletoe to add to the Christmas theme. I also used the same font and colour for the title “contents page”. Some other student magazines use different title styles and choose to use more bright colours or use a more formal layout.

2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I wanted my magazine to target students just like myself and other students in the college I go to. I did this by taking a natural looking picture for my central image from nearby the college, this would then give a sense of familiarity for the students. I also decided the picture should look friendly and natural to appear like a normal student like the potential buyers of the magazine. I also used two other pictures for my contents page that were also nearby the college.

3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

I think the best place to put the magazines are in parts of the college that most students visit, such as the library, reception and the refectory. These places are typical places students could expect a student magazine to be. I think students should also be able to view it online, as it is free anyway and it would be easy to access for any student who cannot go out to get one at that particular time.

4.Who would be the audience for your media product?

My audience is students of 16-18 years. I am targeting both genders but the pink colours and offer on shopping may stereotypically appeal better to girls.

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I used bright colours to attract the eye of young people and make the magazine appear fun and interesting. I used an inviting image that would appeal to students due to similarity to normal students. I used a puff with the offer of 5% extra student discount which would appeal to students who like to shop. The topics I chose for the magazine are typical subjects and activities students are interested in, such as music, parties and movies. By doing this students will know it is a magazine that suits them. I used informal, simple language which will appeal to younger people rather than using standard English that can appear boring to young people. I also chose a Christmas theme and this typically still excites students.

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

In the past I have used a camera before which came to my advantage when it came to transferring it to the computer and taking a good quality picture. However I have never used technologies such as photo shop, indesign and blogger. I found photo shop simple to use as I only needed it to lighten my picture. Indesign was difficult to use at first but I grew custom to it after some practise. However, I found it difficult to resize pictures and move them in the right place. Blogger was simple to use and I felt like I understood it due to using similar software's in the past. I have now learnt how to use a new software and how to create my own blog.