Evaluation

I have now completed the creation of my AS media foundation portfolio, including all of the research and planning that has ultimately gone into making my front cover, double page spread and contents page for a new music magazine.

Firstly, through my research into similar media texts, I have ensured that my own product uses, develops and challenges typical conventions found in real music magazines. For example, the overall layout of my product; I have used such aspects as mastheads at the very top of pages, a main image upon my front cover, which is ultimately surrounded by cover lines and a main cover line, date and issue numbers and a promotional offer on the ear of the splash, in order to attract people into buying and reading my magazine. Additionally, I have also used other magazine conventions on my contents page; a typical list of contents with their corresponding page numbers, with both regular and features found ‘on the cover’, and on my double page spread head lines and a question and answer style interview. All of these features are often found within real magazines, and therefore I have applied them to my own product to make it look as professional as possible; using my own chosen house style in order to make each aspect individual to my own designs and ideas.

Moreover, the target audience for my magazine is fifteen to twenty five year olds, of all genders; though it is slightly more female-orientated. As my magazine is also based around the ‘pop’ genre of music, those interested in this particular type of music are therefore also part of my target audience. However, my magazine focuses upon a different type of pop music; rather than the cheesy boy band/girl band era that many people associate with pop music, my magazine looks rather at the more contemporary style of pop music: this being merely pop music with a slight rock twist. Therefore, instead of targeting those who are stereotypically associated with pop music - cheery, happy people who seemingly enjoy a bit of fun, I am rather targeting those who enjoy the rock genre of music also. Therefore, in order to represent these particular social groups associated with my magazine and its themes, I had to design it taking specific ideas into account:
Beginning with my front cover, it originally had a plain white background. However, after some consideration, I decided that this didn’t fit well enough into my overall theme, as it was far too plain and therefore far from the impression that my magazine aims to give about my chosen music genre. And so, I changed the background to a solid black colour. Alongside red, black is often linked towards the rock music genre, as the colour red connotates danger and therefore makes rock artists appear edgy, and therefore I believe its fits in better with the overall theme of my magazine; it also allows the bright whites and purples of my front cover to stand out and contrast well.

Upon my contents page, I feel that the black and white colours stand out well, with the purple emphasising my themes further. White is often associate with pure, innocent ideologies; something that is also stereotypical of pop music. Therefore, this white contrasts well with the black colouring which is ultimately representing the rock edge to my magazine. The purple also fits well into both of these genres, as well as giving my magazine a bit of additional colour.

Furthermore, in terms of my target audience, there are various techniques which I have used in order to attract this group of people. As my magazine targets age groups which are fairly young, the artists included within the content of my magazine therefore needed to be fairly modern. For example, if I had used artists from the 1970s, this would have targeted an audience around the ages thirty or forty, whereas including artists such as Rihanna or Katy Perry, people born during the late 80s or 90s, and ultimately my target audience, will be attracted. Also, I used stereotypes and ideologies to attract my specified audience: within each of my pictures, the artist is dressed in a pretty but slightly edgy dress, both of which are aspects which could be associated with my chosen music genre. Stereotypically, rock stars also quite frequently wear leopard print – another feature included within my photo’s. This is also a more modern fashion statement, including the hairstyle and the accessories – even down to the iPod touch within the artists hand – and therefore I am again taking my targeted age groups into account.

In addition, through constructing this product, I have learnt a fair amount about the technologies which I have used during the process. For example, Photoshop. When editing the image for my college magazine during the preliminary task, I simply used the Magic Wand tool, which simply selected the part of the image I required so that I could then transfer it to a plain white background. However, when trying this technique for the images used within my music magazine, the pattern on the artists dress proved to be too complex, and instead I had to use another technique; extraction. This took a substantial amount more effort and practise, but seems to have worked fairly well. I also found the history tool useful in correcting my mistakes, and overall learnt what many of the other tools within Photoshop were and how to use them, having never used the programme before the beginning of the year. Additionally, I also used Microsoft publisher within my production, and simply found that the guidelines on this particular programme were very useful when arranging the layout of my product, and helped me to create appropriate dimensions and position the aspects of my pages appropriately.

Also, looking back at the product from my preliminary task, I feel as though I have improved. The image used for my college magazine was fairly small, and only took up the centre of the cover. It therefore wasn’t emphasised enough to stand out above all of the other aspects upon the page. Therefore, when creating my music magazine, I ensured that the main image upon the front cover was larger, and took up most of the cover overall. The cover lines upon my preliminary task were all listed beneath my main image, and I feel that this wasn’t as effective as scattering them around the main image as I have with my music magazine front cover; this is also a more conventional way to place them. The colours of my cover lines upon my preliminary task were also slightly random, with each sentence a different colour, and even single words a different colour to the rest of the sentence. This looked slightly messy, and I have therefore stuck to a three part colour scheme within my music magazine, to create a continuous theme and make my magazine look more professional, with each sentence being a single colour. Additionally, upon the cover for my college magazine, I stuck to one font face: Arial. I learnt that in most published magazines a variety of different fonts and font sizes are used for the cover lines situated upon the front covers, and therefore I took this into account when creating my music magazine.

Furthermore, throughout my magazine I have used a total of four font faces: Arial, Arial Black, Georgia and Monotype Corsiva. The Arial black was typically used for mastheads, page titles, headlines and some of the cover lines; therefore aspects of text that really need to stand out upon the page. I used this particular text as it is large, bold and clear, and is therefore easy to read. As Arial is a very similar font face to Arial black, just merely less thick, I used this font for the smaller items of text within my product; such as the interview upon my double page spread and the list of contents upon my contents page. I have only used Georgia for one item of text – a cover line upon my front cover – however this was only to add variety to the splash, using a text which is still clear and easy to read. My final font face, Monotype Corvisa, was used to emphasise and highlight specific words or letters. For example, I have used it on my double page spread to make the name of my artist more effective. I have also used it for the same artist upon my main cover line, but this time only on the first letters of her first and last name; again for emphasis.

Within my chosen pictures several techniques have also been used to create good judgements upon the artist, and also to sell the magazine. Starting with my cover photo, the artist is represented as confident and dominant with her hands upon her head, looking directly at the camera and therefore engaging with the audience. Within the picture used of my artist on the contents page, there is a slight hint of amusement to it, suggesting she is enjoying herself and knows how to have fun. Both of these photos are medium close-up shots of the artist. The picture on my double page spread, however, is a full length image, taken from a low angle in order to make the artist appear larger and therefore more powerful. She is stood with one hip to the side, her posture representing a certain amount of attitude which she holds about herself. All of these features create a positive vibe and encourage the audience to feel that they could have the same amount of confidence after reading the article based upon the artist; all in all encouraging them to purchase the magazine. Each photo also includes an iPod touch, which is iconographic of music and therefore represents the purpose of the magazine.

Moreover, if my magazine were to be produced and distributed in real life, there are certain types of institutions that would distribute my media product. For example, IPC Media; one of the UK’s leading consumer magazine and digital publishers. IPC publishes popular and well known music magazine NME, and this therefore relates to the purpose of my own magazine.

In conclusion, I feel that I have successfully met the aims of the foundation portfolio. I have created three individual items, including a front cover, contents page and double page spread, for use within a new music magazine. Each of these media products use typical music magazine conventions and additional techniques used in order to attract my specified target audience and encourage people to purchase my magazine if it were to be published for real. I also feel as though I have improved substantially since the preliminary task, and have been able to put my weaknesses from this task into good use, and turn them into strength’s within the main task.
Overall, I feel that my contents page is my most successful text as I feel it looks the most professional, however I am still pleased with the other two items. I am also pleased with my images, though if I were to do the task again, I would possibly take images that are easier to manipulate, and take into account the elements of my photos that made them slightly difficult to edit. However, overall, I feel that they represent the artist and the music genre she is aiming to fit within well.Looking back at my drafts, I also feel that my final designs are similar to these, though I have improved them in areas which I felt did not work so well. Therefore, I believe that they were useful templates within the creation of my magazine. The research into similar products also helped within my creation, as I was able to understand further the conventions used within music magazines.