Evaluation 5

Evaluation Question 5

Comparing my Product to that of a professional product

By Jake Williams

Front CoverThis is my finished product and below, is a copy of NME magazine which is one of the magazines which has a similar audience as mine, therefore I used NME to match conventions to my product to make it more appealing to my audience. As you can see, I have placed the masthead in the same place as on the NME magazine, top left underneath the skyline. This leaves the skyline visible allowing the audience to see other features that are in the magazine which may interest them, without losing the masthead like it would if it was central. I have also used very similar colors to NME magazine which is red and black, which is my running house theme throughout my magazine, as it is in NME. I placed several sidelines in my magazine cover, as in NME I noticed there were a few which were clearly shown to the audience, however, they do not crowd over the main article/feature of the magazine allowing it to be seen. As soon as I saw that issue of NME, I saw the picture of Lily Allen and recognized her and got interested in the magazine and I wanted to achieve the same affect with my magazine, which is the audience recognize the cover and feature straight away, getting them engaged with the magazine.

ContentsMy contents page is very similar to that of NME’s contents page. NME was a huge influence when I made my contents page, although my contents page has a few small differences to help make it stand out to the rest and make it unique and individual. I used the subheading to the right on contents page, I did this because it made it clear for the audience to see the separate feature in the magazine but also gave me a good opportunity to ensure that my contents page matched my original house theme of red and black. I also used the idea of a story being briefly shown in the centre of the page, this was to give the reader a sneak into what was in the magazine.When I was doing my audience research, several of my interviewees said that before they buy a magazine, they will look in the contents page to see what was inside, so I wanted to ensure that the content of my magazine was displayed Cleary and attractively to lure my audience in.

Double Page Spread

Quotes

Collection of pictures

-Main image left side - Black and red (House Theme)- Varity of shots- Props

Double Page Spread• There are a lot of similarities between my Double page spread and the double page spread

featured in NME’s magazine. One of the most obvious is the positioning and the style of the pictures used in the feature. I have placed the main image to the left, as did NME. This is the first thing the reader will see when they turn the page so I ensured that it was an effective picture to put there, as this will engage the reader and get them interested. I then copied the style of several other pictures being on the other page. I used a similar house color theme of red and black, but this was more because my products theme in general was of a red and black. This ensured that the house theme ran all through my product which makes it better as a professional magazine as it has a continuous theme.

• As NME and many other music magazines do, I have placed a quote on the double page spread from the article to encourage the reader to read the article, as the quote is something interesting from the article. This is something many professional magazines do and makes my magazine fit into that category.

Evaluation Question 5

How I changed my product in light of audience feedback from rough cuts

Rough Cuts

Front Cover

Double Page Spread

Final Product

Front Cover and Contents

Double Page Spread

Changes• There are many clear changed that have been made to my final product in comparison to my

pitch. On the front cover, I have taken away the two images and two side lines and added many skylines with no images, and then in the corner, added one image and one sideline which will attract more attention, as if it were an additional huge feature in the magazine. This one single sideline would then stand out a lot clearer attracting my audience as they are more likely to spot it. I added more detail to the ‘FREE’ sell line, this was to make it stand out more and to also show the reader what they could get their hands on if they buy the magazine. I covered a lot more white spaces on my front cover, this is because my feedback said that my front cover was very blank and did not look like a very attractive magazine in the sense of having a lot of content. Therefore, I tried to almost cram a lot of things onto my front cover, suggesting to my reader that the magazine was crammed full

More changes!• Following my article pitch and getting my feedback from my audience, I also made a lot of

changes to my double page spread. I moved the quote form the left page, this was because my audience felt that it hid the main image and covered it up. This then allowed the main image on the left page to stand out more, which would engage and attract my audience to read the article. I added a little more red to make my magazine stand out a little more, rather than all just black and white which made my article look more attractive to the reader.

• I added an introduction to the feature, briefly explaining who the main feature was of and informing the reader. This then made the article easier to read as the reader (if they have never of heard of the artist) would have some background information on them which they could then relate to the main article.