Media Evaluation

EVALUATIONKHADIJAH YASMINCANDIDATE NUMBER- 5197

BRIEFMAIN TASK

4 pages of a regional magazine- Front cover - Contents page

- Advert- Article

Ancillary 1Billboard

Ancillary 22 hyper-linked website pages

- Homepage- Magazine

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

Throughout the four pages of the magazine I tried to maintain typical conventions and forms of regional magazines.

As it is a regional magazine the articles are not aimed at for the whole public but I focused on issues such as lifestyle, food and fashion which will relate to the people of Shoreditch.

Not only that my article is written about the local food that you’ll find in Shoreditch. Although my main target audience is specifically Shoreditch’s teenagers if others from different areas read the article they may also want to visit Shoreditch.

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

Again this highlights that it is for the local but also promotes the area, which is a typical convention as many regional magazines, such as Essex Life have adverts for houses implying that you should move into Essex in the same way I promoted the area and make teens visit for a day out.

Furthermore I noticed that regional magazines use selective colours for their front cover therefore I used only pink, black and white.

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

Although I tried to use similar conventions of existing regional magazines, I also challenged it by setting the target audience for teenagers aged 15-19. The reason for this is because I felt there isn’t a regional magazine which primarily focuses on that age group and they have to resort to magazines such as Glamour or OK.

Although you could argue that my regional magazine looks slightly feminine due to the model being a girl and the font colour used is pink yet if I produced the next issue the model would be a boy and I’ll use more masculine colours so there is a balance and it will appeal to a wider audience. Nevertheless behind the girl on the cover the art work of a male so there was some balance there.

Many regional magazines tend to be paid for. One of the main reasons for E1 STYLE to be a free magazine is because the distributor wanted teenagers to get more involved in the community hence why it is free. In addition one of the questions on my survey was linked to price. 5 of the people voted for the magazine to be under £1 therefore I decided not to price my magazine. Similarly the funding for the magazine will be heavily relied on advertisements and sponsors; I would also be selective with the adverts so that it targets the teens.

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

Furthermore I challenged conventions for the advert; normally adverts would have more images than text. What I decided to do is have one main image and more text. Yet the text is relevant as it describes what the Box Park is as it being built recently it gives the teen an insight of what to expect. Although Box Park is full of designers but these designers are quite edgy and trendy which will appeal to the teens. With the colours I used dark blues and white I wanted to have a contrast with the magazine cover so that it appeals to both genders.

For the content page of the magazine I decided use black and white. Although you may argue these colours aren’t vibrant and targeted at teenagers I wanted to keep it neutral so again it appeals to both genders. I also wanted the images to stand out. I developed some forms as I noticed regional magazines don’t include all pages on the content page so I also only included the main articles. In addition to that all magazines regional include an editor’s note, so in my editor’s note I kept it local and tried to promote the area. In addition many regional magazines had a column for those who worked for the magazine such as the editor, I also developed this feature on my content page

To add to that by article developed forms of real media products, for instance the layout it similar to what I have seen in other regional magazines, e.g. having column rather than a paragraph of text. I have also placed the website on the bottom of every page so it reminds the reader it visit the website.

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

Firstly I decided to challenge forms, for instance 2 out 3 websites tend to be detailed and have a lot going on. Yet with my website I tried to keep it simple in the sense that have less text and more images. The reason for this is because I aimed at teenagers and they tend not to bother reading it. So I focused on events and things going on in Shoreditch. The second page does develop some aspect of real media product is by using a map to show where Shoreditch it. Also to explain to its readers the purpose and aims for this regional magazine and also to give them a brief idea. Another feature is at the bottom of each page it includes the name of magazine and its distributors. Furthermore most regional magazines haves an extra navigation at the bottom of the page which I also incorporated. My website also follows typical website conventions such as the navigation bar, name of the magazine, etc.

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

I found it difficult to convey real media product aspects reason being is that I couldn’t find any billboards promoting magazines.

Nevertheless I used billboards for healthcare, clothing and the police I decided to research on a wider range of products, to see the differences. I decided to produce a bus stop billboard as it would be more likely for my target audience to notice it, since the ‘classic billboards’ are mainly for drivers.

In addition to that I challenged the conventions by creating an iPhone app with my front cover inside it, the reason for this was due to the growth of technology and how many teenagers have mobile phones with access to the internet.

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Throughout the coursework I have tried to maintain similar style. The combination of my magazine cover and my billboard are very similar reason for this I used the same image and font type as the billboard was an iPhone app for the magazine similar like to an online version which readers can access on their mobile phones. To add to that the masthead colour on both of the products were same as it is a vital part of the magazine. Yet I did change the colours of the App’s coverlines as I wanted the text to stand out.

In addition I tried to maintain the sense of youth amongst three texts reason for this is my target audience is 15-18, for example I tried to seem ‘friendly’ on the website to connect with the target audience I did this by having social networking buttons as a majority of teenagers tend to use or have used these particular websites. I also used less text on the website reason for this many teenagers look at images more and may be uninterested from reading a huge amount of writing. This is similar to the billboard which also doesn’t contain of huge amount of text.

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The magazine adopted similar style an example would be the colour scheme of white, black and pink which was seen in the magazine and in the website. Not only that but all three texts include the magazine’s masthead ‘E1 Style’ and is visible so all readers would able to link the three pieces of text together.

As you can see the masthead of the magazine is adopted onto all three products in a similar manner. The Magazine cover and the billboard include the same type of front and colour whilst the website is in a different font and colour reason for this is because the rest of website includes the pink colour I used.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I decided to devise a focus group at school with the students aged 15-18 . I also visited Shoreditch and asked a few teenagers , this was useful for a numerous reasons:1. Received feedback and comments2. gathered opinions and attitudes towards my coursework3. Participants can act as checks and balances – Identifying what they like and dislike

My focus group included both and girls as my I’m targeting both genders , also there was an equal amount so it was fair and abled me to get opinions

I also generated a few questions to make sure the conversation flow and I was getting the maximum use out of it. Here are a few examples:• What appeals to you the most? • What would you improve? If you produced the magazine what would you change?• Is there anything you don’t like about the magazine?• Did you find this article enjoyable to read?• Do you think the three piece of text have similarities?

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback? MAIN TASK

The focus group was a major success, as I founded out what my target audience liked and disliked about the 4 pages of the magazine. Many of them thought the magazine cover was the best page and the reasons were they like the colour combination and thought they worked well together. They were also attracted to the setting of the cover and thought the artwork was clever. A few them also said they would like to visit Shoreditch and look at the artwork.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback? MAIN TASK

The majority of the male readers preferred the second page (advert) this was because they felt as the colours were masculine and suited them. To add to that many of them said they would visit the BoxPark this was because they knew of some of the designer brands I listed. Similarly all of the readers thought the texture was a good idea as no other magazine that they know of used them. A few of the female readers disliked the colours used in the advert. I guess this was because I was targeting the male readers more therefore If I did the advert again I will try to aim it at both genders.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback? MAIN TASK

Nevertheless I did have some negative feedback, for instance many thought the content page was slightly boring as the colour scheme was white and black. They suggested I should have used a different coloured font. However I was trying to use conventions of real media texts and most magazines content pages tended to be white background and black font colour. Some also suggested to have more images yet others liked the simplicity of the content page as they also said many of the magazines they read have a simple contents page.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback? MAIN TASK

Both genders enjoyed the article (page 4) as they were intrigued by the image and liked the appearance of the Shoreditch Street. Others enjoyed reading they article and like the informal writing technique as it was easy to read. Some also implied that the article was professional and looked like it was a real media product.

Overall for the four pages I received great feedback however I did receive some constructive criticisms.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I also uploaded my work onto Facebook, a social networking site. This also allowed me get feedback for my target audience as I’m only friends with 15-19, so a few of my Facebook friends fit into that category. Here is an example of the magazine cover on www.facebook.com

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback? SOCIAL NETWORKING| MAGAZINE COVER

Some of the users who commented actually live in Shoreditch this was useful as I was able to ask those who actually live in the area. comments on Facebook suggested that my target audience did in fact liked the magazine and thought it was a high quality magazine. Yet there was also some criticism of not having a barcode yet I explained to them was a free magazine. This suggest that where I have written ‘FREE’ on the top right of the magazine is not noticeable enough. To add to that some users suggested the masthead should have been slightly bigger. Although I disagree and believe it is the right size, if I edited it again I would have made it slightly bigger. One of the users like the fact that the photo was partially blurred. Another user implied that ‘Alice looks so cool’ this is reference to the model this is suggest that the model perfectly fits the characteristics of the average trendy teenager which I was aiming for.

I also received 11 ‘likes’ this further suggests that teenagers enjoyed the magazine. I also made few of these users to read the article and they said it was enjoyable. I learnt that teenagers like to read short and casual articles rather.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback? BILLBOARD

I received an overwhelming response for the billboard. Several participants liked the idea of the billboard being in the format of a magazine app. Also they said if this was a real billboard they would go get a copy of the magazine. The felt they colours used were eye-catching however a few mentioned that they didn’t know where to get a copy from. As it is not mentioned where to find it. To add to that they liked the idea of it being on a iPhone as many of my participants own a smart phone. Some criticism was that they thought the online app would be only for iPhone users however I failed to mention that if you have an iPhone or an android phone you will be able to have access to the app. In addition I also showed the billboard placed on a bus stop, this helped them see the text if it was a real product they also mentioned that it was a good idea and convinced them even more to go and get a copy of the magazine.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback? WEBSITE

As I couldn’t get the people on Shoreditch to look at my magazine I had to resort to those at school and on social media sites such as Facebook and twitter. I learnt that my target audience liked the simplicity of the magazine and said if there was a lot of going on they would get distracted. They specially liked the online version as it gave them an insight to magazine however some felt the text was difficult to read this was down to the low quality of the image not the magazine itself. Some of the participants didn’t actually know where Shoreditch was and the map on the ‘magazine’ page was useful for them. A few negatives where from the teenage boys as they felt the website was slightly feminine, I learnt that I may have to alter the colour scheme to suit both genders.

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The use of various media technologies allowed to me to develop and portray my work. I decided to use blogger to present my coursework, this was useful as I could instantly update any research or planning onto the blog. Also by labelling my work I was able to group my work together. To add to that my teachers and peers were also able to view the blog and leave any suggestions to improve or if I had any typo's again this helped me develop and improve any aspect of m y coursework

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? RESEARCH

For the research aspect of the coursework, I primarily used the internet. Reason for this is was because it gave my quick access to regional magazine websites and I also able view the digital edition of the magazines as it contains the exactly the same content as the print version it also allowed me search specific articles.

However I did buy a copy of a regional magazine to have a feel of the magazine but I did mostly use the online version for other regional magazine websites. It was useful as able to use them for my textual analyses. I also used Google images to find billboards for textual analyses.

Another way I used the internet was to use it as a source of information for rules and regulation, information about billboards and to be able to do my questionnaire online. This was convenient as my target audience instantly gave me feedback and I was also able to produce charts and graphs so that my research was clear to see.

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? RESEARCH

I also used YouTube to watch tutorials this was extremely useful as it helped me develop my Photoshop skills since I was a beginner and didn't know what tools to use to help me produce high quality images or text. I also did use a few tutorial websites also help me to develop my skills. To add to that if there wasn’t websites like YouTube I doubt I would have able to learn any Photoshop/Indesign techniques as I watched a user creating a magazine or billboard

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? PLANNING

I decided to draw out the drafts manually so I could express my ideas and create the coursework how I wanted. From doing that I decided to develop it further and visually create the pages, I used Microsoft Word and Paint to help me design the drafts.

PAPER MICROSOFT WORD

ADOBEPHOTOSHOP

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? CONSTRUCTION

As all three of my tasks where print, I decided to use Adobe Photoshop CS6 and InDesign CS6. The reason why decided these two particular programmes was because I wanted to challenge myself as being a beginner and barely knowing how to use these programmes. I also read reviews on programming and found out that Adobe had the best programmed for creating magazines and other print text.

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? CONSTRUCTION | PHOTOSHOP

Firstly I created the first 2 pages of the magazine on Photoshop (Cover and Advert). The most challenging aspect was creating the blur effect on the cover, although I did watch various tutorials till I found the perfect. I had to use my own initiative and apply the blur in the most suited way. I also found that I can add a texture to give it the edge, for instance I added this as an overlay:

This shows that Photoshop allowed me combine different images together, similarly I played around with the text adding stokes, drop shadows to enhance the text so the reader will be competent to see it better, bevel and emboss. These types of effects gave more emphasis to my text.

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? CONSTRUCTION | PHOTOSHOP

For the billboard the most difficult part to create the badge for the app. I had to watch a tutorial to help me and advise on what type of tools and shapes I should use. Also the accuracy of position the shape and text was quite difficult however I managed it after a few attempts.

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? CONSTRUCTION | PHOTOSHOP

I found the advert the less difficult page to construct, as I rapidly developed the skills from creating the magazine cover. The most interested thing I did was removing the bin from the advert without making it look as if something is missing.

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? CONSTRUCTION | INDESIGN

I decided to construct the third (Content Page) and fourth (Article) on InDesign. Although using Photoshop was great however I felt it lacked technique for layout and text therefore using InDesign was more beneficial. At first I was slightly confused however watching a YouTube video which helped me create the accurate sizing for the 2 pages and layout. Similarly InDesign is a software for creating and layout my text and images. I was also able to import my pictures which I edited on Photoshop and position them. Also the fact that I could reposition them without pressing ‘undo’ was also beneficial. In addition to that I felt as if I needed to use another software otherwise I wouldn’t have grasped enough skills since I’m only doing print.

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? CONSTRUCTION | WIX

Although I intended use Dreamweaver I had to resort to www.wix.com to construct my website as I running out of time. Nevertheless I tried accurately portray a regional website. So for example I created a slideshow which I saw common on the websites I looked at. The skills I developed creating the base and layout of the website as I started of with a blank template. I also used Photoshop to edit the adverts on the right-hand side of the page. I decided to do construct the homepage and about. Reason for doing the about page was that I was able speak about magazine and my ideas behind it.