Evaluation Q.1

In this first part of my evaluation, I will be comparing my own media product to a real media product and seeing how it uses, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of a real media product. From doing this task, my magazine does follow typical conventions of pop music magazines and doesn't particularly challenge any typical conventions dramatically.

Developments of magazine through production process

During the process whilst creating my magazine, lots of different changes took place. I went from one colour scheme to another and may different codes and conventions changed during the process of production of my final product. I took screenshots of my work as I went along, this way I could see progress and what I had changed and experienced with to see what was best and could be better etc.

Front cover






This is one of the first versions of the front covers I produced,  I put in the typical conventions such as cover lines, a main image, barcode, masthead etc and chose a colour scheme which I based around the image (which later on found out didn't work for my product). It is a very basic cover, everything is misplaced and colours scheme isn't attractive or appeal my audience in the way that it should. The fonts don't work well to be on the cover although the actual cover lines are good and the image also doesn't match my genre or target audience.

I then went on to receive feedback and compare what I had made to something already on the market whereby I got told and saw the colour scheme had to be changed, the image had to be changed along with fonts etc. I decided to hide the cover by clicking the 'eyes' on photoshop so I could view what I wanted to incase I needed it and the I began to start again. I was able to experiment and play around with different colours, fonts, effects layouts etc until my cover was more appealing and effective to the audience which it did end up to be.

My final cover took more aspiration from the progress of my improved version of the first product, it is dramatically different to the first version of my cover. It has a complete different more appealing and suitable colour scheme, as well as a selection of suitable typefaces, effects, text etc. The image is much more suitable and fits with my genre and target audience a lot better, the coverlid are much more organised and are played out in a much more typical way, all the typical codes and conventions of pop music magazines are there and the whole magazine cover looks more bold, eye catching so is more likely to get picked up and read `(attract my target audience) also everything used appeals to my target audience which is an aim to fulfil on my magazine/product in production. 

Contents page

This is one of the first versions of the contents page that I produced, I included as many of the typical conventions as I could although it is very basic and isn't anywhere near done. I tried to make it fit in with the colour scheme of my front cover although this completely changed which meant my contents page began to change (shown below). It includes images and stories along with the title and social media but once this version was done I had to take on the feedback and there was a lot to improve on including the way the images are presented, the lack of stories, the way they are set up, colour schemes etc. 

This is the next version of my contents page, the colour scheme has already been changed completely to appeal more to my audience and make it look like it is from the same magazine as my front cover. The stories also got split up snd more were added. From this I had a much better idea of what I wanted my contents page to look like and was a lot easier to go from here. The colour scheme was still to dark and i still had to do more experimentation with fonts, conventions and effects etc. 

 This is the final version of my contents page, it uses the same kind of colour scheme as the rest of the magazine, same fonts in certain aspects of it, which shows strong brand identity and connection throughout the product, it follows typical conventions of a contents page from a pop music magazine such as social media, images, stories which have been put into three different categories to ensure they are easier to read and digest and everything the reader is interested in they get to see, title, web address and page numbers etc. This is a much more appealing and suitable colour scheme to attract and appeal to my target audience as well as the way i have used up the page (all space being used, without there being too much) effectively and i turn hitting and succeeding in the conventions that should be used in a contents page. This makes my contents page as clear and professional as it can be appealing and attracting my target audience. 

Double page spread 

By the time I came to do my double page spread, although I was working on all three parts of my magazine through one period of time, I had an idea of what the colour scheme should be so that is what i followed. The image in this couldn't be used because it was the image on the front cover but i put it in to get an idea of what kind of image i wanted, sizing and positioning etc. The black columns were never permanent but enabled me to be able to put my writing into columns and guide me on how much needed to be written. I chose this background colour because it fitted n with the rest of the parts of the magazine produced and stood out, The writing hadn't been split up enough and was heavy on my audiences eye which is something i took into consideration when improving it and because of the age of my target audience it meant that this was a good amount of writing was good as it wasn't too much or too little although some had to be aded to fill the double page and the writing was sophisticated but informal in some ways which appealed to my target audience. I though i should put in a quote as this is a typical convention surrounding double page spreads so i put it in at a very basic level and this gets improved upon in the next version of my double page spread. 

This is the final version of my double page spread, I changed the title at the top due to feedback which said the part underneath wasn't needed and emphasis should be put on the artist featured, I was then able to play with effects and etc of the fonts. I used a basic colour and font for the main bulk of text so it is as easy as it can b for my audience to read, the questions re in the same font that is used on the other parts of my magazine to keep fluency etc flowing between my magazine. I added in a pull quote into the middle of my article to break up the text bit, follow typical conventions as well as draw in the reader as they will want to now what and why this quote is said by the artist as well as the quote at the bottom giving more information surrounding the artist all keeping the reader drawn in and interested. I used the space available well and the page hasn't got too much or not enough as well as the main bulk of text being the right language and layout to be a double page spread for the purpose of a pop music magazine. The picture also draws in the audience because of the use of eye contact and also puts an image of the artist in there head whilst there reading what she has to say making it as close to reality and as personal to my audience as possible which is why I used this picture. The strap line at the bottom is a typical convention so I ensured to put this in to make it as realistic and professional as it could be to a pop music magazine as well as the page number watching to where the contents page says this double page spread should be. 

Throughout the product process of my front cover, contents and double page spread although, I didn't stick to all feedback I initially got, throughout the process I followed the feedback I was getting there and then from both teachers who knew the technical side and my audience who knew what they like to see in a magazine, I tried to follow typical codes and conventions to the best of my ability and appeal and start to my target audience to the very best of my ability to make my magazine as realistic and professional as it can be to a pop music magazine for this audience. 

Final product

I have attached my final product here.