Evaluating my final product…

By Lydia Chapman

From preliminary task to main product…

• These images show my products from the preliminary task - a contents page and a front cover for our college magazine.

• The final product I have produced is so much better than the preliminary task in terms of;

– Targeting the correct audience– Picture quality– Layout/ layering– Appropriate and thought about text– Font and text size– Variation of colours, shapes and images

• However, completing the preliminary task helped me when completing the main task as I learnt the initial skills I needed on Photoshop and on the Mac.

• From completing the preliminary task I learnt how to create text boxes and add text, create rectangle shapes, add colour, add lines, import images, crop images, edit images, erase elements and arrange text correctly.

• The focus group I used for researching into the main task was really helpful and meant that I really knew my audience and was secure with what I was going to produce. I was much more aware of my intention when completing the main task because of this.

• I also did not spend so much time on the preliminary task and so that is why is looks slightly undeveloped and bare!

Front cover…• The front cover I have produced appeals to the correct audience, young girls interested in current music. I have

managed to achieve this by taking information away from my focus group and working with their ideas and comments about music magazines and magazines in general. I also showed the group my flat plans and so had an idea about the reception of my product. The front cover appeals to my intended audience as it features;

– Current artists – Bright, girly colors (pink, green, red, white)– Images relating to everyday girly life, (kisses, buns, books, homework and fun)– Eye-catching text boxes– An appropriate girly name for the magazine, (PINK)

• My front cover represents a particular social group, young girls. It was my intention that my magazine appealed to this social group as I felt there was a niche in the market and was particularly interested in getting more current music into music magazines. I found this when researching music magazine such as Q and NME, they only covered one genre and were not girly enough!

NOTE… I did not want to challenge conventions of music magazines, but instead follow them. The only element I would challenge is the busyness of some pages in music magazines, therefore I have kept my pages simple and clear.

The photography…

The photography…• These images show my feature star - Katie. I am really happy with the way these

images turned out. • The images of Katie were supposed to portray a fun, girly and everyday vibe. I feel

that this has been achieved as Katie looks smiley, happy and comfortable. • The shoot took place at the photography studio here at college. I used a black

backdrop for the setting of the shoot as this makes the images stand out and means I can edit the images clearly and easily.

• I used a range of shots when photographing Katie, such as; close-ups, mid shots and long shots. This meant I had many variations of images to chose from when completing my magazine.

• I took pictures of Katie in 4 different scenario's, such as; baking, getting ready for bed, outdoors and casual. These scenario’s are appropriate for my magazine as they portray recognisable girly activities.

• The close-up of Katie’s chest as she wears a black heart necklace has been used for the background of my contents page. I think the image is really effective as it’s clear, the black and white against Katie’s skin tone makes for a good contrast. I have enlarged the image on the contents page and used the Photoshop tool ‘multiply’ to create the effect. The lined paper in the first layer can be seen through the image and therefore creates a really funky effect.

Contents page…• The contents page I have produced appeals to the correct audience of young girls as it

features; – Bright, girly colours– Images of girls (Katie - feature story) and (Alice - studying to revision tracks) – Interesting, appealing stories and features– Clear, identifiable sections and numbers– Clear, large masthead

• The contents page successfully carries the themes from the front cover as I have used;– The same green and pink color but added purple to add extra interest and variation– The same small image from the cover as the background for the page– The same artists - Katie– The same lined paper background– The same font

• From meeting with my focus group I learnt that they thought some of the contents pages from other magazines were busy and chaotic, because of this I wanted to make sure my contents page was clear and simple to understand. I have achieved this by keeping the images to a minimum and the text in a neat order. The background image I have used does not interfere with the page as it’s a rather simple displaying only black, white and skin colours, the clean masthead displayed in the margin means the intention of the page can be easily understood.

Double page spread…• I am very pleased with the way my Double page spread has turned out. It would

appeal perfectly to my target audience as it features;– Girly colors, (pink, purple, green and red)– A current girl artist - Katie– Pictures of Katie in all different styles of clothes and poses– Interesting quotes from Katie in coloured text boxes– An eye-catching but identifiable, simple masthead– A small but amount of writing as young girls like pictures, not text!– Text that tells us about what Katie’s day to day life is like, gossip and all things

girly!• The double page spread continues to carry the same themes through the

magazine by featuring;– The same lined paper background– The same colours ( using the eye - dropper tool in Photoshop)– The same artist – Katie– The same font– The same ‘lips’ image used on the front cover in the background to add extra

interest and colour.

Double page spread cont…

• From talking to my focus group it was clear that the girls love pictures and don’t want to overwhelmed by too much text. It was also clear that the girls wanted to hear ‘normal’ things about the artist, such as, day to day activities, boys, food, and work. Because of this I made sure that the text featured girly things and that the amount of text was kept to a minimum.

• I have also made sure the text was written to a level that appeals to the correct audience - easily identifiable and engaging for ages 14-18. This meant keeping the text informal, chatty and effortless to read. The interview appears as a chat and displays many quotes by the star featured – Katie, this element is appropriate in terms of targeting the appropriate audience as it means the stars real feelings are apparent and a lot of ‘nitty gritty’ information is given in a small amount of text. This therefore appeals to my target audience as it’s what they want to hear, see and read!

• INSTITUTE…

• I have decided that the institute that would be appropriate to distribute my magazine would be Hachette Filipacchi (UK) Ltd. This company has seven magazines in it’s portfolio; ELLE, ELLE Decoration, Red, Sugar, Psychologies, Inside Soap and All About Soap.

• My magazine would fit perfectly within this institute as it does not yet own a music magazine and owns Sugar. Sugar magazine is aimed at teenage girls, is a monthly publication and costs 2.30 for an issue.

• The price of my magazine is similar to this and is a weekly publication. This would be good for the institute as they may want to start producing a weekly as well as a monthly.

• HACHETTE FILIPACCHI…

• Hachette Filipacchi Médias is the largest magazine publisher in the world. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Media of France.

• It has subsidiaries in the USA, Spain, Italy, Russia, Hong Kong, Japan and the Netherlands.

• Lagardère media has some 220 print titles, 27 radio stations and 9 TV channels.

Technologies…• I have not only learnt how to use an apple Mac computer correctly from

completing these tasks but I have also learnt how to use Photoshop to a high standard. From beginning the preliminary task to completing my final product I have used many tools from Photoshop and also uploaded pictures from cameras to the desktop. I also learnt how to crop an image appropriately and edit it in Photoshop.

• I have learnt how to use Blogger, I have learnt how to post, embed and upload pictures into my Blog.

• PHOTOSHOP…• Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop is a graphics editing program

distributed by Adobe systems. Photoshop is the current market leader for commercial bitmap and image manipulation software, It has been described as "an industry standard for graphics professionals“

• The software is widely used, it’s popularity within the media industry is huge as it competes with some other leading software such as; The GNU Image Manipulation Program, for X Windows systems.

• The term ‘Photoshopping’ will soon be the definition for any type of computerised image manipulation!

Feedback...Katherine (aged 16) - ‘I really like the design as it relates to the target market and I think you have kept the design fluent throughout.’

Rosie (aged 17) - ‘I really the like the style of the contents page, the colour of the writing could be changed to lighter colour, but I love the layout of all of them.’

Lisa (aged 16) - ‘Colours on front cover are girly and I like background on contents page with the lines and stuff, the image of the girl in the heart necklace should be a tighter shot. I like the lip images on the background of the double page spread.’

Nancy (aged 15) - ‘I like the lively look of the magazine, it would definitely make me buy it. The way it’s laid out makes me think its for people my age and will contain stories I would want to read.’

Rachel (aged 14) - ‘I love the colours but would maybe want to see more pictures of different stuff.’

Feedback cont…Grace (aged 15) - ‘I like the pictures of the girly things, but want to see more! I love the background

of the contents page and like the simple layouts.’

Katie (aged 18) - ‘I like the way you have put the images down one side on the front cover. Contents page -The colours of the font clash with the background in some areas. It definitely looks like something I would be interested in reading.’

Lucy (aged 17) - ‘The layouts are awesome, but I would like to see more colours in the background on the contents page.’

Sarah (aged 14) - ‘ I really like the colours used as they are some of my favorites. When I see one of my favorite bands like JLS it makes me want to buy it!.’

From these comments I have learned both negative and positive points about my final product. I have learnt that overall the layouts are good and the images used are are appealing to the correct audience. I have learnt that I should have displayed more images and possibly added more to the backgrounds. Overall I am really pleased with these comments and am happy that my target audience feel it appeals to them!

Overall…

• I am really happy with the overall, final product. I love the bright colours, funky shapes and images used as they reflect the target audience perfectly. I am really happy that I chose to produce a teenage girls magazine as it was fun to create and I could easily relate to the genre.

• Not only have I learnt about media technologies but I have also learnt how to link the appropriate research with the production of a successful product. I have learnt that communicating with the target audience is really helpful and means that opinions other than mine are considered.

• If I were to do my project again I may change the background on the contents page and arrange the text so as I could fit more images in. This may create a more filled out effect therefore attracting more interest to the page. I also might add more images and shapes into the background of the double page spread so as it meets magazine conventions of quite busy pages.