Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Evaluation

For this project I created a music magazine for my target audience aged 16-21. I worked on my own to do this and created everything myself. I took the photographs, wrote the feature article and created the front page, contents and two page spread myself.


Q2.

Q3. What kind of media institution would distribute my magazine.
After doing my research in the beginning I looked at other magazines, their style and what company publishes them. This was useful as it helped me decide if my magazine was to be published who would be the likely company to do so.
One company that I think would publish my magazine would be IPC. This is a media publishing company that has many magazines in it's net work, one in particlular being NME magazine. It has many other different styles of magazine like home, fashion and sport magazines but I think a music magazine is the one that stands out the most.
I think that IPC would distribute my magazine because it is slightly different to NME, they a more of a Rock based magazine and mine is focusing on a particular genre (Acoustic). This makes it individual and interesting. Also my magazine focuses on the new young talent of this generation where as NME focuses on the big celebrities and worldwide known music stars.




Q4.
Q4
View more presentations from Kate Lydon.


Q6.



Q7.
Q7
View more presentations from Kate Lydon.


CONCLUSION
Overall I am very pleased with my final project, I feel as though I have created something that my target audience expected and also I have kept to my theme and original sketches of what each page would look like. There have been a few things that I have changed but only to make it look and work better on the page.
I think the key strengths of my work are definitely the images that I took, even though my front cover image is not close up like most magazine covers I like it on the front because it is slightly different and would stand out on the shelf it was to be published. I have still followed the typical element of using my featured artist on the front to attract my target audience and immediately show who is featured. Also the subheadings do this to add extra information.
On the conents page I have added more about what is inside the magazine as this is the purpose of a contents page. However after creating my final product and publishing it onto blogger I have realised that I have used the title 'cover stories' on the contents but the features under this are not the same as the features on the front cover. This is one error that I would correct if I had the time to do it again. However the contents page still works well and still serves it's pupose of informing the reader.

I think another strength of my magazine is the editors note on the contents page. Not all magazines have one of these but the ones that do I think seem to get read more. This is because an editors note makes the magazine personal to the reader and gets them involved in thinking about the themes of the magazine.

I am really pleased with my two page spread article that I wrote and created myself. I think that the style of the article is very chatty and laid back which is what I think my target audience would want to read. They are not the type of audience who read broadsheet newspapers, they would prefer a more journalistic, tabloid style read. I think I have achieved this by asking questions about girlfriends and fame and all the other things that would be typically in a tabloid magazine.

One error that I have realised is that I havn't included a barcode on the front of the magazine, this is something that I did include on my preliminary task. However looking at my front cover I dont think that a barcode would look right, I think it would make the page look messy. If this was to be a published magazine I would probably include the barcode on the back of the magasine or the spine, this would keep it out of the way and not obvious so it doesn't ruin the image on the front.

I think I have learnt a lot after creating this magazine, with the technologies I have used and also the style of writing a journalistic article and creating a magazine that suits my target audience. It has been a lot of work but I am pleased with the result.

Audience Feedback

These are the questions and some answers that I got from my audience feedback questionnaire;

Q1. When you first read the title of the magazine what style of music do you presume it's about?

"Definitely 'indie' or acoustic. probably because of the word vinyl as it doesn't really suggest a pop, rock or RnB style of magazine." (Female - Aged 19)

Q2. Do you think the front cover looks genuine?

"Yes, the photograph looks professional and the font too with all the information about what is inside. I like the quotes from the artists to draw them in." (Male - Aged 17)

Q3. What do you think about the text boxes that have been faded behind the text on the front cover?

"I can see that they have been used to make the text stand out more against the background because of the trees and leaves. I think it does this perfectly however it would be better with a plainer image behind. (Female - Aged 17)

Q4. Do you think the contents informs you enough about what is in the magazine?

"Yes, there is a lot of information on the page, with the main features that are in the magazine. I like the use of the small box with different artists' gig reviews and also the editors note at the bottom to make it personal to the reader." (Male - Aged 19)

Q5. What do you think of the image used for the contents?

"Again it is an image that doesn't help the text stand out but the use of faded boxes behind do this like the front cover. I really like how the same theme is kept throughout with the photos taken in the woods." (Male - Aged 17)

Q6. What do you think could be improved on the contents page?

"I think the font could be a bit more exciting and experimental but overall it looks professional." (Female - Aged 16)

Q7. What do you think about the feature article?

"I think it's a great piece of journalism, digging deep and getting all the answers out of the artist that the readers will want!" (Female - Aged 18)

Q10. What do you think of the images used in the feature article?

"I like how the guitar has been cut out of a bigger image, to add the theme of his music to the article. Also the cut out image of him in the bottom left hand corner links to the photo shoot." (Male - Aged 16)

Final Project