Evaluation

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

My product uses several conventions of real media, such as a splash, masthead and coverlines, allowing it to be identified as a magazine. I tried to create a generally happy connotation with my central image, which is of a smiling student, an image which also allows the product to be recognized as a student magazine. The house style reflects the college colours in the blue and silver elements of its colour palette.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my product, the sole social group being presented was that of students. My magazine attempts to represent students as being happy, pleasant people to be around, keeping a firm distance from the 'rowdy party' stereotype. I used colloquial, fairly informal language throughout to give a sense of familiarity and friendliness. The central image on the cover also contributes to this impression, presenting a smiling, happy female student.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As a magazine designed specifically for a college, my product would not be suitable for a large, mainstream market. However, it would be printed by the college for internal usage, for the students and perhaps also their families. Additionally the magazine could be sent out to local secondary schools for the benefit of year 11 pupils thinking of enrolling at the college. For these reasons, it is most likely that a fairly local business would print and distribute the magazine- there would be no point in going to a publisher working on a national scale.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My product is specifically aimed at teenage college students, an audience which has determined the magazine's mode of address. All the writing is fairly informal, colloquial for this target audience. Additionally, it is designed to be readable and interesting to all (or at least most) students, ignoring details such as gender.

How did you attract/address your audience?

To make the magazine attractive to teenagers, I made sure to use a variety of colours when creating the textual portions of the front cover. This, combined with the central image of a fellow student and familiar, informal language, clearly defines the magazine's as being a student magazine. I also made sure to make usage of my research and feedback here, including much of the requested or recommended design features and content to make the magazine more appealing for a student to purchase.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When constructing this product, I learnt a lot about the usage of the InDesign software, and I liked the ease at which I was able to construct my magazine. However, I was frustrated at the software when dealing with the insertion and sizing of images- it was a bit tedious having to browse a file each time instead of simply pasting in the desired image.

I also used digital cameras. I was happy with the performance they gave, but there was a bit of a wait transferring the photos from camera to memory stick.

This blog was another new thing for me. Blogger's design made it easy to do what I wanted, and I was not at all disappointed in it's performance.