Evaluation question 2: How did I represent social groups?

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

Amended Final Products

These are my final redrafted products:

In light of teacher feedback, I have improved my final products, incorporating real media conventions to a higher standard. I have:

• Redesigned my contents page layout and page references, also adding more captions to the images I have used.
• Added in a subscription box to my contents page, filling up the space as I changed the font size.
• On my double page spread I have formatted the bulk text, making it slightly smaller, and making the questions red and the band members names in bold. I have also made the drop cap and quote bigger.

Final product

Improvements to DPS

To change my double page spread I have changed the background colour to black and the text to white. I have also added a banner at the top, telling the audience it's an exclusive and also credits the images and text to make it look slightly more professional.

Then I changed my main image for the article which makes the band seem more fun to the audience.

Next, I changed the font of my main sell line and also changed it to "We decided to just go for it" as it gives a more personal touch to the reader as it's as if the band is talking to them.

I decided to get rid of the black background due to issues with layout, on my first page I have instead added more images to fill the white space. I have also added page numbers and captions to the images.

To make the font stand out against the white background I changed it, also adding a shadow for extra effect.

Underneath the title I have also added a summary of the article, adding a gradient feather to the red fill to make it look more professional and draws the readers attention to what the article is initially about.

I have rearranged my article and added a drop capital and a quote centred in the middle of my text to give it an air of professionalism.

Overall I'm now happy with the layout and contents of my double page spread. This is my overall product:

Improvements to contents page

To begin with, I have re-organized my contents images and changed their page references as I changed some things on my cover. This included moving my banner at the top of the page to make more room for my images.

I have resized the image of Cara and added a stroke to the image to make it stand out as if it had been stuck on. Then I inserted another image and done the same, tilting both images and making the fonts slightly smaller.

I have used yellow to reference the page numbers as it is prominently used in Kerrang's contents page. This also adds more to what's happening on my page rather than having it all one block colour.

Improvements to my front cover

To improve my cover I have inserted a tag line to my cover and used a different font but edited the tracking so that the letters were more spaced out.

I have added a stroke to my mast head to add depth to it.

On my banner for my main sell line, I have bevel and embossed it, also adding an outer glow to draw attention to the audience, making it clear that this is the main story.

I have taken out my banner as it doesn't fully match the house style and looks slightly out of place. I have replaced it with a new font and stroked text to make it readable for the audience as my main image is quite dark. I have also added a stroke to "Watch out. She's back!"

I have changed my additional sell lines at the bottom to make them run as one line.

Finally, I have added a poster special to the cover to fill in the rest of the space and make it seem much fuller.

This is my overall piece that I'm now happy with.

Additional font research

To improve my product, my research showed that I needed some additional fonts to my magazine to link to the audience and texts.

Main sell line fonts:

This is a potential main sell line for my cover. I could use this to show the return of the cover artist as it is bold and also jumps out at the reader, creating certain connotations of the artist and the article. The font also looks sketchy, which can sometimes be seen in the pop-punk genre as it is unpredictable.

This is another potential font for my main sell line. This is very similar to "Double slug" but looks more sketchy and as if it has been drawn. This font looks slightly less bold as it doesn't have a black outline, making it seem less dark and slightly out of place. This may not show the pop-punk genre as well as the other fonts.

This font would be good for my main sell line as it, again, looks sketchy but also connotes the music with the gaps in the shading of the font. This could connote the hurried riffs from the pop-punk genre, making it fit with the magazine.

This is a potential font for my main sell line as it is quite different and independent to the article it references. However, this font doesn't fully represent the pop-punk genre and connotes a darker genre. Also the heart in the "p" doesn't entirely represent the audience.

 

Tag line font:

This font would be a good font for my tagline as it doesn't have any obscure patterns but also looks quite disorientated. This would be good as it adds to a range of fonts used and also connotes the pop-punk genre.

 

Double page spread font:

This font would be good for the title of my double page spread as the article is about a new band and their tour. This font connotes the new feeling of school/college, instantly relating to the audience as that is the age they would be at whilst also relating to the article.

Improvements to make to my product

From my research I have found out what I can improve for the professional aspects and also what I can improve to appeal more to my audience.

My cover could use some more sell lines to make it seem more busy and that there is a lot going on in the magazine which can be seen from Rock Sound's cover and was also an improvement to be made when I questioned my audience. This will attract my audience and connote that my magazine is quite busy and cares about the information they receive. I could also add in a poster special to make it seem like my magazine gives the audience more.

Although my comparison to professional products didn't show any taglines, my audience feedback showed me that it could be a good idea. I could add a tagline such as, "Just the way music should be!" or "Blasting through your headphones".

The language throughout my magazine could be slightly less formal, so I could add in more slag terms and abbreviations to appeal to my audience. This was an area for improvement due to both my comparison to professional products and my audience feedback.

I could add in more colour on for my house style as both Kerrang and Rock Sound were fairly bright and also had brighter images than my own which is considerably darker. This would make the pop-punk genre more associated with my products. 

The fonts in my magazine need to vary more, for example the main sell line on my cover could be a more appealing font by relating more to the article. This was seen in both Rock Sound and Kerrang. I can do some more font research into what would be a good font to use.

The design of my DPS could be re evaluated, for example, the grey background needs to either be lighter or white so that it's easier to read the text which was a main problem when asking in my audience research. It also has a lot of white space that will need to be filled which I could do by adding more images which my audience research also suggested. I need to add in page numbers and photo credits to make it look more professional.

I could also look at the layout of my contents page, specifically the layout of the images. I could possibly put effects or borders along the images to make them stand out more and to take examples of professional magazines.

Rough Cut Feedback

I have shown my rough cuts to a range of different people and asked them their thoughts on my product. I used Facebook to ask my audience for their responses which are made up of videos and text responses.
This research will help me to further improve my products and appeal to the audience more so.

Feedback:

Oli Welham:

What genre do you think the magazine is?

Rock/Punk due to the use of well known bands Green Day and Blink 182.

Is it appealing to you? Why/why not?

Although the music taste may not be to my liking the magazine is appealing to me due to its simple, easy to read layout and use of color effectively without over doing it.

Are the images appropriate?

The images are appropriate and well structured.

Is the language appropriate/appealing?

The language is appropriate to the magazine although at times I feel it plays it a bit too safe.

Do you think the text to image ratio is appropriate?

Personally I do although I would understand why people may think it is too text heavy.

Is the colour scheme/house style appropriate/appealing?

The colour is appropriate to the style as there is minimal use which works well. I find this aspect particularly appealing.

What appeals to you the most?

Personally the most appealing aspects are the colour and text layout I particularly like the font used for the article as it is easy to use.

What isn't appealing to you? One aspect I dislike is the use of a grey background for the text on the article page as it makes the text difficult to read.

How would you improve it? To improve the magazine I would improve the blend between the yellow corner and black background on the front page and remove the grey back ground on the article page.

Laura Brownlie:

1. I think it’s a rock mag, due to the bright colours and band names featured in the taglines. 2. It appeals to me because it’s my kind of music and the multitude of font and colours make it exciting and appealing. There’s not too much writing so the reader can see at a glance if the magazine is their thing or not. 3. The images are appropriate to the setting as they all have dark backgrounds typical of the rock music genre and the accessories and clothing featured all fits the genre too as the jeans and t-shirt look is favoured among many alternative bands. 4. The language used it short and to the point, which is what the reader wants before they delve deeper into the magazine. A lot of the language is quite dramatic and entices the reader into reading on about the bands. 5. I think the text to image ratio is appropriate, especially on the contents page where there is several images and appropriate font and size to replicate an authentic magazine. 6. I like the colour scheme as there are a few staple colours used which doesn’t make it overpowering and the red especially makes the magazine more alarming and makes it stand out, which seems like the aim of the magazine to be distinguished from other magazines.

Additional comments:

I like the jagged font which is a bit edgy and alternative. Improve: umm..maybe some tagline to the magazine? Or a few more smaller images on the front, like posters inside kinda thing. I can't really fault it though.

Callum Younger:

I like the cover of Loud Magazine because everything is size orientated, for example the picture of Laura Brownlie, is in proportion to her name, this means that you associate the picture and the text together. I also like the fact that the top right corner looks as if it has been torn, i think this makes the magazine look as if it has been used, and if people use it, it must be good. The contents page is good because the pictures’ size relate to the importance of the articles, however as an improvement, i would make the font face a bit more bold. I would do this because it has a bit too much white space on the page, and i think this would counteract this, Also, the font is of a similar type to the editorial, i think this may get confused or flow into each other, and making some parts bold would also help with this. however I really like the idea of having a short comment beneath the content’s titles. The double spread page is good because the main text background is a light grey with black text, this means that you can easily read the text, and you can still differentiate between the red and white text in the top corners. I like this because it means you can navigate well through the magazine by having your attention kept on the corners which tell you what is on each page, and by making sure you can still easily read the main text. However for an improvement, i would add another picture of All Time High on the page, I would do this because i think it would make the page ore attractive to readers, as it would keep the eye of the reader concentrating on the band themselves as well as reading about them.

Oli Samlofski:

Obviously a music magazine, rock and alternative music genre probably teenage audience. Like the banners on the cover. Main cover image is good but could have a more interesting background. Language inside is professional but conversational, similar to many music magazines already on the market. Like the colour-scheme, matches the genre and a lot of bands of that genre have these colours. I like the cover layout. Layout of the contents page is really nice, although photos could be laid out slightly better, not sure how, just one or two seemed off. The photo on the double page spread could be more interesting, the magazine is called loud, make the images fit the title, maybe instruments or just something in the background. I really like the colours and the fonts even if the title could be a little bigger.

Emily Campbell:

Katie Atkinson:
The genre clearly seems to be music and band focused on rock/punk due to the mentioning of Blink 182 and the Reading festival. I find this magazine very appealing as I am interested in rock and the articles look quite interesting and well planned. I find that the images used in the magazine are very appropriate to the genre and make it obvious to the audience what the magazine is about. As far as I can see the language is largely appropriate to the genre and articles although a wider variety of language used could improve how appealing the articles are to the reader. For this particular genre I think that the text to image ratio is carried out perfectly and the images are placed sensibly in co-ordination to the text as they are clear and grab the attention of the reader but do not overpower the text. I think the colour scheme works well with the cover and the articles although the grey background on the article slightly blends in with the text making the text seem a little blurry to people with sight difficulties but apart from that the colour scheme fits perfectly and is appealing to the audience. 
The layout and colouring of the cover appeals to me most as it has been planned effectively and fits in well with the genre so the target audience would be able to tell straight away which genre the magazine fits into and what the main articles are featured on.
The only thing that doesn’t appeal to me is the background colour chosen for the article as mentioned before it slightly blends in with the text which makes it more difficult for me to read as the text seems blurry and off center.

Beth Walsh:

Sophie Nelson:

Rachel Waters:

Summary of findings:

Comparison of rough cuts to professional products