Evaluation questions preliminary task

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My Product is very similar to a magazine as it uses a large picture for the front page, a clear title, date barcode, and price. Text to go on the page with main headlines to interest the reader. My contents page is similar by having a photo on their, headings and all of whats in the magazine just like you would see in a real school magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I think with my school magazine it is hard to represent a particular social group , other than those attending school. The picture on the front of my magazine is educational with the two models reading books and i used headlines like 'Brain Food' which would give an audience the intention that it is educational but fun. The contents page continues with this theme as there are headings such as 'fold out revision guide' which continues the theme of it being educational and attracting a group of people who are wanting to read about school.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I learnt how to use photoshop, tools such as clone stamp, spot healing brush and lasso tool. I also cropped pictures and adjusted the brightness and contrast. I learnt how to use indesign which is the programme i made my magazine on, I think that both programmes were fairly hard to use but with some practice would become easier. I also learnt how use a SLR camera and blogger to show my updates in my work.

Who would be the audience of my media product?
My school magazine has a very specific target audience, specifically people who attend Wilmington Grammar School for girls. So they will be school girls aged 11-18 and Teachers which could be male or female.

How did it attract/address your audience?
It attracts my audience by using school themes and photos, similar to 'How does your media product represent particular social groups'. The photos are educational of people reading books and the headings and features are all to do with education and improving your learning.

School magzine final contents page

This is my final contents page.

School magazine how i made my contents and final contents page

Here is how i made my school magazine contents page:

I begun by placing my magzine title in the far corner, and the text "whats inside this week.." to show off the fact that i was making my contents page. I then began placing text boxes and writing in my text. I also placed my photo in the contents page.

I began manipulating my text, writing headings and page numbers and changing the colours.

I then added in a text box to create the "next week" box and roated it slightly . Iunderlined all my headings and the title.

School magazine font research

For my magazine i done some font research, looking at different styles of font and deciding which to chose, which reflected my magazine style and which i liked best.
I started off by producing a selection of random fonts of all different colours and styles on indesign.

Then i narrowed it down to some fonts that i thought all corresponded with eachother and placed them on another page.

final front cover school magazine

This was during the design process of my front cover, i included a price, barcode, picture, title and had begun adding text to the front of my page.

Here is my final magazine front cover

This is my final media front cover, with everything included. I like my final product as i think it reflects the sophisticated theme i wanted for my magazine. The title font is relevant to the colours in the picture and  the text on the front of my magazine. All of my font colours and different fonts adds up to the type of magazine i was trying to create.

School magazine My pictures i took for my front page and contents

I took some photos for my school magazine, out of a selection of photos these were the ones i chose as the best.

school magazine picture research for front cover

Here are some pictures i researched and chose and would like my magazine front cover pictures to relfect.

I like the general idea of a student reading a book as i think it potrays a school formal magazine well, i dont think this photto is too posed and would use it for my magazine.

This is another example and qalthough iu like this photo i think it is too posed but potrays the concept clearly.

I liked the idea of someone looking like they were engaged in something school-related and i think this is a brilliant portrayal of what i would like on my front cover. I also think this photo is good for a front cover as the people nand objects in the background are blurred .

School magazine how i edited my contents page pictures

This is how i started editing my contents page picture,

I began by cropping the picture i chose to use.

I then used the clone stamp tool to change the background .

I then used the paint tool to paint the colour i used with the colour picker tool behind my photo.

School magazine research

Originally i thought of the idea of a school magazine, but chose not too after doing some research as i found not enough to write and taking sports related pictures quite challenging so chose a general formal theme of school.  Here are my two school sports front covers i found and some anaylsis i wrote on them

This magazine does not really have a clear colour theme but the colours work well together. The title is not clear on this magazine but i can tell it is school related as of the motto above the title. The picture is very posed but it sport related. The front page has no information in it about what is in the mgazine so i dont think this is a good front cover.

I prefer this sport magazine but after choosing it i realised it wasnt exactly school related but was sport related so it didnt fit in with what i was trying to potray. The magazine has elements of sport on the front but nothing to do with school. However the magazine's layout is succesfull i like the different shapes, colours and picture used on the front. The front cover is full of information about the magazine and the title has a good clear suitable font for the magazine.

School magazine Contents page Research

Here i shall be reviewing some contents pages for research of my school magazine.

 I like this contents page for Vogue because there are three main colours; black, white and orange. The orange headings link with the picture as the women is in a orange dress, i like how vogue has linked these two together and it looks very well set out. The layout has a clear image that is the centre of the focus and then the text around the image is concise and has clear headings for different sections of the magazine. The picture also features the main cover stories on it and this draws the attention of the reader to it as the text is in bold and bigger than the rest of the text. The background is white which make the black and orange text stand out when reading so the reader is instantly drawn to it.

This is my second contents page i chose to evaluate, i like this contents page because it is a simple yet effective design, it has two main colours  red and black, which are both bold and dark colours contrasting on a white background. The contents  clearly states which month and has organised columns of whats in the magazine with the page numbers. The picture is interesting and captures the readers attention. For my contents i would like something not as simple as this with maybe a snapshot of the front page and headings on the contents.

This is my favourite contents page as the picture is eye catching and well structured around the text and title. There is a clear grey, white and black theme to the contents page which i think is effective. I dont like the title 'contents' in the page and personally i would of done this differently but i think it still works. The text on the page is placed well and the text appears clear and has a features section and a fashion heading which i would do in my contents page.

School magazine Front page Research

 I shall be reviewing some magazine covers i have found for my school magazine, discussing why i like them and dislike them and why i chose to present them. 



This school magazine has a straight forward purpose, the picture is clear and shows the children having fun  but clearly shows they are in school. I think the magazine has a odd name and this does not represent the magazine well- 'FFH' has no link to a school. The name of the magazine stands out as it is the same colour as the jumpers so i imeadiately know its related.  The The magazine has no information on the cover explaining whats in the contents of the magazine is and i dont think this is very successful as the reader would like to see more information. I like the magazine because it is concise and clear but i also think the magazine has a boring layout.

This is my second choice for school magazine cover research, i like the stlye of intellectual picture with the boy reading a book next to his lockers, i think this represents a school very well. The cover has a clear colour scheme of blue, white and yellow and it is very well set out. The title is written in white with a blue background and is easy to read, the yellow writing stand out on the page with some information in white underneath. I would like my magazine to look or represent something like this cover.

This magazine seems from a upper class school,  a clear theme of green and white is used in the magazine. The fonts used look very formal and i would like my magazine to reflect some type of formality. The picture is very creative as it is a girl painting but it still reflects in with the magazines theme. The front page has writing and information on it so it is very imforative to someone just looking at the front cover. I like the style of this magazine but i think it may a little too formal.