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

Evaluation Question 1 - "In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?" on Prezi

Evaluation Question 2 - "How does your media product represent particular social groups?"

Evaluation Question 2 - "How does your media product represent particular social groups?" on Prezi

Evaluation Question 3 - "What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?"

Evaluation Question 3 - "What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?" on Prezi

Evaluation Question 4 - "Who would be the audience for your media product?" and Evaluation Question 5 - "How did you attract/address your audience?"

Evaluation Questions 4 & 5 @ Yahoo! Video

As both questions link together, I used one video to answer them both.
Additional Comments:
When I asked my audience for their opinions about my product and how it attracted them, many people commented on the images; words like "edgy", "cool" and "different" appeared in lots of people's responses. One person said that it was "so different from other magazines and that makes me want to buy it". Most people commented on how the people in their magazines were "attractive, but not like normal attractive magazine models".
One or two people said that it "seems hard to say it's indie, when it just looks different." But I don't think they were right because the true, original indie ethic is about being different. I think the fact that it must look so different to some people backs up that it is in fact indie; the indie genre shouldn't be generic, it's about being an individual, as my earlier research showed me.

Evaluation Question 6 - "What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?"

This is a photo of me using an SLR digital camera, which I used to take all of the photographs that appear in my magazine. It took the images with great detail and allowed me to get depth into my images.

This is a photo of me using Blogger, which I used to create my blog and document my research, manufacturing and evaluation throughout the project.

This is a photo of me using InDesign CS4. It took a while to get to grips with this program, which slowed me down significantly and made it seem difficult to use. I think that if I had experimented and played around with the program beforehand, a lot of the problems and issues that I had (such as inserting images and text and changing font colours), would have never occurred. InDesign CS4 was very useful for applying the same effects to separate pieces of text quickly. I also liked that you could arrange everything out in boxes before inserting text and images, and it allowed you to make changes to the layout without having to insert and re size everything and then realise that it was incorrect.

This is a screen grab of using the text tool which applied the same effects to other pieces of text.

This is a screen grab of using the re-sizing tool which was extremely useful as it enabled the images to be re-sized to the box you had created around them proportionally, instead of having to go back to Adobe Photoshop CS4 to edit the sizes.

This is a photo of me using Adobe Photoshop CS4, which I used for making my cover. I made the document in a 300 pixel per inch ratio, which made all of my images clear and detailed. This program was beneficial when arranging text, changing the main image to grey scale and creating logos/ text. Adobe Photoshop CS4 was a lot easier and less complicated to use than I imagined it would be. At first I had a bit of difficulty with resizing the images, but after that I found all of the tools in genius and helpful. Possibly the most helpful was the colour sampler tool which enabled all of the colours to match and made a successful colour scheme. I also liked the greyscale tool and the tool which makes the gap between letters in text bigger and smaller, making them close or further away. In addition to this, it was useful to be able to increase the contrast in the image, as it made it bolder and helped it to stand out more.

This is a screen grab of increasing the distance between the letters.

This is a screen grab of using the transform tool, which enables you to re-size and rotate text.

Technology has been important in this project and without it, it would have been a long and arduous task. Each letter and image would have had to have been cut out by hand and arranged carefully, then stuck down. It would have been virtually impossible to line them up correctly and it wouldn't have been accurate or neat at all. Technology made the task much easier.

Evaluation Question 7 - "Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?"

Evaluation Question 7 - "Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?" on Prezi

Final Copies

In my final copy of my cover, I added a small circle of text in the corner, which advertises a "Heart & Soul TV Channel" as I thought it would appeal to my young audience more, who enjoy watching music channels. I'm happy with the end result of the cover, although I don't think it looks too proffessional or genuine still.
I changed the page number on the contents as someone pointed out that contents pages are never on the first page.

As a final adjustment to my double page spread, I added some information next to the byline and the magazine logo, as I noticed this is a feature of real magazines. The information I added was that a reader could log on to the "Heart & Soul" website to recieve more/exclusive information and pictures. As a younger audience, my target audience like to be interactive and the majority spend a lot of time on the internet, so I thought this would appeal to them more. I also changed the page numbers after recognising they were faulty.

Construction of Contents Page

I inserted a title, headings and page numbers first because I thought that these hold up the structure of the page. I used black and pale green to continue the colour scheme that I used in my front cover and used the abbreviation of Heart and Soul - H&S - in the headings, because I thought it would make it look more informal and quirky. I also wrote everything in capital letters to give it a bit of an edge and make it look hard-hitting. I kept everything within the guides to make it level and look professional. The headings are pale green with a black outline to make it stand out more and look a bit more interesting than just plain black text.

I then started to insert images and plan where I wanted them to go. I tried to keep them in line with the guides and headings. I used the same image of my main subject that I initially planned to use and I was pleased that it worked well and I think it fits in with the layout/ image of the page.

I then added the actual contents, which lines up with the corresponding page numbers. I added captions to the images (keeping the same font) and I added the date in the top right hand corner, because this is usually included on a magazine's contents page. I tried to make the captions on the images quite witty and informal, like that of a real music magazine. I think this will appeal to my target audience a lot.
I inserted my other image and after fitting the image proportionally to the size of the frame, I moved it further down the page, leaving gaps to the right hand sides of the headings. After asking a person who fits the criteria of my target audience what they would do, she suggested maybe including some block colours in the background to make the page look a bit more exciting and not so plain.
To make it look a bit more interesting, and follow the wants of my target audience, I added some black blocks of colour behind the headings, which I think gives more of a bold image and creates some definition in the page. I also added a page number and name of the magazine at the bottom of the page, which will create continuity as it can be seen along the bottom of the pages in the double page spread. I made the title bigger and moved the small details like the date and page number closer to the edges of the page so that everything wasn't cramped in the middle.

Construction of Double Page Spread

Using InDesign, I set up my double page spread and inserted the image that I wanted to use at a rough size, because I decided it would be better to play around first.

On the facing page, I put in my text and created a text box. The colour of the text box was taken from the lips of the subject in my image and I thought the colour worked.

I then put in page numbers along the bottom. I also wrote the name of the magazine along the bottom of both pages because I noticed that this is what real magazines do, and I did this in the font that my front page consists of to create continuity and give the idea that the pages all belong to one magazine. I then wrote an opening quote to my article above it in a text box. The font I used is like that used in a circus, which could possibly hold connotations relating to the music industry and performances being like an act or show, which my magazine could skim past to show readers the real article. In the same colour as the text box, I put "in the land of Tuesday..." on the opposing page. It overlaps the subject and I like the placing of it because I think that page could look like a real magazine, but I don't think it looks quite like a real music magazine.

To try and overcome this I put my article into two columns. I kept the font as "Times New Roman", despite it being quite a plain font because this is what I liked about it. I wanted the text to look as though it had come off a typewriter, or from an older music magazine where the text was plain and simple because it is of the most importance. I also made the image bigger so that it covers a whole page, as I thought the border round the edge didn't look very effective. I'm not sure if it's really exciting enough, however, because although I wanted it to be quite simple, I'm not sure if it just looks boring instead. Although, to try and solve this problem, I held a focus group of 10 people, to ask them what else they would do to the double page spread, or if they would change anything about it. 9 out of 10 of them said that they liked it the way it was, with the only small suggestion of playing around with the font of the bulk of the article and moving around the text on the left hand side of the page to see if it could look better anywhere else. From this, I think my double page spread will appeal to my target audience and I will play around with the placing of things.