Project Evaluation

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

My media product follows many of the conventions of real media products. From my magazine deconstructions I know that real established magazines have a generally similar basic cover layout, for example; a large picture occupying much of the cover, a masthead aligned towards the left, and smaller pictures of secondary articles. My product included all of these as I decided that these would be a base to plan my design upon.



2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product represents young (i.e. late teens) musicians. They are presented in a positive light, as opposed to the representation of this age group in most other forms of media.



3. What kinds of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As well as conventional media outlets such as newsagents, my magazine would be distributed at music shops (both chain and independent). Also it would be sold at live music venues and at music festivals, as these are likely to be places where my audience would be found.



4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

My media product was designed to appeal to fans of alternative/’indie’ rock music, aged from around teenager to late 20s. In order to appeal to this demographic I made sure that the people represented within it all fitted within this criteria, as well as this I made sure that my layout was suitable. For example, it had to be attention-grabbing beyond bright colours, so I had to consider the design of the masthead and titles, and make sure the layout was visually interesting.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The feedback from my target audience was mostly positive. It was suggested that I add more colour to it, as the dominate colours are black and white. It was also suggested that the images aren’t as good a quality as they could be. The target audience appeared to like the design of the masthead and the general layout of the magazine, especially the double page spread.


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

When producing this media product I used GIMP software for the first time, so I had to learn to use that for cutting the main picture on the cover from its background. This was a relatively easy process once I learnt how to do it.



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

My skills in both design and construction have improved greatly between the preliminary and the full product. My photo editing has improved, as in my preliminary I couldn’t cut the background from pictures, but when creating my full product I discovered the software that would allow me to do this easily. Smaller details, such as titles have improved, as I used ‘word art’ on my preliminary, but for my main I created my own title style using ‘paint’ software.