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

Since making my preliminary magazine, I have learnt about page harmony rules, and different page models. Looking at my preliminary magazine, it doesn't really follow any rules to the layout and so doesn't look professional. In general also, my ability to use different technologies has greatly increased over the duration of the course, I had minimal experience editing pictures and using photoshop before making my magazine. So throughout the process of making my magazine, I learnt the necessary skills required to effectively edit images and compile them along with my article into a magazine. My product was also improved from teacher guidance and peer comments, which helped finding flaws in my product that I didn't spot myself.

On my preliminary magazine, my lack of knowledge of the technologies and page design is evident, the page follows no real model, and the images are poorly taken and lit, with little/no editing. I had also carried out no research into what made a good magazine, so that also shows in my preliminary. During my research and planning I discovered colour schemes and different fonts, which make a far more professional looking magazine when integrated. I think my preliminary magazine is also a bit too cluttered as well, as the groups I am targeting appreciate a simplistic and clean aesthetic as opposed to the more "busy" look of more mainstream magazines.

I was also inspired to go from a typical gloss magazine to a print publication by the magazine "Loud and Quiet" which is printed like a newspaper. My improved understanding of photoshop helped me make a much more aesthetically pleasing magazine, through the use of tools like layers and editing the flaws out of pictures and adjusting the colour levels. My understanding of how to take a professional looking picture, has also greatly improved, with knowledge of things like where to place a fill light to remove shadows, and how best to position the main lights to get a fully lit picture.

Overall I think the main things I learned were the skills to effectively use the technology available, and the conventions of page design, as these were the things that allowed me to create a realistic looking magazine.

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

Evaluation Question 6

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

Photoshop

Photoshop was the editing software used in the making of my magazine, I had used it briefly before the course but since making my magazine I had to learn many more skills, such as editing a picture to remove flaws, how to change the lighting levels, aligning images and cutting images out using the different built in tools. It allowed me to create a professional, realistic looking final magazine.

Computer

I used a combination of the school computers and computers at home to complete my magazine, it was absolutely vital to making my magazine, as it was the hardware which allowed me to access the software and websites I used when making and researching my magazine.

Camera

I used a Nikon D3200, which is the digital-slr camera I used at school, during making my magazine I had to learn how to set up the camera to take my desired pictures, by adjusting exposure, white-balance and shutter speed. The use of the camera let me take high-quality, professional looking pictures, which helped contribute to the overall high quality of my end product. In conjunction with the camera I also learnt how to use a tripod, which let me take stable, blur free pictures, whilst also letting me take multiple pictures from exactly the same location/perspective.

SD Cards and USB memory sticks

I used a variety of different SD cards and memory sticks in the process of making my magazine, they were very useful in transferring pictures and photoshop files between computers as they were too large to send via email or conveniently upload to cloud services. Because they easily let me take work between home and school it allowed me to complete work much easier as I wasn't limited to only working at school.

Google Chrome

Google chrome was the internet browser I used whilst carrying out research or finding images, without it, researching magazines and target audiences would have been much more difficult.

UK Tribes & YouGov Profiler

These two websites were very useful in the process of making my magazine, as they provided invaluable information on different youth cultures and their interests, and they permitted me to effectively market my magazine.

Blogger

This was the website I used to post all my work relating to my magazine, it was incredibly convenient as it automatically saves work, and can be accessed from any internet browser, so it made working across multiple computers very easy.

Flickr

Flickr is an image hosting site I used to upload the high definition photos I took, it allowed me to easily display and backup work online, whilst also accessing them from any internet browser.

How did you attract/address your audience? (finished)

How did you attract/address your audience? (draft)

The main way I attracted my audience was my magazine cover, which features a large image of a musician, who would be recognisable to the target audience of my magazine. The cover layout is also fairly unconventional in that there is very little text on the page, which would draw attention to my magazine cover as it would stand out on shelves next to more conventional covers. Since the target audience for my magazine, as mentioned before, is young alts or hipsters who strive to not be mainstream, a magazine which looks alternative or different is more likely to be appreciated by them.

This "alternative" theme is continued in the fact that my magazine is a print publication, not a gloss magazine, which is something that would fit the whole "hipster" aesthetic of retro styled clothing and items. Whilst researching I found general aesthetic appreciation is something that applies especially to the youth cultures I am aiming my magazine at, so I tried to give my magazine an "edgy" appearance, with a smaller minimalist logo which is not dissimilar to popular brands such as "Supreme".

Also there is a bit of a gap in the market for a magazine which covers "alternative" or lesser known music in general, not just one genre, but everything from indie to rap, so I think if a product is made to fill this gap it would be popular among the youth cultures I targeted.

The tagline on my cover "the spectacular musical genius" sounds like something that wouldn't be amiss in a magazine like "Vice" which, according to UK Tribes, epitomises hipster culture, so the fact that my magazine has similar features and text means it would have a good chance at being popular with the cultures I am targeting. 

In terms of creating a credible magazine, which would want to be read by others, I think I have done fairly well, so that in itself should attract my audience to my product, as they have the motivation and disposable income to buy magazines, so if an interesting product appears, it will probably generate decent sales. At £3.99 it fits well into the pricing of current magazines, so it wouldn't be especially expensive or cheap, so it would be fit into the current market.

Who would be the audience for your media product? (finished)

Who would be the audience for your media product? (draft)

When making my magazine I decided that the target audience would be both male and females aged 16-25, who fit into the youth cultures "young alts" or "hipsters", who appreciate not only entertaining content but a well designed and aesthetically pleasing magazine.

When identifying the target audience for my I used a combination on the Channel 4 research "UK Tribes" and the YouGov profiler tool. According to UK Tribes, "Young alts" strive to distance themselves from the mainstream, and that is also something I tried to achieve in my magazine. According to the YouGov profiler, people who describe themselves as alternative are primarily 18-24 and then after that 25-39, the fact the majority of people who give themselves the alternative descriptor are within my target age range implies that they would be the audience for my media product.

I didn't specifically aim my magazine at fans of one specific genre, but rather alternative/niche music as a whole, which I believe is the sort of music a lot of young adults and teenagers are listening to in the modern day, most people don't simply like any one genre, rather a spectrum. This is backed up by the research I carried out on UK tribes, which speaks for the youth cultures of "young alts" and "hipsters" as liking "from heritage bands like The Smiths, to Scene Kid favourites Bring Me The Horizon and even the occasional urban sounds like Joey Bada$$ and A$AP Rocky."

I think its this variety of content and its popularity among youth cultures that allows me to target a relatively wide youth demographic, with overlap into the youth cultures of "skater" and "new casuals".