Student Magazine Evaluation

In what ways does your student magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before creating my magazine I researched and analysed current student magazines available. From doing this I recognised what the main conventions of a student magazine were, I showed these in my research from previous blog posts.  While designing and creating my magazine I took these conventions and tried to incorporate as many as possible.  I made sure that I definitely used the main and key conventions such as the masthead, splash, cover lines, central image and articles trailed.  My magazine does not challenge the conventions of real media products.  It follows the guidelines in a style that suits the theme and target audience.  I made sure that I followed the form of real products and made sure that all of the text was bold and used sans serif fonts.  I made sure that my colours were clear and did not merge.  I made sure to keep this throughout my project in my brand identity and house style.  The fonts, heading and colours were kept consistent throughout.  My mode of address was informal but not overly friendly to the audience, which I also saw in media products I researched.  I also followed the guidelines of using a medium close up shot for the central image which doubled as the background of the magazine that observed being down multiple times.

How does your student magazine represent particular social groups?

I created my magazine for the target group of college students, typically ranging in ages 16-18 however it could still appeal to older students.  My magazine could be seen a representation of a typical teen from the cover image.  It shows a teen male with a skateboard and dressed in the typical clothes one would associate with a skater.  This could be seen as a stereotype of male teens however the splash anchors the image.  It suggests that skateboarders may have a stereotype but it is not representing all college students.  My masthead could also be seen as quite a typical word for the target audience ‘Updated’. I used this as it described the magazine and was a simple word that is a huge aspect of lives of the target group.  All of the aspects created were intended to appeal to the majority of 16-18 year olds.  Some of this may include certain stereotypes, but not negative ones, just ones that relate to real students in the target group.

What kind of media institution might distribute your student magazine and why?

The magazine could potentially be distributed by Ludlow College, however this could be used for marketing reasons instead of being made for the students.  The magazine instead could be produced by the students them selves and create the funds for printing and distributing through advertisements that appeal to the target group and by selling the magazine.  Apart from it being just a local college magazine it could be distributed to any college with some adaptation of certain aspects.

Who would be the audience for your student magazine?

My magazines audience is the college age range, typically 16-18 years old.  It is not a gender specific magazine however some issues or articles may appeal more to some than others.  The target audience would be interested in media such as films, music and games with some TV interest; along with advice for student life inside and outside of education. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

I used my cover page to primarily attract the target audience.  I made sure to make the masthead especially bold so that it would be easily spotted by any potential reader of the magazine.  I made the masthead bold by using a large stroke around the bold, capitalised text.  I kept all of the background surrounding the text black so that there was nothing in the masthead that would distract such as the central image. I used quite a bright image for the cover to stand out.  The background has a very bright white in the sky and the green on the skateboard it bright and stands out on its plain black background.

Along with this for my cover lines, splash and articles trailed I made sure to keep a very consistent house style.  I used the green from the skateboard for the background of the subtitles and all of the text had a black stroke on the white middle.  This caused it to stand out from the image and become bold and eye catching instead of merging into the background and becoming insignificant to the magazine.

            I addressed my audience in an informal way using words like ‘you’ and ‘our’.  I did this so that the magazine did not sound too formal, that the target audience would not appreciate.  However, I was also made sure that I was not too patronising to the group as I did not want to push readers away.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the student magazine?

Throughout this project I used Blogger.  This was the first experience I have had with any blogging site.  I found it quite easy to use and quickly picked up how to post, edit and update to my blog.

            For the creation of the magazine its self I used InDesign along with some Photoshop for image manipulation and creating some features.  I had had a lot of previous experience with Photoshop and had no problems with manipulating my images or creating the peeling price sticker effect.   I also had experience with InDesign as well as similar programs such as QuarkXPress.  I understood the basic principles of creating the magazine.  I refined my techniques and learnt some new skills with the program.  InDesign was very easy to use to create a smooth layout and consistent house style. Overall I was very happy with the software that I used and feel confident in using both.