Evaluation

Evaluation 

I really enjoyed doing this task and I learnt many things while doing it. The only part I didn’t enjoy was using the computer software and the IMAC’s because they're very technical and hard to use. I now still don’t know how to use them properly but I can kind of use them as I have had help from others. Another part I didn’t enjoy was the fact that we had to do a student magazine. I did not know what to include on the front cover and contents page as there are not a lot of student magazines that already exist but in the end I did and I am pleased with my result.

One thing I learnt was how to use Blogger and this was very interesting because it is a way to present your work electronically. Blogger is also very good because it is a way to make your work look pretty and you can edit the colours and fonts of your blog to make it look aesthetically pleasing. Blogger can sometimes be very confusing though but once you actually know how to use it then you can get the hang of it and actually create your blog. 

Another reason why I liked doing this task is the fact that I had independence. I like the fact that I was able to create my own blog and make it how I wanted it to be. I also liked how we could create a magazine cover and contents page as I like magazines myself and to create one was really enjoyable.

I like my finished front cover and contents page. They both have the same colour scheme and similar pictures as I made it key for them to have the same house style. I used red, black, white and grey because they went well with the Highdown logo. The title of my magazine is ‘Get that grade!’. I purposely didn’t include a price on my magazine front cover as i’ve made it free and usually on free magazines you don’t put free you just leave it and make it available to everyone who wants a copy. 

What I think I could’ve improved on is I could’ve included more information on my front cover. I could’ve included more information on my contents page too. I could’ve included better pictures as well. Overall I am quite pleased with my magazine. I should’ve put more pictures and more information though and I could’ve filled up some of the spaces but it is okay. 

Finished front cover and contents page

Construction examples: Contents page

Construction examples: Front cover

Picture Practice

Information to do with my Mock Ups

Mock ups

I chose the layout for my front cover because I thought it was a very clear layout. The school name and logo are at the top of the page to show what school the magazine is from. The main title is underneath to show the magazine name and what it is to do with. Underneath is a picture about the main story and information about it surrounding the picture. Underneath that picture is a caption about the picture. In the bottom left hand corner is the date. Next to that is a box that says ‘Read full story inside’. I chose to include this because it draws attention to the magazine and gets the audience to read it. Next to this is a picture to do with the story that is inside. Underneath this picture is a caption explaining what page the story is on. The caption will not include too much information because that would give the story away. 

I chose the layout for my contents page because it is very clear and shows people where to go within the magazine. At the top of the page is a title saying ‘Contents’. Next to this is the school logo, I chose to put the logo again just to improve the aesthetics and to show what school the magazine is to do with. Underneath this are boxes saying page 1, page 2 etc. Next to the pages are boxes that have brief introductions to what is on the pages. At the bottom of the page will be pictures to do with some of the stories on these pages. 

Mock ups of my front cover and contents page

Front cover and Contents page draft

Research of student magazines already in the market

Research of student magazines already in the market

Student magazines already in the market

There are many magazines that are in the market but not many student magazines are to do with education. However there are a lot of teen magazines that are in the market, they just offer other things instead of education. For example Teen Vogue offers fashion tips, makeup tips and other things. But on this particular front cover they do have a section on Prom and this is a topic that is to do with school. 

Magazine Questionnaire Analysis

Magazine Questionnaire Analysis 

For my questionnaire i did a total of ten questions. Each question had a total of four answers that people could choose from, except question nine but that is because of the type of question. The question is ‘What gender are you?’ and i could only give a possible three answers which are Male, Female and Other. I chose to put in an other option just incase people are transgender or something similar to this. I asked a total of twenty people. 

For the following questions these are the answers that i got from my questionnaire: 

The answers with asterisk's next to them are the top answer: 

1. How old are you?

10 - 13  - One person chose this.    

14 - 17  - Thirteen people chose this.* 

18 - 21 - Four people chose this.      

21+ - Two people chose this. 

2. How much are you willing to pay for a magazine?

50p - £1.00 - No one chose this.     

£1.50 - £2.00 - Six people chose this.

£2.50 - £3.00 - Ten people chose this.*

£3.00+ - Four people chose this.

3. What makes you buy a magazine? 

3. What makes you buy a magazine? 

The front cover - Ten people chose this.*

The information - Two people chose this.

The fact that it might help you personally (offers advice) - Three people chose this.

The freebies - Five people chose this.

4. Why do you buy magazines? 

For the freebies - Seven people chose this.

For pleasure - Ten people chose this.*

For education - No one chose this.

For personal help - Three people chose this.

5. What do you dislike about magazines? 

The expensive prices - Eight people chose this.*

The celebrities - Five people chose this.

Too much information - Four people chose this. 

Some inappropriate pictures - Three people chose this.

6. What is your favourite part about a magazine? 

The front cover - Five people chose this.     

The fashion/makeup tips - Six people chose this.*    

Sports - Four people chose this.     

The information - Four people chose this. 

7. What type of magazines do you usually buy?

Fashion - Seven people chose this.* 

Sports - Six people chose this. 

Gossip - Five people chose this. 

Education - Two people chose this.

8. How often do you read magazines? 

Daily - One person chose this  

Weekly - Two people chose this.  

Monthly - Ten people chose this.* 

Hardly ever - Seven people chose this.

9. What gender are you? 

Male - Seven people chose this.

Female - Thirteen people chose this.*  

Other - No one chose this.  

10. What do you think a student magazine is for? 

Gossip - No one chose this.  

Help with personal issues (offers advice) - Six people chose this.

Education - Seven people chose this.*

School announcements - Seven people chose this.* 

Graphs for my magazine questionnaire

Contents page analysis

The annotations are:

All of the colours go together well and don't clash.
A website adress has been added to get people to visit it.
A big picture is in the centre to get peoples attention and to get them to read it. It is also a celebrity which would get peoples attention straight away.
A catchy title and slogan is used to get peoples attention and to get them too read it, plus it is about the celebrity so they would want to go to the page that it is on and read all about it.
There is a brief introduction about what the article is about and has the celebrities name in bold to tell people who the article is about and to get them to read it if they like him.
Another web adress is included on this page.
There is a picture of a male's naked torso and this would get you to look at page nine because you would be intrigued and would want to see it as you would be attracted to it. Mainly women only though.
The background is pink. Pink represents females as it is a feminine colour, hence why this is a girly magazine.
There is a picture of a famous actor who is also a teen sweetheart who people love and adore.
'Gossip2Go' - the main heading for all top of the pops magazines (for the contents page). It is bold and bright and tells you exactly what you are going to get in the magazine. 'Gossip'.
All writing is clear and easy to read.

Colour testing

Pink is a very feminine colour. Pink is said to be a colour just for girls but this is not true, this is just a stereotype. When babies are born they say that blue is for boys and pink is for girls, this wasn't always the case because pink comes from red and red means blood and violence and boys were to be seen as powerful and violent. Blue was the colour that the Virgin Mary wore and they said that girls should be innocent but somehow the colour’s swapped around. When i think of pink i think of girly things such a hearts, love, flowers etc.

Red usually represents love but it has other meanings such as blood, fear, fire, passion etc. When i think of red i do usually think of love. Red is associated with energy, war and danger. 

Blue is a calm, neutral colour. The stereotype is that blue is for boys, this is not true because blue can be for both boys and girls. The colour blue reminds me of water. Blue is usually associated with water but it is also the colour of the sky and it symbolizes faith, truth and heaven.  

Green is an earthy colour. When i think of green i think of nature such as leaves, trees, grass etc. Green symbolizes freshness, harmony and fertility. Dark green is commonly associated with money. 

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with the tropics, joy etc. When i think of the colour Orange i usually think about the fruit which is called an Orange.

Black reminds me of darkness and death. The colour black is associated with formality, death, evil and mystery. 

Yellow is the colour of sunshine. It is associated with joy, happiness and energy. When i think of the colour yellow i think of the sun and smiley faces which are sometimes yellow. Gold is a kind of yellowy colour and this reminds me of jewelry. 

Font testing

Lucida Blackletter: I like this type of font because it seems gothic, it also seems formal. Some of the letters are not so clear though and some people may find it hard to read. This font also seems like the style of writing, calligraphy. 

Arial: I like this style of writing because it seems modern and it is very clear and easy to read. 

Bradley hand ITC TT: I like this font because it has curly parts such on some of the letters. For example the letter ‘y’. It is also very modern and is clear to read. Some people may find it hard to read though. 

Casual: I don’t really like this font that much. It looks to childlike and i prefer joined up fonts. This font also seems too spaced part. The font is okay but it is not one of my favourite ones. 

Zapfino: I really like this font. It looks like the style of writing Calligraphy. It also has curly letters and it is just really nice. The only problem with it is that it is quite big and may be hard to read. 

Blackoak Std: I really do not like this font because even at size 14 it looks too big. It is also bold and i haven't even selected it to be bold.  

Magazine Questionnaire

Magazine Questionnaire

Please tick the answer that is relevant to you 

1. How old are you?

10 - 13     

14 - 17     

18 - 21     

21+ 

2. How much are you willing to pay for a magazine?

50p - £1.00    

£1.50 - £2.00

£2.50 - £3.00

£3.00+

3. What makes you buy a magazine? 

The front cover

The information

The fact that it might help you personally (offers advice)

The freebies

4. Why do you buy magazines? 

For the freebies

For pleasure

For education

For personal help

5. What do you dislike about magazines? 

The expensive prices

The celebrities

Too much information

Some inappropriate pictures 

6. What is your favourite part about a magazine? 

The front cover    

The fashion/makeup tips    

Sports    

The information

7. What type of magazines do you usually buy?

Fashion

Sports 

Gossip 

Education

8. How often do you read magazines? 

Daily 

Weekly 

Monthly 

Hardly ever

9. What gender are you? 

Male

Female 

Other 

10. What do you think a student magazine is for? 

Gossip 

Help with personal issues (offers advice)

Education 

School announcements 

Student magazine name ideas

Highdown news
Learn, Revise, Success
Focus
Get that grade!

Front cover analysis of Chat magazine

The annotations are: 

Big, bold title to attract the reader.
The slogan attracts people too because these are topics that the audience can relate to.
Both stories are sob stories which would attract people and make them want to read it.
This magazine is mainly about life issues and peoples shocking stories. People would want to read this because thy could maybe relate to he stories or just find them interesting.
'Blinded By my big belly' - A life issue story that people would want to read about and could maybe relate to as it's an everyday thing in our society.
'I blew my own face off!' - Attracts people because they would want to know how he did it and why?
This woman may be a celebrity. I don't know if she is but usually they use celebrities to attract readers. If she is not a celebrity then they just used an attractive women to once again attract readers.
The colour scheme of this magazine kind of clashes but I like it and think it works. The colours are bright, bold and noticeable.
The font used is readable and very clear.
Birth stories - people can relate to and have interesting tittles like 'I gave birth in Tesco's' which would attract readers.

Mediaaa!

Hellooooo!!! :D

I am doing Media Studies at Highdown As Level and it is made up of three tasks: 

The Pre-liminary task- Student Magazine 

The Main task- Music Magazine 

The Evaluation