Note to the Examiner

To the Examiner,

I hope you enjoy reading through my blog and looking at the progression I have made from my preliminary product to my final media product. I have developed many skills throughout the coursework from using photoshop, photography and many other technologies. I made a large effort throughout my research and planning in the hope I could create a successful magazine from the criteria given.

Thankyou, Alice

FINAL EVALUATION: Question 1

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

The magazines I looked at for inspiration were from the same genre as my media product. It was therefore easier to see genre-specific conventions and helped me to develop ideas on how to change and challenge those conventions in order to make my magazine stand out without appearing to be from a different genre.

I also took ideas from pop magazines for the basis of my colour scheme; I found that they conventionally used bright colours but also stuck to the idea of a 3 colour pallet. This gave me inspiration to have a base of a 3 colour pallet to reflect those conventionally related to pop genre magazines. However, on occasions I found that the magazines also used forth or fifth colours for accents within the masthead or coverlines.

Examples of Pop Magazine covers that I looked at for colour pallet ideas

Black, White and Green - Black, Grey and Purple - Black, Purple, Gold  and White Accents

 I also looked at fashion magazines such as Cosmopolitan, which has a similar audience to the one I intend to market my magazine for, they also regularly feature many of the celebrities that I have taken inspiration from. 

After researching this my colour pallet was easy to choose as I wanted to incorporate black and white to give the magazine a bold, clean and clear look with one main colour to emphasis the magazines key features. After seeing that music magazines commonly use black and white in their colour pallets with the final colour being a bold colour such as red; I decided that I wanted to steer away from red to keep my magazine looking vibrant but still wanted a bold, impact colour similar to this; I therefore decided to use orange as my third colour, because I felt it had the right feel and wasn't commonly used in pop magazines so would help to make my magazine stand out. However I did also add in accents using a forth reddy colour.

When creating my media products, my ideas on the use and challenges of conventions where heavily influenced by the examples I evaluated. For my cover I have decided to use the rule of thirds, as this is the most common layout format used for magazines, especially music related ones such as Billboard, as the layout helps you to clearly portray your masthead, ideas and themes. Also when taking into consideration the way in which magazines are presented in shops, the majority of magazines only have the top third on show to shoppers; therefore, putting the masthead in this third allows your magazine to be quickly recognised, to help increase the likelihood of sales. However, I also took the bottom two thirds of my page to play with conventions, as I feel this helps to make it look unique and different. I split this section into two halves; one created for the main image and one for the cover lines. I think the way I have done this gives the cover a slick, clean and ‘fresh’ appearance. 

FINAL EVALUATION: Question 2

FINAL EVALUATION: Question 3

FINAL EVALUATION: Question 4

EVALUATION QUESTIONS: Question 4 on Prezi

FINAL EVALUATION: Question 5

FINAL EVALUATION: Question 6

Evaluation question 6

View more presentations from AliceLillyHoar.

FINAL EVALUATION: Question 7

Looking Back at Your Preliminary Task

FINAL PRODUCT: MAGAZINE COVER

FINAL COVER

FINAL PRODUCT: MAGAZINE CONTENTS

FINAL CONTENTS

FINAL PRODUCT: MAGAZINE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

FINAL DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Improvements

Screen Print of work lost due to technical difficulties with photoshop.

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Improvements

I have been experimenting with my main photo for my cover, as whilst i was happy with the final layout plan I felt the photo could've been brighter and a bit more vibrant as the colours weren'tt appearing quite how i'd like them to; the screen shot here shows the edited version.

I have also been working on editing my contents photos, editing them to get the colours and effect similar to the cover to help continuity. I have also been adding in the smaller final photos, adding in more pages to the contents lists and editing the layout.

Improvements

I have begun adding in my final photos, this helps me to see where I can add in the extra colour from my cover's colour pallet as I intend to carry this through. Here are screen shots of the progress I have made with adding in my main image, as well as the new white background and layout changes, mainly reguarding the title and it's typography.

I've also created a my final cover:

Improvements

I have decided on a definate layout for my final cover, here is a screen print of it at this stage:

I have also started working on the typography and colour pallet for my contents. I have decided the background for my contents needs to be white to keep it looking cleaner and clearer.

From this point I want to change how the title 'contents' looks as I feel the letters are too far apart and the typography doesnt quite fit the feel I want. However, I intend to add in my final photos before continuing with editing the typography as I want the text to fit well with my photos.



Improvements

I have again experimented with layout and text. I am now certain on the positioning of the main photo and masthead therefore I am working on the layout and typography of the coverlines to give the look i want. the screen print here shows my main idea:

I have also started on my contents, and have decided to change the title to match the masthead for continuity, as the difference in placement and layout will stop it looking to similar. I have also decided to incorporate the 4th colour of red from my covers colour pallet to also help continuity through the pages. This colour also matches elements of my main final photographs.

Improvements

I have been trying to improve the layout of my cover as I feel this is what mainly reduced the overall effect of the appearance I was aiming for. To do this i have experimented with the positioning of the main photo in relation to the coverlines; the screen prints here show this: