Final Blog Post

Evaluation Question 7

www.bubbl.us 

Construction

You can see clearly when I compare my two front covers (final product and prelim) that I have developed my skills in using both software and hardware. 

My photoshop skills have developed a lot, as In my prelim I used basic text techniques whereas in my final product some of my text is distorted and rotated, in different sizes and I've used a variation of fonts. 

My photography skills have grown considerably, for instance in my prelim the image is slightly  over exposed and this has created a off white to light yellow background. The image in my final product further resembles professional practise as I learnt how to compose a photograph; I learnt how to use the 3 point lighting set up in the studio and set up aperture and shutter speed setting on the camera to ensure that my image wasn't over or under exposed. 

Both my models eye lines are on the top third creating direct address with the viewer, this was a convention I learnt right from the start of my prelim. In both prelim and final product my models and their costume were well picked for the target audience and genre I had chosen for the magazine, I think this was because I am well in touch with in season fashion and how young people like to dress and certain tribe stereotypes. 

In my prelim I have a sound understanding of magazine terminology however it has definitely developed and this can be seen in my final product - I have made good use of puffs, banners, sell lines, skyline, masthead etc. The text to image radio is more balanced in my final product as I had researched more into other magazines of the rock indie genre so had plenty of ideas for cover lines, skylines etc - the content was more researched. 

Comparing my Prelim Contents Page to my Final Product you can see straight away some very obvious developments. I learnt about the layout and the importance of it, the design of the prelim page is initially there it just needed more thought, work and research, on the other hand my final contents page uses a lot of conventions of professional texts and it has an exciting design that creates a lot of interest and bares a lot of useful information. 

The alignment of text and icons in my prelim contents page is inaccurate whereas in my final contents page all text is accurately and precisely aligned - my skills in Indesign widened and improved and I made proper use of the rulers in my final product. There is lots of open white space in my prelim page and the text to image ratio is further towards the text, whereas on my final contents page there isn't any open white space and there are four images to balance out the text. Leaving open white space isn't a convention of these types of magazines and makes the page look unprofessional. 

In my prelim I have grasped the basic skills of InDesign, placing text and image, creating icons and using different fonts, however in my final product my skills have greatly improved and I have a wider knowledge of the software. In my final product I have rotated photos, cut up my page into different segments and columns, made use of shapes, and I've added a whole range of different effects to my text. 

With regards to the content, I have interesting articles that will draw college students in, and this continues in my final product. In my audience feedback they commented that the sell lines were a big feature that drew them into possibly buying the magazine.  

In conclusion I think my final product resembles a professional music magazine. 

Evaluation Question 6

What I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation q 6

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Evaluation Question 5

How did I attract and address my audience?

I firstly conducted a focus group in my initial audience research to learn more about my target audience and what they wanted from a music magazine of this genre. 

My front cover model is a representation of my ideal reader and other models of this music genre; moody facial expressions, 'hands on hips' poses reinforce superiority, and that the model is in charge, dominant and completely sure and confident of themselves. They are all dressed in the latest 'in trend' clothes and accessories like my featured front cover model. My audience are interested in materialistic good they desire, such as smart phones, the latest gadgets, games and designer clothes to make sure they are a cut above the rest - so I have created a 'WIN £4200 WORTH OF TOP MUSIC GEAR' sell line icon on the front cover to attract my audience. The buzz word 'top' tells the audience that this is the best-of-the-best gear and that is something that excites my target audience. My colours used are very similar to the issue of NME featured; this 3 colour palette attracts my intended audience as it is sexy and playful but serious. I have challenged the use of fonts used usually in magazines of this genre, for example my font choices are a lot simpler than ones used in NME. This is because my target audience said they wanted a cleaner 'look' to a magazine, with not as much going on - a more sophisticated classic look. 

I conducted audience research with my target audience at different stages of my production and took this on board to make relevant changes. The following is some audience feedback that was taken out after my rough cut products were completed: 

I used this feedback to make the following changes; I added vital page numbers into my products, made my text larger on my front page to cancel out any unwanted white space, changed the shade of my 'Artists Index' box on my Contents Page and I added a banner and lengthened my article on my DPS. You can see clearly in the timeline of my blog what changes were made from my rough cuts to my final products. 

Audience research is really important in creating a quality product that will do well when launched - Knowing who your audience is makes it a lot easier to design a product for them because you are aware of their interests.

Also after I had finished my flat plans I conducted some other research and commented on it in a video, this helped me construct my rough cut. 

Audience Feedback

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for my media product?

My target audience belong to a tribe blend of Hipsters and Indie. The average age of my audience is around 19 and they are grouped mostly in middle class and lower middle class socio-economic groups. This is because their readers are educated and have a strong desire to spend a lot of money (disposable income) on materialistic goods, such as the latest gadgets, nice cars, in trend clothes and costly foods and drinks, Figi Water, Pizza Express etc. My audience isn't gender specific however my reader count may lean towards one particular gender; in my audience research 69% of NME's readers are males, leaving only 31% of women, this is the same with Kerrang with only 40% women and 60% male.
I created this mood board on Photoshop CS4. 

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Q. 3 on Prezi