Evaluation

1. AS Media By Laurena Etwi Evaluation

2. My work real media products When I designed my magazine I copied the ‘Z’ design for my layout, as this has been said to be the natural viewing pattern of people when they look at a magazine. When doing this I also conveyed the usual layout as I reshaped the ‘Z’ in my 2 page spread and even changed the whole idea when making my contents page following no pattern at all. I figured that this would break rules and make it a more risky and maybe even more affective way of introducing my artist, it also linked with the image of my model which is ‘risk taking and upcoming’.

3. Representation My colour scheme (for my Contents page and 2- page spread) involves many different greens as this represents ‘growth’ and also ‘nature’. I wanted to create a link between my artist and the colour scheme, meaning that they would have things in common. My artist is a young and upcoming (growing) artist who has natural talents, and by using this colour scheme I got this point across without having to mention it repetitively. As mentioned before I tried to convey some rules and norms of the layout of magazines as I believed that this would allow me to show that music is not all black on white but it allows people to share messages in different ways without it actually being socially normal or expected.

4. Institution JET Magazine is a magazine that tends to give chances to upcoming artists, as they also did this with their Trey Songz magazine edition where they unveiled their new look. When Trey Songz appeared on the cover, he was not known yet but JET Magazine still published it, this suggests that they could be a good institution when it comes to publishing my magazine. My magazine has the aim to introduce a young ,fresh and upcoming artist. By giving Jordan the artist a chance to be on the front cover of a JET Magazine edition, the magazine will be able to take a risk that may be able to renew their look and the conventions of the people who already know the magazine. The magazine has a big name and people already have a built trust with the institution as they have been successful in delivering previously.

5. My intended audience My music magazine was aimed at teenagers as it is a magazine that is based on the latest R&B music and artists. I asked 10 people in my sixthform (boys and girls aged 16-18)what kind of music they listen to the most an I found out that from the 10 people that I asked7 people said R&B, 2 said rap and 1 said they were unsure. Which then told me that R&B would probably be the most listened to music genre within the age group 16-18. Teenagers are my targeted audience and by asking them what kind of music they listen to the most, It was easier for me to know who to relate to when creating and designing my magazine as this is an R&B magazine. It also told me that my sixthform would be a good frame for my following questionnaires , as they are familiar with the genre my magazine is based on.

6. Attracting and addressing audience After finding out that the people I had classified as my targeted audience were in my sixth form, I asked them to fill in my questionnaires so that I could then use the results to appeal to them. This can be seen in my other power point where I explained the survey’s results and analysed them in detail. Carrying out surveys or questionnaires is a quick and effective way of finding out what you need to change and adjust to your work, and it is free of charge making it the best choice for me. One change that I made to appeal to my audience more would be taking more risks when designing my layout for my front cover as most people said that this is what either engages them or discourages them to carry on looking through or even buy the magazine.

7. What did I learn? I have never really worked on MAC computers and this gave me an opportunity to learn things such as dragging pictures into photoshop (and other programs) without actually opening it as a file. I had heard of blogging before but I never really made my own blog, and this course allowed me to make a blog and learn how to use it in an appropriate way. I uploaded my work and received feedback from my teacher through it whereas I would have done this by email or verbally before I was briefly introduced to ‘Wordpress’. Survey monkey was one of the websites that helped me to speed up the process of researching my targeted audience and also magazine, as by using this website to make surveys I was able to let my school mates and people around me fill it in quick and for free.

8. Preliminary test The preliminary test allowed me to experience with Photoshop as I had never really used it for editing. I used the tools and worked with Photoshop designing a front cover for a magazine which would then give me a chance to both research and add to my already existing knowledge about magazines and the tricks they use to make it more affective. One thing that I was not aware of when using photoshop was that, by making different layers you could add them together and create one piece, which would have a different effect from when you would just work on one layer. The layers also allow you to make mistakes without it having any affect on your end results as they give you a chance to experiment and compare which one you prefer.