Evaluation

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

Before I created my media product, I researched student magazines to get an idea of what my product will need. After researching many magazines I found out that the student magazines were following the same sort of house style. This house style was bright colours, usually a happy student(s) as the central image, different interesting fonts and a masthead. I think these type of magazines follow this type of house style because it would attract the right readers into buying the magazine. The mode of address in almost all of the magazines that I researched were informal and chatty which would match the readers (younger generation). My media product uses some conventions of real media products.  My media product includes a masthead, a central image, a splash and some cover lines. The central image is of a happy student to portray the magazine in a positive way. The masthead is a student related name which should help present the product as a student magazine.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group that my media product represents is students between the age of 16 to 24 years. I have attempted to do this by keeping the text informal to keep the magazine friendly and readable. My central image is of a happy student which steers away from the typical 'wild' teenager. This would hopefully portray students as pleasant, happy people. Because I have kept the colour scheme simple, the student magazine should appeal to both male and female students.

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

I think that my student magazine would be distributed in local colleges as that is what my media product is targeted at. This is because my media product includes information about local areas and wouldn't benefit being distributed far away from the area.

Question 4 - Who would be the target audience for your media product?

My media product is specifically aimed at teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 to 24. This is because my media product includes revision tips, student related news, reviews, competitions and discounts that students would be interested in.

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract an audience I used a student for the central image. This is because it will be someone they recognise and can relate to the image as it's someone in their age group. I used simple bright colours which the students I asked in my research said they preferred.  I placed my masthead at the top of the cover which made it noticeable and would hopefully attract students. I also used readable fonts and informal language to help address the audience.

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

At the start of the preliminary task we had to set up a blogger account. We did this for somewhere to keep and post our work. Blogger is simple and easy to use.

To design and put together the magazine we used Indesign. I had never used Indesign before and found it confusing to start off with. After a while I got used to creating layers to add something new to the design and learned the basics of the programme.

I also used a camera to take pictures for my contents and cover page. Using the camera was simple as I have used them many times before.