Evaluation

Design Process



Evaluation - Preliminary Task from connerbmedia

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Evaluation - Main Task

My music magazine product looks extremely professional as a result of the following:

• The right ratio of text to images.
• The composition and style of images.
• Intriguing cover lines using words such as 'Exclusive!' to attract the target audience.
• The use of codes and conventions of media products such as convergent links, bar codes and pricing. 
• Maintaining a consistent house style throughout.

Question 1

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

Question 2

 



Question 3 from connerbmedia

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

What have you learn't about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The following images will present the design process that I underwent when constructing my entire final media product. 

The following images highlight the design process of my music magazine front cover

In this first screenshot I added an image that I had taken myself during the photo shoot task. I felt out of all of the replica images that my model posed for that this one in particular best represented the found image of Sam Smith that I used for my mock up front cover. I then enlarged it's scale to fit the page. The picture was taken through a tube to create the effect of someone looking through the lens of a camera.

Next I added the smaller images that go with the cover lines around the main image. The inclusion of other pop stars is to encourage niche groups to buy the magazine.

Then I added my feature cover line. I highlighted the words Grammy awards which are of particular importance by colouring them black in order to attract the attention of my audience to them. The rest of the cover line is yellow as this was my selected text colour, adhering to my magazines house style. The title of course is not completed because as you will see in the next print screen I decided to represent the letter O with a camera lens as it links in with the magazine title POParazzi which is a play on the word paparazzi, whom are people that take pictures of celebrities.

Next I altered the text by adding a drop down shadow effect. This gave my magazine a much more professional and graphical look. I did this for every bit of text after this.

Then I added all of the remaining cover lines and images of mine that correlated with the text. For the bottom two cover lines I used smaller text to correspond to the size of the images adjacent to them and to compensate for their larger amounts of text. This presents my skills in manipulating images. I also repositioned these images to the left hand side of the page as they looked more appealing there and as well as this the layout of my front cover appeared more structured like this. As well as this I added the camera lens discussed previously and a bevelled star next to the cover line in the top right of the page to reinforce that it was an important sell line that I wanted my readers to immediately identify.

In the final stages of my music magazine production I added convergent links such as Facebook and Twitter. Also I added a bar code, a price for the consumer and a magazine issue date of which all conform to the codes and conventions of a real life magazine.

Finally I chose to adjust the brightness and contrast of my magazine in order to make the lighting easy on the eye. This was an overall attempt to make my magazine stand out even more and as a result more appealing to my target audience.

When creating my Contents page I found it difficult to recreate the background colours used on my front cover page therefore I decided to change my main image and consequently the background colours. I chose a gradient for the background with the colours transitioning from black into grey and eventually into white. This allowed me to replicate the background onto my contents page giving my overall magazine a much more consistent and identifiable house style. Then I decided to change the cover line 'exclusive Ed Sheeran interview' to a 'photo shoot with Ed Sheeran'. This was a direct result of the need for my feature cover to also be an interview (with Sam Smith) so this development would add variation to my magazine and as well as this a different form of content for my audience. I then created an 'exclusive interview' cover line for Sam Smith who I have chosen to interview for my double page spread. I added a shine effect to this piece of text to reinforce that it is the main story within this issue of my magazine. I also changed the colour of the word Grammy to white in order to make it more appealing as well as I repositioning some of the text and my masthead. Finally I positioned the issue date at the bottom left hand corner above the bar code, where it is normally found on a real life music magazine.

After observing and analysing my final front cover I decided, along with some inspiration for ideas that I wanted to revamp the design slightly. I added my magazine slogan 'a cocktail of sound' beneath the masthead and coloured it white to make it stand out. Then I chose to add two white lines above and below the free poster cover line so that it was separated from the text above and I added a personal pronoun to it, 'your'. This makes the cover line a lot more distinct and identifiable. Finally I repositioned the bottom two cover lines and placed the images on top of one another so that they overlapped. I felt that this change specifically made my magazine look much more professional and appealing. The majority of the cover lines show a consistent use of declaratives.

The following images highlight the design process of my music magazine Contents page

First I recreated the gradient that I used for my front cover background. The colour chose here is a black into grey transition.

Next I named my contents page 'POPContents'. The style that I chose is the exact same as my front cover masthead, white text with a camera lens representing the O but this time on a yellow box out.

In this screenshot I added another image of my model portraying Sam Smith because he was the singer I chose to head line this issue of my magazine.

Next I inserted a contents strip on the right hand side of the image of my model. This table includes page number headings, extra cover lines with the page numbers that they can be found on and rhetorical questions and declaratives within cover lines. in the top right I added the phrase 'summer issue' and my magazines website link 'www.poparazzi.co.uk' for which I used an instant 3D effect which embossed the writing and tilted it inwards to the left. This achieved my desire for the link to the website to be instantly recognisable on the contents page. For all of the text I used emphasis which gave it an italic effect. I maintained the house style with a consistent use of the colour yellow.

This screenshot shows me adding two more images of my model to surround the main image. I placed them onto a picture frame and rotated them to make them more effective and appealing. This style of image placement on a media product is rather conventional but nevertheless effective. In addition to this I added a caption in the bottom left of the main image of my model, where it is normally found on an image. 

I then added an editorial written by me the producer of the magazine. I included my personal photo and my signature. This conforms to the codes and conventions of a real life music magazine. I also included a smaller version of my magazine masthead in its original style adjacent to the page number. This is extremely effective, it reinforces that my magazine is a professional, industry standard produced media product.

Here I have added to my contents strip with a main cover line '5 boys reunion on the cards!' with an image of a band in a frame. As well as this I implemented another section with images of the front cover giving information on how to obtain a magazine subscription. This is a convention of real life music magazines. 

Next I included a cropped image of my model a long with Sam Smith's signature to draw immediate attention to the incentive my magazine was offering. The incentive offered is the chance to win tickets to Sam Smith's North American tour and a meet and greet with the Vamps (a band also featured in my magazine). To enter the prize draw people have to register online at my magazines website.

In this final screenshot I altered some of the cover lines to make them more professional. An example of this is I changed the cover line 'Ed Sheeran's HOT new photo shoot - OUCH' to 'Ed Sheeran's HOT new X album photo shoot'. By removing the phrase 'OUCH' and replacing it with an advertisement of Ed Sheeran's new album it makes my magazine more formal and professional and it shows the my magazine liaise's with  the music press. I decided to change the standard text for the page number headings and the 5 boys reunion cover line to much larger and more stylish text format. I did this using photoshop and then importing the text into page plus. I also enlarged the front cover images and included them in the same box out as the corresponding text to show that they are apart of the same piece of information.

 Up close Screenshots

The following images highlight the design process of my music magazine Double page spread

Firstly I chose the image I wanted as the background for my double page spread. I chose this image because I thought that the text I had envisioned would look great against this backdrop.

Next I added my article positioning each of the 4 columns the same distance away from one another and the same length using the page plus grid lines as guidelines. I chose Times New Roman as the text format and then the text style as emphasis which adds an italic effect. I implemented the justify setting on the text because it makes full text lines span the width of a the column and it makes text shape around images on the page.

This image shows what page plus looked like when I loaded it up. The lines as seen on the page are the grid lines/guide lines that I have previously mentioned.

In this screenshot i enlarged the first letter of my article which is a professional feature of any real life article.

Here I added the magazine logo POParazzi and my name stretching vertically between the two final columns of text. In addition to this I implemented yellow text stating that the article was deducted from an interview with Sam Smith onto a black box out. This was done to make it stand out to my target audience. I also added and then rotated 90 degrees clockwise Sam Smith's signature.

In this screenshot I highlighted a quote from Sam Smith in red top use it as a pull factor that would encourage my audience to read the rather wordy article. I also added page numbers with the magazine logo at the bottom of the pages. As well as this I repositioned some of the text.

 

Next I added a yellow on black box out with information on how to find out more about the interview conducted with Sam Smith.

In this image I have added another box out with another pull quote from Sam Smith and then below it a caption for the image 'Sam Smith posing intently'.

Finally I repositioned the signature from the top left of the page to below the caption of the main image. I then added the title of my double page spread 'POPArticle' in the top left and rotated it 90 degrees clockwise. I did not adjust the lighting, this is just the effect of this particular screenshot.

Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Below is a video recording where I give my answer to Question 7 of my evaluation for my main task. I decided to do a video recording because I felt that I could express my feelings better by vocalising my opinions in an interview scenario rather than through written form. This video also shows my ability to use a range of different technologies. During this video that I will record using my webcam I will present my editing skills through cutting from scene to scene and and through my use of animation.