Evaluation of my Media Product: OWN Magazine

1. Evaluation

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media product develops, more so than challenges, the conventions of magazines. To get my own ideas about how I would like to create my own magazine, I analyzed multiple Indie-Rock covers, contents pages and double page spreads. This allowed me to incorporate conventions into my own magazine, as well as putting in ideas that I sourced from my questionnaires. These ideas ranged from the colours I decided to use and the layouts.

3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? There are 6 main social groups which media magazines try and appeal to. I tailored my magazine to appeal to the social groups B, C, C1 and C2. These are the 6 social groups: (A)Upper middle classTop management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals(B) Middle classMiddle management, teachers, many 'creative’s' e.g. graphic designers etc(C1) Lower middle classOffice supervisors, junior managers, nurses, specialist clerical staff etc(C2) Skilled working classSkilled workers, trades persons (white collar)(C) Working classSemi-skilled and unskilled manual workers (blue collar)(D) People at lowest level of incomeUnemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers Although I wanted to appeal to a wider audience, (C, C1, C2) I also wanted to appeal to an audience who was most likely to be ‘loyal’ to the magazine and keep buying it (B). Also, the artist who I wanted to feature in my magazine would range from new artists to those who have been in the business for a long time.

4. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? The kind of Media institution to distribute my magazine would most likely be IPC. This is because IPC already distributes NME which is a well known Indie-rock magazine. This might give my magazine prestige and therefore more customers. I would like my magazine to distributed by both traditional and online distribution. As many people are using the internet, I would think it important to give them what they want as a consumer society. Also with the development of technology like iPads and android mobiles, it would allow my audience to view my magazine wherever they are.

5. Who would be the audience for your media product? My audience would be people ranging from the ages of 15 to 22. These people are most likely to be students and those who follow current music. As well as this, I was able to identify with this age group as I am in it and therefore I was able to lightly generalize about what Indie-rock listeners of my age group might like in a magazine. My research into what my audience would like, involved people from ages 15 to 24. I purposefully done this as I knew who my audience was likely to be. The colours, layouts and features were specifically made and used to appeal to a teenage audience.

6. How did you attract/address your audience? I attracted my audience with the colours I used; green, brown, black and white. These colours went well together and were what the participants of my questionnaire specifically asked for. Also, those who were to be featured in the magazine (Vampire Weekend) are groups who are appealing to teenage/young adult audiences.

7. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? The technologies that I have mostly learnt about are Photoshop and SLR cameras. Obviously, Photoshop was the main tool used to create my product. Over the course of making the magazine, it became easier to use and I discovered more tools to create an appealing magazine. He use of Photoshop allowed for a more professional look. This look was enhanced by the crisp and clear images I took with an SLR camera. The difference between images taken on a normal digital camera can be seen clearly, so I only used one of these images and the rest were taken on an SLR camera. As well as these two technologies, I also developed my understanding of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is associated with websites like Facebook and Youtube. The common thing between these two websites is that the information is usually user generated. I would like my magazine, if it were real, I would like my magazine to be featured on a website which involves Web 2.0 as I could get audience feedback and ideas for future issues.

8. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? The things that I have mostly learnt are Photoshop skills. The Preliminary task was mostly an introduction into Photoshop, but I have progressed and have found new skills and was able to create a successful magazine. I now find it easy to use the Software to replicate the ideas I have in my head.