2. Q1)How does your product use or challenge or challenge conventions
and how does it represent social groups or issues?
For my final print media task, I developed an Interior Design Magazine named Home Couture .My
product uses and challenges a number of conventions. Since I wanted my magazine to be unique, I
stepped out of the framework convention of a magazine, thus being inspired by a number of
stereotyped codes and conventions along with breaking a few .
My magazine connotes luxury as well as comfort. I wanted it to be associated with a home oriented
vibe therefore I decided to go with the convention of having used the word ‘Home” for my
masthead. Adding the word ‘Couture’ further refined it.This would give my target audience the
ability an image of the magazine being very simple yet interesting and a good read.
Here are a few magazines that I was inspired by for this particular feature of my magazine which
indicated that the primary incentive of my magazine is to feature elements related to home.
3. The image below demonstrates my masthead. As it can be seen, brown is not a very flashy and funky
color but it makes my masthead stand out and portrays a very warm vibe associated with the comfort of
homes.Furthermore,the use of an immensely bold font also made my masthead stand out!Moreover,the
words of my masthead were not written in one line.
I used brown not only for my masthead but also for the other headings which created a sense of
connectivity as seen in the images below.
4. Magazines usually have strips under the masthead or below the page.However,I decided to challenge
this convention by placing my strip above the masthead which not only made it stand out in a very
highly appealing way but also gave an elegant and refined look as seen below
My cover Story was featuring an interior based outlet, known as Renaissance! The word Renaissance
means ‘rebirth which indicates my magazine being a collaboration of the old and the modern products
of the interior world.Additionally,this cover line demonstrates that my magazine is likely to feature
interior based outlets.
5. My media product also used another convention. As seen below, the anchoring
images of interior design magazines usually portray an entire interior set up. I also
observed that the colors are of the masthead and other codes and conventions
such as the colors of the text of the cover lines or the color of the puff are co
ordinated with the colors of the products used in the interior set up.
6. I used natural light for the anchoring of the cover oage of my interior
design magazine.
7. 2. How does your product engage with the audiences and how it would
be distributed as a real media text?
My interior design magazine, 'Home Couture'. There are many features that my
magazine possesses in order to keep the audience engaged.
My anchoring image highly contributes towards keeping the audience engaged. The
products used in my anchoring image give a refined look. My anchoring image does
not consist of shimmery and bright colours!However,a direct mode of shot
establishes a great way of grabbing the attention of the audience. The image
directly addresses the audience. The chandelier gives pops of luxury which turns
out to be highly appealing for the audience.
Furthermore, the sofas possess a heterogeneous element. The color black gives a
very classy look and the use of white embroidery over it engages the audience
through a collaboration of two complete opposites.Furthermore,another
collaboration of two opposites also turns out to engage my audience in a very
pleasant way! The use of flowers on the table connotes elegance, optimism and
purity.However,on the other side there is fire which connotes a totally different
thing from a negative point of view. Although the use of the fireplace greats
warmth in the mise en scene, fire symbolizes totally different aspects as compared
to the white flowers such as danger and pessimism.
8. Another convention, The Cover Lines of my magazine also engages the audience. The
color of the text belongs to the color shades from the color ‘brown'. The color is the
same but in different shades, either lighter or darker.The use of buzz words in large fonts
contributes towards engaging the audience.Since thee background is white,it further
contributes towards engaging the viewers.
Additionally,my cover lines are about reviews,tutorials and tips which creates a desire in
the audience to read the magazine.
9. The use of Italics also gives a very formal look to engage the audience. It
gives an element of something different yet essential.
10. A number of methods would be adopted to carry out the distribution of this magazine. The
method of distribution highly depends on the target audience of the product.
My media product would be distributed through delivery services. Subscription services
would be offered for everyone to have their magazine delivered at their door step.
The magazine would be readily available at cafes, salons and spas. These places are usually
very crowded so it would be a good strategy for marketing the magazine.
Another method that could be used for the distribution could be short advertisements on
television that could be persuasive advertisements about the magazine which is likely to
increase the demand for deliveries of the magazine.
Additionally, the magazine could be distributed through a mobile app being launched for it
since a lot of individuals allocate more time towards soft copies and find it better to have
access to everything through smart phones, ensuring the media product of the digital
natives to be fast, portable and active.
Morever,this magazine would be distributed to architects and interior based
outlets which is a great way to exhibit the media product.
11. Q3)How did your production skills develop throughout
the project?
This project was an extraordinary amazing experience and a great way of exposure. It turned out to be an
amazing platform. I learnt a lot from using and experimenting various tools. It was a great journey
starting the magazine from a preliminary task assignment towards a lot of research and hard work for the
actual outcome of my interior design magazine.
As I had never used Adobe Photoshop before, the preliminary task highly contributed towards me getting
familiar with the various outstanding features this software possesses.Furthermore,the preliminary task
was highly helpful from a photographer’s point of view. I got to know the requirement for the angles, the
mise en scene, the lighting and shots that would be suitable for magazines.
Additionally, the preliminary task and the final magazine task pushed to feature everything that had
implicit meaning associated with i.e. had to connote and link deeper symbolisms and meanings that could
be associated with any element of the task, be it the text, the color of the text, the font or the light etc.
learnt how changes in font sizes and textures can have an impact on creating meanings and depicting the
significance. I was able to experiment the art of color contrasts and color cordinations.It was not easy the
effort and hard work was worth the experience and outcome.
I also learnt the art of double spread articles. I learnt how the content of the double spread of magazines
should be organized and divided along with the images.
12. All the activities that were required to be done for this task had to posted on our blog. As I has never indulged in
blogging before, I learnt the various aspects and ways of blogging! I learnt about WordPress and its tools.
A comparison of the images below indicates the development of my production skills throughout the entire
project. My preliminary task comprised of a rainbow of colors whereas a specific color scheme was given
though and allocated for the final magazine task. The quality of the image has also enhance due to the journey
from preliminary to final task.
Preliminary Cover + Content Final Cover +Content
13. Q4)How did you integrate technologies-software, hardware
and online in this project?
Various technologies were used for this project. Hardware and software play an immensely important role in
media products.
The hardware that I used was my camera, laptop and a memory card! I used a Canon 650D DSLR to conduct
my photoshoot! The Dslr made my images look refined and professional. It was one of the most essential
contributors towards this project. The memory card was a form of assistance to transfer the images on my
laptop, where I worked on the amendments and changes that were to be made for the media product.
Furthermore, my laptop was a very convenient tool. I could browse over the internet searching for ideas and
inspirations regarding my magazine. The best part was that it was highly convenient to be used anywhere at
any time.
The software's that were used were Adobe Photoshop cs6,wordpress,Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint
and slide share.
Adobe Photoshop was a challenging yet fun filled task where I could experiment try from a wide variety of
fonts, make tremendous changes,crop,resize,burn,blur and shadow pictures etc.
WordPress was a very convenient blog where I would write down and discuss all my activities that had to be
carried out for this project.
Microsoft Word was highly convenient for making notes. I also used it to write my cover story. Not only did it
help with writing the story but also detecting spelling and punctuation errors which was really helpful.
PowerPoint was also used to research and make slideshows for the genre. Facebook was highly essential as
floating our survey on Facebook gave an idea regarding the tastes and demands of the consumers of media
products like interior design magazines.
Slide share was another software that helped in uploading and embedding slideshows on my blog
