Today I finished and tidied up my evaluation as today was the last day I had to complete it. I then put all of it on my blog so that it can be marked.
After doing this I had completed my preliminary task, and was ready to begin work on my main task. So this lead me to begin and complete writing up my smart targets for my main task. Then I began work on my presentation of creative ideas.
Today I continued with my evaluation with the hope it being completed by next week so I can hand in all my completed preliminary task for the deadline
Today I began my evaluation for my preliminary task, I wrote my intruduction and my second paragraph.
Preliminary Coursework
Evaluation
For the Preliminary task I decided to take the print pathway as I felt that this option would be most suitable for me, as I enjoy reading magazines more that movies. For this pathway I needed to construct a front page of a college magazine as well as a contents page. On the front page it needed to have one medium close up preferably for the background image, some appropriately laid out text and masthead, in addition to having at least four original images. To complete this task it required me to conduct some research and planning, as well as to decide what audience I would need to attract and how I would do this. Whilst constructing my magazine front page and contents page I also encountered a few problems and changes that had to be made to create my final completed piece. For example which images I choose to use that where most suitable, what images to take and using images that where also of a suitable standard as I decided to take the print pathway.
Now that I have completed my preliminary coursework I think that my finished product is of a good standard as well as being to appropriate for my target audience of 16-19 year olds, which is the general age of people age of college students, as it uses bright colours. I found this out in my research and planning. Although I wanted my finished product to not be like most other magazines it still wanted it to follow some of the rules that seem to apply to most others that are out there at the moment. Such conventions include the fact that all contents pages have the contents of the magazine in them and the page numbers to find particular articles this would be having small images that would feature larger in the article or information later included inside the magazine. I made sure that it followed these rules but broke them by having bright eye catching colours as this is not such a world wide rule to magazine as there is a large group of them that have a plain colour scheme for example “ELLE”, and take a more ordinary path as I found out in my research and planning. I made sure my magazine also had continuity by having the same background colour scheme, and the same font, colour and images as for the masthead on the front and the title of the contents page. In addition to keep the continuity in the magazine I ensured that the same images that were connected to the headlines were the same in the contents page, this I noticed was a universal rule for all types of magazines so I saw it necessary for this to also be in my preliminary task magazine.
Whilst constructing the magazine front page I had a major issue of whether or not to have a barcode on the magazine, as it would be free to college students who attended the college, and as barcodes are used to find prices when purchasing in stores it could be seen as not a vital thing to include and could cause confusion. As when I reviewed magazines in my research one major thing that was on most of them was that they had barcodes, I decided that for it to satisfy the rules of a magazine a barcode would be needed. However, for the magazine it would not be used for pricing but to regulate the stock of the magazine, so that the college would be able to keep track of how much are sold, and to help with keeping track of how much will need to be printed for distribution.
Another problem that I encountered whilst constructing my magazine was the issue of the images that I would feature on front and contents page. This was because the lighting of the indoor images was not good so this led to the images not being of good quality making it difficult when it came to editing them. The main example of this is the image that is on the contents page for the ‘So different… Yet so alike’ feature was originally meant to be the main background image, but when editing it, by taking the people out to put on my magazine, I found that this was almost impossible as the pixel quality was very poor. I tried to do many things and many different ways but it was just not possible, I had to make the decision of whether to use it with poor quality of to change the image. This problem lead to me using a different image that I had taken on a plain background of a wall so it was much easier to edit in Photoshop and use, as it still tied into the theme of my magazine.
To make a completed magazine of a good standard a draft needed to be made, and then changes made for the final magazine to be of a reasonable standard. I made a draft of a background image and the background colour, I didn’t add in the features and other images because as I knew this would be a final thing that needed to be added and just wanted the draft to decide what colours I would use. On my draft the main background image was not of an actual person but of a hand of many different colours, which I felt was very vibrant, bright, and would be suitable for my target audience. Also it tied into the theme of the college magazine as the different colours of the ads represented the different cultures round the world and was a different colourful way of representing it so it would be the kind of unusual look that I was looking for it to be suitable for my target page. However, I realised that it was necessary it have an original image of a medium close-up for the background image so this meant that the image was inappropriate.
To attract my target audience I used bright colours, in addition to using images of people that where the audience that I was trying to attract. I found out that these things would attract my target audience as I essentially am an example of who would be the consumer so thought of what I would like to see, and recognized that these are things that are around today on the magazine shelves and are selling. As well as making the font that is used not very formal but informal, this not only attracted my target audience but also linked in with the casual fun theme of college. Although on the other hand maybe a more formal font would attract older teenagers that I recognise needs to be done front from the feedback recieved.
In order to be able properly evaluate my preliminary task, I would need feedback. So I made a questionnaire which I gave out to my target audience to receive what they thought, as they would be the consumers of my product if it was published. From the questionnaire I received a good response overall, saying that the magazine front and contents page was ‘its fun and for a young audience. I think it suites the college atmosphere,’ ‘looks professional,’ and ‘it seems like something I would buy.’ As well as all the rating being above 5, so it shows that it is effective with the purpose it has and would be a suitable magazine for my target audience. On the other hand the only negative thing that was received the feedback that some of the people said that the magazine would have a double target audience of 10-15 year olds, which would essentially be secondary school students. So if I was to do repeat the task I would try to change some things to make it seem that it was for a more mature audience, although I do think that it is a good first attempt at a piece of media.
From creating a magazine front and contents page I acquired new knowledge on many things. This new knowledge was on how to use Photoshop, which before beginning this task I had very little of. I learnt a lot about what makes a magazine, and about the laws and rules that each has to follow to be an actual magazine. For example, all magazines whether college, music, or any type of genre would have to have a masthead. In addition to having features and headlines to be a true magazine.
My Preliminary Task magazine called ‘What’s New’ in comparison to other college magazines in my opinion is of roughly the same standard. Although in terms of colour and the general layout I would say that it follows the rules to be classed as a magazine, but breaks some of them which has made it unusual and eye catching which is supported by the feedback form of my target audience saying that it stands out. I could see it being sold in college shops which is in line with the feed back that I received from the questionnaire that wrote with most of the people saying that it would be sold in college shops and some said they could see it in newsagents which indicates that it of a good enough standard to be published. If I was to compare it another college magazine I would say it most resembles a college prospectus but differs in terms of the content that it contains. This is because my magazine that I have created is based on what is going on within the college, and what events are happening the week on the release of the magazine. The week of the release of the magazine issue that i have created is Diversity week so it contains content about how the college is diverse with such stories as “Culture captured In Our Midst” and “So Different… Yet So Alike.” On a whole I would say that creating a College magazine front and contents page was challenging but on completion was well worth the effort.
Today I improved my work by making it no longer look like a poster but to resemble an actual magazine front cover and contents page. I did this by enlarging some of it features like the text and the size of the images. I also moved the images from the edge of the page to slightly more inwards on the page. On the contents page I made the writing stand out more by adding some effects to the text such as a drop shadow. So today I was able to complete my preliminary task and now only have the evaluation to do.
Today I also created my questionnaire for part of my evaluation and so that I can have feedback on what people actually think about my work, which will help me to write everything up when it come time to do my evaluation. Then I got people to do my questionnaire so that next week I can begin my evaluation.
Today I made a big step towards the completion of my preliminary task, I finished my front page and dearly finished my contents page. I had a few problems with my contents page as it does not look like a contents page at the moment. I tried to change this by getting rid of the main writing at the top that was the same as the front page to keep the continuity, although this was not effective as it ended up looking like a poster and not a contents page. I was able to keep the continuity though by putting some form of stroke around all of the images, and making sure that i used the headlines that where on the front page again saying what page to find them on. i also managed to find one of my original images that was appropriate for my main background image on the front page.
Today I took my original images around the college for my magazine cover, then afterward I inserted them on my blog so that I could work on them in Photoshop for my magazine. Then afterward, took out the background image out because I felt that the edges weren’t smooth enough and that they showed some of the white background the original image had. Later I wanted to then change and do my story images first as it seemed easier to do it that way, creating a border around them as well. I then tried to use one of the original images that I took today of two people inside but because the pixel quality was not good enough I had a lot of trouble subtracting the people out, so I decided that it was not appropriate to use that particular image.
Today I made my mock magazine, my firstly beginning a new Photoshop image
I done this by opening Photoshop and clicking on new and altering the setting so that it would be appropriate for a magazine front page. After that I made more layers so that I could work on my magazine mock page or plan. Then to have I tried to make my background eye catching, and decided the best way to do this would be to have a gradient with bright colours that I fort would be edgy and and appealing to my target audience, which I could then add my main image on top of the create my overall background.
After that I used the image that I wanted for my background then altered the original image by selecting the image itself without the background and placing it on my magazine page. Later created a mast head with varying colours so that it appears slightly broken up and would be more appealing to my target audience.
