Music Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Here is an evaluation of an actual contents page from Q magazine

Finished Contents Page

Here is my finished contents page. All I have added from the previuous post was a feature about Year 10 vs. Teachers in Badminton, which again follows on from a feature mentioned on the front page. To fit this on to the page, I have cropped some photos as the text went over some pictures and it didn’t look as profeessional as when it was on the white background. Overall, I am happy with how the contents page has turned out. A full evaluation will be on here shortly. YAY!

Another Exciting Contents Page Update!

Here I have added in one more picture from the last post which includes an activity that occured outside of school. This is to show a different feature in the magazine and also follows on from something that was mentioned on the front cover. I have added more text on the sides to make the magazine seem more interesting and these contain a variety of things that would interest a range of students rather than only having a small target market. By changing the page numbers to green, I feel it adds colour to the page and also helps to convey the message that this magazine is for the entire school and not just sixth form students, as green is the school colour, so people may realise it is for all students of Chosen Hill.

School Magazine Contents Page Update

Here is an update of my contents page for the ‘Chosen Life’ magazine. I have rearranged the pictures to give a better layout overall. Also, after talking to Mr. Robbins, I have changed the program I am using to complete this page to publisher rather than using photoshop. The combination of the two should help enhance the overall outcome as I can combine the best features of the two programs.  I have added a new photo that was taken on a trip and also added some text to describe what the magazine will contain.

School Magazine Contents Page

Here is the start of my contents page which I have started producing for one of the school magazines (the second one). I have used the same dfont as the cover to keep the same house style and make it seem more professional. Some pictures have been added at this stage and already show variety however, I plan to take more pictures for the purpose of my contents page and will add them soon.

Contents Page

I am now starting to research for my music magazine but also I have been evaluating a contents page of a real magazine in order to produce my own for one of the school magazines.

Second School Magazine Cover

Click the picture to enlarge it and see some annotations of the second magazine cover.

Second Magazine Cover

Magazine Cover Opinions

School Magazine

Here I have altered my magazine cover so that a barcode is incorporated into the deisgn. The issue number and price have also been added as I think this gives it better authenticity to a real magazine.

Evaluation

My magazine cover uses a variety of things that would appear on a real media product. I found that through evaluating some other real school magazines before producing my own helped to get a feel for what should be included in this form of product.  I have used photoshop to edit and crop images to improve the appearance of my magazine cover. I have not included a logo, which i thought was unusual but through evaluating other school magazines i found that not many do include a logo. My evaluations also showed that not many magazines for schools include barcodes, whereas mine does. I feel that this helps to make my cover similar to other media products of the same type.

My media product represents social groups as this particular version I have tried to aim towards sixth formers. This social group consists of teenagers of both genders, aged 16-18 with some exceptions. I feel it may also appeal to teachers at the school because of its formal layout and appearance. It represents sixth form particularly as the background is black, which is the colour of the sixth form uniform, rather than being green which is the uniform for the rest of the school. The pictures represent this group as fun characters but regretably, my magazine does not show the sixth form having an acedemic side. Although, having a fun side shown to the audience could help attract students to buy it as a welcome break from the work given to them.

As this is a school magazine, it should be distributed within the school that it was designed for, in this case, Chosen Hill School. This is because the target audience is within the school and if it was sold outside of the school, there would be very little or no interest in it as it would not be of interest to anyone other than students and staff. It could be distributed throughout the school in places such as reception so that visitors could get an insight into the school. It could be left in common rooms for people to purchase as this would be in sixth form and therefore near the key audience. It could also be distributed to parents at events such as parents evenings or PTA meetings etc.

The audience for my media product is sixth form as the house style is fairly formal but attractive to the target audience. The colour scheme is black which is the colour of the sixth form uniform further emphasising that the magazine is for sixth form. The place that is distributing the magazine may also enforce that the audience is sixth form. This is because in part it would be sold in the sixth form common rooms which would make it easier and more convenient for people to purchase.

I attracted the audience by making the cover of my magazine seem fun and show a different side of the school rather than the usual aspects of academic achievement that the school usually is portrayed through. By using the colour black, I have addressed the audience as the same colour is used as uniform for the sixth formers differentiating them from the rest of the school. The fun side to the magazine also lets students see that other things are going on around the school rather than what they usually see, which is the academic side.

I have learnt a lot about the technologies the school offered whilst producing my media product. I feel confident with photoshop now and I think I can use most of the tools. However, I feel I still have more to learn about the software we use and and willing to learn how to use it. I feel that by learning how to use different tools I will be able to enhance the quality of my media products.