Finished Media Products

Construction Schedule

Week 1-2: Create and work on front cover of my magazine.
Week 3-4: Create and work on my contents page.
Week 5-6: Create and work on my feature article.

Album Art

This is my album art in which featured on my feature article. To create this I used an image which I took, the edited in Photoshop. I changed it to black and white to match the image of the duet, 'Reckless'. I edited it using Camera Raw Filter to bring out the different tones and adjust the contrast in the image. I used a font which also would fit into 'Reckless' image.

Evaluation: Skills Development

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the procession from in to full product? 

Above to the left is my preliminary task and to the right is my finished magazine front cover. You can see straight away from looking at both of them that I have gained skills throughout with project as my final product is an improvement compared to my preliminary task and it much better style and quality. 

The difference between the two main images on each front cover is massive. The image on my preliminary task is bad quality so it is not clear and looks unprofessional, furthermore it is also blurry on the hand as she was moving. The image is also quite small and doesn’t dominate the page, which then the image doesn’t stand out and it looks quite bare towards the left of the page. In comparison the image on my finished product dominates the page and is in complete focus which makes the magazine look much more professional. The image on my finished product also follows conventions; there is space down both sides of the image, which means I have room for cover lines. The technology which I used for both images has also changed. For my preliminary task I used my mobile phone, which had a bad quality meanwhile for my finished product I used a good quality camera, this made my finished product look much more professional and it also looked generally nice and more appealing. Another big difference is the cover lines. On my preliminary task, they do not stand out as much on my finished product; this is because the font is not bold enough and the colour of the words, are similar to the colour of the background. By having the cover lines stand out makes a huge difference as the cover lines is what attracts the target audience’s attention. The cover lines on my finished product attract the target audience more as they are about things which interest them. Furthermore for my cover lines on my finished product I made sure that they stand out against the background so they are easy to read but also so it gets the audience’s attention. The background of my finished product is the background in which I used for my background of the images. On my preliminary task, I cut the figure out and put the background as blue. I think on my finished product the background of the image worked well so I decided to keep it, it also added a bit of texture. By having a background which fitted in with the colour scheme, makes it look more professional and neater. 

 Above to the left is my preliminary task and to the right is my finished magazine contents page. Again, you can see that I have gained skills throughout this project as my final product is an improvement compared to my preliminary task, as it has much better quality. 

The first difference between my preliminary task and my finished task is the overall contents. On my preliminary task it is very vague and doesn’t tell you much about what it is in the magazine. Meanwhile in my finished product, there is must more description. This helps the audience know what the magazine includes. My preliminary task also would not appeal to my target audience for my finished product. This is because there are bands and festival mentioned which my target audience would like. On my preliminary task there is not an image on the contents page, this makes it look very plain and boring. Meanwhile on my finished task there are two. By having images on the contents page makes it more exciting and also fills some space as on my preliminary task all there is, is page numbers. The size of this is very big and fills most of the page which makes it look less professional. Furthermore the placing of each page number is not inline, this makes it look unprofessional. The font on my preliminary contents page is not the same size; by this it doesn’t look as neat.

Evaluation: Technologies

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation: Addressing My Audience

How did you attract/address your audience? 

Evaluation: Target Audience

What would your audience be for your media products?

Audience Questionnaire Results and Analysis

Evaluation: Forms and Conventions

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

Evaluation: Represention

 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation: Institutions

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The magazine company in which I think would be suitable to distribute my media product is Conde Nast. This is because I believe they don’t have any media products which are like mine. Conde Nast is a leading media institution who publishes high class magazine, for example ‘Vogue’ and ‘Glamour’. These are two leading fashion magazines, so by Conde Nast publishing my magazine would fit in nicely with these. I believe this because Vogue and Glamour is both very upper class magazine aiming at a more older demographic meanwhile mine would contrast slightly, this is because mine is aimed in the middle of middle and upper and also a younger demographic meaning that my magazine target an audience which Conde Nast don’t already have.

When researching Conde Nast I found that their products are of a high quality and those that are fashion related have sophisticated and women attribute. This is something I think my magazine has, as it is stylish and classy look and general feel. The difference between my magazine and Vogue for example is are there target audience is more of a Niche Market, meaning that it is more specific as there is an average age which is 34. On the other hand my magazine is has a lower age average in comparison. By having this difference is a good thing, as Conde Nast produce a high end fashion magazine for an older demographic, they would be able to publish mine for a lower demographic. Furthermore mine is also individual because mine is a hybrid genre of fashion and music. By having the two mixed together creates a suitable target audience as that age range is interested in both things. From my research of researching Conde Nast, I think a major publishing house such as Conde Nast would be appropriate to distribute my magazine.


If I happened to self-publish my magazine, I think it would be a bad idea. This is because most magazines that launch themselves do not last for much longer than four years. However as my magazine is a hybrid genre with a specific target audience it could be successful as my target audience is dedicated to their interests furthermore there is not a magazine which is published which is similar to my own. Therefore I think my magazine has a chance to survive, on the other hand I believe it would gain a bigger readership and be better advertised if it was distributed by a institution such as Conde Nast. There are down sides however for my magazine to be published by a publishing house. For example I may lose control over what is put into the magazine.I think I would be interested in the use of doing digital publishing, as being a younger generation who is in a technological age. Furthermore as younger and older generations are becoming more in tune with the digital age it would be more successful. So with everyone being connected this way means it would be suitable for my media products to be distributed. To get it into the digital publishing, firstly I would create an App, which is available for a wide range of smart phones and tablets to make my readership larger. For example they would be available for iPhone/iPod/iMac etc, Android, Samsung etc. I would work with Apple to advertise and create apps which would make it easier to make my magazine successful. 

 An institution in which I don’t think would work well to publish my magazine would be TimeIncUK which was formally known as IPC MEDIA. I don’t think that this is a good publication for my magazine because I think that this publisher already has magazine containing fashion and a lot of magazine containing music. This means that my magazine would not stand out beside the others which are already published then could mean my magazine would not be a success. I have gone for an indie rock type of music, in regards to this it would be similar to NME which is published by so there would be no interest of the music audience. On the other hand, NME’s target audience is older male men, which is a lot different to my target audience. With the combination of fashion I would have to compete with magazines such as ‘Look’, ‘Essentials’, ‘Instyle’ and many more which are branded by women and already have a large reading audience. My magazine could not be success if I published it with TimeInkUK, as it would take long for my magazine to get recognised, or even it wouldn’t get recognised at all. In addition if I published my magazine with TimeInkUK, it probably be classed as a lower class magazine in comparison to Conde Nast, the types of magazine which TimeInkUK published are more chatty and of a lower class, for example ‘Soaplife’ or ‘Now’.

Location, Props and Costume Report

When taking my images for my media products I tried taking images outside and inside which was in the studio; I done this just to see what both looked like. I thought that the ones outside looked unprofessional and didn’t suit the style of my magazine as it includes fashion and should be sophisticated. The images outside also looked too natural and I wanted the effect of having it staged. As my magazine includes fashion it was appropriate to use the studio with lighting and black/white plain backgrounds. In the studio I experimented with a white background and black background to see which one looked better; overall I thought that the black background looked better so I used it for my front cover and contents page. I chose to use the images which I took in the studio because I liked the way it looked, with lighting which made them look mature. I picked to have a black ground for my images on the front cover and contents page because I thought that it suited the colour scheme of my magazine, furthermore I used the image as a whole on the front cover as I thought the background gave it a bit of texture. I also thought that my models stood out against the dark wall so it would be important for my front cover that they stand out. On the feature article I used one with a white background, this is because I thought the image looked good and as it’s the feature article the image doesn’t have to stand out as much.

I made sure my models were wearing casual every day wear, this is because I think it would suit my target audience. Even though my target audience is between middle and upper class, they are still teenagers who wear casual wear so they would be able to aspire to be like them. However I did make sure my models were wearing things which would suit the genre and colour scheme of the magazine. They are wearing simple outfits which back up my feature article story that they have just made it and the rock star life is still quite new to them.

I used a guitar and a massive speaker, I think these suited the genre of my magazine as it is quite grungy and rock star like. Furthermore the poses in which the models do on the speaker suit the rebelliousness which are connotations within the rock genre. 

Original Images

The top four images are my contact sheets for my magazine, which I used on all three of my media products. The shoot consists of some photographs which I took outside using natural light, however I didn't use any of these on my media products. I also done a shoot which consists of photographs which I took in the studio with lamps and lighting. These fit better in this my magazine style and looked more effective. The models I used were Lydia and Kesia.

The bottom image is one which I quickly took for my contents page. It was in the studio, just against a white background. I used this as the editor of my magazine. This model was Chloe. 

Drafts Using Photoshop of my Three Media Products

Drawn Drafts of My Three Media Products