Final evaluation of my student magazine

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

My student magazine is based mainly upon the magazine Smart Talent, a very informative and helpful magazine for students aged 16-19. I decided to have a big eye catching masthead so people would be drawn to my magazine which is called The View. I decided to go for a singular big picture to fit the whole of the front cover, just underneath the masthead I have put the price in bold letters so it’s clear to see just how cheap this magazine is in comparison to others.

I put a strap line across the middle of the page so it’s easily seen and easy to read, I made it something that would appeal to all students so they are more likely to buy my magazine. I have specified my magazine very well so that it fits the criteria for my target audience.

I decided to add a couple of cover lines to my front cover, I think having a competition is a very good idea because everybody loves to win stuff and having a drum and bass night advertised on a student magazine will draw peoples attentions.

I tried sticking to a very basic colour scheme so it’s not to “in your face”. I think the colours I picked compliment each other well as black and white always go together and then a few things with simple colours help make individual pieces stand out.

My contents page is structured in a way that would appeal to my target audience, by splitting my page diagonally it makes it easy to read and access the information you require, because there is nothing worse than not being able to find what you are looking for. In the left hand section I have pictures of students from the college and this is because we have a story for each of them. In the right hand section we have the page numbers of stories inside the magazine. I tried keeping it quite simple again just like my front cover but I don’t think the colour scheme worked quite so well on my contents page and overall, I preferred the look of my front cover to my contents page.

         Typical student magazine front cover                                             My student magazine

As you can see they are quite similar front cover layouts, for instance we each have one big picture which fills the front cover, they both have big mast heads that are clear and simple to read. I liked how on smart talent they had left the layout quite simple and not covered the middle of the magazine with a strap line.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think my student magazine is very particular to students who enjoy doing well in their studies, maybe enjoy going out some of the time to a gig or some other kind of social event. In my magazine the strap line is saying about how to pass all your exams, at the bottom there is a chance to win tickets to go to a hospital records night.

There are stories on what plans the student council have for the future. I think it represents everyday life for any teenager quite nicely.

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

An institution that is most likely to distribute my media magazine is a company that has regular contact with students and colleges, my magazine is specifically aimed at Ludlow College students, as it has information on specific things happening in and around the college for example you can win free refectory food for a week and it has the interests of student council inside the magazine. 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The main audience for my student magazine would be Ludlow College students aged 16-19, it has specific information and requirements around Ludlow College. It is not aimed directly at one gender as there is information and stories which would appeal to either male or female. However in my magazine there are numerous articles about films, music and technology so it might not appeal to some if they’re not as interested in that kind of thing.

How did you attract/address your audience?

My masthead is styled to suit my target audience I think its very eye catching and may instantly entice people to have a look inside. I did an audience questionnaire to get some feedback so I could then work what I should put into my magazine off of that. My cover lines appeal to the students and will make them want to find out what it says. I also attracted my audience by having a free ticket give away student’s love free stuff! I think by having a big picture of Beth Hughes as the cover of my magazine people will recognise her and so maybe want to find out why she’s on the cover, it is also quite an entertaining photo which might make students enjoy it more.

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

My student magazine was relatively easy to produce, overall I only used Paint to design my mast head and then publisher to decide on the layout of my front cover and contents page, I then used different fonts and colours to add something extra to it. The hardest thing was learning how to make your way around the blog site.



Contents Page design

Give me some feedback pleae.

The View

My media magazine, The View please comment and let me know what you think, thanks.

Contents pages

Please comment and help me decide which one to use, thank you.

Magazine Title

Let me know what you think or anyways i could make it better  :)

Title page

please comment on which one you prefer, thank you.

Student Magazine Smaart Talent

Textual Analysis of "smaart talent"

Smaart Talent is the masthead Talent has been written in pink I think this is for one of two reasons either because there is a picture of a male on the cover so the pink helps give it some appeal to females, the other reason would be because there are some slight tones of pink on the newspaper so it helps compliment the picture. The cover lines are very good for enticing the target audience because it’s all stuff students would want to know about, for example the bit where it says advice on courses, careers and universities. The cover photograph is an extreme close up of someone called MC Riz and has been cropped so we can only see some of his face. I think because MC Riz is Asian and is in the film three lions the idea of wrapping newspaper round his head with articles to do with oil it’s meant to be like he’s a terrorist, this helps create a sense of humour. Underneath the photograph we can see a caption which links to the main story inside which is MC Riz, rising star and Renaissance man. The phrase Renaissance man means a “person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas”. Picking someone like MC Riz helps inspire people as he’s almost a role model. Having a smaller more portable magazine means people are more likely to pick it up and read it than if it was a tabloid newspaper.

Student Magazine Questionnaire

What would you like the student magazine to be called?

• College Life
• The View
• Standard Student
• Other suggestions

What would you like the magazine to contain?

Would you like pictures in the magazine?

• Yes
• No

Would you find links in the magazine helpful for your studies?

• Yes
• No

Would you only read this magazine if it was free?

• Yes
• No
• Any comments 

What age group should i target?

• 13-15
• 16-19
• 21+

P.O.A

I have been asked to create a media magazine for media studies AS, i absolutely adore music especially drum and bass, so i'm going to do my magazine on my friend Ricky Nedic who mixes on the decks. Ricky has been mixing for around 8 months now and mixes almost every day without fail, he lives for it and definately loves it. Ricky currently hasn't come up with a succesful name which he likes enough to use and is in the process of trying to find some sets.

Before i start any of this i need to create a student magazine to give me basic ideas on how to create it and the kind of information that people are going to want to read about.

Week 1: 15th November

• Set up blog
• Decide upon my magazine name
• Audience questonaire
• Textual analysis of a magazine

Week 2: 22nd November

• Collect a variety of images
• Edit photographs
• Create a front cover and produce a draft

Week 3: 29th November

• Create the contents and make a draft
• Collect audience feedback

Week 4: 6th December

• Evaluation of my final work