EVALUATION

1. My media product is pretty much a generic college magazine, however i think that my magazine is more of a glossy magazine than a college magazine, for instance its more like "Kerrang!" than the "National Student Magazine" and that is why i think it has a greater appeal than other student magazine. Where actual student magazines try too hard to appeal to students i believe this one doesn't, because its not too bright or too basic, too cluttered or too bare and it features articles and images of student culture and not just on classes and how to get the grades, like other magazines of this type.

2. I think the audience for this magazine are radical students which are also post-modernist and hedonist. This was not my original intention for the audience, originally i wanted this magaazine to appeal to a variety of different social groups, but it is clear from the final product that - in my opinion at least - doesn't achieve that target audience. Also i think that this magazine would appeal mostly to boys, because of the blue colour scheme and articles that are usually associated with males rather than females, however it may attract female radicals aswell as male the actual audience that this magazine would attract is difficult to pre determine because it is not an actual student magazine.

3. I attracted the male, radicals, by having a blue colour scheme ( blue being the colour most linked to males ) and by having articles that appeal to males rather than females ( for instance the moped article or graffiti articles ) It appeals to radicals because of tha rather radical font which is used on the masthead and the contents page, this font is edgy and connotes rebellion which is similar if not the same as the beliefs of radicals. The main sell is an image of a male student which would probably have an effect on the peopole who buy the magazine also.

4. From this task i have learnt a whole range of photoshop techniques, such as the clone stamp tool, and magnetic lasso, both of which i used when editing my main sell. As well as photoshop i have also learnt how to use Quark XPress, more specifically how to create picture and text boxes ( and the difference between the two ). Another thing that i have learnt is how to handle a still camera, including all the different settings and photographing techniques.

College Magazine Contents

Above is an image of my contents page, which as you can see follows the same colour and font sceme as the cover ( the colour scheme being blue, and the font defused )
My favourite feature of the contents page is the mini picture of the cover on the right side, which i am really please with how it came out, and i also think that it adds a professional feel to the contents.

The layout is in a typical three column format, with the first column being the pictures, the second, and third following on next to that. There are two sections of the contents that overlap columns, the first of these is the word "contents" which is in a blue defused font that again connotes rebellion because it looks edgy and different. Another feature of the word is that after the "Con" there is a hyphen which separates the con from the tents, even though this wasn't planned, i think that it fits in well with the theme of the contents and so i am glad that it happened. The second feature that is in more than one column is the competition at the bottom of the page, which is a compettion to win an ipod touch. I chose the competition to be for an ipod because the ipod has become a symbol of youth culture in modern times with everyone desiring to get their hands on this new piece of technology, and so i thought that this would appeal to the target audience which are, students.

The images and stories were chosen because they each have relevance to the student market; graffiti, mopeds, music and art are the represented in the four images. The contents part of the page, has sub-headings which are in blue and in a slightly larger font than the rest of the texts, so that the sub-headings stand out, and so that they also fit in with the colour scheme which is blue.

College Magazine Cover

My college magazine, is titled Student Lifestyle, which connotes that it is solely about students and the lifestyle in which they have. The name of the magazine is on the masthead, as you can see, the word "student" is vertical against the word Lifestyle, and all letters are white upper-case, and sans serif, excluding the letter 'e' in student, which is in lower-case but still in white. "Lifestyle" is in the font defused which is a rough, edgy font that would appeal to a more radical based audience, however the word "student" is in a more basic font, and because the 'e' is on a slight tilt, i think that this balances the audience, into a broader variety of students and not just the radicals.

The main sell is an image of a student with a mohican haircut. The original image required a lot of airbrushing, and so i chose to edit out the very bad features, and leave it at that, because it's purpose is so that the students will buy into this very real representaion of a student because it hasn't been airbrushed that much. The haircut itself connotes rebellion and individuality and that is why i chose to photograph him for my magazine because he is unique, and this idea of being unique could also be associated with my magazine, because my magazine is unique. The text included in the main sell is "What the PUNK??!!" which is a phrase used in modern culture to express surprise, however i used punk instead of the traditional "what the hell" or "what the..." because "what the punk" ties in with the main sell. The writing is in yellow because it stands out from the rest of the cover, mainly because its the only thing on the cover that is in fact yellow. Also the text features two screamers which show that it is a loud and bold statement. The text underneath "what the punk??!!" is in many different fonts with each letter in a different font than the previous, and this is featured heavily in a punk society, because again it connotes rebbellion and individuality. This main sell would appeal to radicals mainly and in my opinion no other social group, which is not what i intended. Originally i wanted my magazine to appeal to all students, although with this main sell i do not think i have achieved this. The background of the cover is also similar to the main sell in what it connotes, which is rebbellion and youth culture, however it also connotes a certain rough feel to it because the background denotes a graffiti covered brick wall, which in itself is edgy and rough.

The cover line denotes an image of a male student standing next to a piece of graffiti on a wall which is set on a black background, with underneath the text "Graffiti criminal or art" which is in white serif font that stands out from the mundane black background. The image has also been airbrushed, although at first glance it is difficult to tell, it was enhanced because the original graffiti wasn't all that good, and so all i did was brighten the colours withought making it appear fake.