Evaluation

Introduction
As said by Bently the creative process is; "The making of the new though the rearranging of the old," (Bentley 1997). I have applied this to my media work by looking at the common conventions  of a magazine before I started working on my front cover and contents page. This has meant that I have had a better understanding of what things will look good and conversely what will not look good.  I started to look at common conventions by looking at the Bodmin College magazine and  the Skive magazine covers. By looking at the Bodmin magazine I found that it did not fit its purpose as it did not appeal to the target audience as it was over crowded and looked unprofessional. Due to this I have tried to  break common conventions of this magazine by making my own cover and contents page using the results from my survey that I did on survey monkey, my magazine will appeal to my target audience. My target audience said they wanted a clear unblurred images however I found that the Bodmin College was mainly blurred images which is one of the probable reasons people did not read the magazine. They also said they wanted clear text which Bodmin College magazine did not have, I think I improved this so the text is easier to read. The Skive magazine was a lot higher quality than the Bodmin College magazine so I tried to improve/ take parts from it to make my magazine cover.

Target Audience.
My magazine represents the needs of particular student social groups aged 11 to 19 which are the age of the students that attend at Bodmin College. I want to appeal to people aged between 11 and 19 as it is there magazine so it should be appealing and interesting for them.  However after analysing  my results from survey monkey,  I found that the audiences that read the magazine where aged 14 to 16, as such I wanted to make it more appealing to my target aged students slightly more as they are the ones who would be reading the college magazine.

Target Audience.
The target audience for my product is primarily the students that attend Bodmin College, this is because most of the information in the magazine will be about them. The age of students in Bodmin  College are from 11 up to 19 so the stories in the magazine need to appeal to that age group, as they are the main readers of the college magazine. I know from my results that primary reader will be aged 14 to 16  so that means I will have to have things that involve that age range a little more. The secondary target audiences for my magazine will be the student's parents/guardians  as they will be interested in what is going on, in their son/ daughters school life and will be wanting to now what is happening in there future and past, for example, trips, exams or other events such as  parents evenings. This means that the contents needs to appeal to both parents and students while giving the parents information on what students are doing and not put of the main target audience in the process. I need to attract my target audience through using a colour scheme that doesn't have to much  contrasting colours so I wanted it to look smart and would appeal to the audience. I will also try to make sure that my cover page wasn't too busy like the Bodmin College magazine however I didn't want it to simple or conversely overwhelm the reader, so I kept it at a modest level that didn't overwhelm the reader however interested the reader. I think it was effective as it had the common conventions of how a magazine should be laid out. I also ensured I kept appealing to my target audience by featuring stories that would appeal to them and interact with the reader, such as the 10 pages of what to wear , text which gets the reader involved and also what is good about that story so it appeals to all students not just a selected couple of people. I also believe it will appeal to the primary audience of people aged 14 to 16.

Technology
"The view that the Internet and new digital media as an optional extra is replaced with the recognition that they have fundamentally changed the ways we engage with all media" ( David Gauntlett 2007) I think that this quote represents the process that I have used  to process my magazine front cover and contents page.  As this process has made me a lot more confident when I use Photoshop and I have know seen how simple the layout of Photoshop is when you understand what you are doing. Therefore I now find it easier to construct my magazine cover and contents page. I have now found that David Guantlett's theory relates with the way we engage with new media especially through the uses of Blogger which I have never used before the start of this course.

Masthead and Images.
I really like my masthead because it stands out of the page. I also like how I have put it in blue to link with main image of my friend in a blue top because of this I think my colour pallet is very good. If I was to improve my masthead I would change the design to a more formal text as at this time it looks to bulky. I think that my images on my contents page where very good because they all linked well with the stories. I also think that the mise-en-scene of the image is very good because the clothing I had on each person was very modern and linked with the target audience. Although if I was to change anything it would be the picture on the front cover as it is dull and not appealing to the target audiences.

Magazine cover and contents page
I think overall my contents page and front cover look good and appeal to my target audience I also think I kept to the common conventions which helped ensure  that my cover and contents look nice and appeal to my audience. Additionally I believe  that I have made a improvement on the Bodmin College magazine which will appeal to more students as it wasn't to busy, the images are not blurred and  the colours  do not clash like on the Bodmin College magazine. I believe that I have kept to the genre conventions  by using stories that relate to school, I also think that I have kept the language on the cover and contents very simple and easy to understand for the target audiences of 11 to 19 year old students.One of the key reasons I think my language on my cover and contents page is good  because I have used words like "WHAAM!" for example when you start college and sixth form it is just one big "wham" of information. I also think my language is good because I have not used slang so my magazine will appeal to the main target audience the students and the second target audiences the parents/guardians.  However with reflection I  believe that improvements can be made to my magazine in my main task. This could be done by creating a more original magazine ideas and having better lighting in some of my images. I also think by creating a magazine that fits one genre it will be easier to make it look a lot better and I can include stories that are a lot more relevant to my magazine and will find it easier to produces a magazine that relates to the target audience. On reflection I have learnt some new skills when it comes to using the camera and studio. I have also learnt some new Photoshop skills which I hope to improve more when I started the main task. If I was to change anything it would be the main image on my front cover  as it looks a little to laid back. I  know that I still need to improve my editing skills during the main task I or so expect that I will develop my lighting, photography, Photoshop and my blogger skills.