Evaluation

In what ways does my magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For my front cover and my contents page I have tried to follow the conventions of magazines I found during my research. On my front cover I used magazine conventions by having a masthead at the top of the magazine to show the name of the magazine, in order to show that my magazine is a school magazine I used the name of the school that the magazine has been made for 'Beaverwood' this was also the most popular magazine name choice from the results of my questionnaire. I continued to follow magazine conventions on my cover by having a barcode in one of the bottom corners with the price of the magazine next to it, I used the date and the issue number to show readers what month the magazine was from and the issue it was. I used two puffs on my magazine cover to make two cover lines stand out, the cover lines have been positioned around the magazine cover and are school related topics such as 'Sixth Form Panto' and 'Christmas Canteen Lunch' as it is a magazine for school and I saw similar cover lines in the school magazines I looked at during my research. The feedback I got from about my magazine cover said that the white coloured cover lines so this is something I will consider in the future. The main image is of two school pupils from Beaverwood school so is therefore relevant and suitable for the target audience. I used a full body shot for the main image, if I was going to redo my magazine I would use a medium close up shot as this is what I saw in the magazines I looked at during my research. I followed the conventions of magazine contents pages for my contents page by using a variety of small images of pupils from the school. I included a contents page title to show what page of the magazine it is. I followed conventions by showing the article titles within the magazine and where in the magazine they can be found, although I used random page numbers they still went up in ascending order, this would not happen in a real magazine so is something I need to think about when creating magazines in the future. I followed magazine conventions throughout my magazine as I didn't feel confident enough to challenge or develop magazine conventions.

How does my magazine represent particular social groups?
My magazine is aimed at both genders aged 16-18 as my magazine is for sixth form students. Because of this my magazine represents school life for sixth form students and the school information they may want to know and may be interested in. In order to show who my magazine is aimed at I used two sixth form students on the front cover and a male and female sixth form students on my contents page, in order for me to make this clearer I should have considered using the term sixth form within my magazine title, although I did try to do this in my articles by having the 'Sixth Form Panto', 'Christmas Revision' and 'Christmas Clothing' to try and suggest who my magazine is aimed at due to the suitability of the article content.

What kind of publisher may distribute my magazine?
If my magazine was distributed by a publisher it would be by a publisher that publishes content suitable for children and teens. This is so that my target audience would want to read my magazine as they know that the content is suitable for them due to the publisher. For example my magazine may be distributed by Egmont as they are a well known publisher of children's and teens books and magazines, as my magazine target audience is the same publishing my magazine wouldn't effect their reputation as my magazine content and design would be suitable for them.

Who is the audience for my magazine?
As mentioned above my target audience for my magazine is male and female teens aged between 16-18 as this is the age of sixth form pupils, therefore my magazine is most suitable to them due to the content regarding school information at sixth form level. In order to show my audience I have used pictures of my target audience on my cover and contents page, these pictures are of males and females within my targeted age range.The content and articles within my magazine also shows my audience as they are targeted at and most suitable to them.

How did I attract my audience to my magazine?
I have attracted my target audience to my magazine by having teenage girls at sixth form on my front cover to show how the magazine is for and attract my audience to look at my magazine. In order to encourage my target audience to read my magazine I have used article titles that are relevant to my target audience as they contain information that is relevant to sixth form students who are the target audience for my magazine.

What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing my magazine?
I have learnt how to use Photoshop and and how to create a magazine cover and contents page using the features Photoshop provides. I have learnt how to edit pictures by changing the look and colour of certain parts of a picture using the hue and saturation level adjustment tool. Creating my magazine has taught me how to change the appearance of a picture or something within it, for example I changed the colour of the clothes of the two pupils on the cover of my magazine to make them look more wintery as this was the theme of my magazine. I have learnt how to use layers to change what goes on top of something for example the cover lines on top of the picture. Using Photoshop to create my magazine has taught me how to create a magazine but also how to use the tools Photoshop provides, this will help me later on when I create my next magazine.

I have been able to use magazine conventions and use my plans to create my magazine cover and contents page. I have kept the Winter/Christmas theme consistent throughout my magazine by using colours associated with this time for example: blues, whites, reds and greens.
I am happy with my magazine cover and contents page as I think that I have made them look professional, as I was told this in my feedback, I think that I have been able to the theme I chose and have been able to make my magazine suitable for my target audience of male and female sixth form students aged between 16-18 as the design, layout and article titles are most relevant to them. If  I was going to redo this process I would use spend more time on the planning process so that I am able to carefully decide and consider what it is I would like to achieve.