Evaluation

What have you learnt from completing this task?

From completing this task, I have learnt about many things I did not know before. I have learnt about the different conventions of magazines, for example mastheads, feature stories, skylines and plugs. These are things I did not know the names of before, and just saw them on magazines and didn’t really think much of it. I have used my skills of Photoshop which I already had, as well as expanding on them and improving the overall quality of my work. I have also learnt about the different stages of making a magazine, from initial ideas of names and layouts, to drafts and all the way through to taking photos and editing them to actually make the product itself. I have also learnt how to analyse magazines effectively, to pick out the key features and conventions and their purposes. I have found this is a very important skill to have as the knowledge I have learnt about what makes magazines effective can be applied when I my own magazines, as I know what it is which appeals to the reader/target audience.

How have you used technology?

While completing the task I have used a range of different technologies. I have used computers and the internet to plan and research before making my product. Also for my planning and in order to present my work on my blog, I have used Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Publisher, for example I used Publisher to create the digital drafts for my cover and contents page, then used PowerPoint to present them on there and annotate them. I also used a phone camera to take my images for the task, then a USB to transfer my images from the phone to the computer. I then used Photoshop to edit my images and create the final product.

What conventions have you used and why?

The masthead was an extremely important convention of my magazine front cover, as it is what tells the reader/target audience the name of the magazine. This is important because the name of the magazine can say a lot about what the magazine is about. For example, my magazine being called ‘Campus Connect’ instantly tells the reader that my magazine is educational and contains information related to college and is suitable for college students.

The skyline and footer of the magazine offer extra information about the contents of the magazine to the target audience. For example, the footer of my magazine is very similar to a feature story or a plug, as it is telling you something about what has been written about in the magazine, but it is also advertising an event. I have used a plug on my front cover as it is another key convention of a magazine.

The plug I have used is to advertise NUS cards, which would appeal to my target audience of college students as student discount would be very useful to them.

Around the main image of my magazine, I have added lots of feature stories from inside the magazine. This is very conventional of a magazine because the audience can see very quickly some of the articles which are in the magazine, and decide whether they want to buy it. The aim of using feature stories is that the audience will see them and these will appeal to them, resulting in them buying the magazine.

What would you change if you were to do this task again?

If I were to do this task again I would organise my time better so I had time to take my images using a DSLR or bridge camera. I would do this so that my images were better quality, but also so that I gained more skills which would be transferable for future assignments. I would also spend more time in Photoshop creating my product, so that the quality would be of a higher standard. I would also make sure to take more photos, so I had a wider selection to choose from.