Finished products - My front cover

Finished products - My Contents Page

Finished Products - My Double Page Spread

Evaluation - Skills development

Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back on my preliminary task, and comparing it to my finished magazine, i think the difference is clear between the two that i have most definately improved on my photoshopping skills as the project has gone on. I already had a brief knowledge of photoshop, but i feel that as i have wanted to do different things with my magazine, i have taught myself how to do them using tutorials and help from my teacher (for example, wrapping text around an image like i did on my DPS and my contents page).
Obviously, i wanted to put a lot more effort into my actual magazine as apose to my college magazine prelimiary task, so, when i thought something would look good i put a lot more effort into finding out how to do it, whereas during the prelimiary task i just changed my idea if i couldn't work out how to do something because i realised it wasn't as important as my final piece.

Also, when doing my final magazine, i put in a lot more research into other pages and how they go about certain things to produce a magazine (what is conventional). This is why, i think, my prelimary task looked so unproffesional and tacky, because i had no knowledge of other magazines, but once i looked into others (Vogue, especially), i became aware of the types of things i needed to include and how to go about including them. I think the contrast of this is shown when i compare my prelimiary task contents page to my final contents page.

I learnt a lot of new techniques when using photoshop that helped me to develop my work andmake it the best it could be. When i created my contents on the preliminary task, i had the text wrapped around my models head, whereas in my final product, i learnt how to create a box that moulded to the shape of my model so i could continue to write and the text would work its own way around. I also learnt a lot more about the softening and sharpening tool, If there was any areas that weren't so good, or could do with a bit of blending (such as when i made Vicky's hair a bit 'bigger'), The softening tool worked wonderfully to produce the effect i was going for. Once i'd used this, i would then sharpen the areas i wanted to stand out the most (Such as the eyes - Subjective gaze is always sexy and needs emphasizing), this would then detract the eye away from my softened areas. The softening tool also came in very handy after i had used the clone tool (another new one i was learning to use), once i had cloned an area, to cover up any inperfections, i would soften the edges to make the whole thing a lot less harsh and noticeable.

Also, as i put more effort into my final magazine, I did a lot more research into my audience and what makes them 'click'/how i would appeal to them. I researched magazines my audience are attracted too and looked at all different things about it, from the font's to the composition, and the articles to the way they're written. I realised that these magazines had a main focus of attention to detail and keeping everything minimal and chic - So i also did. I also did a lot of research into Lady Gaga when writing my article, in an attempt to make it as believable as possible. I do think that research, and learning many new techniques is one of the main reasons why my magazine was a success.

Evaluation - Technologies

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

When creating my magazine, I used different software's to create all my different pieces of work, as well as producing them. The Magazine itself was done on Photoshop, and then I presented my work on websites like Flickr and Blogger (this website). 

I really enjoyed using photoshop, but this was because I found it quite easy to use because I have a similar one at home. However, this photoshop was different and there were various things I struggled with (Just simple things like adjusting the lighting and contrast effects.. because they were different to how i was used too and i was confused). But, I think I wouldn't have enjoyed using photoshop at all if I had had no previous experience using it (Like others in my class). I was struggling with certain things, and this was after 2 or 3 years experience (and me being thought i was used to the program.. clearly not). So, if I had no experience I would have really struggled and would have resulted in a poor final piece. Also, although photoshop is great to work with, it's very time consuming. I'm quite a picky person and I like things to be as I want them, and if the smallest thing is wrong, it's hard to fix without messing up the rest of my work, like erasing small flaws. In general, Photoshop is brilliant software which is available to amateurs as well as professionals. I was so proud of my final magazine once I had finished (especially my double page spread which I used various lighting tricks on photoshop to make 'perfect').

The website Flickr was also another website I used for certain things. I had a lot of problems when using Flickr because, it would allow me to open up my image and then when I went to annotate it, it would let me type up all what i wanted to write, then just cancel the interent whenever I clicked 'save'. This was very annoying and it took me a while to figure out how to get it too stop, which was to use Firefox as opposed to Interent Explorer - which turned out to be very awkward to keep swapping over. But, it got the job done, it let me upload my photos, annotate them and upload them to my blog - which is all I wanted from it. Considering the website is free, I can't really complain... But it would be a lot better if it actually worked on Internet Explorer.

The website I used to present my work on was this website, Blogger. Blogger is a good website for many reasons. Firstly, it's free. It allows to you upload pictures and other things into a blog and write about them, or just write blogs, and with no word limit you can talk as much as you want. However I did have a few problems, sometimes my word spelling checker would work, other times it wouldn't (hence why half of my blogs probably have hundreds of spelling mistakes!). Also, writing blogs was perfectly fine, but when it came to adding a picture, i could either 'right', 'centre' or 'left' it... I couldn't move it where i wanted, which was annoying as quite often it wouldn't go where i want/mess up the text around it. Also, it wouldn't let me have one image on the right and one on the left... They just would go into the centre and underneath each other? So.. that was annoying. Also, when i actually designed my blog, it would let me change  my background and title, etc, but when it came to trying to change my tabs and stuff - it just wouldn't work. In the end i just left them because I got too annoyed trying to get them out of a ugly clump or words above my blog. But for a free blogging site, i can't really complain.. just like Flickr, it does the job and lets me present my work.

I also used my own photoshop at home when i photoshoped the pictures. The photoshop at college didn't seem to have tools like 'tanning' and 'teeth whitening', so I photoshopped all my pictures at home then created my magazine at college, which i thought worked well. I did however learn many new things with the photoshop at college which I was pleased with - Such as moulding text around an image (Like on my double page spread where the text wraps around her shoulder). Learning new skills with photoshop, as well as the ones i already knew, i think was the reason my magazine was such a success. I'm also glad I picked up new photoshop skills as well as blogging.

Evaluation - Addressing my Audience

How did you attract/address your audience?

Annotated on Flickr

Evaluation - Target Audience

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Before I even began making my magazine, I created an audience montage full of images of what kind of people my audience were and how they dressed, as well as the poses they did (to show their attitude, to show they are both mentally and physically 'hot'). I stuck to the idea that I originally had through my planning when creating my magazine for my audience - but if anything I emphasised the whole designer/'label lust' idea.

I was originally going to cover both high street and high end fashion, but, as my magazine progressed I found myself mentioning more big names (especially on my contents page... I included a lot of 'stories' to do with high end designers). However I still stuck to the idea of mentioning shops like H&M and Topshop so that my magazine wasn't just full of expensive clothes/accessories, because then that only aims at one certain market.

My magazine would be aimed at people who had a strong sense in fashion and music, and appreciate them on a higher scale then most people normally would. I mention some artists/designers that may only be known to people who are really into that kind of thing, so, the audience must know who these people are when reading the magazine to appreciate it. This incresaes the magazine's sense of exclusivity. My Audience would, basically, be people who are quite conscious about their look and how they present themselves - this would then mean they wanted to keep up with all the new music and the hottest trends to keep their 'status' (this meaning my magazine would be perfect for them).
My audience would instantly look at my cover, and recognize the names on the cover and think the cover stories would be interesting to them, and this would be why they brought my magazine. Also, because my covergirl is dressed in such a glamorous way, my audience may even see that and think they want her 'look' and buy it for that reason.

As for advertisements, I would obviously offer products that my audience will be interested in - I'm not going to go advertising gardening tools in a magazine that's full of fashion and music (I'm sure the last thing my audience will be doing is gardening...). My magazine would have large pages of advertisements (like the ones in Vogue), where one designer/artist has a page or DPS to put their advertisement on (my publishing company would be payed for this), However I would also be advertising other shops/designers in a more subtle way on my fashion pages, where my magazine would say whats 'hot', and give examples - Then I would feature certain things that would therefore advertise them designers to my audience. I would be sure to offer advertisements for many shops and designers, as well as things that relate to the music industry. So, I could be featuring advertisements that link to high street (H&M, Topshop, Zara, etc), or high end designers (Louis Vuitton, Louboutin, Vivienne Westwood, etc), or music (HMV, bands tour dates/ticket sales, etc).

I am confident in understanding hte needs and interests of my target audience since I belong to the same sub-culture and I tested my initial ideas on a group of friences to make sure that they were making the 'readings' that I intended.