My Evaluation Of My Student Magazine

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In order to try and make my magazine as professional as possible I carried out some research and noted down the generic conventions- I referred back to this throughout making my product in order to make sure my student magazine was as successful as I could. From this I continued to use a maximum of 4 consistent colours throughout my magazine; the colours I chose connote fun and calmness. I also included multiple relevant pictures in my magazine which I believe would relate to the target audience and attract their attention. I also included many free give-aways/ student discounts as these are extremely common in a standard student magazine, and it also tempts people to pick up a copy.  My mode of address was also quite chatty and informal, therefore resulting in the target audience feeling more at ease and relatable with my magazine. My central image on my mass head was of a student looking at a computer screen, this connotes intelligence. I think by using a fellow student as my central image my target audience may feel like they can relate to my magazine, therefore attracting their attention towards it. The name of my student magazine was ‘Stu-don’t stress’, I believe this name automatically offers reassurance towards my target audience as it’s directly addressing them due to the word ‘stu-don’t’ being extremely similar to the word ‘student’. This name also gives an idea to what’s going to be inside of my student magazine; therefore my target audience may turn to my student magazine when they’re looking for advice/help.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine was aimed at students aged 16-18, this is due to me believing I know quite a lot about the social group because I am in that age range. In order to represent this social group I have made sure to use a chatty mode of address, this offers a bond between me and the reader as I am talking to them as if I am on the same level, therefore avoiding them feeling uncomfortable. I have also used many images which include students in, therefore the target audience should know that my magazine is based for people in their social group. As well as this, I have used youthful colours such as pink, purple and yellow which connote fun and enjoyment. I also made sure my magazine was free, this was because during my research I found that most students agreed that they were more likely to read a magazine if it was free, as well as this students also tend to lack money, therefore by making my magazine free it is more beneficial for the target audience.

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think colleges/sixth forms might distribute my magazine as it’s specifically aimed at students in that age range. Also a lot of the stories inside consist of student related issues, therefore I don’t think it would be very necessary/ relevant to distribute my media product away from schools/colleges as the older/younger generation would simply not be interested in the issues covered inside.

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

I aimed for my media product to be just as appealing for boys and girls at ages 16-18. I have tried to offer a range of stories to attract this audience, for example I haven’t based any of the magazine on fashion as I believe that this would only be attractive for girls, therefore I avoided this idea completely. Instead I decided to use not so gender stereotypical stories, for example I involved a story based on the new subway and I also used a picture of a girl and a boy which linked to my cover story about giving advice, therefore my audience should feel reassured that the advice given is not only from a female perspective, but from a male’s perspective too.

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience through my house style. I tried to use eye-catching, yet not so in your face colours, which I believed would appeal to my target audience. The colours I used connoted fun, yet sophistication. I also tried to use reasonably larger fonts which mirrored students handwriting style, I did this in order to create a link with students to my magazine- this not only made the audience feel more ‘at home’, but it would also give my target audience an idea that my magazine was aimed at students like  them. I also used a student as my central image, therefore automatically relating to my target audience; this also gives an idea to the audience that my magazine consists of student related features. As well as this I also focussed on my Mode of address- I tried to make my magazine as chatty and informal as possible. I did this by adding ‘gossip’ which is generally seen as a teenage term, therefore this attracted my target audience as students tend to love gossiping and they would be intrigued in what the ‘gossip’ is about. As well as this I included continuity of my masthead on my contents page, this makes my audience revisit the brand identity of my magazine and the name.

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In order to successfully make my student magazine cover and content I used a programme called InDesign. I found this programme reasonably difficult when I first began experimenting on it as I didn’t really understand the use of ‘layers’; however once I got used to using all the different tools it began to become a lot more easier. I believe that this was an extremely useful programme when it came to making my magazine look reasonably professional looking.  I also used a digital camera to take pictures to include in my magazine. I also found this quite difficult at the start as I wasn’t too sure about the use of angles and lighting, however with a bit of practise and experimentation I managed to take some reasonably effective images to use in my magazine.