EVALUATION OF YEAR 12

What production skills did you learn/develop?

While making my magazine I learnt that there are many factors to consider for example had to think about who were the target audience and had to have that in mind while planning and making my magazine for example the colour scheme, the fonts, the contents and pictures all had to appeal to the right target audience for the institution which also meant I had to do a lot of research and learnt how important my research turned out to be by helping make my own.  From making my own front cover, contents page and double page spread I have learnt and developed many skills for example with production I learnt that I had to make my magazine stand out from the rest of the magazines so that people buy mine. I learnt by researching that I had to make the font big and bold to catch the audience’s eye but at the same time not over the top so it is too much and looks messy. I also had to take this into consideration when choosing the colour scheme as the colours had to go together yet make the magazine stand out. From looking at other music magazine I noticed that they all have a consistent theme to make it easier for the audience to identify the magazine.  I kept to the same colour scheme the whole way through to make it look professional and kept to a maximum of main colours. I kept to the main codes and conventions of a magazine to make it easy for the target audience to identify it and what genre it is. I had to think about the masthead, images, inside stories etc.

What have you learnt in terms of management?

This task has taught me that time management is a very important factor to think about and is key when making a magazine to achieve the best outcome. I spent a lot of time making my magazine but also had to be clever about how much time I spent on each part so I tried to divide my time equally. I firstly did my research so that I had a good idea of what I needed to do and then started my planning based on what I had learnt. I spent the most time on planning and researching which helped me a lot when it came to production as I already had a good idea of what I needed to do to produce my magazine to the best of my ability. I finally evaluated my work to explain what i did, why i did it and how it helped.

In terms of your research and planning's what did you learn about the magazine industry?

In my research and planning I looked at many different magazines, genres, institutions and it has helped me develop and wider range of knowledge about the magazine industry. I learnt what the codes and conventions are of a music magazine are and that they are usually quite basic yet bold and eye catching by having a basic layout and a colour scheme with a max of 3 main colours makes it easier to follow  but uses big bold colourful masthead and headings to stand out. All music magazines have their own kind of style, colours and fonts so when someone sees it they can associate it with their institution and genre of music for example a pop music magazine would usually use bright colours whereas rock music magazines will use darker colours like reed and black. 

Music magazines will usually have a big main image on the front of an artist which is featured inside the magazine. By having a celebrity on the front it will appeal to the target audience more as if you like the artist on the front you are more likey to buy the magazine. They will also offer free gifts or promotional offers for example posters or a free month membership to the magazine to entice the reader to buy it. I have also learnt that the magazine industry thinks mainly about their target audience for example their age, gender and area and will edit the layout, colour and fonts depending on these factors so in my magazine I tried to make my magazine appeal to my target audience and by follwing the codes and conventions of a pop music magazine.

What different technologies did you use?

I have learnt how to use a range of different technologies while doing my year 12 project, such as photoshop, prezzi, sliderocket, xtranormal and blogger. I have developed my skills with Photoshop while creating my magazine by trying things new things out to see if they work or not. Before starting this topic I had a basic understanding of Photoshop but I have developed my skills while making my magazine. I have also done some of my work on prezzi and slide rocket which have made my work more interesting to present and have shown that I have used different forms of media within my work. Lastly I have unloaded all of my work onto blogger which I also didn’t know how to use before year 12 so I have developed my skills using different technologies while doing this project.

If you did it again, what would you change/improve?

If i were to create my magazine again the main thing i would change/improve would be to use a different main image on my contents page as i feel the image that i used doesn't look as professional as the rest. I would make it look more professional by using a better quality camera and have it in colour and edited it more. I would also try and make it look less girly as then my magazine would appeal to a  wider audience and therefor more people would buy it and the magazine would get more sales.