Evaluation 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that since the preliminary task my knowledge and understanding of the magazine industry has increased dramatically. Looking back at the work I produced in the preliminary task shows just how my knowledge and technical skills have improved.

Looking back at my preliminary task (seen on the left), you can clearly see the improvement. The jigsaw pieces and the text font that was used looks very unprofessional. Also the sizing of the fonts doesn't look like much thought went into it. 

When you compare the two front covers, they are very different, and with good reason, each magazine has a completely different target audience. But even so my main project is much more professional and also catches the eye much better. The photograph of my music magazine is of a much higher quality and looks like it was taken by a professional photographer. From the first task I learnt that lighting is very important to give the best effect. As you can see the photograph for my preliminary project is very poorly lit in comparison to 'Quirk'.

My skills on using Photoshop for image manipulation and InDesign for desktop publishing have improved greatly, I now have a greater understanding of how the software works, and how to use it to its full potential.


The biggest thing that I have probably learnt is how to manage my time. In the preliminary task I didn't plan my time at all. But from that experience I learnt that time management is very important and in a way, vital to staying on top of the work. Planning each lesson with a different task was a great way to keep on top. I had each separate task written out that I need to do and just followed the plan, it works seamlessly. 
UNLESS you add other people in to that plan, i have also learnt throughout this process that people are not reliable, and to choose my models carefully and make sure they are committed and good at taking instructions.

Evaluation 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation 5 - How did you attract/address you audience?

I feel that I have been successful in attracting my target audience. I asked two people of different ages a few questions about what they thought of the magazine and how it attracts and addresses the audience. Even though one person i interviewed would not fit my target audience, I still found it interesting to hear her point of view and how she feels the audience would be addressed. Here is what they said...

I also posted the front cover of my magazine on Facebook to get some other feedback directly on the layout and the design. This is slightly less helpful as people do not specifically talk about addressing the audience but it does help to know what my target audience thinks of the magazine and their reaction. Here is what people have said.

Evaluation 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazine is 'indie' musicians and music lovers. Radicals, people who want to be more individual and also hedonists - people who want to enjoy life now, probably falling into A/B on the jicnar scale. In my original planning I said that my target audience would be both males and females, but after making my magazine I feel that 'Quirk' would appeal more to males rather than females.

Evaluation 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For my magazine I have chosen to distribute independently as that would be the best way to get 'Quirk' out to the desired audience. I would use a very similar distribution strategy to 'Vice'. My magazine would be placed in the obvious places like newsagents... but then also in bars, cafe's and in some shops like: Topman and Urban Outfitters.

 I would definitely have a multi-platform strategy to distribute my magazine. By creating an application for IOS and Android, this would be a very good way to reach my target audience. With the latest news and even a mobile edition of the magazine, this is a perfect way to keep the audience interested and also attract the audience in bringing new customers. My magazine is aimed at 'indie' musicians and music lovers and i feel that the majority of these people would have some sort of device that uses apps, whether it be a phone, ipod or tablet. This is the market that we should be aiming at. Also I would have a digital copy of the magazine online available to download because not all the time will the customer be available to go out to buy the magazine, they can buy it from their own living room. Creating more and more different ways for the audience to get their hands on 'Quirk' will simply increase the profit dramatically.

Evaluation 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

My magazine front cover uses many of the same forms and conventions that I discovered in my original research. The masthead stretches the width of the magazine and is in a large eye-catching font. The name 'Quirk' thought out in a way that the reader can have their own perception of the meaning. With the masthead I also challenged my research, because in the majority of the magazines that I researched I found the masthead was in capital letters, most probably to reduce distraction, minimising the ascenders and descenders, but for 'Quirk' I felt that the masthead was more appealing in lower-case and made it much easier to read and understand. The main photograph takes up the whole of the A4 cover just like all the examples I found in my research. Also the picture was thought through to great detail.

The main focal point in the photo being the models eyes, this photograph could connote a gaze of thought, with things on the mind. Very much like the 'Clash' magazine I used in my research.














Also the minimalistic style and the use of a single cover line was also styled off 'Clash'. 
I think this worked well in catching the audience's attention and also suited the style of my target audience. 


Also something else i discovered in my research is that the magazine's advertisement doesn't stop once you have bought the magazine. I used this in 'Quirk' as well advertising both a twitter page and a 'quirk music' website. 

For the twitter page I was unsure whether I would need more explanation that '@quirkmusic' was referring to the twitter page. But after asking some people, who would fit my target audience, whether they would understand it, the majority said that it was easily understandable that it was referring to twitter.




In my contents page research I analysed 'NME' and 'Clash'. Both were very different. With my contents page i tried to combine the two, giving a good balance of text and images. My contents page was the toughest to complete. I tried various things to make it work, I challenged my research by having a single image covering the whole page. This was something that definitely worked for my magazine. 
Adding the image brought everything together and made it look much more professional even though it was not something I discovered in my research. I still used many of the same forms and conventions like keeping everything aligned perfectly. Also the minimalistic technique used throughout the whole of 'Clash' was something I thought was just right for my target audience. 






































For my double page spread I wanted to use many of the conventions seen in 'Clash' (seen here on the right). The black an white style very much appeals to my target audience, with quite a retro feel. Even though both 'NME' and 'Clash are quite image based, i still wanted to get a good balance between images and text. 'NME' used more text along with the images, but for my magazine i decided to decrease the amount of images to text. So went with the black and white, single image approach, then added one more picture on the second page to even things out (seen below).