The student created a magazine cover and contents page that successfully followed magazine design conventions. For the cover, the student included elements like a masthead, cover lines surrounding the main image, a barcode, consistent colors and fonts. Comparing their cover to a lifestyle magazine, they found many similarities in how conventions were followed. The contents page also adhered to conventions with a consistent color scheme, page numbers for articles, and images. The student learned about camera and Photoshop skills from this project, and how using a blog makes work more accessible and secure.
2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms of conventions of media products?
Masthead
Main image
featuring person
Various
cover lines
Date line
Consistent
colours
Consistent
fonts
Text anchors image
Barcode
Issue No.
3. For my magazine cover I have aimed to consistently follow the codes and
conventions of magazine covers, I feel that I have done this successfully. For
example I have the masthead at the top of the page, standing out on the page. The
cover line surround the main image, and the main cover lines serves as anchor text
for the main image, therefore the main image is more relevant. I have also included
a barcode at the bottom right of the page, this is standard for most professional
magazines. As this is issue number one of this magazine, I have made a point of
this and clearly shown it just above the barcode. I also followed a consistent colour
scheme which I aimed to relate to the school colours, purple, green and white. This
as a whole brings the magazine cover and makes it look more professional. For my
magazine cover I only used two fonts in total, this ensures that the cover does not
look too messy, and is less straining to understand. Through the comparison of my
student magazine and the lifestyle magazine ‘Red’ I notices lots of similarities and
only a few differences. The similarities mostly lay within the most common codes
and conventions. For example they both have a masthead at the top, cover lines
surrounding the edges of the page, and they both include a barcode. They also
both stick very well to a consistent colour and font scheme throughout the whole
of the front cover. The two magazines also have a medium close up of a person, of
which the main cover lines anchors to well. The student magazine anchors well as
it is an interview with the person shown, and on Red it is a story about how the
woman featured in the main image was “finding new love after Ethan”. Also the
date of the magazine and its price are on both magazines, a standard convention
for all magazines. There are only a few differences between the two magazines. For
example they both include a barcode, yet they are featured in different positions
on the page, it is on the bottom right on Student Weekly, but on the middle right
on Red. Another difference is that Student Weekly has a logo separate to the
masthead, whereas Red has a masthead that serves as a logo at the same time. For
my final magazine there were some differences between it and the drawn draft.
One of the differences between the final magazine and the drawn draft is that on
the drawn draft I didn’t feature the price of the magazine and also the issue
number and date. These are some key codes and conventions, therefore ensuring
that I did include them in my final magazine was very important. Another
difference between the two is that on the draft the masthead was not originally in
bubble writing, this I changed because I felt it simply looked better. These are the
only differences between the final magazine and the drawn draft. Overall I think my
magazine cover was very successful, all code and convention were met well and
the only changes to the draft were improvements.
5. For my magazine cover I have also aimed to, as well as
possible, stick to the codes and conventions of a magazine
and a typical contents page. For my contents page I have
Included the title of the whole magazine, stated that it is a
contents page, have included the page numbers for main
articles in the magazine, and included images. These all tie
in together to make what I feel is a very professional and
successful contents page. I also included an editorial which
talks about what the magazine is about, and the people who
helped create the images. I also included a notice under the
editorial to where the college magazine can be found on
social networking sites, in this case Facebook and Twitter.
Upon comparing my magazines contents page with another i
have noticed many similarities just like the cover. For
example both of the contents pages have a consistent colour
scheme, page numbers for specific articles, and include
images. When comparing the final magazine contents page
to the drawn draft I notices that there weren't many
differences. The only difference was the use of the magazine
title which was left out of the draft and the mention of
social networking sites which differed the two.
6. 2. What have you learnt about technologies from the process
of constructing your product?
One of the things I have learnt about technologies through the
construction of my product is the better understanding of the camera.
Before this I had never really used much camera technology. Now I
have a better understanding of how to enhance my images taken to
give them a more professional and crisper look. Another thing that I
have learnt is a more advanced understanding of Adobe Photoshop.
Before this project I had only used Photoshop on a very basic level, but
now I can implement the skills I have learnt in order to make my
products look a lot better. The final thing I have learnt about is the
benefits when using a blog. The blog is very convenient as it is
accessible anywhere, making it much easier to get any work done. Also
I feel like the work is much more secure as it cannot be lost, like on a
memory stick.