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

At the beginning of the project I began with a skills audit which immediately shows some progression from the start. Looking at the answers I put, I can confidently say that I can now say yes to all of the tasks on there as throughout the course of getting to my full product it has been necessary for me to do most of the list, for example make a blog, use indesign and scan which I have used regularly since the beginning.

In the preliminary task I had to make a front cover of a college magazine. Comparing it to my final cover for my pop magazine, the progression in learning how to form a front cover has improved an incredible amount. The college magazine looks very clashed due to the range of colours which don't really link in any way or suite each other, they just look completely random. Also the improvement in the photograph is really clear, as in the college magazine the photograph makes the writing really difficult to read and the outlining of some of the text just doesn't help at all, it just kind of all looks very messy, compared to the pop magazine where the coverlines are done in a more structure manner. In the pop magazine I have also included a range of fonts, which actually work together to create a more interesting look and it helps to separate the text and read easier, whilst the font on the college magazine is pretty much same, and it also looks really unstructured and randomly placed, even though the fonts change in size which could separate it, it just looks oddly put together and very confusing. The front cover of the pop magazine is also far more full, even though it hasn't got that many coverlines compared to the college magazine there is just far more text and images place on and it just looks much more appealing as it works together whilst the college magazine looks really empty on the left side and really unattractive on the right side.

         

The progression of the contents page is also really visible, the college magazine draft looks incredibly plain and poorly designed as it lacks colour therefore looks really bland and boring, and you would expect that because the target audience is at a similar age there would be more colour incorporated, more so than the obnoxiously bright red banner at the bottom of the contents page. In comparison the pop magazine contents page looks really well designed because it has the same angled look throughout the whole thing and the colours are within the same palette therefore even though there is a large range they still work together because they are in the same palette. The pop magazine is also more picture based therefore more visual and suiting to the target audience therefore I think the progression shows the development of my understanding of target audiences as it was much more thought out for the pop magazine. I think it also shows my development in understanding conventions and designs and before it was very random and unconventional to the point where it didn't just challenge usual views, it just looked unattractive. 

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

How did you attract/address your audience?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think my media product is a clear representations of female teenagers, this is shown through the use of colours, the models, fonts and general content of the magazine.

The main model of the front cover is something that immediately establishes teenage girls who are more feminine and into girly things, this come across through the use of clothing, the main model is wearing a floral dress which gives the impression she is very girly as floral patterns are associated with femininity, therefore represents this social group. In addition to this, I think as it is a female model, I think she represents a typical reader and connects with this social group as they can relate, also make up is clearly an element of the model which would also interest this social group as it's an associated hobby, interest and it's popular amongst them. I think also, due to the fact the model is representing a female celebrity, this also represents a female social group, because most gossip and celebrity orientated magazines are targeted at females as it is known for them to enjoy this type of content.

The colours throughout the magazine in my opinion are the most defining of social groups and specify it to femininity. Due to the dominance of shades of pink and purple, which are very stereotypical colours associated with teenage girls, this definitely represents the social group. Often when people think of girls, the first thing that comes to mind is pink, and as purple is such a close shade that compliments and ties in, it is really appropriate for the magazine, another example to support this, is when children are given birth to, pink is the colour given to the girls, whilst blue is given to the boys, so this is what clearly identifies this.

The font throughout the magazine are dominantly sans serif font, this eliminates the association with upper and middle class social groups as well as older generations, as without the fancy feet, it looks far simpler than if it were to appear regularly which would give an appearance of sophistication and class which my media product lacks as I wanted it to appear more fun and bold to represent the younger audiences. In relation to this, the intelligence of the readers is also represented to be not as intellectual due to the simplicity of the text and font. The language throughout the magazine support this, as there are recurring notions towards slang, jokes and abbreviations which fit the teenage audience, as in modern generations it's a popular form of speech and occurs within their everyday giving a clear representation of this social group.

The contents of the magazine also defines the magazines representation of social groups, with constant relation between pop music celebrities, the younger audience is immediately picked up on, but this is further defined with the ideas of fashion which is a common interest between females, as well as a boy craze towards celebrity male crushes, which is something that stereotypically teenage girls craze about due to their changing hormones, therefore from content like that, teenage girls are definitely picked up on. Other contents such as fashion and celebrity stories is also strongly relative to females, as these are often contents that are included in many magazines aimed at females like heat magazine for example, which always advertises content like this, therefore it is really representative of the female group.

Pop magazines are mostly associated with teenagers and females, therefore mine is really relevant to fit these conventions, however it does contrast slightly with heavier and more obnoxious views of these conventions which actually narrow the different social groups which could relate to the magazine. I didn't really break any stereotypical views or representations of social groups which all narrows the variety but defines the target audience. The dominance of stereotypical views on these social groups really support ideas associated with them, for example the colour of pink, which is used frequently throughout the magazine design supports this stereotype.

I think when all of these different elements that represent similar social groups work together and combine throughout the magazine, the media product definitely become a more defined representation as there is so much in common between the representation of social groups within the fonts, colours, models and contents, I would say the most reoccuring social groups are females and teenagers/young people, therefore in general the main representation is teenage girls.

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

I think one way that my magazine challenges the conventions of pop magazines aimed at teenagers is that I didn't heavily edit the photograph, I left it quite natural as I only got rid of one blemish which was really obnoxious and becoming a focal point which I didn't want and I also brightened it only slightly to emphasise the colours, other than that I think that the main model displays a celebrity that is far more normal looking which helps the target audience relate more and connect to that character. It similar however in terms of the model due to the fact I am displaying a pop music artist which is a convention of pop magazines front covers therefore I use this instead of challenging it.

I think throughout my magazine I used conventions more than challenging or developing because I wanted to make the magazine look really obvious to the target audience and I wanted it to really fit in with a pop music magazine as I didn't want it to sway towards just being a teenage magazine.

The concept of an interview is a very conventional thing to apply to a double page spread and especially with the design elements I have put on with the '5 facts' and pictures, definitely uses the concept of an interview as this is really common within real media products on the market today.

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