Evaluation for Preliminary Task

Evaluation

Using both theorists and analysis to influence my product, I was swiftly able to produce my college magazine cover and contents page with knowledge on common conventions and rules that apply to the majority of magazines. Although, I do feel as though there are certain aspects of features and common conventions which could be changed and corrected. As Bentley (1997) stated, the creative process is 'The making of the new through rearranging of the old'. Keeping his theory in mind, I applied this knowledge to the production to complete my preliminary task. The predominant method of applying Bentley's theory was to gather information on common conventions of magazines, allowing an advantaged understanding of how to ensure the cover and contents pages contained great aesthetic appeal. Analysing two contrasting college magazines and fashion contents pages helped me considerably. The Bodmin College magazine is not professional, does not fit its purpose nor is it popular with the target audience, as the survey they completed states int he results. This meant that I had to adapt my concepts and make sure my magazine did not turn out like this. Contrasting to the magazine, I analysed the magazine 'College', which stuck to common conventions, but also attempted to be original. In the same way, I attempted to do this; my magazine resembles a fashion magazine, such as Elle or Cosmopolitan, rather than a regular college magazine. Though, I do feel as though this might not be particularly suitable for males, something of which must be thought about during the process of producing my music magazine. I followed certain common conventions which apply to almost every magazine, such as a medium close up image covering the whole magazine cover, a masthead which is almost 1/8 of the page, though should be smaller, and the typography not interfering with the face of the model. With the contents page, I have also used common conventions. For example, the lexis 'Contents' stands out more than the subheadings, which are in a column. I also used multiple images which are bunched together, but could put the reference page number by these images to ensure better understanding of the location of articles. 

'Influence' is, primarily, aimed at students of Bodmin College from the age of 11 to 19. Though, I felt as though it should be more so directed toward the sixth formers (16-19), as not one of the sixth formers who took my survey actually read the magazine, and I knew that I have the ability to create something they would be interested in and want to read. I also wanted to direct it towards them because the younger students look up to them as role models, and so, if the sixth formers read it, the likelihood of the whole school reading it is high. I ensured the topics were that of which would interest them, such as 'GCSE Results' and 'Winter D of E', an activity an abundance of students partake in. This also is suggestive towards the students, telling them that being healthy is 'cool' like the magazine. Topics predominantly aimed towards students in higher education are present on the cover of the magazine, such as 'Explosive Discovery' and 'Bodmin Blessed', but also appeal to younger students who aspire to be like the sixth formers, and their parents who wish to know more about what the sixth form is like. The secondary target audience is the parents/guardians of the primary target audience, the students. Through the magazine, I am able to convey to them the achievements of the students at Bodmin College, the events happening, and what their children could potentially get involved in. Stanley Hall (1904) in 'The Storm and Stress Model' states that 'the common mood in teenagers is depressive' and 'criminal activity would increase at the ages of 12 and 24'. Contradictory to this theory, my magazine will represent the youth in an optimistic, positive manner. As they have continued with education, enrolling in higher education, they are intelligent beings and are less likely to have this behaviour. It also recognises these achievements, praising the students rather than the opposite, or encouraging bad behaviour amongst them. My magazine conveys to their parents/guardians how youth can be represented in a positive light, rather than the common stereotype that the youth are negative and trouble making. Both my cover and contents page stick to this ideology, and I have successfully portrayed the youth in an optimistic fashion.

In terms of graphological aspects, overall I feel as though it is successful. Though, certain features of the cover could be improved to create a more professional aesthetic appeal and conform to common conventions which are generally successful. I did not want the imagery to have an artificial feel, so I edited the photograph to ensure it was minimalistic, and looked natural. I also used natural lighting so the diegesis is successful in verisimilitude, and that really shows. Because the sun was not out on the day I did my photography, the colouring of the photographs are quite cold. Ideologically, they should be warm and welcoming; perhaps I could have edited them a little bit more to make the target audience feel accepted and invited in. The imagery looks as though it should be something present on the cover of a fashion magazine, which is not suitable concerning the target audience; it needs to appeal to males as well as females. Though the young boys might be attracted to the model on the cover, as she is beautiful and older than them. This links to Laura Mulvey's theory 'The Male Gaze'. Mulvey says that women are placed in the media to pleasure men, and though the purpose of my cover is not solely to please males, I did want them to be attracted to the model. Personally, I feel as though I could have added more imagery on the cover of events that had happened, to show the audience, rather than telling them, what has been going on in the college, or what will happen. Though I did use multiple images on the contents page, including the arts award symbol. This shows the readers that the school is serious about arts award, and really want the students to achieve this. I used only images of students within the contents, but I could have included teachers for the parents/guardians, to portray the teaching in a positive way, and give them an insight on how their students are being taught. The images I did choose to use are positive in representing youth. In terms of Marxism, middle class white heterosexual males are in control of the media. This means that they usually portray anything different from this negatively. For example, women are sexualised, homosexuals are unaccepted, disabled people's (in relation to Jordanova's 1989 theory) representation is 'a lack of mobility, physical impairments, needing others, helplessness, dependency, unattractiveness and asexuality.' In each and every one of the shots, there is a smile, with the exception of one. This medium close up links to the article 'Depression rising in the youth', relating back to Stanley Hall's theory that a common mood in teenagers is depression. This is not necessarily a negative representation in this case, but more so something of which is obviously attempting to convey this to the parents/guardians and ensure they are aware of how their children might be depressed, therefore will help the potential illness.

Typographically, the cover font has a professional appearance, especially because the writing is in capitals, a feature common in almost any magazine. A negative attribute of the font, is the fact that the white words do not show up particularly well, nor does the black in places. Though the font for the contents page is unprofessional and does not reflect the target audience. This is an aspect of which I need to improve on whence producing my final cover and contents pages. The masthead appears to be modern, youthful and is much more appealing than the current Bodmin College magazine. I ensured that the masthead stood out by turning the font colour black, as it is against a white background, and these shades contrast with each other. And so, the masthead is one of the first things you see when looking at the magazine. It also makes it easier to read for students who might have dyslexia of difficulty reading. The colour palette of the typography consists of three colours: black, white and turquoise. Three/four colours being used is a common convention, as it is successful to limit the colour palette, rather than widening it to the point that they clash for an unsightly appearance, not able to attract the target audience. Only two different fonts have been used on the front cover, usually there are more fonts than this, though not an overabundance, to vary the magazine more. Only two fonts are used within the contents page as well, though the fonts of the headings have been stretched out to fit the space and highlight more important articles. This does not look at all professional, they should be all the same size, with perhaps the exception of the important subheadings, which should be the same size as each other. In terms of the colour palette on the contents page, it is all black, which I dislike. This would not be appealing to the target audience, as it does not contain, as a common convention, a variety of different colours (to an extent).

The magazine cover layout is successful, with room for improvement; the contents page is not a success, and I could improve this a lot. I should have paid more attention to the analysis of Vogue's contents, which contained different sections. If I had included subheadings and divided the stories into specific areas, such as 'news’ 'fashion' 'academics', the audience would have been able to locate certain stories that they were interested in, whereas the contents is difficult to read. As a common convention of magazines, I erased the masthead to fit around Kitty's head, as the title is usually well known and looks professional if some is missing. This is located directly at the top of the cover, as is the 'contents' title on the contents page, which is common in a vast majority of magazines. The reasoning for this is because when magazines are stacked on shelves, if it is not at the front, you can only see the top 1/8 of the magazine, and the producers want the audience to be able to see and find knowledge of their magazine. The cover looks organised, purposely to ensure the parents are attracted to the cover as well as the students. Parents are stereotypically organised, neat, and tidy, wanting their children to take this characteristic up as their own. To improve the features and layout, I feel as though I could have included a few more common conventions of magazines, though I do like simplicity. Necessary conventions would be the date/season or issue number, which tells both students and parents when the magazine was released to ensure punctuality of the students. I should have added a tag line, date and issue number/season. This would have given an overall more professional appearance, including more common conventions which generally attract the target audience chosen, and appealed to the correct audience. I ensured that the text was placed around the head, not interfering with the face of the model, because if so, often the image looks like the background. There is an order of the text: subheading, description of article, subheading, description of article, subheading, description of article. This portrays the magazine as organised, something of which would strongly attract the secondary target audience of parents/guardians, as they would like to see how the school is able to produce an organised magazine, which portrays how the school as a whole is organised itself.

Though my cover and contents page are successful in giving the reader the information needed to understand the structure of the magazine, it could have been improved by following common conventions. I need to ensure general aspects of my final magazine are better than my preliminary task so that it will be a lot more successful. Regardless of this, I feel as though I have produced and newer and improved version of the current Bodmin College magazine. therefore is more successful. A large amount of improvements could still be made.