Evaluation

Evaluation:

My initial concept for my magazine was very similar to my final product. I wanted to plan each and every detail of this magazine to make production as simple as a possible. I wanted a very minimalist magazine that combined the idea of modern and vintage.

I am very aware that my front cover doesn’t meet the standard codes and conventions of magazine cover. There are not as many cover lines as usual, the image isn’t spread across the whole page and the bar code is on the back cover not the front. The reason for all these choices was simply to stand out. I wanted my magazine to be different to the standard magazines on the shelves.

I wanted to be that if you saw my magazine against the standard magazines, you would want to read it as it’s so different to the others. I also wanted to set that understated theme from the start. If people see a minimalist cover, they won’t be shocked if the contents of the magazine is also simple. 

My research and planning in this assignment has been the most vital part of my production. I planned every single detail to ensure that I didn’t miss any important codes and conventions in my magazine and to also ensure that production was made as easy as possible. 

In terms of research, I researched every decade that I would be featured in my magazine and researched all the adverts in that decade. This really helped me get a good grasp on the theme for the double page spread for each decade and also helped with the contents of the double page spreads. 

My questionnaire was also extremely useful. I did it online on google forms which allowed me to send it several people of all different ages and both genders so I could gauge the general opinion from a wide audience. Overall, my questionnaire results mainly confirmed the general opinion was similar to mine, however, some of the results helped me ensure that I mentioned some topics tactfully and sensitively to keep as wide an audience as possible. 

Another thing I found useful in ensuring I met the deadline was planning on Trello. I didn’t necessarily plan the assignment as a whole as I find that doesn’t help me and honestly just scares me. Instead I planned a lot smaller and just made a to do list of all the little tasks with deadline dates that I had to do. Once done I moved them to a done list and this actually ensured everything was done. 

Another thing that helped me was making a mood board. It was quite minimal but it just summarised the general theme of women’s magazines. It was useful to refer back to it for inspiration and guidance on what I had to include in my magazine. 

Initially, my target audience was young teens, both male and female, aged 12 up. I wanted to inform the younger generation of generations they have no idea about and teach them about the struggle that women went through to be where we are now. However, after producing my final product, I feel that my magazine would be suitable for all ages, but would still be mainly beneficial to younger generations. 

I attracted my target audience by merging the styles of the magazines I am teaching them about with the styles from the magazines they are familiar with. I also feel that the alternate and different style to my magazine will attract a younger audience.

I have learnt a lot throughout this project. Although I have used InDesign and Photoshop before, I haven’t needed to use it to the extent that I have throughout this assignment. I relied heavily on Photoshop for editing all the images I used in my magazine. I also used Photoshop to produce the advert on my back cover. I didn’t struggle using Photoshop after I had familiarised myself with it again.

However, I did find myself struggling a little bit with InDesign. It takes a lot of getting used to, but once I got my head around it again, I found myself falling into a routine when I opened InDesign to produce my magazine.  

I also learnt a lot about the importance of certain codes and conventions within my magazine. As much as I wanted my magazine to be alternative and different to standard magazines, I had to make sure I included certain conventions of a typical magazine, such as a bar code, price. Etc. to make sure it was a magazine and not just a leaflet.

Like I mentioned before, I planned everything to do with my final production. This meant that apart from experimenting a few times with a front cover and contents page, my production ended up being my final product. My initial concepts were very clear and I had a very structured idea in my head of how I wanted my magazine to look and the kind of message I wanted it to portray.

I am extremely happy and proud of my final product. It clearly sticks to the theme of time as I explore representation throughout the decades. There are obviously certain things I would have liked to do differently. I would have liked to have made a few more adverts and taken a few more of my own pictures. The issue with my magazine is that I was essentially reviewing adverts throughout time so I had to use other people pictures of those adverts to review them.

Like I said I am happy with how my magazine turned out and I think certain elements and articles could possibly be seen in magazine published today.