Student Magazine Analysis

In what way does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media projects?

When l was given the task to create a music magazine l first researched different types of student magazines and familiarized myself with the generic conventions of a student magazine. The common factor l noticed throughout all the student magazines l looked at, was that on the front cover they had a young student looking happy and usually doing a inspirational activity such as revising, holding a briefcase. This is the student magazines central image. Colors in all these student magazines are usually plain bright colors to connote the happy youthful attitude a student may have. I noticed that there are usually only 3/4 main colors, all either complimentary to each other, or purposely to contrast. I chose my fonts carefully since l thought that a sanserif font would be easiest to read for my target audience. I also chose three main fonts as l saw this is how other student magazines were usually set out. The front cover has to include a Masthead, coverlines, articals trailed, puff and central and secondary images etc. These will make my student magazine look professional and appealing. The typical contents page consisted of a 30:70 picture to text ratio as well as information mentioned on the front cover and a guide to what's inside the magazine. I included these conventions in my magazine, so it would look professional and used a consistent color scheme of blue and black throughout my front cover and contents page. Compared to the magazines l looked at, l wouldn’t say l did anything to differently as l am not a expert in magazines and wanted to stick to what l thought would look professional.

How does your media represent different social groups?

Since my target audience is students l wanted to create a magazine that would appeal to 16-20 year olds. My student magazine isn’t aimed at a certain age group, and it doesn’t have a specific gender so my magazine was universal. When l did my audience research the majority of them said that they wouldn’t pay any money for a student magazine and if thy would it would depend on the quality. Using that opinion l decided to make my magazine free, since if it was priced it may not get as much attention from my target audience as l would like.

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

An obvious place for my magazine to be distributed at, would be a college or a university. This way its in a central location for al my target audience to reach. Since it’s free it would get most attention from these locations and it would be ideal to pick up.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

It would be aimed at 16-20 year olds. There would be no specific gender, so it would be open to all. It’s a magazine set for all classes and all economic situations since its free and won’t cost them anythings. They would most likely be interested in mainstream music, fashion and news since that is what is in the content of my magazine.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by incorporating their interests into my magazine. I took relevant topics a typical student would be interested in and placed it in vibrant colours and easy to read fonts. My central image on my front cover is of a girl placed against a wall, looking happy. This is to attract my audience with the contrast of rebellion and aspiration. Aspects held in a lot of students which will make them interested in what the magazine is about. As well as that my headline is about popular bands to again grab there attention to pick it up. Since students live a more relaxed life style l decided to use a combination of informal and formal linguistic terms to keep them interested in it, and not to bore them.

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

The technologies that l used were a mixture of Blogger, Indesign and my digital camera. I used these to create and publish my magazine. Indesign was a completely new programme to me and l found it complicated to use, but once l found the basic tools it was easy for me to create my magazine. I had to use multiple layers so that my l could move my text and images indecently without destroying previous work l just did. Despite its complicated software, l thought that Indesign was the perfect software to creat a stylish professional looking magazine. Blogger was also a new website for me to use, but l found it easy to use and although it has a tendency to not work, it's easy and a effective way to present my work.