Pimp My Blog - Evaluating

- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The preliminary task was a good learning developing project so that I could practice researching, planning, designing and evaluating a magazine cover. With this knowledge, I was able to expand ideas onto my main task for my cover, contents and double page spread. Without taking part in the preliminary task, I wouldn't have gained the skills I had for the main task so my results wouldn't have been as strong. I learnt how to annotate real media magazines, how to research and how to create an attractive layout.

- Have you reflected on the use and impact of digital technology?
Digital technology such as Photoshop was extremely useful for my main task as I wished to edit the photos for my magazine. As a photography student, I enjoy editing my images so it definitely was beneficial when it came to producing attractive documents. Another piece of software I used for producing my magazine documents was Pages on an Apple Mac. This enabled me to use many different techniques and affects that could only been done on Pages.

- How did you use media technologies in your construction, research, planning and evaluation.
My camera that I used for my photo shoot was a Nikon. Other media technologies used throughout my project was Photoshop, Pages, other published magazines such as Kerrang and NME. The internet also came in use for websites about grids and other techniques I can use within my project.

- Audience feedback?
I printed my final products and shown people of my target audience (ages 16-20, both genders, like Indie music, preferably play instruments and attend music events). The feedback I received was that they would be willing to purchase the magazine, due to its reasonable price and it's uni-gender colour scheme etc. They also thought that my convergence with the website was a very good idea as it will bring a wider market to become interested in the magazine. Bands and artists are able to kickstart their career by uploading their music onto the website. This was a feature that my audience were particularly satisfied with.

- Did you use, develop and challenge forms and conventions from real media products?
I "used" forms and conventions from real media products such as the cover of music magazines as they involve alot of captions and text to try and sell the magazine as much as they can. I kept to this idea as I quite like the affect of a busy cover, it seems much more attractive and seems like the magazine will be better value for money with lots of content inside.
I "developed" forms and conventions from the idea of creating my magazine title. Not many magazines use puns or semiotic connotations: Kerrang, for example, gives connotations of rock sounds (to me), Q has no connotations what so ever, NME are initials but I don't feel like there are many magazines with the technique of producing a pun as a title. The only magazine I can think of that has some form of a semiotic approach, is the fashion magazines, InStyle. Because it suggests that if you read the magazine, you will be in style. So the fact that I have used a pun of "Venew", rather than "Venue" which is the correct spelling, suggests a semiotic approach to the magazine, suggesting that my magazine specialises in new bands and artists.
I have "challenged" forms and conventions from the composition and layout of my DPS. As you can see, the centre of the DPS isn't in line with the separation between the main image and the interview. This is because I simply thought it didn't need to be and it was different. Magazines are so determined that double page spreads must not be interupted by the fold in the middle, but my DPS shows that it doesnt matter and doesn't always get in the way.

- Brand identity: is there one created? audience? what else could be done to secure it?
I think Venew is quite unique in its purpose. The purpose is to bring a popularity to new bands and artists with an Indie genre by enabling bands to post their music onto the website and have the chance to be mentioned within an issue of my magazine. No other magazine has this USP (unique selling product).

- Representation issues in work?
The only representation issues in my work is the theory about males becoming more feminine. I have used a male model that cares for his appearance, to support this theory and attract both genders for my target audience.

- Editing: what purely descriptive and 'light weight' sections can be cut/improved?
I edited my images by adjusting the contrast and brightness and deleting the background so that it was white. After printing my final drafts, I noticed that the contents page had been cut off at the bottom so I have cut and improved this area by deleting some of the text and moving it upwards.

- Does your blog have a blend of technologies/video and other media/new media/web 2.0 technology?
I have used other media publications as research and planning for my project. I have done some research on new media and learnt that the band, Arctic Monkeys, are successful after publishing their music on MySpace. This is a form of becoming famous that my website can present. My magazine website will be a chance for new talent to share their music with readers and my institution to receive feedback, and if Venew thinks the band are good enough, they can be mentioned within the magazine. This can either be a small mention of the band, to an interview, depending on how the Editor feels towards them and whether they deserve making it big or not etc. This illustrates the power of New Media to reach audiences. It also demonstrates why traditional media institutions feel threatened by new media. Companies such as MySpace, MTV and The Guardian have set up so many blogs and talkboards to encourage audience participation, so that New Media doesn't take over.

- How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine represents social groups of older teenagers and early adults (16-20) of being more interested in their career (links to my website convergence idea of being able to upload their music). At these ages, guys AND girls are thinking about their career, and if they are interested in a music career then my website is a good place for them to go to kickstart it. It also represents the social group as lively and active - wanting to attend music events frequently.

- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I would mostly compare my magazine to NME as they are both purely based on Indie music. Therefore, the institution, IPC Media, may be interested in my media product. NME's target audience is ABC1, aged 16-24 and mainly males. This is fairly similar to my target audience. IPC Media may be interested in my media product because it attract both genders which is something that NME doesn't.

- How did you attract/address your audience?
I took on a questionnaire for people that I thought would be interested in my magazine. I used the results to use features on my magazine to attract that target audience.

level 4 checks- excellent understanding of the forms and conventions of media used in production
- excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in stages of production
- excellent use of ICT in evaluation (includes new technology)
- excellent ability to communicate - punchy? clear? too much?
- excellent understanding of importance of audience feedback

The Art of Immersion - Frank Rose

Here I am going to refer Frank Rose's book to my coursework.

Audience
Web 2.0 comes under audience terms - online sources connect people and put their collective intelligence to work. The theory of the 'hive mind' has key components of randomness, spontaneity, emotion, urgency and the readers' participation. My readers can participate with my magazine by speaking in second person, which makes it look like the magazine is speaking to the reader directly. So the reader is more likely to respond their thoughts, therefore participating in the magazine. Online sources such as Flickr, You Tube, Wikipedia, My Space, Facebook and eBay connect people. Some magazines mention these sites within articles, and some even advertise in magazines (for example, eBay advertise in fashion magazines to attract a more fashion influenced audience). eBay could advertise in my magazine, to try and sell their music software and technology. The other online sites that could be mentioned within my magazine is You Tube because it involves a lot of new music artists which is what my magazine specialises in. Also My Space because a lot of artists publish their music on this website so that record labels and the public can listen to their music. It is known that people like to be immersed, get involved and carve out a role for themselves when interacting with the media. It's not easy for my audience to directly get involved with my magazine, although there are options of questionnaires within market research that can be taken place where my target audience can get involved with the magazine, in terms of informing the company of what content they would like to see and read about.

Subdural Messaging
In 2001 there was a global problem with people being so media saturated. There are media forms where ever we go, whether its advertising, posters, technology, reading forms etc. and if people were taking in every single piece of media, "they'd go crazy". My magazine may be an item within this, as it will be published to be sold in shops and it may be advertised in certain places.

Cover, Contents & DPS First Drafts.

During the day of 06/04/11, two University of Western England (UWE) teachers visited our media class to discuss the students' coursework so that they can provide us with some feedback and improvements. The teachers, Rowland Cowley and Stephen Priddell are experts in the Print and Design division. I shown them my first drafts (shown below) - they generally liked the layout of my cover, contents and double page spread but they did give me a few improvements to make:
- make the cover image a little smaller, so that the left column text wasn't over lapping with the image.
- reduce the font size on the DPS.
- create a larger space between the columns on the interview as it wasn't completely clear that it was a column.

You will be able to see that I have taken on these improvements in my final products. Also, for the contents page I must make the text a little higher as the printer has cut off the bottom text.

I realised that I hadn't added the name of the cover artist, but just inserted a large caption with a quote from his interview in. So I considered putting his name above, but it was decided that it didn't need it and it appeared that it fitted with the caption above it - "Gerard Way talks lyrics, life and love!" so I chose to name the artist Gerard Way so that I didn't have to add any more text into the cover, as it may have looked too much.
Magazine covers generally have a rule of thirds grid - I have used this layout plan for my cover as I think it looks the most professional and perfectly laid out.

You can see that I have kept within the same colour scheme throughout each page, which is purple. I chose the purple colour scheme from the colour of the model's shirt. You can also see that I have stuck to a grid layout within each page as it is all columned and has rule of thirds. I did this so that my products looked tidy and professional, not messy and out of place.

Representation
I think my representation of an Indie teenager is accurate as the props and costume were considered well. The model wears skinny jeans and a checked shirt and holds an acoustic guitar. All of these factors support the Indie theme. The colour scheme is not too boyish or girly, so attracts both genders which is my target audience.
In recent media, it has been known that men are becoming more interested in their appearance and looking after themselves. I think my choice of model supports this because his hair and skin is well looked after. Here are some scans of articles about male lifestyle magazines becoming more popular as evidence for my point: