Media Evaluation of Preliminary Task

The media products I have created and posted on my blog include questionnaires, a magazine front cover, magazine contents page, etc. My college magazine front cover uses some of the regular conventions of magazines today, but it also breaks few of the conventions. My masthead is at the top left of my magazine, which is a convention of magazines due to the way magazines are sorted in shops for sale. The background image of my magazine is a mid-shot of Chris Newman (Head Boy of COLA Sixth Form). I believe there is a big significance of the Sixth Form HEADBOY being on the front of my magazine; he is an important representative of the sixth form and relates to ideas and audience of my college magazine: college students, teachers and parents. I named my magazine “CityLife” as this is phrase that college students my find catchy or cool.

My media magazine also breaks many of the usual conventions of a magazine. I didn’t include any splashes of information or story headlines on the front cover to leave my audience more curious/contemplating of what was going to be in the magazine once they looked at the front cover. I also decided to use a minimal amount of text on the front cover to make the background image more explicit. The pieces of text on my magazine only include the key features/conventions of a magazine; masthead, price, date and issue number. I used an effect from Ulead PhotoImpact to alter the colours of my original photo of Chris Newman, giving it the look of an artistic painting in black in white. The typography of my masthead is also unique. I chose an unusually graffiti font to break the conventions of a standard formal font, stand out and suit young people as my magazine is aimed at college students.

I would like my College magazine to be distributed in the Atrium of the City of London Academy. This would be ideal for my target audience because the sixth formers can purchase it anytime during school hours for themselves or their parents/guardians and this would also suit teachers who want to purchase the magazine. Students in the secondary school who are considering to attend the sixth form once they are older can get an insight into life in the COLA Sixth Form by reading my magazine.

I didn’t include any splashes of information or story headlines on the front cover to leave my audience more curious/contemplating of what was going to be in the magazine once they looked at the front cover. I also decided to use a minimal amount of text on the front cover to make the background image more explicit. The pieces of text on my magazine only include the key features/conventions of a magazine; masthead, price, date and issue number. I used an effect from Ulead PhotoImpact to alter the colours of my original photo of Chris Newman, giving it the look of an artistic painting in black in white.