Evaluation By: Alexandra Cirovic

In what ways does your media product use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

Real Existing

A large masthead that is bold

and in one color resembles the

‘LOFT’ title. The line through

the title connotes speed and

direction, assuring readers that

the magazine is business

oriented.

The cover image is clear and subtly

colorful just like the magazine on

the right. It does not try to be frilly,

but matter of fact, straight to the

point, merely displaying an

attractive piece of property, trendy

on the real estate market. This

issue’s focus is on that piece of

property.

This cover line is positioned

just like one in the ‘LOFT’

magazine is, it gives the effect

of asymmetry and it fulfills a

blank spot. The font is bold

with a hint of italic staying in

line with the smart, business

matter-of-factness, but with a

little bit of style, so as to

reassure that there is still a

sense of good taste and for

design.

The main cover line is

large and bold in sans

serif font to look serious.

It is eye catching just like

the one on the right. It

provides initial

information about the

property in focus in this

month’s issue.

The punch up line ‘old but

gold’ resembles the one on the

right magazine saying ‘going

for gold’ which attracts

customers.

The cover line is saying there is an exclusive interview

provided, which is very attractive to people. This is the

magazine issue’s selling point.

The strapline is the magazine’s slogan, and guarantee to the reader that they have made a good decision buying it.

Existing one

The title ‘Contents’

which is also in serif

font, bold and red

color, just like in the

existing one. It is

underlined to

strengthen it’s

commanding title

position on the page.

The main cover line and

other cover lines are lined

closely.

Easy to navigate and informative (page numbers and article

titles). The highlighted

subtitles elaborate on the cover line’s content.

Images that are related to the articles inside. And both contents have three images. Main articles are previewed and it sets the tone for the entire issue. The contents page of a magazine is almost as important as the front page as it gives readers and insight into what the issue holds. It is supposed to entice them to buy and read it.

This is the info about the creative team as well as the editors and publishers. The job titles are in black to lessen their significance, while the names of contributors are in red giving them emphasis.

The masthead is in red to emphasize the dynamics of the content, attracting the reader to read the whole article. Since this is the main article, the color is suitable. The caption gives the tone of the article as well as why it is attractive to readers. Just as in the picture on the right, the masthead is

big, eye catchy and in a bright color.

As in the double spread on the right the images display the most attractive parts of the real estate. They are the focus pieces of the article, as they help the readers envision the real estate property.

The text is in small Times new roman in both pages and gives the information about the property, price and owner. This is in line with the overall business attitude of the magazine. The article ultimately acts as a source of information for those into dealing with the market.

The big letter Shows the reader where the article starts. It is important that the article started with the word “Luxury” Caption about the certain parts of the apartment and its rooms as

well as in the other picture parts of the house. The reader will look at the captions first as well as the accompanying pictures which is certain to get them to read the whole article.

How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

Representation of a social group

The main image shows a very luxurious living room. Since the social group chosen for my magazine is middle to upper class in the ages between 30-55, this kind of a cover is exactly what a serious real

estate magazine should be. The colors are yet vibrant, vivid and eye-catching which may attract also women, not only men. I wanted my magazine to be for both genders so I tried to do as much of unisex

as I could.

The masthead is very unique, I made it up. It is bold yet italic and in black Blade Runner

font which is very dramatic but still serious. The ‘A LISTINGS’ name is one of a kind, it is very attractive since it sounds so powerful and luxurious. Since my audience looks for

luxury they need a real magazine representing luxury and a name that will

attract them at the first place. I chose the black for this issue because the main image itself is

very colorful and no other color for the masthead would look good except for black.

The strapline or slogan is very important for the magazine because it is something that the magazine will be known for and

recognized by. It is one thing that never changes in the magazine and the design is always on the cover. The slogan has to be very

powerful because my audience is powerful and they need a strong sentence to attract them.

Audience feedback

My magazine ‘A LISTINGS’ is aimed at older financially stable

people. Men and Women between the age of 30- 55 years old

due to the audience research I have previously carried out. I

wanted both men and women to be customers of my magazine

that is why I chose a unisex color scheme and design in order to

cater for both genders.

After carrying out a questionnaire and having men and women

answer it I have collected the data and presented it in pie charts.

Audience feedback

Yes

71%

No

29%

Do you like my color

scheme?

Yes

71%

No

29%

Do you like the fonts

used?

Yes

71%

No

29%

Do you like the cover?

Yes

71%

No

29%

Do you like the articles?

What kind of media institution might

distribute your media product?

Media InstitutionsDue to my previous research I did on the institutions I already have decided which two would be the best institutions to publish my magazine. Both institutions can contribute a lot and are very powerful. Atlantic Publishers company is very good for my magazine in particular because they only publish business, engineering and construction magazines, and real estate would go under the business category. Bauer however, has a huge budget. They are much bigger than Atlantic and publish a lot of other magazines, yet that might be a potential problem because the competition in one publishing company cannot be good. Also Bauer corporation mostly publishes magazines such as gossip, lifestyle or fashion magazines which does not really relate to real estates so maybe Bauer would not be a good choice.In conclusion I believe that Atlantic Publishers would be the best choice for my magazine.

Who would be the audience for my media

product?

Audience

Male Female

Age between 30-55

successful

Middle to upper class

and

Interested in real estate

Audience• The audience for my magazine as written before

are both genders that are successful business

people, financially stable and with interest in real

estate. Since my magazine also contains interior,

people interested in interior can also buy my

magazine and enjoy it.

How I attracted and addressed my

audience?Codes and conventions used in my magazine:

• Color scheme and fonts- it is important to use same color scheme and fonts in one issue because it looks professional.

• The main image- the main image needs to be very attractive in order to get the audience interested. Luxury properties and glorious interiors.

• Cover stories- with six cover stories on show the audience can feel the magazine is good value for money. It is crucial that the cover stories are exclusives and interesting.

• Story positioning- as ‘OLD BUT GOLD!’ is located strategically at the bottom right of the magazine the audience can notice that this is an extra story that is interesting.

• Bold mast head- By using black color for the magazine contrasting the cover image, it becomes eye-catching which will attract potential buyers.

To address my target audience-

• I used serious but different color scheme. Black, red,

gold and grey, to give out a subtle, luxurious yet

serious look.

• The main image has been taken originally by me

and the choice I made is very attractive and

luxurious, exactly what the buyers want.

• I have included formal language to appeal to the

30-55yrs market, this will allow my magazine to level

with the reader which will make the magazine

business looking.

What have I learned about technologies

from the process of constructing this

product?

Evaluation

Photoshop was a program I was not familiar with. I found it very hard to use but thankfully through this task I learned how to use it and it was of a major help. Things that can be done with Photoshop are incredible and it gave a serious and professional look to my magazine. Improving the quality of my images by using HDR and different styles was very important and I achieved that effect using Adobe Photoshop.

How I created the front cover

Drafts of the cover page

Draft 1 Draft 2

Draft 3 Final version

Looking back at my preliminary task, what

do I feel I have learnt in the progression

from it now to the full product?

Improvement

Improvement• In my preliminary task I was still very unfamiliar with

Adobe Photoshop so the quality of images is not at

its best. The color scheme on my preliminary cover is

very different and does not look serious, yet it was a

school magazine so I had more freedom with the

color choice than in my real estate task. The fonts

were far more childish and different kinds while in

my main task I kept the fonts very simple in dark

shades.

Content page improvement

• For the content page of my preliminary task, as with

the cover, my Photoshop skills were very poor. The

color scheme is clearly very vibrant and vivid since it

is a content page for a school magazine. The fonts

are also serif while in my final content page for my

real estate magazine is sans-serif. The background

in my preliminary task is very childish which

represents the school magazine well, but since my

main task (real estate magazine) required certain

seriousness I have chose a blank background in

order for the text and images to be clear.