evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of conventions of real media products?

On our magazine front cover we have the paradigmatic elements in which other magazine use.
In the magazine we used a barcode, using a barcode is essential in order for the magazine to be sold in shops electronically. We took the barcode from another magazine simply by cropping around the barcode and pasting it onto our magazine in the corner of the magazine which is where most barcodes get located because of the lack of appeal it had to the reader. It only matters to the companies and not the consumers.Like every other magazine we have a brand identity, this is crucial for the audience as it builds a relation with them. When they walk over to the magazine section of a shop they can identify the magazine straight away through the name and the house style. “LOADDOWN” is the title of our magazine. Other products used in the magazine is pictures, by taking our own photos, uploading them and then editing them on Photoshop allowed us to manipulate the images how we needed them and place them appropriately on the page where they had the best effect. Furthermore, we also included the date and price on the front cover, this gives the audience the set information they need in order to buy the magazine. Whether it’s a new or old issue and if they can afford to buy the magazine or not. The edition is a November edition and costs £2.00. Seeing as the magazine was aimed towards students we realised that students don’t have a lot of disposable income and therefore decided to challenge the industry market by having a lesser priced magazine for the same quality and quantity.

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

Our main aim was to be published by a company such as the IPC because with their knowledge and history they would be able to improve our magazine even further through experience. And after researching what magazines they publish our genre of magazine would be perfect for them because ours is loosely based upon “Nuts” which IPC publish. They would also be able to get advertisements In the magazine bringing in even more income. Through other magazine they already publish they would be able to advertise our magazine through other more popular magazine increasing the chance of interest in our magazine.


How did you attract/address your audience?

The key attraction on the front cover is the full length mid-shot image of a man who is dressed in shirt, tie and glasses who is pointing and glaring out of the magazine. The reason why he is looking and pointing straight into the camera is so that the reader feels as if he’s directly talking to them, it builds a relationship straight away. Even if it may seem to be a bad one it still encourages the reader to find out why he might be doing this. Therefore the reader will pick up the magazine and read it to find out further, therefore it entrances the reader to read more making it effective as it grasps the audiences attention. There’s only two images on the front cover and this is to enhance the effectiveness of the large image even more.Above the brand identity is the slogan which reads “Get the monthly Low down on HIghdown”. This has a slight pun in it as in high down it says “HI” which in turn introduces the magazine to the reader as it stands out among the rest and it feels as if its welcoming you inside to read more. It’s a gentle way of grabbing the attention of the reader and effectively eases the reader into reading more.Additionally word play is used on high down as it is contrasted with low down which is conclusively the opposite. The use of low down is to build a relationship between audiences who are of the “gossip” nature because when you get the low down your gaining information on something that you necessarily shouldn’t be. Therefore this attracts the audience of people who are looking for gossip. The text in this is black surrounding in a box of yellow, this is not only to make it stand out and make it more exciting than black on white but also because black is usually recognised as the colour of death but compared with such a radiant colour as yellow it gives it more a happy nature.The brand identity “Loaddown” is blue and silvery grey. Blue is a primary colour and seen as calm and balanced and when contrasted with the silvery grey colour which is modern and technological makes it seem as though technology is easy and peaceful not something to be struggled against but something to be enjoyed giving the magazine a happy ambience. Also the word Loaddown relates to people who are surrounded by technology (which is stereotypically most of the modern generations. Students) because when you download software you gain information and new information which is the aim of the magazine.One of the captions is “world exclusive” this is aimed to attract the audience because stereotypically most teenagers and young adults aspire to be apart of the celeb world and when the world is suggested in the media world its mostly assumed to be in the “celebrity world” so when the read exclusive it makes the reader feel as if there apart of a special club where they gain special information which others can’t making them very interested and read more.

Who is the target audience?

Older students from year 11 up to university students involoved in learning about the world trends, school work, and other gossip.