Unit 3 evaluation
To make my product better I would
have looked at more source material, magazines for example to give me some
better reference material that I could look back to, to give me design ideas
for my product and to give me some inspiration, such as if I looked at
magazines targeted at a teenage audience like Kerrang or NME it would have gave
me a better idea of how to layout my product and how the content of my product
should be. It would have helped also if I had some more in depth knowledge of
InDesign as I did not know a lot about it when I first started so I did not
know what I could have done to my product to make it appeal better to my
audience so I did not know which effect’s would been effective.
The paragraph plan that I had
wrote out beforehand helped me a lot when writing my article as it did not
allow me to get stuck with what to say as I always knew what I was going to put
next and if I didn’t I could just refer to my paragraph plan, another great thing
that helped me was getting Mark’s opinion and feedback on my product, as he
helped me make my product more attractive and he was able to tell me what would
make my product better and more fitting to my target audience, he was critical
but that was able to help my product become better.
I have got a few elements in my
product that engage my target audience such as the vibrant 3 colour scheme that
I have involved on my front page and double page spread, the scheme involves
red, black and light grey on the front cover which are colours that do not
really catch their eyes but the fact that I have only used a 3 colour scheme
keeps it neat and it engages the audience. The main image on my front cover is
of a teenager which makes it easy for the audience to relate to, and when they
see the teenager on the front of the magazine it will engage the audience and
let them know that the magazine is going to involve content that could relate
to them.
There are also a few elements in
my product that do not work, such as the fact that I have not used ellipses to
add pace and energy to product, I could have made product snappy by using these
to cut down sentences, this would help the target audience which are teenagers
read the product quicker and faster as teenagers to not usually like reading
long sentences, I also could have used more slang language to make the product
more relatable to the audience and if they see more slang in my product it
would engage them and they would want to read on, it also add a humorous effect
to the product.
When you compare the product that
I have created to a product made by a professional you can see that there is
quite a difference, for example when a professional is creating a front cover
they know what conventions to follow to create and effective product, but when
i was creating my product I had to try different techniques and experiment with
different effects and such to see which ones made my product look the best, I
probably could have experimented a lot more with different tools on Photoshop, I
have used key words such as booze, and imagery on the front cover to make it
easy for the audience to follow the genre of the magazine.
I think my product may have an
emotional impact on the audience as it reveals the truth about alcohol and
reveals what could happen to them if they continue to binge drink regularly, it
could also allow the audience to get an image of their future selves through
shock horror elements which could have an emotional effect on the audience,
also the breakout box that I have included on my DPS could make them change
their mind about going on holiday with the aim to drink a lot as it reveals the
truth about doing going on holiday with friends.
With my product I have tried to
use elements that are tailored to meet the needs of my target audience such as
using some quick explanations and making it an active product by using a colour
scheme and imagery that makes an impact. I could make some changes to my
product to make it more interesting to my target audience such as using more
vibrant colours that are more eye catching to my audience, I could also have
used more humour in my product as teenagers love a bit of humour as it adds a
bit of personality to the product and make it more relatable to the audience.
If I was to create my product
again I would prepare for it a lot more, for example I would take more pictures
during my scheduled photo-shoot so that I had more to choose from when choosing
which images to use in my product, I would have also tried to gain more knowledge
of the software that I used before hand as I spent a lot of time trying to get
used to the software and figuring out which tool does what, I also would have
liked to edit the image on my front cover more to make it more effective as I
would like it to jump out at the audience again if I knew more about the
software beforehand I would have known which effects I could use to make the
image more effective, I could have also made my product more pacey and add
energy to it my trimming down the sentences especially on the front cover.
