shenaz blog

Evaluation for the school of sports magazine.

Front cover
There are many ways in which the magazine produced uses forms and conventions of a real media product. Firstly the masthead is included like most standard magazine cover. I have chosen to use a short heading as it is memorable and eye catching. I was going to use the title “sportlastic” but I figured even though it is catchy, as it is a long work for a magazine masthead, it can possible be easily forgotten. And this title has different meanings behind it and could be misunderstood, by giving the interpretation spastic. So instead I have used “flex” which is short for flexible which is a term which needs to be used in sports, like aerobics and in terms of flexibility of the mind. The colour used is bold and eye catching, and so this follows forms of a real media product. Below the masthead like most standard magazines, it has a strap line. In this strap line I sell my product by saying “Take yourself to the next level” this line makes the magazine very inclusive but will attract my target audience as it addresses them be telling them that going to the next level of their sporting class is achievable if they read the magazine, this is persuasive and direct. My cover however uses a logo which challenges forms and conventions of a standard magazine.
I have used a button on the cover so that it conforms to a real magazine. They are used to promote special features and articles within the magazine. I have used it to advertise a celebrity giving a cartoon drawing for a lesson to learn. This will attract the students as it is a vital aspect in this issue for a specific group of students. The button is inclusive as it is aimed at a specific sporting group. Kickers are used on most standard magazines. They are used to explain the key features to students that will also help sell the magazine. I have only used one kicker, this challenges forms and conventions of a real magazine as most of them have around 6 kickers. The mode of address is inclusive to sport students at the school and each issue changes with the term to suit different sporting groups. Through the main image and button it is easy to tell that this issue is aimed at boxing students. The text is informal as I target students at the school to be the audience to the magazine.
My cover uses what is usually expected from real magazines, as it uses at the most of three different fonts on the front cover. Over all I believe that magazine complies with the forms and conventions of real media product. I have also included a bar code and price which helps complete the magazine. As it is a school I have set the price as free as it should be accessible to all students if it is suppose to take students “to the next level”.
My front cover represents a large and varied group of people. Using the term “flex” as the masthead should appeal to all of the sporting students as it has many meanings for the word it uses red and black which are contrasting colours to show that to be part of flex you need balance opposites. E.g. you must have a clear mind when you fight in a tournament. The kicker is inclusive to students, and appeals greatly to the students within the school as there is a competition held for all students.
There are many ways in which my front cover attracts and addresses my audience.
My front cover targets students from this sport school in many ways. Firstly, there are the colours that I have used. The red is suppose to appeal to people from the school as this is one of the school’s house colours as the kit is red, white and black. Also the completion is aimed at all students as it will be to answer a question that should be a question that the students can automatically know the answer too as it is a question vital for all the students written examination. And ‘what’s the next move’ is telling all the students that they should start to think about what’s next for them. These all factors of my a magazine that helps to promote different activities that are happening within the school, therefore it appeals to keen students who like to take part.

Contents
My contents page uses many conventions and forms as other real contents pages use. I have incorporated page numbers, images and information about the different features that is contained in the magazine. It is also laid out in a well structured way, making it easy for the reader to understand. However I have chosen to put my own unique style in the format of the contents page. By doing this I have challenged conventions of real contents pages. I have chosen to place images on both corners of the right hand side of the page and one in the middle of the left hand side of the page. I have done this to balance the page out. This also can be seen as the key element of the school code balance if one reads into the positioning and colour the medium uses. Secondly, I have chosen to add make my background, two shades of gray instead of having just a plain background because I felt that having just a white background will, firstly blend in with the main image and will be too uninteresting and plain, which will result in audience not appealing to the magazine. Making the background a two toned gray shows the reader that they last time the school was analysed it was the second best so the gray gives an allusion of silver. My contents page appeals widely students who do a form of martial arts at the school. However there are cover story’s that will apply to every student like “ways in which students can prevent injury”. Although this is an internal magazine, it will interest people externally who have an interest in martial arts. My contents page also appeals to students it uses colours of the school house style. Not only have I used black and white for the background, I have also used images of students taking part in different martial art activities. These activities would appeal to students as they are available to everyone in the school community who choose to join these classes.

The kind of media institution that will distribute the FLEX magazine.
The magazine is free as this is a private school the students will have to pay a fee to study sports at the school. This pays for the equipment and specialist staff and also all the study equipment, this includes study material and so the magazine will be paid for through the allowance used as study material. So, this means that the magazine would be distributed at school, as it is extremely inclusive to students and school life.

The audience for your media product.
The audience for my magazine would be students at this private School of sports. This is clear because the language is inclusive to the school environment.

Aspects I have leant from the process of constructing this product.
I have learnt many techniques, all to do with using adobe Photoshop. I have found it extremely fascinating how I can merge an image taken myself and put it into another, I found this especially challenging but thoroughly enjoyed the experience of making the magazine cover and contents page on adobe Photoshop.