Media EvaluationRian Doherty

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

www.explore-birmingham.co.uk

These are my products: For my main product I created a regional magazine and a billboard and website for my ancillary.

Magazine cover influences Although both these covers feature a central model, I’ve still used them to draw inspiration for my own work, as their simplistic nature has the impact I’m hoping my magazine will create. By not cluttering the cover with an excess of cover lines, the already well established brands will still have consistent sales, but maintain a design that can mesmerise.

I was particularly intrigued by the I-D cover, as it used image manipulation to create a new image from the old that left an imprint on our minds. The geometric shapes and colours have an artistic appeal that will entice a wide audience.

Exclusive magazine is a regional magazine that I have also taken inspiration from, as it is good at identifying with a particular demographic, a skill I knew would be necessary to create a successful magazine. I looked at it on my blog, the post can be found here:http://riandohertymediaa2.blogspot.com/2014/09/examples-of-existing-regional-magazines.html

Exclusive magazine

Magazine contents influences

I used shout magazine to identify the normal conventions of a magazine contents page:http://riandohertymediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/blog-post.html

This magazine incorporates geometric shapes into its design. The triangular feature picture has influenced me in my design as I have also incorporated shape in a collage effect.

These two magazine covers have the unique style that I favoured. By presenting a challenge to the normal conventions they capture the audiences attention.The first presents its numbers in a different way, and although I didn’t apply this to mine personally, It was the inspiration behind the different coloured numbers.The second has a disjointed ‘contents’ title which I thought looked unique and wished to replicate in my own style.

Magazine article influencesI feel my article was the piece of work that most kept with the normal conventions of a magazine. Many of the generic articles has similar features- such as these two, where I have drawn on the layout of the single page article but also like the variety of small images portrayed in the article below. Despite following mostly generic conventions I also wanted to make it unique to my magazine by adding a ‘feature box’ and having my images in a collage style – almost like a scrap book. I felt this worked for my magazine as it made the article identifiable, encouraging others new to Birmingham, or simply wanting to find out more, able to relate.

I think my article bears most resemblance to the other single page article as they have a different layout completely to ensure everything is packed onto one page effectively.

https://birminghamairport.co.uk/

Website influencesWhen I saw the Birmingham Airport website, it was immediately inspiring. With it’s eye capturing image, and simplistic design, I was encouraged to explore the website. I want people to feel that about my website. This was where I got my idea to have a main central image on my homepage, with minimum information/writing, that could be saved for other pages.

Although I was unable to make my social media feature as savvy as this one, it was evident from various research that practically every website has a social network option. I feel for my product, facebook and twitter were the most necessary so I created a page on facebook and a twitter account for my

magazine.

http://www.libraryofbirmingham.com/

Website influences

This website had a news and blogs section running down the side of it. I thought this would be a useful feature to include as people interested on Birmingham will likely be happy to find blogs about Birmingham as well as what is going on. Therefore, I created an external link to blog ‘Birmingham Blogger’ which I received permission to do. Also, I have an rss feed that runs a news feed drawn from a news website to keep people updated

http://www.birminghamblogger.co.uk/

Stereotypes of Birmingham:Birmingham is often portrayed negatively in the media and carries negative connotations in peoples minds. This can often hinder the people of Birmingham's appreciation of their city, a mind-set I am hoping to break them away from with my magazine.

One stereotype of Birmingham, is that all the people are ‘Chavs’ and not very intelligent. Therefore, by having a culturally rich magazine, It proves the intelligence of Birmingham, particularly as it is integrated into society as a whole.

Another stereotype is that Birmingham It draws its tourism from popular landmarks such as the bull and Selfridges, when in fact, Birmingham is the Second city of the England full of interesting things to do/see.

Breaking away from these stereotypes allowed me to create a magazine that portrayed a positive image.

Genre conventions

Genre conventions

ARTISTIC

MODERN

DYNAMIC

CULTURED

VIBRANT

HIDDEN TREASURE

S

These are some of the ideas about Birmingham I tried to portray in my magazine, I did this though multiple methods, including the artistic deign and the editing of images to bring new dimensions.

Artistic influencesThe first artist I was influenced by was Picasso, who although pained work not similar to my design, used quirky original style that at his time of painting were revolutionary. I wanted to take the essence of the man who changed the face of art and adapt it to modern day and my magazine.

I discovered inspiration in this image, as I felt its mood and colours were very emotion evoking, whilst remaining light and fruitful. I want the reader to feel something when looking at the design of my magazine, even if only and understanding or connection to the image, event or style.

This geometric style appears in my magazine, in an adapted way. While my front cover doesn’t exactly use shape, the edit uses angles and photo reflections to create a new dimension of the image. My contents also uses a similar design to this, having instead photos fill the triangular shapes.

2.How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?

Branding

Colour schemeThroughout my project I’ve kept a similar colour scheme to combine the texts into a brand. My use of Blue, black and white meant that each of the products can easily be linked to the others. My reason for choosing blue was because of the connotations it carries. Blue suggest cool and calm but also connotes intelligence and trust.I want my brand to be seen as trustworthy, an accurate guide to exploring Birmingham, as this way it will be believable as the true representation of Birmingham. As it is a modern, artistic portray, connotations of cool and intelligent are also very appropriate.

‘The cultural collection of all things Birmingham’

This is the tagline I have used on all three of my products as I believe it to be memorable and easily understood. It hints towards what will be inside as well as building on my suggestion that it is a different look at Birmingham to one they have seen before.

Branding - Logo

I created a logo that would be used to provide synergy between my products. My main logo is larger as it specifies Birmingham, however I knew it would be difficult to have this appearing on my magazine or other pages of my website. Because of this, I created a smaller version that was obviously recognisable to the larger one and my brand but was more suitable for smaller places.

As my idea was to make the Ikon Gallery a ‘partner’ with my magazine, I thought it would be appropriate to include my logo here. It provides and immediate link between my advert and the brand.

On my website, the home page has the larger logo as one of the main features of the page, this allows the consumer to immediately make the connection with this logo and my products. By reinforcing this throughout all my pages with the smaller logo, It creates a brand effectively.

On reflection, I feel I should have included the logo on my Billboard, however my reasoning against doing so was due to the impact I wanted it to have. By having a main central image, clouded by very little I believe people will be drawn to it and wish to find out more.

Roland Barthes Enigma theory can be applied to my work, as it suggests a text can portray a mystery in order to lure and audience in, create questions and assist them in becoming intrigued by the piece. By having a simplistic front cover, my magazine does have a mystery, as not everything about what is inside is revealed. The cubic approach to design may also raise questions as it is one not seen often. On the whole a fresh cover layout will intrigue a reader to discover more.

Steve Meale’s theory is also fitting when reflecting on my work. He claims ‘Genres are instances of repetition and difference’, believing it is essential for genres to sometimes deviate from the normal genre trend to engage and attract and audience. My magazine takes a different approach to most of the regional magazines I came across, challenging the normal stereotypes, therefore making it fall under the ‘difference’.

Buckingham said that ‘Genre is a constant process of negotiation and change’ and that ‘Texts must respond to social and cultural change’ I believe adapting my magazine to the research I did on modern, cultured Birmingham is doing exactly that, as I didn’t stick to the ‘landmarks’ approach that most would due to a social change in society that has lead to many needing a new spark of energy.

Applying theory to my project

3.What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

http://riandohertymediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/blog-post_5.htmlOriginal questionaire

This link goes to the full analysis of my original questionnaire results.

‘Dynamic’ and ‘Busy’ were two of the most common answers for this question, a positive response actually, one I was then able to transpire into my magazine. The response of Dynamic inspired me to make sure my magazine itself was dynamic to be representative of Birmingham.

My original questionnaire was a vital step to begin my bridge between the magazine and the target audience. It allowed me to build a foundation of knowledge which I previously didn’t have about what they would want to see in a regional magazine as well as what they think of Birmingham as a whole.

Feedback on design

I considered a Range of fonts for my original Masthead, people from my target audience did advice my that keeping bold and simplistic would be more effective than fancy, difficult to read or a font that doesn’t match the content.For this reason LemonMilk was my best option a many of the others became unsuitable.

Pinterest was a new and interesting way for my to obtain audience feedback. Although commenting was less common on this site, people could re-pin or ‘like’ any photos I shared, therefore in each category of photos I created, those pinned or liked the most were clearly the most popular.

https://www.pinterest.com/

Feedback from Magazine

As you can see above, one of the pieces of feedback I received on my contents page was to change the fonts. After reflecting, I also agree that it has an outdated style, however my reasoning behind it was to be vibrant. The font soon changed to a bolder easily readable one, which complimented the house style of the rest of the magazine as well. My style for arranging the pictures was widely appreciated, leading to this style with minor adjustments following all the way through to my final version.

My first draft of my cover and the final one are basically unrecognisable as a comparison. The reasons for my overhaul of the original design was down to my audience feedback. It became evident from numerous opinions, that although they didn’t dislike the cover, it was very similar to others they had seen before, as well as being a very stereotypical representation of Birmingham – through typical landmarks.

Feedback from Billboard

I received feedback on my Billboard when my initial design had been completed. One thing people suggested it was missing was a tagline, which I later added after taking this on board. The reasoning behind needing one was that although it was easily identifiable to Birmingham, it lacked any information that would nod towards it being a magazine. Although a Billboard should be simplistic, it should also make clear what the product is, if no product is drawn from the billboard, it wouldn’t increase peoples awareness of it’s existence, therefore making it an ineffective billboard.

Feedback from Websitehttp://www.explore-birmingham.co.uk/

The new question has had many more responses, allowing me to engage with people viewing my website while constantly receiving feedback for my magazine/website content

As website design and running was so new to me, I felt audience feedback was incredibly important for this product even more so than others which I have more experience in creating. After my initial designing, I uploaded a link onto twitter and facebook to ask people what they thought; the general response was very positive, with people liking the easy to access pdf version of my magazine, as well as the news feed to see what’s going on around Birmingham.Two of the critiques I received were to reconsider my poll question to something that people feel will voice their opinion, leading it to change from a question about Birmingham's Culture, to asking about what the reader would like to see in ‘Explore Birmingham’ so they can feel like their answers will make a difference.The second critique I received was that I lacked in pages with good readable content. While this would have been difficult to do, I was able to subsequently add ‘Birmingham Blogger’ as an external page on my website, full of informative and enjoyable content.

Feedback from logo

Process to create a logo began at the bottom where I continued to develop it into the black and white logo at the top.

Initially, I received some negative feedback in the early stages of the logo design. Not many people liked the colour scheme, and although the blue didn’t fit well in any other colour, was not quite right in complimenting the magazine. I think it was definitely of high importance to make sure my target audience approved of my logo, as they will be the ones using this logo to identify with the brand image.After many attempts I opted for a simplistic but memorable black and white logo, which many more people were happy with. Because there is a blue colour running throughout my other products, unless the colours were very complimentary to the shade of blue I used, they would clash and not have the synergy I wanted to create.

4.How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Blogger:

To present my project I used blogger, as I did last year. However, I feel my multimedia approach when using it has helped me improve my skills. This year I focused on including a range of different features, such as embedding tutorial videos, including more hyperlinks and using programmes such as slide share to present my research. By using different approaches in my research I was able to gain a fuller understanding of the demographic I was covering as well as the range of material out there I’m able to incorporate and be influenced by in the creation of my own regional magazine.

Examples of this work can be found here:

Video embedding – http://riandohertymediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/blog-post.html

Hyperlinks – http://riandohertymediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/organisation.html

Slideshare - http://riandohertymediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/research-into-similar-products.html

Survey monkey:

One new piece of media I became accustomed with over this course is survey monkey. I hadn’t previously used it in AS or otherwise, but I found it extremely useful and easy to navigate. It provided me with an electronic questionnaire which was much easier to distribute. As I was aiming most of my research to 18-24 year olds at the time, online questionnaires were more likely to be completed than hard copy ones, which could possibly just be thrown away or ignored.

My survey can be found here.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6P2VC3W

Research and planning

Page plus:

I used page plus to create my regional magazine, although I used it last year, I found it much easier to use this time around and felt my outcome was much more professional. For example, when cropping and cutting out images I made sure to maintain straight lines and avoid the images being ‘bitty’. Images lacking clarity and professionalism is a problem I came across last year, meaning my final product wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Learning from mistakes I made last year similar to this has improved my final product as well as deducting from time I would have spent having to make and subsequently amend these errors.

Here you can see a comparison of my AS and A2 contents pages, both created on

Page Plus, I feel like my design skills have taken leaps forward, using good quality

Images and fonts.

Programmes

Paint.netMy billboard was created on paint.net, a programme I have used before but have been previously unable to properly grasp. This year I decided to focus some time on understanding how to work it in order to create an effective billboard. My reason for choosing paint.net was because I wanted it to be different to my magazine and although maintain the same house style, have unique and eye catching qualities. Paint.net allowed me to manipulate my text effectively, creating a slight transparency which proved to work really well on my billboard. I feel it created an eye-catching design that would be noticed when driving past.

Fracture and FragmentThese are two apps I discovered and purchased to help me with image manipulation. I had to upload the image into the app and could then try out different techniques. Fracture, the app I used to manipulate the image on my billboard I enjoyed using as I feel its outcome looks great, however it took me a long time to reach a final image as the process wasn’t as simple as I thought. If I tried to use multiple images I thought the outcome looked unrecognisable and therefore wouldn’t be suitable for a regional magazine, which needs to identify with Birmingham. Fragment on the other hand had various options, I created numerous images that could have worked well in a regional magazine and I found it easier to navigate.

Following this link you can see a variety of different photos I was able to create thanks to the apps, allowing new dimension for my original photography, which I feel would help to distinguish it from other regional magazine in circulation:http://riandohertymediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/advadv.html

A link to a tutorial on fragment that inspired me can be found here: https://youtu.be/FECjHtUX9mY

Weebly-Weebly is a website creator that I used when making mine. It was very new to me so I first watched a tutorial to teach me the basics. After that, I used trial and error to piece together my magazine’s website in a way I felt would keep the same representations my magazine portrays. Although I did find it a good programme to help me, the free version had limitations which lead to me purchasing the ‘pro’ version to provide myself with more flexibility. I feel the end product produced a more professional style than I would have been able to achieve by myself.

Website programme

The site allowed you to add features such as a poll, social icons and contact forms.

This links to the tutorial I initially watched before beginning my website design: https://youtu.be/u2l5924P_2k

One of the drawbacks I found with this programme was that some of the technical work to allow everything to be functional and reach the right place (for example the feedback form on the ‘Contact’ page) was difficult and time consuming. Despite this, I feel in persevering I’ve learnt many new skills.

I had two main options to choose from when presenting my evaluation, Slideshare or Prezi. Although both with their strengths, I decided slide share was the best option for me, as I had grown comfortable with using it.

Evaluation

Pros Cons

Easy to use Appearance remains similar to PowerPoint

Can add links and images with ease

Professional appearance

Pros Cons

Unique layout

Harder to navigate

Can be accessed anywhere due to being online.

More time consuming

PreziSlideshare

Progress from AS to A2Overall, I believe my skills have vastly improved between AS and A2. Due to them both being magazine, It’s reasonably easy to see the comparisons, and where some design styles, such as collage in the images has remained present in my work, but the majority has changed. Although this was due to my own improvement, it was also impacted by the different style of magazine, Music to regional, where my demographic became wide and had to appeal to all.

I feel I have most improved on my cover page. Previously there was a mix of lots of different fonts, that stopped the magazine having any clarity or contingency. This year I have tried to follow through all my products with a similar font style for the same reason.