1. 1. CRITICAL REFLECTION http://lilyjahanshahi.blogspot.com/
2. 2. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? Cover page Content page
3. 3. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
4. 4. Use of and challenge of convections Use of convections The convections I used in this magazine are convection's expected to be seen in magazines that are targeting the youth, as there isnt a lot of magazines with the theme of activism directed at the youth ,I used convections that entertainment magazines for the youth use to be able to attract the targeted audience(16-21). And as much I used convections I also challenge other convections with the same aim of attracting the audience to want to buy and read the magazine as it Is different from their usual interest in the print industry.
5. 5. Cover page-mast head MAST HEAD TITLE-The mast head of this magazine is THE ACTIVIST I chose this name as it reflects on the type and content of the magazine when someone reads the title they immediately know what the magazine is about and can decide whether or not they want to buy it. Hence why it will attract my targeted audience because the title clearly explains what the magazine is about without even having to go through it contents page. FONT STYLE- I used the font Bauhaus 93 for the title, compared to the other fonts I chose this one because its simple but not plain, it removes the serious element of the magazine attracting the audience, because the youth are most likely not to buy a magazine that looks like is discussing serious issues as the majority prefer entertainment and so to be able to attract them I chose this font. FONT SIZE- The font size is 74, the size is big enough and clear enabling each word to be seen clearly. FONT COLOR-The black color font works well with the white background bringing out the title making the title easily noticed if it was to be on a magazine stand attracting the audience.
6. 6. The masthead In general uses conventions as its aim is to attract the targeted audience to want to buy the magazine, the audience who are usually attracted to gaming and entertainment, will be curious to know what this magazine is about As most youth targeted magazines, the magazines title can be clearly seen and not behind the central image in order to attract the audience through the title and not only the central image. And because the title Is just as powerful as the central image thats why I decided to not cover the title up.
7. 7. Cover page-Tagline The tagline goes with the title as the word activism goes with the tagline of the world is ours to take, the tagline empowers the article showing what the magazine is about, showing the theme and hence attracts the audience who are interested without giving away to much making the buyer buy it to find out more about the magazine by reading the articles inside. Hence the tagline uses convections as it something that most magazines use to explain the title or further enhance the title.
8. 8. COVER PAGE Central image & cover model The central image and cover model both use and challenge convections, the use of conventions is through the use of a model as most magazines use models as a way of attracting the audience for each audience a different kind of model is used. But this magazine challenges the convection as the model is bare backed and usually for youth magazines the model is usually not supposed to be presented in such a way, I challenged this convection because I didnt use the bareness to present sexuality or to sexualize the model. I used a bare backed model to show strength as seen the model has a defined back, as the back(spine) is known to be the core of the body, I used this presentation to show the youth that they are the core and strength of the world without them the world has no hope. The chose to cover the model with writing to distract the audience from the model himself and make them read the words on the back which again shows the theme of the magazine the future is ours-
9. 9. -with other words around it that are all related to the magazine. The convection that is challenged by the central image is the use of color, the whole image is filtered by using brightness and contrast making it look black and white, usually magazines that are meant for the youth are supposed to be with a famous or familiar face, I challenged both this convection because unlike other magazines this magazine isnt aiming at entertaining its prime focus is educating and informing and because the magazine aims at that the use of a familiar face would help the sells but the audience wouldnt be buying to know about the theme rather they would buy it to know what a certain famous person has to say about the topic.
10. 10. COVER IMAGE-Cover lines The use of convections can also be seen in the use of cover lines as any magazine needs cover lines to attract the audience on what is inside. The cover line's show what is inside without giving too much away keeping the audience captivated and wanting to know what each cover line has to say inside.
11. 11. COVER PAGE-mode of address Further more, this magazine challenges the convection of mode of address, most magazines use direct mode of address between the cover model to attract the audience through front body presentation, the body posture and facial expression. Ive decided to use to remove the focus on the model but on the words on the back of the model
12. 12. COVER IMAGE-barcode and edition The use of convection can further be seen with the use of edition this is done to enable the audience to know which issue it is when buying and also gives an insight on how often a magazine is released. March/ April shows that the issue is going to be in distribution for two months and the next issue will be out in June. Barcode convection is followed as it is located at the bottom like most magazines so that the reader can focus on the cover image and lines.
13. 13. COVER IMAGE Use of color I challenged the convection in the use of color, as most youth magazines aiming at attracting the younger audience uses color to attract the audience, I decided to use black, white, grey and a pop of red as these colors are calm making the reader concentrate on the cover lines and image and not being distracted by the colors and the use of red was to bring a pop to the magazine as leaving it without red would make it boring.
14. 14. CONTENT PAGE The content page shows use of convection, as it gives information of what is to be found inside and on what page with the use of pictures for the most important issues to attract the audience. Also the use of convection's can further be seen by the use of social media icons that show that the magazine also has social following which with the digital era of everything being online also attracts the digital audience to the magazine. In addition to the content page also uses the convection of giving credit to people involved in the creation of the magazine an action that is done by most magazines.
15. 15. Double spread page The double spread page uses convections to represent the main article with the use of pictures to show what the article is talking about. The use of color is the article to make it attractive to enable the young audience to not be bored. The use of an interview to not bore the audience with lengthy articles and the use of different colors in the interview to distinguish the interview and the interviewee. Also the font used though small it is clear and readable.
16. 16. How it represents social groups or issues ? Apart from the use and challenges of convections, the magazine also represents social group and issues, The social group that is presented is of the youth;, on the cover- through the choice of words "the future is ours on the cover and the image of a young mans body clearly represents that the youth is in control of the future but it also creates a stereo type of men being leaders of the world as a mans body is shown but I used this because it is hard to use a womans body without it looking sexual and this could have derived from the magazine from its original theme. The double spread page presents the social group by the article itself being about the youth and the pictures help elaborate this point. The magazine in general presents issues through the cover lines, the content mentioned in the content page and the other issues briefly mentioned in the article.
17. 17. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text? TARGET AUDIENCE The magazines targeted audience Is the youth age group of 16-25, its engages the audience through the simple language used in the cover lines this enabling majority of the age group to be able clearly understand what it is about. The cover(through the use of color and model) itself attracts both genders making them both able to buy it without feeling that its not for them. The use of a models back is also a method I used to engage the audience as these days working out and keeping fit is something that most people are engaged in and hence keeping a model with a good body structure with words written all over his back also helps the audience engage in the product in wanting to know what the magazine is about.
18. 18. I had an interview with kids around school to see if they would buy the magazine, most people who were interested were year 11 and above the year 10 and below didnt seem interested on matters except for a few students. The targeted audience were interested in buying the magazine, but I also got an un intended audience of quite a few teachers (25 +) who were interested in knowing what the magazine was about and the articles involved.
19. 19. DISTRIBUTION & PROMOTION As it is a print media, this magazine would be self-published and distributed to news's stands and other media outlets. But before that Ill launch a media campaign online to promote the magazine to the targeted audience by using social media like Facebook and Instagram Ill attract the audience by giving away prizes online for giving out shout outs of the page this way the audience will share it and want their followers to like the page this way it will cause people to be aware of the magazine. The magazine will also be sold in educational institutions and stationery and coffee shops to get the target audience to notice it everywhere this way it will raise their curiosity to know what the magazine is about. The price of the magazine is affordable, because of the targeted audience we need to be able to make it affordable to them to be able to buy it even with their break money. It will also be advertised on tv on certain channels like Channel O and MTV Basw
20. 20. How did your production skills develop through out the project? My production skills developed through this project compared to before I had no skills whatsoever related to production, as I had to work with software's like Photoshop and publisher I learnt quite a lot that I didnt know in the beginning. I also had to go through the whole production steps such from pre-production which involved research to production. This process helped me acquire research skills, interviewed the potential audience and find out how to come up with a product they would be interested in.
21. 21. How did you integrate technologies- software, hardware and online -in this project? HARDWARE I used my laptop, this helped me get most the work done from browsing the net for research to using software's to create the magazine and edit it. I also used a canon eos 1100 for all the pictures this helped produce quality pictures and gave me an easier job while editing. ONLINE I used the internet to do most of my research for the magazine To generate the barcode Online I used my blog to blog on my magazine progress through-out and this helped me as reading and writing my ideas on a blog helped me analyze those ideas and hence lead to many changes that improved the final project.
22. 22. SOFTWARE The software I used was Microsoft publisher were I need most of my work as I found it hard working with InDesign. And I wasnt able to use photo shop because my laptop didnt support it and I since I preferred to work at home I came across an online editing software called Pixlr and when I tried working with this it proved to be just as effective and had all the necessities that I needed.