College Magazine Evaluation

By Alex Lillie

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

My college magazine uses the forms and conventions that you would usually expect to see on any magazine.

My magazine has a large masthead to make it known what magazine it is and also so that people know what type of magazine they’re buying.

My magazine also features a large image of a colleges study centre which also tells the reader what the magazine is about and also hints towards what the main article could be inside.

On the left third is the sub headings which tells the reader exactly what is inside the magazine so they know if they would be interested in buying the magazine or not.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group that my magazine represents is mainly people who go to Richmond Sixth Form and my magazine does this by using language that they would usually use in college (informal).

It also contains information that they would likely be interested in. For example, they would be interested in top tips from examiners from the subjects that they’re studying.

The photo on the front cover also appeals to this social group as the will recognise it straight away and be familiar with it which encourages them to read on.

Who would be your audience for your media product?

My target audience for my college magazine would mainly be for the students of Richmond Sixth Form College who are aged 16-18 because this is a magazine about their college which keeps them up to date with all of the latest news as well as some featured articles about exams and revision.

However the target audience isn't just the students of the college but it is also the parents of these student as they will want to know up to date information about the college and how it is performing.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

The target audience is mainly 16-18 year old college students so I didn’t use much formal language as they would probably not read as they might find it a bit boring if everything was formal and serious.

I have also put in the magazine some information about exams and also revision tips which would all be useful to all the students who read the magazine however not all of them are going to be interested in this so I have added in more interesting articles such as how the schools sports teams are doing and also what else is going on in the school and college.

I have also added in a competition section to the magazine where students can win an iPad which encourages the students to buy the magazine and also read it.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From this college magazine task I have developed my skills in how to make a magazine look better in the program Microsoft Publisher where I created my contents page and front cover.

I also used one of the schools HD cameras to take photos to go on my front cover and my contents page. I learnt how to use the camera properly so I could get the best quality photos I could for my magazine.