1. Evaluation
G321
Foundation Portfolio
By Ana Kamille Ruiz

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

3. I have used many different types of generic
conventions in my magazine cover. I was able to work
with the different codes and conventions by applying it
to four different magazines which is linked below.
http://ruizanakamille.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cod
es-and-conventions-task-m-magazine.html
http://ruizanakamille.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/blo
g-post.html
Front cover
My front cover incorporates the generic conventions
of a music magazine as the main cover star is
behind the masthead, the barcode and the puff.
Although, the cover star is going against the general
conventions of a magazines as she is giving an
indirect mode of address.
My front cover was definitely influenced by Q and
ACOUSTIC magazine.

4. My front cover was influenced by „acoustic GUITAR‟
magazine. In this magazine the cover star is giving an
indirect mode of address so that the audience/target
market could feel that this picture was captured „in the
moment‟. Therefore, while planning my cover page I
wanted to have a similar vibe so I incorporated this to my
cover page where my cover star is looking down and
playing with the guitar.

5. Contents
My contents page was influenced by Q magazine also. With Q magazine the language and vocabulary is easy to
read and understand which is appealing to the audience. The layout of the contents is very structured and allows
people to look at the page easily therefore, I wanted to do the same thing to my magazine and the layout and its
structure influenced me to do this. In the bottom page of the magazine, I did the same exact thing where I
incorporated the CD albums that fans can get, the different music that they can download and the top charts. I
also incorporated the „every month‟ section as a generic convention in a contents page of a magazine. And
also, the different features that the people will get inside the magazine.

6. Double page spread
My double page spread was also influenced by Q magazine‟s double page article on
Florence and the Machine. I really like the idea of the fact that Q magazine typed USA across
the page along with her music album. This interested me so I wanted to do the same idea
therefore; I used it on my double page and typed the album name „Newborn‟ across the page
along with the star‟s name. The article was influenced also as it is about Q & A‟s from the
artist itself. Such as asking her what she though of her new album, how she started playing
the guitar etc. This casual and friendly interview allows the star to be admired by the
audience and its target market.

7. 2. How does your media
product represent particular
social groups?

8. For my magazine, it is aimed to
target teenagers and young, older
women who prefer to listen to a
mellow type of music.
I presented quiet, peaceful and
elegant images. The purpose of an
elegant and peaceful vibe from the
images is to let the target audience
have an idea of what they are
expecting in the magazine that they
are about to buy.
Ana-Kathleen is supposed to be
another replica of „Taylor Swift‟. A
girl who sings acoustic songs about
love and relationships.
I have targeted the stereotypical
teenagers in the 21st century that
have fandom over a solo artist.
Fandom is another meaning of fans
being overly obsessed with solo
artists and bands which I want with
my artist.

9. This would be a profile of a typical
teenager who would be
interested in the type of genre
that I am producing for my
magazine.
A girl who likes to go off in the
woods and surrounds herself on her
own with the nature and her guitar
to listen to inspiring songs.
Someone who likes sitting in the
grass, playing a relaxing, acoustic music.
My magazine is mostly aimed at teenage girls however, if
there were boys who were interested in this genre as
well, I would expect them to be mellow, quiet and have a
sense of their own and let acoustic music and their guitar
to bring them to life.

10. 3. What kind of media
institution might distribute your
media product and why?

11. http://www.smithsnews.co.uk/smithsnewsgroup/smithsnews
“Smiths News is the UK‟s leading newspaper
and magazine wholesaler. New contract
awards have consolidated our position as the
country‟s largest wholesaler. We‟re a big
organisation, but we care about our customers
and we‟re known for our friendly and open
approach.”
Smiths News PLC distributes different
types of newspapers, magazines, health
care magazines etc. My magazine would
go under the newspaper and magazine
market where they distribute my acoustic
magazine. Smiths News PLC distributes to
30,000 customers everyday therefore, I feel
that ACOUSTIQUE would be distributed by
a major distribution company.

12. 4. Who would be the
audience for your media
product

13. Target audience
My target audience is mostly aimed at
females at the age of 15-20 who prefer
to listen to acoustic music.
I have given information about solo
artists who do acoustic magazine. Any
thing about this genre is in the
magazine. The majority of people who
enjoy an acoustic vibe would probably
be young adults.
Below is the link to the questionnaire
that I did and how I was able to find out
about my target audience and what
they preferred.
http://ruizanakamille.blogspot.co.uk/search?q
=publication+plan

14. 5. How did you
attract/address the audience?

15. From the front cover itself, I attracted
the audience from the picture that I
took. I used a good quality camera that
would allow the target audience to feel
interested and look at the magazine.
Also, I used different types of colours to
make the words stand out and I tried to
prevent the words from blending into
the picture as the lighting is quite low
on the image. All of the colours I used
are quite different from each other as
the masthead is white, the name of the
artist is peach and the pugg is yellow. I
think all of these compliment each
other. The peach and white colours
compliment each other and the yellow
compliments itself and all of the colours
around it. This is important to me as it
does not look as tacky and neither does
it over power the image too much. The
softness of the yellow, red, peach and
white allows to make the target
audience feel that elegant vibe within
the magazine which is vital to me.
In addition, my masthead is very simple
and not too out of place in cover. It
looks as if it blends well with everything
and overpowers the image from its
colour however, the attraction of the
artist is still complimented.

16. Furthermore, the layout of the
magazine is simple and it is not
covering the face of the artist as
the words and colours allows
the image to be dominated and
make it vivid and stand out well.
Since there is not a lot going on
with the words it can be easily
understood as the words are
not cluttered and the language
is simple and understandable
for my target audience.

17. 6. What have you learnt
about technologies from the
process of constructing the
product?

18. I used paint.net to construct my cover page and my contents page and
word document to construct my double page spread and an app on my
phone to edit the pictures.
Strengths
Paint.net
• You can get used to it after a few tries
•You can change the selection of the
canvas such as changing it to A4 or A3
•It is easy to import pictures to the software
and edit them by using many different
effects
•Files can be saved as different options
such as; JPEG/PNG/PAINT.NET FILE
•Copy and paste easily
•Take away any unnecessary parts of the
image
Word document
•You can easily add pictures in from
paint.net
•You can add text boxes in the document
easily.
•You have the different options of the fonts
and its sizes and the colours
•It is simple to use

19. Weaknesses
Paint.net Word document
•You cannot change the •When you add pictures
words when you make in, everything can get all over
mistakes when doing a text. the place.
•Sometimes the magic wand •You have to consider the text
takes out areas that you want space of the article because
from the image. when adding a big letter in the
beginning the next line can
•It is easy to over-edit a photo
have a big space. So it can
so you can make mistakes
look misplaced.
easily.

20. Photowonder
This is the app that I used to edit my
pictures from my phone.
Strengths
•You can take the photos and choose the
effects you want straight away.
•Use flash if there is not enough lighting.
•Take a photo using the front camera or
back camera
•Decorate the photo straight from the
phone
•Take photos and make it into a collage
•You can send the photo straight to an
email and be opened online.
Weaknesses
•The effect can change slightly once
opened online
•There is not enough effects
Here is a link online to see what
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d
Photowonder is all about. etails?id=cn.jingling.motu.photowon
der&hl=en

21. Photographic choices
I took many different images to see what looked best for
the contents, the double page spread and the front cover.
I had to consider the lighting and what looked best for
each photo.
For my front cover there were three pictures I had to
choose from which were all different. I wanted to choose
an elegant style, simple and professional. The lighting on
the top right is too bright, the image on the bottom right
was not exactly as perfect as the one I chose which is the
bottom left as the artist is looking at the guitar instead of
somewhere else. So, I made my decision to pick the
bottom one.

22. Also, with the contents and the double
page I had to consider what looked
best as the lighting of the front camera
and back camera were different. Since
I wanted a simple and elegant one for
my double page I went for the bottom
picture. The contents had the colour
red in it for the background of the fonts
so I chose to pick the darker lighting
for the contents page.
Also, I had to look at the images if the
pose of the artist was awkward or not
therefore, I did not choose the far left
image above as it did not look right to
me.

23. Blogger was a very easy process as it
was quick when you could add post a
blog entry and publish it in seconds.
Instead of printing off all of the work I did
and wasting paper I could upload it to
blogger and let other people see it
straight away by giving them my URL.
With the 3 elements - my front cover, contents and double page spread. I
found it easy to do it as I as already able to have an idea of what was to
come out of it from the research I did. Also, I was able to sketch out my
contents and double page as a draft to choose which type of layout I
wanted which helped me out quite a lot. With my front cover, I did a sample
of my what I hoped for with my magazine which can be seen in this link
http://ruizanakamille.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=sample+magazine this
sample helped me with editing what looked wrong and helped me realise
what I needed to do for my final work.

24. 7. Looking back to you
preliminary task, what do you
feel that you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full
product?

25. From my preliminary task compared to my final product it looks very plain and that there is not
enough attraction to the magazine. My idea was to make it look fun and interesting with all the
colours but, because my actual magazine was a different concept I understood that
depending on what your concept and style is, it can depend on the way you present your final
magazine/product. It is about choosing the right target market and the right style that
compliments it.
To get to where I am now with my final magazine product I have learnt the different ways and
techniques that I needed to do in order to create a realistic magazine. The way I had to
choose from my pictures, the editing skills, the effects I had to use, the fonts and the colours. I
was able to learn from my preliminary task to make it look realistic and professional.

26. With my contents also you can tell from the software being used as I used word document for
my preliminary task and paint.net for my actual contents. My school contents looks plain and
boring as the background does not have enough colour to it. The pictures however, are „fun‟
compared to my actual contents although, this probably won‟t attract the students. With my
actual contents it is more put together and everything compliments each other especially the
images and the font.

27. Overall, I think that my final products were successful and that it fits will
with the brief. I have been able to research and plan all the areas that I
needed and it can be seen from this overall product. I feel that there are
no strengths and weaknesses to any of my final products as they all
compliment each other. I am pleased with the way it turned out as I was
able to represent an acoustic genre.