Essay

For my media project I selected brief 2 which was about the niche lifestyle area. I chose to do the magazine and website. I chose these two because I have been given a fashion shoot as a project once before and I quite enjoyed the challenge and experience so why not transfer this enjoyment over in to a magazine.

I had no previous experience making a website but I was up for the challenge so I could test my own abilities to see what I am capable of. My target audience was a mature young-adult demographic so between the ages of about 18 and 25.

With my magazine I hoped to make them more aware of the issues to do with the environment and inspire them to make a difference for the better. The fashion magazine I created both followed and defied convention. I followed convention through my use of cover with the use of the title being underneath the main subject of the image, the price somewhere on the page and a bar code. However this same cover defies convention through my use of image. As the cover image I used a model's hand in the shape of a heart against a tree. This was to show the mutual love between man and nature. There is little display of clothing on the cover with only the model's coat sleeves visible however I found this to be appropriate as I wanted the image to be as natural as possible, without over-saturating it with clothes or anything else man made. This is also a special edition of my magazine so it is different to the other magazines which means that it is going to be more anomalous. I increased the saturation of the tree in the cover image because I wanted to show how bright and beautiful something as ordinary as a tree can be. Initially I did not do this as I wanted to have a completely natural cover and show nature for what it is, however, the cover was not eye-catching and now I believe it is more aesthetically pleasing. I also defied convention with my use of colour. Instead of using bright colours like you might expect, I used green and brown in my magazine because of it being a special nature edition and I feel that these two colours best represent nature and give the connotation of nature. The pictures I used were also very brown and green which is coherent with the style of my magazine. The background I use has increased transparency because some constructive criticism I received was to make the background more transparent so text of a similar colour to the background could be used. Before this I used boxes which were distracting and to be honest, not very aesthetically pleasing. The image on the first page of the magazine shows a model observing some blossom on a tree and you can see by his face that he is truly fascinated by the tree and I want this image to have the same influence on the reader. I want them to go outside and see the world and see it for how beautiful it is so they can see that there really is something worth saving. A large factor in why I made the magazine a nature edition is because the majority of my target audience (young-adult males) spend most of their time indoors when there is literally a whole world outside of their house that is imploring them to explore it and discover new things. Not everything can be taught through books, or screens or even by words but through observation. I have an image of shoes on the second page of my magazine that have dirt on them which shows that nature isn't perfect and airbrushed, like you usually see in magazines, but regardless, it is still worth fighting for to save because it is beautiful and the world would be completely different without it. The image specifically is shoes that are slightly dirty standing on a rock which promotes a proactive lifestyle which like I said I want to encourage because of how my target audience usually behaves.

The website I created was more conventional than the magazine with it's use of buttons at the top of the screen. However I yet again defy convention with the home screen not taking you to a list of articles but actually talking about the magazine itself with articles available on other screens. In my opinion the lack of mention of the magazine itself in fashion websites is not something to be desired. I also added a messages button for subscribers so that they could socialise with other subscribers and create that interaction between my audience so that they can share ideas and discuss articles in my magazine or anything else for that matter. I wanted my website to be quick and easy to navigate which is why I didn't make the pages clustered full of articles and buttons. I added a trending tab so that the user could keep track of trending topics which keeps the user informed and also shows them that there is a wide variety of things to do on my website. I aimed to make my website meet a multitude of aspects; it has a social aspect with the messaging and social network buttons, a news aspect with the trending tab and a part that clearly describes the product itself. Unfortunately the trial that I used expired before I could make any final changes to the site but if I could I would change the image of my magazine cover to the updated one and I would change the trending tab to be more relevant to fashion because it is a fashion magazine website.

I wanted my audience to be inspired by the issues I raise in my products to make a change toward the environment for the better. In my media products I talk in support for saving the environment and in push the view that we need to not only improve the environment for ourselves but also the future generations.

If I were to extend my production to a third platform I would create trailers for a series based on my niche lifestyle area. I would do this so that my audience would be able to see how we can use the contents of my magazine practically so they can trust that what's in the magazine can actually be put to good use and it's not just just use making up stories to get attention. This would also be a fantastic opportunity to capture some footage of nature to show how beautiful it can be not only in an image. This could perhaps be portrayed through a use of time lapses to show something like a flower growing for an aesthetically pleasing look. I could also have some facts and figures in the trailers about nature in an attempt to encourage the viewer to make a change.