Evaluation and Reflection

Pecha Kucha Presentation: 

I created 17 slides on my FMP for my Pecha Kucha presentation. The slides included pictures about my FMP, and I had to present to two classes for my Pecha Kecha for around 6-7 minutes, explaining the images and outlining the research I have done and the key points of my FMP. Due to the large audience and the fact that my presentation was being recorded, I was orginally quite nervous at first but as I continued my nerves gradually calmed down. Although I have given presentations in the past, I felt much more confident this time because I was enthusiastic about my FMP topic and had a lot to say as it's a topic I chose to do. The images below are feedback that my peers gave me after listening to my Pecha Kecha. 

With some slides I don't think I was able to make my points very clear, so the feedback was quite helpful in letting me know whether or not I was speaking clearly or looking at my audience. Overall, I received positive feedback as my classmates understood I will be working on for my FMP and how I will go about it, I'm glad that they find my topic to be entertaining and I appreciated the criticism because it gave me some suggestions for how to make my presentation better for the future. Also, despite the fact that they were merely images, this demonstrated that I had given the details thought. When compared to last year, I do think my presentation skills have much improved because I didn't stutter as much and I was more expressive. I also got more positive than negative feedback, which assured me that I did a great job presenting my Pecha Kucha.                           

I felt that my Pecha Kucha was successful in the end. I tried my best to describe each image in great depth and added a lot of detail to the presentation's images. I will bear in mind that there is room for growth when discussing the presentation and making sure everything I say is understood and clear . Nonetheless, in general, I was informative and the majority of the audience understood what I was saying and thought the FMP was an interesting and well put together. 

My Feedback: 

Weekly Reflections:

27/02/2023-

This week's evaluation i've been working on a variety of activities including creating my Pecha Kecha presentation and doing some research work on audience research. I wanted to start making my Pecha Kecha first as I needed to get that done as quickly as possible and it's the most time consuming. I decided to include 17 slides in my Pecha Kecha I felt like that was a good amount of slides and information for me to to explain and present to my audience what my FMP is about and how I am going to approach it. I made my presentation on powerpoint as it is very simple to use and it's easy for me to create my slides and present to my class smoothly. I've never created a Pecha Kecha presentation before so this was my first time making one and presenting one it was very easy to create as it was just images and we had to explain the images in detail, which was something that was new to me as I've never see that before but it was easy for me to create and easy for me to know what I am going to day about each slide.  I decided to practice how I am going to present my presentation with Esi as I was nervous to present in front of my class I wasn't as confident as I should be I was also nervous about being recorded because I didn't want to mess up and keep having to record my Pecha Kecha so practising with Esi was very useful for me. Esi was very helpful as she gave me some presentation tips and how to loosen my nerves which I appreciated she definitely improved my presentation skills as she listened to my presentation and asked me questions about it. We were merged with the Level 3 Y1's so it was a quite a large crowd for me and I felt like practising before hand was a good technique that I did and was very beneficial for me I will definitely do this technique again to perfect how I am going to present my presentation before delivering it to my audience.

After creating my Pecha Kecha and practising it I decided to do some research on my target audience. Because my FMP is about a Japanese fashion magazine I wanted to learn more about the people who would be interested in my work. I came to the conclusion that my target audience would be between the ages of 16 to 19 year olds because they are interested in the newest fashion trends. It's beneficial for me to understand what they are more into so I can create a magazine that is appealing to them and I feel like they would understand my magazine better than the older generation. I created my target audience profile on powerpoint I decided to start researching about what gender,age,education level, interest and occupation I am appealing to as I want to get to know who my target audience are. I also researched about my key psychographics, challenges, Preferred channels lastly preferred content types the main ones for me are my challenges and preferred channels. All of them are important, but I believe these two are particularly important because I don't want anyone to take offence to my designs or feel like I'm cultural appropriating the Japanese culture. Preferred channels are important to me as well because these are the people who would be most drawn to and interested in my Japanese fashion magazines. I also created a Pie chart this was also apart of my primary research with my target audience profile. I wanted to show the stats of different age groups and see which age group would be the most interested in my Japanese fashion magazines. This research was very helpful to me as now I know who my target audience are and I will focus on making a magazine that is appealing to them.

06/03/2023-

I've been working on a variety of tasks for this week's evaluation including presenting my Pecha Kecha presentation and completing my Pecha Kecha feedback work. My anxiety of speaking in front of crowd was there during my Pecha Kecha presentation but it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Nevertheless, I would say that my presentation skills have significantly improved since last year as the flow of the my presentation went smoothly and I didn't stutter as much or mess up on my words. My Pecha Kecha was recorded because I needed a recording of my presentation for my blog,  I uploaded my Pecha Kecha on Youtube so that I upload the video of my Pecha Kecha to my blog this process was very easy and simple I had no hassle with putting my presentation on my blog or uploading it to YouTube. Annette gave everyone a feedback sheet to fill out once my Pecha Kucha presentation was finished. The audience's comments were really useful and several of them mentioned things I should add in my Japanese fashion magazines which is useful to me as I might like their suggestion. The feedback sheet had three sections: what was good about my presentation, what I need to improve, and any suggestions on what I can do going forward. I believe that hearing everyone's opinions helped me understand what I need to do better going forward and what my strengths are. I was quite happy to learn that I had more positive than negative feedback because it indicated that my audience enjoyed my presentation and the topic I chose for my FMP.

The main criticism was that I need to pay more attention to my audience and I agree with that. Eye contact keeps your audience engaged with your presentation it also gives them a sense of involvement and conveys your message on a personal level, in the future I will  definitely do this while's I am presenting as it is important and a key presentation skill. Overall, I think my audience's criticisms were all valid and I appreciate that they gave me their honest opinion on my presentation rather than just positive comments.

13/03/2023-

I've been working on a variety of tasks for this week's evaluation including researching on magazine layout and design, analysing a Japanese fashion magazine layout and my magazine name survey. I first started looking for websites on Google that I thought would clarify key concepts and features of magazine design and layout. because I am creating a magazine for my FMP, it is important for me to conduct as much research as I can because I want to complete this project to the best of my abilities. Also  since I have never created a magazine before I was interested in learning some advice on how to create a good fashion magazine because I wanted to know what I should include and how to structure it. I got some very useful tips on how a magazine layout should be. I learnt that  magazine layouts are important because they play an important role in attracting readers and help convey the magazine's brand identity and presenting content in a clear and organised manner, I will follow these tips when I am creating my Japanese fashion magazines. 

After researching about magazine layouts and design I decided to analyse a Japanese fashion magazine. I figured it would be helpful for me to see how Japanese fashion magazine layouts look like since my FMP is about Japanese fashion magazines, so that I am aware of what to include in my Japanese fashion magazines that I will be creating. I learnt that Japanese fashion magazines don't use a lot of text they use more visual images like model pictures and individual images of the clothing items they only use text when describing the material, price and where the clothing item is from.Analysing a Japanese fashion magazine was very useful for me to see how different their layout of a fashion magazine is compared to American fashion magazines like Vogue it showed me how unique and bold Japanese fashion magazines are.The last thing I did this week was creating a Google Form survey with different Japanese names that my audience could pick from. I couldn't pick a name for my magazine so I thought creating a survey would be helpful for me to see what my audience choices were, and to see if they chose the same name as me or a different name. I also asked them to give me their explanation on why they liked that specific name I wanted to know why they think that particular name would suit my Japanese fashion magazines the best and why that name caught their attraction among the other names that I included in my survey. Kakkoi won the vote that is the final name I will be using for my Japanese fashion magazine I'm glad that both me and my audience are on the same page and we both like the final name. 

Evaluation:

What was your initial concept for your final project and what were the reasons behind your choices? 

I had two initial concepts. The first was to create a Japanese fashion magazine that focused on the two most popular fashion styles in Japan today, Kawaii and Oversize fashion. I chose this as my final concept because I really liked how Japanese magazines looked and wanted to create my own. Also, I wanted to add my own art to my magazine to show my creativity, Japanese fashion magazine are unique as they add a lot of visuals and use bright colours which I also liked as they aren't basic as other fashion magazines. It's also a concept that I knew I would personally enjoy doing because I'm a huge fan of the Japanese fashion culture because I take a lot of inspiration from their styles into my own, I love how Japanese fashion trends have influenced people all over the world. The second idea I had that I didn't chose was creating a social media platform or my brand and a magazine to go along with it. I ran out of time so I just made a magazine I was too preoccupied with research and my planning and production for my magazine, so I didn't have enough time to create a social media page. In the future, I will begin my productions earlier so that I have enough time for everything. What I wanted to achieve with my magazine was to send a message to people who are afraid to express their style because they believe that if you dress in a different way that isn't basic and wear fun bright colours you are seen as "weird" or don't fit the stereotype of how "people should dress." Society frequently establishes certain expectations and norms regarding how people should dress. Cultural, regional, and societal factors can all have an impact on these norms, deviating from these norms may cause anxiety about being judged, criticised, or excluded from the social group which Is the cycle I wanted to break.

I chose Japanese fashion because people in Japan express themselves by wearing bright clothing or styles that are different. They don't care about people's judgement because their styles express who they are, I want more people to stop being afraid of being different and to dress how they want rather than fitting into basic fashion stereotypes. Furthermore, individuality and self-expression are generally more accepted in Japanese society there is a cultural appreciation for individuality and creativity, which allows people to experiment with different fashion trends and subcultures without fear of being judged or scrutinised which is why I adore Japanese fashion culture so much. I want people to be inspired by my magazine and get them to be more expressive within their style I want to break the cycle of the normality of fashion and show people that it's okay to dress different.

My target audience is teenagers I feel like teenagers often value fitting in and being accepted by their peers. They may fear standing out or being judged if they dress differently from the prevailing norms or trends within their social group, the fear of being rejected may prevent them from expressing their individuality through their clothing choices and this way they won’t express themselves. They might feel more open to criticism or judgement from their peers if they dress differently. I want teenagers to understand that it's okay to dress differently and that they should wear whatever they want to express themselves regardless of what others may think also I feel like they would be interested in my magazine more rather than the older generation. The specialism that I have followed for this FMP is magazine. I think I have followed the magazine conventions by including a front and back cover, a number of double page spreads, information about Japanese fashion culture, and details about each clothing piece that my models wore additionally, I used my own photography as the images for my magazine. Since I am interested in Japanese fashion culture and draw inspiration from their styles for my own personal style, I am very passionate about this project and the topic is something I’m familiar with. As I won't be doing media for my further studies it has taught me how to control my time management skills and to start early then just rush things.

How has your research and planning helped you develop your final project? 

I have conducted a variety of primary and secondary research. Analysis of Japanese fashion magazines is one example of the secondary research I've done. This gave me a better idea of the layout style of Japanese magazines and how I wanted my layout to look. I also did some research on various Japanese fashion styles, and I settled on two to concentrate on: kawaii fashion and oversize fashion. In addition, I also some conducted audience research for my primary research I created a pie chart illustrating my target audience and created a target audience profile. A specified target audience can be important when creating a design. females between the ages of 16 and 19 make up my target demographic I found this out from my pie chart. The reason is that by the time they are 16, they are more interested in trends and have a tendency to jump on bandwagons in order to feel more involved. For example, streetwear is very popular among Japanese fashion, and Japan has set a global trend for people all over the world. Teenagers today on the streets dress in oversize clothing to fit the streetwear fashion that is going on. This is because they are more drawn to current trends in the fashion industry. Having a target audience who is prepared to be interested in Japanese fashion trends can have a significant impact on my magazine design as I know who my target audience are.

My target audience profile was an important part of my primary research as well. I decided to start researching about what gender, age, education level, interest and occupation I am appealing to as I want to get to know who my target audience are. I also researched about who my key psychographics would be people who are interested in my Japanese fashion culture and would be interested in my magazines. I also wanted to include what my challenges would be this one is important for me as I don't want to offend the Japanese culture and cultural appropriate anyone for the Japanese community with my designs. I also looked into my preferred channels are the people who are most likely to see and like my Japanese magazine I think the main one would be the K-pop and J-pop community as they are really into Japanese style clothing and culture because most of their favourite idols (celebrities) wear the type of my fashion that I am focusing on which is kawaii (cute) and oversize clothing. It is also helpful for me to know my target audience and what they are more interested in so that I can create a magazine that appeals to them which is why conducting audience research was very important for me because I knew that teenagers like to see visuals more which is why I included as many colours as possible and visuals to my magazines.

Also, I created a survey to pick the name for my magazine because I was stuck on what to call my brand, I did this as I value the opinion of my target audience and their feedback could help me improve my production. As part of my planning for this project, I also did a variety of other things including making sketches for my magazine to help me see a rough sketch of what my magazine could look like. I also used my timetable as a reference and determining what I should be doing based on it. Since I did spend a quite a bit of time helping my classmates with their productions and putting more of my attention on research than my actual production, I do feel that I could have used my time more effectively and started my production earlier than when I actually started it.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is females of the ages of 16 to 19 as I think they would have an interest in Japanese fashion. As I was making my magazines, I made sure to make it look as appealing aspossible for them by adding a lot of visuals and colour to my magazine. Also, I picked two Japanese fashion styles that they would be interested in and most likely take inspiration from. I feel like streetwear and kawaii are two fashion styles that have become a trend globally and teenagers are most likely to read about these two styles as they like to hop on to the new trends that come out, they would want to find out where the clothes are from so that they can purchase the item which is why I added information about each of the clothing pieces. My target audience has liked what I did with my production as I can see from the final survey, I asked them to do so that I can gain feedback from them and see their opinion of my final production, any of the feedback that I received called it really liked the style of my magazine and agreed that my magazine looked like an official Japanese fashion magazine.

How did you attract/address your audience? 

I have used a variety of tools and strategies to draw in and communicate with my audience. Here are some examples of how I made use of magazine conventions to let my audience know what they were reading. Also, in my magazine I did my own photography they were professional and looked appealing as my models were dressed in different fashion styles, so that my magazine wasn't just based on one style they had options of what styles they would be attracted to. I also included positive slogans to encourage my audience to be freer within their fashion style and to be inspire them to incorporate Japanese fashion styles into their own fashion style. I used a lot of pastel colours and bright colours this helps to make my magazine more eye-catching and appealing for my audience, as there is a lot of colour dark colours tend to make magazine's look boring which I didn't want as Japanese magazines are normally full of bright fun colours. I added a lot of visuals including the clothing items giving my audience information of where to find the clothing piece, how much it is and the material which is very helpful for them. I feel like my magazine design is very eye-catching as it's bold and bright also my layout looks like a Japanese fashion magazine and the visuals I used are well put together my magazine isn't too chaotic it has the right amount of text and visual images which I think my audience would be attracted to as most magazines tend to use an overload of text and the minimum amount of visual images to their magazine which isn’t how I wanted my layout to be. 

What contextual issues have you considered when creating this product? 

One of the reasons why I picked Japanese fashion as my final major project choice was Japanese fashion has been heavily influenced by Western fashion, particularly since the Meiji period when Japan opened its doors to international trade. Western styles and trends continue to shape Japanese fashion, and there is a constant interplay between local and global fashion influences. It can be difficult to strike a balance between the need for international appeal and the preservation of the unique Japanese identity. In addition, Japan is renowned for its vibrant street fashion and subcultures including styles like gyaru fashion, visual kei, and the Harajuku and Lolita looks. These subcultures frequently question established fashion standards and showcase originality and creativity. One of my challenges would be to not use traditional Japanese fashion styles for example Kimonos I chose fashion styles that wouldn't offend the Japanese culture because I don't want to cultural appropriate anyone for the Japanese community with my designs.

How does your product conform or challenge media theories and conventions? 

I believe that my magazines challenged certain media conventions and theories through its representation of fashion. Usually, people are afraid of dressing up different as they don't want to be judged by others or don't want to be seen as "weird". In my magazine, I want people to read it and realised that they should embrace themselves more and wear bright colours or wear different styles that aren't basic also I want them to know that people opinions on how they dress shouldn't have an impact on them they should dress how they want to. The photography that I have taken also shows two different styles that my audience can take inspiration from I decided to use two polar opposite styles as my audience can pick which style they like better. The media theory that I would apply to my magazine would be the uses and gratification theory as the aim of my magazine was to inform people that fashion is freedom and being different is okay.

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

I developed a variety of skills while constructing this project. I had to use the Adobe programme InDesign as I created a magazine. I had never used this software before, so I had to learn how to use it as I went along with my production. As I was creating my magazine, I had either get help from my teacher or watching some YouTube tutorials because I wasn't familiar with InDesign. My teacher assisted me in setting up my grid so that the layout of every magazine page was the same which was very helpful when I was putting my page numbers on my magazine as all the pages were the same. There were some difficulties that I faced the first of which was running out of studio time for my photoshoot. I was unable to take a photo for my back cover page I was too focused on taking photos for my other pages which made me run of time to take a back cover page photo which was very unfortunate. I had to use one of my duo photos that I took for my duo page because I had originally planned for them to wear a different outfit and do a different a pose for my back cover as you can see by my sketch. However, I'm glad I had a backup photo to use because for my duo page I did take a lot of pictures of my models doing different poses, so I just picked a pose that I didn't use for my duo page for my back cover page but in future I definitely need to work on my time management skills, and I need to start my productions earlier.

I also had issues of my models having some difficulty doing the positions I had chosen for the photo shoot. For instance, one of my models struggled to maintain their balance during one posture because it called for one foot to be raised. This was my fault because even though I had already sketched out my plans and believed that my models would have no trouble executing them it turned out that they found it challenging to maintain their balance for a certain amount of time. But I'm glad I was able to solve this problem as I searched up on Pinterest alternative poses for my models to do. I made sure to ask my models if they could perform that particular pose to ensure that I'm choosing a pose that is comfortable for them as I don't want to choose a pose, they aren't comfortable with doing or can't do. I think I did a great job solving this problem I made sure to find a solution as soon as possible because I didn't want to waste time as I didn't have much time in the studio, which was also why I needed to act fast I didn't want my model photos to look rushed. I also used a software called Photoshop. Since I use this software for most of my projects, I would say that I am very confident with this software as a result, I had no trouble editing my photos and adding text I believe that while working on this project, I significantly increased my skills with programmes like Photoshop by learning new effects to apply to my photographs and I also gained knowledge of programmes like InDesign showing that I have gained new skills.

How closely did your final product resemble your initial ideas and expectations? 

I believe that my final products have match with my initial ideas although I did have to make some changes to my magazines. I feel like my magazine really does look like a Japanese fashion magazine because I used a variety of colours, it's eye-catching and appealing and my magazine is unique. There were also various ways that I developed my ideas planning my initial ideas out, experimenting with them and getting feedback from my surveys all allowed me to develop my ideas and get my audience opinions for example my magazine name survey helped my picked a final name for my magazine. Overall, I believe that my magazine was successful as I think my target audience would be appalled by my magazine and I used Japanese elements as I said using bright fun colours and I followed their fashion magazine layout. According to my audience feedback I have gotten many good reviews about my magazine saying it matches the Japanese aesthetic also they all believe that my magazine has all the elements to be a Japanese magazine which made me feel like I have created a successful Japanese fashion magazine.

Peer Feedback:

This is a survey I created for my audience to give their final feedback about my final magazine design. I used google form to create my survey,  I wanted to see my classmates opinions on my final magazine design and ask them some questions on my magazine that I created. I also will be using their feedback for my evaluation as I want to add audience feedback in my evaluation, overall 8 people did my survey which was great as I got a lot of feedback from the questions I asked.