Evaluation

Evaluation
Since the end of January, I have been working towards creating a fanzine highlighting key
role models in today’s society. Throughout the weeks of research, planning, production I
have had good moments and low moments of this project. From the very beginning of this
project I had planned to create a fanzine on role models which would include interviewing
people all around the world as well as creating my own illustrations. This fanzine was named
after the first fanzine I made in my fanzine project, it is called ‘The Year of Women’. At the
start of the year, I created a proposal stating that the main area of this project was going to
be in Journalism and Independent publishing and I believe this is what I have created.
CONTEXT
Before I started researching for my project, I started looking at relevant practitioners and
theories for the style of my FMP to inspire me during this project. I looked at many sources,
the first person I looked at was the journalist Caitlin Moran who wrote a non-fiction memoir
which includes her early views on feminism. I then researched a magazine which was the
same style as I wanted my fanzine to be. Fem Newsmagazine focuses on social and Political
issues; it contains art and poetry which is something I really wanted to look into doing for
my fanzine. I would say that this is the magazine which sparked the ideas in me for my
fanzine, it was something that I was attracted to, so I presumed my audience would feel the
same. I decided to look into one more feminist poet to see if I could get any inspiration for
my poetry section of my fanzine, I researched into Amanda Lovelace. Lovelace has always
been an inspiration to me as her book “The Princess saves herself in this one” made me
realise that I was a feminist and that females don’t need to rely on a man as women are
independent. Her books have been described as “A feminist celebration of the magic of
womanhood” this is something which I wanted to relate to in my fanzine. I would say that
the resources above helped me create the idea of my role model fanzine, as I felt Caitlin
Moran and Amanda Lovelace were brilliant role models for young women. To make sure I
didn’t add anything which was contradictory in my fanzine, I looked into the Male Gaze,
even though I was celebrating women in my fanzine I wanted to make sure I didn’t offend
anyone either by what I drew the celebrities wearing. I think the context section helped me
develop my idea which I had created in my Pre-Proposal as well as learn what I can do
without causing offence to anyone. If I could change anything about this section of context, I
would have liked to research into another theory as this might have meant that my fanzine
would be improved but due to my time management I had to finish this off and move onto
my Proposal.
FINAL CONCEPT
As I have already stated in my proposal I planned my main area of focus to be Journalism
and Independent publishing. This was the aim which I wanted to reach before finishing my
college year. Using my strengths and weaknesses from the past two years at college I knew
what I could make and whether it would be a professional project. When I created my
proposal, I knew what I wanted to make and what audience I wanted to attract. I think
because I knew what I wanted to create and how I was going to do this helped my project as

it meant that I used my time wisely to create a plan of what audience classifications I would
appeal to as well as how I would evaluate this project and how I would reflect on this
process of project. I think if I was going to improve anything in my proposal it would be
specify more about my audience, I would have wanted to appeal to two psychographics not
just one. If I had more time I would have researched how I could have appealed to another
psychographic as that might have widened my audience. However, I think at this stage of
my project I felt like I had my project sorted which is something that I have never been able
to do at this stage in my other projects.
RESEARCH
For this project to be successful, I needed to conduct lots of audience research to find out
what the audience I want to attract would like to see in this fanzine. At first, I looked at
three existing products to see the different aesthetics which seemed quite popular. At first, I
looked at an AUT students who created the fanzine ‘Debate’. I decided to analyse this
because I liked the style of the front cover and I felt as though my audience would do as
well. I looked at the contents page and two double page spreads. I analysed 4 products of
this brand to find the different styles which they used. I thought about what the target
audience would be and how it would attract an audience to see what I could include in my
fanzine. I repeated this process two more times with two different products; That’s what
she said (this didn’t have contents page which is something that I considered, but I decided
that I would prefer to have a contents page) and Teen Breathe magazine which can be
bought at many different supermarkets. Once I analysed the three products to see what I
could adapt into my fanzine I then decided to conduct some primary and secondary
research. For my primary research, I produced a survey which 8 males and 3 females
answered. In the past when I have created a survey the results haven’t been useful for my
products but because this fanzines target audience are aged 16-26 and targeted at females
but some male feminists as well my survey was relatable for my project as 72.72% of the
surveyors were aged 15-24 so the majority were the audience which I wanted to attract. I
asked various questions to do with role models and what people would be interested in, but
I think the most important question was the front cover question. I asked the surveyors
what front cover would appeal to them the most, this would affect my product as the first
thing my audience would see is the front cover and that needs to appeal to them and stand
out against every other magazine. The Debate front cover was the most popular out of all
four front covers, when I created my front cover I kept the illustration front cover in the
back of mind. As this was just the research stage I wanted to see what the audience would
be more interested to read about, these ideas gave me some of the features which were
involved in my fanzine. I found the primary research very helpful for creating my fanzine as I
always had what the audience wanted to see in the back of my mind. For the secondary
audience, I went exploring in the library for different books which I could use which might
have some helpful ideas or advice for creating a fanzine. I found the book ‘Fanzines’ by Teal
Triggs which had a section of feminism fanzines, even though the fanzines weren’t the style
which I wanted to create I liked the visuals on the front covers and throughout the feminism
section. I did refer back to this book in my production to see what features the fanzines had
in them to help me when I got stuck figuring out what I was going to do. I found an article
about a fanzine made by a 22-year-old French girl. Even though it wasn’t very helpful for my
production section of this project, it helped me understand more of the history behind

fanzines and why they are becoming more popular. Even though some of my secondary
research wasn’t very useful in my production section I still felt the primary and secondary
research method helped me understand fanzines as well as what my audience would like to
see and what they wouldn’t want to see. Looking back at my research, I think the existing
products played a bit part in the style of my fanzine as I felt they were the starting point to
see what I could actually make. When I was in my planning stage I found out that I needed
to research some production techniques just in case I was to use a graphics tablet, a Tascam
recorder or how to create a good portrait photo just in case I did meet my interviewee and I
needed to record the interview and take a portrait photo. The graphics tablet was when I
was experimenting what made a better illustration. During my production, I had to research
the different role models which were going to be featured in my fanzine, so I had to
research them thoroughly to create the best article I could. I think the update research and
market research made my fanzine better as if it wasn’t for learning how to use the graphics
tablet I might have just spent some of my production time decided whether to use the
tablet or not. Even though learning how to use the recorder and take a good portrait might
have not been helpful in this project it will help me when I go to university as I now know
how to do it. I’m glad I created some research on all of the role models as I think this made
my articles be the best they could be. If I did some brief research I don’t think I would have
been able to relate with the interviewee the way I did. I don’t think I could improve my
research a lot, but I could have researched another existing product as that could have
made my fanzine better, I could have had some more features which were inspired by
another existing product, but I am still happy with the result which I have.
PLANNING
I would say that the planning section is always my favourite part of the project as I feel as
though my idea is coming together and I can visualise it with my pagination and flat plan.
After looking at the different front covers of my existing products in my research, I decided
my front cover would have 7 celebrity faces that people would recognise that are well
known around the world and are role models to many people around the world. I wanted to
have pastel colours on the front and back cover, so it would appeal to the audience and look
aesthetic. I wanted this fanzine and my previous fanzine to be have the same number of
pages as well as title and background, so it looks like it matches. I was certain on having a
contents page as my last fanzine had one and I wanted to keep the same kind of layout.
However, in my planning stage for the second page layout I was unsure how I wanted it to
be laid out like, I couldn’t decide whether to include an editor’s letter as the fanzines which I
looked at had editor’s letters but, in my production, I decided against this as well as having
the contents page the same as my first fanzine. I wanted to have an illustration when you
open the fanzine and when you finish the fanzine to end it on a unity note. I really liked this
idea better than the editor’s letter as I felt it would be more like a magazine than a fanzine
with an editor’s letter. I stuck with my first article idea in my production as well as the
design choices of this page. Looking back at my pagination I have kept every page layout the
same but just adding in extra pages where I felt needed. This time I felt planning was quite
hard for me to do as I had to make all the decisions before I even knew who I was
interviewing and what features I would include. However, I knew the rough layout of what I
wanted, and I am very proud that I stuck with the pagination and the ideas of the articles
which I felt needed to be in my fanzine. During my planning stage, I tried to contact many

people on Instagram so when I got into my production I wouldn’t have to take time out of
my production time to message loads of people to ask if they would be interested. I was
very hopeful that people would answer my messages but unfortunately only a few people
did. This did not stop me as you can see from my planning I messaged lots of people and got
a few responses. While I was waiting for people to respond I created a style sheet which I
think I have stuck to in my product. Even though my colour theme is darker than the style
sheet I think it is still under the pastel colour style and it looks aesthetic as that was the
most important thing to myself. I used Adobe Colour Wheel to look at darker pastel colours
that I could use of some illustrations that I liked, I also looked at some of the colour themes
of the existing products. I would say that this was one of the strengths in my planning
section, as I knew what time of aesthetics I wanted to create in my fanzine and I feel like I
have achieved this when looking at my finished product. The flat plans were made to make
it very easy for me in production, so I could focus on my articles and illustrations. The titles
which I included in this part of my planning I didn’t use. They were much harder to draw,
and I felt as though I was wasting my time as I could get a font which would look
handwritten instead. I recorded this in my Problem-Solving PowerPoint as I faced quite a lot
of problems when trying to create my own titles on illustrator. I am glad that I didn’t made
my own titles as it meant that I had more time to make my fanzine better. Even though, I
didn’t create my own titles I’m glad I planned to create my own titles as it gave me a new
skill on illustrator. When I was in production, I tried to remake the flat plan for the review
page, but I ended up doing an extra review which meant that it didn’t fit in with my plan. I
like the layout of the review pages now as I think it looks much better than this layout plan.
In my planning stage I started to write my articles, these were only drafts to start off with,
throughout my production I kept going back to the drafts and editing them. I got my mum
and Dave to go through my articles as well to double check there were no spelling mistakes,
grammar errors or punctuation marks. I decided to keep all the drafts, so I can see how my
articles have developed. My articles were the main thing that I needed to work on and I
think by keeping the different drafts of my articles I could see how far I have come, I think
this is one of my strengths in this project.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Throughout my whole project it was clear that I was going to have a few problems which I
needed to sort. I created a mind map of Practical and Technical problems which might occur
and how I would fix something if it went wrong. I wanted to write solutions for every
problem which may occur as if it did go wrong I would have a solution which would work. I
think this was very good as I had a backup plan, so I wouldn’t lose any production time that I
may have. I even included that if I was taking photographs of my interviewee I had to think
about the weather, luckily, I didn’t have to take photos of my interviewees but if I did I had
come up with a solution just in case it was very bad rain. Something which I have been very
conscious of during this project is finance. I knew that the end of this project I wanted to get
my fanzine professionally printed as an extra, so I could see if I could enter any fanzine
events with or any fanzine shops. I looked at different websites to see what it would cost so
I would be able to save up. I did quite a few of experiments in this section as well just in case
anything went wrong, I figured out how to use a graphics tablet, it may not have been an
amazing end product, but it meant that if I decided to use a graphics tablet in my production
I would know how to use one as well as draw and write with it. I practised a front cover

creating two celebrities to be placed on a front cover. Nothing went majorly wrong with
these experiments. I would rather something went wrong in this section of planning rather
than it go wrong in my actual production if I hadn’t practiced. I experimented with taking
photos using the tips I learnt in my research, even though I knew I wasn’t going to take
photos I would rather know how to take a good photograph just in case I did end up
meeting with my interviewees. It was also good practice for my future at university as if I
ever did have to take photographs of someone I would know how to. During my production
section I decided that I would create a table which would describe all my problems which I
experienced creating my product. I think the only thing I could have done better which
would have meant that my time wasn’t wasted on finding a solution in my production time
was to become more familiar with illustrator as this is where I had a lot of problems. Apart
from this, I found my problem-solving PowerPoint very beneficial as most of the problems
which I experienced I could fix using the solutions which I had already thought off.
PRODUCTION (Written Work)
I would class my written work as my articles which I wrote and my Post-Production as my
illustrations and other design work. My main aimfor this project was to concentrate on my
written work as this is something which I want to pursue further. I would say that my
written work went very well but I did struggle with researching the different role models
who weren’t very well known. Shehla Rashid was quite hard to do as she didn’t have a
website as such, the only website which knew her background was Wikipedia. I searched
around for more research, but Wikipedia was the only website which had more information.
My strength for this section was how motivated I was to write these articles, I planned when
I was going to write them, and I stuck with this. I think if I had written more articles I don’t
think it would have made a massive impact on my final product. It might have made a bigger
fanzine and more content, but I think with the time I had I don’t think I would have made a
more detailed fanzine if I wrote more written work.
POST PRODUCTION
My post production section included me making all my illustrations, putting it all together in
an InDesign template, printing it off and getting all my feedback from class mates as well as
tutors. I think one of my strengths throughout the whole project is getting all my feedback
back from tutors and class mates to my look at my fanzine and write notes on what could
make it better. I knew right from the start what style I wanted the illustrations in, this is very
clear from my front cover and back cover. I tried to make it the same style throughout the
whole of the fanzine, but it was generally quite hard to do but I used small details on these
illustrations to try make them look like the ones on the front and back cover. 4 weeks into
production, I got feedback from my class mates. This was suggested that I needed to look at
the columned text in my articles which I looked at when I printed off my work. It’s very clear
that I edited the articles in my developed production PowerPoint. When I first started laying
out my work in my InDesign document, one of my Shehla Rashid articles were in the wrong
place, but I wouldn’t have noticed this if it wasn’t for printing my work out. I don’t think I

could have made my product any better in this section as I think my work has been
improved a lot in this section.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
I think over the past few weeks, I haven’t really experienced any crucial technical problems
that I planned for. The only technical problem I would say was when I was using illustrator
to create my titles. The curves of my letters were very thick, and it wasn’t the look that I was
going for. After researching what was going on with illustrator I decided that I would try
making my brush size smaller and the stroke larger, but this was wasting my precious
production time so instead I decided to use a font which looked handwritten instead. I think
this was the best decision as I felt as though I would be wasting time when it wouldn’t make
a difference as I think it would have looked messier creating my own titles then using a
premade font. I think I dealt with this problem the best I could, I wrote it all down in my
Problem-Solving PowerPoint as I think it was crucial to log all of my problems, so I could
refer back to how I solved them. Even though it felt like a huge blow to my project as the
titles weren’t going to be handwritten, looking back on it now I realise that it wasn’t such a
huge problem as I think it looks nicer now.
REFLECTION
During my Production and Post Production I made sure I did a reflective diary every week. I
have to admit; I don’t think this was a major strength of my final major product as I kept
forgetting to take screenshots of my work during my production period. This is something
which I would have really liked to improve but by the end of my project, I didn’t have any
screenshots of the before and after finished pieces. To make up for the fact that I didn’t do a
good job with my weekly reflective diary I decided to create a PowerPoint full of my
developed products. I think this works better as I am still showing how much I have
improved my work throughout the weeks of conducting my production. I was also getting
constant feedback from all of my tutors on how I could improve my work, this was very
helpful as they knew what looked good and what needed work on. Most of the notes which
I made on my drafts the tutors agreed with. I think this is why I am so happy with my final
project as I have eliminated any issues which I didn’t like in my fanzine. It is also because I
know that there is an audience for it as some of my tutors really liked it, they gave me
written feedback as well as vocal feedback which I found very helpful. Another reflective
technique I did during my production period, 4 weeks into my production I managed to get
some peer feedback on some of my finished pieces. This was really helpful as when I was
improving my work, I used the feedback which they gave me to see if it would make the
product better. One of the peer feedbacks which I received suggested adding a background
to my pages I did try this, but it didn’t look as good as I hoped. However, I did add a
background onto the contents page, so it didn’t look as plain and simple. I think my
reflection could have been more successful, but I am happy as I have overcome the problem
of not showing my progress in my reflective diary. I think if I had written a diary every day it
could have made my product better this might have made my product better as I could look
over and reflect on how to improve it.

TIME MANAGEMENT
During my production period, I had 9 weeks to complete my fanzine. I think throughout the
weeks; I have kept up with my production schedule and got everything completed on time.
At first, I was going to only do two draft copies; this was to eliminate any spelling mistakes
and things like that. As you can see from my developed products PowerPoint I ended up
doing three drafts, I think this was the best thing to do. I managed my time, so I could do
three drafts to make sure I have the best possible fanzine I could make. I think at the start of
the project I was slow with getting my articles done, but once I started writing them I was
on a roll. I think if I did have additional time I could refer back to the interviewees and see if
they think I could have improved anything else or even ask some class mates to see if I could
have improved anymore. I think if I had more time to make my illustrations they could be
better and more detailed, but I like them how they are.
TO CONCLUDE
To conclude, I think my final project shows all the skills which I have learnt over the past two
years. I started off this college course with no knowledge of Photoshop, InDesign or
Illustrator. I think this project does appeal to the audience which I wanted it to, all the pastel
colours and the modern features in my fanzine makes me think if I ever did publish it, it
might be quite popular for the feminist audience which I wanted to appeal to. I will
definitely look into publishing this fanzine as when I was looking for some existing products I
found it was difficult to find a feminist fanzine like the one I wanted to create. I think my
product meets the intentions which I set out to create, I created an issue which carried on
from my first fanzine which I ever created. Overall, I am very happy with the work which I
have conducted over the past few months, I am looking forward to getting it printed
professionally and getting it out there at fanzine events and websites.

Evaluation

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