https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fmyyS1PCxjV-NZZYU4xZYh_7vjI__8Eg/view?usp=drive_link

I intended to create a cricket magazine about Ashes in 2025/26 because I love cricket, and it is a passion I would like to go into the future. I created this magazine to get younger people interested in cricket as it is seen as an old man’s sport and middle class. I also created this magazine so I could shed light on how some local cricket teams struggle with money compared to other teams. I believe what I wrote in my proposal is what I have achieved with my product. There are certain aspects I thought I could’ve improved on while making my product and maybe I could have got more interviews involved in the magazine.

In my opinion I think my research is the main factor for my product as everything that I have been talking about has to be fact-checked so I don’t give any wrong information. That would be the last thing I would want to do is give my readers the wrong information so they don’t go to tell their friends the wrong information and it could cause a chain reaction. Then it might come out that the information is wrong, and I can cause a business or organization to lose business, and they can have a negative word of mouth. Also, the best part about my research that really helped me create my magazine was my similar products as I have been able to use some of their ideas in my magazine to make it better. One thing I would change was my research of inspiration as I didn't put much effort in researching them and I should have picked out a couple more inspirations. Overall, my research was very good as it really helped me create my magazine.

The project has been a success as I can confidently say that I can create a magazine as I have designed my magazine very well to make the reader keep reading the magazine and to make it as interesting as possible. With the theoretical side of my project, it has been a huge success as I have been able to create my article with detail and a good standard of grammar. The development of skills with this product is incredible as I have gained skills in designing on InDesign and photoshop with my adverts. But one thing I will say is that I could have improved my time management as I have been running around with my magazine in post-production as I should have done all of that in my production window. In the end this product has been a massive success as I can take this into the future and can show what I can do.

The main strengths of my project are my articles and the pictures that correlate to the articles and how detailed my articles are. During my time creating my magazine I have developed loads of hard and soft skills. Some of the soft skills I have learnt are problem solving as I have some problems with the interviews, I didn't get so I had to come up with extra sections in my magazine to make sure I can get a strong interview even if it is only one interview but I wanted one that had purpose. Problem solving is very important for the future because it is a vital skill I will need in the future as most jobs want someone who can think on their feet. Another skill I have learnt is creativity as I experimented with different designs until I found the right one I liked. I started to just put the articles on the page then build the designs around them, which was crucial to make the magazine look good. In the future this skill will be important as the job I would like to do in the future will want someone with an eye of creativity. The hard skills I learnt while on my project are graphic design which is the big one, I learnt as I must design some of my own adverts from ones I've seen on the internet and to design a timeline on Canva. This really developed through the time when I first created a draft of my magazine the first time as it was really a brief idea but compared to it know it is so much better. In the industry I would like to go in I will need to know how to graphic design and this project has helped me for the future. Another hard skill I have developed in creating my project is market research as I have been researching other magazines on the market to see how they lay out different pages and I can use some of their ideas but put a little twist on it. As the business is growing and different companies are developing, I will have to use market research to make sure I am staying with what people want to see.

There were some limitations with my product as I couldn’t get the interviews I would like as I tried to get Joe Root, but he wasn’t reachable, but I had to aim high to get the best interviews. I still got a quality interview with Rob Mynett that was able to shine a light on the issues some cricket teams face. Most of my pictures are not mine as I could not get a photoshoot of the England Cricket team or go back in time and get pictures of the first Ashes test match.

This FEP is linked with my progression plan as this will help me get into university and I need a merit to get into Salford university. This FEP has helped me to see what industry is going to be like in the future as I wouldn’t mind creating magazines in the future on any type of sports. Also later down the line I can use this in my portfolio so I can show my skills to employers and hopefully impress them so they can employ me.

My FEP links with the industry very well as I have seen other magazines just like mine and they are very popular such as The Cricketer. This magazine is a very popular magazine all around England, but it targets the older generation as cricket is a older generation sport but mine is the opposite as I am targeting younger people so I can get them interested in playing cricket and watching the Ashes later this year.

To stop disruption to my FEP I had to take some steps to keep it flowing as time management was key to making sure I had all my articles done in production so I could focus on the graphic design of the magazine in the postproduction. There were some elements I could have done better such as file management could have been better as I had loads of pictures, but they were not organized and were not named. In the future I will have to change that and get it more organized when I do more projects.

The improvements I would make in my product are that I should’ve tried to get more of my own pictures but I was mostly talking about the history of the Ashes and the past moments so I couldn’t travel back in time to take the pictures. Some other improvements I could’ve made is that I could have got other pictures that weren’t blurry, so it looks aesthetic for people to see. I am very happy with the outcome with my final product and the whole project. This project will help me get to university and I can progress in the future with this project. From this FEP I will take a lot of skills away from this as I have learnt and developed a lot of skills. Graphic Design is the main skill I have learnt while making this FEP as it has been fun to make some of the adverts from scratch and the pages to make the reader want to read the magazine and make it appealing.

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