Preliminary Task-Media Evaluation: College Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page

In the preliminary task, we were instructed to create college magazines using programs such as In Design and Photoshop. By using our newly found knowledge of Photoshop and In Design, we were able to create college magazines. We also used our knowledge in magazine features to create magazines which had similar features to real magazines, such as including a skyline, pull quotes, cover lines and many more. In this evaluation, I will be discussing what went well in the creating process for my magazine, the factors that came along,  and the ways to develop my work. The images below show the front cover  of the college magazine:

There were many things that went well with my cover page. We used Photoshop to make our front covers. Firstly, the photography went well by which the photo shoot took place outside, where we were surrounded by trees and greenery. By being surrounded by trees and greenery was much more eye-catching in comparison to having a plain background. The photo shoot also took place in early autumn, showing fallen leaves on the ground, suiting the magazine date, which was in September, coming to October. Furthermore, the background was slightly blurred and a special affect was added to make it look as the sun was shining bright. By having the background slightly blurred makes the reader focus more on the cover star, so it would attract the reader if they knew the cover star. As for the special affect to make the sun look like it is shining brightly, makes the day seem sunny. A sunny day is seen as being a more optimistic day, so it would stand out because of the sun is shining brightly and this will attract the reader. As for the cover star,  the image is a medium close shot. She is posing in which shows her jaw line, making her appear slimmer. She is looking directly at the camera, showing eye-contact and makes it look as if she speaking to the audience (along with her cover line). She is also smiling, baring her teeth, showing us that she is happy and she is also carrying a folder with her work in it, showing us why she has been chosen as star pupil, showing us that she is a hardworking and diligent student. I received much positive feedback involved in the photography and cover star:

“The cover star pause is really confident and the alignment of the picture (middle) makes the magazine seem more professional. By her confident pause and props (folder) making the picture appealing to the magazine genre. I also like how the background is blurred out which makes the cover star stand out”-Sulman Muhammad

“Your magazine cover looks really professional and sophisticated. I like how the cover star image is focused and clear in comparison to the background which is a bit blurred as it adds a great effect to the cover. “-Thaniha Akthar

“The lighting in your picture is good”-Abdul Hasnath 

The use of Photoshop to manipulate the image was also successful by which I was able to remove any imperfects on the cover star’s face. I also used Photoshop to brighten the image, so it looks more radiant. Increase the brightness also allowed the special affect of the sun (which I applied by using an application on my phone) to become brighter. 

I believe that the use of colours for my colour scheme were effective by which the colours stood out from the background which consisted of dark green and brown.  The reason for choosing the colours pastel mint, white and black was because in most magazines, there tends to be the monochrome colours (black and white) with a primary or secondary colour.  By choosing the colour pastel mint alongside the monochrome colours, I believed that it would make my magazine look professional and similar to a real magazine.  Also, I believed that the three colours would make the magazine look more mature instead of using overly bright colours, which can make it look as if the magazine is targeted for a younger audience and the colour pastel mint is a refreshing and unique colour, so I thought that it would be eye-catching to the reader.  I received much positive feedback about the colour scheme:

“The use of the 3 colour scheme pastel mint, white and back making the text aesthetically appealing and easy to read.”-Sulman Muhammad

“Looking at you magazine front cover the first thing that I notice is the colour scheme which consists of green, white and black and I really like it because not only do these colours work well together but because they are totally different colours from the colours in background picture it makes the cover star really stand out which is a good thing.”-Yaa Appiah

“Your front cover and your contents page is amazing. You used really bright colour which would attract the teenagers.”-Abul Hasnath

Furthermore, I believe that the font of the masthead and cover lines was also effective as they were big and bold, making it eye-catching and appealing to the reader. My chosen font was simple and minimalistic. This was because I wanted to show that my target audience was aimed at a mature audience such as young adults and parents. If I had chosen a font which was more playful and different, such as the Gigi font, the magazine would look more like a teen magazine. I used various font sizes in the cover lines, as I wanted to show the article title cover lines with a big font size and then having brief description cover lines below in a smaller font size. This would help the reader to have some information about the articles featured in the magazine on the cover page and will also be appealing to them if it included something they are interested in.   Another reason for having both larger font sizes and smaller font sizes was to create variation in font size, making it the cover page more interesting instead of having everything the same. Also the larger font sizes covered more of the page, so the page was not completely dedicated to text. If I had used a smaller font, I would have had to include more information and cover lines on the front cover. The more cover lines on the front page would cause more text to be present on the page.  The large amount of text can be less appealing to students and young adults. By having a large font size which takes up more of the page, less cover lines will have to be put on the page, so students will find the magazine cover more appealing.I received a comment about the font sizes:

“There is quite a bit of writing on your cover page which can be a bad thing but because you have used different font sizes it makes it look like there is less writing than there really is which is great as you are able to get in all the information you want to without making it look too crowded and overwhelming.”-Yaa Appiah

The page layout went well, as I tried to place 3 article title cover lines on each side of the page, making it organised and parallel.  This was organised so that the reader would be able to read the cover page without feeling overwhelmed by all the articles on the page and they would be able to read the cover page with ease. Also, by having the cover lines aligned makes the information easier to observe, without finding it difficult to find the information due to the cover lines being overcrowded. I also aligned the cover lines so they would not go over the cover star’s face. The use of text in the masthead and cover lines were minimalistic. By having the masthead simple makes it easy to remember and having the cover lines being short and simple draws the reader in more, as they would want to find out more about the article. For example, the cover line "18 types of students you will find at LSC" is short and simple. By being about the types of students draws the reader, as they might want to find out what type of student they are categorized as. Moreover, I included a skyline at the top of the page. I included a skyline as it is a typical feature in many magazines.  Additional features I included were a bar code and price. I placed the bar code at the bottom of the page, as bar codes are usually placed at the bottom of magazines. As for the price, I placed it at the top right corner. This was because of newsstands in shops. In newsstands, the only visible parts of the magazines are the price and masthead. For this reason, I put the price at the top right corner. I also included the month and year of publishing, which is a typical feature of a magazine. Also the inclusion of the month and year allows the reader to keep in track of the magazine, so they keep in the track of the news of the school. I also included the school website, as many magazines include their official sites. Also, my including a site, it allows the magazine to brand and promote itself, so it has a larger audience, allowing the magazine to gain more readers. Additionally, I placed a banner for the issue number. I believe this went well, as it could show how many times the magazine has published, showing us that it is successful and is on-going. Also, it fills in the bottom of the page, so the cover page isn't so empty.  I received a positive comment about the page layout:

“The page layout is very professional due to the alignment of the text and image placement. An example would be the different text fonts which make some information appear more important than other.”-Sulman Muhammad

"£1.50, in my opinion is a reasonable and affordable price for a college magazine and it is in area where it is clear to see. "-Yaa Appiah

"Your cover lines are placed in appropriate places and the colour scheme is clear and consistent."-Thaniha Akthar

As for the journalism , my target audience was aimed at a college students who attended Leyton Sixth Form College and the parent/carers of these students. My use of journalism was successful due to my use in language . The majority of the language in my article was informal and consisted of language that everybody is able to understand . However, I used formal language as a way of showing that the article was aimed at parents and carers (e.g. "segregation" and "clique") and I used informal language as a way of appealing to a younger audience and creating a conversational tone of voice, so there is a larger audience, making it a magazine that appeals to everyone.

To create a contents page, we used In Design as a way of creating a template for our contents page and designing it to look similar to an actual contents page. The strengths of my contents page were that I used various tools to make a contents page. I used various tools to make columns and text boxes by using various tools on In Design. This was successful by which the columns and text boxes allowed me to make the page layout more organised, separating the information from one another. In this case, I separated the more important articles (features) from the less important articles (regulars). By doing this, it allowed me to make my college magazine, as some magazines, such as Q magazine, having a column dedicated to features and another column for regulars. The columns and text boxes also allowed me to separate the images from the text. This also adds to the organised structure of the contents page. I also made a special section for the cover star. By having a special section on the page dedicated to the cover star draws the reader into wanting to read more about her. I also made a small section of the magazine in the bottom left corner about subscription to the magazine at the official website. By having a section about subscribing is something that is seen in many magazines and it can show us that the magazine is promoting itself, so it can appeal to a larger audience. Along with the columns and text boxes, I also placed page numbers next to the articles, as this is typically seen in magazines. Also, the page numbers are bold, so they are simple to read and they are placed in chronological order. By having them in chronological order makes the contents page even more organised and the reader is able to find the desired article with ease.  I have also placed page numbers on the images. The page numbers on the images having a larger font size in comparison to the other page numbers. This is because I wanted to make those particular articles more eye-catching and appealing to the reader, so they would want to read them. Also, having larger page numbers on images is a feature that is evident in many magazines, such as Q magazine, Mixmag and Maverick. I also included some other features into my magazine. I included the school logo and website. This was used as a way of branding and promoting the school magazine and the school itself.  I included the page number at the bottom right corner and the issue number near the contents page title. The page number was necessary, as it would be needed for the reader to find the desired page number. As for the issue number, similarly with the banner for the issue number on the cover page, it shows how many times the magazine has published, showing us that it is successful and is on-going.

My colour scheme of pastel mint, white and black is recurring throughout the cover page and contents page. This was decided as a way of identifying my magazine, as if the colour scheme represents only my magazine, its own unique colour scheme. Furthermore, I believe that the use of colours for my colour scheme were effective by which the colours stood out from the background which consisted of white.  The reason for choosing the colours pastel mint, white and black was because in most magazines, there tends to be the monochrome colours (black and white) with a primary or secondary colour.  By choosing the colour pastel mint alongside the monochrome colours, I believed that it would make my contents page look professional and similar to a real contents page.  Also, I believed that the three colours would make the magazine look more mature instead of using overly bright colours, which can make it look as if the magazine is targeted for a younger audience.  As for the font, I used the same font throughout the contents page, with various font sizes. This was to make the page look organised and professional, instead having a variety of different fonts which can make the page look overwhelming and unorganized. With the more important articles, such as the cover star article, I used a larger font so the reader would notice it, whilst with the smaller font sizes, the reader will notice them less.However by having the smaller article titles being bold still draws the reader's attention, despite the smaller font size. My chosen font was simple and minimalistic. This was because I wanted to show that my target audience was aimed at a mature audience such as young adults and parents. If I had chosen a font which was more playful and different, such as the Gigi font, the magazine would look more like a teen magazine.

I placed three images on my contents page. The images all have a brief description underneath them, telling the reader what the article is about. I believe that the photography of the images was successful for many reasons. In the cover star image of the contents page, the cover star is yet again seen in formal but fashionable attire. Moreover, she is yet again seen with a folder and some work, showing us that she is a hardworking and diligent student. The photo shoot took place outside, revealing the autumn weather and the falling leaves, suiting the magazine date, which was in September, and coming to October. The image is a full body shoot and has been taken from above, making her seem thinner and petite.  I also included images of a dog for a charity called the RSPCA and an image of a classroom involved in the technology updates to the college.  I believe they were beneficial to the contents page because as soon as my teacher saw the image of the dog, she was instantly drawn to the image, as it showed an adorable dog. This was used as a way of attracting readers, as cute things tend to be more appealing and favorable! As for the image involved in the technology updates to our school, the image shows students on their computers. Parents may be interested in the updates to the school. I placed the image of the dog onto of the image of the students using the computers. This was because I had seen many magazines layering images over each other, so I thought that by layering my images, it would make my contents page look like a real, professional contents page.  I did not use Photoshop on any of the images as I found it unnecessary, as they were not enlarged and would ruin the minimalistic and simple look of the contents page.

To make the contents page modern but still simple, I used the line tool to create lines on the page. By increasing the size of the line, making it thick and changing the design of the line, I was able to create a  striped design behind the “contents” title, “regulars” title, “cover star special” title  and “features” title.  This benefited the contents page by which it gives a more futuristic feel to the contents page which can appeal to the younger audience. The lines also make it look artistic. I also used the lines tool to create the dots on the contents page. The dots allowed the columns to be separated, making the contents page look more organised, whilst looking modern and slightly futuristic and artistic.

As for the journalism , my target audience was aimed at a college students who attended Leyton Sixth Form College and the parent/carers of these students. My use of journalism was successful due to my use in language .Similarly with the front cover, the majority of the language in my article was informal and consisted of language that everybody is able to understand . However, I used formal language as a way of showing that the article was aimed at parents and carers (e.g. "segregation" and "clique") and I used informal language as a way of appealing to a younger audience and creating a conversational tone of voice, so there is a larger audience, making it a magazine that appeals to everyone.

I received 2 comments about the contents page:

"I like the simplicity of the contents page as its easy to read and understand. I like how you have separated each category with green dots and the background of each subheader. You have included the college logo which makes the magazine seem more professional and also how you made the magazine appealing for the target audience by adding social media elements such as "@" from twitter. The chronological order makes the contents page really easy to read and understand. The picture also makes the magazine really professional. You have used many conventions which can be found in a real magazine making yours just the same. You have also kept the 3 colour scheme which is a good technique in making the contents page more professional and aesthetically appealing."-Sulman Muhammad

"Your contents page is presented in a unique way and everything is layered out really clearly. You've used a various range of techniques which help your contents page stand out and comes across as quite eye catching. The colours work together quite well and compliment the pictures. "-Aamna Ali

Despite the majority of the positive criticism, there were some comments stating the flaws  that were seen in the cover and contents page:

"On the other hand you could improve the cover by making sure you check spelling mistakes (month). 

I don't really understand the banner at the bottom of the content page (ISSUE NUMBER.100.10.4) neither may the audience. 
Although the picture is good her facial expression seem a bit odd for a college magazine. 
Your header is good but it quite confusing at first due to the spacing which makes it quiet difficult to read and the price is in a odd place. (most magazine have the price next to the bar code)"-Sulman Muhammad

"You could improve the cover by putting the C of LSC behind the cover girls hair

"The only thing I think you could have changed is the writing in the skyline and the writing in the banner at the bottom of your cover page, to some people it may be confusing to read as the letters are spaced out making you have to work to realise what is written there."-Yaa Appiah

"However you could improve the contents page by changing the background colours as it seems too simple. You could try some bright colours which is part of your 3 colour scheme or an actual picture. You should not include the issue number as it confuses people and the audience as well or could be really small in a corner out of the way of our vision."-Sulman Muhammad

"However the bottom two images are slightly on top of each other."-Aamna Ali

From looking at the feedback, I can improve my cover page by firstly,checking my spelling, as typing fast can lead to spelling mistakes, which can make the magazine seem unprofessional and amateur. Additionally, I should remove the banner stating the issue number and instead, have the issue number near the masthead, where it is usually seen  and the banner and skyline are spaced out , so it can be difficult to read them. I should  make the masthead more clear and not white( if the background is bright) because this can make the masthead difficult to read. I should also place the price of the magazine near the bar code because it is usual seen near the bar code and can be confusing when not placed near the bar code. I could also improve my Photoshop skills by which I could put the C of LSC behind the cover girls hair, as most magazines have the image over the masthead. I should also make sure the cover star is calm and has a relaxed or natural expression. Her expression was caused due to our peers disturbing her. As a result, her facial expressions were tense and odd.

As for my contents page, I should improve by  changing the background colour ,as it seems too simple. I should also try some bright colours for my colour scheme or an actual picture for the background . I should not include the issue number as it  can confuse the audience. Also, I should  change the font size of the issue number (if I decide to keep it), as it is very small and can be difficult to read. Lastly, I should avoid layering images as this can make it look like the creator of the contents page made a mistake, which can make it look unprofessional and amateurish. 

My points for development for producing music magazine

The use of colour-some colours may clash with the background (in this case, the sun clashed with the white text, causing difficulty to read the text). A colour scheme that causes no clashes with the background but contrasts from the background can benefit the magazine. I should also try to use brighter colours and use a colour for the background or a image.

Positioning of certain features-Certain features, (in this case the price, C of LSC on masthead, images and issue number) can be placed in places which other magazines may not place them. Further research and analysis on magazine features  and improving my Photoshop skills can help me to identify the positioning of certain features in magazines, allowing me to create a successful magazine cover page, which looks similar to a actual magazine.

Cover star- making sure the cover star is comfortable and not irritated. Distractions can have an impact on the cover page, making the cover page look unprofessional. By having a p shoot only with the cameraman and cover star, this can help the cover star feel more comfortable and less nervous. 

Font & text- changing the text length and size can help the reader to read the cover lines, sky line and other text  with much ease (in this case the skyline and the issue number).