Preliminary Task

Evaluation…

What did you do on your Front

Cover?

For the front cover of my school magazine I used a photo of a student in the library. The student was sat reading a book with a bookshelf behind her. When in Photoshop, I turned my photo black and white. I used leaves as the border as part of my house style. My text was either black or white and in either one of two fonts. I used a lot of primary colours on my front cover, this added to the house style. I wrote the main features of the magazine along the side so that it was clear to the reader what the key articles were, therefore making them more interested in the magazine. Additionally, I used clear fonts so that the reader would be able to read the text easily. I used a puff to advertise the free revision time table, the star shape was not used anywhere else on the front cover so it would draw the reader’s attention to it; the bright yellow colour I used also added attention to the plug. The scissors are to show that the revision timetable has to be cut out from the magazine. 

What did you do on your Contents

Page?I continued to use my house style in my contents page; I used the same green border and the same colours as on the front cover. I used a black background with white text, which made it stand out, and I continued to use the clear font that I used on the front cover, adding to the house style. I put my magazine contents into categories, ‘features’, ‘interviews’ and ‘the regulars’. This makes it easier for the reader to find the content they want to look at. I also used images of pins in order to make the page look like a pin board. I did this because these are used in schools, which links to the theme of the magazine. I put another photo that I took in the library on my contents page as well; I cut the background of the photo out using the quick selection tool. Then I made the photo black and white like I did with the photo on my front cover. 

What would you change if you

could do this again and why?  The first thing that I would change about my school magazine is the photo I used on my front cover, this is because it is not a medium close-up and you cannot see the students face clearly. I would take a photo that would allow more space for my masthead and cover lines. Also, I would use a different camera to take the photos, as the photo’s I took were not very sharp.  Also I would change the editing of the photo, I would sharpen it and further adjust the brightness and contrast. I would anchor my image by using a coverline that is relevant to books and the library. I would change some of the colours I used as I think the use of yellow, blue, red and green made the front cover look quite basic and simplistic. The colours also made both the front cover and contents page look quite dark so I would lighten the look of the pages by using less black and other dark colours…

This would make the front cover look more interesting. I would change the leaves as they do not really fit with the idea of a school magazine. In addition, I would try to make the front cover look more professional.  I would do this by changing the fonts used and the images. I would also change where I put the date of the magazine, as it wasn’t in a very easy place to read. I would also need to proof read my magazine to avoid errors such as bully's, which should be bullies. To improve my contents page, I would take a wider variety of photos so that I could have more on it, rather than just several of the library. This would also mean that I had more choice for my front cover so could have selected a better photo. I think that my photos could limit the amount of people buying the magazine as there are very few activities shown in the photos...

I would edit the photo I used on my contents page more accurately so that the lines were sharper and be more careful when using the quick selection tool as I cut some parts of the photo that I didn’t want to. When in Photo Shop, I flipped the photo in order to get it where I wanted it to be but this also flipped the writing on the front cover of the book. I think that there is a lot of dead space on my contents page so would fill this, possibly using photo's. I would anchor all my photo's by making sure that they all link to a feature. I would also add more pages as it is unlikely a school magazine would be as short as mine. Furthermore, I would include an editors note which would outline the most exciting features. To conclude, I think that my preliminary task went well but there were many changes I would make if I did it again.