Evaluation

The purpose of doing research was to find out what makes a good magazine front cover, to find common conventions on college magazines and to get ideas on how to layout my cover. From my research I learnt that many college magazine mastheads are bold, in a sans serif font and mostly thick. However, I also noticed that many of these mastheads also had a quirk to them which added a lighter touch to the cover. I used this technique with my own masthead, using a simple font for most of the words but than using a different font for the first letter of each word. I also took inspiration from the magazines that I looked at for my cover’s layout. By taking the layouts of other magazines and changing them to fit my audience and style, I ended up with a more professional feel to my magazine.

Another purpose of the research was to investigate which target audience I should target. After looking at many different types of magazine, I chose to aim my magazine at females in the 16-19 age bracket. The research helped me to figure out what colour scheme I should use, the types of font that I should use and the type of model that I should use. 

The purpose of producing this front cover and contents page was to prepare myself for the main task, so that I can make any mistakes now and learn from them before I do my final piece. I have never used InDesign before, so by doing this preliminary task I have had chance to gain some skills on the program before I start my main task.

While making my front cover I have learnt many new techniques on Photoshop. I have learnt how to use the stroke tool to outline my text; this makes them stand out more clearly from the rest of the page. It also means that I can keep closer to my original colour scheme because I don’t have to worry about the words showing up against the background. I have also learnt about the stained-glass effect in the filter gallery. I have used this to liven up the background of a coverline without making it too busy. Other tools that I have used while making my front cover are, the blur tool (To make my model blend into the background better), the healing brush (To remove blemishes from my model) and the quick selection tool (To cut around my model so that I could use an original background). 

While making my contents page I have learnt new skills on InDesign.  I have used the colour swatches tool to create a new colour scheme for use on my contents page. This was useful because it meant I could ensure continuity between my cover and my contents page. I also learnt how to place images from Photoshop into my contents page, and how to rotate my images and text slightly to create an edgier look.

Three targets that I am going to set myself with my main task are, to take a wider variety of photos for my cover, as I only had one good photo to work with on this task. This will give me more choice as to what photos I use in my final design. I will also set myself a target to learn even more digital techniques, such as how to change the lighting on photos, how to add colourings to photos and how to create more interesting shapes. This will help to make my magazine cover more exciting and original.  My third target is to include more magazine conventions on my front cover, such as a reversed out coverline.