College Magazine Evaluation

College Magazine Evaluation

First and foremost in creating the front cover I used a medium close-up shot of a female student on a plane red back ground. I did this because the model was extremely photogenic and her smile was very inviting therefore engaging the audience. The red background also added brightness and colour making the front page stand out. I then started the process of building my front cover. I used tools to remove any blemishes, spots and marks in the picture and then smoothened out the picture by use of smart blur on Photoshop which gave the picture an air brush effect.

I then started the process of creating a masthead which I thought was a very successful attempt. I used the Stencil Font to create the masthead and then manipulated the style of the font to make it glow and give it a 3D Effect. I also used the Impact Font for my main cover lines and pull quote. The colour scheme for my magazine was Black/Red Yellow and white. I think this worked well as it complemented the main images on both the front cover and contents page and also believe reviewers agreed with me as one quoted “I really like your house style and consistent and clear font on your front cover”. After finishing my layout I then added a few touches like changing the colour gradient and so on and so forth. I also made sure my cover lines related to the main image as it shows the audience that she was the main topic of discussion in the issue of the college magazine I was designing.

The strategy I used for the creating the contents page was a bit different. I first started off importing my main image onto InDesign which I had to expand before exporting it as a JPEG; I then placed the image onto Photoshop and started editing. I used the same airbrush technique I used for the main image but also I added a lens blur effect to create an illusion in the background as the reader scrolls through the contents page. I still kept my house style and colour scheme the same as on the front page however I had to export each layer of my contents page as a JPEG and import them all into place back onto InDesign so my columns were well placed which was a long process.

In terms of journalism and writing style I was quite informal as I was aiming to reach a specific target audience which in this case was the students of Leyton Sixth Form College.

However some improvements can be made to make the magazine I created even better. Some of which are:

·         Use a better camera quality

·         Learning how to use Photoshop and InDesign more efficiently and effectively

·         Increase magazine content

·         Spelling mistakes were pointed out by audience who viewed my magazine and said it needed to improve which shows a lack of professionalism

·         Use of advertisement could be a good way of improving my magazine

In developing my music magazine I will be guided by a well-designed magazine structure or house style which will help my magazine stand out. My target audience and genre must be a key factor to know how to present my content in the use of journalism and my colour scheme and font use must be adequate, bold and captivating.