Prelim Evaluation

Prelim Evaluation 

For my prelim task I decided to create a college magazine front cover and contents page. Going into this project I had only done various research tasks on these pages on their layouts, and conventional features that are expected. Throughout my own front cover and contents page I have tried to incorporate all the information I gathered to create a front cover and contents page which follows the typical codes and conventions. 

As a summary I believe my college magazine prelim went well. I began with my front cover. Fortunately, this was not my first time on photoshop; therefore I had a brief understanding of the programme and some of its features and tools. From looking at other front covers I understood roughly the typical layout and what features are to be shown e.g. cover lines and offers. Therefore when creating my own front cover I also included these; by taking a portrait photo it allowed me to place my various cover lines surrounding the subjects evenly. I tried to pick a colour scheme which would appeal to both boys and girls at the college and which went with the colours on the image. I decided on red and white as they are unisex colours and came up against the background image. When it comes to my real shoot for my music magazine, I will insure that I leave enough room around the subject of a certain, block colour so that my cover lines will show up against it in a different, bold colour to draw in the readers.

I decided to give my magazine the brand name of 'College Life'; I chose this name because I believe that all the students can relate and appeal to it. I gave the title a drop back shadow to make it stand out against the other pieces of text and the background and also to draw the readers focus onto the brand. As an overall, I left the front cover uncluttered and spacious as to make it look more professional and clean cut. 

For my contents page I also incorporated the research I had done previous on typical contents pages. From my research, the main feature I noticed is that they frequently include is the column method. So, for this prelim task I also used a column to layout all my magazine pages in an orderly way in which the reader is then able to direct themselves around. The image I chose to have as the background is fairly busy as to fill the space and to not make the image too plain and boring. However, to insure that the text is the main feature I have placed it in a solid block text box to separate it from the image. The colour scheme throughout the contents page is the same as the front cover. I decided to do this to give the pages a more professional look and to keep a continuous design.

For both my front cover and contents page I used a clear, simple typography. I kept the same font throughout as to keep it looking professional and not too busy. This allows the reader to not be taken back by masses of text in complex fonts and colours but to be drawn in by the smart, simplicity of the pages. 

Throughout this prelim task it has helped me understand the process of creating a magazine front cover and contents page and I now have a better understanding of the features that need to be included. As a 'test run' I now know how to photograph my subjects in a way which allows enough room for the text to be written overtop but so it is still clear and follows the same colour scheme. Throughout this task I now understand how important a colour scheme is as this is the first thing in which draws in the readers, then the image, then the text. 

By doing this task I feel more confident about creating my Alternative music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. I believe I have learnt a lot more about their typical codes and conventions and can use that information to make my music magazine pages the best it can be.