College magazine evaluation

I am now going to evaluate my preliminary task – the front cover and mock up of a contents page of a college magazine. During this task I had the chance to develop my practical skills before I start the main task of designing the front page, contents page and double spread article of a music magazine. I found this task interesting and was able to learn a lot about the skills and processes involved in creating the basics of a magazine. I will now have increased confidence when designing my music magazine, as I am able to analyse the positive and negative features of my preliminary task and improve on certain qualities.

My magazine is aimed at students of a college, so mainly 16-19 year olds. The magazine should be appealing to all college students, therefore males and females, and people of all ethnicities and social positions. This magazine in particular focuses on updating students of current affairs around the college, helping them with revision tips etc., as well as offering them the chance to win prizes. I would say this magazine is aimed at students more than teachers, but it could still be appealing to an older audience (like teachers and parents), if they were interested in learning about the current issues and social events in the college. I am definitely happy with the model I have used for the front cover of my magazine. I believe she will appeal to a variety of people, due to the fact she is aesthetically pleasing and looks happy and content. Her choice of clothing is casual yet stylish, and her glasses suggest she is intelligent and bright. Therefore, to any outsiders, she creates a positive view of the college being academic, friendly and inviting.

Before I started this task, I did have experience of using digital cameras, Macs, and Photoshop, but I found that during this task my skills on Photoshop in particular increased and I learnt new techniques and methods. I would say the main skills I learnt were improving my use of the clone tool, and experimenting with different styles of text. I would consider maybe working on further experiments in Photoshop when I start my actual task, as I currently feel slightly limited in what I can do.

Overall, I would say my preliminary task has been a success. I am happy with the finished product and feel much more confident about my music magazine. However, I can see areas for improvement on my magazine, including adding some more graphics and photos to the contents page, as well as creating a less structured layout. Other people I have asked feedback from said I should add further information to the cover lines on the front cover to make them more communicative, and also add extra cover lines to make it more engaging. I think the main positive outcomes from my magazine seem to be its clean, professional style and appealing main image. Others said they liked my colour scheme and use of fonts.