Preliminary Task Evaluation
I think that my preliminary task was quite successful. I tried to follow the conventions to make it look like a real magazine. I found InDesign very hard to use at first, but I have got used to it.
I named it ‘STUDENT’ as I believe this looks and sounds like a real college magazine, and it is also short like the magazine ‘COLLEGE’. The masthead is bold and in capital letters to stand out. I have also put my model in the cover image over the text, like others have done in real college magazines. This way, I believe the audience can connect with her more. For the magazine front cover, the first thing I had to do was take photograph of a student for the cover image. This cover image had to be a medium close-up. Like my examples, I wanted to link the masthead with the cover image, so I made my model/student wear a blue scarf (then I could make the text blue as well). I also got my model to look directly into the camera (direct mode of address) to make a connection between the audience and magazine. I used a bright yellow flash on the front cover. Like the one in my college magazine front cover analysis. This stands out to the audience as it has some importance to what is inside the magazine. I made the main cover line red to stand out from all of the other blue cover lines; I also made it bigger and in a different font. I used a buzz word at the bottom of the front cover, ‘Exclusive’, as many magazines have this to draw the audiences attention. |
For the contents page I used 11 photographs that I took for a boarder; these photos are all of students as it is a college magazine. The other 4 photos are ones that I took for references to the text (they are numbered), as the conventions instruct. Reference/Page number on pictures and text, link to the pages in the magazine; make it easy for the audience to navigate. The text at the bottom is just a little note to say thank you for purchasing, as it is meant to be the first issue of the magazine.
All of the colours on the front page and contents page link together (blue, red, black), and the photographs link with the text (colour wise), like they would do on a real magazine. Overall, I am happy with the way that the front cover and the contents page turned out, and it was a fun task. I have learnt quite a bit. I never knew how to use InDesign, I found it hard to start with then I learnt how to use it as I went on. I also learnt how to edit things on Photoshop, e.g. cutting out images from their background. If I were to do this again, I would spend my time on the appearance of the magazine, and use my examples a bit more. |