Evaluation - Skills Development

 Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

(Front Cover) Before

After

(Contents) Before

After

In the front cover for my college magazine, you can see that it lacks quality and precision that is needed to create a magazine. The layout wasn't thought out beforehand so it looks very rushed. As the photograph was took quickly, it looks a little blurry and there are people int he background which distracts attention away from the center person who also isn't looking at the camera which makes her look distant to the reader rather than my music magazine where she is looking straight at the camera. The writing used is hard to read as the picture has not been lit and the blue against the dark photo makes it blend in with the book shelve which would not attract a readers attention. The masthead is meant to be one of the main elements that the reader would see so it needs to look professional and like it has been thought about, which the masthead for my college magazine was the first font that I could find and hasn't been thought about.

However for my music magazine, you can clearly see from a first glance that more thought and care has been took into consideration as it looks a lot more matched together and more like an actual magazine that you would see in the shops. The colours have been thought about which is why the magazine on the right looks a lot more stylish and the paper creates a unique effect and adds character to the magazine which acts as a house style that is lacking in the college magazine. The photos also look better by the use of a better camera which has a flash to add light, extra lighting in the studio and editing on Photoshop with filters. I also changed the contrast in brightness in this program to make the best possible photograph to attract the audience as well as adding a layer of white over the background to make it look brighter and to make the model stand out more. As the masthead was drawn and edited, its unique to the magazine and has been thought about as has the arrangement of the text. It is positioned to the edge of the page to make it easier to read as well as leaving enough white space on the page to give the impression that it has been reflected upon and whether it is right for the magazine.

For the contents page of the college magazine, you can again see that it has been rushed. The background is just a boring blue which has just been chosen at random to fill the space and the photo, again has been taken quickly with no lighting or editing which shows in the quality. The bench and the model have been quickly drawn around with the lasso tool which is why there is white pieces next to her hair and white space in the bench. The text used is all quite boring and repetitive as its the same colour and the same font which was used on the front page which does contribute to a house style, it doesn't look professional and like someone has considered their market and what they would like.

In the contents page for the music magazine, it has been thought out a lot more and is overall more organised and neat. The colours have been kept quite simple however they reflect the male audience by darker, dominated colours. The magazine has been arranged into columns, similar to a newspaper article which shows a higher level of journalism than the college magazine as well as more thought for its reputation to its readers as a quality magazine. Although all the typography is the same, it is more stylish and fits in wit the style of magazine that my magazine is and the house style it wants to use. The decorative font on the album cover is more unusual than the fonts found in Photoshop which shows a unique, creative side to the magazine but keeping to its minimalism. In the advert for the guitar competition, I included a lot of skills into 1 area by using the magnetic lasso tool to trace around the guitar, selecting it and then duplicating many times to create a pattern by using the warp tool to change the size and direction the guitar was facing. I then finished off the background by changing the opacity so the main guitar and banner with the lettering would stand out.

I think my music magazine is of a similar style and structure to the NME and Q, with elements of a uniqueness included to make it stand out from other magazines. It would fit in with other publications like itself while also covering a market of letting the reader chose its subjects and its features on new music which haven't really been covered accurately.