Evaluation

What have you learnt from completing this task?

From completing this task, along the way I have learnt how to use parts of Photoshop that were needed for this task such as cutting edges out of photos, using tools such as the feather tool which makes edges appear softer on an image and how to actually edit photos.

I've also learnt what types of conventions are on a magazine and why they are placed where they are, these include a mast head; placed at the top of the front cover aka title, a skyline; placed above the mast head, it tells you what is in the magazine, plug; this is usually placed at either side of the front cover, usually a competition etc. it’s not always there but it does attract the readers attention, bar code, price and issue number; placed at the bottom of the page so that the reader can buy it, main feature story and feature stories; these show the reader a taster of what’s actually in the magazine, main image; a big image to show what the magazines about or what is in the magazine and finally pull quotes; these give you a taster or what’s in the magazine, usually placed with a feature story.

I've learnt what types of camera framings you can take and how you take them and how to correctly lay out a magazine front cover. Camera framings include; an extreme close up, a close up, a medium close up, a long shot, a high angle, a low angle, a two shot, an image framed to the left, an image framed to the right and a central image.

I learnt how many colours you can have on a front cover of a magazine; three, if it was anymore the front cover would look too crowded and too busy, therefore with three it doesn't look simple, it looks just right.

How have you used technology?

Throughout creating my magazine front cover I have used technology. This technology being Mac computers, PC’s, Photoshop my iPhone to take my images for the front cover and also for the camera framings that were published on my blog.

I really enjoyed using Photoshop and learning how to go about it. Throughout using it I used many tools such as the Polygonal Lasso tool, this helps you cut out images. Once you have cut the image out, you can soften the edges using the ‘Feather’ tool, set this to a specific number of pixels and it will soften the edges, creating a clearer and more appealing image. In order to actually create my magazine front cover, I had to use many layers so that I can move different conventions without moving the whole front cover, I used layers for the text, the white backgrounds which made the text stand out and the images so that I was free to move everything. I learnt how to ‘scale’ images, scale meaning reduce and enlarge the images without losing the quality.

Because I used both Mac computers and an ordinary PC, I had to explore how they both worked and what was different. I found the PC much easier to work, but this maybe because I am used to this. Although, the Mac was very interesting to search through and see how it works. I found some things difficult to get used to at first such as the ‘copy’ and ‘paste’, but in the end it seemed easy. Overall I do prefer using PC’s but the only reason being that I am more used to PC’s but I would still like to discover how Mac’s fully work.

What conventions have you used and why?

To produce my front cover I used many conventions in order to make it look more realistic. These conventions being:

A skyline; ‘Struggling to revise? Check out our revision tips’. I used this as skyline as it could attract reader’s attention if they want help on how to revise and also with it being located at the top of the front cover; it’s easy and clear to read it.

A mast head; in big, bold writing to make sure that it stands out to the audience ,‘Freshers’. I used the title ‘Freshers’ as it short and quick, it catches attention. I also added small text beneath it to show the audience that it is a Wyke exclusive magazine.

Feature stories; ‘Want to save money? NUS Extra Discount’ ‘Upcoming Events – From sports to theatre’ ‘ Exclusive Interviews’ and ‘Sport Mad - the netball team speaks’. I added these feature stories because they are all relevant to college life and people may be interested in at least one of the feature stories meaning they will want to buy the magazine and read about them.

A plug; ‘Win! An Apple Mac for your college’ this makes the student want to buy the magazine as Apple Macs are a very expensive piece of technology and knowing they have a chance to win one for their college makes them want to read about how they can win one.

Finally I added a main image; a photo of a young student holding folders. I used this because it shows a happy student enjoying college and it shows she is studying as she is holding her folder for a subject she will be taking.

Below I have added an convention analysis of my actual magazine front cover, showing the conventions I have used.

What would you change if you were to do this task again?

If I were to ever do this task again, I would expand my Photoshop knowledge and edit my main image by adjusting the skin tone etc. I would also try and explore different fonts, maybe choose one that has a more professional look.

Considering there wasn’t much time to complete this task, in the future if I had more time, I would also take better photographs, maybe of a person doing sport since one of the feature stories on the front cover is to do with sport. I would take a picture of someone in their sport kit maybe holding a prop such as ball and take the photo in the green room so that this enables me to choose an appropriate background for the front cover. I wouldn’t use my iPhone, but I would use an Olympus camera to enable me to get a top quality picture, so it appears better and also it would be easier to edit the image. I have never used an Olympus camera also, so it would be a good experience learning how to use one and getting to know the features it has.

I would also improve my blog. I would improve things such as my mood board, names, colours scheme and feature stories and the mast head designs. I would try to include more pictures on my mood board so that I have a lot of inspiration for my magazine front cover, I would also look at different types of magazines. For my names, colour scheme and feature stories post, I would try to present that in a better way, as I think it looks a bit dull and could have been made into something that makes you want to read it. Finally in my mast head designs, I could have added what size font I would be wanting to use and also what colour I wanted my mast head to be.