School Magazine Mockup: Evaluation
Posted by Martyn Hollinshead | Labels: School Magazine | Posted On Sunday, 15 January 2012 at 14:26
1) The magazines I looked at for inspiration were NME for my front cover and Kerrang! for the contents page. I liked how NME laid out their coverlines and masthead; it gives a professional, premium feel to the magazine as a whole. The particular cover I looked at was also well organised and clear which I felt was an important convention of a magazine cover. The fonts they used were sharp and bold, which caught the readers' eye whilst not looking cheap and tacky. I also took inspiration from the way that colour was used in the magazine. NME only used 3-4 colours which were spread evenly across the magazine and contrasted with each other. I used the colours of the Lutterworth College shield along with black and white to not only make the magazine look colourful but to also provide a theme that readers (students of the college) could relate to.
For the contents page I used Kerrang! to help me come up with a layout. The large picture that takes up almost half a page and is then separated from the contents by a bannered coverline was inspired by how Kerrang! had been set out. The picture was the same one as what is shown on the cover however I cropped it so that only the top half of Jake was shown. The contrast and brightness was also increased as it looked bland when the grey background was added. The fonts used in the contents page were bold and somewhat electric which is similar to the fonts Kerrang! used. The note from the editor was an idea which i had thought of but didn't quite know how to implement into the contents page until I saw how Kerrang! did it. It fits in and looks organised but doesn't take up to much space too.
2) I have learned a few new skills in Photoshop whilst completing this project such as how Blending options work when editing layers. For example the way the masthead on the front cover blends into the brickwork was done by accident because after looking to find out what the blending options were I changed an option to see what happened and the result can be seen. These options also allowed me to add shadow effects to the text which I had wanted to know how to do for a while. Another skill I have developed is how to use layers effectively. I learned how to use them to place text behind a person to make them stand out on the page (a common technique seen on many magazine covers), as well as using them to create banners, numbered bullet points, text boxes etc. The final skill I've learned is how to manage the use of colour throughout the cover and contents. I have found that by sticking to a few colours the magazine looks consistent and simplistic; it doesn't bombard the reader with an explosion of colours, making for a clearer and easier read (unless lots of colour is essential to the context).
3) I feel that the end result of the cover and contents page were successful in that they have the necessary content, as well as the design to help make it look interesting as well as relate to the target audience. I think that the ideas gained from looking at magazines such as Kerrang! helped me achieve this as it was from those that I took inspiration for the layout and choices of font; this meant that as a whole the cover and contents were organised and eye catching. Another successful aspect was the way in which I managed my time spent on creating the magazine. In total I spent approximately three hours in college and four-five hours outside, in bursts of half an hour- one hour. This meant that I could make significant progress with the magazine whilst not becoming tired/bored which would hinder performance and give way to laziness, therefore impacting on the end result.
4) I would improve the content of my magazine, as in some places I believe that I left too much space because there weren't enough coverlines or detail in the text to fill the gaps, meaning the magazine looked a little bare in some ways. The size of my text could have been changed too to allow more space for extra coverlines but also to help emphasise features by increasing the size of the fonts (whilst not getting in the way of other text). A final criticism would be that the contrast and brightness could be tweaked somewhat, because after looking at them once they were finished, in some places the cover looks too dark and the colour (especially in the masthead) is sometimes not pronounced enough. The feature image in the contents page is also too high in contrast and creates an unclear 'over-bright' effect. In some contexts this can be used deliberately however I was not intentionally trying to do this.
For the contents page I used Kerrang! to help me come up with a layout. The large picture that takes up almost half a page and is then separated from the contents by a bannered coverline was inspired by how Kerrang! had been set out. The picture was the same one as what is shown on the cover however I cropped it so that only the top half of Jake was shown. The contrast and brightness was also increased as it looked bland when the grey background was added. The fonts used in the contents page were bold and somewhat electric which is similar to the fonts Kerrang! used. The note from the editor was an idea which i had thought of but didn't quite know how to implement into the contents page until I saw how Kerrang! did it. It fits in and looks organised but doesn't take up to much space too.
2) I have learned a few new skills in Photoshop whilst completing this project such as how Blending options work when editing layers. For example the way the masthead on the front cover blends into the brickwork was done by accident because after looking to find out what the blending options were I changed an option to see what happened and the result can be seen. These options also allowed me to add shadow effects to the text which I had wanted to know how to do for a while. Another skill I have developed is how to use layers effectively. I learned how to use them to place text behind a person to make them stand out on the page (a common technique seen on many magazine covers), as well as using them to create banners, numbered bullet points, text boxes etc. The final skill I've learned is how to manage the use of colour throughout the cover and contents. I have found that by sticking to a few colours the magazine looks consistent and simplistic; it doesn't bombard the reader with an explosion of colours, making for a clearer and easier read (unless lots of colour is essential to the context).
3) I feel that the end result of the cover and contents page were successful in that they have the necessary content, as well as the design to help make it look interesting as well as relate to the target audience. I think that the ideas gained from looking at magazines such as Kerrang! helped me achieve this as it was from those that I took inspiration for the layout and choices of font; this meant that as a whole the cover and contents were organised and eye catching. Another successful aspect was the way in which I managed my time spent on creating the magazine. In total I spent approximately three hours in college and four-five hours outside, in bursts of half an hour- one hour. This meant that I could make significant progress with the magazine whilst not becoming tired/bored which would hinder performance and give way to laziness, therefore impacting on the end result.
4) I would improve the content of my magazine, as in some places I believe that I left too much space because there weren't enough coverlines or detail in the text to fill the gaps, meaning the magazine looked a little bare in some ways. The size of my text could have been changed too to allow more space for extra coverlines but also to help emphasise features by increasing the size of the fonts (whilst not getting in the way of other text). A final criticism would be that the contrast and brightness could be tweaked somewhat, because after looking at them once they were finished, in some places the cover looks too dark and the colour (especially in the masthead) is sometimes not pronounced enough. The feature image in the contents page is also too high in contrast and creates an unclear 'over-bright' effect. In some contexts this can be used deliberately however I was not intentionally trying to do this.
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