Evaluation of my College Magazine Front Page

A) My front cover and contents page were designed with teenage students in mind. Teenagers would not relate to something that was boring or unattractive so I tried to make my magazine different from any other magazine so that they would actually take time to pick it up and take time to read it. It has to be memorable to the audience, and something that uses plain boring colours, basic images, plain fonts, isn't really going to stand out from a crowd. which is why I transformed a pretty straight forward font and straight lines bordering writing and images into something completely different.The magazine's title, 'Smudge' is actually a tool I used on Photoshop to create the shape of the lines, borders, images and writing on my Cover and Contents page.

The images on my front cover are of DJ standing in a corridor smiling, Adam posing with a smile and a black and white checkered pattern which has been darkened and smudged. On the contents page, Adam is the main image and is posing on a table in the middle of a corridor with building work going on behind him.

The connotations on my front cover could be DJ smiling because he is enjoying life at college, Adam laughing because he is having fun, and has great friends that he can enjoy himself with at college (also the same for the contents page, which is Adam posing on a random table in the corridor), and the checkered pattern in the bottom left corner of the page suggest either ska music or trouble and the police.

B) I think that my Magazine Cover could be quite successful, but as always there are things that could be changed. I believe that one of the good parts of the cover is the layout. It's very clear to see where everything is and it's not too crowded. The masthead is big enough for the page, and the cover stories aren't filling up the whole page so that you cannot see the main image. I also like the colour scheme because pink and black are two contrasting colours which connote bright, happy energy. The image also fits in well with the colours around it because it has been edited or smudged. This is a connotation as well, because sometimes work in college isn't going to be at its neatest, for example, note taking in lessons will be rushed and quite messy, as you have to get as much information down as possible, then re-write in neatly later.

Perhaps I smudged a bit too much. Next time I will improve upon the colour combination so that the cover lines are visible against the background. Also, the secondary story on the right of DJ's head could be bigger writing, or placed somewhere else. Finally, the last thing I'd change would be the selling line, because I think that its not long enough, and that I believe its not very memorable for teenagers. Overall, I am happy with my cover, but I have learnt what I need to change, so I don't make the same mistakes for the music magazine.

I think that my Contents page looks good but I do believe that its less successful than my front cover. Reasons for this could be because its a bit too over crowded, with all the smudging there is a lot going on,on the page. There is a bit too much Black in the colour scheme, and makes you wonder whether the magazine would be for girls too. I also think that there are not enough stories featured in the magazine. There are plenty of Regulars for the magazine, but not enough main stories. There isn't a story that isn't mentioned on the front cover, and four just isn't enough for a good college magazine.

However, I do like the way Adam stands out on the contents because his body and face are the only parts to the image that aren't smudged unlike the rest of the magazine. I also like the layout of the contents page, with the way that the image goes off the page, and where everything is positioned on the page, it's just a bit too crowded.

C) My Photoshop skills have developed in a wide range of areas. I'm using more tools than just the basic "T" text tool, or the arrow to move things around. In the making of the cover and contents I used the Smudge tool, the sharpen tool, and the blur tool all to create the effect on the lines bordering everything. I do not necessarily know what the tools do in basic use when combining them but I used them to my advantage on my magazine.

I also believe that my photography skills have developed slightly. The photos may just be simple, but as i progress in media studies, taking photos for the real magazine will be a lot easier with practise. I also have at this early stage, basic ideas for photos for my music magazine. But I'm sure these will change a number of times before i come to take my real photos.

I do feel that the photos for this were taken without much thought and this is something I would like to improve upon in the main task.