Evaluation Of My Front Cover

My final magazine front cover has turned out to be successful although I had a few problems, however there is a lot of changes from the design template that I designed. The reason we made those changes was based on the peer assessment of our template, one of the main criticisms of our original design was that there wasnt as much content to create a good front page for a front cover. After taking this into consideration I decided to increase the content of text on the front cover, this would make the magazine more visually appealing but would also make the magazine less cramped. 

In addition to this I also changed the image layout on the page, this is because I wanted my main image as the background, and have 2 images aswell on the front. I had to move certain pictures around to ensure that it didnt cover up the main image and that it should be clear which image is the main image. So instead of having 2 images at the bottom the page, I decided to move them to top the side of the magazine but keeping it a good size so it can still be seen. This turned out to be a success as it resulted in the front cover becoming more professional and less cluttered.

 

 

I then had to decide what the main image could have been of and what text should go alongside it. From my format research I knew that a lot of magazines used text and strap lines that were specific to the school to advertise it, this would appeal to the parents aswell as the students. For this reason I used recent event that had taken place within the school and also used a picture of a students piece of artwork, this is something that would attract the parents as they would see how the school are interested in the students fulfilling their time at the misbourne and thier potential that they could reach.

However the certains parts of our plan  we stuck with from our magazine template was the fact that I had a variety of text on my front cover. My peers suggested that this could be too much, but in my opinion turned out very well and had a good amount  positive feedback. If I were to change something from my front cover, it would of been the actual images used. As I joined the class late, I had to rush a bit and if I had more time, I could have sopent longer analysing what sort of picture I should use as my background. Despite this it did work out and stands out to the reader.

Peer Assessment

Looking over Laurence's design we have discovered many successful features, the use of space has been used well with a balance of text and images, not being too overcrowded. The overlapping of the logo is unqiue and challenges the norm. 

The design has quite a modern feel to it and tends to stray away fell the norm, the design is adventurous and bold. The overlapping of texts and pictures suggests it's aimed at children however the contents of the page also suggests it could be for parents to. To improve their page they could change the arrangement of pictures so that they have a more formal layout. Also he could use a font which stands out more to the reader of the magazine.

Self Assessment Of Design

Self Assessment - Our design for a front cover of a magazine shows a fair bit of development of current ones as we have taken current newsletters and magazine's and have tried to make ours different and stand out from the rest. We have done this by making the logo much larger than usual and enlarging it to take up most of the baackground. Our pictures used a on opposite sides in the page to maximise space for our main Image. Our main image will make our page stand out because it will be relevant to the purpose of our magazine and large enough to catch the eye of the reader.. As well as this we have decided to out the school slogan at the bottom if the page as we think that it will get seen more because when turning a page it tends To be turned from the bottom. 

Our cover will be aimed at parents of the students currently attending the school, but students will be able to read it as well. We have designed the cover to be eye catching for both parents and children. The text and news section will be specifically aimed at the parents were as our pictures and events page will be aimed more at the children. The research we had found gave us the ideas to create a more detailed front cover, and found out what things were the norm. We used this to ensure that we made ours different so that it stands our from the crowd! 

Mock Ups

This is the plan I created for the magazine front cover I will be creating. I have decided that my target audience will be the parents of students, but it can be read by the students. My main target audience will be parents so they can read about changes at the school and the important events that will be taking place as they are more likely to be interested in this than students would be. My design may change when it comes to creating my final product once I have assessed it myself and when my peers also assess it. The text will include important stories and the images will relate the the stories inside the magazine.

This is a plan of the contents page for the school magazine. I have created a mast head with many subtitles containing the mast heads for every page in the book so that the reader has an idea as to what is in the magazine. As well as this, I have included an image to make it more aesthetically pleasing to the audience.

Evaluation Of The Norms From My Format Research

After evaluating three different school magazine covers in my format research, I can conclude that most magazines share the same norms, but despite this there are some differences in norms in the three school magazine front covers.

From my format research, you can see that the Mast Head on every front cover is at the top of the school magazine. This consistency of the position of the Mast Head has convinced me that for my school magazine front cover, I will position my Mast Head at the top of the page. The first thing I was drawn to when researching these magazines was the Mast Head as I always look at the top of the page first, thus I am going to position the Mast Head at the top of my front Cover. I also found that two of the three front covers from my format research shared the same norms of the Mast Head. Both were big, bold and colourful so stood out very clearly. I have decided that for my front cover, I will make my Mast Head Big and bold so it will stand out more and catch the reader's eye easily.

Two out of the three magazines I analysed had just one main image, but one of them had three different images without one as its background. For my front cover, I have decided not to defy convention and use a main image as the background of my front cover. In fact, I will partly defy convention as I will use smaller images as well as the main image as this will help my magazine stand out more. Each of the images in each of the three magazines in my formate research all related to the purpose of the magazine. This instantly gave the reader a very good idea as to what the magazine will contain and could be a deciding factor as to whether or not they read the magazine or not.

All three of the magazines I analysed in my format research all has contrasting styles of text to one another. Despite this two out of the three front covers were more similar to one of them which defied convention and did not follow the common pattern of text used in the other two front covers. Two out of the three front covers had big and bold font which helped the text to stand out to the reader more and attract more attention to itself. The front cover which defied convention just had plain boring text in a small font size which did not catch the readers eye and looked very dull. The two that shared the common norms were the most successful in catching the reader's eye and standing out clearly with the use of big and bold text in a colourful font.

Two of the front covers that I analysed in my format research shared the same norms. Both of the magazines audiences were both aimed at students of the school, whereas the other one defied convention and was aimed at parents. The two magazines that were aimed at students were definately more informal than the magazine aimed at parents and both contained big, colourful font with a large picture which helped the magazines to stand out. On the other hand, the magazine which was aimed at parents had small images and a smaller font which did not stand out as much as the other two magazines.

Magazine Analysis 3

Text- The text on the front of this school magazine is quite plain and boring. It keeps to the same house style as the rest of then magazine, but it is in a plain font throughout and could be seen as quite boring by the reader. This is because it is in a plain, boring font and in just one colour so it doesn’t really stand out to the reader. Despite this it is relevant to the purpose of the magazine and is clear and easy to read for the reader.


Audience- The audience of this school magazine is for the pupils of the school. This is because the text on the front cover of this school magazine suggests that it is aimed towards the students of the school. It relates to the students of the schools as it talks about revision tips and different ways to learn so we can gather that it is not aimed at parents.


Main Image- The main image on the front of the school magazine cover is very large and takes up the whole of the front cover. This means that it will stand out to the reader and makes the school magazine very eye catching. As well as this, the main image also relates to the purpose of the magazine as it displays a student.


Mast Head- The mast head is at the top of the page and is the largest bit of text on the front cover of this school magazine. The big and bold use of font helps it to stand out to the reader and makes the magazine much more eye catching than it would be without this type of font. Despite this, it is not very colourful which does not help it to stand out as much as it could do.

Magazine Analysis 2

Text- The text on this front cover keeps to the house style as they use the same font style and also the same colours. They use the colours red, white, turquoise and pink. This helps the magazine to stand out to people as the variety of colours and the size of the text makes the magazine very eye catching. The more important parts of the text are in slightly bigger sizes to the other parts of the text which means that the reader can straight away see the main points of the magazine.


Audience- The audience of this school magazine is aimed at the students of the school. We know this as the word “Your” is repeatedly used indicating that the magazine is speaking out to the students. Also the fact that the fonts used are quite eye catching and more informal also suggests that the magazine is aimed at a younger audience and in particular the students.


Main Image- The main image of this school magazine covers the whole of the front cover. The fact that it is this large will stand out to the reader and they will instantly know what the magazine is about as the image is of a student working. This means that it is relevant to the magazine so will not be mistaken for a different thing by anyone. Also, because the student is smiling, this will appeal to people more as it looks as though the student is having fun.


Mast Head- The mast head on the front cover of this school magazine is large which means that its will stand out to the reader. It also keeps to the house style of the rest of the magazine so does not look out of place. The font is quite unique and also colourful which makes it stand out unlike a more boring and plain font.

Magazine Analysis 1

 

Text- The text on this front cover is all in the same font. Different colours are used though in different parts of the cover to add more colour to the cover and catch the reader’s eye more. It uses different colour texts for different parts of the cover for example: a different colour for a different story. However a clash in colours could make it quite difficult for the reader to read.

Audience- The audience of this magazine is quite widespread. I believe that it is aimed at both parents and students of the school, but most likely the parents of students that go to this school. As well as this it could be aimed at those parents wanting their children to attend the school as it is quite informative.

Main Image- There is not really a main image on the front of this school magazine front cover. In total there are three images which are all relatively the same size as one another and neither of them really out. Despite this, all three pictures are relevant to the text and purpose of the magazine as they display the head teacher of the school and some of the students in classrooms within the school.

Mast Head- On this front cover, the mast head does not really stand out as much as it maybe should do. The have kept to the same house style using the same font for it, but they have used a similar colour to the text and the size of it is not that big. Despite this it is relevant to the magazine and links straight to the school as it is simply the name of the school.