Evaluation

What have you learned from completing this task?

 

During this task I have learned that while making a magazine, there are many elements you have to consider and that there is a lot of effort that is put into creating them. During this process, I have also learned how to use a Mac as I have never used one before and despite my hatred towards them at the start, I have most definitely accustomed to them and its strange right-clicking ways.

What I have also learned about from this task is the various camera angles and shots there is and when and where to appropriately use them. For example, a close up image would not necessarily be appropriate for a mainstream magazine as it wouldn’t be aesthetically pleasing.

 

How have you used technology?

 

I have used technology the whole time I have done this work as to organise our work we had to create a blog on blogspot.com and upload everything on there. Also, to analyse the college magazines I had to use PowerPoint to do it on so that I could see it all clearly and then I had to actually copy and paste the writing into Google before I put it on my blog because it did not automatically change the text to its own style.

Then, we had to use Photoshop to edit an example image of which we learned how to upload files, how to resize images and how to cut and crop them, too. I also learned how to cope with using a Mac and how to right click (which took some time – why?) and how to take a screenshot etc. 

 

What conventions have you used and why?

In my final magazine, I decided to use a plug as a footer, as the footer is usually the last thing you look at when browsing a magazine, and so if the last thing you saw was an advertisement for a free item then it could be the thing that confirms the reader’s interest in the magazine. I also used a masthead, main image, date, barcode, price, issue number, main story and feature stories. The main story was used because reading it would make the reader feel empowered and that if they read the main story they would feel just like Lois looks on the front cover.

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

If I were to do this again, I would have made more draft covers and designs to go through to see what other elements I could have added to make it better. I would have also taken a lot more photos so that I had more to present and choose from. This would have allowed me to edit and play around with more to have a more professional design to the magazine.

FINAL COVER

Okay, so this is my cover:

As you can see, I used many different attributes from my mood board to finalise my piece, such as making it simplistic like 'TIME' magazine and also used the colour samples from Willam's dress. The overall style of this magazine is elegant and informative and so I think that this describes this as it should.

After a lot of pondering and waiting for something to 'inspire' me, it all of a sudden hit me that, instead of trying to come up with tacky names such as "College" or 'Student Life', I should choose something that appeals to the college students while still being formal and classy. Therefore - 'inspired' was born.

Image Framing - Front Cover Practise

Here are some photos that I took as draft cover shots, testing out the camera angles and shots:

Above: No flash vs. flash - although flash did brighten up the image, it made Lois's face very shiny and unnatural, which we both did not like.

Above: Above and below shots - I don't think that these shots are quite appropriate for a magazine cover as there isn't a secure vocal point from afar, however, I do think that they would be acceptable to use as extra photos inside the magazine.

Above: The front of the building and the centre, focusing on a row of trees - I think that these pictures are okay, as in with lots of editing and filters they would be interesting, but not for a front page photo or to interest people. The image of the front of the college would look good if it had some serious editing or the amazing Garrett Matthew took the photo. Visit his instagram page here!

Mood Board

This piece above is my mood board for my college magazine. In this I have included many of the things and people that inspire me the most of which I would like to use in my final product.

Magazine Front Covers

L to R: Lady Gaga for Harper's Bazaar, RuPaul for Instinct, Laverne Cox for Time, James Franco for Candy, Sharon Needles for Out 100

These magazines are the ones that I think represent well what I would like to work with and I will take pieces of each to incorporate in my own magazine.

Colour Scheme

On the right: The glorious Willam Belli for Betsey Johnson NYFW

Above, I have circled the two colours I like the most in the pallet; Blue Calm and Blue Flame. Below that is MAC pigment in the colour in 3D Silver. These colours will hopefully make the final colour scheme for my magazine, all inspired by the outfit worn in the photo on the right of my idol, Willam, wearing Betsey Johnson for New York Fashion Week. The photo of Sleek (Makeup)'s 'candy' range packaging is going to inspire the style of freedom and content, like bringing them back to a happy childhood.

Magazine Layout Drafts

These two designs are the two that I liked the most as they presented a large amount of the image still, while getting all of the important devices on.

Pirates of the Caribbean Cover Analysis

The four faces we see floating on the front of this cover indicate who the main characters in this film are, ranging from most important depending on the size and centring of their head. This is also represented by their names above and shows the consumer that the one in the middle (Johnny Depp) is the most significant of them all.

The eerie glow spread across the cover ties all of the components together, getting rid of any hard edges that would have cut on the eyes. This is an effective way of ensuring that the cover is appealing and smooth.

The title fits well into the theme of pirates and of the movie as it is presented on an old scroll, the same parchment that treasure maps are on, hinting that there will be a lot of searching and fighting throughout this franchise.

Magazine Analysis 3

 

At first glance, this additional story may seem a bit much for a college magazine, but it then adds ‘safety’ to the end which makes it appropriate again for it as it is simply tying to make people aware that if they did do these things then they need to be safe about it, which would appeal to the teen generation as it shows a sense of respect and understanding they deserve. 

I also like the design of the ‘A’ in safety as it shows that they have designed every aspect of the magazine and so is showing readers that they put a lot of time and effort into the magazine. It also shown that if you don’t read the story before this happens then you could potentially become hospitalised if you don’t know how to be safe.

In this one piece of writing, all three of the main colours of black, white and yellow which is a good technique to pull it all together and make the customers pay attention to the story. This will then attract them into buying the magazine as the story has pulled their interest. 

As well as these, another good element about this is that although the topics aren’t something a college would be happy to show, it is a topic that teenagers need to know about but are afraid of talking about and so this is a way to inform them without making them feel intimidated or uncomfortable, therefore they will be attracted to buying this magazine.



Adding an offer as a footer is a good tactic to use as it is usually something that people look at last and if the last thing they see is an offer then it could be the ‘cherry on the top’ or the thing that confirms that they want to buy this magazine. This will also make the people reading the front cover that there will be more offers to come and so may keep an eye on the magazine to see if there is an offer that they would largely benefit from, making them want to possibly even subscribe to the magazine. 

This offer is also effective because it says to get the offer you have to ‘see inside’ which, unless they plan on reading it in-store – which is basically stealing – then they have to purchase the magazine in order to get the deal.  

The offer is for WHSmith and so draw people in by making them think that they are well known and that even WHSmith knows who they are because they are willing to offer them a discount just for their customers. It also shows that they must have a good potential market as stores only give out discounts and offers to businesses that would attract a wide audience.

 

This edition of the magazine is clearly labelled as ‘ladies edition’ which is a sense that although there is a main version which is for all genders, they have a higher number for the female audience, therefore indicating that their magazine appeals more to ‘ladies’. 

To me, this is not a good idea because it removes a chuck of the market you’re trying to sell to and saying; hey, we don’t care about you right now, which doesn’t seem very nice or a good device to use. This also shows that they could possibly covering up the fact that they only really appeal to ‘ladies’ and that their magazine doesn’t work for a wide audience. 

This could, on the other hand, possibly make ‘ladies’ more interested in buying this product because they believe it is targeted towards them and that the information inside will be a great read.