The document provides feedback on different elements of a school magazine cover and contents page. For the masthead, it notes the basic font does not attract all readers and could include more exciting words. The plugs use the same font and color, so stories seem similar and less engaging. No puff was included, making the magazine seem tedious. The cover photo shows a smiling student but cutting could be improved. The style is childish but lacks appeal compared to best sellers due to little content and an ugly background color. The headline is straightforward but basic. Content page images positively portray the school but information is brief and uninteresting.
1. Masthead
The masthead is in the centre of the magazine and is black and
white and contrasts successfully with the red background. This
font implies a child-friendly outlook which could tempt all ages
including younger readers to want to read this magazine.
However, it is very basic and isn’t particularly enthusiastically
intriguing. Automatically, this may not attract all of the
potential readers. For improvement, I could include more
interesting/exciting words to engage with the reader. Finally,
the font and colour of the masthead is identical to the rest of
the words on the front cover. This may not interest the reader
and therefore finalise with minimal readers.
Plugs
The plugs I've used are simply to notify the reader with
information which could potentially interest them and result
with them to read the magazine. The faults with my plugs are
that they are all the same font and colour as the other plugs
and also the Masthead. This would incline the reader that the
stories included in the magazine are all roughly the same and
would not interest the reader vast amounts, this causes
disinterest for the reader. To improve this simple error, I would
change the colours and fonts to individual colours and fonts so
they all are portrayed as separate features in the magazine.
This will make the magazine front cover clear and more
engaging to read for the reader.
Puffs
A puff hasn’t been included on the front cover of my school
magazine which suddenly gives it tedious connotation's and
has less appeal to especially the younger readers. This must be
included in the future for the magazine to be more captivating
and pleasing for the reader.
Feature article Photograph
My photograph on the front cover of my magazine highlights a
clear positive representation of the school; hence the happy
student in the centre. The student is smiling which gives the
school rewarding outlooks. This portrays a delightful magazine.
The boy is a role model for the readers (especially for younger
readers e.g. primary school students). The photograph illustrates
cheerful content and the quality of the photograph is in order
and doesn’t contain blurriness or pixilation. The cutting out of
the picture is acceptable but still requires more attention due to
the harsh edges and un easy hair line around the students head.
This denotation could be simply improved by using slightly
different tools to make the picture less harsh. To do this, I could
possibly use the Magnetic lasso tool to make the cutting out
more precise to give it less of a rough look. I could of possibly
used the magic want tool to allow me to create a smoother look
and to get the hard edges to disappear.
Style
The style of my magazine is childish and bold which may interest
the reader. However, the style overall is less appealing
compared to the best selling magazines In general due to the
lack of content included and a ugly, confident background colour.
For improving the style, I would use more subtle but pleasing
colours and give the magazine a more satisfying layout. I would
also include columns to separate my plugs so it automatically
looks more organised and easier to read from a far perspective.
This would give my magazine structure and a clear look to
please the reader.
2. Headline
The headline is very straight forward but also contains a bold appearance to alert the readers where the contents is
placed in the magazine. The contents is equally as important as my front cover headline as it needs to stand out to the
reader and to be easy for the eye to pick up. So that reading the magazine and trying to navigate certain things in the
magazine is clear and precise. The typography of the title is limited to its colour opportunities and remains fairly basic.
The text of headlines may portray the maturity of the magazine and what it is capable of implying to the target reader.
To increase the variation in my headline especially on my contents I need to introduce a range of fonts and colours
that suit the magazine genre and type of reader.
Content page images
The images placed on the contents represent the school and are a
standard quality of photograph. I used a variation of photographs
which simply introduce the schools expectation of a ideal school.
Furthermore, the images are a wide variation of aspects within
the school hence the pictures of a happy relationship between a
teacher and a student, administrator and a student proudly
standing besides his school building. These positively presents the
typical cliché school which all students aim to go to. To add mise
en scene I tried to include natural backgrounds of the school and
how the school is a natural environment.
Content page Information
The information included on the contents page is highlighting the
key aspects of the school and what is currently happening. Page
numbers have been placed next to each feature to help the speed
of navigation which pleases the reader whilst reading the
magazine. The black font doesn’t stand out hugely as the bright
red background is brought forwards which does not help the
reader read each feature clearly as the two colours clash entirely.
The features are very brief and aren’t interesting which could
potentially deter the reader off reading the stories and
information inside the magazine. I could use more appealing
language greet the reader through more exciting words and even
making the layout more abstract (but still keeping it’s structure
and posture by using columns). To improve, I could also make the
page numbers larger to automatically tell the reader where
something in particular instead of them spending useless time on
finding the correct page number. This may lead them to boredom
and potentially lead them to putting the magazine down. The font
could be larger in general to add content to the page hence the
amount of blank space.
3. Photoshop Analysis
Text tool
I used the text tool to apply the masthead and plugs. I managed to change the text which allowed me to experiment with different colours & fonts. I also used this tool to add
the white outline to the text. This allowed me to thicken my text for a bolder look.
Fill tool
I used the fill tool to give the background of my magazine a colour. The colour helped the appearance of my magazine by making it recognisable and it also gave it a friendly
tone.
Polygon Lasso Tool
I used this tool to cut out the images. This was beneficial because it was easy and precise to use which made the images outline pretty clear.
Canon 100D
i used this camera to take the photographs my school magazine. The camera took clear and high definition images which enabled my magazine to have a good quality effect.