School Magazine Evaluation

One convention I have used in my magazine front cover is the use of a large mid-shot photograph that dominates most of the page for my feature article photograph. I did this because it is a classic magazine feature that therefore makes my magazine noticeable as what it is – a magazine. 

Another common convention that I have used is the large masthead at the top of the page. I did this because it is the logical place for the title of a magazine to appear as it is where it is (in my experience) always found. However, I challenged this convention to an extent as the feature article photograph does not lay over the masthead, as it would in many other magazines. I did this because this magazine would not necessarily be popular and the audience would most likely not be able to identify the brand should it be covered by the feature article photograph. However, following the convention would make the magazine appear more professional, as none of the feature article photograph would be covered.
Another typical magazine feature that I have used on the front cover is plug. I did this as it is the norm for magazine covers and also would allow my audience to see some of things that are inside the magazine. I also included a cover line for much the same reason. I somewhat followed the conventional method by keeping the text aligned to the sides of the page. However, the text juts out far into and across the centre of the page (with the cover line covering a key point of the feature article photograph), which is not typically done on other magazine covers, as plug text is often present to fill negative space. The plug I have included however, does not fill any negative space, and covers the feature article photograph. However, in the case of the photograph I used, I feel that filling the negative space would result in the page looking too crowded and ‘unapproachable’. To rectify this I would have to take a feature article photograph with, for example, space beside the subject of the photograph, and later fill that space with plug. This would likely look more professional than the format I used. The rightmost points of the plug and the left most points of the cover lines actually overlap with each other. This too, is not conventional in magazine covers. To remedy this, I could keep all text aligned on one side of the page or decrease the font sizes and possibly have the text justified to both a left an a right margin to give it a cleaner and more professional feel.

My contents page does not strictly follow any conventions of typical contents pages. For example, conventionally, each article listing on the contents page would feature a title and a description of what the article is about. However, on my contents page, I have only provided very limited explanations on a very limited number of article listings. This would mean that readers of the magazine would not have a good idea as to what the articles inside are about, and may not want to read them as a result. To improve this, I would have to follow the convention and include descriptions to sum up each article.

Conventionally, magazine contents pages are ordered, with all the articles listed on one side of the page. I broke this convention by having article listings on either side of the page and also in the centre. This created a disorderly feel and does not look at all professional. To resolve this issue, I would have to follow the conventional methods.

My magazine represents my audience as being young, well-behaved, upstanding members of society. This is achieved through the feature article photograph, which is of a young male that is not portrayed as being unruly or thuggish (as young people are often portrayed in newspapers, for example). I have also represented them as being fun-loving, through the font and the blocky effect on the image’s background.

As my audience would be members of the school, I have used the school colours (red, yellow and green) to attract my audience, as they are colours that are immediately identifiable to members of the school. The school logo is also present for much the same reason.

During the process of constructing my magazine I have learnt various techniques in the technologies that I used. For example, I learnt how to effectively use layer. One example of where I used layers in on the contents page, where I layered text and images in front of coloured boxes.
Another feature that I learned how to utilize is the various blur filters. I tested out multiple filters when distorting the ‘Guitar stolen’ picture on the contents page and found that ‘motion blur’ was the most effective.
I also learnt how to effectively use the crop tool, which I used to cut off irrelevant edges from the various pictures I used on my contents page.​