College Magazine (Preliminary Task) Evaluation
Front Cover
For my front
cover, there are many things that went well and there are things that can be
improved as well. Firstly, the layout of the page; the masthead is located at
the top of the page going across from left to right. The masthead reads “LSC”
which is an abbreviation for Leyton Sixth Form College. I used the font (Arial)
for the masthead as well as for the rest of the text on the cover to keep
consistency and for simplicity. This will help the audience/reader decode the
information more easily. Part of the masthead is covered by the cover star in
order to connote the cover star’s significance and it will cause the
reader/audience to focus more on the dominant image.
A medium
close-up shot was taken at eye level for the image of the cover star which
considered conforming to the conventions of magazines. The cover star is
looking with a direct gaze which means there is a direct mode of address. The
angle was at eye level in order to connote equality and to evoke a sense of
intimacy between the cover star and the audience/reader. This is to make the
reader feel connected to the cover star and that they are both neither superior
nor inferior to one another, they are both equal (regardless of fame or
wealth).
There is a
web link in the bottom right of the cover for the website of the college which
will promote the college and increase its popularity and a date near the top
right to inform the reader of the date that the magazine was published. I also
used a barcode as well to conform the general conventions of magazines.
I conformed
to the three colour scheme convention by using blue, black and red as the
colours for my text in order to keep the cover looking professional and neat
for the reader/audience. It also helps the reader make decoding the front cover
easier. Furthermore, I used a puff with a splat shape (thanks to my knowledge
of Adobe Photoshop) which will instantly grab the reader’s attention. Lastly, I
used anchorage (by writing the name of the cover star) in order to tell the
reader who the cover star is.
When it
comes to improvements, I think that I could have organised the placement of the
cover lines and text a bit neater by putting them in two columns one on the
left side and the other on the right side. This is because the cover lines are
all over the place along with the puff which makes the cover look a bit messy.
I also could’ve put a price tag in order to inform the reader of the price of
the magazine. There is also a filter used for the image of the cover star which
isn’t normal/conventional when it comes to cover stars for music magazines in
general.
Contents Page
For the contents page, I once again conformed to the
conventional 3 colour scheme using the same colours as the cover of my magazine
in order to keep consistency and simplicity. This helps the audience/reader to
decode with a bit more ease and it reminds them that this is the same magazine due
to the similarity of the colour scheme between the cover and the contents.
Furthermore, I also used a gradient background as well. A drop cap was used as
well as it is a conventional in the contents pages of magazines.
When it comes to the layout of the contents page, I
organised the content in two columns. I used images that show the institution
(the college) and they are located on the right hand side of the contents page.
The information such as the page numbers are located on the left hand side.
This is to give a more professional and neat look to the magazine and it will
help the reader decode easily.
I used the same font
(a sans-serif font) throughout the contents page for consistency and simplicity
in capital letters to make it easier for the reader to decode. The page numbers are big, bold with a black
and red colour whilst the information about the page is in black and blue. This
is to help the reader differentiate between the two.
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