Visual Evaluation

Aaron Acaster

Production Process Evaluation

Research• A strength of my research would be the fact that I did a lot of it, and I

knew exactly what I was looking for. For example when doing my practice magazine covers, I looked up other gaming magazines and took inspiration style wise from a lot of the magazines I saw.

• Research helped my product massively because without looking at other magazines I’d have no clue where to start. For example when doing research I looked at things such as the way the main character is portrayed and how that links into the game

• The one weakness of how I conducted my research would be I maybe took too long on it. I could have sped up the process by focusing on one specific magazine or one specific genre of game for my front cover. That in my opinion would have defiantly sped things up.

Research

I used this existing magazine as inspiration for my double page spread. Its an article called “retro station” that Playstation magazine do regularly. I chose this as my one magazine to focus on because they are the official PlayStation magazine, they have a good reputation and have been the number one for a very long time. I used other magazines but this was the main one I kept coming back to. I kept coming back to it because I think the design is simple and clean, overall its just good looking. I felt like I could take inspiration from this and replicate it but with my own ideas and in a way that looks good to me.

When researching I came across a lot of magazine articles, this one stood out to me the most because I liked the idea of having a massive picture that more or less fills up the whole page. Not only is it a good way to show the game your about to review, its also a good way to grab readers attention if their flicking through.

Planning• A strength of my planning would be the fact that I did a lot of it. For

example I went in-depth with font, colour and image ideas, this helped the production of my product because I had a vivid idea of how I wanted the end result to turn out instead of going into it blind eyed.

• When planning I also came up with a few magazine cover ideas. This is a good example of my planning stage playing off because in the finished product you can clearly see those same ideas I used in my planning.

• A weakness of my planning stage would be the schedule. I feel like on some days I had too little planned, but on others there was too much. To improve this next time I would put a little bit more thought and effort when thinking about it.

Planning

This is my practice front cover. You can see that I had an idea of how I wanted the end product to look. This magazine cover is very basic however. With this side by side view you can see how the original idea has evolved into a much more realistic looking magazine cover. A good example of ideas evolving is the circular picture. In the final version its advertising a PS4. And its purpose is to attract you eyes to the cover. In the practice one I had the game “Red Dead Redemption” in the circle. This serves no purpose other than I thought it would look good. Also you can tell that I liked the idea of having quite a simple yet dynamic background that makes everything else stand out. I think in the final product

Time Management• I think overall I defiantly managed my time well. At the current rate I am

going I will possibly finish this project early. I estimated the time a bit wrong on my schedule however. I feel like I put too little on some days and too much on others. For example I think that day 4 I could have started production on the double page spread as well as finishing off the front cover also the plans I had on day 8 could have been done on day 7.

• If I do finish early, or there was more time available I would make a second double page spared and a second front cover.

• At the end I had extra time, so I was able to create a contents page.

Target Audience Appeal• My final product appeals to the target audience because I said that the

magazine will appeal to both male and females but will aim slightly more towards males, because they are more likely to buy a games magazine. So to target both of these audiences on the front cover I have featured a male protagonist who isn’t a typical human. And he has almost no personality. Existing fans of the game will see this and realise that he's a character that almost anybody can relate to.

• I have also featured articles that appeal to all genders. Articles such as “108 greatest cheat codes” and giving readers an opportunity to win a PS4. By having these articles on the front gives all readers a chance to pick up the magazine.

• On the double page spread I have appealed to Belongers by adding a twitter logo and name. I have appealed to Type B by giving an overview of the new Hitman game. And I have appealed to the balanced audience by having the “108 greatest video game cheats” on the front.

Technical Qualities

I used this image of an existing magazine article. I used this as a reference to give me some kind of idea of how to lay out a magazine.

I added things that I personally prefer, such as a pull quote in the centre and a twitter name and logo of the developer. I also have less in game screenshots witch is just a personal design preference. I also changed how the text is laid out. I did this because I feel like it fits better with the overall look of the article.

Technical Qualities

Some similarities between the two would include the “news station” logo. I positioned it differently on the page, bit I feel like it’s the most noticeable similarity. Another similarity would be the “info” box on the left hand side of the page covering the big picture. I think that having this box is a good idea because it gives the readers a chance to learn the most important key pieces of information with out reading the full article, and above all it makes the whole thing look more professional. Also other little similarities would include such things as the black bar at the top, I personally changed the way the logo sits on the bar. Also things like the name of the magazine at the bottom of the page, I decided to add a page number however because I think it looks more professional. And also the barley visible grey border. On the right hand side of the page.

Technical Qualities

This is the contents page I used to inspire my work. I used this to give me an idea of how to layout the contents page, and how it would look once its finished.

I changed things that I prefer such as a more interesting background. And more visual things such as pictures and a more interesting title

I laid out the text differently, I still did columns, but I spaced it out more and made it easier to read

Aesthetic Qualities

Edited

Original

Once I finished I went back and changed the font on my double page spread. I saw it and it didn’t look right, so I went back into Photoshop and got the right hand side layers text style and copied it onto the left hands side. It’s a very small detail, but it makes all the difference. Readers wont notice if it looks normal and good, but they will realise if something's a little off, especially something like two different font styles for the same piece of text.

Aesthetic QualitiesOn the double page spread most of all I like the fact that everything complements each other, for example the red boxes around the pull quote complement the text and the big picture on the left hand side of the page brings everything together. I also like the big black bar at the top of the page, I like the fact that I have put the news logos on each side. I think it make it look really professional and brings everything together. I also like the little info box at the side of the page. I think it’s a good idea for people that don’t want to read the whole article

Aesthetic QualitiesTo improve my double page spared I would put more time into picking the actual text that goes into it. Its not that the text I have chosen is irrelevant, its just if I had more time I would have more detail and compared with other articles and use the best points from all of them. In this current version I found an just one article and chose pieces from that to use. I spent more time figuring out the lay out and how it will actually looks, more than what the text says.

I think that I could also use different or more in game screenshots, I just feel that there isn’t too much to look at when it comes to the actual game. All there really is, is the one big picture I made on the left hand side. To improve I would add more screenshots of the game.

Aesthetic QualitiesI liked the idea of having a name for the article. For example this piece is called “Retro Station” and has its own logo so fans know where they will find the old games.

I made this logo to replicate that. Instead of it being a retro game article, I decided it would work just as well if it was for newer games and for game related news in general. So “News Station” is the name I chose because its simple and easy. There's defiantly no confusion what could be featured here.

Aesthetic QualitiesI think that overall my work does look good. I took some of the best features of other magazines and used ideas like that in my final product. I was creative because when making my product because I took inspiration from other existing products and made it into my own by adding my own ideas in there and also changing other aspects of existing ideas to make them my own. For example on the double page spread I got the idea to put the text in columns from a existing magazine, I put my own spin on it by having it at the bottom of the page instead of the middle. And in the middle I decided to use a pull quote because it looks more professional that way. The thing I like most about my front cover is all of the eye catching colours and the way the font really stands out. I also like the way I have positioned all of the text and pictures, it took me a while to get the positioning just right, I had to resize everything a lot to get everything sized correctly.

Aesthetic QualitiesI think on the cover I could possibly the background I don’t feel like I was able to spend enough time on it. So to improve it I would spend more time making it more detailed, I would use the blur tool more and add more colour. I also feel like I could make the “I” on the “Hitman” title smaller. I used the rubber tool to size it down, but I feel like it could still use sizing down more . I spent a lot of time focusing on the spacing and size of the other text that I forgot about the dot of the “I”. So to improve I would simply use the rubber tool some more and rub some of it off.

Audience AppealI have appealed to my target audience by targeting people 10-29. I think that my magazine targets this demographic because it features games such as “GTA V” and “Hitman” witch appeals more to the older audience. Then you have such things as the “win a ps4” competition and the “108 greatest cheat codes” along with some of the bright eye catching colours that appeal to a more younger audience, however feel that its better to have more younger content because some of the older audience likes things that is typically targeted towards children. But it often doesn’t work the other way round. Mainly because parents wont buy things for their children that is too explicit.

GTA logo is recognisable and appeals to an older audience.

The cheats appeal to everyone. I featured this on the front cover because this can appeal to children also, so it balances things out a bit more.

Audience AppealAlso on the double page spread I have appealed to Belongers by adding a twitter logo and name. I have appealed to Type B by giving an overview of the new Hitman game. And I have appealed to the balanced audience by having the “108 greatest video game cheats” on the front.

Overall I have tried to appeal to both males and females. However I made the decision to target more towards males because they are more likely to buy a games magazine. So to target both of these audiences on the front cover I have featured a male protagonist who isn’t a typical human. And he has almost no personality. Existing fans of the game will see this and realise that he's a character that almost anybody can relate to.

Peer Feedback

Feedback 1

• What did you like about the product?– I like that the magazine not based on more than one game.– The layout presents lots of information but is still spaced out well– the content seems very realistic – The article seem very realistic

• What improvements could have been made to the product?– Designs on the front page clash

Feedback 2• What did you like about the product?

– The magazine identifies clear information regarding the contents and what is being reviewed and discussed within the magazine. It offers a variety of content.

– Price and barcode clearly labelled.– Simple grey background design helps both imagery and text to stand

out.

• What improvements could have been made to the product?– Main header of “Next Level” could be made slightly larger, as “hitman”

overpowers this. – Placement of text down the left hand side. Some of the bottom text (in

blue) is quite hard to read.

Feedback 3• What did you like about the product?

– Layouts match conventions of the magazine genre well– The colour schemes work well with the products and will attract

the primary audience– The images and graphic style work well with the format of the

piece.• What improvements could have been made to the product?- The colours of the front cover are quite varied and could distract

attention from the articles.- More buzz words could have been emphasised in the DPS article

to attract attention to specific parts of the writing.

Peer Feedback Summary

• What do you agree with from your peer feedback?• the background on the front cover is clear and makes the images stand out• I also agree with the feedback saying that it looks like a real magazine, especially the double page

spread • the feedback saying “Placement of text down the left hand side. Some of the bottom text (in blue) is

quite hard to read”• “The colours of the front cover are quite varied and could distract attention from the articles”

• What do you disagree with from your peer feedback? • I don’t disagree with much, but I do disagree with “The designs on the front page clash”

Peer Feedback SummaryOverall I agree with all of the feedback I have received. I mostly agree with the feedback saying the background on the front cover is clear and makes the images stand out. I also agree with the feedback saying that it looks like a real magazine, especially the double page spread. Also the feedback saying “Placement of text down the left hand side. Some of the bottom text (in blue) is quite hard to read” and “The colours of the front cover are quite varied and could distract attention from the articles” I agree with this because I was thinking myself and if I were to do this again I would make it easier to read. I disagree with very little, however the only few thing I do disagree with is “The designs on the front page clash” I understand what they mean and I do agree with the fact that there's too many colours on the front. I wouldn’t say the “clash” though. I feel like they complement each other. If I were to do this again I would use less colours and use the colours that I do use more effectively. Based on my peer feedback I would change very little on my double page spread. I would use more buzz words to grab the readers attention, I would do the same on the front cover too. Also on the front cover I would change some of the colours used on the front cover and possibly use less of them.