School Magazine Evaluation

Feature Article Photograph

Although the posed photograph works well with my intention to add cover lines, a plain background would have been more suitable in order to enhance the text to make it seem more professional.

The vintage looking magazine cover may not appeal to it’s audience as school children are very modern and make a short attention span

Due to my amateur photography skills (due to inexperience of media) my feature article photograph isn’t of the best quality.

The criticisms I make regard the lighting which almost flushes my feature model out.

However, I believe that due to my editing skills, I was able to overcome these barriers by using an old style filter and by editing the text to make it more visible. (next slide)

Masthead and textDue to the old style filter, I suited the headline and cover line fonts to tie in with the same theme which is why I used multiple types of script. It adds class and looks neat which are the qualities you would look for in a school magazine. I incorporated green into this as it is the colour associated with the school therefore, people will recognise/relate the magazine to the school.

Due to the crowded background I found it difficult to make the text stand out. To resolve this I use a glow tool for both the insides and out of the magazine which enhanced it and brightened up the cover in contrast to the old style filter.

For the puff I used a bold Calibri font with a 3D look. This makes the small amount of text seem significant but easy and quick to read. Also the font is clear with nothing to hide which is what the phrase suggests.The black outline adds definition. The colour of the text matches the colour scheme of the sub head lines however differs in font. This unfortunately makes my magazine cover seem amateur.

I would criticise my font as its not the easiest to read therefore requires a reader to carefully read. Customers are not likely to spend time trying to figure out what the text says

Front page effectsI used a sepia effect to achieve this look of the feature photograph.

I used a slight blur to fade out the irrelevant background distractions.

I applied 50% transparency on the green background of the magazine master head. This was to block out the background but to enable the title to stand out with the use of both shades of green to represent the school. It is shaped in a rectangle to provide a neat appearance.

The text is white as it was most suited to stand out against the dark background. Black would have been drowned out.

I used filters and adjusted the tones (shadows/highlights/brightness etc.) to create an old effect.

I applied a glow on the inside and outside of the script text to enhance the text

Contents page effects I continued the scripted style from the front cover onto the contents page however kept it plain white which draws the attention to the feature articles and appears clean and sophisticated.

I applied a photograph of a student in the school to put a personal touch onto it. I edited the picture by blurring the corners and adding contrast and enhance qualities. A glow has also been applied to merge it into the plain background as well as enhance the content of the picture

I used a watermark tool for the contents page title to blend it in and make it look like an imprint/stamp. Being grey, the title is less significant therefore the content text can be emphasised in black making it clear to see what pages to go to for which article. The script font is carried on to give a common theme for the magazine’s identity.

Criticisms

There is a lot of negative space which could be filled as the format is bit basic and boring.

The script writing is not the clearest and is not very large which is going to make finding an article quickly difficult for the reader.

The sepia filter is not the clearest and looks amateur. This might put people off buying the magazine as its not the best of quality. Also, the feature is placed towards the right side rather than the middle making her seem insignificant compared to the other articles overlapping her.

The posed photograph is not the most flattering and emphasises the magazine content other than herself.

The cover is very mixed and uncertain in terms of contradicting fonts, colours and content

The front cover and contents page are very different in style and there is a lack of theme