College Magazine Evaluation

College magazine evaluation

For my evaluation I will be doing a brief analysis of my college magazine. This will contain both my view and those of my class mates on what went well, what didn’t go so well and the improvement I could have made to make my magazine better.

The reason we done a college magazine is so that we could get an idea on how it will be when making our music magazine. This practice allowed us to develop our skills when using Photoshop and InDesign as well as take in the feedback that we gave each other to make improvements  when making our music magazine so it can be better.

What went well?

For my college magazine I used a colour scheme of black, blue and white. This is because I wanted it to go with the actual school logo colours in order for it to be recognisable for not only the school logo but for its trademark colours. This was a success as many people thought that the colour scheme was nice. One person commented that “the colours suited the college theme” because they were not too bright and colourful, giving the magazine a professional look. In addition, I think that even though the colours black and white are very simple colours, the blue gives the magazine a playful feel which relates to the students who would read the magazine as they are young and full of life.

Another thing that went well on my magazine was the focal image. The denotation of a student smiling is a typical convention for a college magazine. This is because it shows a positive view of the school and gives an impression that the student/students are enjoying their college life. Also, the use of natural lighting (which is not usually used in a college magazine) makes the magazine look more realistic. This to me makes the image look more believable to the reader and so they will think less of it being staged.

Lastly, for my college magazine people thought that the layout of my context pages was really well done. This is because for the page numbers, subheadings and brief descriptions I organised them by colour and font size. This is so they can all standout from each other making it easier for the reader to search for what they are looking for quicker.  Also, the layout of the context page overall went well because I think even though there was quite a lot of text, there’s was not too much to make it look confusing to the reader.

My peers also thought that the mode of address (direct) was a success because the student is looking directly at the camera. This helps catch the reader’s attention as it seems as the student in the photo is looking directly at them. This also to me creates a connection between the image of the student and the reader because they say “when someone smiles at you, you can’t help to smile back” which is true.

What didn’t go well?

With my front cover some of the cover lines like would fade into the background image making it unreadable. This is because the some of the text was either too thin or the colour was not bold enough for it to stand out from the background colours. This is something I would have to look out for when making my music magazine so that they text on the font cover is clear and bold either for the reader to see.

The magazine logo I thought was a bit too big for the magazine that it made the word “success” standout from the rest on the masthead, especially since it was the only part in blue. This was said to be a bit confusing because people were not sure whether “success” was the title or it was just part of the logo. Also, because there was no background colour for the masthead of the magazine it did not standout enough from the other text that was featured on the magazine for people to clearly identify the name of the magazine. Furthermore, the fact that I didn’t use a plain background when taking the  image used on the front cover, it made my magazine look a bit busy and unprofessional. It is also the reason why some of the text didn’t standout.  

I think the images I put for my contexts page where not that good. This is because even though I used pictures of the school and students, I didn’t think they linked with the information provided on the contents page. This makes it hard for the reader to have an idea on what certain subjects, events or activities etc. are like visually. Also, the lack of images makes the writing look as it there is too which could disinterest the reader because people tend to look over things that look as if there is a lot of text to read.

Improvements

To improve this magazine I would….

• add a page number on the contents page.
• Give the main image on the front cover a plain background to avoid the cover line and masthead from blending in.
• Use bolder shade of blue so the text stands out enough for the reader to clearly see it.
• Make an invisible board line so everything is centered and to avoid the cover lines and masthead from leaking to the ends of the page if my magazine was to be printed on a physical hard copy.
• Use better images on the contents page that relate to the information.
•  For the masthead I would add a white background to make it standout more.