Task nine ( school )

Task nine is my evaluation. My evaluation is going to be about what, why and how i created my front cover and contents page. I will be comparing it to other magazines that are actually out there and sold worldwide.
Whilst i was creating my front cover and contents page i came across some quite major and minor problems whilst creating my coursework. The major problem was that the school network had gone down for a few weeks after completing my project. When all of my documents returned some of the pieces of work had been removed and deleted from all subjects. I had two weeks to redo it again. This made it complicated as it took me a while to create the first copy to make it look good and i now had 2 weeks to complete both and upload my blog. For our contents page we started to use another program to create it which is called Quark Express. We had never used it before so we didnt know what to do. On our first lesson Camilla the media helper came in and shown the class how to use it. This was really helpful and helped me alot as i took notes to go back to.
My media magazine does use forms and conventions of magazines that are already out there being sold. In ways like they use a clear, fancy font so i have used a font that is clear, fancy, big and bold. Both magazines are similar by the way the magazine has been set out as its got all the same type of features around the same place. Professional magazines have a certain theme like colour so I have tried to the same with mine. I have used the Weatherhead colour on my magazine to show that it is actually a Weatherhead school magazine and to make it look effective. The main images on the front covers are normally medium close up shots though some can be a full body close up I decided on mine being a medium close up shots because it shows the important part of the image which is the student wearing the Halloween hat as it shows the story of this weeks magazine. I have also made sure that the student is having eye contact with the reader and that the image isnt ontop of the title of the magazine. I have gave the magazine two selling lines ("Free" and "Win!") so that they attract the readers into getting the magazine. Also anchoring images have been included. I have made the main coverline big because the reader will want to more about whats going on and see that first. There is a simple colour scheme throught the whole magazine. High School gossip has a published editor letter which most magazines have and a background behind most images.
My magazine is quite challenging as there is no background behind the coverlines so they dont stand out as much and there is too much wasted space around it which just looks plain as there was nothing to go there whereas local magazines make sure that every space is filled up so that the magazine doesnt look empty. On my magazine the colours are quite dull and plain as only a few colours have been used. They should be bright, effective and attractive colours so that they stand out. Normally the issue number and barcode are really small and hidden in a corner of a magazine but mine is rather big and looks quite wierd as it stands out and its not important to the magazine or attractive. I havent created the text for the coverlines or masthead in a bold and creative font or size. Most of the speech, star or circle designs are usually filled in with colour but mine are see-through and can see the main image. My editor is far too big than what is shown in published magazines and should be a smaller size to decrease the amount of space it took and have a image with it either the editor or front cover of the magazine. On the contents page the images are usually labelled with a page number to show the readers quickly where to go but i couldnt find room for them unless ontop of the image.
To create my preliminary project I used two different programs, Adobe photoshop and Quark Express. I had to use Adobe photoshop to create my front cover. I have used this program for about 5 years throughout Weatherhead so knew what to do and how to do it. This made it easier for me to carry on with my work quickly. I knew all the buttons that were needed. It had been a while since I had used it when we first started so I needed some help on how to do a few stuff but after a while I remembered again and carried on. Photoshop is the program to use when you need to edit images. For most of my images I needed just the image itself and none of its background so I used the zoom in tool and rubbed around the edges to clear the background ready for my magazine. I would have to then save the manipulated image and add it to my front cover or contents page. When I needed the background I used the tool which gets the entire one colour together so that you can just colour it in with the colour you want instead of going on top of the image. I coloured the background in black to make the image stand out. Quark Express is the other program that I used for my contents page. Quark was new to me as I had never used it before so I didn’t fully understand how to use it. When the teacher came in and explained it took me a few weeks to understand it properly. I started to try different buttons and ways in doing stuff and finally got used to it. It took me a lot longer to create my front cover and I felt as if there was more you can do on Photoshop that will make it look more professional and attracting. I also had to use Microsoft word to make a star shaped for the WIN! part of the magazine. I then copied and pasted it on to Photoshop and rubbed out the middle section.
My strengths of the magazine were probably that I learnt Quark express quite easily so I had more time to carry on with the other sections of the magazine. Overall both of the programs were rather easy to use. My magazine had a theme to it which was the Halloween theme as some of the text was orange and black and the student had a Halloween hat on. The other theme was the colour scheme that was based on Weatherhead’s school colour which was then made the background colour for the front cover and contents page. The main image was a good, clear quality and showed the student really detailed. None of the image had been cut into and was cut around quite well. The two selling lines “Free” and “Win!” are rather big so that they stand out and people are more likely to want it and buy it. The images around the edge will show its not just a magazine of writing and shows some fun and attractiveness to the magazine. The whole magazine is colour co-ordinated with the background and text. The names of the coverlines are quite catchy and give you quite an understanding of what the story is going to be about so I think that they are quite creative. Underneath some of the coverlines are descriptions of what the magazine is going to about inside which I think Is a good idea because its persuading the reader to read on and find out more. The layout on the contents was okay as it was organised.
My weaknesses of the magazine are that I have got too much blank space around the edges where coverlines and images should be covering. I think my biggest weakness was when all my work had disappeared and I had to start again. As I was quite happy with my first piece of work I didn’t put as much effort into the second pieces as i had forgotten how to lay it out and what was where and that. It also decreased time for my main task. I think that the main coverline, little coverlines and the masthead’s font are quite boring so need more colour, bigger and bolder fonts. Some of the features that weren’t so important to the magazine were made bigger to increase space and don’t look as attractive on there. The image wasn’t taken very well and needs to be more of a medium close up shot to stand out more. It also has the outside tree in the spaces of the Halloween hat which needed to be rubbed out but were quite impossible as the gaps were too small. I needed to add numbers on to the images on the contents page so that it made it easier to get to the page needed but there wasn’t as much space as they’re was meant to. The editors letter took up a large amount of space as they’re was quite a lot to write about but I could have made it a smaller text. I think spreading the images around the page would have made it look more attractive instead of just one line of them. The black background doesn’t really stand out as I thought it would and doesn’t look very attractive. The sixth former shows that the picture wasn’t taken in Weatherhead as you can see the background and the television. I should of rubbed the background off but didn’t have as much time. I had quite a struggle on thinking of ideas on what to do so that took up a few lessons. On the front cover the layout was all over the place so need tidying up abit more. Overall I didn’t really follow the rules of codes and convections because my magazine was quite different to the average magazine.