Evaluation of the preliminary task

The colours, masthead and the cover stories I have used on my front cover all link back to my survey, which was to find research from my target audience. I originally wanted to use the colours blue and white for my front cover, as i thought that they would work well together. However, the colours blue, red and white came out the most popular choices in the survey so I decided that I would add red, which I think has made the text stand out more than if I were to have used my original idea of just blue and white. I think that the colours look bold and eye catching which is what I was aiming for when planning my front cover. 
I took one of the masthead ideas from my survey as it was a popular choice and gets straight to the point of what the magazine is about. Also when doing my survey I found a mixture of results that students would be interested in finding out about in the magazine, therefore I decided that putting a mixture of cover stories on my front cover would draw in more readers.
When researching other college magazines I found that using a bold and not too fancy font makes the magazine look more professional and eye-catching. Which is why I decided to use the particular font 'veranda'  which I personally think makes my magazine look more neat than it would of if I had decided to use a fancy font.
Finally the image I decided to use was a medium close up shot with a background of a classroom and the model holding an iPad. This is a representation of the sixth form itself and the facilities that are open to use. I attempted some different range shots, the photo I have used was originally a medium shot but I decided to crop and zoom to give more focus on the model.

Contents for the college magazine

College Magazine Front Cover

The photo I have chosen to use for my front cover of the college magazine

I have decided that I am going to use this photograph for the front cover of the college magazine. The reason I have chose this photo is because it looks very natural, it is taken in a classroom and is using natural light. Tilly is holding an ipad in the photo which is what I wanted for the front cover to show the facilities that are available to use in the college. However, because this is a medium shot I am going to have to crop the photo to be able to fit it in my front cover to make it the medium closeup that I need. This is something I may want to think about when doing a front cover again because cropping and zooming in on the photograph may cause me to loose some of the quality in this photograph.

3 photographs I could use for my front cover

If I were to use this photograph it is good because it is used in the natural light, so it shows all of Tilly’s face and there are no shadows. It is bright but it has a plain background, whereas my other examples are taken in a classroom.

This photograph is also taken in the natural light. It is taken in a classroom, which gives a more college scene. This isn’t as bright as my first example, which may be an issue when printing my front cover because some of Tilly’s face might look darker than the other from the light.

This photograph is similar to my last example but there is more room at the top which I could use to place my masthead.

Photo Shoot Plan

Researching College Magazines

 

This magazines main colour consists of green and white with a dark background from the central picture. I like in this magazine the way the masthead has been placed as if it is behind the person in the picture. I also like the use of colour. As the picture is dark, the lighter colours for the masthead and the cover stories stand out more and are more easily readable, so they work well together. I like the font that has been used because it isn't too fancy, it looks tidy and it stands out.
I'm not too sure about the darkness that this magazine has. Even though the light coloured writing stands out over the dark picture, my personal opinion is that it gives the magazine a dull look and should include some brightness.
As I like the way the masthead and the cover stories are set out I may consider using a similar style when setting out my own front cover for my college magazine. However I don't think that I would use the colour green for my masthead and stick with my own colour choice.


This second magazine has a colour choice of pink, white and black. Even though the colours work well together this isn't a colour choice I would use for my own magazine as it may only appeal to females in the college. The black writing doesn't work very well on this magazine because it isn't very readable on the darker areas of the picture. I'm also not very keen on the cover stories being written in italic because it doesn't make it look very tidy.
Taking this into consideration the parts of the magazine that I do like would be the way that the masthead has been presented, as the font and the size make it eye-catching and suitable for the purpose of the magazine. However I don't think that I would use any of the ideas from this magazine for my own but it has taught me what not to use.