Evaluation

Carrying out the preliminary task was very useful in helping me design a more professional magazine front cover. As you can see the outcomes of my magazines have improved dramatically. Creating the college magazine helped me experiment with all the conventions and features that are need in a magazine front cover. I have included the same conventions in both, but I think my music magazine is much more professional. I think the image is the most prominent visible change in the magazines and this is because of the editing I did on photo shop, where as the main image on the college magazine is not edited at all. The photograph has had the background removed, I've used the spot heeling tool, levels, curves, eraser and the patch tool, all of these have worked together to make my model look 'perfect', leaving her with no blemishes, making her look like a celebrity on the front of a magazine. As the main image is the most eye catching factor of a magazine I feel this has made a huge difference. Secondly I think the title has improved hugely. In my college magazine I used the more conventional red colour on bold text, however on my music magazine I thought much more carefully about how its going to stand out and link with my image so I again used a bold front, but I made the title in capital letters and created a gradient effect using the eraser on a soft edge to give a 3D effect. I also made my main image over lap the mast head, this is very conventional of existing music magazines and it helps in linking all parts of the magazine together. During the preliminary task I hadn't carried out much research on existing magazines so i was not aware about thirds, and as you can see, I have not placed the cover lines or image in a way which makes them look professional. You can see the improvement straight away when looking at my music magazine, as I've conventionally placed my main image in the middle with the cover lines either side. This creates a even and balanced looking front cover. If I was to create another college magazine I would defiantly improve my photograph by taking the photos in a studio and editing them. I would do this because overall its the most eye catching part of a magazine and I feel it needs to look good for the rest of the magazine to work. I would also work on the house style and cover lines. I feel the text is too small to read which makes it look lost in the busy scenery in the photo, to improve this i would make the text bigger and bolder, which would make it easier to see.
Overall I am very happy with the difference between these two front covers. I feel my music magazine is a huge improvement because of all of the research I have carried out and the constant improvement on drafts after my peer feedback.
If I was to create another magazine I feel I have improved on my skills and knowledge drematically to be able to create another professional looking front cover. I feel I know what looks good and what doesnt work as well to look effective, and I feel I could take all of my newly learnt skills and improve even more.