Evaluation

The magazine cover I’ve produced generally follows most of the basic conventions I have stated in previous tasks where I looked to existing similar covers.  The use of layout, masthead, sell lines, a sky line, main image of student(s), bar code etc. all fit in with the basic conventions of a college magazine.  This ensures that my magazine cover looks professional and like a college magazine.  I’ve used a consistent theme colour to reflect the institution that I’m trying to represent; in this case Wyke College. I used similar colours in the main image to bring the whole piece together. However, unlike the other covers that I analysed, I used colour to highlight key words in the sell lines to make it more dynamic and interesting to look at.  I’ve also used the same font for all the sell lines unlike the other covers because I felt as though it looked better on my particular cover, having used various colours and a relatively ‘busy’ main image.  I said, having used it on my mock-up, that I might use vertical text on the cover to challenge conventions; however decided against it because I felt that the main story text fitted better horizontally.  I made a fairly successful attempt to use the rule of thirds when taking my main image, but looking back in hindsight I would have made a more conscious and successful effort because I feel as though the canvas images in the background are slightly too low down in the image.  I’ve also noticed that the line is slightly vertical which, in my opinion, the cover would look better and more professional if the line was perfectly horizontal.  Another convention that I’ve slightly broken in my cover is the use of a medium long shot as opposed to a medium close-up.  I used this framing because I thought it would work better with using more than one person in the image.  Furthermore, it’s not too much of a drastic break of convention to make the cover look unprofessional and two of the students are sat down which makes the break in convention hardly noticeable.

  If I was to do the preliminary task again, I would have taken a simpler main image as I feel as though my main image makes the text slightly harder to read than it should be.  I will bare this in mind when conducting the main task.  I would have also used at least one male in the main image as I feel as though the image I’ve used misrepresents the college as Wyke is a place where both males and females attend; however I don’t think this is a major issue as it’s clearly only a small representation of Wyke students.

  Overall, having conducted the preliminary task, I feel as though I have a decent grasp of following magazine conventions and making decisions regarding these conventions when producing a magazine front cover.  In making and identifying mistakes and breaking conventions, I feel as though I have learnt even more than if I had not done so.  I am mostly happy with the outcome of the preliminary task and feel as though it is useful as preparation and introduction to the main task.