College Magazine Contents Evaluation

Contents Page Evaluation

The photograph depicted on my contents page is from a modelling shoot that I did. I chose to use this photo as it really reiterates the professionalism of my product. Also, I edited the image in order to: apply my own spin on it; make it fit with the house style of my magazine and to echo the photograph on my style model. The thing I particularly like about the placing of my photograph is that it lies behind my article text which adds levels and depth to my contents page, making the whole product look more convincing.

The software we used to make our contents page was InDesign. The main thing I noticed when using this software compared to Photoshop is that it was a bit more difficult to get used to. I think that this was because we had already grown accustomed to the previous program so some people were trying to use each software in the same way, which did not work. However, I did like InDesign after practicing with it. One tool I learned a lot about was the 'framing' tool which allowed us to place the image in a designated area and fit it proportionally. This made it much easier to place the photographs and ensure that their sizing was not too big that the result was blurry. Additionally, I wanted to get my house style the same on my magazine AND contents page, which was important for my product to look professional, although I was a little worried that it would be difficult to reproduce the same colours on font on a different program. At first, I tried to print screen my font from Photoshop and insert it into InDesign so that the colours and style were exactly the same but it was a blurry image. Then I tried to reproduce the same effect on InDesign and it actually worked out well as I applied the same blending options that I used on Photoshop and it worked well. 

Overall, I am pleased with my product. It turned out as expected; I followed my flat plan "to a T" which, looking back, was really helpful as I knew exactly what my layout would be and could picture my finished product before I started it. I was happy that I got my desired effect, particularly with my title. I really wanted my "CONTENTS" title to stand out against my background. Therefore, I made my rectangle behind the title 2 shades of blue and split it in half so that it was 2 triangles. I put my title on an angle parallel to the white gap between the triangles so that it stood out. Then, I looked at the effects and blurred out the edges of these shapes. This effectively made my title jump out of the page more in comparison to the background.        

One thing that was important to me was getting the right balance between a cramped contents page and a sparse-looking one. I think I achieved this correct finish; my magazine looked like it was full and had lots of interesting articles without making it more difficult to read. This was perhaps because my numbers, titles and descriptions all linked together well. I think that this finish made for a convincing magazine; it looked professional and appealing to the target audience. One thing I did not like on my style models was that the article titles were all different colours therefore there was no clear house style, colour scheme or fluidity. This made for an unprofessional product so i chose not to use too many colours. For my scheme, I chose two shades of turquoise and a mustard yellow. The mustard made the colour darker so that it could be read easily on a white background. As a result, I added a black outline to make it stand out more. The two shades of blue make it easy to differentiate between my number and the article description.

 
I think that my audience research was extremely helpful; it led to the creation of my flat plan which was a real help when it came to putting my contents page together as a whole. The style models aided me in my exploration of what looked convincing and what would not appeal to my target audience of students. Moreover, the class poll was useful as I heard other people's opinions and not just my own which enabled me to get an insight as to what the majority of students look for in a magazine. At first, I was going to create a formal student magazine although I chose to use a different approach; I came to the conclusion that a magazine revolving around gossip and scandal would be more suited to the target audience. Therefore, I chose to use a fun colour scheme and make my articles sound more intriguing to a young audience.