EvaluationKate Sutton 12CR

Media

Product and ProcessTo start my basic layout design (the flat plan), I originally decided what look I was going for and which layout I wanted to use. I then mapped it out on a Microsoft Publisher document.

I thought of a simple, yet affective approach of ordering the subheadings vertically. It would be a bold way of organising them so that they can be easily seen, without over-crowding the rest of the page. As well as being able to hold useful information that draws people to the magazine.

As for the title, a bold, harsh, thick font to grab attention; and a prime location at the top of the page was the first idea that came to my head. I thought it could be bright, colourful and loud to gain attention and inform people on what the magazine is about.

Aligning the picture underneath the title on the left hand side of the page gives the page an order and an ‘easy to read’ approach. It keeps it tidy and also enables the picture to stand out and attract the reader. Also it should provide an insight on what the magazine content is about.

Progression

The first picture that I chose, I placed in coherence with the flat plan that I had previously designed. I still liked the idea of the picture placement, however I started to endure problems involving subheading and title placement; as I found that it didn’t allow enough room to keep the clarity that I had hoped for.

My first idea for the subheading was to capture a picture in scheme with the caption to show the reader the content and give them an insight. Again restricting the space and clarity on the page I later decided that this wasn’t the best idea for the front cover, and took the idea out all together.

Originally, I thought about linking the colour scheme of the school uniform to the main body of the magazine through the colour of the writing and main title. In trying this idea within this detailed flat plan, I believe it crashed with the colours of the photograph used and left an unprofessional feel to the page. Therefore it was removed.

Product and Process

For the contents page, I originally thought that having the title in the right hand corner of the page would allow more space for the picture to run along the whole of the left hand side. This would enable the consistent tidiness of the whole piece run over both pages.The title was again meant to be bright, bold and stand out against the background and be the main focus of the page.

The subheadings were placed in two rows along the right hand side of the page, this again was to allow room of the picture on the left. It would also mean that they were chronological, easy to read and easy to understand. I envisioned them to be light bright colours in theme with the title and again stand out from the background.

The picture was originally situated along the whole of the left hand side of the page. This was in conjunction with the writing on the right. I thought it would stand out and show some of the content of the magazine. I slightly changed this idea throughout my work but still kept the picture with the original idea of being on the left.

Progression

For the first detailed plan I kept the title in the top right hand corner, overlapping with the picture. This idea created layers and contrast therefore I thought it would look effective and be more visible to the reader. I decided black writing would be the best idea, as it would show up the best on the white background present at the time.

I thought that using small boxes containing pictures would be an effective method to use for the captions on the contents page. This being because it adds colour, shape and structure to the page- still applying clarity and ease of reading. It also would be more eye catching and interesting to the target audience of college students, in place of standard font.

Conversing with my flat plan structure I implemented the image along the left of the page. In experimenting with this idea I decided that it didn’t look as effective as I had previously hoped and decided to try changing the picture all together to enable more of a contrast and interesting shape to form on the page.

Final Plan Front CoverIn the end I decided to maintain the bright and colourful theme with the main title. I decided that as I chose a dark header behind it, that a bright colour in front of it would show contrast and continue to be eye catching. I also chose a bold, plain font so that it stood out and was clearly read. This again conversed with the clarity I hoped to continue throughout the piece.

As to my original flat plan I decided to keep all subheadings on the right hand side of the page. It made it more clear and easy to read, plus, it conformed well with the rest of the layout. Against the back ground image it also appeared more bold and linked in with the colour scheme for the rest of the magazine.

The image was again kept to the original idea of being on the left hand side of the cover, although, I decided to cut it out and paste it on top of another background. This enabled the plan to maintain layers, and allowed the picture to stand out further from the background – catching more attention.

Final Plan Contents Page

Opposite to the flat plan version of the contents page, I decided in the end that the title looked more effective and stood out better on the left hand side of the page. Again keeping the idea similar to my slightly detailed plan, maintaining the black title stood out from the rest of the page and clearly labelled what it was for. Against the yellow background it enabled it to be very captivating and obvious, again creating a bold structure.Differently again from the slightly detailed flat plan, after applying the gradient background, I came to the conclusion that the boxes of pictures were no longer appropriate to fit in with the rest of the formation. I used a hand writing font which is applicable for a college magazine and linked the colours in with the background as well as the header and footer of the page. These created a brightness and eye catching quality as well as linking in the two pages.

In running with keeping the picture on the left, I managed to do this, as well as allowing room for the title, by cutting around the image and layering it on top of the background. This way it didn’t overlap with the title and still gave enough room for the rest of the page contents.

Photographs Taken

This picture originally was going to be on the front cover of the magazine as it had a plane background which would make it easy to work with. It also has a variety of colours and its simple yet affective. The reason I didn’t use it in my end cover is because it didn’t fit in with my end format due to the size and shape. It also wasn’t as intriguing or eye catching as some of the others I had taken, only due to the fact that it is more posed and less spontaneous .

With the same model, again I decided that the photographs taken were too posed for the theme that I was going for. Although it is a nice, clean image it didn’t fit in with my format yet again. I was hoping to use this image for my contents page as it could work well with the angle of her body and direction of her eyes towards the subheadings. This did not however work as I expected in my trials.

I really liked this picture to work with, due to the fact that it is very colourful, clean cut and easy to lay out. I decided to use this image for my contents page as the whole idea of reading a book linked in with the idea of students looking through a college magazine. The picture leaning to the left of the page enabled plenty of room for subheadings and the picture is short enough not to get in the way of the title and take full attention. It still gives room for other aspects of the magazine as well as being in the main focus.

I also chose to use this picture in my work, again with the same model. I chose this image as it is a medium close up shot as required, again clean cut and colourful. Due to the proportions of the image it is easily cut out and manipulated so it is easy to use in Photoshop for editing. College students can also relate to the image as again involving a working book it looks as if the student is intrigued which would help to make the cover look more inviting.

Technology Used

During the task we used technological devices such as Photoshop and Microsoft publisher. These devices really helped to make our final cover and contents page look more professional, and they allowed us to lay them out and format them in multiple different ways.

Whilst using Photoshop I was able to take my original image, and cut around it so that I could use the main focus of the picture and delete the back ground. As this screen shot demonstrates you can use the magnetic wand tool in order to select the outline of your image shape and delete the rest of the picture.

Before and After

The before image has a crowded background which takes away the main focus of the image – the student. With this in mind I decided to delete the back ground so that the main focus of the cover was of the model herself and it also would enable me to layer the front cover to make it more professional and attractive to the target audience.

For the final design you can see how I cut out the image an only used the main subject within the cover. They layers created through using this technological method made the front page seem different and more interesting to look at. It keeps the focus on the title and enables you to see the rest of the page; as well as giving the reader an insight to what the magazine is about. I believe this was successful

Annotation.Personally, I believe that the finished result of the magazine cover does need a bit more work. I think that although I am happy with it, I have never used a program such a Photoshop before and still need improvement .I think that the most effect parts of both pages is the cut out pictures of the model. It gives the pieces layers, texture and structure that my slightly detailed flat plans did not. The colours worked really well with the rest of the backgrounds used and it also enabled to yellow title to still stand out (its main purpose). I would say the main flaws in the work would have to be how it looks less professional that I would have hoped. And example of this is around the outside of the images used on both pages, I had to use the cut out tool and it made the work slightly less neat and tidy than I had hoped. To me this make the work feel less professional which I would have liked to work more on.In my main task I would like to get more variety of images which would enable me to chose one that would look more effective on the cover, by being neater and needing a bit more touching up that would develop my skills using the Photoshop program.

Audience feedback.

I asked a student which parts of my two pages she preferred and which areas she thought I should work on. On the front cover Holly stated that she like the image that I had chosen and said that it worked well with the theme of the magazine. She did however say that the thing that I could change would be to make the subheadings yellow in order to match the title and footer of the page. She said that this would make it link better to the title and enable it to stand out more!

Again for the contents page she said that the picture was her favourite part. She liked how it fitted in with the contents page due to the idea of looking in an open book. The link between the two helped the page to gain a mutual understanding with the students. Holly believes I could change the contents page by changing the colour of the top subheading as it doesn’t stand out as much as the others as the background gradient is lighter at the top than at the bottom.