Preliminary Task Evaluation

For the preliminary task I had to plan and produce a front cover and contents page for a new school magazine. I had to come up with a title for the magazine as well as the features and regular content. I also had to think of which photographs I was going to include on the front cover and contents page and then take them myself. I was to create the front cover using Adobe Photoshop and the contents page using Quark Xpress.

My front cover follows the codes and conventions of other magazines in many ways. For example, it has a main image of one person who is looking directly at the camera which is direct address. The image is anchored to the main coverline. It also has a plain coloured background like other magazines. The masthead has the title, which goes across the top, and the positioning statement. The title is in a unique font which isn’t used anywhere else in the magazine. The barcode is at the bottom of the page and has the price and date next to it. There are also some smaller photos which anchor with the other coverlines. It deviates from some of the codes and conventions in the way that it does not have an issue number and that there are only three coverlines.

The contents page follows the codes and conventions by using things such as columns and sections, for example, it has a features section and a regular content section. It also has information about the school such as the address and the website. There are images on the contents page which have page numbers that correspond to the feature the image belongs to. However the contents page does not follow some codes and conventions, for example, it has a coloured background and there is a lot of empty space.

I used Quark Xpress for the layout of the contents page. It has a feature which allows you to insert columns which makes it easier to follow. I also used Adobe Photoshop to help edit some of the photographs such as the main front cover image as I had to remove the background.

I think my front cover’s main strength is that the title is in a simple font and is a bright colour as this makes it stand out and it is easy to read. I think I could have improved it by putting more coverlines and by picking a different cover image as in the one I used, the girl is wearing a purple top and this made it difficult for me to place the main coverline as a lot of coloured clashed with it.

I think I could have improved my contents page by having more images and by making better use of the columns. I also could have added an editor’s letter and maybe a small image of my front cover with arrows pointing to the cover stories. I could have arranged the text better and had more content so that there was not as much white space.