Evaluation

Using my own images and photographs, and an image manipulation program, I had to create my own front page of a new school or college magazine. The photograph on the front cover had to have featured a student in a medium close-up. As well as this, the text and masthead had to be appropriately laid out. Mock-ups and drafts of a contents page also had to be created.

                The first thing I did was to capture the photographs that could be used for my front cover. I took eight photographs in total to get different variations on students and locations. The photo I chose was of a sports-looking student, Ross, in a white polo. In the shot, I had made Ross hold a few Maths books with the titles to face towards the camera. As well as this, the location in the background of the shot was of some college lockers; this instantly gives the target audience an idea on what the magazine is about just from first glance. Ross is also smiling; this really gives the impression of the college being happy, fun and exciting.

The magazine uses lots of ideas and conventions from real media products. These include features such as the skyline sell-line at the top, issue date, a barcode, main features, smaller features and most importantly, the masthead. The use of real media conventions really helps to give the feel of the magazine being professional.

                Within the image manipulation program – Adobe Photoshop CS5 – I edited the colour levels of the chosen photo. I made the image much more vibrant and bright so it didn’t look as dull as it had previously. This also made the red of the Maths books very rich and stands out more against the clear white of the student’s polo thus making it more eye-catching. I then added a purple banner for the sell-line and the masthead title piece which is ‘Wyke: The Insider’. The colour of the font was purple to match Wyke College’s colour scheme of purple, green, and grey. The font I used was also the original font used for the college’s logo. The ‘Insider’ part, I placed inside the Wyke name. I added a drop shadow to the title as I felt it helped it stand out more, and was much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The masthead title was vastly greater than the rest of the headlines. I also added a mask around Ross’s head so it neatly overlapped the title, then softening the edges to smooth out the whole image. The typeface for all the articles/headings is the same, and again is a font the college uses. The main headline is a bigger font than the subheadings. Also, the Kickers are predominantly bigger than the Teller. I used Ofsted’s quote as the sell line as Ofsted is a well-known body of inspecting schools. I created an authentic looking barcode for my cover because I felt that this magazine would be on sale as it’s only a monthly instalment mag. Also, the bar code would assist in the college’s library if student’s wanted to rent the magazine out instead buying one for their selves.

The ideology is that college is fun, and that from the main feature that sporty students are not all unintelligent. Students are represented in this as hardworking and yet fashionable. It's very similar to ideology in the way it shows college to be a fun and exciting experience. The institution is Wyke as in is printed within college and only distributed within college. The audience is any student at Wyke, SEG group C2-E since students may only have a part time job and the magazine wouldn’t cost a lot. This issue especially directed towards sports, maths, and fashion students because of there are articles based around these subjects.

I feel the magazine front cover is appealing to the audience as the articles within the magazine, as displayed on the cover, are more about the social aspects of Wyke, rather than the socially-deemed uncool work side of college. As well as this, it has reader involvement by allowing readers to ask questions that will be answered by the head of Wyke College Jay Trivedy. This also links back to the Ofsted examination body. This will help attract readership people will feel it’s a good magazine as it has the approval of a well-known education body.

Through this I have learnt the importance of media conventions for a magazine, and that even simple image editing can really make a difference and complete new look to the image.