Preliminary Production - Written Evaluation

My task was to design a front cover and contents page for a student magazine, and manipulate each by using Photoshop. For the front cover, the criteria were that it had to be a medium close-up, with appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. We were also asked to produce a mock-up of the contents page, demonstrating we are able to use DTP. I had two initial designs for my magazine front cover; those being a student positioned centrally on the magazine cover, reading a book, where I would Photoshop sell-lines onto the book cover. The second idea (my chosen design) consisted of a student holding a laptop, where I would Photoshop an image onto the screen; the student holding the laptop would cover 2/3 of the page. My primary audience for my magazine cover is Sheldon School students and parents, as the main image on my front cover should be a medium close-up, I found it slightly challenging with the proportions of my subject against the size of the laptop, however I feel I managed it well. For my front cover, I chose the masthead ‘Sheldon Star’, as ‘star’ connotes excellence, which is a representation of Sheldon School. I created a provisional submission, by which I wrote up the ideas I had for the front cover. These were my target audience – students and pupils at the school - and how I would appeal to my target audience. Also were what the title and sell-lines of my magazine were going to be, and the interior features that I would include. I feel I appealed to my target audience by creating a magazine cover that was both mature and fun. The mature aspect came from the idea I used, as I feel the laptop and pupil photo was appropriate for the age group, as Sheldon school pupils and teachers both use laptops, and are part of school life. The font matched with the colours of my subjects clothing, which gave a modern and professional look, which is suitable for the age group. I used sell-lines which were fitting to the age group, for example, ‘revision tips!’ is appropriate for the students who are working and revising for their upcoming exams. I also used sell lines such as finding out how much money was raised for Children in Need. This was appropriate for my target audience as both students and teachers were able to donate, and could possibly be interested in the grand total raised.

I feel my sketches were very useful when choosing my final idea. Planning before hand meant I was able to change my mind and retry before I were to create my final design on Photoshop. When I was designing both preliminary sketches, I made sure they followed an attractive format. In both I wanted the subject to be making eye-contact with the camera. When I was organising my photoshoot, I found it quite difficult for many reasons. Firstly, when trying to take the shot for my second design I felt that nothing worked. The student was meant to be looking behind a book and looking at the camera at the same time. Although I felt it looked as if the person was hiding behind a book, instead of reading and casually looking up at the camera, which was the look I was going for. Additionally, the angle of the book, by which I wanted to use Photoshop to have text on, was wrong, and would have looked wrong when manipulating the image on Photoshop. The second thing to go wrong with this image, was that I ended up accidentally deleting it before I was able to publish it onto my blog, by which I would have had a lot to write by heavily criticising it. But I do not feel this entirely mattered as it was not successful in the slightest, and did not show off any skill and creativity I possess. However, when it came to organising the other photoshoot for my front cover, i found this was very successful. From my first shot I felt that it looked effective and interesting and I was pleased that it wasn’t a design that just looked ‘good on paper’. There were difficulties however, when I making my subject hold the laptop, as the proportion of the laptop screen against her head were wrong, and the laptop was very overpowering to start with, and it was quite hard to get this right, as well as getting a good angle of the laptop screen. The lighting in both my shots was hard to tackle, as I was attempting to take a successfully lit photo on a very dull, rainy day. Ideally, I would have shot it outside on a sunny day, so the lighting would be clear and natural, but this cannot always be helped in rainy England. I used a tripod when taking my camera shots, as this meant the photo was not blurred. I took several photos, although they were not particularly different. They each just tried to improve certain smaller things, like enough background at the top of the page for my title, and angling the laptop etc. The end result for the shot was successful as I liked the plain cream background with my subject in front. The simplistic location/background added maturity to my front cover, which will appeal to the sixth formers, parents and teachers.


Having never used Photoshop before, I thought I did quite well with manipulating my image for the front cover. I thought it was hard to get a grasp of, as there are many functions and still I am sure I don’t know half of them. Nonetheless, I browsed Photoshop beforehand and found different functions that provided the effect I wanted when manipulating my front cover. ‘Warp’ was particularly successful as it enabled me to fit the image onto the laptop screen well, looking realistic. The ‘brightness’ and ‘saturation’ tools were also very useful when I wanted to brighten my subject and make her stand out more from the page. I also used the ‘lasso’ tool too, which meant I was able to click and draw around the area I wanted, then perform a specific function on this area alone. Overall, my final image appealed to my audience as it was effective and quite mature looking, with the added image being fun and interesting, which can be targeted towards the younger school students, as it shows students having fun in a school working environment. After this, I added a title and sell-lines. The title I chose was ‘Sheldon Star’, as ‘star’ connotes excellence, which is a representation of the school. I used size 26 font, where I made it bulge slightly in the middle, making it stand out from the page. My font choice was simple as I wanted it to be an easy to read title. I chose a black colour font, as this meant the title stood out and was bold on the page, immediately attracting the reader’s attention. I also chose to add a banner behind the title, meaning the title stood out even more. I made the banner purple to match the colour scheme of the school and make it seem more professional. The sell-lines were four different colours, purple, dark blue, light blue and white. I used these as it meant the sell-lines stood out more against the background colours, for example the white font against the dark blue clothing of my subject. I scattered my sell-lines slightly to make it more visually interesting, still I received criticism when I asked classmates on their thoughts. They felt there was a little too much space at the top-right of my front page, which is a fair criticism, and in hindsight I maybe should have positioned them more accurately, or included a logo for my magazine, such as the Sheldon School emblem, which would have filled the space and also represented my school. Generally speaking, I wanted the layout of my front cover to be quite simple and basic, so the information was clear and precise. I wanted the 2/3 layout, so my subject covered 2/3 of the page, and I feel I successfully achieved this. The ideas of my design were quite simple, although the general idea of incorporating an additional large image onto my front cover was maybe too much of a gamble for a first attempt; but I still received positive comments, but I am still not entirely satisfied it was the best decision I made. I thought the most successful part of my front cover was using a plain background as I feel if I were to use a busy background, it would have made my page look very cluttered, distracted the reader’s attention from my subject and it would have made the cover look less professional. I did consider using a shot where there was a busy background, but then using Photoshop to ‘blur’ it out, however I settled for the idea that it would look more effective simply.

For my contents page, I wanted to follow quite a simple contents page, to match the simple idea of my front cover. I thought of a theme of a ‘note-board’ effect, which I designed on the concept of school wall displays and revision posters, and I feel this ties in well with the idea of a school magazine. The word ‘contents’ is located neatly down the left-hand side, which I thought was effective as it is more visually interesting compared to the typical heading at the top of the page. The information on the content page is divided into sections, which is useful for the reader as it means they can read the contents quickly and efficiently. I chose to design my cover of having a purple, dark blue and yellow colour scheme, to match that of the front cover and the school colours.

Overall, I am quite pleased with my magazine front cover, as it is similar to the sketch I planned from the start, and the image I had in my head over what I wanted. As I have mentioned before, I am very critical of my work and therefore see many areas for improvement. Despite this, I aim to take the constructive criticism and ways of improving on board, in order to help improve my media work for the future. If I were to repeat this task again, I would have possibly reconsidered the whole ‘laptop’ idea, as, despite getting some positive feedback, it was more hassle than it was worth, considering the end result was not particularly spectacular in my opinion. I feel it would have been much more beneficial for me, on a first attempt, to take a simpler shot, and work more on manipulating the image effectively. Also, I would have preferred a better lighting, but unfortunately this could not be helped considering the weather on the day. I am pleased with the design and idea behind my contents page, as it fits with the layout and style behind my front cover. It also targets my audience well, as it fits the age group by being simple but attractive, and neither too mature or immature which I achieved by the use of colours, fonts and layouts.