preliminary task-magazine front cover and contents page plan

 This is my plan for my magazine front cover.

This is my plan for my magazine contents page.

Preliminary task evaluation

AS Preliminary task evaluation

Successfulness of the front cover:

My final front cover was fairly successful as it was similar to how I had designed it in my flat plan and contained images gathered from the photographs I took as well as a main portrait image, however there are elements of the front cover that need improving.

Aspects of the cover that need alteration:

The front cover needs alteration to the portrait image as it needs to cover a larger span of the front cover. There also could be more information on the front cover in relation to the contents of the magazine. I would also like to alter the background by making it more complex instead of using a plain colour on the background.

Similarity to the flat plan and improvements in the effectiveness of the planning stage:

The front cover is similar to the flat plan in that the layout is nearly the same and alterations from the flat plan were used in order to improve the front cover for example the readability of the front cover was not as good when all the text was on a slant on the left hand side.

The planning stage effectiveness could be improved by testing ideas on the computer first before starting the final design to make sure the layout is effective and that the design works and in this stage ideas can then be improved for example font, colour and sizing changes.

Strength of the contents page plan/ finished product:

My contents page plan is reflective of the final contents page as they look similar therefore the contents page plan was quite strong, however adding more details onto the contents page plan would have enabled the final contents page to be created more effectively.

The finished version of the contents page was a strong design as it looked as effective as the front cover if not more effective and I think this was due to understanding how to use the InDesign program and its tools and features.

Practical skills that I have developed during the work in the preliminary task:

The practical skills that I have developed during this task is how to use the program InDesign which I hadn’t used previously which meant that I learnt a lot of the skills of the program such as placing objects into the document and formatting the object to fill frame proportionally and fit content proportionally as well as adding effects such as drop shadow in order to enhance images and to make my front cover and contents page more effective.

Key lessons that need to be carried into the main task:

The key lessons that need to be taken forward into the main task are that planning needs to be effective in creating the finished deign and testing the planned design beforehand could do this. I will also take forward my skills of using the program InDesign that I hadn’t used before and now know how to use it in order to create a magazine front cover and contents page.

Preliminary task

This is the front cover of the magazine which I created for the preliminary task. The prelininary task was to create the front cover and contents page for a new school magazine.

This is the second part of my preliminary task which is to cretae a contents page for the school magazine.

Magazine analysis

The school magazine here has images of royalty, which indicates that it could be a private school. The dark green background also makes it appear a grand school. There are also images of the school activities such as drama and sport indicating that this may be specialist subjects of the school. The layout is very formal and precise and therefore this could be targeted more at the parents of students at the school.

 

This school magazine consists primarily of the logo and also the school name and is very plain and simple but again appears to be an old private school. The purpose of the magazine would be to inform of what’s happening at the school but due to the plain layout and little use of colour it is more likely to be aimed at the parents. The font style also looks old indicating that the school might be quite old.