College Magazine Evaluation

By Holly Peacock

Outcome

PhotographyI think that the photography from my college magazine could have been much better. The shots were often half cut off and taken from the wrong angle. For example, a low shot was taken landscape way. I think that if I were to do it again, it would look much more appealing if it was taken like a portrait instead, especially for this type of photo. This is because it should make the subject of the photo look dominant and big; however, it lost this effect when it was made landscape. The photography could have also been better if it was made brighter and the lighting was better. The photos can often appear to dark and light, so I feel that I should have focused on this a bit more. On one of the headshots, I did the mistake of taking it too close, so the persons head was actually half cut out. This made it difficult for me to remove the background and add them as the front cover of my magazine. It didn’t look as effective and quite poorly done as half of the head was missing. However, I recognised my mistake and took another photo for the cover. This one proved to make the magazine look much more appealing as it met the criteria. It was also taken on a bold colour background, which contrasted from the person. This was the most beneficial thing I completed as it made it much easier to remove the person from the background of the image and place it on my magazine. Another strength I believe I had in the photography was completing a range of different shots. This gave me a variety to choose from when creating my magazine and made it look more complex than completing the ‘standard’ shots only.

I completed the photography by going around the college and capturing relevant pieces of it which makes it stand out and look appealing. I made sure that I got a range of different shots with the camera, so it was more complex and emphasised the photographs much more. The different photos showed different aspects of the college and even some photos of the college pupils themselves. It was vital that the pupil on the cover was smiling as this is the feel of the magazine and it shows that Prior is a happy place.

Some alternative methods I could have used in my photography is by trying an even wider range of shots. This would look much more appealing and show the college from another aspect. Moreover, I could have also tried different settings the camera had, like zooming in, different effects and colours to fit in with the environment. It would have allowed me to enhance the image further. I feel that I would have benefit more from the photography, if I had allowed the camera to adjust to the environment each time, and focus, rather than the images often appearing blurry and pixelated. Next time, I will ensure myself that my magazine photography outcome will be improved and much better. It is vital that I have this part of the magazine done properly, especially as its usually the thing that you notice first on a magazine page. It can really lift the image of the magazine up and give it a whole different feel and attitude.

Use of SoftwareBefore starting my magazine, I knew very little about the different tools on Photoshop and InDesign. In the process of making my college magazine, it often required different skills which I didn’t have. Therefore, I had to learn these and I can now take these further when doing other projects as such. The software available enabled to me advance my magazine, and improve the image as a whole, making it quite complex.

One thing I learned was how to recolour images and change their properties. For example, on my cover and contents images, I changed the colour of them to black and white. This meant that it fit in with the whole ‘look’ of the magazine. On the other drafts I had made of it, when the images were still colour, I was able to enhance them by changing the levels of each colour used, the brightness and also the contrast. It made the images stand out much more in comparison of the bright background. When editing my photo, cropping out the background, I discovered that there was various tools which allowed me to do so. For example, I firstly tried the eraser to clear it. This was very time consuming and you had to be precise for it to not look entirely awful. There was also the magic background eraser. This meant that with a click you were able to delete the background where you clicked. This wasn’t very effective for my background as it had different textures and colours as it was a brick wall. Therefore, it only removed a section of the background, meaning I had to crop the image or use the eraser once again. However, I used the magnetic lasso tool which almost did the job instantly. It was very efficient for time, but it wasn’t that precise. The sides were often left jagged and I had a problem with cutting out people with hair from backgrounds. I had to remove the excess hair/background with the eraser which was quite messy. I have learned that I need to discover more suitable techniques in order to fulfil this again when doing my other magazine, as it needs to look the best it can.

When editing my photos, I used Photoshop as it was the most suitable programme for what I needed to complete. It has a range of tools which I can use to make the image look as good and professional as possible. However, when using the tools I had a bit of difficulty each time, as they are quite complex. This showed me that I needed to learn about them more and how to interpret them to something properly, otherwise it can fail. InDesign was very useful when actually creating the layout of the magazine and adding text. It had a range of different options to choose from with text, making it bolder, standing out, narrow etc. Photoshop isn’t this complex to do that, as its mainly for photos. InDesign is a programme which is more specifically based on creating things like magazines, posters etc. At first, I struggled with how to design things and where to place each of them. I researched about other magazines and this gave me confidence on how to complete mine.

One thing I know that I could improve on is the cover image. When cutting out the background it was always a struggle. On

The cover of my magazine, the outline of the image is very uneven and un-neat. This makes it look quite messy and unprofessional. I believe that if I experiment more with Photoshop, I will be able to achieve a much better outcome. The tools that I used didn’t seem to be suitable for the image I had. Also, I could improve this by doing the photography much more carefully. I will need to consider how the image will be edited when taking the photographs I am going to use on my other magazine in the future. I was careless as this, as I didn’t realise how I would use them later on the software. Furthermore, I think that there is quite a lot of white space on the magazine. Although it is simple, I couldn’t recognise how to change the background image of the magazine. This would have made it look more appealing and also more professional. Therefore, I will consider this again when I am creating the music magazine, as it makes the magazine look bad and uninteresting.

However, a strength I believe I had was when creating the contents page. The image on there was cut sharply, so I applied the correct tool to the correct image. It makes the magazine contents page look sophisticated and catches the eye. I also made sure that it applies to the theme and colour scheme I was going for with the magazine. I think I did well with using the colour scheme all throughout the magazine and similar fonts, so it doesn’t look too bad. Moreover, I also used the shape tool on InDesign which allowed me to prioritise different points on the magazine as they stood out and were bold. It wasn’t all just simple text that people had to read, these were more ‘loud’ so it caught peoples attention hopefully.

Thoughts on the OutcomeOverall, I am quite impressed with how the magazine turned out as it was a first attempt, but I am not entirely satisfied. It was quite poorly done but I now know the points which I have to improve for the future, to make things look better. If I didn’t complete this magazine, I would have took these mistakes to the real production.

I am not pleased with how the photography on the magazine turned out as it could have been much more professional looking and neater. Also, not only this, I think that the overall design of my magazine was lacking a lot. It didn’t achieve what I wanted it to but I think I can improve this by improving my skills. I couldn’t quite get the effect I was going for with the magazine as I was not completely familiar with most of the tools on both Photoshop and InDesign. I wanted it to be much more bright and eye catching, but still apply to the target audience and what they wanted. Due to this, I don’t think that the magazine looks like a convincing college magazine. You can clearly see that the magazine has been made by a student with a lack of skills, so it is vital that I improve this. I think this is mostly due to the photo editing skills and also the excess white space left on the pages. On a professional magazine, and other college magazines the image usually fills the page, so I could do this in the future.

I am more satisfied with how the contents page turned out, than the cover image. The contents page looks a bit more professional and like an actual magazine. I think this is because the use of the images and also how each feature in the magazine is sectioned into different categories. This makes it look more believable, because this is how it usually appears in a proper magazine. I made sure that I stuck to a consistent colour scheme all throughout the production of the magazine. The colour scheme consisted of basic colours such as black, white and red. These stood out to the audience and it represented the theme of the magazine that I wanted at this part. Other magazines going for a similar style to mine often use these colours too.

If I had more time and better skills to use on the software, I believe that I could have developed my magazine and edited the photography much better. I wish that I had done a proper plan for the college magazine so I had I rough idea of what I was going to do. Therefore, because I didn’t do this, I was a bit unsure of where to place things and also what to write about on the cover and the contents. On the other hand, the audience questionnaire did give me a lot of information and I am satisfied with the content of the magazine as it relates to what the readers wanted.

What do others think of the outcome?I asked a friend to look at my magazine to see what she thought of it. She said that it was well done with experimenting on the software, especially as it was a first attempt. However, she also said that the photography could have been better and edited more effectively to make it look more professional and realistic. Not only this, she said that I should take care with filling in the white space or adding a background colour so its not too bland. I took this information on board and when I create my next magazine, I am going to ensure that there is lack of white space and possibly a background that appears to the target audience like a texture or something similar. This will make the magazine look much more appealing and professional too.

My friend also said that the colour scheme worked well together to fit in with my type of magazine. However, the colours are quite dark, so I could have added another colour in the magazine such as yellow to make it more vibrant and eye catching. Furthermore, she told me that my magazine did not include a banner on the top, a price, date or a bar code on it. This was one of the most unprofessional factors of my magazine as it meant that it wasn’t like a proper one. It made it very ‘home made’ and not effective. This would be vital information and features needed when producing a magazine. Therefore, I will use this advice when making my proper music magazine and ensure that I do not forget to add this in the future.

Some advice I got which I also could take on board is that the masthead of the magazine was very similar to the font so it didn’t stand out that much. I could have made the masthead a different text like a logo title instead which could look much more professional and also effective. It would also look much more realistic if I added the masthead over the image or something, as this is what proper magazines do too.

Why did I do what I did and was it effective?Firstly, I decided to do what I did as I was influenced by other magazines which I like, such as NME. However, this was a college magazine so I did get influenced by some of their typical styles too. I tried to combine them both, but this wasn’t as effective as I thought it would have been. As they are very dissimilar, it was hard to make them work together. For example, this was represented through the colour scheme of a music magazine and the cover image of a typical smiling student which a college magazine would feature.

When producing the front cover of the magazine, I had to choose between various images to put on there. Not only this, but I also had to choose if I should colour them or use the grey scale effect on the image. However, I decided that the grey scale colour scheme looked more effective as it looked sophisticated and it was less time consuming as I didn’t really have to mess on with changing the colour, brightness etc. This was useful as the photography was poor on the project anyway, so I had more time to focus on the other aspects of the magazine instead rather than worry about this.

I tried to experiment as much as I could with Photoshop and InDesign to ensure that I knew all of the features properly and that I had a range. This was effective as it made my magazine look much more versatile and vary, rather than a standard magazine style. Moreover, I used the same text all throughout the contents and on the front cover. I believe this was effective as it meant that too much wasn’t going on to make it look unprofessional and messy. This made the magazine have a set scheme of font which was quite easy to read and not too fancy or simple either. It proved to be effective for my target audience as it meant there wasn’t a lot of text for them to read because this would be too boring for them and they would lose interest.