Evaluation for magazine contents page

What works?I feel the gutter on the contents page looks good. I think that it a nice width showing a clear definition between the columns.

I also like the images on the contents page because I think they go well with their stories. I think the lead image of Surya, the Brit singer, looks very effective because it looks like a natural image. She looks as if she is doing a stereotypically posh pose in the same way as she did on the front cover. I think that because the poses link it helps create a link between the image which makes the contents and cover look they are part of the same magazine.

What went well, carried on…Leading on from the idea that the images show the pages are part of the same magazine I feel that I have created an excellent house style. I feel this because I have used similar colours throughout the front cover and contents page such as the Claret colour which was used for the lead line on the front and the headline on the contents. Another thing that shows this is the use of the “C” from the left third on the front cover in the same place on the contents page. This was done so the reader can see that it is all linked and thought about. The reason I used the left third was because this is the part of the masthead which distinguishes the magazine from others. As you can see the arrows on the images show some of the things which are similar, which create the house style.

What doesn’t work?I don’t think the way the page titles and numbers are placed work well. I don’t feel it looks very professional. I feel the problem maybe that there is too much whitespace between each one.

I am also not sure if the green for the numbers is right. I feel the green stands out too much and takes it away from everything else on the page. I don’t feel the page numbers need this much attention whereas the image does but your eyes are not drawn to it straight away because of the numbers.

What was easy?I found creating the house style for the contents was easy because I knew which how I wanted it to look and what colours I wanted to use.Another thing I found easy was getting the right image for the contents, for the lead image I knew I wanted something similar to the one on the front cover so I used the same model and got her to pose in a similar way. This was useful as well to help create the house style as I have previously spoke about. As for the other image I wanted to have one which was slightly different to the stereotypical posh pose. I wanted one which linked well with the story so I am in this image. The reason I chose to be in it was because I felt it was easier to get the models to pose how I wanted. We all posed like we were having a really good time because that’s what the story is about.

What was difficult?

I found deciding the titles for each page difficult because I did not want to give too much away about the stories but I wanted them to sound interesting so people want to read them. I knew to do this I needed something short and snappy.Another thing I found difficult was highlighting the difference between the features and regulars. I did not want it to have the headings because I felt this looks amateur so instead I used different colours. This took a lot of time to decide how I wanted it to look.

What have I learnt?

I have learnt about how useful it is for a magazine to have a house style and the benefits of having one such as; it can make a magazine look more professional and like it links together.I have also learnt about how a magazine contents should be laid out to make it look less amateur and more professional. For example I did not know about a gutter, the space between two columns or a double page but, now I do I feel I have used it well in my contents page.

If I had all the money in the world and all the time what would I change?

If I had all the time and money in the world I would change the titles of the pages so they were more interesting making you want to read them and I would change the way the numbers look because as I have previously mentioned on another slide I feel they take too much away from the rest of the page. I would find away to make the numbers still stand out but not as much as the images with still keeping to my house style. Another thing I may change would be the background colour because it looks washed out.

Magazines I can compare it to…I would compare my magazine to PreMedLife because I kept to a house style of bright colours as does this magazine. They use the purple and red throughout. Another reason I would compare to this magazine is because of the use of images. Both of our images are the key point on the page and aim to draw your eyes. We both did this by making the images brighter than the text on the page.Also one more thing would be the way we both use a bold text with for the headline and a bright colour which links with front of the magazine.