My Preliminary Task Victoria Summers

Evaluation

  In order to begin the task of creating my own student new letter, I needed to begin by doing some research. The two

magazines in which I researched into was GLAMOUR and The HENLEY STUDENT NEWS LETTER. From these magazines, I learnt that in order to target the ideal audience, the Title has to be big and bold, with bright colours. For instance, the Henley news letter had a thin bold blue title, to bring in the audience of the Henley students as it is the schools colour and with the boldness capture’s their eyes. Once I had done the research, I began planning for my magazine. In order for my magazine to appeal to the modern day teenage audience I was aiming for, I needed the news letter to be classy but at the same time modern. In order to do this, I planned to have news gripping snippets of information on the front cover of the magazine, concerning the latest music, which is a great appeal to modern day teenagers, and knowledge that the students needed to know, such as term times and trips. I then decided to have my main image in the background, this way the audience to then focus on the snippets and information, rather than the image. The image itself was of a student, this allows the target audience to relate with it as one of them, allowing to form an almost community, as it’s addressed directly to them. I created my magazine, through Adobe InDesgin and Photoshop. I think the process of researching, before starting the making process is very successful as it allows you , to pick up the conventions used to bring your target audience in. It also stops you from rushing into an idea, which may not be as thought out as you believed. Although the research helped me to create my magazine, I still think I could improve my magazine. One way which I could improve it, is by changing the variations of fonts, although I changed a fair amount of the fonts, it makes my magazine seem less professional as it’s very tacky on the changing of fonts and colours. I would also improve by spending more time on taking pictures and cropping out the background on Photoshop as, the picture i used were not to the highest standard, which processional magazine’s have.

Before starting this project, I had no skills on either Photoshop or Indesgin. During the course of this project, I have learnt how to add text, import pictures, resize images and crop the unwanted background away. I also learnt how each programme works EG it works by building up the layers to create the final piece. By learning how to use these two programs, it has lead to my magazine becoming a higher standard than if I had used any other programme and allowed me to expand my knowledge of programs.

The audience feedback I was given suggests Ii need more work on the text’s I use, the placement of the main image and the appropriateness for the audience. By reading this feedback, I have decided that next time, I shall not drastically change the formats of the text as drastically as it adds a more of an in your face attitude and I shall add a more mature tone, with more description into the articles on the front page. As this was my first ever attempt at making a magazine I found it very successful as I found some areas in which I can improve on for next time. In order to improve next time, i will spend more time on comparing my research to my magazine; this will allow my magazine to have a higher professional standard.