Toms School Magazine Evaluation

Evaluating My School Magazine

Purpose and Audience

When creating the school magazine cover there were many things that had to be thought about. One of the main things was audience and purpose. The purpose is particularly important as this is what draws the potential readers to the magazine. The main purpose of the magazine is to inform the reader. If the purpose of the cover is in correct then the viewer will not have a full idea of what the magazine is actually about. In order to achieve the right audience and purpose I had to use relevant images of pupils etc as these are then aimed at the right audience (the pupils) and fulfilled the purpose of the magazine at the same time. The use of starbursts and tasters also helped towards this. However it was important when using images on the cover that they were positive in order to give a positive and up beat approach to the school life. In my magazine cover I think that I managed to create the correct audience and purpose as if someone was to look at the cover they would know what the magazine was about as well as knowing who the magazine is aimed at.

Research

The research that I carried out before creating my magazine was very useful. The reason for this was because it was able to give me a base to start my magazine on. This meant that even though the first draft was not perfect changes were able to made according to what feedback I received from other pupils of the school. This was good as it enabled me to have a wider range of ideas. Also as part of my research I was able to look at existing magazines which also gave me an idea of how to layout the magazine as well as what techniques I could include and also where to lay things out in order to make it effective. I also created a questionnaire in order to help me carry out the research.

Planning

The planning stage helped me to achieve my final version of the magazine in several ways. One way that it helped me was that it enabled me to gain a better understanding of magazine covers. Also by planning before actually making the cover enabled me to easily make changes as well as enabling me to plan out several different ideas. This meant that I could then choose the one that I thought was best, although I also had to think about the results from my feedback in order to cerate a magazine cover that the majority of the audience would like.

Images

The images that I have used for my magazine cover are both appropriate and of a good quality. They instantly give the reader a good impression of the school as the images that I have used are positive ones in order to draw potential readers towards the magazine. Also the images that I used were suitable for both the audience and purpose as they were pictures of pupils in different lessons within the school. When obtaining the pictures for use within my cover I did not really encounter any problems as the pictures were from the schools own website and so although the pictures are from a secondary source I did not need any permission to use them.

Language and Tone of Address

The language that I have used on my magazine cover is quite effective as it is formal as well as being easy to understand. This means that people wont mind reading it as they will not have to really concentrate and so will be able to relax whilst enjoying the magazine.

Also the tone of address is quite casual/ chatty style as the magazine is aimed at school pupils and so if it was not put across in this tone then pupils may not be encouraged to read the magazine as they will want it in a tone that makes them enjoy the magazine more.

Fonts

There were several things that I had to think about when choosing which font would be best to use. As well as choosing which font to use I also had to consider what size the font was going to be. I needed to choose a font that looked casual but bold in order to catch the attention of the reader, but as well as matching the tone of address. I also had to consider what colours I was going to use in order to make the font tie in with the rest of the magazine but not blend in too much to the background as this would make it harder to read.

Other Presentational Devices

I have used presentational devices quite effectively in my product. I have included several starbursts on my magazine cover, as these help to catch the attention of my audience. Also the images that I have used have been used efficiently as it gives the audience a clear view on life within the school. On top of this, I have included bold text on my front cover in order to also help attract the attention of the audience. Furthermore, within my front cover I have tried to incorporate bright colours to make the magazine look more interesting so that more people will want to read it.

Layout

Throughout making my front cover I considered the rule of thirds. In the hot spot areas I placed my main story and image to show this is the main reason for the magazine. I used the principle of the eye line sight, by placing my magazines name in the primary optical area. I placed a starburst in the bottom left dead zone in order to draw attention to the area as information is often missed by the reader when in this place because of the natural reading direction (top left to bottom right).

Front Cover

The most effective aspect of my front cover is my main image. This is because, it is the biggest feature that is incorporated within my design, and therefore, attention is drawn to this instantly by my target audience. The least effective aspect of my magazine are located in the ‘dead zones’ and are the school logo, this isn’t important as only Eaton bank pupils will be reading the magazine and will therefore not need to know which school it belongs to. If I were to reproduce a new magazine in order to eliminate this problem I would use the dead zones more effectively in order to make use of the space that is available.

Contents Page

The most effective aspects of my contents page is, the layout of my design, as it uses shapes as a format to place the writing, in order to make the contents page look more interesting and to make the continuity of the magazine carry on from the front cover to the contents page. The least effective aspect of my contents page is the contact information as it shows no originality and pupils within the school would not need to know this


information as they have it in their planner. Next time I will not include this information on my contents page or if I did would make it look more exciting.

House Style

The house style of my magazine works effectively as my front cover and contents page work well together. The main reason for this is because the background on both pages is exactly the same which alone shows continuity. Also I have used the same fonts on each of the pages to also add to this effect. The images that I have used are also similar in order to continue the house style. I don’t think that the design of my house style could compliment each other much more as I have used the same things on each page.

Market Research

Before even considering to make my magazine I first had to do some market research in order to get the best result possible. I decided to do this by making a questionnaire to ask potential readers of my magazine. My chosen target market thought that the front cover of my magazine was to a suitable standard and thought that it worked effectively. However some people gave me improvements for my work which included things such as, a more unisex colour scheme, main story title should be shorter and more catchy and the school logo should not have a white background as it looks as though it has been stuck on separately. These suggestions would help me to improve my design when making a future magazine cover and contents page.

Using technology in production

I have used technology to help me research, plan and construct my final design. I researched current school magazine front covers on the internet in order to plan a suitable and appropriate design. When making the final construction of my magazine front cover and contents page I used technology to edit my design to make it the best it could possibly be. The benefits of using technology were that it is quicker and more convenient than doing it by hand. I didn’t encounter many problems; however a problem I did encounter was that there weren’t very many examples of school magazines on the internet this made it harder for me to complete thorough research.

Time management

I used my time wisely as I didn’t spend any extra time that wasn’t needed. However, I didn’t rush my design as it took time to get it how me and my intended target audience want it. The most time consuming aspect was analysing my results from the market research. My personal targets if I were to complete a further magazine would be to spend less time on drafting my magazine by hand as this can be done on the computer and my final design was changed a lot from my initial thoughts.

Lessons to be learnt

My biggest success in my opinion was, the overall presentation of my contents page. The biggest difficulty was that it was more time consuming than first thought. I have learnt to create shorter more catchy titles for stories within my magazine, and to ensure every aspect of my magazine is relevant to the purpose of my magazine. I feel that I am prepared for my main exercise as I have discovered what areas I need to work on and which areas take more time than first thought.