Task 4- Evaluation and Audience Feedback

Evaluation & audience feedback

For my media assignment three my task was to produce a front cover and contents page for a college magazine. Before actually creating my LSC magazine I researched on how college magazines looked on the internet. I had found that many of them had images of happy students who looked very smart. I also found that the images of the model were not a full length shot; the creator showed a medium-close up image of a student. They focussed on how the student dressed and what he or she was holding. This would be if they were dressed smartly o dressed like a teenager, as well as books in their hands and I.D. badges around their necks. The images were of professional looking students and expressed how they would expect an ‘ideal student’. The models were also directly looking at the audience, direct contact.  To add to this from my research I have found that the colour scheme creators used represented the college’s logo.

I think that producing a magazine for the first time went well for me, the criteria was set for college students, and therefore I created a magazine for the target audience. To begin, I had to plan out how I would possible want my college magazine to look. I completed this by just creating a sketch on Microsoft Word, including all the aspects of a college magazine. To add to this, I think that this allowed me to have an idea of how I wanted my college magazine to look and also be organised. Secondly, I travelled around college to take photographs whilst finding possible models. I took a variety of photos with students participating in different activities. The places I took photos in were in the field, canteen and a classroom-look scene. The photographs that I took had to fit the specified genre and look of the magazine.

Front cover

On the task sheet the specification insisted on a body shots of model. My front cover had an image of a student who wore her college I.D. badge and folder. I made this image my front cover as it was a medium close up shot and it worked well with the colour scheme. The text (subheadings, sky lines, cover lines and masthead) were all on the top of the main image. This made my text and additional images stand out and eye catching. The reason why I used the colours yellow and white was to show the relevance of LSC’s logo. In addition, I place the barcode at the bottom of the page on the front cover so that customers will be able to see the price quickly without hassle.  

The set price my magazine would be sold for was at £3.99, I think that this is a fairly reasonable price and many magazines sold in stores are price similarly or at a higher price. I also put in this price as I have stated that the magazine will come with free coupons. I think that the free coupons would most likely draw the attention of consumers, this may also conclude that I will get more copies of magazine sold.

As I asked for feedback from my peers I had gotten a range of positive and negative views. They positive aspects were that the colour scheme look bold and bright therefore it was eye catching. In addition it matched with LSC’s logo, this was my aim. I had also been told that I successfully made it look like a typical magazine, this is good as this style looks appealing. The fact that I used different font types, colours and sizes is said to be good. The cover lines looked attractive and also referred inside to the contents page. Lastly, the ‘free coupon inside’ has also given me positive feedback, this is because the free coupons were good for students who are on a budget and appealed to everyone.

However, as I asked for feedback from classmates I have had criticisms as well as positive words. Criticisms of my front cover were that I will need experiment with different angles for photography, this will make my photos look better as well as appeal to the eyes of consumers. I do believe that I should have used the others photos I took as the main image however, I did not make them as medium close up photos. I have also been told that it did not look appealing as the face of the model was not shown. I have also been criticised for the masthead not being bold enough, I could agree that it went well with the colour scheme however the gradient made the colour yellow dull.

            The overall experience of creating the front cover of the college magazine was fun, although at first I did struggle with using Adobe Photoshop and I restarted a numerous amount of times. However, now I know that I have had practice and I can become better next time.  

Below is an image of the feedback which I received from students in my media class. 

Contents page

For the second part of my assignment I was told to create the contents for my college magazine. For this part I used the InDesign software which I have had little practice with. When I looked on the internet for contents pages of magazine they did not look too complex or too simple. They were still attractive and the colour scheme and texts referred to front cover. I had gained inspiration from them however I kept to my normal idea of a college magazine contents page.

The images I used were for the contents page were taken on different locations with students doing different things. These activities related to student life e.g. work in the study, friends and in a classroom. The contents page required sections, images, number of pages and the editor’s letter. I did include page numbers and images as well as make it look attractive but basic.

I asked for feedback from classmates as a task and I received many criticisms as well as positive words. I have been criticised for not including sections and not being organised. This is because of a typo and I had gotten the page numbers wrong. This cannot happen on a real magazine therefore the criticism has allowed me to reflect on my work for the future. I have also been criticised for the amount of text and images on my front cover. I have been told that there should be more of an input and more features due to the ‘empty’ look.

Advantages of my contents page was this it is easy to understand as its very simple. I have also received feedback for the colour scheme as it went well together as well as with the rest of the magazine.

Below is an image of the comments I have received from students in my class for my contents page.

Overall producing the front cover and contents page for my college magazine went well for me. Although i did struggle i did feel as though it was going well for me during the beginning with using all the softwares however, I did get used to it. I felt as the colour scheme i went for (yellow and white) worked very well with LSC's logo.