Analysis of another students work for my blog.

1. STUDENT ANALYSIS
Look at an existing project – analyse the
strengths and weaknesses and what you
would like to take forward from it

2. This is a 25 mark magazine and from first looking at
it I can immediately see why. The front cover is
crowded which would make some readers instantly
turn away and this ruins the magazine. If there had
been a plainer background, then it may make the
image stand out to the readers even more. On the
magazine front cover these students have made a
common error which is to include too many different
colours on the front of their magazine. If they had
stuck to two or three colours this would make the
magazine more presentable and therefore would
engage more readers. The headline doesn’t have
great relevance to the image which is shown
because there is no evidence that they have
received a mobo award. I also think that the other
headlines let the student down, as by reading these
they do not interest me to read further on into the
magazine as I feel like the magazine producers are
actually not bothered about what their magazine
includes. I like the fact that they have included the
issue number of the magazine but feel like it has
been wrongly placed as this would suit better being
under the title of the magazine. Overall I feel like this
front cover is too crowded, and doesn’t exactly
follow the structure of the magazines I have
researched. I feel like if the front cover was stripped
down a bit then I may want to actually open the
magazine but the use of so many different colours
provides distractions and therefore people are not
focused on what they should be.

3. I like the fact that the contents page uses the
subheadings “regulars” and “features” as I think
this gives a sense of the magazine being frequently
wrote so readers will know what to expect. I think
that most of the page descriptions are accurately
sized, as they are not to long and will not bore the
reader. I feel like the images are just placed there
to fill in the rest of the spaces and the yellow and
blue background takes away from the colour
scheme of black red and white used on this page. If
they had kept this consistent on the contents page
then I feel like this could have improved their grade
and also enabled them to have been able to say
they used a house style throughout the magazine. I
feel like the background is again taking away the
feel of the magazine and makes the page feel too
crowded and that too much is going on. I’m going
to avoid a busy background which could cause the
reader to read on instead of focusing on the
contents page because I believe that the contents
page is one of the main pages and where the
reader will find the most information about what to
expect throughout the magazine. I also don’t see
why they have included the small
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Flickr icons at the
top because there is no evidence as to what the
links are and as it is a magazine they are not able
to click and be directly taken to these sites.

4. From looking at this magazine
I can see exactly what not to
do especially on the double
page spread as I feel like this
is the area that lets the
magazine down the most. I
will make sure I make each
page eye catching and that it
engages the reader instead of
looking like it has just been
thrown together. I will also
ensure I include a large image
as I feel like this is what lets
this page down as it is lacking
a break up between the text
which could appear boring to
the readers.
Instantly even looking at this page I can see that not many marks would have been awarded due to the fact the page is
messy and not organised in a good way. The title doesn’t really stand out due to the black text on a burgundy background. I
feel like the double page spread should stand out more to the readers but if I was to open a magazine which featured this I
wouldn’t read as the text its too small and spread out which makes it seem like its not part of the same article. I like the fact
that the quotes which are in the middle of the page don’t have a red box around them as I feel this attracts the reader into
reading the quotes before the actual article/questions. I feel like this group has let themselves down by not including a large
image which is what you would typically expect in an article like this, I feel like without that the double page spread seems to
be mainly text which can be off putting for readers who like to have a balance between images and what they are going to
read. The fact that the questions have a black background and the answers have a red background ruins this page as I think
this is a bad way to present an interview, the page looks like it has just been thrown together and I don’t think that it helps
that these text boxes are not in line and therefore makes the page look extremely messy.