The document discusses the student's work creating their first college magazine cover and contents page. They evaluated their use of color, Photoshop techniques, photography, InDesign, content selection, and room for improvement. The student was pleased with their contents page design but felt their cover photo could have been better. Overall they were happy with their first attempt but know they need more practice with photography, adventurous designs, and developing a unique style.

1. College magazine
evaluation
In this PowerPoint I will go through my success and
failures at creating my first college magazine cover and
content page

2. Colour scheme
 I believe the colours that I have chosen for the college
magazine are great, I believe this because they both stand
out very well on the background colour. Green and yellow
really give it a unique look as well as not many college
magazines use these colours together. Also with the black
background no one will have an issue with seeing the
information.
 Green, Yellow, Black

3. Photoshop techniques
 During my work I used Photoshop quite a bit, I learned how
to quickly and effectively remove a background from pictures,
allowing me to use the actual people in other backgrounds, I
accomplished this with a combination of the magnetic lasso,
the quick selection tool and the magic wand. I first used the
quick selection tool to remove the majority of the background,
I then used the magnetic lasso to make a finer cut of the
people in the foreground, then I finished it off by smoothing
the edges of the cut out so it looked less jagged.

4. Photography
 This would have to be my weakest field, the picture I took
were not very good, the cover page photo looks like I have
been given terrible news, I still do not know why I looked so
miserable. My other piece of photography was not as bad, I
managed to edit the picture and put the subjects of the
picture on to another background that was related to the
story. I could have improved it immensely by adding other
props, or by just taking more photos, the more the merrier
right.

5. InDesign
 I believe I did very well in this section, as I quickly adjusted
myself to InDesign, it allowed me to quickly organise the way
my magazine would look. With the use of the features such
as stroke I was able to create a nice border around the
majority of my kickers. Also with the help of the borders I was
able to make slight adjustments to pictures added very easily.

6. Content
 The content to be included in the magazine was greatly
influenced by the questionnaire answers I received, for
instance as many people noted that they frequently either
listened or wrote music I thought it was best to give a music
section four pages. This can be seen again as many people
mentioned they enjoyed going online to either use social
media or just spend their time, it is because of this why I
decided to give the internet section of the magazine five
pages. The only piece of content that was not directly a result
of the questionnaire was the niche product, that is why it only
has two pages

7. Improvements
 The area I could have improved the most in is probably photography, I had never used a
camera before so I was really unsure in how the whole process worked, plus I am quite
a shy person so I did not feel comfortable having my picture taken, which is clearly
shown on my front cover as I look like I'm about to start crying. Unfortunately I also had
a lack of props so I could not recreate many of my articles. This will all be rectified in
my music magazine as I should have the opportunity to take a camera home.
 Another improvement I could have made was to be more adventurous with my designs,
I myself am happy with them, but considering what my subjects were I could have gone
a little more extreme.
 I also could have attempted to make a more dynamic style, I believe I could have made
a better looking cover page, my contents page I am happy with.

8. Positives
 I am very happy with the design of the contents page and the
front cover, slightly more with the contents page as I believe
that it is a very unique design, the cover page however I felt
was very generic, I will probably go with a more unique look
in my music magazine.
 I am also happy with the progress I have made with my
Photoshop skills, I have learned how to effectively remove
people from backgrounds of shots, and the tools available to
me.

9. Reaction
 I have shown my work to a couple of people. They mostly
mention the upset look on my face, however some of them
criticised my choice of colours., as some of the colours
clashed with the background of the image. I did however
receive praise for the way my contents page was set out.
One friend mentioned “ it was a good idea to put pictures of
the articles at the side, so people can see exactly what the
article is about”.

10. Style
 I had decided that I would focus on learning the mechanics of
Photoshop and InDesign, this is why the style I had chosen
was quite boring. Its actually not that noticeable which is a
little disappointing, I will aim to improve my work in the next
section of work.

11. Opinion of the final product
 Overall I am pleased with my first attempt at creating a
magazine cover and contents page, I had some issues at first
put I am happy with my final colours green and yellow, as
they stand out very well, along with the fact that the
combination of the two is quite unique. I will just need more
practice in making sure that they sit well with the background
and that they can actually be read.
 I do wish that I could be more comfortable with having my
picture taken as the ones I have available are pretty bad, the
one used was the best picture I found and as you can see I
look very uncomfortable, this does not improve the
presentation of the magazine.