eval

1. Evaluation
By Leah Ellis

2. Type Of Content
I used some photography within my fanzine that was taken by myself on a plain
background so that I could cut around it more clearly without any of the
background showing through the transparent areas of the object. This was quite
hard but ended up developing my skills with removing backgrounds as I was intent
on making sure that it was just the object, otherwise it could have been much
harder to fit into my colour scheme.
I have also written articles to include, such as my “now what?” article in order to
give some advice around what the endless possibilities are with the beads. I
included just a couple of these through the fanzine as the main reason for this was
patterns and a small bit of advice.

3. I have not included any adverts in this as I feel they would be more suited to an
official magazine instead of a fanzine where it is purely around the one subject
instead of expanding and distracting the reader. I have also chosen this as I feel that
it would be more appropriate for this fanzine as it is to be accessible for people of
all ages, and I should not be advertising things to younger children.
I have done some online images of the patterns that I created, due to it being, what
I think, is much easier for the readers to understand when they may want to be
making the designs themselves. I feel that I did this quite clearly, and so I am very
happy with how this worked out even though it took quite a lot of work to get it
sorted.

4. Design
My entire design has been very led by the design and appeal of the content, this being Hama beads that
are quite a childish, bright thing that are seen as quite soft, and gentle. I have incorporated this look into
my zine by making the textboxes with such curled edges to the textboxes which I tried to make into the
style of the pegboards.
My colour scheme was created from the mid-tone of each of the Hama bead colours available. I took
photos of the beads and used a colour picker to try get the most accurate colour possible from each
selection. This could have easily been overwhelming for the readers as it is a lot of colours, but I feel as
they were all similar enough and in the same sort of colour family.
I tried to have quite a balanced text to image ratio on some pages, and other pages I felt were more
important to be more image based as the topic that I created this about is quite a visual one and so it was
more important to present the readers with many images so that they could see what I was trying to get
across. The main way that I did this was on my pattern pages, I wanted to use the images of the patterns in
order to get my readers to be able to see it very obviously as to what I was wanting.
I have found a few fonts online that were free for use, and were seemingly pixelated, which worked very
well with my overall design and that I feel, and I’ve had some feedback about it fitting the design due to
the pixelated appearance of the beads and font.

5. Subject And Context
My fanzine covers the subject of Hama beads, which are little beads
that you put on a pegboard and iron together to make patterns. This is
an activity that generally has an age range of 5+, so it is to be accessible
for those of all ages. I have constructed my writing style around this
fact and kept my writing simple and with minimal complex words. I
have used quite a direct mode of address to make it seem a little more
personal to the reader, using phrases like “for you lot to try” and “all
you”. I feel like this just allows the reader to interact more and feel
slightly more connected to the fanzine and the writer than if it was very
formal and seemed to ignore them directly as a lot of magazines do.

6. The fanzine was created in the context of being more open and having access to
the craft, with a very simple way to find patterns and activities. I did this as I myself
use the internet a lot to help me with it and yet I myself often find myself struggling
to find information in just one place with having to go to multiple different sources
for anything. This is in a time where there is this information available readily
around the internet, although it can be slightly confusing finding sources for it all.
This has started to be condensed in some ways. For example, if you go onto
Pinterest then you can find pretty much all the things that I have said in different
ways. I do however, feel this fanzine could help create more of a community to get
together and discuss as I currently only see small groups of people around different
people’s blogs around the subject.

7. Critically reflect on learning to
inform personal development
Personally, I have found that by doing this work, it has allowed me to
develop my abilities for layout and colour correction. This is because I
have been doing very little colour alterations in my work, and so I am
not quite too familiar with how to do it very well. This experience has
helped me be more familiar with how to alter the colours of images to
make them seem more accurate to real life, or the designs around it.
It has also given me the ability to practice making more layouts, which I
really enjoy as it helps me see how to alter a simple design to fit in with
the theme of what it is for.

8. Peer Feedback 1
1) How do you feel the design (including colour choice) works for the fanzine?
I think the colour scheme is perfect for the item you have chosen to advertise and having your pages
different colours of those little beads is actually really interesting and works quite well.
2) How do you feel the images fit into the fanzine appropriately and in the correct places or would you
decide to move them to more accurate places?
The images in the magazine are well thought out and I like the way it shapes the text on some of the pages.
Maybe scatter/spread the images out a little bit more to make it look more unique.
3) What do you particularly like about it?
I like the patterns page because you not only show people the pattern but also how many different coloured
beads it will take for them to make it. I also like the rainbow coloured front cover.
4) If you could change anything, what would it be?
The only thing I would change is the interview because the answers are a little bit short and it sounds
almost like 1 word answers.

9. Peer Feedback 2
1) How do you feel the design (including colour choice) works for the fanzine?
I think that the designs and colour choice work really well for your fanzine because you have
gone for a more vibrant style which gives the impression which this is aimed more for the
younger generation which if so hits the nail on the head. Also with the designs you have
gone for a pixelated look which Is nice because it shows that you have made them yourself
and not copied them.
2) How do you feel the images fit into the fanzine appropriately and in the correct places or
would you decide to move them to more accurate places?
I think that the images are in the correct places because you want to make sure that they
are not crammed together because it would leave you with nothing else throughout the
fanzine, also I like that you have made sure to only a one or two per dps because It leaves
space for more information.

10. 3) What do you particularly like about it?
I really like the text because you have made it to look like a video game, which is
cool because it is quite abstract in comparison to other fanzines. Also I like the use
of the pattern images because you have given both your work on a computer and
real life pictures.
4) If you could change anything, what would it be?
Something which I would change would be some of the images because you have
left the background on them so they kind of look weird for example on the sixth
page which Is green you have the white boxes with images inside of them which I
don’t think go very well with the colour scheme for this page, but it could be simple
and easy to change them to work with the colour scheme. Also something else I
would change would be that you have tried to make every page pop out at you but
I think that for some of the pages you should keep it more subtle. And also the
interview because the answers are very short, and It should say ”Spooky” instead
of “Spoopy” on the theme page.

11. Peer Feedback 3
1) How do you feel the design (including colour choice) works for the fanzine?
I think the design goes really well with the theme. The colour choice’s are very vibrant and colourful. You
can definitely tell what age your fanzine is.
2) How do you feel the images fit into the fanzine appropriately and in the correct places or would you
decide to move them to more accurate places?
Nope, I think the images fit right there in their place. There is still space around the images which shows
that the images are not stuck together. However, there is one image where the image looks too tight.
3) What do you particularly like about it?
I like how you have carefully thought about what you were going to add into it. As you have added in
things about storage and placed images there with it to show what kind of containers you’ve got
yourself. I like it how you’ve got your Instagram link on there too. The interview is very good too, I think
you interviewed the right person because they clearly like Hama beads.
4) If you could change anything, what would it be?
I think there may be too much text for someone young to read.