The document provides an evaluation of a magazine cover that was created. It describes several conventions that were followed in the design, such as using a bold masthead in a contrasting color to stand out, including subtitles to explain the magazine contents, and using a small font size. It also notes one convention that was broken by using the school background instead of a plain color. The target audience of students is discussed, and how the colorful design would appeal to them more than a plain design. The cover line is also evaluated as being simple and clear about the magazine contents. The last paragraph discusses tools in Photoshop that were used to create and edit the design elements.

1. Evaluation
A convention I used was having a bold masthead to make it clear what the title is which is
called “Next step” and I made it a completely different colour to the rest of the magazine to
make it stand out because if I made it blue or orange it would be harder to recognize the
magazine title. Another convention I followed was having subtitles around the cover to
explain what is in the magazine and make the front mage have more substance. Also I had
small font, similar to other magazines so I can fit in images around it. However I went
against the convention of having a plain coloured background and instead I added the
background of the school as the magazine is about it.
My magazine is colourful as my target audience is the students and they would be attracted
to a colourful magazine rather than a plain one which would not stand out and would be
more suitable for older readers. My cover line is “All you need about school life” which sums
up what the magazine will feature and simple for readers to understand what the magazine
is about as having a complicated cover line may confuse the reader and this cover line is
straight to the point. My magazine also has the colours of the school so it makes it clear the
magazine is part of the school. If the magazine had a different colour scheme it may not be
clear what the magazine is for and would not be clear for the audiences and if it was a
younger reader they would instantly know it’s a magazine for their school.
To produce the magazine I used cs5 Photoshop which has many tools and uses to be able to
edit Photoshop. I learned you had to use a specific type of page to create a front cover for a
magazine which should be A4 and international paper. I also learned to transform and scale
the pictures I put on the page using (ctrl+T) which allows to me to put the pictures at any
size I want. Also another useful tool I used was the magic wand tool which allowed me to
delete parts of a picture I did not want for example an image may have a white background
to it and this tool allows me to get rid of it and have just the image itself. To create the
colouring and type of font I used the tools at the top of the page which allowed me to adjust
the font the way I wanted. Also for my masthead I used image layer edit which allowed to
add features such as “glow” or “shadow”.
For my positives of my magazine I believe the magazine is consistent with its style and
colours which makes it easy to follow. My colour scheme is a strength because it is
consistent and reflects the image of the school. Also Magazine cover is easy to follow and
the text is readable. However my weaknesses are the lighting of my magazine which is a
little dark which does not reflect the tone of my magazine. Also the layout is uneven as I
have more writing on one side.