- The document evaluates the front cover and contents page of a magazine about dance. - On the front cover, the author notes some improvements could be made such as making the masthead bigger and bolder. They also included competitions to attract readers. - For the contents page, the author chose pastel pink and blue colors that appeal to their target audience of teenage girls. They structured the page clearly but would add more context to the photos next time.

1. Front Cover &
Contents Evaluation
By Beth Upchurch

2. Front Cover When looking back at my magazine front
cover for my main music magazine task in
the future I will definitely make sure that
the masthead is a lot bigger and bolder as
mine is quite small in this one and ideally
the masthead should be big and bold to
attract a bigger audience of people.
I also included ‘Competitions’ on the
front cover to try and persuade the
audience to purchase the magazine for a
chance to win something. I made sure
both of these headlines were in large
writing so it could be seen easily from a
distance.
I decided to keep the background of my
magazine front cover the same as the
picture as it suited it perfectly and
allowed me to add different styles and
colours of text easily. The neutral tone
of the walls is great for emphasizing my
masthead ‘Kings Academy of Dance”.
I like that the dancer isn’t looking
directly at the audience because if she
was I don’t think the correct angle
would’ve been captured and the
alignment of her body wouldn’t have
worked on my magazine cover.
I used a medium close up picture of a
dance student; I made sure that the
dance logo on her top was visible to make
it look more professional and realistic.
Also when taking this image for the front
cover I made sure that she was in a still
dance position which clearly displays that
she is a dancer and reveals the main
genre of my magazine.
The main cover line is big and bold
which stands out and can be seen from
a distance, which is what I was aiming
for. Also I chose to put the main cover
line there due to the black background
of the dancer’s top which really
emphasizes the light blue writing
making it very effective and eye-catching.

3. Front Cover (Continued)
I also made sure that on
the front cover for the
sub-lines that they had
headlines, which would
appeal to my target
audience and persuade
them to purchase the
magazine. For example, I
wrote ‘Bill Whelan –
Exclusive Interview’. This
would appeal to my target
audience as he is a very
well-known dance
choreographer for River
dance (Irish) and many
girls are inspired by him
and his work so maybe
tempted to purchase this
magazine to read the
interview.
The colour palette and
theme I used on both my
magazine front cover and
contents page were mainly
light blue and baby pink. I
wanted to stick to pastel
colours due to having a
neutral background. Also I
thought about the genre of
my magazine which is
dance and I thought about
how Ballet uniform is baby
pink and linked that with
the colour theme of my
magazine. Additionally, my
main target audience for
this magazine is teenage
girls (13+) and pastel
colours are more girly
which therefore may stand
out more to girls and
highlight that this
magazine is for girls.

4. Does it reflect my plan? What would you improve?
The front cover is quite similar to my original plan I made. However,
as I was making the front cover I thought of new and better ideas
which were different to my original plan. The features I kept the same
from my plan were the positioning of the Masthead, main image,
cover lines, barcode and the issue number etc. The features I didn’t
keep in the same place were the lead article because when I put the
main image onto the magazine where I had originally planned for the
lead article to be the dancers arm was there, so if I was to put it in
front of the dancers arm it would of messed up the alignment and
would’ve of made my magazine front cover look unprofessional. I also
didn’t put a tag line on my front cover which I had planned to do
looking back at my plan. I would improve the positioning of the cover
lines next time and definitely make the Masthead bigger which I had
planned to do.

5. Contents Page I decided that my colour
scheme for my magazine would
be pastel colours and the two
main pastel colours I chose
were baby pink and light blue.
On my contents page the
background is baby pink which
appeals to most of my target
audience (13+ girls). I used
baby pink as it’s a close related
colour for Ballet dance which is
very popular for my target
audience and links well with
my genre of my magazine.
The word ‘Contents’ is written
in big, bold and black writing.
I also added an outer glow
and shadowing to the letters
on Photoshop to make it
stand out and eye-catching.
On the left side of the
Contents page I displayed
what was on each page of the
magazine and I put the text in
a light blue box (relating to
my colour theme closely) so
that the text stands out and is
very clear to the readers. I
have tried to include a variety
of different stories, interviews
to appeal to my audience and
make them want to look at
every page.
The layout of what is
featured on each page is
very well structured and
organised which makes it
clear and easy to read and
understand what is in this
magazine.

6. Contents Page (Continued)
I included a few pictures on the
contents page which I had
planned to do as people tend to
look at pictures more than
reading lots of text. However, I
had planned to include text
under the pictures so that
people know what page these
feature on if they like the
pictures but I didn’t have
enough room as I have
previously said so looking back
on my contents page the
pictures look a bit random and
could confuse some of the
readers. I would definitely
improve that when I do my main
magazine in the future.
At the bottom of the
contents page it says “Page
2 – Meet the Dancers” and I
have included a picture next
to it so that people can have
a sneak preview of what will
be featured on that
particular page and could
persuade them to turn to
that page. I put a lilac box
around that text which isn’t
part of my two main colours
for my magazine but it is still
a pastel colour and because
it’s different people might
notice that and look at the
text and the page I’m
promoting within my
magazine.

7. Contents Page (Continued)
On one of my photos
on the contents page
the dancer has a
shadow behind her
which takes away the
main effect of her.
Unfortunately, I didn’t
have enough pictures
to replace that image
and use a better one.
So for the future, I
know to take a wide
range and variety of
images so if they don’t
look how I thought
they would on my
magazine I can easily
change them and try
out new ideas.
The light blue box I put
on the Contents page
helps the text to really
stand out and emphasise
what is on each page
which is really effective
and looks professional.
The other photos that featured
in my contents pages were good
too, but I would of liked to of
got more close up shots of the
dancers, rather than far away as
it’s hard to see on my contents
page. Considering I have never
used Photoshop before and it
was a completely new
experience trying to navigate
my way around it and learn how
to use all of the features I am
extremely pleased with the
presentation and layout of my
magazine.

8. Does it reflect my plan? What would you improve?
My contents page plan is very similar to the final contents page for the
Preliminary task and it looks exactly how I planned and wanted it to be which
was what I was aiming for. The only differences are that I had originally planned
to have a dance academy logo either side of the writing ‘Contents’. However, I
didn’t have enough space and the logo looked out of place when I tried to
squeeze it on the page, making the contents page look unprofessional.
Additionally, another difference is that for the pictures on the right of the
contents page I had planned to include some text beside them or underneath
them revealing what page these pictures featured on but unfortunately, didn’t
have enough room and I tried to resize the pictures in order to resolve this
problem but the issue in doing that is that you couldn’t see them very clearly.
Both my contents plan and front cover plan helped me a lot as I could add to
them whenever I want and had something to refer back to for help.