- The document discusses the process of planning, creating, and evaluating a magazine front cover, double page spread, and website for a vintage fashion magazine. - Some initial intentions, like using only red, black, and white, had to be changed due to the model's red outfit overwhelming the cover. Font choices also proved difficult. - Creating the double page spread in InDesign was challenging as the author was unfamiliar with the program. The layout and amount of text had to be adjusted. - The website was created on WIX and featured galleries, social media links, and a subscription to make it engaging and realistic. - Overall the author learned from challenges like choosing ideas, fonts, and resolving color clashes

1. Evaluation
By Abbie Nicholls

3. Evaluation
When planning my front cover, double page spread and website, I had plenty of ideas of how I wanted it to look. My initial idea was to
create a fashion/beauty magazine that talks about the 70s including all the trends as well telling the reader where to buy the best vintage
products. I wanted to have a consist colour scheme of red, black and white. I wanted the front cover to have red cover lines with black
body text, however because the model is wearing a red top with red lipstick holding a rose, there was too much red. This was my
intention because it looks very classic and sleek as well as expensive which is the tone I was aiming for. The intention for my double
page spread and website was to feature lots of red, (it so be the statement colour). All images contain an element of red so this colour
scheme was not as consistent as I hoped. Instead I had to feature aqua blue to enhance Jess’s eye shadow and make it stand out more.
Another one of my intentions was to have a bold mast head in an elegant but strong font style like the iconic Vogue font. Whilst looking
for fonts on DaFont.com, I could not find the perfect font for the style of my magazine, therefore I picked ‘elegant typewriter’ as this was
the type of font I wanted. The initial plan for the front cover was to have an all-white background to make the magazine cover look
realistic and appear like the image was shot in a studio professionally. However, I thought that the black font against the white
background looked too boring and simple and appeared like not much effort or editing had been put into the cover.
Overall, I found the production process successful and I am happy with the outcome. I enjoyed creating the front cover using Photoshop.
Because I had used Photoshop previously, I was comfortable using the program and understood how to do new techniques to the image
such as the blur tool on the models face to hide any imperfections. I edited the image of Jess so that her head over lapped the magazine
name; I did this because it influences the reader to focus on the image and not the actual name of the magazine. The mast head is written
in a different font to the rest of the text on the front cover so that it stands out and becomes recognisable to Vintage Magazine, (people
look at the font and associate it with Vintage Magazine). The cover lines are written in ‘dispensations’ font ad the body text in
‘capsuula’. I wrote all text in different fonts because certain words and cover lines will stand out more than others. I think the creation of
the front cover was successful because I think the image looks professional as it is very clear and edited so that the dodge and burn tool
further darken and brighten certain areas. I specifically used the dodge and burn tool when editing the eye shadow so that it stood out
more and appeared brighter and grabbed your attention. One problem I did experience was that I needed to fill a lot of empty space with
text, therefore I had to create more cover lines and body text to improve the quality. I made the background a light grey so that it did not
look as boring and simple. I also made the mast head larger so that it stood out more and grabbed the reader’s attention as before it was
not as bold. I did experience one problem when I had to space the text to fill the gaps, however I added rulers at the side of the page so
that the cover lines were in line with each other and the cover looked filled. The issue of the magazine is in a smaller font size so that the
reader understands that the fashion discussed in the article is about summer clothes appropriate for warmer weather. I made the price in a
small font because the magazine is expensive and a high end fashion magazine, therefore if the high price tag is highlighted clearly to the
reader they may not purchase it. Finally, I edited onto the cover a bar code so that it looks more realistic.

5. After creating my front cover, I moved onto my double page spread. I found that this product was the
most difficult to create because I had never used InDesign before which means that I struggled to add
images and text so it became time consuming to create. I experienced lots of difficulties understanding
how to layout the page and create boxes to import images. Therefore, I created several practice double
pages to develop my knowledge on the program. Along the way, I learnt that I had written too much in
my article to feature on the double page. In the future, I would write less so that the page did not look
boring and appear filled with text/paragraphs that does not interest the reader. Whilst researching
about other fashion magazines, I learned that they all follow a similar layout. On the left hand side,
one image takes up the entire page. On the following page, there is the text and several images. I
decided to copy this layout so that it influenced my magazine to look more professional and realistic.
One major problem I experienced with each practice spread I made was that I had to cut out several of
my article so that it would fit in. Overall I am happy with the layout of my magazine and I am quite
happy with the outcome, however it took a lot of practice for it still to not look perfect. Another
technique I noticed whilst looking at other spreads was that the celebrities/models name was in a
different font to the rest of the text on the mast head. I copied this technique so that it would look
more interesting and realistic. I also made each paragraph black then red so it matched with the colour
theme and connected with the front cover and website. I created gaps between each image so that the
images stood out more and so that the images didn’t all merge together. I also wrote my name on the
photograph so the reader is aware of who took the images. In other magazines such as Vogue and Elle,
the photographers name is always printed on the image so I thought this would influence my double
page spread to look more realistic.

7. The final product I created was my website for Vintage Magazine. I created my website on WIX.com. Whilst creating my mock website, I used WIX which
means that I had some practice using the site. To begin creating the website, I wrote the mast head in elegant typewriter font so that it connected with other
products, (front cover and double page spread). After this, the menu has different pages called ‘home’, ‘about’, ‘fashion’, ‘fashion gallery’, ‘beauty’, ‘beauty
gallery’ and ‘contact’. I created these pages and galleries so that the reader can easily navigate around the site and find what they want they are searching for but
also understand what Vintage Magazine is all about. On the home page, I included a strip with links to the fashion and beauty pages so the reader can easily find
exactly what they are looking for. The fade in animation to the strip is interesting to watch and is a nice introduction to the website. The galleries are filled with
outfit shots and makeup shots so that the reader can look at more photographs than the ones that were picked for the cover lines, (there is more of an insight for
them which further increases the interest). The background on the whole website is white to keep up the classic simple theme throughout the products, however
if I could improve my website I would either make the colour a light grey to match the background on the front cover image or alternatively create a marble
print effect in the background. The process whilst creating the website was not as difficult and stressful as I thought it would be because I found WIX to be
helpful and easy to navigate to include specific strips, buttons and boxes. The website has social media links and a subscription box as well as an email so that
the website is much more realistic and appears like there are other ways to visit more of Vintage Magazines work. A subscription to the magazine connects the
website to the other products to increase the connection and purchases of the magazine.
During production, I faced several issues. For example, coming up with the initial idea of what magazine I wanted to create was difficult as I am not someone
who reads any magazines. My first ideas were to create a film or music magazine, however I could not think of a creative way to take my own images. To fix
this issue, I began thinking about what I would find interesting to research which would be fashion, specifically focussing on a different era like the 70s.
Therefore I thought that creating a fashion magazine would be easier to come up with images and outfits as well as online shopping the latest trends and
researching all about the 70s. Another issue I faced was choosing the perfect font for my magazine. I found this difficult because I wanted the text to be bold but
elegant and recognisable. I could not find this type of font on DaFont.com which means that I had to settle with ‘elegant typewriter’. I still like this font and I
think it works well with my magazine so the problem was resolved. Because this rotation we had to move rooms every lesson, the fonts I had chosen from
DaFont.com were not on each computer. To resolve this problem I had to re-download each font onto the Mac or PC to carry on with production. Whilst
creating my front cover, I had a colour scheme in mind of red, black and white. However, in the image Jess is wearing a red top with red lipstick and she is
holding a rose. Therefore, writing the cover lines in red made the cover look dull and boring and no text stood out. To resolve the issue, I wrote the cover lines
in an aqua blue colour so that it influenced the eye shadow that Jess is wearing to stand out more but also makes the front cover look more colourful and bright
which grabs the reader’s attention. Even though I had to change the colour scheme, I still like the outcome as it makes all the colours in the image become
brighter and more noticeable. I did not want to write in aqua blue on my double page spread cover or website because I wanted the red to be statement colour
for the whole magazine as it features on all images of Jess. One big issue I faced was creating my double page spread because I had never used InDesign before.
The class did not have time to have a talk through tutorial through the program therefore, I did not know how to set up text boxes, insert images or change the
colour scheme. To resolve the problem I asked for a quick talk through InDesign which allowed me to know how to do simple editing. This means that my
double page spread looks basic and not as good as I had hoped. The production of my double page spread was time consuming due to my lack of knowledge
which means that a lot of time and effort was put into the spread even though it does not look like it. In the future, I would like a more in depth tutorial so that I
can learn how to incorporate new techniques that will improve the quality of my work. My final issue faced was choosing the layout for my website. I did not
know the amount of images I wanted to feature on the home page or the amount of cover lines. To resolve the issue, I created a mock website with a design that
I had in my head of having 6 images in rows of 3x2. On my flat plan for my website, I laid out the website with 4 small images and then one large image which
is the main cover line. I tried to design my website like this during production, however whilst I was experimenting on the site I found strips which you include
so I changed the layout completely.

9. In my opinion, I think my front cover final product looks realistic due to the
image quality. Because the image is taken on a high quality image and shot in a
studio with a white back drop. I also edited the image so that her redness and
imperfections were not visible, (just like in Vogue magazines where the models
are photo shopped). Another reason my front cover looks realistic is because the
background is filled with cover lines and body text. I copied this technique from
looking at covers by Vogue. This means that I had to improve the quality of my
work by including more text to make it appear more professional. I also imported
an image of a bar code so that it looks like an actual magazine that you can
purchase in store. The final reason why I think my front cover looks realistic is
because I have included the issue and price. The issue highlights to the reader
what type of style will be featured in the magazine. For example, the fashion
discussed in my magazine is about summer and festival outfits. The price
highlights that the magazine is high end and expensive just like Vogue and Elle.
In my opinion, I do not think my double page spread looks realistic for several
reasons. There are some elements which influence the magazine to look more
realistic such as having one image take up the entire left side of the page. Another
way that it looks professional is because the models name is in a different font to
the rest of the title so that the model/celebrities name stands out and grabs the
reader’s attention. However, there is a lot of text on the following page which I
think will make the reader look at the page and feel bored and just skip it to the
next page. Because the text is in alternate colours, I think this lowers the quality
of my work because other double page spread articles are written in black and
that’s all. Another technique I noticed when researching other double page
spreads was that the first letter in the first paragraph is in a different colour and a
bigger font. However, I could not copy this technique because not all of my article
would fit in as well as the consist colour scheme would not work.
My final product to create was my website. I think there are
elements of my website that
are realistic such as the strips that have links to other pages.
The website is easy to
navigate and is easily accessible to find the things you have
been looking for. Another way that my website is realistic is
because there are buttons to other social media links and
emails as well as other ways to contact/follow the magazine. I
also made the website look more professional by including
transitions to the page where pictures and cover lines fade in.
It is a nice introduction to the website and is appealing and
different to watch. However, because I did not have a lot of
time left to create the website, it was not as detailed as I had
hoped. I wanted the cover lines to have links to an article of
the clothing which I wrote on my double page spread. When I
was looking at other websites such as Vogue, there was not an
‘about’ page therefore I struggled filling in this section and
knowing what to write so that the reader is aware what
Vintage Magazine is all about. One technique I noticed when
looking at other websites was that the images and text fades
when you hover over it. I wanted to copy this technique to
improve the quality of my website.

11. Looking back at my production, I have lots of possible improvements. Firstly,
I would make the aqua blue on the front cover darker with a stronger outer
glow so that it is more legible as I received lots of feedback explaining that it
was difficult to read. The blue would not match the eye shadow, however it
would incorporate a green/blue into the magazine and follow this theme
throughout other products. Another possible improvement that I would
complete to improve the quality of work would be to change the font of the
mast head so that it was bolder. I used the font ‘elegant typewriter’ because
this was the best result that was shown on DaFont.com, however if I could
improve my work I would change the font to something similar to Vogue’s
font which is iconic and recognisable. One improvement I would make to my
double page spread would be to include images that are different types of
shots and angles where Jess is wearing different clothes so that the
photographs do not look similar and boring.
Having different images would also influence the spread to be much more
colourful and interesting to the reader which could possibly influence them to
read the article. Another improvement to my double page spread would be to
change the colour of the paragraphs so that they were just written in black so it
looks more classic and sleek. I would also move the second column of text further
across to the left so the end of the sentences were not slightly covered by the
images.
Another possible improvement would be including links to articles on the website.
For example, I created cover lines with images, however I could have added a link
where you click the image and it takes you to the paragraph that I wrote on this
specific clothing item. Furthermore, this would make the website look more
professional and realistic as well as improving the quality/grade.
The website is the product which I think there are more possible
improvements. The background for the website is white. Although it does
follow the colour scheme that I wanted, it does look very basic and simple. To
improve this, I would have a marble effect background like I had previously
done when creating my mock website. The background is still sleek and
looks simple, but it also links in with the colour theme and looks
professional.
On the print rotation, creating a front cover,
double page spread and website for my
magazine, I have learned several things along
the way. Firstly, I have further developed my
knowledge on Photoshop using new tools such
as the blur tool, dodge and burn tool. I have a
better understanding using the camera so that I
can improve the image quality with the lighting
etc. I have also learned how to use InDesign.
This program was extremely difficult to
understand, however after working on the
program for several days, I had a better
knowledge on how to edit my double page
spread. InDesign is not the only new program I
have used this rotation: I used WIX to create my
website. Wix is a simple building block for
websites which I was comfortable using as it
was easy to navigate.
Overall, I have enjoyed this rotation the most so
far and will be choosing photography for my
FMP.