Katie Winn evaluated her school magazine cover and contents page. For the cover, she used a masthead, cover lines aligned to the side, and a monochromatic color scheme with pops of red to look professional. Her feature photo showed a student wearing a lanyard in a mid-shot to appeal to secondary students. For the contents page, she included a headline and posed student photos to convey interest, but the varied fonts and backgrounds lacked consistency. Areas for improvement included blurry text, off-center photos, and unclear distinctions between cover lines and plugs.

1. School Magazine
Evaluation
KATIE WINN

2. Front Cover - Strengths
I have used a masthead at the top of the
front cover which follow the conventions of
typical magazines, to improve this, and give
the picture better visibility I used the
‘eraser’ tool to remove the writing that
intercepted the readers view of her face.
The cover lines I created follow conventions and
aligned with the side of the page, this creates a
professional and conventional finish on the magazine
cover.
I created a house style of monochromatic
colours and pops of red, this makes the
finish professional and neat looking as it
all ties in together.
The photo I took and used as the feature article
photograph is a mid shot as it follows conventions
and makes the subject appear relatable and
friendly, appealing to my demographic, secondary
school children.
The picture is high quality and looks like
a school picture as she is wearing a
lanyard and a smart shirt, therefore fits
in with the style of the magazine, giving
the cover a positive mode of address
I have included a barcode, following usual
magazine conventions making it look professional.
I have included a plug which follows the
conventions of a magazine, it is flushed left
which makes it look professional and neat.The mise-en-scene includes the
school field as the background,
which has connotations of
liveliness and energy, making
school seem positive
I have included a puff to add information to
the cover

3. Front Cover - Weaknesses
The masthead is slightly blurred making it
slightly difficult to read – also the
typography is informal and staggered adding
to the text’s eligibility.
The background of the picture is slightly
canted, creating a slightly unprofessional
finish, making the text appear slightly
wonky
The puff is at the bottom of the page
meaning it may not be seen and also the
colour of it is slightly difficult to be seen
and could be improved by adding a block
coloured shape underneath, making the
colour of the writing pop
The two types of font contrast creating a
confusing style and tone as one is garish
and fun, whereas the other one it
sophisticated and neat
The feature article photograph is slightly off
centre which looks slightly unprofessional and
makes the picture uneven
It isn’t clear which is a cover line and which is a
plug

4. Contents Page
Strengths
I have created a box over the image and
made it a low opacity so the image can still be
seen but so the writing is legible.
I used a posed-candid picture as the main
focus of my contents page to create the
impression the students are focussed and
interested which connotes success and a
positive image of the school
I have included a headline which makes it
clear to the reader what information is on the
page – I used large typography which makes it
easy to read
Weaknesses
The typography creates a young, immature image
contrasting with the mode of address I’m aiming to
achieve
I have included some pictures to fill up the
space on the page and help to build up a
positive image of the school
The orange and yellow backgrounds do not fit in
with the overall house style of the magazine
The images are quite small and cannot be seen
very clearly
Not a very large variety of information and it isn’t
organised very well, in the future I could use
columns to make it look neater and more
professional
It doesn’t stick to a very strict colour scheme
making it look messy and unprofessional
The two types of font contrast creating a
confusing style and tone as one is garish and fun,
whereas the other one it sophisticated and neat

5. Tools used
I used this tool to move things around and
reposition them, I also used it to select things so I
can resize them
In order to change the opacity of the picture I
created a box using this tool and changed the
opacity.
I cropped images using this tool to make them the
correct shape and size
I used this tool when necessary to zoom
in and out on my work
I used this tool to change the colour of
text and shapes I inserted
I used the ‘text’ tool to create my masthead, cover lines, plugs,
puff and headings, I selected the fonts I wanted and changed the
size and typography appropriately
I used the shape tool to create a rectangle over my main image
on the contents page so I could make the writing more legible
I used the blur tool to make the background of the feature
article photograph appear out of focus, so more attention was
drawn to the subject of the photo
I used the ‘eraser’ tool to remove the areas of text that covered
the main point of the photograph so her face appears 3D and
intercepts the view of the text