Evaluation

My school magazine uses many of the conventions of magazine front covers and contents pages, the title is one word and in the top centre of the page, however, it does not stick to the codes and conventions, as it is not a unique font .

Moreover, there is no positioning statement on my school magazine, which is usually used to convey how the magazine positions itself in the market place, therefore this is another way in which my school magazine challenges the conventions of real media products.

My magazine, however, does use the convention that the issue date and title must be near the title, moreover it is in 11pt size.

The main image, does associate with the main feature article, as has been made clear by the use of props and body language. Direct address is used with the main image, which is important for the front cover of magazines . However, it does not convey a certain attitude, or show something about the person pictured, but,  this may be to do with the genre of the magazine.

There is also a buzzword used on my front cover (EXCLUSIVE) which suggests that the reader cannot read this certain article in any other magazine, which is also a selling point.  However, this buzzword is not used for the main feature article, as is common on professional magazine front covers.

With the coverlines, the main coverline is the largest, as is usual in professional magazines, it also anchors the meaning of the main image.  They also consist of only one or two words, then with smaller writing (sublines) explaining a little bit more about the article.  This is also consistent across the design, and care has been taken to avoid the coverlines and sublines from covering any part of the main images face, as is correct in professional magazines.

On the contents page, there is 3 columns, 1 main picture and one other picture, relating to the coverlines . neither of these pictures are direct address , they also have page numbers on them showing the reference to an article. However the name of the magazine or its logo is not present with the word contents, which deviates from the codes and conventions of contents pages. 

I used Adobe Photoshop to create my front cover, and Quark Xpress to create my contents page. I used many different tools on these programmes, for example, colour filter, contrast and brightness adjustments, transform, effects such as 'drop shadow' and the crop tool on Photoshop. I imported pictures, added special effects to the title and imported text while using Quark Xpress. 

I think that I used all of the tools I used to create my front cover and contents page, in each programme, quite well, although I could have used some more advanced techniques to create a more effective and diverse piece of work. As a new media product, my piece does not quite fit to professional quality. There is much room for improvement, mainly in the area of following the codes and conventions for professional magazines, and the little use of special effects to make a more interesting and original product.