Magazine Evaluation

In order to do this project, I had to undertake a lot of research, particularly into the conventions of a magazine cover. I had to analyze a number of existing magazine covers and see how they were related in terms of language, ideology, institution, audience and representation. I also carried out research into which programs I could possibly use for my project and what the advantages and disadvantages were.

After the research, I had to plan my project accordingly, and I referred back to my research in the planning stages of my magazine. I produced a mind map which was were most of the ideas for my magazine came from. On here, I planned my magazine using LIIAR. Once I had a clear idea of what I wanted my cover to look like and what was going to be on it, I did a layout draft, before drawing out a mock up of my final design. Finally, I had to go out and take the pictures which I would need for my final design. These included a medium close up of a student. Once I was happy that I had a good idea, I moved onto actually designing the cover.

For my college magazine cover, I decided to use Adobe Photoshop CS4. The advantage of this was that it allowed me to arrange all of my work into layers. For this particular project, I had about twenty layers, all of which were either text, pictures or shapes. In addition, Photoshop allowed me to produce a cover which looked professional, and I would not have achieved this if I had used Photoshop I had a main image of a student in medium close up, which I cut out. The advantage of cutting it out was that I could place him over the title of the magazine, and other various items on the page. This made him stand out from the page. This was something I picked up from doing the research, as I noticed that most magazines do this. I then had three other images which I took myself, of places around the college, or that were associated with the stories in my magazine.

Overall, I think the final outcome was successful. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, everything stands out on the page. This is especially true for the picture of the student. Secondly, it has all the features of a typical magazine cover, including a main title, main picture, appropriate headlines and a barcode. The layout of it is also quite similar to some of the ones I analyzed whilst doing my research, so therefore, it shows my research was effective. Finally, in terms of representation, it actually looks like a college magazine.

There are a number of different things I could do to improve my college magazine cover. Firstly, I could add a banner to the top of the magazine, as this is a feature a lot of magazines have. Secondly, I could do something more creative with the other images, such as add a border, or make them into different shapes. I could also space them out throughout the page. However, as this is my first attempt at creating a magazine cover, I think I’ve created something that looks quite professional.

Final Design

Layout of a Magazine (final)

Layout of Magazine (draft)

What will the magazine involve?

Planning (using LIIAR)

Analyzing Another Magazine

What's on TV Magazine     

Layout - the main layout of this magazine follows a very common structure. Firstly, the Logo is located in the top left of the cover. As I explained in a previous post, this is all to do with racking it in a shop, and for the customer to be able to find it easily. Secondly, there is one main picture, with a title. Thirdly, there is a number of smaller pictures, all with related titles. In addition, the price is clearly visible. Unusually, although this magazine does have a barcode, it is located in the middle right of the page.


Language and Titles - The language on this cover is very basic, and words have been kept to a minimum. The only text on there is headlines. There is one big title which says 'Stacy's Pregnant'. This headline, like most other magazineS, draws people in, particularly people who watch Eastenders. But there is other headlines which catch your attention. Finally, it has a couple of little banners at the top, something which is very common throughout all types of magazines.

Imagery - There is a wide range of images on the page. Again, similar to the 'OK' magazine I described earlier, there is one main image. In this case, its a picture of Stacy from Eastenders. This matches the main title, as it does with OK magazine. Then in exactly the same way as OK magazine, they are a number of smaller pictures around the page, with their associated titles. Most of the images have been digitally manipulated or cut out and placed on to the
magazine so you've got the effect of one image overlapping another.

Audience - The audience of this magazine is people who like to watch the 'telly'. Therefore, the design of the front cover and everything on it has to appeal to them. In the logo for example, the word TV couldn't be any bigger. It tells you straight away that this is a magazine for people who enjoy watching TV. Also, the picture is important as it has to be recognizable. In this case, it is taken from a popular show that a lot of people watch. By looking at this picture, people instantly know what sort of magazine it is, without even reading any of the text.

Representation - This particular magazine represents TV, and it has to do so in a positive way. The magazine front cover has to persuade you that this magazine is worth a read. Therefore, the front cover has to be attractive.

Useful terminology - LIIAR

LIIAR covers the key concepts of media, and is useful for analyzing and creating media products. It is particularly useful when planning out initial ideas.

Language - particular terminology used in the Media product
                  - how should it be written

Ideology - ideas behind a media product
                - attitudes, beliefs and values within a Media product.
                - assumptions about what the viewer thinks or feels

Institution - who controls the production process?
                 - how does this effect the final product?

Audience - who is the media product aimed at?
                  - what do you need to do to meet the requirements of that audience?

Representation - who does it represent?
                          - which groups, individuals, issues appear in it?
                          - how are these portrayed?
  

Target Audience

The magazine I will be producing will be aimed at College Staff, Students and anyone else associated with the college such as parents and governors. Therefore, the magazine cover will have to be appropriate for these people, and the headlines must appear interesting to them. Also, it will need some good pictures which will draw the right audience in too.

Typical Features and Conventions of a Magazine cover

By looking at a number of different magazine covers, I can clearly see that they all have a number of things in common. As an example, I am going to do an analysis of 'OK' magazine.

Firstly, you can see that it has a logo which stands out from the page. The logo is located in the top left hand corner. One reason why most magazines do this is because when they are put on a rack in a shop, sometimes only this part of the page is showing. They want their magazine logo to be clearly visible and to stand out from the rest.

Secondly, there is a main picture, in this case Britney Spears. this is what usually takes up the majority of the page. Also, on a lot of front covers, the picture is usually cut out and put over something, such as the logo. As you can see in the example, it's as though the logo has been positioned behind Britney. This effect can easily be achieved in photoshop.

Thirdly, there is a main headline which is made to stand out. The main headline is always associated with the main picture.

In addition, they are a number of smaller pictures (in this case three) and a number of smaller headlines (three again).

Finally, there is a barcode at the bottom right of the magazine. Next to the barcode is the price and the website. Sometimes, the price may be at the top instead, along with an issue number and date. However, this magazine doesn't.

What programs can I use for my magazine cover?

Adobe Photoshop

Pro's

Will be able to get really professional results out of this program. Most professional magazine companies use Photoshop in some way. With photoshop, you can blur the background of an image, cut out images, apply various effects and join many different elements together, as layers.

Con's

However, this program is quite a handful, and can be complicated at times. On the other hand, I already know the basics of photoshop, so that wouldn't exactly be much of a problem to me.

Microsoft Publisher

Pro's

This program is very easy to use, and can quickly create a reasonably good magazine cover. It also has a number of preset designs, making the whole process even more simple.

Con's

Because the program is very simple, the result you get out of it is usually very simple. In addition, if I were choose from one of the many preset designs, then my magazine cover wouldn't be original

Basics of Photoshop

Below is a Video that shows the basics of Adobe Photoshop, which is an option I will consider when creating my magazine cover. This is because this program has a lot of features which will make my final design look really professional. Also, using this software, I will be able create something original