Evaluation

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Here is my previous magazine front cover that I had created for my preliminary task.

Looking back at this magazine front cover that I had created previously, I have realised how much goes into constructing a text to a deadline. I have noticed some vital features that should have been included, like a bold title that stands out. My title and font of this magazine front cover is not particularly appealing and does not do a successful job of engaging and sustaining the audience. I fee that this would be a major issue if this was my final magazine front cover, as it is significantly important to make sure the cover actually looks like a magazine. Magazines such as XX1 and VIBE do as great job of making the front cover look as attractive as possbile so that a wide as possible audience is attracted.I think that I should have used a red-toned photo, or remove the picture altogether. I have learnt that it is extremely important that everything on the cover of any magazine fits together and works properly. This includes the text, people and images that may be included. Another thing that I think I should have considered, and nw will always consider is the photos and text on the cover. As you can see, on my front cover my red text seems to overlap the image. Although in some cases this can be effective in making the writing stand out and linking the image and text together, if the colour doesn't reflect correctly off of the photo it can look messy and can look improper (like my magaziune above) 

The title of my magazine does not flow in line with the rest of the font on the front cover. This is because I have used different fonts throughout. In my final music magazine front cover I ensured that I used the same font on the entire page, so that the magazine looks stable and united. After doing some research  and looking at other magazines that are similar to the one that I have created, I have also noticed that it is exceedingly important that the title stands out to the readers more than anything else on the page. This is to ensure that readers of the magazine, or passers by in a shop remember your magazine so that it becomes popular. Despite using clear, readable font, I feel that the text that I have used on this cover should have been more spaced out to ensure that no writing withdraws any attention from the talent on the cover. 

Here is my final music magazine front cover for a Hip-hop style production.

As you can see I have ensured that my title stands out the most, I have done so by making the text spread completely across the top of the page, rather than be placed into the top left corner like in my previous example. I decided to remain with the house style and keep the same font of 'Freshman' for the majority of the page, however you have probably noticed that I have used an italic, slightly feminine font to emphasize the vital features that will be included in my magazine that I would like to stand out to my audience. I also thought that it would be a good idea to mix up the colour scheme when it same to the text, to ensure that the writing is also appropriate for the style magazine that I am creating, and to create a more stimulating relationship with readers of the magazine. After looking at other popular magazine front covers, I noticed that other companies include little information on the covers of their music magazines. I suppose that this may be greatly to do with companies not wanting to give too much information out at once, as this will mean that less people will purchase the magazine. I have learnt that less means more and I wanted the image on the cover stand out to the readers and speak for itself. I made sure that the text did not cover any part of the main focus on my cover ( West side boys ) so that no attention is taken away from what I would like people to concentrate on the most.

I wanted to include relevant names of up and coming as well as current, popular artists so that I engage and sustain the audiences attention. Hip hop as a category has a wide range of artists that generate quite a few various types of music, therefore I feel that it is increasingly important that this extensive dimension of soul is communicated to the urban followers of Hip hop. Working to a deadline takes a lot of dedication and allows me to think of ideas rapidly so that I can practice and test out different photos and colours in order to decide which features will fit correctly with the magazine that I would like to create. After looking at other magazines, I finally managed to construct a final documentation that I am most pleased with.