Audience Feedback and Evaluation: College Magazine

The things I felt that went well are the photography, the use of Photoshop and InDesign and the overall layout of the magazine. 

Photography; I think that the quality of my pictures were to a high standard, none of the pictures I used for the magazine was dark or pixelated and I took a wide range of shots to show the different areas of the college, for the main model I used a medium close up shot so that the audience could see  her face and clothes clearly also to show to the audience she is a college student. With the images on the contents page, I used two long shots and my main model appears again in a medium shot. I used long shots so that the audience can see what the facility looks like; the photo of the gym enables the reader to see what equipment is in the gym if they were to consider going to the gym. The photo of the library suggests to the reader the large space that is available to them if they were to go into the library.

Use of Photoshop & InDesign; disregarding the fact the last time I used these softwares was in Year 9 I didn't encounter any difficulties with them. I was able to resize my images to fit to the page, to add text and change font, size and colour, to add images onto the canvas and change the background of the page. I used various of tools and skills in these softwares to be able to complete my magazine.

Overall Layout of The Magazine; Seeing as this is the first time of me ever doing a magazine I believe that the layout and content was to standard. On the front page the masthead is at the top so that it is the first thing that the audience sees when they pick up the magazine, all the coverlines are around the page but below the model's face because her face needs to be clearly shown. On the contents page all the text is on the right hand side and all the images are on the left hand side, this is to allow easier understanding on what is on the page. The subsections on the contents page are bolded in red so that they are visible and easily spotted. The research I conducted and the draft I made before making this magazine helped.

To get audience feedback I asked 5 questions on my blog directly under the completed magazine front page and contents page. Based on the feedback from my classmates I found out that they thought my fonts and pictures were appropriate, clear to see and relevant to the task set, the colours that I used were eye catching and bright which attracts the audiences attention. They also pointed out that I successfully made the magazine suitable for my target audience. Additionally they said that the arrangement of the magazine gave it a professional look which suited the target audience.

However from the feedback I have found out the improvements that I would need to make if I was to update or make this magazine again;

• Have a consistent colour scheme and consistent font sizes; to give the magazine a professional look and make it sophisticated.
• Add more things onto the front page: so that it doesn't look too empty but I would need to vary what I add so it doesn't look too crowded.
• Use more images on the contents page: to enable more visual implication to what is available at the college.
• Choose few main colours for coverlines: to make it look more sophisticated and less crowded

The 3 key points for development when producing the main task are:

• Simple, but evident colour scheme.
• Enough coverlines & images on the front and contents page.
• Layout of the front page i.e. all coverlines to the left/right.