Evaluation of Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page

In order to prepare myself for AS Level Media Coursework, I produced a Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page which were for a school magazine. I first researched school magazines in order to get an idea of what my own product was to follow and look like. Whilst doing this I identified the codes and conventions of magazine front covers and magazine contents pages, these were the codes and conventions which I had to follow whilst producing my own work. However some of these codes and conventions were less important than others meaning they could be broken.

The main codes and conventions which could not be broken were a main image, a masthead which was to be at the top of the page and follow a specific theme. The masthead was to be used at the top of every page and was usually in bold writing in order to stand out to the audience more. In order to follow a specific theme I was to only use a colour scheme of around 3 colours, this would follow codes and conventions as it would cost less to print. The three main colours which I used were blue, red and white. All of these colours connected with the main image which made my magazine front cover look more professional. I also then connected this colours through to the contents page in order for them all to relate and look more formal.

In order to also follow the other codes and conventions I used a main image which was taken as a mid-close up shot, I manipulated this image using Photoshop in order to make it look more professional. I also used a bold mast head, "Weatherhead Wins", this was positioned at the top of the page, however I broke the codes and conventions here slightly by letting my masthead go onto some of my main image. For my background colour I decided to go with white as it is simple and looks more formal with it being a school magazine.

For my contents page I followed the codes and conventions by using 3 columns making it look organised leading to the topic of school with having to be organised for school. However if I was to do this again I would use 4 columns so that I could use subheadings to make it look more sophisticated. I would also use more subsidiary images to interest the reader more with it being to do with school. Therefore I would want to present school in a more fun way rather than being too serious. I enjoyed using "Quark" on my contents page as I found it easy to follow and the guidelines really helped to make my final product look more professional.

If I was to improve my front cover I would also make the headlines stand out more, for example "ice radio hits" seems to fade into the main image and could do with grabbing the readers attention more. I would also make the price of the magazine stand out more as it doesn't cost much making this a strong point of the production therefore it should be showed off and made either bolder or bigger. Overall I am pleased with my final production and I am glad I had this preliminary task to settle me into the actual coursework itself as I feel it gave me a good start and I will use my weaknesses from this task in order to make my coursework more presentable.