Task 4 - Preliminary task: Audience feedback and evaluation

Prelim task- Audience feedback and evaluation for the college magazine

What went well?

I feel like the photography for my front page and contents page went very well. I feel like the background of my contents page fit the image I had taken. The picture I took for the front page also went well. This is because the props I used for the model to hold fit the magazine well and related to it. Also the medium close up I used worked well on the front page. Furthermore, the model also fit the target audience. This is because it was a teenager for a college magazine, which teenagers would read, as it’s based on them. I also feel like the use of my teasers and journalism went well. I was able to use appropriate teasers to relate to the main purpose of the magazine. For example, talking about “advice on career choices” related to a college magazine. The mast head I used was very eye-catching and intriguing. The use of the word “exposed” attracts the target audience for my magazine. I felt like it was quite easy to come up with a catchy yet exiting masthead. The layout and positioning of my text was quite easy to do. I felt that I knew exactly where it would be best to put certain teasers etc. I definitely feel like my Photoshop skills have improved. I now feel much more confident with how to do certain things. For example, changing the text fonts, colours, size etc. Furthermore, I feel like I can easily crop images and make them to an appropriate size that is needed. Also I feel much more comfortable with how I should layout specific texts e.g. mastheads, teasers etc. My In Design skills have improved slightly, and I have learnt how to do a few more things e.g. knowing where to place text. Furthermore, I feel like I laid out text in the write place. For example, on my front page I included text in the skyline. I used this as it was the main topic for the front cover. I also used an interesting topic in the lower left third of the magazine. I used this because it attracts the audience, making them want to pick the magazine up. It intrigues them making them want to know how to get those vital “A*’s”. I used psychological pricing to price my magazine. I made my magazine 99p rather than £1 to make it seem cheaper. I feel like this helped me attract the target audience, because teenagers would not pay a lot of money for a magazine.

What do I need to improve on?

I feel like I need to get more familiar with using In Design. I sometimes struggle with using In Design and can get confused with certain tools. I know the basics of In Design, I just need to improve on my skills and learn some more things, and this will help me overall so I can deal with things much easier. I also need to improve on my alignment with texts. I felt like I was good with alignment, however I wasn’t perfect. I feel like the more I practice this, the better I can get, therefore I can make things more accurate and make it look more of a professional standard. I also could of added more information on my front page and contents due to feedback received.

3 key points for development when producing the main task-

1. My In Design skills- I feel like I need to get familiar with how to use certain tools and how to do certain things. I feel like the more I practice, the easier it will get for me so I will not struggle as much and I will be able to produce better content for the main task.
2. Being more accurate- I feel like I should improve my accuracy on specific things. I feel like I can improve how well things are done. I don’t consider it a weakness of mine, I just feel like I can improve this. This will help me with the main task as it will make my content look much more professional.
3. Improve my contents page- I feel like I can improve my contents page. I feel like I can make my contents page more interesting/appealing. For example, I could add more picture-based listings instead of having all my listings written. This makes things look more appealing which is helpful for my main task.