Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

My 'Wyke College Magazine' uses the traditional conventions commonly used in most magazine publications. I spent a few lessons looking at and researching different types of magazines; their layouts, text styles, types of articles etc. I then inputted this information into my magazine design, however some of the techniques i changed to suit my magazine desing ideas. Firstly after looking at magazines i discovered that on the front page of nearly all of the magazines the main picture takes up most of the front page with the main headline and text running over the top.

I have incorporated this idea in my magazine. I would have like the main picture to run over the main title of my magazine, like i had seen done before in most of the magazines i had looked at, however i could not get this to work on the type of image which i had taken. I also used the typical conventions of having the main title of the magazine at the top of the page, however i did also experiment by changing the headline and placing it so that it was running down the side.

I also add the captions at the top and bottom of my magazine which say about free things, or things coming up in the magazine etc and so i kept this idea and decided to use it in my magazine front cover. I also decided to run the main headline across the main picture as i had seen this technique used in some of the magazines which i had looked at. I decided to take this idea in my design. However i did change some of the conventions and challenged them, for instance i included a text box at the bottom of the contents page which talks about whats to come in the next issue. From most of the magazines i had read this had been near the back of the magazine, probably most likely it was one of the last pages in the magazine.

However i decided to change this and brought mine back to the front of the magazine to the contents page as the readers are more likely to spend more time reading this page then they are some pages towards the back of the magazine where most of the advertisements come and people arnt to bothered with reading. Most people read the contents page to find out what stories are in the magazine and the pages of te ones they are interested in, it also already advertises and promotes the next issue before the readers have even read the first.

My media product represents particular social groups like teenagers and music lovers. I would hope to sell my media product at supermarkets and newsagents.

This is the same magazine design as the one shown below with the same ideas, codes and conventions. However i have changed the photogrpah on this one as i experimented which of the two photographs would look better.

Analysis of my Wyke Magazine front cover

Firstly having spent some time researching the codes and conventions of magazines i decided to have a line at the top of the magazine. I have chosen to produce this in a white and bold font so that it stands out against the blue background. It straight away tells the readers one of the main things which is going to be included in the magazine. This can also appeal to people and encourage them to read the magazine as they would like to see the guide for the upcoming productions. I had a few different choices of what to name my magazine some of these different ideas which i had were:

1. Actors Circle
2. Action
3. Cut
4. Drama

After looking at these headlines i finally decided to chose the headline of Action as it was short and snappy and i thought it sound appealing. I was close however to chosing 'Actors Circle' for which i would have taken a change of picture, which would have been a group of drama students stood in a circle to resemble the 'Actors Circle' and the close community and group which all drama students are a member of. I decided to place the title of my magazine in a bright orange font against a black background so that it stands out and is eye catching. The bold text almost looks as if it is jumping off the page and will catch readers attention. Underneath my main title of my magazine i have used a smaller font, white and bold to write the sub-title, 'Wyke College Magazine' this is so people know which institution the magazine is centred around and where all of the stories are coming from, i chose the colour white because it stood out against the black background along with the title, however because of the small size it didnt take the attention away from the main title. For my main headline i decided to use a bold and bright yellow text which stands out against some of the dark areas of the main picture. I wanted to do this so that i could run my main headline across the picture without the colours contrasting and the text being difficult to see and read. I have chosen the title 'Wyke Actor dreams of Hollywood Role' as i think it generally sums up the dream of any aspiring actor and thought the story would fit in well with the drama orientated magazine which i was producing. When i took the picture for the front cover i tried to get the person in the photograph to look as though they were not paying attention and tried to get them to look as if they were thinking of something else as if they were in their own little 'dream world' thinking about their hollywood aspirations. I was going to take a photo of the people doing some acting, however decided against this as sometimes it is hard to show when people are acting.

Underneath the main picture and headline i decided to add another small caption running along the bottom with some text telling the readers about one of the main stories coming up in this issue. 'Exclusive chat with media teacher'. I thought this would help to encourage both males and females to read the magazine as it has a chat section which appeals to female magazines like 'Love it' etc whilst some of the articles appeal to the males. I also chose to put this text on the front as it says 'exclusive chat'. This gives the article a more important and excited feeling as it is an exclusive interview and would encourage readers to turn straight to them pages and may influence them on their decision to buy the magazine.

I have included the page numbers to the stories underneath the bold headlines to show what page the readers can turn to, to go directly to the story that interests or excites them most. I have chosen to colour these in bright blue as i didnt want to do it in the same colour as the headlines or they could both clash and the oage numbers wouldnt stand out as much or be as clear and so i decided to do them in a bright blue so that they were seperate from the headlines and stood out against the photograph.

I have finally added a barcode, date, issue number and price as these are natural codes and conventions that are on any magazine. After researching magazine front covers i discovered that these are usually placed in the bottom right hand corner and are usually quite small compared to the rest of the magazine, i have done mine in this style to stick to the codes and conventions of magazine design.

Analysis of the front cover of my wyke college magazine

This is my wyke college final design for my college magazine front cover without the picture. I have chosen to put this up without the picture first to see if the rest of the magazine looks good. I believe my magazine looks bright and colourful and think it would catch peoples attention.

Analysis of 'Mock up' Wyke college magazine contents page.

I firstly decided to have my magazine main title which is 'Action' running down the side of the page in a bright orange and bold font. There where two reasons why i have done this, the first is that the text stands out and constantly the main name of the magazine keeps appearing which helps to advertise the magazine and keeps the title in the readers mind. I have secondly chosen to do this as i think it looks good against the black background and after researching many different magazine i have discovered that most of the magazine use the technigue of repeating the main title of the magazine on the first inside page.

I have also included an introductory paragraph to give the readers a brief introduction of what is included in the magazine, the main subjects which the magazine is centred around and a brief friendly thank you from the team who put the magazine together. I have chosen to do this as in most of the magazines which i researched they did this so i interperated their idea in my magazine contents page.
I have chosen to include three photogrpahs on in the contents page. These would be of other students and possibly some teachers and have placed text boxes to give a brief insight into what the story is going to be about so the readers know which stories they are interested in and can turn straight to them stories by looking at the page numbers underneath.

I have also included a small section underneath which includes what is going to be in next weeks issue. This lets the reader know what stories are going to be in the next issue and encourages them to get the next issue if any of the stories interests and appeals to them, it also lets them know their is more magazines to come so if they liked this issue they may be influenced to carry on getting the up coming issues. It straight away advertises the next issue of the magazine before they have even gotten onto the first page and started reading the first.

I have also included a brief description of what each of the stories is going to be about. This gives readers the chance to glance at this to see if the story appeals to them, this way the stories which they find interesting they can turn straight to and read first without having to flick right through the magazine. In the same way i have included the page numbers which i have placed underneath the breif overview of the stories so again if people find a particular story entertaining the can turn straight to that page and read that story, it will also help to encourage people as if they started off reading through the whole magazine and they found the first few stories boring and didnt appeal to them, they may be tempted to throw the magazine away, not read anymore and not bother to get the magazine again. However this way the can read the stories which interest them first before turning to the other stories.

I have also wrote some brief text to show if i had taken all of the photographs to fill up the rest of the magazine, the types of photographs which i would have taken. This also links in with the type of story which i have written a brief insight about.

At the bottom of the magazine i have a section with some text explaining about some of the upcoming stories and things covered in the next issue. I did this because it is straight away advertising and promoting the next issue of the magazine before the reader has even had chance to read the one which they have now. The readers can see the stories in the next issue and may be interested by some of them, this may influence and encourage them to purchase the next issue of the magazine. I have seen this technique used in lots of different magazines before and it always has the influencial effect to make you purchase the next issue.

Underneath this, i have added another section with text saying about the managerial team, production staff, editors and article writers etc so that people know who is involved in the magazine being put together, if i was properly producing this magazine i would proably have a section where members of the public could get in touch with these people to share their views and ideas with them, i have seen this technique used in some magazines before. I have also written about the copyright to make the magazine look a bit more professional.