Blog 9 – Evaluation. Of the finished Magazine

On reflection I felt that there was some room for improvement in the design of my magazine. I feel I should have been more creative with the title choosing one which had more resonance and meaning with the readership. Perhaps a tag line to inform the consumer of the genre of music under review would have been helpful.

The basic structure of my front cover followed the rules learned during the research phase of the assignment magazine title at the top, image in the centre of the page and feature headings in a column down the left hand side. I feel however that the overall design lacked zest and was a little too bland. The front cover especially has to be eye catching and grab the attention of the readership. I think I could have done better in this regard. I failed to connect with the adventurous, fun loving side of my target audience. I could have done more with the text changing the size, font and introducing shadows and frames to emphasize different words and phrases. My effort is too uniform. My target audience is seeking a good time would be looking for something a bit more rebellious and lively. Their quest is adventure, letting their hair down and having a good time. They have few responsibilities. I might have photographed the DJ with an expensive watch to highlight success and a hat to or a T shirt with a motif to make him look more funky and contemporary.

I thought I made good use of the props in the main image on the front cover as this emphasized a direct link with equipment used by DJ to mix records. I might have added a bit of fun by introducing a smaller inset image people clubbing on holiday. The DJ featured on the front cover is young, athletic and healthy matching the aspirations of the target audience. This was a good choice of leading figure.

Evaluation Contents Page

I was quite pleased with my design. It featured text and images. Adding question marks engaged the audience. Employing bold heading with page numbers and some sub text to add more flavour worked in my opinion. I hope this would persuade the consumer to want to buy the magazine and read the article in full, Perhaps I could have been more creative with the numbering using different sizes and designs. I liked my use of the image flagging up the word “escape” as this is one of the ideas which my readership should latch onto and value. I think I have missed the opportunity to talk about and promote fashion as this goes hand in hand with the music. This fashion is used to form an identity and challenges the status quo. My target audience would value this concept.

Evaluation Double Page Spread

I applied the idea that a double page spread involves a large image on one page supported by text on the other. I feel however my image did not work. It featured the DJ flanked by another couple of guys. I was trying to convey a cool image and used young people but did not follow up with any explanatory text. On reflection all my images related the males which would probably alienate the female readership. I thought my use of a question and answer interview format worked well. This language was conversational and engaging. If I was redoing this work I would add a picture showing people smiling and dancing in party mode.