Evaluation
of school magazine (prelim):
1. Did you plan your magazine? If not, what
have you learnt about the importance of research and planning?
I did not
plan my magazine or the content that was going into it until I started to
create it. I did look at other examples of magazines to gain an idea on how
they are usually laid out. I have learnt that making a plan for this task would
have helped as it would help to gain a better idea of what layouts and designs
may work more. It would also allow me to go straight into creating my magazine
with a clear idea, rather than trying to make up a design on the spot.
2. What technology did you use to complete the
task and how did you use it?
For
this task I Serif Page Plus X6 to create my front page and my plan for a
contents page. I used different tools that are available in this program to
create different features. For example, I used the Mesh warp tool to manipulate
a rectangle which I had inserted before, to give it rounded edges. I also used
this tool on the rectangles used for my column in the contents page to give
them rounded corners which would not be normally available from the shape
insert tool.
I
used the Cut-out studio tool on photos which I was going to include. This
allowed me to remove the backgrounds from my photos, making them fit in with
the background of the magazine.
I
used the Artistic text tool to create my titles, and the standard text frame to
create my text underneath my titles.
On
my Masthead, I used the fx tool to
create a drop shadow, Outer glow, and an inner glow.
I
occasionally used rectangular photo frames so I was able to choose the
positioning and sizes of photos before I inserted them into my work.
3 Did you encounter any difficulties? If so,
what were they and how did you overcome them?
Whilst
creating this magazine, I did not face any difficulties that stopped me from carrying out my work.
4 How successful was your magazine? Please
identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do
differently?
I
feel that my magazine was successful because of its layout and house style. I
have laid out my pages so that information and photos featured on them are not
cluttered and are clear to read and see on the page, spacing out my photos from
one another. I followed my house style, using the same colours for my columns,
also using the same font and font sizes for titles and my main text.
To
improve on my magazine, I would try to make it appear more interesting and
appealing by using a different range of colours that stand out more as I feel
that the colours I have used can appear to be plain and boring. Or by possibly adding
more onto my pages.
5 What have you learnt from completing this
task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the
rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
From completing
this task, I have learnt how to use some of the main features included with
Serif Photo page plus. It will be significant for me when completing the rest
of my foundation coursework as it has given me an idea on how I could go about
with creating my main piece of work, as I now have more knowledge on the tools to
use and having a better idea on how I could layout my work.
