Evaluation

Overall in conclusion I think that I managed to capture the codes and conventions of a real magazine effectively. This is because my magazine cover used a medium close-up shot of the student as well as using text over the top of the photo and behind and a strip of smaller photos along the bottom and engaging texts of all sizes so its creative and exciting, similar to a real magazine. Moreover, I think the colour scheme I used (red, yellow, black and white) fits the target audience which is school students and these colours will fit to the largest audience possible as there well liked, unisex colours. The large central fills up the whole page containing a medium shot such as the brief demanded and behind it is quite a simple, plain background. In my experimentation I had a black background but that was too simple so I resulted to a simple background of a school building and it still looks very effective and the text still stands out on it making it easy to read. Lastly, there is a use of direct mode of address in the two students of the central image. This is as they look straight out at the audience in a confident and serious manner and one student has a friendly smile reinforcing the notion that the magazine is a friend. The images at the bottom are useful as they give an indication of what the school is like and what is inside of the magazine. These images are of students in class working and outside the school. They are arranged in a creative way which is at an angle making them seem more like snapshots and therefore more interesting and eye-catching. Moreover, they overlap each other which looks very captivating to the eye. I also added a see through layer behind the images of yellow which makes the images above stand out even more. My anchorage text is also very effective as they can easily be observed from a large distance away and this gives a clear indication to the audience of what stories are going to be in the magazine. I used a bold font, both red and yellow colours and added a black glow around the text so it is exhilarating to the readers eye. I put the price and bar code to the side and corner as when doing my research i understood that they follow this same trend and they don't want the reader to be looking at it as its not as important so I made it small and out the way. Lastly, the use of 'FREE STUDENT DISCOUNTS', 'WIN A BRAND NEW IPAD', 'NEW' and other puff and buzz words sparks the audiences interest and enhances the overall presentation of the magazine as it makes the reader feel special as they're being offered extra content that isn't offered anywhere else. 

In conclusion, I think I have successfully created a school magazine cover and I am very surprised as I'm new to using Adobe Photoshop but nevertheless I made a professional looking product that fits the briefs needs and to a high standard so I am largely satisfied with the result.