Magazine Evaluation

What was the theme for the project?

The theme for the project was to create a magazine cover. The genre of my magazine cover was a geographical magazine that taught people about the planet, geography, science and people etc. The topic of the cover was ivory hunting.

How have you developed you ideas? How did your work change through the project?

I developed my ideas through my own experience of reading similar magazines such as the National Geographic I changed my original idea for a magazine completely towards the end of the project. My magazine genre started off as a fashion magazine however I didn't feel confident with it because I didn't know much about fashion magazines. My idea of what to put onto the cover came from inspiration of magazines I already had, current geographical/scientific events and also the few things I had to use for pictures, For example I searched for photos of animals at home and artifacts, I had an ornament of some elephants walking across a bridge and a picture of an elephant so I decided to base it around ivory hunting. 

How many photographs did you take? Do you think you think should have done more less?
I took about 6/7 photos of the elephant ornament and then I had some photos from home of 3 different animals. In terms of taking photo I think I took enough because they were taken at different angles which meant they hit the light in different ways which meant I was able to experiment with angle and light. I could have taken more in different places so I could experiment with light even more, as well as backgrounds. The photos of the real animals were professional and black and white, so I was able to test between my own photos and the other photos to see which was best 

What artists or designers have you looked at in order to inspire you?
I didn't look at any specific designers or artists, however I did look at different styles of magazines to help me learn the conventions of a magazine and also help decide what style of magazine I was going to do. I used the National Geographic for inspiration when creating my magazine so that it used similar conventions and layout, therefore creating a magazine that looked like a geographical magazine and would appeal to a similar target audience.   

How have your skills developed during the project?
My skills with photography, colour use and Photoshop have all developed. In terms of photography I have developed very little however i have developed basic skills that will be useful in other projects. for example I have learnt how to use a professional camera without difficulty and also i have been able to experiment with light and angle a photo. In terms of Photoshop I didn't develop a lot further because I had learnt most Photoshop skills from the last project, however in this project I was able to learn more skills in terms of photo editing (e.g. correction tool, levels) and also work with typography such as leading and also the use of Dafont.com. Finally i was able to learn more able colour use by learning about how to get the right contracts between colours, how to use colours in a magazine and also colour tools in Photoshop such as the pipet tool to get matching colours and tones.

Are there any aspects of your studies you wish you has studied further?
 I wish I could have been able to learn how to get effects on righting in Photoshop such as being able to get the mast head to fad so it blends in with the background or embossing, glow etc. 

How have you used formal elements such as line, tone, colour and shape?
i didn't need to use much of line in this project however I have used a colour, tone and shape quite frequently. in terms of colour and tone I was able to experiment with colours and learn how to get colours to contrast and also the use of colour tools such as the pipet tool. I didn't use a lot of tone however I suppose i caused it when it came to getting colours to contrast (e.g black and white) apart from that  I didn't need to use that much of tone. Finally I used some shape but not a lot, just the shape tool to find an interesting shape to display some conventions of the magazine on, such as circles for exclusives. However overall I have only really used this once throughout the whole project, I have mostly used colour techniques.

What materials did you use and why? Did they work successfully?
I didn't really use many materials because I didn't need to, everything way done graphically using Photoshop.

What meaning and messages did you want to convey and were you successful?
I suppose the meaning of my magazine cover was to create awareness of ivory hunting. For this I made sure that the splash stood out as much as possible from the rest of the page. I did this by making it some of the biggest font on the page, so it was bold and outstanding and also using colour. For the most part of the splash it was in black and white however for the 'hunters' part of the splash I added colour to make it stand out. I made it a bold but deep red to display it and also create a sort of emphasis towards the situation because it looked sort of like a blood colour, which in a way adds to the seriousness of the topic. I also made sure that the animal in the  photo I chose was giving eye contact so that it looked straight at the reader, which may also create an atmosphere for the audience in some way. Overall I wasn't sure whether I was successful, however a few points given through my peer crit may have been able to give me this answer to my question as most said that the conventions and the way I had displayed them did their job.

Are you happy with your final piece? Are there any elements you like in particular?Is there anything you would change? Why?
Overall I am happy with my final piece and I wouldn't want to change anything about it, however after the result of my peer crit I might have changed a few of the things that they said didn't work such as the exclusive I used on my cover. Also if I was able to take more photos of interesting things then I would have so I was then able to use my own photos, however overall there isn't anything I would change. The elements I like the most are the colour and the type because I like the way the colours contrast against each other and mix together and in terms of type I also am very happy with the choices I made there because I was able to use a range of different fonts and experiment with them aswell and even though I they were simple they were able to put across the main use of the magazine. I am also happy with the choice of photo I made, even though I didn't take it.