Magazines: Front cover production task - learner response

 Magazine front cover - Learner response

Create a new blogpost called 'Magazine cover learner response' and complete the following tasks:

1) Add your finished magazine cover as a JPEG image.

2) Type up your feedback from your teacher. If you've received this by email, you can copy and paste it across - WWW and EBIs. You don't need to include a mark or grade if you don't want to.

WWW: This is a satisfactory magazine cover that is clearly recognisable as Vogue. Your evaluation is interesting – time is a major factor in coursework projects (there is never enough time!) and also developing the technical skills in Photoshop is so important. You have a strong image (I like the slightly right-aligned placement of the image) but the text both in terms of the words and the layout is an area to develop. I’m sure your coursework next year will be much stronger as a result of this project.

EBI: There are a few good lessons to take from this production work. Firstly, I think there’s a little too much text on the cover and the placement isn’t quite right. You have the text slightly overlapping your cover model’s face which is a big thing to avoid when designing magazine covers. Similarly, your cover line in the upper left (‘Beauty and Brains’) overlaps the edge of the page which is another aspect to avoid when aiming for professional design. Look at the placement and style of the cover lines on the real covers of Vogue to get an idea of this. Finally, you need to make sure the cover lines are appropriate for the magazine brand you are using – Vogue is a fashion magazine primarily whereas some of your cover lines seem more of the women’s lifestyle genre.

3) Consider your mark against the mark scheme above. What are the strengths of your production based on the the mark scheme? Think about magazine cover conventions and the media language techniques you have used to communicate with your audience (e.g. mise-en-scene, camera shot etc.)

• Typography
• Conventions
• Direct mode of address with the audience
• Colour grading used made the central image clear.
• Costume and make up 

4) Look at the mark scheme again. What can you do to move your mark higher and, if required, move up a level?

Enhancement to the colour scheme 

Learning how to use Photoshop and cut and crop images professionally

Creating effective narratives that manage connotations 

5) What would be one piece of advice you would give a student about to start the same magazine cover project you have just completed? 

To achieve high marks, concentrate on camera shot, coverlines and typography of the magazine