Critical Evaluation of first draft of front cover

 

After creating my first draft of my front cover I am very happy with the outcome. I feel it represents my target audience of people aged 11 – 20 as it displays someone on the front cover within the same age range, and has cover lines with articles relating to their interests directly from my target audience research.

I chose a few cover lines to go on around the image, and backed them up with a drop shadow so they stood out. They are all coloured with a purple font colour which I wish to change because it’s not visible enough. I especially like the stamp appearance of the puff with buzz words inside, as I think this looks really professional and attention grabbing. I think by sticking with 3 main fonts my front cover looks professional and organised.

The main image worked really well in editing and I think the redy colour gives it a dramatic style to the photo, yet when printing it out it became really dark and not clearly visible.

My masthead worked surprisingly well, despite creating it from scratch. However the curved letters the shapes I used had pixelated and so it looks unprofessional. On later stages of editing I intend to resolve this, either blending the black line into the colour or defining it better.

I have decided to display the barcode with issue number and price at the bottom left corner. This way it is visible but doesn’t draw attention away from the main image and cover lines.

Overall I think my magazine is appropriate for my intended target audience as the articles reflect their interests.  I have followed all the codes and conventions of a normal magazines layout so it looks professional and interesting. I have worked very close to my flat plan which means I have worked well to my intended planned design, and I am very pleased with my outcome.