PRELIMINARY TASK-PEER ASSESSMENT

My assessor – Mr Thomas

Masthead- professional mastheads that are used on well-branded popular magazines are always clear, unique, appropriate and professional looking. With the feedback I have received I know that my assessor believes that my magazine has a clear masthead, however not unique. I used a typical black font which looked rather bland. I used a modern styled font that was relevant to my magazine however was quite far-fetched.

Font style/positioning/colour/size-I used the same font for all my sub headings and a different more title styled font for my masthead. With my feedback I have concluded that at times on the cover the font size I chose was too large (for example, the date and issue number). I had subheadings on the left and right side of my cover page which was correct however I decided to use a white font for my subheadings and at certain point’s blends in with my background. Therefore I have decided that if I were to do this task again I would use a different coloured font for my subheadings (maybe a light/pastel colour) and decrease the font size of my issue number and date.

Cover stories/language features-I attempted to use cover stories that were short and eye catching (to students) yet still relating to the topic of school. My assessor said that my cover stories were well worded and contrasted well with each other but how more information at times would beneficial. I also failed to include the page numbers at the end of my subheadings which are vital as they allow the readers to find the page of a certain article. Through my feedback I also noticed that on of my subheadings that related to ‘Mrs Duram’ was unclear and had a grammatical mistake; therefore if repeated I would make sure there are no mistakes, all my subheadings are clear and that I include page numbers at the end of my subheadings.

Main image/framing/costume/setting-from analysing my feedback my assessor said my choice of setting was very good as it related to my theme of the magazine. My costume and props choice was appropriate (Niall was wearing his school suit and holding work folders, which also links back to my theme). However my assessor said that I could have framed my photo

better which with practise with photoshop I will hopefully be able to incorporate into my final magazine cover.

Layout components- in every magazine a barcode is essential as it lets the reader easily find out the price without hassle. However the barcode on my magazine was very blurry, which therefore would not be appropriate if it was on an actual magazine cover. My assessor picked up on this and said that it would needed to be changed for my magazine to be considered professional. I did also include a date and an issue number but as they were too big they would need to be changed.

Colour scheme- I used a black masthead with a white font as my subheadings, date and issue number. My assessor criticised this and claimed my colour choice was very basic and more variety would have been more beneficial. After analysing multiple magazine covers since I have concluded that the most popular colours used on magazines are black and red, therefore if I were to repeat this task I would try to incorporate these colours and to also colour match my colours chosen.

Overall look- from analysing my feedback I have concluded that my assessor believed some elements of my magazine to be professional however some factors let it down. My strongest points were my choice of photo yet the quality of the photo was a weakness and also the positioning of my text. As said before if I had the opportunity to repeat this task I would make sure I changed the colour scheme of my fonts, change the font size of my issue number and date, take my background photo on a camera instead of a iPhone and ensure there are no grammatical mistakes in my subheadings/masthead.