In this evaluation I will be evaluating my double page spread I have created in InDesign. In this evaluation I will be commenting on the research I did, the basics of the article, the designs and techniques I used within. I will also be commenting on how I found these components to be difficulty wise.
For my research I looked at different music magazines such as Kerrang, NME and Q to get an idea about the basic structure of a double page spread. I also used these magazines to get inspiration for my own. I looked at the details within the layout such as how many columns were used for the article as well as the images of the people featured. I like my overall design, because I believe it is easy to read, however is written in a formal tone; also the layout is easy to follow without leaving the reader confused and not understanding the main idea of the article as the related side of the article. Though I am happy with my final product I believe I could have improved on points such as:
- The Colour Scheme – The colours I used were a dark blue with white font. If I were to redo this task next time I will take more time to carefully choose which colours I will decided to use by experimenting with which colours work better and are more suited to use.
- The Layout - I decided to choose the layout as a divided styled, as the topic I have wrote about it’s a divided argument. Therefore I decided to spilt the page up as ‘For’ and ‘Against’ I choose to do this so it was be easy to follow as the related side matched with the side of the argument. If I were redo this task I would look more in depth at other magazines such as Kerrang!, NME and Q and look at how they have laid out there articles and images in relation to each other and portray this in my own magazine.
For my journalistic write piece I wrote a 600 article on ‘File Sharing’ in this piece I included statistic, facts and artists opinions on the matter. I believe I wrote an interesting and easy to understand article on file sharing and the facts about it. If I were to redo this task I would research more into the statistics and facts surrounding file sharing as well as get feedback from the public on the matter in the forms or surveys and polls.
Having not used InDesign before, the skills I have learnt are limited however I do feel I have a basic understanding of the software. I feel I have grasped the basic concept, though I do need to improve my skills. I will be doing this by learning other techniques and designs used by InDesign.
I have decided to publish my magazine through Blogger, as I believe it makes magazines/newspapers accessible to the busier public as well as making this media widely available to the foreign public. To improve the number of hits my blog receives I will share links through social network sites to increase the numbers of hits being received.
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To get feedback on my magazine double page spread I asked a couple people in my class. The feedback I received was mainly constructive criticism. The criticism I received back was mainly about the colour scheme I had choose as well as the way some images were placed. I think the feedback I received was positive, as it has helped me realise what I should and what I should not do to produce a professional looking double page spread.
To improve my next piece of work I will have made sure I have chosen a colour scheme that fits with the theme of a rock music magazine as well as making sure the colours work together. Improving the overall layout/structure of the article. I will do this by researching the structured used in other music magazines and newspapers. I will also include such journalistic techniques such as a pull quote which I did not use and I will also include better images that’s are related to the topic of the article.
Overall this project has given me a basic insight into the strengths I have as well as which points I will I need to work on to improve the level of my coursework, as It has shown me what it takes to design and to publish a magazine for the web.
