Preliminary Task - Evaluation

I am happy overall with how my preliminary task turned out, as I feel that both the cover and contents page are of a fairly high quality. As can (hopefully) be seen, I decided to do more work than necessary on the contents page and made it into a more finished product rather than just a rough layout. I used Adobe inDesign for both cover and contents.

I feel that the front cover largely conforms to the codes and conventions of school magazine, though it may actually be a bit too trendy. However, I see this as an advantage rather than a negative thing, as I could be breaking new ground with a magazine that students will actually read. The person in the photo is not the usual type of geeky nerd that one would expect to see on a school magazine cover, and therefore the student body should be able to relate to him rather than wanting to punch him in the face. The photo is also good for interesting the reader, as people are more likely to want to read about someone cool-looking rather than some geeky glasses-wearing teenager. 
The font Kitty Katt that I used for the magazine title and main headline is effective as the letters are strangely spaced out from each other and are sans-serif, giving an overall more infromal impression. On the bottom right of the cover is an "Also inside" section with a lined paper background. I think this is good as it makes the information easily digestible and the paper background helps to reinforce the school theme. The main headline is placed in such a way that it is near the centre of the cover, thereby drawing attention, without obscuring Glenn's face, as this would have looked unprofessional and generally bad.

The layout of the contents page is very simplistic, but I find this simplicity to be good and vey fitting of a school magazine. when I start the main task of doing a music magazine I will obviously need to come up with exciting contents page layouts, but for the moment being exciting is largely irrelevant.