Preliminary Task Analysing the Cover

This is my final finished piece for the preliminary project. I have chosen the colour scheme because it is for all ages and gender so it is appealing to everyone. Also I have chosen the main picture to be a person because through my research the covers have all had a single person on them, I could have changed the background of this image to one colour so there would be a larger area for the text. Additionally, when I was trying to add different coloured text it would have been easier as some of the colours that I wanted to use didn't standout very well.    

 Text And Font

The heading for the magazine is clear and easy to read because the bold text and colour stands out from the background. However, the text down the left side of the page blends in with the background, especially when the d in Marlwood overlaps the white background. I should have changed this so either the background was darker or the text was a darker colour to standout more. I think by overlapping the pictures and text the space is used well.  This is because it leaves room for the main picture behind to be seen and by having them together it describes the picture better.I chose the text because I think it is clear and easily readable.

Colours

I think that the main picture has too many colours in it so it was difficult to find a colour for the text to standout. Also the reflection of the guitar makes it difficult to place text over it as the guitar is brown and the reflection is white.  Due to this, there is no colour you could put on it to make the text easily readable. Also the colours in the persons shirt has the same effect.

Placement of Images

There was not much space on the main image for other text and images to be put in because it was mainly taken up by the performer. So I chose the places that had small amounts of colour in them. Like having a certain picture over the performers hand, you can still see that he is playing the guitar, and a new space has been created. I also wanted to add the image of the school but it was difficult to find a suitable place.  When I did eventually add the image, I decided to add text above it which seemed to bring it together and it didn't seem out of place.

Improvements

I could have taken the corners off the other images on the magazine to make it smoother and flowed better. Also I could have made the person in the image look at the camera when I took it, so the subject would bring you more into the cover as if he were looking at you.  It would also show the ease that that the person playing the guitar. Additionally, I could have made some of the text different colours so it stood out better.  I could have also used less colours in the whole image as it would have given the magazine an overall colour scheme.  Finally, in the school image, I could crop the top and bottom, taking off some of the less interesting sky and grass - making the building more of the focal point.