Preliminary Task: Review

This is the front cover and contents page that I created for my preliminary task. For my preliminary task I was asked to make a front cover and contents page for a college magazine. I think all together my preliminary task turned out quite well, I like the layout of the pages however I think there are things that I could do better.

When making the front cover I stuck to most of my flat plan. I like the way that the masthead looks and where it is positioned, so if I were to remake this front cover I would probably do something similar if not the same for the masthead. I think that the main image that I have have used is appropriate for the target audience and purpose, the model in my main image is setting a good example as she is following college rules by wearing her lanyard and she is enjoying her work.
I think that I have chosen good sell lines as I think that they're things that college students would be interested in, however I think I could have made them slightly more interesting and I could have made them stand out on the page more. I also think that I could have made the main sell line stand out more as that is the thing that I want to catch my readers eye, but I think at the minute it blends in with the rest of the sell lines.
I think that I could have made the competition slightly bigger and more prominent on the page, and I could have also made the essential information (barcode and date) a bit smaller.

When I was creating my contents page I also roughly stuck to my flat plan. I like how I placed the masthead from the front cover smaller on this page and where I placed the date as I think that by doing this it helps the magazine tie together more and look better. I like the composition of this page however I think that it does look a bit plain as there is a lot of white space and not a log of color, so if I were to recreate this page I would have less white space and use more color without making the page look too busy.
With the images that I have included on this page I think that I could have used more models and have a bit more versatility within them as they are all vey similar.
I like how I have linked the images to certain articles within the magazine, however I think that I could include more articles as if I only have 19 or 20 articles then the magazine would be very thin and that will then lead for it to look uninteresting. So if I were to do this again then I would decrease the font size and make some more space to include more articles.

Overall I found this useful practice for making front covers and contents pages, as I have analyzed what I think I have and haven't done well. I now know what I need to  do in the future to improve my work.