Magazine cover learner response

Magazines: Magazine cover production learner response

You will receive feedback on your magazine front cover production work in the next few days.

Depending on lesson time and staff availability, you will receive this feedback either via email or verbally/handwritten in class. It will be marked out of 15 using the new specification mark scheme for coursework. This divides up your mark using the different Media concepts - Media Language, Media Representations, Media Industries and Audiences. For this front cover assignment, we are only using the mark scheme for Media Language:

Magazine front cover - Learner response

Create a new blogpost called 'Magazine cover learner response' and complete the following tasks:

1) Add your finished magazine cover as a JPEG image.

2) Type up your feedback from your teacher. If you've received this by email, you can copy and paste it across - WWW and EBIs.

WWW: Excellent cover image and the overall effect is close to professional standards which is the hallmark of A/A* work. This is definitely close to the level of design we need to reach in any print tasks for the coursework next year. Strong image, good balance to the page design and some nice creative touches in terms of typography and colour.

EBI: There are a couple of things holding you back with this cover. Firstly, some missing conventions – date, price, barcode (optional). The top left of your cover (the GQ masthead) just looks a bit empty compared to professional examples. Secondly, why are the cover lines in the bottom right in speech marks? Who is saying these things? In addition, those cover lines need to be right-aligned and ‘men’s fashion’ is missing an apostrophe. This is the level of attention to detail we need to hit those top grades next year! 

3) Consider your mark against the mark scheme above. What are the strengths of your production based on the the mark scheme? Think about magazine cover conventions and the media language techniques you have used to communicate with your audience (e.g. mise-en-scene, camera shot etc.)

Good application of knowledge and understanding of media language, demonstrated by the frequently appropriate and effective selection and combination of elements to communicate clear meanings throughout the product. 

4) Look at the mark scheme again. What can you do to move your mark higher and, if required, move up a level?

Instead of leaving white space on the left of the magazine, fill it in with text.

5) What would be one piece of advice you would give a student about to start the same magazine cover project you have just completed?

To make sure they know what they're going to write, the right lighting is used for the central image along with the font that is used for the text.