Production, Evaluation and Research - Magazine Front Cover Mock Up

My task here was to create a magazine front cover involving the theme of film. I chose the title 'MovieShot' because i felt it was simple, but gave the movie a straight forward but still quite 'classic' name. I used a conventional font, which didn't stick out to, but gave the title a finesse to it whilst still getting the message across - The magazine was about cinema and film.

My first draft is below and was submitted to a focus group of potential audience members. The focus group evaluated the magazine giving me feedback on what they found good and bad, what drew attention and what needed altering. The following was said:

Positive Points:

• Colour scheme was good
• Picture and background well blended (two separate layers)
• Good use of the Z-Pattern
• Good use of the rule of thirds
• Good innovated idea of brightening the eyes and chest.

Negatives Points:

• Colour scheme is a bit to saturated in colour in certain parts, mainly "Iron Man"
• Background is blended in, but maybe introduce a little more colour by playing with the levels, saturations, hue and colour scheme.
• It was also suggested that the background was too sharp, so adding a texture to it would break the shapes up, and not draw too much attention to the background rather than the main image of "iron man'.
• Enlarge the 'Iron Man' title.

I used these focus group comments and with them set about to improve my magazine cover. I tried to pinpoint all the negative comments and change them to improve my magazine and satisfy the focus group.

Below is the finished preliminary magazine. I tried to implement all the points given to me by the focus group, but I found some didn't work with other points that were given. I increased the saturation of the poster and the title and seen a massive improvement to the monochromatic colour scheme which gives the poster its eye catching visage to audiences.

I also broke down the background image quite a bit by using the mosaic effect on it. It made it less 'square' and made the iron man image stand out much more off the background. The Iron Man logo was enlarged to make it stand out even more, and the colours more vibrant through playing around with the brightness/hue/saturation settings of the text layer which i rasterized to play around with the layer properties. The title was also given a drop shadow effect to make it stand out even more as it is the title of the magazine. Some members of the focus group said that the title didn't stand out as much as the 'Iron Man' logo which wasn't conventional. So this is why I changed this.

I am happy with the final product and think that the feedback from the focus groups were very helpful. Due to the majority thinking the same, it is in my interest to listen to them, as they would be the ones who would be buying my magazine. For my final product I will also use a focus group, to improve my final magazine.