Evaluation

Now that I have finally completed the magazine, it is time for an evaluation. First of all the research, I thought I have done really bad and poor quality research at first so I have gone over everything and redone the research completely, if not just added more to it. If there was more time then I would have further improved my research and begin to go through in a lot more detail. Also I would have taken more screen shots and images, plus more detail on work.

I have to admit I am happy with all the prototypes of covers I have done along many different image manipulations. By doing this I have further extended in showing what I am capable of. Also this has helped me get a further understanding and more use out of Photoshop. I would have done more though due to given time.

Putting the magazine together was fun but time consuming. Sorting out all the columns, typing out entire reviews, previews and tips takes a lot to do too. For the reviews I had to go back to old games and replay them, getting to a certain point where I know they are easy to review and point out all the good and bad bits about each game in particular. Previewing includes plenty of research on new coming games. The research can be obtained by looking at various websites for information and watching videos to soak in the gameplay and details. Finally the tips were by playing the games, finding the easy way to accomplish tasks and give helpful advice through experience.

I have done several sections within the magazine, News, Intro, Online section, all sorts. I am happy with the amount of contents included, although it took me a few months, I managed to finally put together a magazine with lots of different features. Although I am hoping if I get a next time, I will round up a team to severely help increase the amount of contents, thus more of everything will be included. As having a team can show teamwork, can get a lot of work done within the day, the magazine would have a lot more done within the month and could also be monthly too.

The online section is more of a guide of what can be done if the magazine became successful. I do think it is a good way to show that the online section is ready if the magazine becomes successful. I am considering thinking of continuing the production of the magazine if the audience enjoys the magazine and are willing to read, communicate and enjoy the magazine after every month. I could have improved this by advertising the magazine around the internet, mainly focusing around Nintendo gamers, this way I could have built up, even a small audience ready for when the magazine becomes available. I would have also included a forum for the readers to interact with each other.

I have made a leader board which I thought was a good idea for again, when the magazine gets some audience. Each month will be coming up with new challenges and tasks for each member to participate to make the top of the board, or even in fact an entrance onto the board. This shows the competitive side of people and also can show determination and commitment. Singles out the best players to form groups. I could have improved this by advertising the leader board and rounding up submitted scores.

The news section, I had to wait until E3 for this section. As disappointing as E3 was, I managed to gather a group of information and turn the whole section about E3, mainly about the new Nintendo Wii U. Also a feature or selected new games for the upcoming Wii U. Due to the news section, it requires all the up to date information so I wasn’t able to start until the beginning of June which was cutting it close for the deadline.

I have also done an art gallery of some of my image manipulation which helps show what I am capable of. I also needed to do a few for another project so why not throw some in. This also helps to show what can be shown within the magazines plus people will be able to submit their own art if they either want to demonstrate what they can do, have a kick start in the art career or just for fun.

Overall I think my progress through magazine has been steady and consistent. Also I think it was a good experience to write out a whole magazine on my own, although next time I would gather a team that are willing to help out and get their work published. I could have also done with a video camera so I could have put up some videos for the magazine and have more of a timeline to learn more about all the features about InDesign. Overall I have enjoyed this.