Evaluation of my problem page

Evaluation of my problem page ‘Cosmic Kellen’ in ‘CHILL’ magazine

Design choices:

·         Masthead

o   Cosmic Kellen was used because of the numerous positive connotations it has; firstly it immediately gives the article stature in the sense that the word ‘Cosmic’ is associated with omnipotence and power. It also immediately tells the reader that this is a problem page because it is similar to many other problem page mastheads in the sense that they also incorporate the authors name into the title, such as ‘Ask Dr. Christian’. They also all give the author a title linking them to the fact that they are a councillor, therapist or ‘agony aunt’, In this case it is ‘cosmic’ because it links to the idea of star signs and this in turn is linked to the idea of fortune telling and wisdom, therefore will give the reader the impression that ‘Dr. Saul’ is a good person to come to when their questions need answering. The masthead is also strongly allied to the slogan, which is almost an addition or secondary title.      

·         Slogan

o   ‘Ask Dr. Saul’ is a beneficial slogan as, firstly, it immediately tells the reader that this is in fact a problem page and you should ‘ask Dr. Saul’ as informed. The way that it is written gives the reader an impression of confidence from the magazine; it is telling to you as opposed to a suggestion and in doing this the reader is attracted to this confidence as they feel it is then reliable. The slogan is put on a plaque to make it look like the plaque you would find on the desk of an authority figure, this makes it seem more realistic so the reader is settled as well as assured of quality because it assures them that ‘Dr. Saul’ is a real councillor.  

·         Colour scheme

o   The colour scheme is heavily pink because the target audience is mainly adolescent females; also pink is generally a calming and soothing colour to use as naturally it is associated with nurturing and compassion. It is also a good base colour to use as it can easily be faded to white, a positive base colour (as opposed to darker colours), because it is a light colour and shade, and contrasted (or coincide) with multiple other colours and still look professional; such as the blue used in in the drop caps of the ‘Questions’ with the ‘Answers’ in pink. Pink is also used because it has so many shades that can be used and yet still retain an impression of professionalism.

·         Images used

o   The images used had one of two purposes; the first of which was to represent the articles/ questions sent in that were being answered, this is done to illustrate the story behind the image so you as a reader feel empathy for the person, It also emphasises the pain these people are feeling because if people see examples of the suffering mentioned in the article then they then, again, feel a strong sense of sympathy for them.

o   The second purpose is to promote ‘Cosmic Kellen’ by giving him a face. In doing this you create a connection to the reader as they then see that he is, in fact, a real person, thus giving Dr. Saul a sense of emotion which gives the impression that his words of advice are heartfelt and not simply for business; the images of ‘Dr. Saul’ display signs of open body language, as opposed to crossed arms and a blank expression on his face, which make the reader feel open to express themselves and write in to him.

·         Dominant font

o   The dominant font was ‘BrowillaUPC’; I felt this was appropriate because it was easy to read and so was effective as a font yet it didn’t lack any formality. I didn’t use the standard ‘Calibri (Body)’ or ‘Times New Roman’ because these are used throughout the world so commonly and so are tiresome and gives an impression of meritocracy to the reader about the article, so I used something that isn’t used often to bring diversity and yet it still looks proficient.

Improvements that could be made:

·         I identified several aspects of my problem page that could be improved; firstly layout of my text could be improved as it looks like the text is far too concentrated and this can be intimidating to the reader as well as unorganised. To prevent this I intend on downsizing the slogan and main image so to generate more space for me to use for text so it looks better organised.

The quality of images used could be improved by using both a better quality camera as well as using more professional standard software to edit photos, like ‘Adobe’s ‘Fireworks’ or ‘Photoshop’. Also spending more time and using more advanced techniques to create better effects on the images will improve the quality.

Problems on a smaller scale need to be tackled as well, problems such as grammatical and spelling errors that cause the article to seem unprofessional and lacking care. In future, to solve this, I will plan out my wording and text in entirety carefully prior to writing the final text. I will also spend additional time to correct any mistakes found in proofreading.