Preliminary Exercise: Learner Response

1) Type up your teacher's feedback in full.

WWW: You have displayed some great understanding of design and print publishing with your preliminary task. In particular your choice of cover image is incredibly vivid and strong, placing a good amount of focus on the subject whilst allowing enough of the setting to be visible to appreciate the visuals of it. The same can be said for your inner page with the layout of your photos being clear and specific, directing my focus to the rightmost image whilst still leaving the rest visible. Your choice of the classic large first letter works with the rest of the letter and the quality of the writing itself is great.

Next Steps: Consider the colour choices on the front cover as some of your cover lines fade into the setting given how active of a setting it is. The second cover line in particular unfortunately aligns the black writing with the darker parts of the mountain, making it less clear. Perhaps consider a drop-shadow, an outline, or a translucent box behind this writing to add clarity. I’d also like you to consider the voice of the journalist in your written section. Whilst the quotes help to push the narrative of the novel that is being sold, you are allowed to express opinions and a voice as the journalist revealing this story, pushing the narrative that the magazine wants to tell.

2) Using a combination of your own reflection on the preliminary exercise and the feedback you were given, write two WWW bullet points (What Went Well) and two Next Step bullet points for your preliminary exercise. 

WWW:

• Choice and layout of photos
• Quality of writing

Next Steps:

• Consider colour choice in order to make text clear
• Express opinions in order to push the narrative of the magazine

3) What have you learned from the preliminary exercise that will help you in the actual coursework project? List three things you have learned or will do differently as a result of this exercise. You may want to comment on organisation, actors, filming, editing or something else entirely but be specific.

• Be more expressive and opinionated with writing to imitate how magazines attempt to create enticing narratives for their audiences.
• Make text as clear as possible through drop shadow, colour choice, outline, etc.
• Spend more time on editing to see if anything can be made clearer, laid out better, etc.