Our English assessment is to make a magazine. We're focussing on writing and such, it being English, but we also need to design a front cover and an ad. Because I have limited creativity, I copied mine of existing designs I've seen in places. Even the slogan on my ad is taken from something else. Still, I don't think that really matters. xD.

My subject is spoons. Yeah, I know it's weird. But I feel like it, and it's extremely hard to write long articles concerning spoons, and so I hope it will show my skill more.

Anyway...
Here's my front cover, and my ad, if anyone cares
http://i.imgur.com/b2yza.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zOZLo.png
Both A4 sized images.

I'd love critique on both of them to make them as good as possible. I have the image with layers saved for the front cover, so I can still alter that, but the ad is stuck as a png, so I can't change it all that much. But I can try. Seeing as it's all black, it should actually be pretty easy.  

Love the ad  

That's pretty cool, considering its spoons  

You could make it clearer that "Spoon" and "Connoisseur" are two different words. Maybe change the color?  

Posted by Kiko

You could make it clearer that "Spoon" and "Connoisseur" are two different words. Maybe change the color?

I did consider changing the colour, but I didn't know which colour to change it to. Suggestions? Also, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that. The space between them seems fine to me.

Posted by Maxy

That's pretty cool, considering its spoons

That was what I was aiming for :3

Huh. Just noticed how small the pictures are when you click the link. Here they are in spoilers.

Cover

Spoiler

Ad

Spoiler

Just so you know, the "Spoons of the Future," section is the title of the interview, and below more details, as it is the feature article. The "New Spoon" coverline is referring to the same spoon in the ad.  

Your ad design is pretty solid, but it could use a bit of tweaking. I suggest changing the color of the word "of" in Spoons of the Future. Or better yet, rescale or move that line of text so only spoons is on the right side of the Red/white slash. Also the pattern in the background is nice, I think it might be too strong. Try playing with the contrast in that layer. It seems to be a bit too strong that it's drowning out the subtext below the title. Things can always look different at the printing stage, so try both out and see which looks more appealing.
Good Luck  

So
- change title colour
- lower background contrast
- change the colour of of or move it so only spoon is on the left side?
Thanks