Fonts for my Music Magazine

After I completed my school magazine front cover, I realised that one of the weakest areas was my font, in particular the title. With this in mind, I wanted to make sure that I had an effective, eye catching and appropriate title for my Music magazine cover this time round. Therefore, I used a website called www.dafont.com, where I looked for a particular font that was appropriate for my genre of magazine but was still interesting and recognisable for the magazine. I chose several fonts which I felt would work well. They all followed an eroded theme, as I thought this was appropriate for the genre, being rock which has a rough edge to it. My final font chose is Docteur Atomic, as it is bold and strong, and very appropriate for my genre of magazine.

Music Magazine Presentation

Music Magazine Presentation

Preliminary Production - Written Evaluation

My task was to design a front cover and contents page for a student magazine, and manipulate each by using Photoshop. For the front cover, the criteria were that it had to be a medium close-up, with appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. We were also asked to produce a mock-up of the contents page, demonstrating we are able to use DTP. I had two initial designs for my magazine front cover; those being a student positioned centrally on the magazine cover, reading a book, where I would Photoshop sell-lines onto the book cover. The second idea (my chosen design) consisted of a student holding a laptop, where I would Photoshop an image onto the screen; the student holding the laptop would cover 2/3 of the page. My primary audience for my magazine cover is Sheldon School students and parents, as the main image on my front cover should be a medium close-up, I found it slightly challenging with the proportions of my subject against the size of the laptop, however I feel I managed it well. For my front cover, I chose the masthead ‘Sheldon Star’, as ‘star’ connotes excellence, which is a representation of Sheldon School. I created a provisional submission, by which I wrote up the ideas I had for the front cover. These were my target audience – students and pupils at the school - and how I would appeal to my target audience. Also were what the title and sell-lines of my magazine were going to be, and the interior features that I would include. I feel I appealed to my target audience by creating a magazine cover that was both mature and fun. The mature aspect came from the idea I used, as I feel the laptop and pupil photo was appropriate for the age group, as Sheldon school pupils and teachers both use laptops, and are part of school life. The font matched with the colours of my subjects clothing, which gave a modern and professional look, which is suitable for the age group. I used sell-lines which were fitting to the age group, for example, ‘revision tips!’ is appropriate for the students who are working and revising for their upcoming exams. I also used sell lines such as finding out how much money was raised for Children in Need. This was appropriate for my target audience as both students and teachers were able to donate, and could possibly be interested in the grand total raised.

I feel my sketches were very useful when choosing my final idea. Planning before hand meant I was able to change my mind and retry before I were to create my final design on Photoshop. When I was designing both preliminary sketches, I made sure they followed an attractive format. In both I wanted the subject to be making eye-contact with the camera. When I was organising my photoshoot, I found it quite difficult for many reasons. Firstly, when trying to take the shot for my second design I felt that nothing worked. The student was meant to be looking behind a book and looking at the camera at the same time. Although I felt it looked as if the person was hiding behind a book, instead of reading and casually looking up at the camera, which was the look I was going for. Additionally, the angle of the book, by which I wanted to use Photoshop to have text on, was wrong, and would have looked wrong when manipulating the image on Photoshop. The second thing to go wrong with this image, was that I ended up accidentally deleting it before I was able to publish it onto my blog, by which I would have had a lot to write by heavily criticising it. But I do not feel this entirely mattered as it was not successful in the slightest, and did not show off any skill and creativity I possess. However, when it came to organising the other photoshoot for my front cover, i found this was very successful. From my first shot I felt that it looked effective and interesting and I was pleased that it wasn’t a design that just looked ‘good on paper’. There were difficulties however, when I making my subject hold the laptop, as the proportion of the laptop screen against her head were wrong, and the laptop was very overpowering to start with, and it was quite hard to get this right, as well as getting a good angle of the laptop screen. The lighting in both my shots was hard to tackle, as I was attempting to take a successfully lit photo on a very dull, rainy day. Ideally, I would have shot it outside on a sunny day, so the lighting would be clear and natural, but this cannot always be helped in rainy England. I used a tripod when taking my camera shots, as this meant the photo was not blurred. I took several photos, although they were not particularly different. They each just tried to improve certain smaller things, like enough background at the top of the page for my title, and angling the laptop etc. The end result for the shot was successful as I liked the plain cream background with my subject in front. The simplistic location/background added maturity to my front cover, which will appeal to the sixth formers, parents and teachers.


Having never used Photoshop before, I thought I did quite well with manipulating my image for the front cover. I thought it was hard to get a grasp of, as there are many functions and still I am sure I don’t know half of them. Nonetheless, I browsed Photoshop beforehand and found different functions that provided the effect I wanted when manipulating my front cover. ‘Warp’ was particularly successful as it enabled me to fit the image onto the laptop screen well, looking realistic. The ‘brightness’ and ‘saturation’ tools were also very useful when I wanted to brighten my subject and make her stand out more from the page. I also used the ‘lasso’ tool too, which meant I was able to click and draw around the area I wanted, then perform a specific function on this area alone. Overall, my final image appealed to my audience as it was effective and quite mature looking, with the added image being fun and interesting, which can be targeted towards the younger school students, as it shows students having fun in a school working environment. After this, I added a title and sell-lines. The title I chose was ‘Sheldon Star’, as ‘star’ connotes excellence, which is a representation of the school. I used size 26 font, where I made it bulge slightly in the middle, making it stand out from the page. My font choice was simple as I wanted it to be an easy to read title. I chose a black colour font, as this meant the title stood out and was bold on the page, immediately attracting the reader’s attention. I also chose to add a banner behind the title, meaning the title stood out even more. I made the banner purple to match the colour scheme of the school and make it seem more professional. The sell-lines were four different colours, purple, dark blue, light blue and white. I used these as it meant the sell-lines stood out more against the background colours, for example the white font against the dark blue clothing of my subject. I scattered my sell-lines slightly to make it more visually interesting, still I received criticism when I asked classmates on their thoughts. They felt there was a little too much space at the top-right of my front page, which is a fair criticism, and in hindsight I maybe should have positioned them more accurately, or included a logo for my magazine, such as the Sheldon School emblem, which would have filled the space and also represented my school. Generally speaking, I wanted the layout of my front cover to be quite simple and basic, so the information was clear and precise. I wanted the 2/3 layout, so my subject covered 2/3 of the page, and I feel I successfully achieved this. The ideas of my design were quite simple, although the general idea of incorporating an additional large image onto my front cover was maybe too much of a gamble for a first attempt; but I still received positive comments, but I am still not entirely satisfied it was the best decision I made. I thought the most successful part of my front cover was using a plain background as I feel if I were to use a busy background, it would have made my page look very cluttered, distracted the reader’s attention from my subject and it would have made the cover look less professional. I did consider using a shot where there was a busy background, but then using Photoshop to ‘blur’ it out, however I settled for the idea that it would look more effective simply.

For my contents page, I wanted to follow quite a simple contents page, to match the simple idea of my front cover. I thought of a theme of a ‘note-board’ effect, which I designed on the concept of school wall displays and revision posters, and I feel this ties in well with the idea of a school magazine. The word ‘contents’ is located neatly down the left-hand side, which I thought was effective as it is more visually interesting compared to the typical heading at the top of the page. The information on the content page is divided into sections, which is useful for the reader as it means they can read the contents quickly and efficiently. I chose to design my cover of having a purple, dark blue and yellow colour scheme, to match that of the front cover and the school colours.

Overall, I am quite pleased with my magazine front cover, as it is similar to the sketch I planned from the start, and the image I had in my head over what I wanted. As I have mentioned before, I am very critical of my work and therefore see many areas for improvement. Despite this, I aim to take the constructive criticism and ways of improving on board, in order to help improve my media work for the future. If I were to repeat this task again, I would have possibly reconsidered the whole ‘laptop’ idea, as, despite getting some positive feedback, it was more hassle than it was worth, considering the end result was not particularly spectacular in my opinion. I feel it would have been much more beneficial for me, on a first attempt, to take a simpler shot, and work more on manipulating the image effectively. Also, I would have preferred a better lighting, but unfortunately this could not be helped considering the weather on the day. I am pleased with the design and idea behind my contents page, as it fits with the layout and style behind my front cover. It also targets my audience well, as it fits the age group by being simple but attractive, and neither too mature or immature which I achieved by the use of colours, fonts and layouts.

Contents Page Mock-up

Contents Page Mock-up


I chose to design my contents page so the layout is clearly separated and easy to read. I feel it is appropriate as it follows a similar design to my front cover, by which the colour scheme of purple, dark blue and yellow is used, and the easy to read format, and the same fonts. The word 'contents' is displayed attractively down the side of the page, to make it more visually interesting. I have three 'image' boxes, as I feel for a contents page this is an adequate number of images. I chose to locate the 'main story' at the top of the page, as this would be possibly the most interesting section to readers, therefore catching the reader's attention immediately. The theme of my contents page follows the idea of a 'note-board' effect. I chose this design as it fits in with the idea of school and education, with the note board connoting the idea of classroom wall displays and revision notes. I hope this idea is successful as I felt as well as it being appropriate for the idea of a 'school magazine', it also makes the contents page attractive and different. It would be appropriate when comparing to my front cover page, as it represents what the sell-lines read, for example 'Revision tips!', which means it would be relevant in every respect. If this was not successful, I do not feel my contents page would be at a disadvantage by not following the 'note-board' theme, because I like the layout of my front cover; however I am pleased with the theme I have chosen.

My final design: School Magazine Cover

This is my final copy of my school magazine front cover. Overall, I am quite pleased with my front cover for a first attempt, and I am aware of the areas in which I could have improved. In my opinion, and also asking others, the areas that could have been improved are the colours; for example my subject's clothing is very dark and similarly is the laptop. Seeing as my image was designed to cover 2/3 of the page, this is quite a limiting factor. The lighting was also not brilliant, as made sure I stayed away from using flash as I did not want my cover to look particularly unnatural, however it meant the cover was quite dark. This was because it was quite a dark, autumn day which I could not help, however I did try to improve this by the use of Photoshop. I changed the brightness and the saturation, so it was clearer on the page. Although, obviously this made the front cover look quite unnatural, which was exactly what I was trying not to achieve; therefore I feel this particular aspect was very unsuccessful. Also, the fonts were spaced quite closely together, by which meaning the front cover looks slightly cluttered, and therefore unprofessional. On the other hand, I feel my cover succeeded in achieving the sole object, which was to design a front cover appropriate for a school magazine. Despite the colours being dark, they did match the colours used, for example the dark blue font matched my subject's dark blue clothng. I also though that the proportions of the laptop to the size of my subject was achieved well, as I did have trouble with the proportions and angling of the laptop. With the idea of having an image incorporated onto the laptop screen, I think it was quite successful. From the feedback I received, people seemed to like the "imaginative" idea, and said it worked well. Yet, after browsing through other media studies portfolios of my classmates, the simpler ideas were sometimes more effective. I possibly tried to overcomplicate the design for my first ever attempt, and therefore problems such as angling, proportions etc meant my front cover design was slightly weaker than it could have potentially been.
Overall, I am quite happy with the look of my magazine front cover, although if i were to do this project again, I definitely would have reconsidered the lighting.


Manipulating my magazine front cover.


This was the first step I took when manipulating the image for my magazine front cover. I used Photoshop to paste the image onto the screen of the laptop, to show school students enjoying themselves with the school's music equipment. I used the 'warp' tool on Photoshop so the image I pasted in fitted the laptop screen exactly, making it look like it was really on the screen. I like the contrast between the bright image I pasted onto the laptop, against the shot of my subject. However, the strong contrast might attract too much attention to the image on the laptop alone, meaning less attention is drawn to my subject Fiona's face.

Photographs for School Magazine.

For this shot, I decided to change my angle entirely. I thought, by using an angle where the piano is involved and my two individuals are clearly also present was effective. Despite using a flash for this image, I thought it looked good, and did not matter as much as before as it was not the main image.



This is the shot I began with when I was trying for my 'laptop' image (the image I wanted to put on the laptop screen using Photoshop. I liked the angle I used in this shot, although the image was not as naturalistic as I wanted. Also, I thought the image was too 'busy', and this would not be a very clear image when I made it smaller to fit the laptop screen.


This is the image I chose as my final front cover. I used this one as I was very happy with many things, for example the closeness of the shot, the angle of the laptop and the size of the laptop compared to the amount of my subject showing. In hindsight, I would of preferred an outside image, meaning I would not have needed flash; therefore the lighting would have been better. Additionally, I would have considered having my subject wear a different coloured top, as this would have meant the image did not look too dark.


This is an earlier shot of my subject that i did. Even though i was pleased with the result, I felt the laptop angle was wrong, and there was a flash on the wall. Also, I felt the shot was slightly too close, and the laptop was overpowering, with not enough of my subject.











Preliminary Task: Provisional Submission

Audience:
Who is your primary audience?
My primary audience is students between the age of 11 and 18, teachers and parents.
What does your student magazine offer as its main 2/3 uses?
My magazine is there to inform anyone associated with the school (primary audience) of the latest news that has happened recently. My magazine mainly offers help and advice to students who are planning their life beyond year 11. The magazine would offer support and advice on where to find this information, offering opinions from staff and sixth form students. The ideas available would be sixth form, college, going into work or an apprenticeship. My magazine also offers revision tips, for students who are preparing for any exams from class tests to main exams like GCSE’s and A levels. Lastly, my magazine would be intended to keep students and their families up to date with the latest developments on the school, as these are always happening or being planned. Doing this would be an effective and efficient way to keep the readers together with the goings on of the school.#

Image:
What will your medium close-up subject be?
I have many ideas as to what would make an effective school magazine front cover. I liked the idea of having my subject covering 2/3 of the page, and looking straight at the camera. The student would be looking keen and happy. My main idea would be for a student to be holding an object where I can use Photoshop to incorporate another image onto. I am as yet indecisive over what object I will use, however I was considering a white-board, a window pane, a laptop or a book. This will possibly be a hard look to achieve, as I am under the criteria of it being a medium close-up, so to be able to include a second image will be a challenge. I would like to use a simple background so the reader won’t be distracted away from my subject. I would like to base the magazine’s colour scheme on that of the school’s, i.e. dark blue, purple, gold and yellow, as this would be effective and mean the magazine was recognizable as being for Sheldon School.


Text:
Your front cover must contain ‘appropriately laid out text and a masthead’ – what will this consist of?

Title: I have chosen a few names for the title of my magazine. These being: ‘Sheldon Specials’, ‘Sheldon Star’ and ‘Sheldon Weekly’. I particularly like the idea of ‘Sheldon Specials’ and ‘Sheldon Star’, as both of these use positive words which connote a positive message about the school, i.e. ‘special’ and ‘star’. I would like to use Verdana font as this is easy to read, and mature. I am considering either dark blue or black font colour for my title, as these are both bold colours which would enable the title to stand out on the page. The title would be typically situated at the top of the page, positioned slightly to the left. It would also include a slogan, which will overlap the title slightly.
Sell-lines: These would include revision tips to help the students and for parents to advice for their children, and information and help on life beyond year 11. It would also include other articles on the schools food, upcoming events in the school, and information on how to have ‘your say’.
Interior features: These would be based around the sell-lines on the front cover, and what is featured in the contents page of my magazine. They would be interesting features that would hopefully appeal to students, parents and teachers. For example, I was considering a page to fill in your ideas on what to do for upcoming fundraising events or new afterschool and lunchtime activity clubs.

Initial Sketches - School magazine cover

Sketch Idea 1: I chose the name 'sheldon star' as the title for my magazine as the word 'star' connotes 'excellence' which would be a positive way to describe my magazine. Furthermore, it plays on the titles of popular newspapers such as the Daily Star, which may be beneficially in favour for it's popularity. I felt this was a suitable front cover as it is a medium close-up, showing a keen student, with clear areas for text. The magazine would be aimed towards the majority of the school, with articles that were targeted towards all ages.

Sketch Idea 2: I was pleased with the name 'Sheldon Star', therefore I chose to keep it when designing this front cover too. I decided on this layout, as it was attractive, appropriate and clear; I feel this front cover's format is better than that of Sketch Idea 1, as it follows the two-thirds rule. This magazine would also be aimed towards the majority of the school.

Contents Page Analysis: Kerrang Magazine

The contents page of a magazine is there to inform the reader of what the magazine contains. In order to do this, the contents page must be displayed well, so it is pleasing to the eye and easy to understand in a short space of time.
In the magazine I chose, the contents page follows a structured layout which enables the reader to get a clear view of what the magazine contains. The page is divided into sections, with images covering the majority of the page, with the information displayed around it. This format means the reader is immediately drawn to the images, enabling them to feel more involved within the magazine, and be more entertained. Similar colours are used on the front cover; yellow, black and dark blue. This gives the magazine a colour scheme, and the repeated use of colours means the magazine sustains its appearance, continuing the same genre and feeling. Two images stand out in particular, a large dark image, and a large dark yellow image. These colours contrast against the white background, meaning the images stand out and catch the reader’s attention. In the text, the use of exclamation marks represents heavy music and attitude, which connotes the style of the magazine. Also, the language used in the text is a representation of the style of magazine. ‘Your chance to win hot signed shit!’ is a very informal and slightly rude caption, which denotes to the genre of magazine.
Despite all belonging to the same style of music, each image displayed is targeted at a different aspect of music. For harder rock fans, there are slightly scary images, whereas for lighter rock fans there are images of their bands performing and smiling at the camera. Therefore, the different types of image used appeals to different areas of rock music, thus appealing to a broader market.

Elle Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Media Summer Assignment (Front Cover)

Kerrang! Magazine Front Cover Analysis

A magazine’s front cover is designed to be attractive and enticing to the reader, encouraging them to buy and read the magazine, therefore, it must reach certain criteria. Typical magazine covers follow a 2/3rd image page rule, with a large heading and catchy sell-lines. In my magazine, Kerrang!, the front cover consists of an image covering 2/3rds of the page, and large headings and catchy sell-lines, therefore following the typical magazine front cover format. Dark colours are used on the front cover, which is a slight indication of the type of music in this magazine. You can tell this is a music magazine as the celebrity on the cover is fairly well known rock star, from the band Greenday. He is also seen to be performing, holding an electric guitar which is another indication that this is a music magazine. The artist appears slightly silhouetted against the stage lighting on the front cover, which makes him stand out and makes the cover pleasing for the eye. On this front cover, there are no tag-lines. I feel this could possibly help in the selling of the magazine, as tag-lines are used as a catchy saying or quirky statement, aimed to stay in people’s heads.
The language used on Kerrang! Magazine’s front cover is informal. This is a suggestion to the type of people this magazine is aimed at. For example, there is a large sell line saying ‘WTF?! Harry Potter Joins Gallows!’. The use of the word ‘WTF’ is informal swearing, which could be a connotation as to the target audience, i.e teenagers, or people accustomed to this terminology. Also, the use of punctuation throughout the sell-lines, and even the title of the magazine itself suggests liveliness and possibly loudness. For example the repeated use of exclamation marks is emphasis on what the magazine feels are key and appealing points, and could give a separate meaning, as if to play music loud. The copy relates to the images on the front cover. The magazine gives a statement, for example ‘Slipknot storm memory lane’, and this is supported by an image of the band Slipknot. This is a continual idea throughout, where the copy is supported by images, which enables the reader to get a clear idea as to what the inside of the magazine contains through the detail given on it’s front cover. The target audience for the magazine is musicians, people who enjoy music and fans of Greenday (Billie Joe Armstrong). It could also be aimed at people who enjoy festivals, as the magazine says at the top it gives the latest news about the Reading and Leeds festivals.
In conclusion, I feel Kerrang! Magazine’s front cover is very successful in enticing it’s audience, and the cover is attractive and contains the relevant information that readers will look for. The magazine could improve by possibly decreasing the size of the font, and therefore including a little more information as to what the magazine contains, as it is slightly vague, and this could benefit the sales.

First post.

I'm Nikki, and this is my media studies portfolio. I will soon be using blog spot to showcase the work I have produced for my AS, hoping for a good grade. :)