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.