Preliminary Task

The preliminary task that we have been set is to create a magazine cover, and contents page for a school or college magazine. The magazine cover must include a picture of a student in medium close-up, and some appropriately laid out text and a masthead. We also are required to produce a mock-up of a contents page. To start the preliminary task, we are asked to analyse different existing school or college magazine covers. These are the three magazine covers that I am going to analyse.

Existing Magazine Research and Evaluation

In this magazine cover for the magazine "college", there is a clear colour scheme for the masthead. The red colour of the masthead comes from the red of her top, so the image of this magazine cover also holds the colour scheme for it. With the red being a contrasting colour with the background, it makes the masthead easy to read, and to stand out to people that read it. The black and blue colours that are used for the cover lines are also contrasting colours, which also makes these easy to read. The colours on this cover are not too brightly coloured, which would make the text fairly hard to read.

With the cover lines being short, straight to the point stories, it gives the reader a taster as to what is included in the magazine. The stories are all places around the main image, which not only makes the text easier to read, but it also shows more of the image to the reader. The barcode in the bottom right of the picture makes it obvious when you see it, that it is a magazine. It also includes a website URL to the college magazine website. All of these features make the magazine stand out to the reader.

This magazine cover is for a similar college magazine, called "college lifestyle". The masthead is in the same position as the previous college magazine, at the top, and the image protrudes over the logo. This makes the image stand out more to the reader. Above the masthead there is a sell line, which makes the magazine sound fairly important and exclusive. For the colour scheme, they have used two very good contrasting colours, black and yellow. These colours aren't too bright, so it makes the text on the cover easy to read. For the "splat!" coverline, a bright pink colour is used. With the cover line saying "let's go paintballing!", the actual image relates to paintballing. They have made it as if a paintball has actually hit the cover of the magazine, which gives a very good effect to the cover of the magazine.

The main image on the magazine cover is a very casual person, holding study books. This would make the target audience of the magazine students that are interested in the latest "gossip". The colour scheme for the magazine comes mostly from the main image, the same as the previous magazine. The black jacket that he is wearing creates the colour scheme, and they have chose to use yellow as the masthead and coverline colour, as it makes the writing stand out. In the bottom left of the picture, in a different position to the previous magazine cover, there is also a barcode, and the price, which are both main features of a magazine cover.

This magazine is mainly a sport magazine, named "college sports". The masthead, as well as the other two, is at the top of the page, at the centre, where the image protrudes over the text. And again, the main colour scheme for the magazine cover comes from the colours in the image itself. Even though yellow and white are a bright colour, and aren't a contrasting colour, they are still very readable on the magazine cover, due to the black outline that they have around them, and the fairly dark background. The main image of the cover has an obvious target audience. Even though the title of the magazine has an all round general audience, the image shows that this particular magazine would stand out to american football players.

With this magazine only having one coverline, this gives the impression that this is only a basic magazine, but it could also underline the importance of the coverline. With the word "sure" being a different colour to the rest of the text, it makes the reader put some emphasis on this word, and makes it stand out. At the bottom right of the magazine cover is the barcode, price and the date, which are all features of a common magazine cover.

Drafts

Before starting on my actual magazine cover, I made some rough drafts on paper first, of what I wanted my magazine to look like. These consisted of 4 designs that I liked, and 1 final design, that I would then go on to use for my final magazine cover. Each of the 4 ideas that I created have everything in a slightly different place, so that everything is different. I decided to do this because it shows the amount of choice that I had when I first started designing it.

These are the 4 designs that I came up with for my front cover. Each one includes the main image in the centre, the masthead, and the cover lines. Each of them also contain a barcode and price, but I then decided that they are not needed in the school magazine, as school or college magazines tend to be a free magazine, and therefore do not need a price or a barcode, but I have included the date and the issue number. Out of the 4 designs, I chose to go with the one in the top right.

Out of the 4 designs that I came up with, this is the one that I chose. I chose to go with this design because with the masthead, sell line and date on the top, they are the characteristics of a typical magazine. I also thought that with the masthead at the top, it makes it stand out more, and makes it more appealing to the reader than if the masthead was at the bottom, which was one of my ideas. After I had drawn these 4 designs, I had decided to change the image that is on the top right, to the one on the top left, of a person holding a book in his right hand, instead of holding it in his left, and down by his side. I did this because I thought that having a book being held on the chest, it would make the reader see that the magazine is school/college based, due to the fact that they can see the book easier. As well as changing the image on the plan, as I have mentioned previously, I decided to take the barcode and the price out. I chose to put the cover lines on either side of the image, and decided to have this protruding over the image. I did this because again, these are the typical characteristics of a magazine, and because I also prefer this layout over the others.

Names for the Magazine

After designing the draft for my magazine, I then had the task to come up with some suitable names for my magazine. This did take quite some time, but I did get there in the end.

Banter - First, this was my favourite idea for the name of the magazine. With 'banter' being a slang word for 'gossip', it would stand out to students.

M.H.S. - I chose this name because it is an abbreviation of my school name, Monkseaton High School, and this is the target audience that I chose for my school magazine.

School Banta - This was the final name that I chose for my magazine. With there being the slang of 'banter' in there, which makes it stand out to students, it also gives the title an 'accent'. With the accent that we have, this is how we pronounce the word 'banter', so I decided to use this to an advantage.

Magazines @ School - This was a name that I quickly eliminated from my choices. I did this because I didn't like the name much, as it didn't appeal to me as a magazine name.

Sell Lines for the Magazine

After the names, I then had to think of some potential sell lines to go on the magazine, as I had put these in my designs. This did not take as long to think of as the names did.

For All Your School Banter - This seemed an appropriate sell line for the magazine, and was one of my favourites before I chose the one I did.

The Only Banta You Need - The favourite of mine out of the sell lines I came up with, which I then went on to putting on my magazine cover. Also, with my magazine being called 'school banta', and the sell line having 'banta' in it, I thought that this was the more appropriate sell line for my magazine.

For Banter All Around The School - This was the one that I discarded first the sell line for the magazine. I did this because I didn't think it suited my magazine.

Banter Central - I also thought that this was quite appropriate for my school magazine, but I favoured the other sell line over this one, so that one went on my magazine.

Cover Lines for the Magazine

I then had the task of coming up with several cover lines in my magazine. These are the ones that I chose.

New School Building - With Monkseaton High School just getting a new school building, I thought that this was appropriate, and should be included on the magazine cover, even though the cover line isn't exactly a positive thing.

Oliver Warden - With this being the name of the student that is going to be on the cover of my magazine, I thought that I should make a cover line with his name on it. I decided to make this into an interview of what the student thinks of the A-levels he is taking this year.

School Food - With the school meals in our school not being the best, I decided to include this into our magazine. I have asked the audience of this magazine a rhetorical question, to which it will be answered inside of the magazine.

Study Room? - With my magazine appealing to all of Monkseaton High School, this bit is to appeal more to the Sixth Form part of the school.

EZA-levels - With A-levels seeming the get easier every year, I have devided to add this onto my magazine. The title of it, being pronounced similar to 'easy levels', would also appeal more to the Sixth Form audience.

Final Draft

After creating the name, the sell line and the cover lines for my magazine cover, I then created a final draft of what my front cover will look like on Publisher. This is the example of what my final magazine cover will look like.

The principal of this draft has mostly stayed the same from my initial design. The only major difference of this from my initial design is the sell line, which I have moved slightly to the right, instead of being in the middle. I decided to do this because of the main image. Because of the image being in the middle, the sell line would go through the student's face, and the colours would clash, and would be contrasting, which would make it hard to read.

After creating the final draft for my school magazine cover, I then had to take a photograph of a student in my school, and manipulate it in a photo manipulation program, which in my case is Macromedia Fireworks. This is the photograph that I had taken of the student in my school.

This is the photo that I had taken for the main image of my school magazine. This is the student named "Oliver Warden", which goes with the main cover line on my magazine.

This is the image after I had edited it in my image manipulation program, which in my case, was Fireworks. I had completely cut the student out, cutting the whole background out. I did this by using one of the tools to highlight and select an area, and then deleted it. I then went around the image in more detail, to make sure that all of the unnecessary bits were deleted.

School Magazine Front Cover

After I had manipulated the image, came up with the cover lines, the masthead and the sell line, I then had the task of making the front cover. 

This is the completed school magazine front cover. It goes along with my draft, having the main image in the centre of the magazine, with the head of the student going slightly over the masthead, and the cover lines going over the top of the magazine. I think that the colour schemes that I have used are quite effective. By using contrasting colours, I have made the text so that it is easy to read, and that it really stands out. I have chosen to use a sans-serif type font, however I think that if I used a serif type font it would appeal more to the audience that I am making this magazine for. For the cover lines, I think that I could have experimented with different sizes of font, instead of using the same size font for each cover line. This would have also filled up more space, as I think on this magazine, there is too much free space, as on magazines today, there is hardly any space. I also think that I should have made the masthead bigger, again, freeing up space on the magazine cover. 

Existing Contents Research and Evaluation

After I had completely finished my magazine cover, it was then time to focus on the mock-up of the contents page for my school/college magazine. I began doing this by finding contents pages from existing magazines and analysing them. I tried to find examples of school/college magazine contents pages, but I was unsuccessful. These are the three contents pages that I found.

This contents page stands out very well to the readers, due to its mixture of bright colours, such as blue, pink and orange. With the colour of the font being black, and the entire background being white, these are contrasting colours, which make the contents page easy to read. includes a number of images, relating to the magazine articles that are in the actual magazine. The magazines are split up into 5 different categories on the contents page. Doing this makes it easier for the reader to find articles that they may want to read.

Even though this magazine contents page seems very clustered, it is still very effective at attracting the reader towards the magazine. The main image, the picture of the drummer, links in with the main title of the contents page, 'drummer', which could also possibly be the title of the magazine itself. With there only being one column for the story lines, and the rest of the page filled with images, minimising the writing on the page also attracts the readers, as most of the people that will see this magazine will only look at the pictures. The colour scheme on the contents page of the magazine does seem to be quite dulll, but still quite effective. The use of the red, white and black are all contrasting colours, which makes the magazine cover easy to read.

Again, this magazine uses the same colour scheme as the previous one, using red, white and black as the main colours. These seem to be the common colours that are used for a magazine for the 'rock' genre of music. Although there is more text in this one than the one before, there still is a large main image of the band that this particular magazine is concentrating on.

Drafts

After analysing the exiting magazine contents pages, I started on the draft of my school/college magazine contents. 

These are the 4 ideas that I came up with for my school/college magazine contents page. Out of the four of them, I am going to choose one one on the bottom left. This is because I think it looks more appealing to my target audience, as a school/college magazine. This is a mock-up of what it will look like.