Finished front cover

Ideas

Here is my ideas page for the front cover of the magazine.

Evaluation

For this task I was set, I had to plan and then go onto create a college magazine. My first thing to do was to research what actually goes into a magazine or the codes and conventions of a magazine. I then went onto what went into a College magazine, so after analyzing all of this and researching a couple of more things that I needed to then adding them all to this very blog I then went on to planning it.

I first looked at who would my magazine be aimed at audience wise, then going on to say what programs I would be using to actually create my final pieces. I then went on to looking at which ways I could present the magazine to the student population. I then started creating drafts for the contents page and front cover this would then help me decide how I would present my work in the final copy. After I had done this I then set out my layout, this would then give me a better idea of where things will be placed.

After doing more planning (seen in this blog), I started to take photograph, my original idea was to take photos of a student stood outside the main building with the wyke sign placed behind the model, but these shots weren't up to good standards so I had to go back to the drawing board, after deciding on what I will do I then went on to taking the final photos which were of a student looking/working on the table, I took multiple shots and picked the best one I was going to use.

I then went on edit my image, using photoshop I highlighted the model, then selected the outside area (the background), I then made the background black and white whilst the the model and folder stayed the normal colour. This will appeal to the readers because it will be something different to look at and original

In publisher I started to create the front cover of the magazine, seen as though I had already drafted the front cover it didn't take me that long to create the final front cover . My masthead is the strongest point of the cover because it has a USP which is that its going down the left grid, which is different to most magazines out there. I used bold purples with a blue background so the magazine would stand out well then other competitors. I think these colours will appeal to the student population.

I used most coventions of a magazine for example a masthead, barcode, articles and much more, this is good because then alot more people will see it and know its a magazine.

I learned how to use publisher in this brief, so from now on i will have a good knowledge of publisher for future briefs.

Selling line

Here are some selling lines I may add into the magazine

• Creating a better College life for you
• Helping you get through college
• It's the only magazine you'll ever need
• A rough guide for students
• Getting you through the year
• The best College magazine ever
• Made by students for students
  

I will chose one of these and add it to the finished product.

What designs I will use

For the magazine front cover I will use simple but effective colours such as

• Green
• Purple
• Blue
• Red

I have also looked at the site www.dafont.com to look at suitable fonts to use for the front cover of the magazine which I will add on when I create the front cover.

Slight changes

My original photo ideas didn't go to plan, so I changed them so instead they would show a student in a classroom doing work then stood outside.

Photos

This shot may be seen as a bad one because the model is smiling as if he may be messing around, but also a good shot because it show the friendliness and fun side of college life.
This shot is good because it shows the student getting on with his work, but theirs a slight blur to the right hand due to turning the page whilst the photo was been took.
This shot is good because the model has a straight face in the photo and is getting on with his work.
This shot is probably the best one from this model because it shows the friendliness of the student but also the seriousness that he wants to get his work done.
This shot is good because the model is smiling, so it shows the friendliness of students at this college. But it good be seen as the model was messing about.
This shot isn't that good because the model was making a scrunched up face which wouldn't be suitable in a magazine.
This image is of a student reading over his work, this shot is a medium close up of his body, these shots above have a very clever Mise en scene because by looking at each photo you know that it is set in a classroom. This photo is good because you can that the student is working hard on his work which you would expect from students in a college environment.

Finished Contents page

Here is my finished mock up of a contents page of the college magazine I created, I think it works well because it has an ease of use and would be easy for the readers to navigate and found there way around.

List of usable articles

Here are some articles I made up that would go into my magazine.

• Why don't some colleges have good entrainment facilities.
• College myths and legends revealed
• Should students have to pay for printing credits?
• College meals....overrated?

Final draft of the front cover

With the final draft I made some major changes to the actual cover.



I decided to move the masthead to the left third of the cover pointing down, the reason I did this was because if the magazine was placed on shelves along with others you would see my Masthead along the side so readers whould probably pick up my magazine first and not others.



By doing this I had to move the image to the right hand side but I wont lose anything benifits from moving it.



I also changed the look of the other articles area, making look more professional and not just a simple box with words in it.

Second rough draft of front cover

With this draft I created, I went on to 'tidy up' what I had done in the first one. After giving the Masthead a name of 'Stepping Up' I added this to the draft I like the name 'Stepping Up' because as one of my previous posts say, College is a step up from high school life.



I also decided what would go into the image area, after chosing what would go in which is someone stood outside the College grounds, I also added this into the second draft. Also choosing what article would go with the image.



apart from adding these things I haven't really changed anything layout wise.

Rough Draft of front cover

This is my first draft of what I want my front cover to look like when it's finally done. It has a simple layout but hopefully the readers will enjoy this, because it's what there used to in other magazines, seen as most magazines follow the same conventions.



The image will take up most of the cover because it's what most reader will look at first whilst others may look at the other articles featured in this magazine. So I will make the area with other articles stand out along with the main image and main article so it'll appeal to all audiences.



I have placed the masthead on the top because this is seen as a normal covention of magazines to always place them at that point.

Name of the college magazine

For the name of the college magazine, I have decided to chose the name of 'Stepping up'.
I chose this name because its the fact that most students are stepping up especially from coming from high school, and I think it shows how modernized this magazine actually is.

Organisation of how I will accomplish my work.

I will take my original photo of a student outside the main college building. I will place my model on the left hand side of the frame, using the medium close up I will capture the friendliness of the students of Wyke college.

I will use the outside of the old main building outside using the background to capture the essence of college grounds, I will get the 'Wyke' sign in the right side of the frame.

The model will be dressed in his/her own college clothes of they own choice. I won't be using any props because I'd rather have just a student stood there in a formal position.

College Mood

Here is the mood board I created for the college magazines, I found images of front covers of college magazines and laid them out to pick the main conventions out and looked at what worked as a front cover and what didn't. This will hopefully help me create a suitable front cover for my own college magazine.

Mood Board

Here is a mood board that I created, on to it is front covers of various magazines. This will hopefully help me have more of a clue of what I'm going to do for a front cover of the college magazine.

Layout of a contents

This is the first draft of my contents page, with the layout I have created I think I've created a good layout which everyone will be able to read and navigate with ease.

Layout of front cover

Here is my first draft of a layout I created for a college magazine, the USP* of this layout is that the masthead on here is going down along the left third instead of the traditional horizontal layout this is vital for the magazine company so when the magazines are place in a row, this one will be clear to see because you would see the masthead first.

Analysis of a contents page

The contents page from the NME magazine has been separated under headings on the right hand side:

• Features
• News
• Radar
• Reviews
• Live

In certain stories there's a little red arrow next to them, this indicates that the story featured on here is a story that is featured on the front cover. Each story is clearly highlighted in bold black with the page number in red, also indicated clearly.

On the left side you have a 'Band Index' this is here too help the readers find a certain band they enjoy listening too, which are featured in the magazine. This area is highlighted heavily in the colour red with the bands name in white blocks and black writing, this helps make the 'Band Index' stand out to the readers.

At the top of the page you see the NME logo, reminding you that, this is the magazine you are reading and also next to this you have in big bold black lettering the words 'This Week' which is clearly indicating that the NME magazine is a weekly one. Just underneath this is the date of publication or the date that this issue was first released for the public.

In the center of the contents page is two photos featuring members of the group Oasis, this has been placed there because it highlights that fact that they have just kicked off a big tour, and this also features news about a new drummer joining they live tour. These photos will have been placed there to grab Oasis fans attention and make them read about the current goings on of that band.

Why I choose Photoshop Redone

The reason I am choosing to use Photoshop is because it's the program I'm more familiar with, I haven't used Publisher much so I don't know how to use it to it's full advantage. I also choose Photoshop because I think it will give me a more professional outcome once finished and done correctly.

Some of the advantages of using Photoshop are:

• Professional outcome
• More creativity
• Improve your skills
• Been able to have the outcome done your way (more control)

I will also use a DTP to help create the look I want for a magazine cover, with the help of others as I am not to sure on how to use it.

Target Audience

The target audience for the college magazine would be pointed towards the students of that college, or even students of surrounding colleges in which the articles are relevant to them.

Also teachers of the college could find the magazine useful, it may help them find out important information about certain things relevant to help them teach students.

What is a Masthead

A masthead is usually the title of either the magazine or the newspaper, but can also include things like the price, logo, slogan and even a founding date of the publication.

Coventions of a contents page

• Having suitable images for your articles
• Page numbers to direct you
• Sub heading underneath your main headings
• Contact numbers- E-mails
• Features and regular features
• Who's writing the articles and features (editorial team)
• Type face/colour - highlight cover stories
• Must be formal

College magazine analysis

This image I found is actually a cover for a college magazine, and found it to have many conventions you would find in a lot of magazines.

The masthead in this magazine is effective because its big and bold and is the actual name of the college itself. Then the main article 'Doing science at Beloit' is connected to the front cover picture, which is of some female doing chemistry. Also on the cover is the date the magazine was published and other articles that are featured in the rest of the magazine.

Creating a Magazine cover in Photoshop

For creating a magazine cover, I will probably use Photoshop as it's the program I am most familiar with, after looking on YouTube I found a handy video to help people including myself create a cover for a magazine.

Conventions of a college magazine

These are some of the conventions that I think should belong in a college magazine.

• Masthead with the name of the college on it e.g Wyke
• For the 1st issue have a main picture of the college grounds
• Other pictures for other issues to be relevant to the main articles
• Articles that are relevant to the actual college life
• Modernized look to it to catch the target audience's eyes

The target audience would be college students with things for the teachers as well.

Software

For the creation of the magazine they are different pieces of software I could use to create my pages of the magazine these include:

• Photoshop
• A word processer
• A document publisher
• Also a speacilised magazine software program

Conventions of a contents page

• Pictures relavent to the article been written
• Page numbers to help readers find they way around
• Sub-Headings to give out extra information
• Contents page must work
• Font colours to help certain things stand out
• Font size to grab the readers attention