Scanned Images

At last I've worked out how to use the scanner! Here are the images from my planning which I did a little while ago. It includes 2 brainstorms, 2 drafted images of my original idea (School Scoop Magazine), 2 very brief drafted images for the magazine in general, 2 drafted images for my Wyke Wonders magazine and finally, a plan which I used to take my pictures.

Pictures that I didn't (and a few that I did!) use

These are all images that I took. The majority of them were for my front cover, the rest were for a contents page.

Evaluation!

For my front cover I decided to use a medium close-up shot of a female student reading against a brick building. The background, I believe, adds more depth and interest to the cover. I chose the colour scheme of white, purple and black which work well together, especially against the brick wall background of the page. Originally, I was going to have green instead of black (this was because the Wyke logo uses it with the purple) but it didn’t stand out enough, therefore I had to change it. Personally, I like the colours that I’ve chosen because the purple links with the logo of Wyke, the white stands out clearly, as does the black, and they all make the text more interesting to look at. Apart from the slight trouble I had with the colour scheme, I also struggled with the placements of my main article titles. However, I soon sorted this by asking opinions of my classmates and just re-positioning them on Photoshop. The language I used on the front cover is simple and easy-to-understand which appeals to my primary target audience of college students. My secondary audience is any other members of the college, such as teachers etc… The cover stories all relate to activities / happenings within the college so therefore is ideal for anyone attending or working at Wyke. In this project, my main equipment consisted of a camera and computer. I used Photoshop to add text on to my front cover, whilst my more detailed contents page was done on Microsoft PowerPoint. I would have used Photoshop more, such as making my model block some of the masthead (a technique which most magazines use), however, I’m not entirely confident with that programme yet and the time limit was too restricted for me to be more adventurous. With my masthead, I tried to find a font which linked to the Wyke logo – I decided on the font Rockwell. The other font which I also used consistently throughout the magazine is Microsoft Sans Serif which both work well with each other. There are several typical conventions of a magazine which I didn’t include in my finished product. Most magazines have a barcode and price placed somewhere on the front cover, however, because I planned for my magazine to be free, there was no need to put a price and therefore no need to put a barcode either. Another convention missing is a tagline though I did think of one – “wonder no more…” – again, however, I didn’t include this with my final piece as I believe my masthead “Wyke Wonders” explained it all. I chose this masthead compared to others as it’s alliteration was different and made it more appealing. I did have a lot of trouble with time. For me, it just ran out too quickly! Towards the end, I had to rush scanning my work, finishing my blog and printing off my ‘hard copies’. If I could do something differently, I would have shown the different progressing stages of my magazine front cover, but I edited it and modified it all in one go to save time later on. Also, if I hadn’t used all of one lesson to create my detailed contents page, I would have had more time to develop my magazine and make it better.Overall, I am pleased with my finished product as I believe I did all that I could in the time given.

My Detailed Contents Page

This is my uncomplete yet more detailed contents page. I spent a full media lesson creating this but it wasn't until afterwards that I realised we didn't need to do it in so much detail.
As you can see, the fonts are the same as on the front cover (Rockwell and Microsoft Sans Serif) and also use the same colours (black, white and purple). Because the background of the contents is white, I could only alternate the font covers between black and purple, which I still think works well.
There is a large gap however, (which is impossible to miss!). To change this, I would probably put the editor's letter there and put the editor's picture where the letter is now, or place another picture in there. I did take some more photos which I will upload in another blog (hopefully when I have some more time).
I tried to make the page numbers (eg. P10) slightly different to the rest of the text by placing it in italics, however, I'm not sure whether they stand out perhaps as much as they should. The black writing underneath the main title of the article (in purple) is a small description of what the article is about to hopefully entice the audience into reading the article.

Overall, I am happy with how this has turned out, despite being unfinished and my first attempt! I did this on Microsoft PowerPoint.

Front Page of my Magazine

This is my front cover for my magazine "Wyke Wonders". (Please ignore the grey box around it ... that's not actually part of the magazine!). I'm really pleased with how the front cover has turned out. I did experience some problems with the purple font as, as you can probably see by the "New!", the purple does disappear slightly in her hair. There was also an issue with where to place the main cover stories, but I soon resolved this by asking classmates opinions and experimenting with different positions on photoshop.
I really like the colour scheme that I've used, as I have tried to make the colours vary across the page, for example, there is not one section (discluding the date) which is in one entire colour. The purple is to tie in with the Wyke logo, whilst the white and black are just two colours which I chose because they stood out well against my main image. I varied the font size and style as well as the colours to make it more interesting. The two fonts I chose which are consistent throughout the magazine (as they are included in the contents page) are Rockwell (which is the font for Wyke) and Microsoft Sans Serif (which is the font of "wonders"). The size also adds something else to the front page as I made the more important / interesting titles larger to grab the audience's attention.
There are a few things missing from my front page. Although I was going to put a tagline of "wonder no more ..." I didn't use it in the end as I thought that my masthead (name of magazine) at the top of the page was self-explanatory. I also haven't included a barcode or price as I thought that the magazine would most likely be free for the students/members of Wyke.
My primary audience for this magazine is students attending Wyke College as the language, image and contents of the magazine all appeal to that particular audience. Other members of the College (and anyone else who is interested in Wyke) are the secondary audience my magazine is aimed at.
Overall, I believe that my front page has been successful and I'm pleased with the end result. I did this on Photoshop.

Magazine Names

I've decided that I am going to choose to do a college magazine based on Wyke. This is because the pictures I've taken are of people dressed in non-school-like uniform, so therefore it would make better sense if they were college students.
I've also been thinking of a few names for the magazine, unfortunately I can't use names like "School Scoop" but I have come up with the idea of "Wyke Wonders" as the name for the magazine. It may be slightly corny, but I think the alliteration works well. The tagline could be "to stop you wondering..." or something like that. It may need a bit more work, but it should be ready for the deadline on friday.

Examples of Medium Close Up Shots (MCU)

Here is an example of a medium close up shot. It shows the person's head and shoulders. The majority of MCU's all demonstrate the same image.
Below are some more examples (with some help from the cast of the Twilight Saga). Unfortunately, I don't think all of the images are showing. Sorry!

First Stages of Planning

I've done two brainstorms. One is on the task in general and what needs to be included, the other is on what i'm planning to use in the actual task. However, I still need to scan in my work and add it on, but it will most likely be going in this post. (As soon as I figure out how to do it..)

Target Audience for the College/School Magazine

For my magazine, I think the primary TA (target audience) will be teachers and/or parents. This is because I think some of the articles involved will be giving advice on how to support the student in their college/school. However, the secondary TA would be the students themselves, as I think the magazine will be related to them and they could be interested in finding out what's going on around their school/college.

I'm yet undecided as to whether or not to do a strict college or a strict school magazine. However, I think I'm more likely to choose to do a college magazine as all of the relevant shots/stories are within easy access, and with the task due in next week, I think it would be more simpler and easier to do.

Types of stories college/school magazines

There are a variety of topics the magazines of college/school may use. However, all of them will relate to the college/school topics which will be relevant. For example, you wouldn't expect an article on "Dating tips" or "The latest music bands", it'd be expected that articles should be on "How to get A*-C at GCSE" or "The New School Meal" ...
After looking at some magazines in class (the secondary school magazine) I got some ideas for some stories which I could include in my project. Below are some of the titles I'm thinking of using:

• New Einstein aged 12!
• Are the new meals really that good?
• New proposals go underway ...
• 10 ways to reduce stress!
• How to solve that 'friend' issue...
• Simple ways to improve your concentration
• Does eating sweets help your grade?
• Will uniform have an impact on learning?

For the titles, I have tried to use ideas which every magazine uses, not only the typical college/school magazines. A lof of the articles have rhetorical questions to intrigue the reader - a simple technique used often. Though I will probably have to come up with some more ideas, I think these are all related to what the magazine should have inside.

Another front cover of a school magazine

This school front cover is very similar to the previous one, mainly because it follows all the typical conventions. The masthead has the title of the magazine, stated clearly in a simple font. There are several article titles placed on the edges of the magazine, surrounding the primary focus of the student. Again, the front cover is taken up of a large image of a student. By having a white background for the cover, any colours which are used work well.
Personally, I prefer this type of school front cover compared to the one which I analysed before. It's clear, simple and is effective at displaying what it's wanting to say.
This image was taken from: http://www.wickedlocal.com/ghs-newsservice/archive/x488827577/g2582589a0cfa2b6416d69e7de8ac97d1517a56362b2e79.jpg

Front Page of a School Magazine

This is a front page of a school magazine (well parent and school) It demonstrates the common conventions of a typical school magazine. Having the masthead, at the top of the page, in large easy to see font. It has a large main image, of a classroom/students who take up the majority of the front page. There are titles of interesting articles which would appeal to both parents and teachers. Also, if you look closely at the bottom left of the cover, you can also see the logo of the sponsors of the magazine. This is something which I have seen for most school/college magazines - probably because the school/college doesn't have the proper funding.

The overall colour scheme involves red, black and white. Also, there is some green writing to empahasise the "Energy Smart" part of schools. I believe this is another headline of an article inside, although, i'm not sure as I would expect a page number or something next to it if it was. The whole cover works well as it has all the ingrediants which we as a consumer expect, BUT, I think that they could improve on the red and black as, to me, it seems to be a little difficult to read easily.

Unfortunately, the image isn't showing up but I did find it from the site below:
Image taken from: http://www.nzpta.org.nz/images/stories/parent-and-school-magazine.jpg

Video - Making a contents page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zrsZN8YCRY

This gives some hints on how to make a good contents page. :)

Video - Using photoshop for a front cover

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MAPu_9oyLY

This video tells you how to make a front cover on photoshop. :)

The Beat Contents Page

This is the contents page of someone's magazine. I found it from the website https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpQrjtmkDFu-HIfBb2YCSzouM63fhoQaAI8djy5LqAWUA8OxwvFPT-SMAIE5yMXOxUzTWpJxfHFuTG7rYfUsd1ODqVoy71hbn2zfXxjj9GGYAZ6R8cFKjCPZjSCFCSjHUZAKpzx9TmCU/s400/a1CONTENTS.JPG.

It follows the conventions of a normal contents page, such as the name of the magazine "The Beat" at the top of the page, and the heading of the "Contents" larger and underneath it. There are many sub-headings with the titles of the articles related to that topic underneath it. This makes it easier for the readers to find what they want easier.
The colours are consistent on this page by having pink, white and yellow. The same font is also used for different elements, such as the larger page numbers, the sub-headings and the rest of the writing. Again, this makes it easier to distinguish between what is the page number and what is the title etc ...
Images have been used to help illustrate the articles inside.

However there are some differences with this magazine to the others. For example, there seems to be a lot of reading required, perhaps good as it shows that there is a lot in the magazine, but it could also suggest that there is too much to read, so this may put readers off. Also, the whole page seems to be very busy for a contents page. A contents page, from my point of view, is to advertise the articles inside the magazine, therefore it should be clear and concise. The writing has also been placed on top of the images blocking the actual picture.

Trend Magazine front cover

Even though this magazine isn't one of the most popular or well-known, it still displays the same type of message through it's front cover and follows the stereotypical magazine trend.
Compared to other women's magazines, such as Vogue, it shares the same style of the front cover. For example, having women being the main focus of the cover, titles of articles which are more relevant to the target audience of women. The name of the magazine is situated at the top of the page, partially hidden by one of the women's head. By using a purple font for the majority of the writing, this again appeals to the women rather than the males.
However, one thing which I would critisise would be the background of the magazine as, from my point of view, it is too busy and distracts the readers slightly from the girls. The purple of the flowers is also too vivid and needs to be slightly duller. But, all-in-all, this magazine front cover is acceptable as a women's magazine as it follows all the conventions which recognise women's magazines for what they are.

Video Issue Contents Page

This is a contents page from "The Video Issue". The font style is similar to what the military use which gives the magazine a boyish influence. What works well on this page is that the colour of the fonts are able to stand out really well on the white background, so, at a glance, the readers can easily see what articles are in the magazine. Also, the alternating colours means it is easier for the reader to distinguish between the different articles and their page numbers.
By having large page numbers, the reader can easily identify which page they need to turn to so that they can read the article that they want.
The images down the right side of the page, accompanied with their page numbers, most probably display the more interesting articles which will most likely be on the front cover. This is so that the reader can quickly jump to the specific page/s which interested them in the first place.
As well as having the article titles, there are also sub-headings which group them in to relevant places. Again, this is helping the reader find the article which will be most interesting to them. Underneath the article titles, there is a small explanation of what the article is about to help win over the reader to read it.
At the bottom right of the page, the page number is clearly displayed. It is bigger than the other fonts on the page yet keeps to the same font style. Keeping in character with the magazine.


This image was taken from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtqSG7DT6D_Os7oo0NL7TKdgvNx5d16EzrOcMF6VgsolyyXg_c8mfcyccbTEDfRV7ih5SydmYewHqRRCe1rSU17ZmP876glnpewBf8ZykTCLOgidoGlOyEQFVm7QBsCJ8bDjoUt6dnsuU/s400/magazine_Page_2.jpg

From my point of view, this contents page was harder to deconstruct than others I had seen as I hadn't heard of it before or seen the front cover. However, it shows that there are many varieties of styles for different contents pages.