To begin with our preliminary task the class and I took time to look at examples of front covers from previous copies of the 'Armthorpe Excel Magazine' picking out key media concepts that were contained on the front cover. The magazines related to the ones we are doing ourselves in the class, as it was a school magazine so we could use examples from these covers for our final peice. We found that the Excel magazines relied to much on the Mast Head and the large images in the background which stole too much attention from the cover lines etc. that are crucial to the front cover. The class decided as a whole that the magazines were fairly basic and was very minimalism, as they emphasized extreme simplication of form.
The target audience for these magazines are aimed at eleven to eighteen year olds, as they are the ages of the pupils in each year at the Armthorpe school, and are the people who will be reading these magazines as they are given to them. This explains why the magazine is very basic, as children are not interested in magazines if it contains too much information and uses many different magazine conventions, as it is not what they are used to, and will not understand what the conveyed message is and choose to simply ignore it. This can also mean that the pupils will not be interested in the images either, unless they are presented of a particular style which relates to their generation or contain images of the pupils themselves. The more informal side of this magazine would be beneficial to the children's parents, to find out about information which affect their child's everyday life around the school.
After we had finished looking at School magazines we began to plan ideas of our own. The planning process started when I drew three different front cover pages and three different contents pages. All of our ideas in the class were independent. We had to be individually minded, with the ideas being thought about to be provoking, different and effective. During this time we learnt how to draw specific key symbols towards a magazine, which help to correspond what and where something will be on the magazine, for example: A box which contains an 'X' through the middle represents the image which should be placed there. At first the desinging task proved to be difficult as we had to create these images on PhotoShop which I had never used before at the time so it was hard to focus, and because of this reason I simply chose to do a straight-forward design.
Finally, after drawing the three different front cover and contents pages we began to draw our template on the PhotoShop software. During this stage when designing the layout, none of us had taken our photographs yet, however we had to place the textual information where it was needed and then later add the images in the corresponded places. Taking the photographs was one of the most important sections of the preliminary task, as they were crucial to the main article, etc. in the magazine and it is one of the things that the reader will first draw their eyes to when the magazine is purchased. The photographs had to be taken accurately and by doing this the class followed the 'rule of thirds' process which explained all of the proffessional ways a photograph can be taken and the positioning of photographs, etc. for the magazine.
The Mast Head of the front cover is positioned towards the top left corner of the page as people begin to read from that side, with the size being not too large as it only needs to take up the top fifth of the page. I rotated the mast head slightly so that it fills the top, left hand corner of the page more efficiently and makes it more interesting for the reader. The font is large and presented as a dark colour over a light background. The font is displayed in sans serif, which reflects that the magazine is modern and not like a newspaper, to match the proffesional tone of the school's 'academy' status. This will especially engage the older pupils of the school and the parents of these pupils as the magazine is easy to read and has an informal layout.
The house styles of my completed front cover are light blue, dark blue and white. This is to coincide with the school's atmospheric tone and the uniform etc. The background image, which is presented as film strips painted in light blue and shades of white and blue bubbles is used to contrast with the house style, and also the theme of the feature article photograph which is displayed as 'movies'. The background keeps in co-ordination with the three house colours, to help contrast with the textual information so that they do not clash, to help make it visibly clear to the reader.
The feature article photograph is displayed as the main image of the front cover as it has it's own large advertisement. The image is large and takes up almost half of the front cover and was also placed to the right hand side of the page, which suggests a two-column house style. The photograph consists of Bethany holding up a video camera and was taken as a Medium Shot as it is from the waist up, which will entice the reader to the video camera which she holds up as it is the specific topic of the main article. If the photograph was taken closer up then the link towards 'movies' would not be evident. After this the image was then edited on Photoshop, which contains a variety of different tools for the user to apprehend, with an example of this being the 'rubber tool'. The rubber tool can be used to let you rub out the mistakes which were previously made or to discard parts of a photograph, e.g. the background which is not of a particular interest to you and simply not relevant. This was used for my front cover, because I had to rub out the background from the photograph of Bethany holding up the video camera as it was not relevant to the magazine, neither the main article and would have displayed lack of thought and imagination to the reader.
The Main Cover Line for the feature article photograph is positioned over the image towards the bottom. The cover line font is not as big as the Mast Head font and has been given a blue-coloured edge, which helps it to stand out. This was also to outline the importance of the cover line and how specific it is to the magazine's main article. I have placed the text almost in the center of the page at the bottom because if there were anything further up it would have taken away focus from the main image. To improve I could have altered the layout so that the cover line was placed over a different area of the image but further to the left, so it is more in the middle. A more subtle font could have also been used as I chose the font that was simply the clearest, rather than one that was specific to the main article or contrasting with the professional tone.
The secondary image consists of multiple students out of uniform and presented on a stage in colourful costumes with talented poses, so this would help the reader to understand that they are individually minded and experienced. The image is extremly small in size in comparison to the feature article photograph as I intended to focus more on the main image, however it is still specific to the 'movies' topic as it is acting and musical performances, etc. I have used the rule of thirds by positioning this image to the left hand side of the magazine. Although, I have displayed this image in a circle shaped outline which may attract too much attention away from the main image to the secondary image as it is a bold circle, however it keeps in control with the house style. The Cover Line for the secondary image is a logo of the musical production 'We Will Rock You', which will engage the reader as it is a well known production and is displayed as a different colour to the house style to promote the play. However, the logo is much smaller than the mast head or the cover line so that it does not draw lots of attention from being a different colour from the house style.
To conclude there were some disadvantages towards this front cover, one of them being that I did not use a date to explain to the reader what issue the magazine is, which is crucial to the front cover as the information and events etc. will refer to the specific time of year e.g. Summer or Winter. Another disadvantage would be that I did not add a strapline to explain more about what the magazine has to offer.
Completed Contents Page:
The house style of my contents page almost remains the same as the front cover, keeping with the similar layout so that they contrast each other, although I have added an extra colour - black. The positioning of the text is reversed into the middle compared to the front cover, so that the two images could be wrapped to the bottom of the page so that the textual information could be viewed from the top as it is the most important feature of the contents page and should be focused on first with the reader. This was also done so that the text and the images were not cluttered around in various, different places on the page. The mast head (The AA Issue) this time is placed at the top of the page, in the middle. In the final peice this did not attract to my liking as the reader begins to look at the mast head from the top left corner of the page, not in the middle, so this was a flaw that would make the reader focus on other areas of the page first rather than the title. However, by covering this up the text is presented very large, bold and colourful, to attract more attention to the reader with the font style again being Sans Serif so that it is visibly clear and proffessional. To improve this mast head I could have applied the 'emboss' effect to give an added depth into the layer, by using highlights and shadows to give a chiseled and three dimensional look to help it stand out more against the background.
There is a large box which is centred in the middle of my Contents Page which is the drop-down coloumn, explaining all of the contents which will be contained within the magazine. The box is presented large to show the importance of this box being on the contents page as it is crucial and also to give in full detail to the reader the textual information which is neccasary from the magazine. I chose to fill the box in a lighter shade of Black, to help the text stand out clearer so that it is easier to read and comply with the house style as this is the key area to the contents page, therefore explaining why it has been placed in the middle.
The Armthorpe School logo, which is also featured on the front cover is placed at the top of the contents page, both on each side. The logo keeps in with the house style as the colours are light blue, dark blue, white and black, which are also the same as the school's uniform etc. This was added because it promotes the school throughout the magazine as it contrasts well and the target audience would continuously notice it, to explain to the reader that the magazine has everything involving the Armthorpe School within the contents. The logo has also filled up the empty spaces which were left after the images and text were added, so that the page would not look dull.
There are two main images which are contained on the contents page, with both of them being at the very bottom. Both of them are the exact same size in width and length so that they fit right nicely next to each other, however the images are displayed as not too big so that the reader can focus more on what is most important to the contents page, which is the drop-down coloumn. The two images which are shown is one of them being a group performance on-stage and the other of the whole school together on the playground. I felt that these two images reflected the Armthorpe School values as the talented performers promote 'Ambition' and 'Pride' towards the school, displaying charisma and talent to the reader, along with the other image of the whole school which reflects 'Respect' and 'Responsibility' as a school community by all coming together as one, showing a friendly atmosphere towards each other within the school by commiting to these duties. Interesting effects were not added to these images as this would have taken up a lot more than was anticipated and there would have been too much focus on these, as many people (men especially) tend to be enaged from the pictutes first, rather than the context. For this reason, the page numbers etc. will attract the target audience more than the images themselves as they stand out more. This is because I intended to have the images back up the style of the school that I have presented in the magazine, with the effects being applied more to the text which is crucial to a contents page to help make it easier to read, etc. This will be the last area that the reader will look at, if the layout of the content was altered then the reader would understand to look at outer areas, such as images and coverlines for additional information.
The page numbers on the contents page are much larger in size than in most which are found on normal contents pages, however by being presented in sans serif the reader will notice the page numbers before they do with the additional information as it helps make a greater impression on the eye. In addition to this it should help the reader semantically remember the page numbers over the other information, and keep them whilst flicking through the rest of the magazine.
To the top left hand side of the page the cover line is placed there, which reads 'Whats inside..' The colour links to the house style because it is presented in Black and helps bond with the proffesional tone and the font style as it is just as important as the Mast Head as it is what the reader first entices with, so the house style should be consistent. It also helps leave out abnormally large gaps which fill the contents page with blank places, which would explain to the reader that the editor shows no worthy talent, or imagination. By using creative cover lines such as 'Whats inside...' is interesting and thought-provoking as it includes an ellipsis, which effectively makes the reader move onto the further features of the page whereas if it didn’t have it they could have generally just skipped the page.
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