FINAL DESIGN OF THE FRONT COVER PAGE

This is the final draft of my front cover page.

As you can see, I didnt put a lot of cover lines on it and I didn't use a banner.

I did not want to fill a lot of space on the front cover, because I personally prefer when there isnt much text on it, then I usually have the intention to open and read it.

However, I created few cover lines and they give away the titles of a few articles, which could be the most interesting ones

I used only two colours : white and red. First of all, the photo that was used as a background is really dark, therefore I had to use some bright colour to attract attention of the readers. Also white and red colours are symbolic for Christmas and this is issue would be coming out in December.

First draft of the front page

After producing several designs for the title I chose the one that has been chosen by participants of the questionnaire. I think also goes well with the actual photo that has been used for the front cover and it produces some particular style which teenagers might like.

Here I present my first draft of the front cover, it looks very good and stylish and I, therefore dont want to put too much on it, maybe few cover lines, a banner and thats it because I dont want to cover the photograph.

the title : INSIDE

After looking at several ideas on the dafont website I used photoshop to edit and develop some of the ideas to make it look more interesting.
Please have a look and vote which one you like the most! thank you :)

I provided several different ways of each idea :

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2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Title ideas

After undertaking a survey and looking at different types of the titles for the student magazine, I came to a conclusion that the title "INSIDE" will be the best because it arouses curiousity of the readers and it suits the target audience. My target audience are students/teenagers who are likely to prefer something original and interesting. I used the website http://www.dafont.com/

photoshoot.part 2.

I also took some landscape pictures in order to show my variety of knowledge in the photography, pictures are still close ups, however I can't use them as a front cover pictures because picture presented on the front cover must be done as a portrait image. But if I would create a double spread page for some article inside the magazine here are the pictures that I would consider to use :

photoshoot.

Here i present some photographs I've taken for the cover of my student magazine, I chose the best out of all of them. This picture are portrait images and they could be used as a background image of my front cover.I'd be really grateful if you would help me to choose which one will be more suitable for the front page of my magazine.

I didn't use any editing or photoshop so far. I prefer black&white photography as it looks more dramatic and different. Pictures were taken in the very late evening outside, therefore it was really dark. I didn't use any artificial lighting apart from the one that I could avoid, e.g. lights from the street, windows and cars. I also didnt use very strong flash, because I dont like the effect of it as it makes the face of the model look really shiny. I took this picture with the camera Canon 550D on a manual mode. I prefer this mode the most because I can control everything and change the setting however I want. However, it was quite hard to catch a good light with this mode because as I mentioned earlier it was really dark outside. I asked my friend to pose for me and I chose him because I believe he is not scared of the camera and he is not trying to look fake on the pictures. Although he had some experience of working with some professional photographers and I personally took pictures of him before as well. I believe I achieved a good result as I'm happy with the pictures I've taken and hope I would be able to choose the best out of all of them and use it as a cover of my student magazine.

layouts

Here i present some ideas of my content and front cover pages.
I tried to think of some unusual layouts because I believe it might attract the target audience.
Would you please have a look and advise me which one is better :)

Here I present 2 ideas of the front cover pages,

I think the 1st idea looks interesting because the banner is positioned across the page and that would attract the attention and people would want to read it.

Here are the examples of contents pages, the 1st one has an interesting idea because the pictured are all positioned in the centre and i think its quite extraordinary because pictures are bright and will grab reader's eyes.

my experimenting with the photoshop :)

I've used the image of a crab to experiment with photoshop and gain some new knowledge. That would help me with editing my photography which ill be using for the magazine.

I had to take the crab image and turn it into a cover of a cook book.

I used different variety of tools, like colour bucket, filter, cropping, selecting etc.

Textual analysis of the front cover

Front cover is a very important part of the magazine as it attracts readers' attention. It also tells what this magazine is about before opening the content page.

Here are some examples of different front covers :

This is the front page of a college magazine "Common Sense". It's very bright and colourful, therefore it would attract attention of the target audience who are teenagers(students). The image on the front cover is a mid close up of a new rising star. The photograph is edited in the photo shop and it makes the front cover look very creative. All the cover lines are printed in different colours and that makes the front cover look even more colourful, however I'm afraid it makes it hard to read, therefore it might not grab attention. Talking about the cover lines I can say that they are all catching and interesting and they would arise curiosity of teenagers as it covers top topic teenagers must be interested in. In the left top corner it says that this magazine is free and its written in bright yellow colours to attract attention, because most of the teenagers would prefer free magazines.






This is the front cover of St. Edmund's college magazine "College life". The title, I believe, gives away what the magazine is about. It looks very formal as we can see the college crest on the left top corner of the page. The photograph on the front cover presents students singing in the chapel and that gives us an idea that maybe the main article will be talking about the event those students took part in. On the left bottom side of the page there's a list of what is inside this issue. Its very brief, however mentions all the important articles students might want to see. The colours of this front cover are not very bright, however blue and white colours harmonize together.







"Student ID" is a Ludlow College Student Magazine. The front cover of it is very bright and its done in red tones. There's an autumn leaf used as a background and what's more interesting is that there's no big photograph on the front cover, however there are few little ones on the side. At the right top corner there's a yellow star with a price in it and it says that it costs 90p. There's a thin black banner at the bottom of the page which gives away the titles of a few articles that are presented in the magazine. At the right side near the pictures there's a yellow cover line which says that there are more pictures inside. I believe this front cover is a bit boring and could be more informative, however it still attracts the audience and gives the idea of what this particular issue is about.


Looking at those three front covers of different magazines helped me a lot because it gave me the idea of how effective I could present my front cover. It also showed me some disadvantages which I will try to avoid, things like bad quality of the pictures of creating a too bright design. Personally I like the College Life front cover the most as its not very bright and it contains a lot of information, even though its brief, I think it attracts not only its target audience but also people who might randomly be looking at this magazine.

the Treatment sheet

The magazine: l'esprit
Target readership: it is a new music magazine aimed and male and female teens and adults who enjoy indie and rock music. The reader is aged between 16-30, but this magazine could be read by people younger or older than my target audience. My readers may still depend on their parent, have a part time job or even be independent already, depends on how old they are. People who would buy and read my magazine are interested not simply in music, but also in lifestyles, fashion, etc. This is why my magazine is going to be focused on musician’s lifestyle and fashion, because that will let my target audience to find out more about their favourite singers/bands. They would be interested in all the news about new clubs where their favourite bands could perform. All of them are not average « boring » people. Some of them work in fashion or music industry therefore I need to make sure I know what I’m talking about in my magazine. This people are interested in different, not main-stream things, for example, tatoos, piercings, hair styles, etc. Therefore it would be useful to advertise things like this in my magazine. I also need to make sure that my audience trusts me, that they know that what I write in my magazine is true.

Form and Style : it is an A4 full colour magazine which contains singers and bands interviews and gossip, fashion and lifestyle, news and reviews, advertisment. The style should not be too formal, however not very colloquial either. It must be sophisticated, however people must understand what the article is talking about. As I mentioned earlier, my magazine is aiming people who already know something abut music and fashion industry, therefore my articles and way of bringing information shouldn’t be too easy and “casual”. It will sell at £8.50, it is not an average price for a music magazine, however it would compete with them. I’m aiming at people who would want to keep every issue as a collection because of the quality. I am also thinking of using an unusual size for my magazine. It would be wider than A4 therefore the photography will be presented in a more professional way.


Themes and Typical features: its main features are interviews, photography and fashion. Every issue will have an exclusive interview with the well-known rock or indie musician or band. also be emphasis on the importance of friendship and remaining loyal to your friends. The magazine will have a strong reader influence with many real life stories and music make overs for the nominated reader. . Articles about new bands and how to be discovered will feature most weeks and the tone of such articles will be informal as if talking to a best friend or mate. . The writers will use language familiar to the target audience to make the magazine as useful and interesting as possible.

Potential advertisers: : A range of brands will advertise in the magazine each week, particularly those with an interest in fashion, music instruments, clubs, everything that could possibly be connected with the lifestyle of my target audience. Brands like Urban outfitters, The Kooples, Alexander McQueen. Names and addresses of different vintage and second-hand shops would be mentioned as well, because some of my audience might be interested in the underground fashion.
Editorial Team: The editorial team for l’esprit will be made up of experienced writers and designers who may have contributed to Rolling Stones magazine and TV Hits in the past. The team will be mostly made up of experienced male and female writers who will aim to bring fresh ideas to the target audience whilst also having a wealth of reliable experience.

Textual analysis of the content page

Here I'm presenting my brief analysis of a contents page in order to improve my understanding of it and create a better magazine myself :)

Here are some bullet points of what can be seen on this particular content page from the Student ID magazine:

- This contents page is divided in three columns and each column presents different things.

- The 1st column is the letter from the editor of this magazine edition.At the top of the column there’s a mid close up picture of the editor, which is useful because then we have a slight idea of who she is. In her letter she addresses to “dear all” which means she is talking to anyone who might be reading this magazine, therefore she is involving the audience. Her language is quite informal as she uses the words like “stuff” or “newcomers”, this language helps her to be on the same level with the students as the colloquial language is more prioritised by the students.

- The 2nd column contains the actual headings of each chapter with page numbers near it.The font of the page is easy to read and the size of the letters is average, there’s a space between each line therefore it’s easy to focus on each of the heading. The name of each chapter is intriguing by asking the audience or question or shouting a shocking statement.

- The 3rd column presents pictures which makes it more visual and more entertaining.These pictures briefly describe each chapter and as we know it’s easier to remember an image rather than a text, they are more catchy.

Some of the magazines don't have a contents page like College Life magazine of St. Edmunds College which is really unusual, however it has advantages and disadvantages:

The strength of College Life is that the first thing we see when we open the magazine is the bright page full of important news of college, for example, presenting the new staff of the college. However, its not very useful as you dont know what is where in the magazine, and it might take time to find what you are looking for. Overall I prefer a magazine to have a contents page and the brief says I must include one in my student magazine.

the content of the student magazine; survey

In my magazine I'd like to concentrate more on the college life, e.g. school events, news and I'd like to produce a rich gallery of pictures as it makes the magazine looks more interesting and exciting, dont you think?
please help me to decide what else should i include in my magazine content as your opinion is very important for me! :)
follow the link down below to answe my survey!
FreeOnlineSurveys.com Launch Survey

The title of the magazine

I thought of several ideas of how i should name my magazine!
Here are some examples:

• SEC


• INSIDE


• COLLEGE LIFE

I'd be more than happy to hear some fresh ideas from you guys!

Thank you

QUESTIONNAIRE! WOHOO

I decided to create a little questionnare in order to find out more about teenage opinion about what teenage magazine should be like :)

please complete it!

• How often do you read student's magazines?

very often

sometimes

never

• 
  
  Would you buy a student magazine?

Yes

I dont know, depends on the cost of it

No

i dont read student magazines!

• 
  
  How much would you pay for it?

£2-£5

£5-£7

I would prefer it to be for free

• 
  
  What do you think are the most interesting articles in the student magazine?

gossip

school news/information

gallery(photos)

other________

• 
  
  From your point of view, what do you think is needed to be added in the student magazine?

This is an open question therefore I'd hope you will produce your own point of view and answer below :)

space to answer a question

• 
  
  How often do you think the magazine should be released?

once a week

once a month

once in six month

i dont care, i dont read it.

ACTION PLAN !!!

In order to keep myself organized and you up to date, I'm creating and action plan which will show the list of things i would need to do each week in order to complete my task.

week 1.

• set up a blog
• write an action plan
• analyse at least two student magazines (conduct textual analysis)
• create a questionnaire about the title of the magazine or music preferences
• analyse results

week 2.

• design drafts/layouts
• organise a photoshoot
• take photos
• photoshop
• presenting photos in the blog

week 3.

• textual analysis of the photoshoot(what technology did i use, description of the photoshoot effects
• evaluation of the problems I have faced while trying to accomplish the task
• choosing the best photo to be the cover of the magazine
• evaluation WHY
• comapring my work with the famous example

DEAD LINE :

PREMINARY TASK : Friday 2nd December 2011 4.30 pm

wish me luck! :)

hello everyone!

I'm going to try and produce a front page of a new college magazine as my preliminary task.
This blog will help me to organize my time

and

keep records of my work and targets!