1. Preliminary Task

Existing School Magazine Analysis

This magazine uses an unusual composition, the central image is the artwork for the magazine, which could also be considered a masthead; there are no other images on the cover, just decorations. The background of the magazine cover is a page of a note pad, to exaggerate that is it similar to a doodle on a school book. It uses a list to show the magazine’s featured articles. The flash saying; ‘Magazine Art. Creativity. Life’ could also be considered at the slogan or tag-line for the magazine, as it stays the same for each one and it shows what it stands for. The colour palette is made up of yellow and magenta. This magazine looks as if it is more aimed at students rather than parents or teachers, as it looks as students actually designed this, also I think students would identify more with the central image of ‘doodling’ on a school book. Although this magazine does not have all of the criteria of a usual cover, I think it would be successful at attracting the right readers to be interested in this.

This magazine has a successful composition as it uses most of the criteria needed for a magazine cover; the masthead uses a bold and interesting type. The central images is of a girl in rugby/American football gear which gives the magazine a sport feel, the lead article also the copy includes words such as ‘tackling’ to link the main article and central image. It uses a palette of red black and white to match with the central image’s colours. The puffs included keep with this colour scheme. The person on the central image is using direct mode of address which may attract a target audience to looking at it. I think this magazine is aimed at the students rather than parents of the school as it addresses them and the ‘issues that matter’ within their school.

This magazine looks very professional; it consists of many layers and certainly doesn’t look like a student made it. The central image is a photo of the school; it is taken from a low angle to make the building look even bigger and important. The masthead is quite low down in comparison to other school magazines this makes the masthead fairly central to the magazine making it look more significant. As well as the featured articles, it includes other photos of the school to show it has a lot to offer. .

I think this magazine looks as if it were aimed more at parents or people looking to go to the school, because it looks very academic, rather than social or sporty, in comparison to the first two magazines. In contrast to the first magazine this looks much more serious and aimed at parents, whereas the first is aimed at students interested in art, and the second is aimed more at students interested in the sport or slightly academic side of school.

Magazine Contents Analysis

The ‘DJ’ magazine contents page has a modern and neat apparel by using a simple type and boxy layout; it uses a colour palette of pink, blue and yellow which make it look fresh and vibrant, this could make it appeal to young adults as it looks young and new. The content page almost resembles a table; the page numbers are next to each of the articles outside of the text box, this makes it clear and easy to understand where to find the according article. They use an alternating pattern of yellow and white boxes on the featured articles list to make each story stand out from the one next to it. The central image is below the featured articles list to show that is the main story; it also has the page number with the image to show people where to find that article, if they were interested by the picture. The other images used on this contents page are mainly colourful and bright, getting people’s attention; it also uses either black or white type, depending on the brightness of the picture, with the corresponding page number.  This contents page uses magazine has no editorial features on the contents page which is unusual for a magazine as it usually features a word from the editor on the magazine and the issue created. In conclusion this page is successful at telling the reader what is inside the magazine and the images used helps attract the students to look further into the magazine as it advertises the artists further. I think the simple layout is effective in making the reader interested in the articles, making the text easier to read, yet still looks attractive.

The ‘MOJO’ magazine is a double page spread contents page; the first of the content pages includes the featured articles and the cover story. They have used the masthead of the magazine at the top of the page, which incorporates the brand identity. This highlights important text such as the title ‘Featured’ and ‘Cover story’ and the page numbers for each of the featured articles. The only image used on this page is used as a background and linked to one of the featured articles; the lighter, less important part of the photo is mainly covered by the text of the Featured list, it also has a quote and description from the main image. The next page of the contents has a busier layout; it uses a lot more coloured pictures and has a brighter arrangement. It uses an almost completely monochrome palette with exception to the small amounts of red text used. It once again uses the masthead at the top of the page, and then goes on to list the other articles within the magazines such as the ‘Regulars’, ‘What Goes On!’ and ‘The MOJO Filter’. As well as continuing on with the red and black palette, this page also incorporates a beige-sand type of colour with the page numbers, which makes them stand out, but does not complicate the palette too much. The first word of each article is in bold format with capital letters, this makes it very clear where each new article description starts and makes them stand out. It uses a variety of images, such as individual portraits and midshots of bands, to illustrated images and animals; this makes it appear that the magazine offers a wide mixture of articles. At the bottom of the page, it has a box showing what this month’s contributors include, it is written against a black border looking orderly, creating a neat piece of information. I think that this contents page uses a neat and fun composition, and is successful in grabbing the attention and interest of readers.

 

Design and Production Process

Cover Mock-up

After I looked at other existing magazines and analysed them, I started drafting ideas for my own school magazine. I scanned it to the computer, and added extra layers over the top, on multiply, to make the lines darker and more visible.

After that, I decided on which idea I was going to use in my mock up, and drew it on A4 in pencil; I then scanned it into the computer and did the same on photoshop to make the lines darker.

Afterwards I used extra layers and the brush tool on photoshop to add colour to my work, and kept pressing the multiply button to make the lines go over the colours again.

Content Page Mock-up

After analysing existing contents pages, I applied that knowledge to design a mock up for my own contents page. I drew it in pencil, on A4 paper, scanned it, and repeatedly put new layers with multipy on to darken the lines and make them more visible.

I then used the brush tool and then multiply, to roughly colour in my mock-up to give a better idea of how my contents page would look.

 Production

I decided it would be too hard to get a main image like I originally planned so I changed the idea of a special sports edition to a usual one. I took a mid shot picture of some students infront of the sixthform block. The picture was too light; so I changed the contrast of the picture to try darken it a bit.

I created a masthead and various other images for the puffs on MS Paint and Photoshop, and dragged them into the according layers on Adobe InDesign.

Final Piece

I added all of my type and puffs to the main image; I took extra photos of around the school to use for my puffs, and wrote what page number the approriate article would be and changed the opactiy of the type and their background so it wasn't blocking out any of the main image.