Preliminary Task

These three schools magazine covers are all very different. Magazine cover number one, the Almunir school magazine cover which looks very professional, uses blue as its main colour but also uses yellows, whites, greens and reds with a building and sky as a faded background , with the building filling half of the page this being the central image. By using blue as the main colour this gives of a sense of peacefulness and tranquillity. Also by using sky as the main background this could give the connotation that as a school; they always aim high .There is also some bold copy used ¾ of the way up the cover with a badge above the bold copy and three little pictures in the bottom left corner of the magazine. The badge which is situated just above the masthead is the schools badge and the pictures, which are situated in the bottom left hand corner, could be pictures of the school or things that you will find within this schools magazine. The biggest copy within their cover is the most important things theis being the masthead and the year in which it was made.

By using a picture of the school as there central image and the background of their magazine cover shows that they are proud of their school and want to show off its best features.

Magazine cover number two is very different from the Almunir schools magazine cover. They have only used a minimum amount of colours throughout, these being red and blue. They have used these colours as it is the colours of their school badge .Their magazine cover consists of a blazer , a tie and a badge all of which belong to this particular school. The red in which is used for the main background of the cover connotates the passion and dedication in which this school posses .The Aris cover also has a very different layout to the Almunir cover with the mast head being in the top right hand corner of the cover whereas on the Almunir school cover their masthead was ¾ of the way up the page in the centre. The Aris school seem to use a drawing as their central image where as the Almunir school use a photograph. By using a drawing which a pupil has drawn shows that they are a very proud school who like to get their pupils involved and show off their skills. The use the badge twice within their cover also shows pride towards the school. The masthead is situated on top of a football connoting that they are a school that are good at sport. The masthead is the only copy which is used unlike the other two magazine covers, making this cover all about the pictures.

Magazine cover number three is a lot simpler than the Almunir schools magazine cover as it has a very unprofessional look about it. The copy is in a fancy style which isn’t fitting with the rest of the cover as it contains amateur pictures of various events. They use photographs to flaunt the variety of activities which they cater for and the facilities they have for their pupils benefit. Unlike the other magazine covers this one uses actual photos of their pupils and staff who work at the school rather than just pictures of the school itself portraying that they are also pride of their pupils and school just like the other two magazines. The central image is of pupils at some sort of event holding a banner connotating that they are a very supportive school. Also uses a plain background to emphasise the photographs used. The strap line is in green which goes along with the colour of the school and by. In conclusion all three magazine covers are different but they all have the theme of being proud of their School and the facilities and activities in which each one provides. They show this connotatively and denotatively.

For our preliminary task my design brief was to design a new school magazine and produce its front cover and a mock up of its contents page.

The magazine cover in which I designed is aimed at those students who are in the sixth form. I decided to use a catchy but simplistic theme throughout. Firstly I thought about the structure of my cover, for the main back ground and central image I decided to use the Ashfield school badge which is slightly faded so that I am able to layer other things over the top. The masthead being in the largest font near the top of the page to catch the eye of the students. I have also inserted a strap line which is directly underneath the Masthead .In the top left hand corner I placed a flash with the year and month which the magazine is going to be issued. Down the left hand side a placed some photographs of students participating in different events using direct mode of address. Also I added a banner at the bottom of the magazine cover. Secondly I thought about the colour scheme in which I was going to use, the main colours I am going to use for my magazine are purple and blue. I chose these colours as I thought it would symbolise that the magazine is for everyone, both boys and girls.

The contents page in which I designed also uses the same colour scheme as my front cover as I thought it would make my finished work look more professional and of a higher standard. Firstly I thought about how I wanted the layout of my contents page to be. I decided that I wanted it to also be very simplistic so that it was clear to the reader. Down the right hand side of my contents page I decided I was going to use some pictures that would also be inside my magazine to give the reader an insight to what was going to be in the magazine .I also placed numbers next to each picture so it is easy for the reader to go straight to the page which they where interested in . I decided to separate the bullet points into two different sections these being;things which were on the cover and then the other being extras. I did this so that if the reader saw something on the front cover which they wanted to look at they would be able to find out quickly where to find it.

To create my school magazine front cover I used Computer software such a Photoshop, Adobe Indesign and Adobe Bridge. Firstly I took some photos which I wanted to incorporate into my finished cover. I then took these photos and edited them in Photoshop to make them look as professional as possible. To design my final front cover and put it altogether I used Adobe Indesign where I then brought the pictures across which I had edited using Photoshop using Adobe Bridge. For the background of my front cover I decided to have an image of the school badge however I thought that by placing this picture straight to my background it overpowered the whole page leaving my overall look to be very busy and a bit over the top. Therefore I decide to edit this picture in Photoshop and put a white layer over the top making the picture look faded. By doing this I made my picture look much clearer and not as busy. Also i feel it made the front cover as a whole look of a better standard. On my front cover I decided to use three different pictures showing sixth form at work as I thought this would give a true feeling of what Ashfield post sixteen has to offer .Also I thought by using Ashfield’s own post sixteen students this would give my cover a more realistic feel to it. My central image is a mid shot of an average post 16 student at Ashfield I decided to place this image in an oval shape to look like the shape of a mirror. My reasoning behind this was that I wanted the audience both current and future post 16 students to think that the mirror like shape is saying this could be you either now in a couple of months of in a couple of years and to show that everything is possible. Also to show that achieving successes at Ashfield sixth form is easy with the right facilities and right help .Therefore persuading other who are not sixth form students at Ashfield already to go there. As for the layout of my magazine I used one central image in a oval shape, then on the left hand side of my cover I used three pictures in box shapes which overlapped each other .For the type set on my school magazine front cover I decided to place my banner at the bottom of the page rather than slanted across the page as I thought this would suit better. I also decided to change the positioning of some of the copy features and it made it look a lot more professional. Finally the colour scheme, in my original mock up of my front cover I used the colour scheme of both blues and purples to represent both genders. However when I saw the finished effect with that combination of colours I felt I could improve on this to make it of a much higher standard. So I decided to use the colours off the Ashfield school badge to create my magazine cover.

For my finished magazine contents page I also used the same background as I used on my school magazine front cover. My reasoning behind this is that I thought that by using the same theme throughout my magazine it would make my overall pieces look of a higher standard. I then decided to separate the copy into two sections. These sections being entitled ‘On the cover’ and ‘Extras’. By doing this it made my contents page much clearer and much easier to understand for its target audience. The target audience being people of a younger age who have an interest in the r n b style genre of music. In my contents page I included several images all with page numbers at the side of each one, again making it as simplistic as possible. The images which I chose to use I then edited in Photoshop to get them to the standard of which I was happy with. I then uploaded these images To Adobe Indesign, where I created my contents page, using Adobe Bridge. In terms of layout I decided to stick to pretty much the same layout as my original mock up of my contents page with a few minor changes here and there. For example I added a banner at the bottom with the words ’Aspire’ written as it is the school motto. (when i uploaded the image it cut half of the picture off)