Making Magazine Practice pt.2

It's the second day of making my magazine and I've already made changed the little work I've done so far in that I've removed it completely and decided to use a different layout.

I've decided to use a picture of a library as my background for the front cover image and put the medium shot front cover image on top of the background.

I also decided to use the image I've taken of one of my classmates as the front cover portrait image. I edited his image on Photoshop and so far I've only edited the background out so that I will be able to place his portrait on top of the library image without the background of the original image also being on top the library image and ruining it.

I'm learning the basics and I'm happy with my progress today, and now my biggest worry right now is fixing his collar.

Making Magazine Practice pt.1

I have finally started to make a magazine. It may become the final product if I feel it is good enough, but for now I am just considering this magazine a practice run.

So far I have only done the title. I am using the lines to measure and guide what goes where in the front cover. I have left the title white with an outline because I want to leave it white, but I am relying on the outline to make the title visible and readable. Later on I am going to add the multiple colours that reference the colour scheme in the building's common room. For the picture, I am not going to add any of the ones I have taken so far. Since the magazine is based around the sixth form community, I want the front cover to remind and instill a sense of pride in the sixth form, so I will try to take a picture of the sixth form's 'head boy' and 'head girl'. 

Magazine Cover and Contents Layout

I have been practicing making potential layouts for my magazine cover and contents page on Microsoft Publisher. As is it only the layout, it is not detailed.

This is the first cover layout I tried making. It is not detailed and I have already decided while I was making it that I was not going to use as it my front cover layout. It is very plain and looking at it, I know that it would not make a good cover if it was used.

This is the first contents page I tried making. I somewhat like this layout. My idea is to use a picture of the school's common room, and edit it to make it look darker, giving it a more moody, yet welcoming feel. The contents area is going to be solid white from the picture, fading into black or blue. I'd prefer to use blue since that's the main colour of the main school building, but then with the common room image, I want to make it so that it fades into black towards the edges.

This is the second front cover I made. I really like this layout because there is a lot on the cover, and this can capture a lot of eyes. This layout allows a lot of information on the cover, so anyone who sees it will know what to expect when they open the magazine. Since I can use multiple pictures of students, the cover will have a really communal feeling.

This is the second contents page. I don't like this one as much as the first one. There is a lot of unused space which is unappealing to me, and also unappealing to potential readers. When it comes to magazines, minimalism is not the way to go, in my opinion. The coloured spots are just the spots that I would add if I did decide to use this layout. This is not the entire colour scheme, but this is just an example. If I use spots, I will use the spots following the colour scheme of the common room.

Photography Day

In today's lesson, we have to practice taking photographs, so we are doing a photoshoot-like activity. From this activity, I should be able to practice my camerawork, improving which angles I take pictures in and the lighting too, making sure that I do not overexpose or underexpose my pictures.

No actual techniques were used in taking these pictures. I wasn't going for anything professional, these were just practice shots. Obviously, I will improve my picture taking skills, but I wasn't expecting anything brilliant today. Overall, the light is spread pretty evenly in the pictures, and nothing is overexposed or underexposed as we are able to see his entire face.

Magazine Titles

I have to start thinking of possible titles for my future magazine. Since the theme of the magazine is my school, I want to try and make the title centered around school and the future. However, I think that school-related titles will put readers off. It might be better to use shorter, unrelated titles.

The Common Room

This title is named after the entrance room in our building, and it is where everyone meets up. It is the most communal room in the building, and it's appropriate since the magazine is centered around school, so I hope that I can get multiple students in the building to cooperate with me and be included in the magazine. If I use this title, I would like to also be able to use a wide variety of colours for the colour scheme as our the common room is very colourful. Another thing about making the magazine based on the sixth form/college is that I will be able to make a better fashion page than just lower education schools, since there is no uniform in this building.

Keeping Up with Key Stage 4

If I use this title, then my magazine would have to be aimed at year 9's who are transitioning into year 10, and beginning Key Stage 4. The magazine would be based around giving advice on how to make sure the readers can get the most out of their GCSEs. Along with this, there will be advice on other things related to teenage life, such as struggling with friendships and relationships. Alternatively can be used as the title of a cover story.

Up

A shorter version of the previous one. However, since it is so short, the title can have many meanings behind it, so this one is really effective. Since the magazine is school-based, using a magazine with this title will probably mean the magazine is about achieving academically, so it would most likely mean the magazine will include revision tips. 

Introduction to Photography

Recently, a few of my classmates have made a presentation for the rest of our class about photography. Photography skills are obviously vital when it comes to media, and they were the only ones with any knowledge in photography, so who better to create the presentation? Their presentation taught the rest of us the basics when it comes to taking pictures.

When it comes to a school magazine, the picture on the left would be inappropriate because it is a medium shot, as opposed to the one on the right which is a medium close up. The medium shot would show too much of the person, which is unnecessary in a school magazine. Furthermore, the one on the right is also formally dressed, which is appropriate for a school.

We also learnt about 'overexposing' and 'underexposing' pictures. Overexposed basically means too bright, and underexposed basically means too dark. It is important to not overexpose or underexpose pictures because they need to be able to be seen, but when editing pictures, playing around with lights is a good thing because we are able to create different moods with different lights. This also links to black and white pictures. We need to be able to decide if a picture is better in colour or in just black and white. Making a picture in the monochrome colours can also create mood, but we need to decide what kind of message we want to convey in our pictures, and sometimes it may be better to just edit the lighting rather than the colours, depending on the desired mood and theme.

Survey Results

Today, I logged onto my SurveyMonkey account to check my results after emailing my survey to my classmates. Some of them responded and I was able to check their responses, but of course there's always those people who don't take surveys seriously.
On the other questions such as the music genre questions, the answers were pretty evenly spread out. This may mean that I will have to focus on multiple genres within one topic in my magazine, but as far as I'm concerned, they are only a test sample for my survey. In the future I will create a better survey for a wider audience and use their results.

The music question is pretty evenly spread out, and unfortunately, I don't really like most of these genres anyway. The comedy won the movie genre question. I guess I'll have to try and be funny in the magazine...

Adobe InDesign CS3 - Finished

As I said a few weeks ago, I would eventually come back to this. I've finally added the missing pictures and text. All that remains is some colour to the page which I haven't learned how to add yet. Not everything is in the exact place as it is in the magazine, and not all the pictures are the same as the ones in the magazine either. However, I like to think that I had a good attempt for my first time using Adobe InDesign.

Phoenix Magazine - Analysis of Content

The last task of the half term was to analyze some school magazines to find out what content I will need in my magazine. The school magazines I analyzed are from King Edward VI High School for Girls.

The first magazine I examined was the Phoenix 2007 Edition.

The contents page is minimalistic, and the white background contrasts the black text, making it easy to read.
The contents is based heavily on creative and performing art subjects, along with extra-curricular work. It could be centered around these subjects because they are more active subjects, but it could also be purely because of the school's curriculum. However, performing arts is something I might include in my future magazine. The 'Trips and Expeditions' and 'KEHS News' sections act as an event and notices type of section in the magazine.

The second one I checked was the 2008 edition.

Once again, the contents page is easy minimalistic and easy to read with the colour contrasts. This edition has more content than the previous one, and seems to be more focused on individuals rather than the school as a whole. There are pages on interviews and tributes with teachers. The contents of this edition also includes some of the school's history. Finally, this magazine also introduces reader interaction - something the previous magazine did not have.

So overall so far, the magazines are based heavily on the creative/performing arts subjects, and are very much for extra-curricular news. Teachers are also important to the school as they should know more than the students, but student interaction is also very important in school magazines, as they are the focus of the school.