My Planning Process • Before I started using image manipulation programs such as Adobe Photoshop to edit and

create my two documents for my school magazine (front cover and contents page ), I made sure I followed a process which would help me with creating my magazine, making it look professional and suitable for my target audience.

• Firstly, I undertook some market research of other magazines. I both bought and looked at the more popular ones such as Vibe, XXL and OK! Magazine. When reading and analyzing these magazines I made notes on all of the trends and consistencies that are and must be kept in a professional magazine such as the masthead, features and contents page. By doing this I understood and started thinking of how my magazine should look like and what should I keep the same or change about it.

• Secondly, I thought about what kinds of features you would see on a school magazine and what would be appropriate for the target audience. Once I had the ideas I started to sketch some possible outcomes of how I wanted my magazine to look like. I thought of the name ‘Your School’ with features such as ‘School Play’ and ‘Football as suitable features.

• I sketched in black and white ideas onto A4 paper for my front cover and contents page so it was easier to come back and change if I needed to. When I was finished with my black and white version I scanned it onto the computer and then did colour versions for my front cover and contents page on A4 paper.

• Once I had scanned both the black & white and the colour sketches I started to perfect and edit them on Photoshop you will see in this presentation the changes I made while in production of the magazine to better its appearance and professionalism.

Black and white mock up of front cover

Colour mock up- front cover

There is a colour theme of mostly green, blue and yellow. I thought that these three colours would go well together and are mostly seen to stand out and attract the readers attention. The ‘FREE’ yellow strip stands out a lot, I have done this to captivate my audience and make them want to read the magazine as there is no fee required(which will make this magazine more accessible for school pupils ). This is also keeping my house style consistent.

I have chosen a plain white background so my taglines and images are in clear view and are not clouded or obstructed by the background colures.

I have a clear to read sub title which states ‘Exclusive Photos Inside’, I do think the design of the heading is good however I need to make the heading more specific with subjects such as sports matches or end of year prom.

My fonts and features are consistent with my house style but I will have to make the features a bit more snappy as they are fairly lengthy.

Final edit of the front cover

The Masthead: the title ‘Your School’ shows the magazine to be directed at the school pupils, teachers and people in the school community. Therefore the name of the magazine is suitable for my target audience at ages 11-16 The term ‘Your’ gives a sense of ownership and lends itself to every audience which makes it familiar and trustworthy. This name gives the automatically tells the reader that this magazine will give you information on all the things that will be happening in the school so it will have high amounts of readership.

Tagline: the tagline I went with in the end was ‘your number #1 school mag’ which is a branding slogan typically used on magazines. The use of the tagline gives the magazine a memorable and catchy slogan which will always be associated with the magazine and the school. The use of ‘your’ reiterates the meaning of the masthead and give the reader a sense of ownership, so its only and specifically for them.

Puff: by using terminology such as ‘exclusive’ this is called a puff. This puff here gives the reader an insight into what to expect in the contents page and the actual article in the magazine. This could potentially boost my magazines readership by attracting the readers attention.

Shapes: there are only two main shapes used on the front cover, rectangles ands squares. Although there are only two shapes used on the front cover we can see them used in different positions and styles. For example in the top right hand corner where it states ‘Free’ in the yellow rectangular strip. There are also squares which form the shapes of the photographs at the bottom of the magazine and are also on the puffs of the magazine. These shapes separate the individual stories for a more focused and clearer layout.

Background: the background is plain and white with a slight gloss. This makes my central image of the pupil more focused and clear to my audience, it also makes the lettering easier to read for the reader which makes it easier to choose fonts and colours. The gloss makes the front cover look more professional instead of just plain white

Final front page- with annotations

Typography: on my front cover I have tried to keep my cover lines virtually the same however there are numerous other sizes and fonts used on the front cover. This was done to attract the readers attention by making the front cover look more visually pleasing. I have also given the reader a sense if familiarization with the fonts so they will know what to expect for the contents and the magazine.

Final front page- with annotations continuedCentral image: My central image is of a young male, he isn't dressed in school uniform as he is in sixth form and is representing many students at his school especially in his own year, he also acts as a role model for the rest of the students who may aspire to also be on the school magazine cover. Typically he is the student of the cover as his story is the main article of ‘Lorenzo Dentamaro ‘ speaks on his new upcoming mix tape which is a huge accomplishment

Cover lines: the main stories are on the front of the cover this is done purposefully to attract and entice the reader to pick up and read this magazine . The cover lines give brief information to what the reader should expect throughout the magazine and what is occurring at the school in the near future. The cover lines are all of different themes therefore giving a wider range of information which then appeals to a wider base of audience which will increase readership.

Colour scheme: I have used a colour scheme of green, blue, yellow and black. I have used these colours because they all are consistent to the my idea of the house style and the colours suit each other . Also the colours can apply to both males and females as they can be associated with both genders .

Monthly issue: as you can see from at the top right hand corner above the masthead it says ‘October 2013’. This is obviously telling the reader that this magazine is a monthly occurrence so they know when the school will release another one. I also think this is a good idea because it makes the magazine more highly anticipated instead of it being weekly also it allows the magazine to consist of more information for the reader for the whole month.

Black and white mock up of contents page

Colour mock up of contents page

All of my images are relevant and relate to the front cover of the magazine and are the main features of then magazine.

My page numbers are all in the same font and are consistent to the house style and colour theme of the magazine.

The title of this page ‘Contents’ is the same font and size as the front cover, therefore keeping the house style consistent

I decided to have only three pictures but I might choose to change this in my final content page and add more images and less writing as it makes my contents page look too busy and I want the images used to be the most eye catching items. Also the writing should be more snappy and give the reader an idea of what the article will be about more quickly as it is quite lengthy which could be an issue with the reader.

Final edit of contents page

Final contents page- with annotations

Background: I have used a plain white background for my contents page so all of the lettering and images are visible and clear to se and read. I have also kept the background white to keep it simple and it also is consistent with my house style.

House Style: the fonts and colours used are again consistent to the house style of the front cover, the use of green blue and black proving this, the fonts are all the same size and the stroking of the green and blue is in continuous effect. I have done this to maintain the house style and not straying to far from the front cover therefore making the magazine look more consistent and professional.

Images: all of my images relate to the magazine and are suitable for my target audience. I have five different images for different features in the magazine which help to give the reader more information. The images do not overbear the text and I think this is important.

Layout: the layout of the contents page is easy to understand, it is easy to find out what page each feature will be found at and the header(title) of the feature is always clear. The layout is also consistent to the house style which give the professional look and is suitable and simple for the audience .

Positioning : the positioning of my images and text are suitable each other and for the reader as they make it easy to see which images are associated with which sections of text. This make the contents page more clear and does not overcomplicate the aim which in result will end up with the reader being confused and unable to utilize the contents page