Magazine Cover - Experimenting.

Using Pages on a Mac (I borrowed the school's Mac during the half term), I was now ready to begin designing my front cover. Here are a few ideas I tried but decided not to use and why:



I tried having the masthead down the left hand side, vertically because this is a design that rarely any magazines use. I didn't think it stood out enough though, against bold, busy compositioned images. So I decided to adjust the masthead, placing it at the top of the cover, horizontally, which is a typical and popular area where a masthead is placed. However, I really like the font of the masthead - 'princetown LET'. It reminds me of the American Movies, High School Musical as this is their signature font. This makes it suitable for this cover. The red colour links with the model's christmas hat. The black shadow on the font creates an interesting affect to the masthead. The shadow has an opacity of 100% and the angle of the shadow is 66 degrees.



This is my second draft. Here I have added a caption saying "HOW MARLWOOD CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR". Although it is in a red font, I find that the caption is kind of fading into the background. So in my next draft, you will see how I changed this.



This is my finished draft. I have changed the word 'Marlwood' to 'We' in the caption to add synthetic personalisation - supporting the title which also does this. The caption now says 'HOW WE CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR'. It suggests that all the students and teachers work together and support each other to have fun and celebrate Christmas. The font is now called 'Charcoal CY' which is bolder and stands out more against the background. I also wanted a simple font as the cover has a busy composition. Another caption I have added, 'December 2010', placed below the masthead, begins with a capital letter whilst the rest are in lower case. This gives connotations of formality. As the masthead has a bold and outstanding font, I knew the date had to be simple so that it didn't look too much so I chose Arial.

Shoot/Edited Images.

During a media lesson, me and another media studies student took the opportunity to explore Marlwood and take lots of pictures of what we thought would be suitable for our school magazine covers. We experimented with different camera angles and compositions to see what worked best. During the Christmas half term, we decided to meet up to work on our media images and edit them on Photoshop so that they were ready and looked professional for our magazine covers. We will be using different images on our covers but our edits will be similar as we worked together on editing but went our separate ways after this. Here are the edited images I am considering to use on my magazine cover:



The background in this image has been made blurry as it wasn't important or neccessary. Also with a depth of field affect, the audience is able to focus properly on the focal point which is of course, the boy student working.



The technique that I used to create this image was quite unique and interesting. I found a blue piece of paper, rolled it up and placed the lens through it. This created a blue, rounded border on the image. And the picture inside the frame happened to be brilliant too - the students are looking up at the teacher (looking up has connotations of herhaps the teacher being an idol/inspiration to these students), whilst the teacher is also looking down on them. Overall, I think this is a perfect composition. In terms of editing, I enhanced the blue border by going over it with the airbrush.



The model in this image has been majorly edited, making his skin appear very smooth. The background has also been coloured in white using the airbrush. The raw image has another student in the background but I found that the image would look better without him and with a plain background.



I wanted to take this image because I love fashion and thought by adding a textiles image, I would be adding my own personal touch to the magazine cover. In terms of editing, the background has been blurred out and I have adjusted the brightness and contrast so that the image is bolder. The model is a fashionable person herself so she was a suitable person to choose for the image.



This image has only been cropped. I experimented with adjusting the brightness and contrast but it didn't really work so this is image is kept rather simple.



I really like this image as it is different to the rest. It has an unlimited colour palette with it being bright and colourful! The models are smiling and showing off their work which is a good composition to use if you want to portray a brilliant school who product great work. The colours have been contrasted brighter so that they are even brighter! It has also been cropped to make the image more even and straight. I chose models here who had charisma and a nice smile.

Title.

I came up with a few options for the title of my school magazine:
- The Academic (sounds more appropriate for a private school)
- Live & Learn (alliteration, typical, well-known phrase)
- The Works (well-known phrase/pun. 'The Works' is sometimes said to descirbe 'everything')
- Over to You (the use of second person pronoun makes it more personal, like it is over to the students. Also synthetic personalisation)

Overall, I decided to call the magazine Over to You because I thought it was appropriate for a secondary school magazine - it's not too childish or too sophisticated. It is a unique magazine title and suits the purpose of the magazine. As a school magazine, the content is going to be of the students attending the school, therefore it is 'over to them' to create this magazine, in the sense that without them, the magazine wouldn't exist.

Flatplans.

I have made four flatplans altogether, using inspiration from my school magazine research. Here are the scans:

Old Trail.

Mosaic.

This magazine cover is made for Mercy High School. It is very simple in terms of mise-en-scene. It has one main image of students standing in front of a nice landscape, with a clear spaced out masthead. The logo is small in the bottom corner, and can see that it is maroon. Therefore, this maroon colour has been continued through the colour of the masthead and captions. There is only really one caption, situated underneath the masthead, informing the date and name of the school. The audience would be the students, parents and teachers. Aswell as parents who are thinking of sending their children to this school. The image is quite formal and serious, showing that the school focuses on education rather than having fun along the way, which has been used on other magazines.

FFH.

This magazine cover is for FFH school. I particularly like the design of this magazine cover and the fact that they have clearly taken the time to create a logo for the school and insert it onto the cover. The magazine looks like it wouldn't have been quick to make as there are alot of shapes fading of colour involved. This probably would have been created through a recent, up to date editing programme, such as Photoshop. The masthead is located in the corner, presented clearly as it is outlined with curvy lines. There is one typical looking caption, saying "Sports Overview" and "a Successful Year..." underneath in a bold typeface, and then "...see back page sports news" in a different colour and a smaller font. The rest of the caption is in a maroon colour, as is the masthead. Maroon is one of the main colours within the school's uniform so they have chosen this colour for the cover as a link and representation of the school. Something as simple as the colour scheme can help the audience identify which school the magazine relates to. In the bottom corner is a text box, also outlines with curvy lines, but this is isn't a normal caption. The text box includes the contents of the magazine. This is also a unique feature to the cover because magazines don't tend to have the content on the cover of the magazine. There is one main image of the students playing netball, which links with the caption. I particularly like the angle and composition of the image, it isn't just students playing netball but it shows a unique point of view through the angle. The mise-en-scene is generally layed out clearly and isn't too busy. It is easy to read and gets straight to the point by the choice of image. Again, the audience would be the students and parents.

Contact.

Contact is a magazine for Castle School. I particularly like this cover and think it is quite professional looking. The masthead is simple in Arial, placed in a lilac coloured box with a small opacity. There aren't any captions on the cover as there are lots of images that tell the audience the content anyway. Plus due to its busy composition, captions would most likely ruin the look of the magazine. There are eleven photos on the cover, all portrayed with white outlining. The images are generally of students working and participating in recent school activities. I like how there are presented in a montage affect which is unique for a magazine cover. The general colour scheme is white and lilac, but there are alot of blacks and reds within the images but they havent been used in the general design of the cover. The mise-en-scene is unique for this magazine cover because it has a montage affect with the masthead being a different design from many others. I think Castle School have made a good effort to make their magazine cover, their own rather than using a typical layout, copying many other covers. Similarly to all of the other school magazines that I have researched, the audience would be the students and parents as the magazine involves information and updates of the latest news at the school.

Grapevine.

This magazine cover is for Marlwood School. This particular issue has quite a busy composition. The masthead is designed to suit the name of the magazine - the 'A' and 'V' are portrayed as a bunch of grapes. Also the 'i' is dotted with a grape. It is in a curvy, thin font but it stands out against the background. In the area that the masthead is, the background is the sky, which is white from the clouds so the masthead stands out against it. There are two captions altogether, one saying "Summer Edition 2008 Celebrating Achievements at Marlwood School". This caption is in an Arial, white font, being quite small. I think this caption could have been improved to make it more eye-catching and foregrounded. The other caption is in the bottom corner, inside a green circle: "Marlwood School" in a dark green, capital font whilst underneath there is the school slogan in a smaller font in red, "working together for excellence". There are four images altogether, the main one being of students participating in a juggling activity. This image portrays Marlwood as being a fun school. The three other photos have simply been placed on top of the main one. These photos show students working and participating in the latest school events. The main colour on the cover is green, which is part of the Marlwood School uniform. Also in the masthead, the colour maroon has been used which is also a uniform colour. The images all have green in so it seems to be quite a frequent colour within the magazine cover. All of the images are taken outside, so the lighting would have been the natural daylight at that time. With mise-en-scene, it is quite busy but doesn’t look very professional, although it does meet its targets by including more than one photo and a caption to show its content. The audience would be the students and parents, as both would be interested in Marlwood's achievements.

The Column.

This school magazine is produced for the Eaton House Group of Schools. The masthead is clear and under-lined at the top in a serif typeface whilst the rest of the text is sans serif and in capitals but smaller. There are two captions, "2009" and "THE MAGAZINE FOR THE EATON HOUSE GROUP OF SCHOOLS". The longer caption is situated directly underneath the masthead, which creates a neatly laid out cover. The "2009" is obviously important as such as large font has been used and is situated on its own nearer the bottom. There is one big image in the middle, which is of students lined up (short-to-tall-to-short) walking towards the camera with the school behind them and trees surrounding the area. The main colour is green, which is suitable as the image includes trees so it suits the colour scheme. The background area is green whilst the text is white which are colours that go together nicely and are relevant to the geographical feel that the cover has. In terms of lighting, the image was taken outside on a sunny day so the lighting would have come from the sunlight at that time. The mise-en-scene is reasonably simple, formal and professional looking. The formal font and sophisticated image and colour scheme all result to a formal magazine cover. The audience may be the students and the parents but also parents who are considering sending their children to this school so that they can see the layout and information about the school.

The Caterhamian.

This magazine cover is for Caterham School. I think it has a unique and interesting mise-en-scene. The mise-en-scene is basically alot of boxes within the frame. Some include words and some include pictures. I like this mise-en-scene because it is different and a creative design. The masthead is situated at the top of the cover in a black box, which separates and stands out from the rest of the mise-en-scene. The captions on this cover are different to what you would expect them to look like. There is one at the bottom saying "Education for Life" whilst there are words such as "create", "achieve", "inspire" and "trust". These short captions are situated in text boxes within the mise-en-scene. The images are of students playing sports, being happy and participating with activities to show the excitement and fun that goes on within this school. As the images aren't planned and are taken at that moment, the lighting is either the natural daylight or room light, available at the time. No special studio lighting has been used. Apart from the black box of which the masthead is situated in, the colour palette is quite light and pale with colours such as blue, lilac and yellow. There are all pale though which is what makes the masthead stand out so much. The audience would mainly be the students and parents.

@Nunthorpe.

@Nunthorpe is a magazine cover for a Nunthorpe School. You can see that this school wasn't very creative or imaginative when it came to naming their magazine but perhaps they would prefer their audience to know the magazine by the name of the school so that there is no confusion. The masthead is rather simple and clear but the '@' is placed on a slant which joins up to the 'Nunthorpe'. It is placed against a blue box, which makes the masthead stand out and become foregrounded. There is one main caption in the middle of the magazine, saying "Leaps and bounds" in an Arial font and a bright yellow colour in large writing and "Fantastic new sports provision is getting students active" in a smaller font underneath, white and in a curvier styled font. Due to the caption and image, the audience can tell that perhaps this school specialises in sporting activities. The image is of one of the students jumping high on a trampoline, with four other students watching beside the trampoline. The caption is situated in between the trampoline and jumping student which is a good way of using the space. The colour palette consists of primary colours such as blue (in the masthead), yellow (in the caption) and red (in the image on the trampoline). These are all statement colours that stand out and make the magazine cover bright and eye-catching. The mise-en-scene is a simple, yet busy composition as it has only one picture and caption but it fills the whole frame. The audience may be the students and parents but also people who are interested in teenagers' life and education. Teenagers' health seems to be a top priority with the government and so people who are interested in its achievements in this department may be willing to read the magazine.

The Wave.

The Wave is a magazine for Waterhill School. You can see how the title links with the name of the school, as waves are obviously involved with water. This cover has quite a busy composition with lots of different images. The logo of the school is situated next to the masthead, which has a large, purple font, which is clear and simple. I like how the word 'the' is placed vertically so that the masthead doesn't look too long and it can be fit in with the logo without looking like it's been squashed in. There is one caption at the bottom of the cover that says, "Best GCSE results ever!!” It is placed in an area where there isn't a picture so that it is against a plain background and is easy to see and read. As you can tell from the caption, the magazine is mainly going to focus on the GCSE result information so the images consist of students holding their result papers. The biggest, main image is under the masthead where there are five students with big smiles, holding their results. There are six smaller images underneath, in boxes with a white outline to separate them from each other. The smaller images are also of students holding their results, but they vary with different numbered students in each one. The colour palette has a main colour of purple, which is bright and bold to catch the eye of the public. Grey also seems to be a repeated colour throughout the composition, in the background behind all of the images and captions, and also in the student's clothing. White is also frequently seen through the exam paper, the outlines boxes and the caption "Autumn 2010". In terms of mise-en-scene, it has quite a busy composition with lots of images and bold writing. The cover definitely focuses on the affect of attracting an audience through student images, rather than lots of captions showing the magazines content. The audience would be the students themselves, as they are likely to have been mentioned in the magazine or atleast be included in one of the photos inside. Parents would also be part of the audience so that they can see the school's achievement that their children attend.

The College.

This magazine cover is for 'The College' school. It has quite a unique layout compared to another typical school magazine cover. Generally, the cover is quite simple - the mise-en-scene and colour scheme is all simple. The masthead is rather large at the top of the cover with a New Times Roman font, which is a formal, old-era styled writing. There is one caption at the bottom, "Wittgenstein", which is in an italic font and a blue colour to stand out against the rest of the cover. This may be because it is an important word that the audience must be aware of. The main cover image is a drawn portrait, maybe suggesting that the school specialises in Art. The character is wearing a suit, which is a formal outfit, suggesting that the school is high class. The character also seems to be an old male. The whole image overall, gives connotations of wealth, education and experience. The cover is generally black and white, in terms of colour palette. Black and white are simple, formal colours, which suggest a sophisticated magazine and contains serious content rather than fun, unlike the magazine Evolve. Lighting wouldn't have been considered, as the image is a drawing. Mise-en-scene is clear and simple with a plain white background to symbolise a genuinely serious content. There isn't much going on with mise-en-scene apart from the one character. The audience would be the students who attend the school and perhaps parents and people who are interested in joining this particular school.

Evolve.

This magazine cover is for Stephenson High School. This cover in particular stood out for me as it has a bright colour palette with a busy composition. The masthead has a unique font that can be a signature font for this particular magazine as it isn't a common font. There aren't any typical looking captions on the magazine cover but there are short sentences to describe the magazine's content and information; "Summer 2009 Issue 9", "News, Views, Reviews & Interviews". This sentence rhymes which is bound to create some link with the audience and attract them to read on as it makes it seem more fun rather than a boring, original school magazine. Another caption at the bottom of the cover, "Best School Newspaper in the North East" which is a brief description of the magazine's quality in terms of school information and declaratives. There is one main graphical image in the middle of the cover which includes lots of different small images, such as students, stationary and the school building to show professionalism. However, the graphical image gives a sense of fun rather than pure seriousness. In terms of the colour palette, yellow seems to be the main focus in the background. Yellow is a very bright, outstanding colour, which does just this; it stands out to the audience, attracting the eye. Also supporting the 'fun' sort of attitude towards the school. On the graphic image, there is one main area in the middle where there is a multi-coloured object. Some of the colours in this object have been used on the other objects around it. The images aren't actually photographs, but art. Therefore, lighting would not have been considered in the process. Overall, the mise-en-scene consists of a busy composition, bright colours and a unique, arty font to create attitudes of fun at this school. Also, the graphical image gives connotations of art so perhaps the school specialises in art. In terms of audience, students are more likely to enjoy a school that involves fun rather than strictness so the fact that this school has a fun magazine cover, this could attract students. Also, the parents are a target audience, as the students whom already attend the school will receive this magazine and take it home.

Preliminary Task - School Magazines!

I have researched some school magazines for inspiration on my magazine cover. Admitedly, I found it quite hard to find many different school magazines but I have found eleven covers altogether. In the next few posts I shall be annotating these.