Completed Front Cover.

This is the first completed draft of my front cover. As you can see a lot has been changed from my flat pan design. Whilst experimenting with the software and different things I could do with my front page, I changed a lot and tried out new things. I enjoyed doing this, as it helped with me understanding how to work the software, and taught me how to carry on until you are successful and happy with your final outcome. I am happy with my final piece as I think it has good contrasting colours, a bold title, and an eye-catching photo for the background. I don't think it is too overloaded and it is attractive as well as subtle. 

I really enjoyed doing this work as I found it educational as well as enjoyable, and I'm thrilled with how my first completed draft has turned out.

Draft 1 For Front Cover.

This is my first completed draft for the design of my front cover. This took a lot of time because I had never worked in this way before, and I had to figure out how to put everything on to one page, fonts, and shapes around it. As you can see it would not be my final completed front cover, but it shows experimentation. After looking at this in detail I am not happy to submit this for my final design as I think there is more that can be done so I will draft it again.

Proposal.

PROPOSAL.

·      Who you are aiming your magazine at specifically? (there needs to be a clear sense that you are targeting a specific audience)

-A young audience aged between 16 – 20 years old. The reason I have chose a young audience is because of what I would place in the magazine.

·      What will your magazine be about? (what might the typical content be?)

-It would show the latest things about college, student stories and some fashions. It’s typical content would be anything that would appeal to young students.  For example; information about university, jobs, agony aunt pages and also the latest about celebrities to give a sense of entertainment.

·      What are your ideas for cover lines?

-My ideas for cover lines are:

1.   -I’VE GOT A DEGREE BUT THEY DON’T SEE.

2.   -HOW I FOUND MYSELF IN COLLEGE (STUDENT     STORY)

3.   -101 LATEST FASHION MUST HAVES.

4.   -IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR YOUNG STUDENTS GETTING A JOB?

·      What title have you decided on and why? (you could also include examples of titles you have rejected and explain why)

I have decided on “HOW I FOUND MYSELF IN COLLEGE (STUDENT STORY)” because it would be entertaining to read in a magazine, as it would be like a true life story, but at the same time it would be educational because it would include morals and lessons within the story, that would create a good impact on the young readers.

I rejected “101 LATEST FASHION MUST HAVES” because it felt as though that would be aimed more towards the female audience, and I want both female and male to read the magazine and be able to relate to it.

·      What fonts do you want to use? (you could include examples and if you have got as far as thinking of ideas for the design of the masthead you could include these too)

-For the Mast Head and the Tag Line I am going to use “handfont” because I like the way it looks like handwriting.

-On the contents page I am going to use the same font.

·      What are your ideas for taglines (if you want to use one)?

-For all students who have a dream.

-For all students that will push through.

-To be something.

·      When in the year will it be published? (cover can reflect seasonal changes or events, consider the academic year)

-It will be published just after the summer break, because the magazine will include new things, and things that have changed around the college by the time the students have returned from the summer.

·      What kind of image do you expect to put on the front cover and how will you go about getting this image?

-The kind of image I want is of a group of students in the café at college. I want a naturel photo. I would ask a group of people if I could take a photo of them.

·      How frequently would it be published?

-It would be a monthly magazine.

·      What are the dimensions of the cover (magazines are now available in different size formats)?

·      What images/colour would you use on the contents page?

-I would want to match the contents page to how I would want the rest of the magazine to flow.

Photographs.

These are the photo's I have taken to be placed in my magazine. As I have decided to put a cover story of a girl who dances on my front cover, I had to take some dance shots. I think these will be successful because it relates the the topic of my magazine. The other shots are of students working which ties in with the college magazine theme as well. 

Flat Pan Designs For Magazine.

These two images show the flat pan designs for my Front page and Contents page for my college magazine I am making. As you can see the front page is very basic so far, as it is only an outline of what is to be placed onto it. I did this by drawing my design onto a piece of paper and then scanning it on to the computer. 

Magazine Design Ideas.

Had trouble uploading my flat plans will do it as soon as I can.

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

Magazines such as "MORE", "BLISS" and "GLAMOUR" should be held responsible for what they put across to teenagers because young people are very easily influenced., especially with something that is worldwide as it appears to be true. The media talk through the magazines, saying things such as "Get the look of this model". I don't think this is a good influence for young teenagers because it can make them want to be or  look the same as someone else, and some young teenagers go to extremes to achieve this.

"MORE" magazine represents fashion, beauty, gossip, true life stories and celebrities. The cover of the magazine shows a picture of a famous celebrity who is supposed to be influential and a cover story about them. It also consists of a lot of fashion and a lot of beauty tips. In the eye of a teenager, things like this are extremely important and the magazine should take this into consideration. The more beauty and fashion they display, the more obsessed teenagers become with looking "perfect". The magazine does pages and pages of the top looks, and where to find them. This isn't such a bad idea, because every teenage girl wants to be able to look nice and follow the fashion, but when it is a constant repetition, it can become a ritual for some girls to have nothing but the latest and greatest clothes, bags and accessories.

However, "MORE" magazine does offer real life stories, which help the readers relate to certain issues. These stories are from real people, not celebrities and it is a healthy change from the many similar stories talking about "How I got my skinny beach body". The magazine also offers an advice column which helps the teenagers that read the magazine.

"BLISS" magazine offers real life stories, posters and a magazine full of celebrity boys. This magazine is based at young teenagers and doesn't stress the importance of beauty as much, it's  focus is entertaining young teenagers with things such as boys, real stories and horoscopes.

However "BLISS" magazine does talk about celebrities and it mentions a little bit of beauty. But although it does this, it isn't to the extent where it is majorly influential. So therefore I think that Bliss magazine shouldn't be held that responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer because there isn't that much of it.

In comparison to "BLISS", "GLAMOUR" magazine does quite the opposite. Even though personally it is one of my favorite magazines, it's main aspect is fashion, beauty and celebrities so I think that they should be held responsible for the impact they have on the social viewing. The cover of the magazine is the same as the others, the main picture  is a celebrity and it catches the eye of the viewer, the story is normally something big that is happening in the celebrities life, or something that will boost their career. "GLAMOUR" magazine also offers advice about money, family, relationships and jobs which is a positive thing because it is supporting the viewers.

"VOGUE" magazine should be held responsible for the social ramification of what they represent because it is highly popular, well known fashion magazine. It's main priority is expensive fashion. It is sold all over the world and is an upper class magazine. It is an American magazine and picture's models on the cover who represent extremely small body size. For this reason, they should be held responsible for the picture they are representing to the public because it is seen as "beautiful". "VOGUE" has fashion columns, the hottest looks, and celebrities. They write stories such as "How to be a recessionista" which is a positive and negative thing. The positive being it helps women budget their money, and the negative being they are showing it as important to spend money.

In conclusion, I think magazine covers aimed at teenage girls should have more advice columns, and stories insinuating that models and celebrities aren't always the only role models needed to be a fashionable person. I think the current obsession with size 0, and the constant overflowing pages of beauty and fashion should be put to a minimal. They shouldn't cut it out all together because that is what makes the magazine interesting for young teenagers, but it should be at a quantity that isn't going to make young teenagers, girls and boys, feel as though they should be the way that the media represents.

All of the magazines I have mentioned above show fashion, beauty and celebrities. They are all sold for the same base reason and all have at least one influence un common. If i was to create my own magazine I would include the main things that make it sell, them being beauty, fashion and celebrity gossip. However, saying that I would also make a main bulk of my magazine representing young people, and influencing them in a good and positive way. It would have advice columns, real life stories, and pages upon pages of things that young teenagers can relate to.