The Process I Went Through To Complete A Front Cover.

At the beginning we were set a brief which said we had to produce a new school/college magazine featuring a photograph of a student in medium close up plus some appropriately laid out text and masthead.  I also had to produce a mock up of the contents page. We began by creating an account on "blogger" where we would post all of out ideas, research and drafts. 


I began to research different college and school magazines. I realised that college magazines have got to look happy and positive, with the picture of the front representing this.Then, with some inspiration I began to have some ideas of my own. I photographed some of my friends, and did some headshots of my friend Zoey. I uploaded some of these pictures onto my blog and decided on the one I wanted to use.


Once I had finished doing my research I began making my own drafts. Whilst creating the front cover for my college magazine I knew what I wanted to be done I just had to work out how I would be able to achieve this. I started with a flat plan design of the layout I wanted, however this quickly changed when I started fiddling around with colours and shapes.

We were told to use the software "InDesign" which I had never used before. Whilst using this I came across some difficulties such as how to send the photo to the back of the page, how to make sure the photo isn't blurry and how to make the title stand out more than anything on the page. All of these issues I had may seem simple to someone else but I had never done something like this before.

However, after working out how to use things in the correct way, I found I began to enjoy the process of making my magazine cover. I researched different magazine's and looked at their covers for inspiration and realised it's a difficult task trying to pick the few but vital things to place on your front cover. You have to take many things into consideration such as, trying to make sure your cover isn't too busy, making sure the colours you have chosen compliment the photo background and the other things you have put on and the size of your font. All of these things are important to making sure your cover is at a high standard and looks professional.

One of the pictures I was going to use was of my friend Sam doing a ballet pose. I wanted to use this picture because I was going to link it with with a cover story, and also because it represented a course at the college. However, due to how I took the photograph there was far too much going on in the background, so I asked Dick if there was any way of getting around this and he explained to me that I could cut out the background of the image and have it as white. I experimented with photoshop, and tried this process. Unfortunately, because of the awkward angle of the photo, this proved far too difficult and I didn't have the time. Eventually I had completed my first cover for my magazine, but I wasn't happy with the final outcome as it wasn't to a high enough standard. I then re-drafted this and ended up with something I was very proud of and thought it was too a high standard and looked professional. 


With my second draft I decided to change the photo, and use one I had taken of Zoey. It was a medium close up, with her looking extremely happy and smiling. When I placed this photo onto my design I realised it worked a lot better than my previous photo. It gave off a positive vibe and feel to my magazine, and showed happiness at college which is the way the college magazines I researched appeared to seem. 

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.