College magazine project

Adam Skinner

Tasks 1-4

• 1) I set up my Google mail account, which is: AdamSkinnerPhotography@hotmail.co.uk

• 2) I set up a blogger account, my user name is: AdamSkinner.

• 3) I set up a survey monkey account, which again my user name is: AdamSkinner.

• 4) Finally i set up my Issuu account, once again my user name was: AdamSkinner.

Task 5 Research of existing college magazine

• This is the first magazine I have chosen to use as inspiration for my college magazine, I chose this magazine cover for many reasons, firstly the style of the masthead, the design around it, its so simple, yet so effective, the two yellow horizontal lines around it mask it off from anything else, which I would like to include in my cover also, one thing I did not like when it came to the masthead area, was where the bar code had been placed, it was at the top alongside the logo, which I will not be doing with my front cover, I intend on placing it in the bottom right hand corner, which is a standard position for the bar code. I also thought that the pull quote under the mast head, as blunt and UN-informative it may be, I think this is a definite eye catcher, as it makes you want to read what these small quotes are about, and another thing that makes them stand out on the page is that they are the only item on the page, which makes the layout unique from others, which are usually covered in articles in the magazine or cover lines, this magazine cover is simple and kept to a single pull quote, that is something I may think about using on my cover, as its different and eye catching. The next thing that stood out strongly for me was the background, which is of a young man with curly hair, clutching what seems to be a fury scarf to his face, and this is a close up, not a mid shot, which is a common photo style used in fashion, and this photo is a good background to use, I will be using a similar style of camera angle for my background, but mine will be more music related, so this magazine has given me a lot of strong ideas, but I will be altering many to my own style, and I will record these, and compare them to this cover I have researched, so you can see how I have been influenced by this work, and how I have adapted them into my own ideas.

Main Image

Mast Head

Pull Line

Task 5

• As you can see this magazine is much different to my other inspired one that I chose, as first its not such a simple layout, my first magazine included little information about the articles that were in the magazine, but 5 simple words, where as this one has more then 10 articles and pull lines etc, and it has a lot more colour, as the other magazine had a black and white image, and yellow text, so very standard and simple (dull), so I decided to compare it with this one which involves as lot more colour. The other different thing is the images, the other image is a close up of a young mans face which is half hidden behind a scarf, where as this is a medium close up, and he’s in colour, and holding college related books, where as the other magazine he only had the scarf, and it was all a bit plain and not very creative, I think this is why I prefer this magazine cover compared to the other one, as it is just more lively, and appeals to people my age more then the other one, which looks like a common fashion magazine.

Compared with another college magazine

Main Image

masthead

Task 6

• Masthead: 'City College Mag!'• Main Image: member of new soviet bombs

featured in lead article, medium close up shot holding a guitar.

• Lead Articles: Find out how to win free tickets to a gig at the uea of your choice!, Free hair and beauty tips from students! & New Soviet Bombs Interview.

• Cover Line: Plus after 25 years, lecturer calls it a day!

• As you can see on the right, here is my flat plan with little colour, the next photo you will see will be coloured in more detail, but this is what my magazine front cover is going to look like, except the background will be black, that is one thing i need to make clear when i have made the cover in Photoshop.

6) Flat plan of my front cover of the magazine

Task 6

• As you can see, on the right hand side, there is my coloured in front cover, which is a flat plan sketched out, the drawings and colouring is not accurate or particularly good, but it still is a rough design, and gets the point across, so this will be what my front cover will look like, there will be a few things altered, such as the photo will be bigger, and as you can see i have written on the picture, the background is going to be black, but it wasn't a easy thing to do, so now the next step is to begin making my front cover and designing my contents page.

Task 6

• This is my flat plan sketch of my contents page, as you can see I haven’t gone into detail on my photos, as I may be changing the content of them to fit the stories on the page, I have put 3 main story on the right hand column in small boxes, so I will decide the colour when it comes to making it, I want to keep my ideas open for editing etc, I then put a city college logo in the right bottom corner of the page, just to promote the college once again. I also put a an image of what I think will be a hair and beauty student in the left bottom corner, slightly tilted, to create a unique effect. Lastly I put a photo at the top half covering the whole top section, I put the words contents in the top left corner of this photo, and a small text box saying about an interview with a band in the bottom right, which is a local band, related to the story on Norwich bands, then the bottom half will be black. So a fairly simple layout overall.

Flat plan of my contents pageon the magazine

Task 7

• This is my flat plan sketch of my masthead that i have scanned into the computer, its very basic, it says city college mag! every letter at the beginning of each word is purple, so that it stands out, and every other letter is grey, so this is a basic patter i have adopted for my masthead.

Here is my masthead once i had made it in Photoshop, as you can see it is a replica of my sketch i made on paper, except i have changed the font to a slightly more bunched up style, as i feel it looks more professional, the font i used was not off a website, it was off photoshop, its called 'Batik Regular'.

7) Masthead Analysis & Contents page photos.

Task 8

• As you can see this is my image for my front cover, i have slightly changed it, as in my flat plan, he was holding a guitar, but i have changed his pose, and he is now not holding a guitar, so this is something i have changed to my front cover. This does not need editing as the background is the colour I am using for the back drop of my magazine cover. I think my photo is better then my original idea for my cover, it is just so much simpler and so much more professional then my original idea. So this is one main thing I have changed from my flat plans.

8) Take a medium close up of your model for your front cover

Task 9Front Cover + Screenshots

1) Here I have copied my masthead into a blank Photoshop document, and I have placed it at the top of the page.

2) Here I have inserted My main image to Photoshop,and I have made it so it fits the whole background of My magazine cover.

3) Here I have inserted a bar code and the citycollege logo to make itlook overall more professional.

4) Here I have added 4 different shaped boxes, so I can add text to them, I will be adding the leading articles and the cover lines into them etc.

5) Finally I have added textTo my front cover, every box As I mentioned is now filledWith text, and that was the Last thing I needed to add to My front page, then finally I Straightened boxes out etc.

My Final Front Cover….

Lead Articles

Cover lineLogo & Barcodes

Mast head

Main Image

This is my completed magazine cover, although it was a long process, it still is not perfect, there are numerable things that I want to change, and that I could improve. First for all the masthead, I could change every first letter from purple, to red, as this would contrast better with the main image, as his shirts red. Next I could crop the barcode and city college logo so there smaller, as they are to big, and they look out of place being so big. Another thing I could add is more text, and make it flow more with the main image, rather than in text boxes. Which means choosing whether to have a lot of stories, or a few but in more detail. So there are many things I can change to improve my magazine cover.

Task 10Contents page + Screenshots

1) Here I have added my First photo, which I havePut at the top of the contentsPage, so I can put other itemsUnderneath it.

2) Here I have addeda black background underthe photo layer, so then there is space for text and other photos etc.

3) Next I have added another image, which isrelated to hair and beauty, and I have tilted it so its at an angle, whichI think makes it look a lotbetter.

4) Here I have addedthe first piece of text,which is introducing the page, which is whyI have positioned it at The top of my page, it Simply says ‘Contents’ in a yellow text.

5)Here I have addedtext boxes without thetext yet, and I have positioned them to where I think makes mylayout more professional.

6) I have simply added the citycollege logo tothe bottom of the page.

7) Finally I added text To my boxes I previouslyMade for the contents Page, and I put the leading Articles and what page theyWere on, to make it easy to Locate them.

My Final Contents Page….

This is my final contents page, again there are many faults that I need to alter, in order to make my contents page better. For example, I can make my photos that are on the contents page different, so making them more related to my main image on my front cover. I could also make one image the whole size of the page, so it looks more professional. Another thing I can change it the text on the page, its to simple for a contents page, it gives no information except the title and page number. So I could maybe make the text smaller, and write more, giving information about it. I could also put details next to images, explaining what they are about, and remember to link the images I put in the contents page, with stories on the front cover. I also need to think about the colour scheme, as its very bland, and very random colours, the only colour that contrasts with the front cover, is the black background, so this means I must change a lot.