Final Contents Page

Here is my final contents page. I decided to include an image of my dad, posing as the head teacher, and then link it to the page necessary, rather than the image of the school logo. I kept the picture I took of the two school students, also linking the image to the necessary page number.
Ultimately, I decided to stay on the path of ‘less is more’ and making sure that the images I included correlated positively to the text on the contents page.



Stage One: Finalising Contents Page

To make my contents page a little bit more interesting, I decided to add a coloured background. I used the same maroon/deep purple colour featured in my front cover, to show consistency.
I went for a simplistic, but sophisticated look, keeping the layout simple and not too all over the place.  

Here, I added three images that relate to the contents page and magazine itself. The first being the school logo featured on the models’ sweatshirts (as opposed to an image of a head teacher, shown on my original plan).
Secondly, I included an image of the 2 students featured on the cover, in black and white, to show a bit of diversity in my images. Lastly I added an image that links directly to the information on the contents page, which I saw used in my research.

Contents Page Plan



This is the original plan for my contents page (purely text based). I made this to simply show where everything will be placed; the layout I will probably follow. For the title, I have used the same font as on my front cover, to show consistency. The titles are also in this font to link them together in terms of importance, similarly like the titles in the first contents page I analysed. I have also developed the amount of pages I believe would be prominent in school magazines.



Contents Page Research 2

Contents Page Research

Final Magazine Cover

The final edit of my school magazine.

The Process Of Creating My Front Cover

In these first four print screens, I have placed and fitted my front cover image, then also placed my chosen magazine title at the top. I also used a tool to make the image fade naturally into the white on top, where the title is to go.

After placing my title on my magazine cover, I increased its size and fitted it to where I wanted it.
I then added text that relates to my magazine- “Don’t just chase your dreams; run them down!” & ‘New, spectacular sports wing open at St. Daniel’s School; inspiring London’s forthcoming athletes.’
Lastly, I added a barcode to emphasize the authenticity of the magazine.

Photoshoot 2

Here are some images from my second photoshoot, taken after I analysed my first, looking at what needed to be improved and/or changed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to use two subjects in this photoshoot, to make my images more interesting and dynamic. I also used my local park as a backdrop, which gives a better impression of school grounds than my back garden.
In the end I chose my favourite image and edited it; this is the image I am using on the front of my magazine…

My Magazine Cover Image

 

 

 

Photoshoot 1

For my first photoshoot, I used my younger brother. As my magazine is promoting a new sports wing, I decided to do a sports themed photoshoot. Here are a few examples of the photographs I took:

 



In general, these photographs aren’t great- they would take a great deal of editing as the background is not what I want on my magazine cover.
This led me to do my second photoshoot.

Font Research Part 2

I went on to cut the list further to my top 3 favourite fonts, all very contrasting.

I then treated the three fonts in the same way; enlarged the ‘S’ and merged the bottom and top line together using the s. I did this to see which one I most preferred, and which one I could truly visualise on my magazine cover.





As you can see, I decided to utilise the centre font, as I think it looked more professional than the other two.
To experiment further, and see what looked interesting, I added colour and a background colour of grey (to compliment the maroon font colour).
In the end, I decided that less is more- the first of the three prototypes appealed to me the most, and this is the font that I will use on my magazine cover.





Font Research Part 1

To begin choosing my font, I selected many different types and styles, to see which ones would be best suited.





I then cut these down significantly, to the fonts I believed were best suited to my magazine. I stuck to the idea of mainly sophisticated fonts as it mirrors the high standard of the school. Though I also kept a few fonts that looking a bit less serious; maybe they could make the magazine more interesting but at the same time, not unprofessional.

 

Further Magazine Research

Here are further examples of sports magazines.
There are some similarities between them, and some differences; to start off with, the images used on them. Though they are both midshots, one depicts a person in action, whilst the other is a posed image. I think the inaction image is more captivating than the posed image, as it portrays the essence of sport. Though some may argue an inaction shot looks more untidy than a posed image- in this case I think the inaction shot works well.

Another difference is the amount of writing on each of the covers. The one to the left is quite plain and simplistic, with very little writing, whilst the one on the right has a vast amount in comparison. Personally, I think the magazine with less writing takes on the appearance of a poster over the appearance of a magazine. At the same time, I believe too much writing would have the magazine cover look clustered and messy. Once again, I think the ‘School Sport’ magazine.

On both magazines, the titles are bold and stand out- I think this is very important, as the title usually identifies what the magazine is; therefore it is important to make it stick out.

These are all things I will have to consider when deciding what kind of photographs to use designing and creating my front cover.

General Ideas:

- General Advertisement

- Promotion; - new wing (certain subject) to school added
             - sports facility available at school
             - healthier school meals

- Specialized schools;- School of arts
                      - School of sport
- Magazine for new year 7's

- Special needs school

- Extraordinary Children

Chosen idea: School putting more money into their sports department, to promote healthy lifestyle for young children

Name of school: St. Daniel School CofE

As the school is advertising a healthier lifestyle through sport, the magazine cover should give an implication of this. Therefore, I have chosen to research images that surround this theme.

·         Magazines depicting "sporty school":

Though this is not the front cover of a magazine, it is still somewhat useful to my research. As we can see, it has a dynamic and energetic feel to it, due to the images and colours used.
The image in the bottom right hand corner has a very robust feel to it, depicting the enthusiasm and excitement of sport.
This is something I should consider when deciding what picture/s to include on my magazine cover.

In the top right hand corner, the text used (‘fun active educational’) is bold and large, and each word varies in size; ‘active’ is the largest word, giving the idea that it is of a higher importance than the others.
This makes me think I should also consider what parts of my magazine cover I should highlight over the rest.
Also, the pictures in this section of the magazine are placed in an animated way, making it pleasanter to look at; picture positioning is something I also must consider.

Moreover, the text standing out in general (through font, size and colour) is very important, as it makes the magazine far more interesting and appealing.