Iqbal Tanay

I was asked to design a school magazine front cover and contents page from scratch. The front cover had to consist of a medium – close up image of a student. I intended to produce this by using computer software such as paint and Photoshop. I gathered primary images by taking photos on camera using different camera shots of students and picking a good one to suit the front cover. I intended to look at different school magazines to gain an idea of what different features and techniques I could include in my own magazine. I decided to make the magazine less formal than usual as my school is not an upper-class or private school. Also, the magazine is to be aimed at teenagers and students of the school, so it should be attractive and eye catching toward them.

Masthead

Issue number

Subheading

KeyImages

Strapline

puff/splash

Logo/emblem

Primary story

Colour scheme

Formal writing

Students of allRaces

School info/Details

Emblem of a Man reaching for the clouds could connote the term “reach for the clouds” or could reveal that the school is an eco friendly school.

Students of all different races could show thatits not a “posh” school aimed at a certain raceAnd genders of people. Also seen in the slogan “the best in everyone”

Part of social networking sites could interpret that the school is up to date with the social media trends.

Masthead

Logo/emblem

Subheading

KeyImage

Primary story

Barcode/price

The key image is of three white students which could be purposely used to show that the school is more professional and “posh” than other schools. Also, all three students are male which could perceive that it is a all boys school. Furthermore, there is a price tag of £2.99 which is evident that the school may be a rich school aimed at a certain race or gender.

What do you expect to see in a school magazine?

Sports Results II (2)

Music Reviews (0)

Film Reviews I (1)

Articles about school life IIIIIIII (8)

Upcoming events IIIIII (6)

Message from the Head IIIIIIIIIIII (12)

School compliments IIIIIII (7)

How much should it cost? -

Free? IIIIII (6)

£1 - £3 II (2)

From this tally chart, I can come up with a conclusion that school magazines are expected to be related to school purposes only. For example, they expect to see a message from the head and articles about school life. On the other hand, no one expects to see music reviews and only one person expects to see a film review. In terms of pricing, the majority of people expects a school magazine to be free. This may be due to the fact that the research was conducted in a school which is not a private school or in an upper class area.

Draft Plan Final Plan

Draft Plan Final Plan

The plan of the front cover differentiates a lot from the actual front cover. I realised that I should change certain parts of the text to make it more attractive. e.g. I changed the size of the masthead to make it eye catching.

Furthermore, I decided to have Boris Johnson on the bottom of the screen as the space was very empty, and this puff/splash would be a good feature to add.

Additionally, I decided to replace Obama with a teacher from Red nose day as if it were two darker skinned people on the front cover, it might give a different perception to the readers; therefore I used a black raced student and a white raced teacher.

The plan of the contents page varied largely from the actual design of the contents page. The main feature I decided to change was the image of the football team. This is because at the bottom of the screen there will already be an image of something sporty, so I decided to change it to a more academic image. I used an image of a school and I replaced the bottom image of a football player with students in a boxing club.

I removed the zigzags as they looked messy in a page, I decided to use a fading effect to separate the images from each other in a “clean” way.

Target audience: (age range, interests)Although it is a school newsletter you still have to think about your audience and how to appeal to them.

My target audience for the School magazine will be kids and teenagers (students) from ages 13-18. They will have a range of different interests and hobbies from various sports to music and education. The newsletter would be specifically aimed at students who attend the school .

Possible title ideas: (masthead / title block)What is your magazine going to be called?

Press on Manor

Main image:What will be the focal point of your front page, remember, your work “must include a photograph of a student in a medium close-up”

There will be an image of a student who is happy and smiling. This image will be a photograph of a student in a medium close-up.

Main cover line:What will be the main story?

The main story will be about Barack Obama’s Visit to Preston Manor. I will include a sub heading and an image of Barack Obama.

Additional key images:What other images will be on your front cover?Remember, it is a school magazine.

I will include the school emblem to represent Preston Manor. I will also include a picture of a student attending the school’s new fighting self defence club.

Additional cover lines:Other features, stories or selling points which will be inside the magazine, these need to be audience appropriate.

There will be another side puff/splash about a school club and I will have a text which says go to the # page for more info.I will also include a sub heading which says “Best A level results in London”

Typography: (style, size, colour of copy)Think about the writing and the style of the writing on your front page.

I will have different fonts for the different words. The word “press” will be in dark colours and in block or Arial font. However the word “manor” will be coloured in different colours and will have more of a catchy, attractive design. The font will be wavy and child-like. (audience appealing.)

Background colour/image:What will be in the background, remember you don’t want to take the focus away from the main image.

The image of the student will fill the whole background. The image of the student might be taken in front of the school building itself to relate to the purpose of the school magazine. To also symbolise that the happy student is part of the Preston Manor school.

Technical considerations:(equipment, setting, props, costume, lighting)Be realistic and creative, think about what you have access to and how you could use it.

I will use Photoshop to add the puff/splashes and give it an attractive, eye-catching effect. I might also make the splash image of the

student in the fight club look like he’s popping out of the image. PRESS

AS Media Studies Preliminary Task – School Magazine Front Page Proposal Form

I found this picture of Boris Johnson on Google images and decided it would be good to use on the magazine because of his positioning. I pasted the image on to photo shop. I used magnetic lasso tool to cut out the section which I needed and remove the un needed section. I then added a text which I made on powerpoint and also removed the background. I then used the eraser tool to rub out some of the colour from the letter “B” to reveal Boris’s hand.

I added the background to the magazine by searching the image of my school on google images and copying it on to photo shop. I then dragged the image to the bottom of the clip list to make it the background. I clicked free transform to enlarge the image as if the medium close up image of the student seems to be there in the background. I then faded the student using the blur tool to make it more realistic.

I found this image on google and I copied it on to the contents page on photo shop. I edited this by firstly going to the brush tool and selecting the black colour. Secondly, I changed the brush options to a sideways spray tool which makes it look like the image is fading. I applied this to the top half of the image. I then selected the white colour and did the same to the bottom half of the image. This made it look like the image is fading to the background colour.

During the time in which I was doing my preliminary task, I have learnt various skills and improved on certain skills which I already had. This task helped me gain experience in using photo shop and adding primary and secondary images together into one image. Additionally, I learnt how to use a camera to take photos in different angles and positions for different purposes. I also learnt what different features make a school magazine and what people expect to see in one, I acknowledged how different school magazines vary and why. Overall, I believe I have succeeded in completing the task to a high standard. I have produced a front cover and contents page of a school magazine with different features with reasoning to apply to my target audience.