Tasks

After thoroughly analysing the magazine pages I had chosen to look at, I was able to get a better sense of what my magazines needed to involve, I used this information aswell as the rough sketches I had drawn to get a good start on my minor task. I started by taking the image for the front page of the minor task which required a medium close up of a person (in this case a student). This covers the whole of the background, and I then overlaid texts and titles accordingly. When I was overlaying these pieces I had to be sure that the text font and colours had to be consistent and had to compliment each other nicely, as this magazine had to give off a friendly attitude as it is available to students at a variety of ages. I didn't need to edit this image at all because the lighting bounces off of the subjects skin evenly and shadows only flatter her. I particularly like her expression as it is not overbearing or over the top.

For the contents page I had a variety of different ideas, I wanted to show an image that represented the school, through people being there, or simply the building, or even a logo. Eventually I took a selection of images from around my own school and put them together in a collage to cover the background of the contents. For the foreground of the contents, I created a series of pages which I thought would be suitable for a school magazine. These included: course guides, thoughts for the week, student art and pages about the sport teams.

For the major task, I chose the name Bass for the magazine, the magazine would feature a new band who have just recieved a number one in the charts. I chose to name the band Metropolis after deciding to experiment with projections. This involved using the film Metropolis and then projecting it on to the band members faces, during this time I also took other group pictures for the interview page and perhaps the contents and individual shots. I edited the image for the front page slightly to add more contrast and turning it black and white. On top of this image, I made sure the magazine title was big and bold so that it stands out against the background, aswell as any other title on the page.

To make the contents page more interesting I added an image I had taken previously to the background and blurred it to make it look out of focus. I then decided to add another image of Metropolis on top of it which I also turned black and white and adjusted its transparency to make the reader look again as they try to work out what it is. I then made the writing on top of it stand out by ensuring that it was bold and the correct colour.

The double page spread had to include an interview and images of the band. Seeing as I had chosen the band to be a recently famous one, I decided to base the interview on how they became famous and how being famous now has affected them, the interview acts as an introduction to the band. The left had page involves a group image, along with short profiles of each member of the band, showing their full name and date of birth etc. Along with this profile is a close up image of their face, one of which was cropped from another image and the others just close up shots.

Research

To make the creation of my tasks easier, and to get some ideas on how to make my magazines more conventional, I looked at two popular music magazines: Q and NME; both well respected music magazines in today's society. I chose these ones in particular, because I intend on aiming my magazines at the same audiences.
From looking at these it was easy to grasp what conventions I needed to make my magazines more realistic. I would need big bold eye catching titles, and a font that would make the magazine name instantly recognisable, this font and colour scheme would then need to be followed throughout the magazine cover, including titles, banners, and taglines. The background/front cover image would have to be relevant to one of the titles featured on the cover, and this title would also have to stand out so the connection would be made obvious. The other article titles shown on the page would have to be in different colours, with maybe different backgrounds, or highlighted differently to show how they are independent from each other. Another important factor that I almost overlooked in the creation of the magazine covers is the use of a bar code, date and price, this will have to be included also perhaps displaying a website. In terms of looking at displaying different article headings instead of using elongated phrases like 'Also featuring in this week's edition' I could simply use the symbol '+' or '&'. Also to make the cover more interesting I could include the use of different puns and exaggerations to make article headings more interesting (as shown on the NME cover above 'Gerard goes to Hollywood').
Also, using these magazines, I looked at their contents page as I had very little idea on how to present one properly. As I looked at the contents pages it became obvious what I needed to do. The images displayed on the page had to be relevant to the cover, and the pages that the magazine contained were broken down into sections such as 'Review', 'On the Cover' and 'News'. I also needed to ensure that the name of the magazine features on the inside of the contents, aswell as a date. I also needed to make sure that the contents page follewed more or less the same housestyle as the front page. Another aspect that I have to consider is whether I want the contents to be a double page or just a single, as both example pieces display one of each. The layout of Q is more spacious and the image in the middle is large and clear allowing more space for more detail, whereas the contents of NME is a single page, packed with only really the basic details.

Planning

The print brief, requires a short minor task which asks for the front page and contents page to a new school/college magazine, featuring a medium close up image of a student with a suitable title and formats. The main task is a new edition of a music magazine, including a front page, contents and double page spread. I have chosen this brief because it gives me an opportunity to get to know a new piece of software, and experiment. I have also chosen this brief because I like the photographic element in the production of magazines.
My initial idea for the minor task included getting some photographs together, and then drawing out a rough template indicating the house style, and using drafting some ideas to fill the page, i.e. article headings. I wanted the contents page to contain a collage of images in the background with text overlayed.
For the main task, I new immediately that I wanted there to be an introduction to a new band on the cover of the magazine, this band would then feature on the double page spread including an interview with a short introduction to each band member. For these pages I sketched them out onto paper, making it easier when it came to building the template for the magazine. I also drew up an housestyle for the front page and the contents:








Title-
Font: Elementary Light SF
Font Size: 170pt.
Colour: Black
Border on text: Turquoise
Position: Top left corner

Cover Image-
Size: Fit to page
Portrait

Body Text-
Font: Elementary Light SF
Font Size: to vary with headlines
Colour: Black
Border on text: Red, Blue, Green etc.
Bar Code: Bottom right

Price (£1.50) and Date (February ’09)
Font: Elementary Light SF
Colour: White
Price size: 24pt.Date Size: 18pt.