Print Prelim Product and Evaluation

Comparison to professional magazines

• My magazine front cover is different from Kerrang and Rock Sound magazine's front cover as their magazines include a group of people (a band) on their front cover, whereas my magazine front cover includes one person.
• The layout of my skyline and bar code are similar to Kerrang and Rock Sound's magazine, and the main sell line is similar to Kerrang's magazine as it has the main content of the main sell line in white and bolder than the rest of the main sell line and it is situated in the middle of the front cover.
• I used two of the same colour pallete scheme of white and black like in Kerrang and Rock Sound's magazine.
• The masthead is different to the ones on Kerrang and Rock Sound's magazine as it is brought in front of the main image, whereas in the professional magazines it is brought behind the image. Also, the font size of my masthead is too small compared to the professional ones.
• The layout of the sell lines are different to Kerrang and Rock Sound's magazine because in the professional magazines the sell lines are situated on the right hand side of the front cover, whereas in my magazine the sell lines are situated on both the right hand side and the left hand side of the front cover.
• The content of the sell lines are different compared to Kerrang and Rock Sound's ones as the content of mine are to do with college and the content of the professional ones are to do with music.
• On my contents page I included my magazine's name, 'Fresh', and 'this week' like in Kerrang magazine. I also included the subscription offer on the contents page like in Kerrang magazine. I only included one image on the contents page like in Rock Sound magazine.
• I think my magazine compares to the professional ones slightly, but I don't think it is like a professional one.

Audience

• My target audience is male and female college students aged between 16 and 18.
• Not aimed at anyone with particular music tastes as there are no music articles included in the magazine.
• Aimed at people with an interest in high street fashion as there are fashion related articles included in my magazine.
• The model included in my magazine is an example of the target audience.
• The colour palette scheme I used related and was suitable to my target audience.
• The language used in my magazine is informal which is suitable for the target audience of young people. 

Attracting/addressing audience

• In order for me to design my magazine front cover and contents page, I needed to know my target audience so I could address and attract them. Knowing who your target audience is makes it easier to design a product for them because I can base my content and images on things which will be suitable to my audience.
• The model on the front cover of my magazine is wearing high street fashion clothes and is also a college student aged between 16 and 18 so she is an example of my target audience.
• The insert of the image of the model on the contents page is a picture of the model wearing specific make-up in which there is an article included in the magazine about.
• I used the colours purple, black and white because purple is the main college colour and as it is a college magazine aimed at college students the colours need to relate to the target audience. I used the black and white colours because they are simple plain colours so the text is easily readable for students.

Technology

• To create my magazine front cover I used the Photoshop software on Apple Mac's. With this software, I learnt how to create new layers which made it easy to move certain parts of text around without moving the whole of the texts and images around. I also played around with the effects on the texts like to make the text have a shadow or blur effect.
• To create my contents page I used the InDesign software on Apple Mac's. InDesign allows you to create multiple columns so it was useful when designing my contents page as there was two columns needed.
• To take my photos for my front cover and contents page, I used an SLR camera. The LCD screen was split into sections so I could use the rule of thirds to take the photo. I also used lighting equipment in a two light set up so the lighting in the image would be produced evenly without dark shadows on the image.
• To convert my images onto the Apple Mac, i removed the memory card out of the SLR camera and transferred the images onto the Mac by putting the memory card into the Mac. I found this a quick and easy way to transfer the images.
• When I designed my flat plan, I had to convert my design onto the Mac. I used a scanner to do this. Like the memory card, this was a quick and easy way of transferring the design. 
• The final piece of new technology I have used in this task was Blogger. This was a new way for me of recording and evaluating my coursework. I found it a good piece of software to use as it is accessible from both home and college and posts can be edited and saved as drafts to come back to later.

Photography Composition

Flat Plan Rationale

For the design of my front cover and contents page of my magazine 'Fresh', I have selected a 3 colour palette scheme of purple, black and white; this colour scheme will be consistent throughout my magazine. I have chosen these colours as they are suitable to that of my audience. The audience for my magazine is aimed at 16-18 year old male and females. The colour purple is the main college colour so I thought it would be suitable to use that colour as it is a college magazine. I then decided on using the colours black and white because they are basic colours which are suited to both male and females, my audience. I called the magazine 'Fresh' because it relates to 'freshers' at college, and also because the magazine contains fresh news and gossip about the college.

On my front cover the main image is a picture of a student at QE college and is positioned in the centre of the page so it is the main feature of the cover. I have positioned the main sell line infront of the main image on the cover because it is the main content of the magazine so being bold and centered, lets the reader know that it is the main content of the magazine. I positioned the other sell lines around the main image in background space. I have used a large masthead which I have positioned at the top of the front cover. It is easily noticeable so customers can easily recognise the magazine. I have included a skyline above my masthead, and I have also included an easily recognisable bar code. I have layed my text out like in Kerrang magazine as I thought it was presented well. The sell lines in my magazine are subjects to do with college, and as it is a college magazine them subjects appeal to my target audience. For my main image, I am going to take a medium close-up shot which will be placed in the centre of my magazine front cover, taking up most of the room. The photograph of the student will be taken with their hands behind their back and taken as a frontal shot as it shows they are relaxed and confident which is one of the topics the magazine is trying to get the students to become. My font size is largest on my masthead, smallest on my sell lines and a medium sized font for my main sell line.

On my contents page, I have continued the purple, black and white colour scheme like on my front cover to keep the colour scheme consistent. I have included a close up face image of the same student as pictured on the front cover, which will be positioned in the top right hand corner, taking up 25% of the room on the page. I have included a close up image of the student to relate to the 'beauty' content in the magazine. I have listed a table of contents, including page numbers and additional information about the pages, which makes it useful for the reader. I have also included information on subscription to the magazine. The font size on the contents page is relatively small, ranging for different parts of the contents; the font used for the page content is larger than that of the font used for the additional information about the pages.

Inspirational Texts

I like the use of images on this front cover as they stand out in the magazine and the use of lots of images, rather than text may appeal more to customers. The bold font and use of white colour, against the dark main background image, of the main sell line brings the text out, which makes it stand out from the rest of the magazine. Also, the text on the skyline and the sell lines is in a white colour against a black background so is easily readable. As the masthead is brought behind the main image, it doesn't stand out as much and customers may not be able to read what the magazine title actually is which is important. The bar code is easily found, as it is, like most of the text, white against a black background. Kerrang magazine uses a 4 colour palette scheme of black, white, yellow and red. 

The 4 colour palette scheme is consistent throughout Kerrang magazine as the contents uses the colours black, white, yellow and red for the font like the front cover does. I like how the main image which promotes the content of the magazine is large and takes up approximately half the page as it is the main subject of the magazine. I also like how the table of contents is arranged into different headings depending on the subject, so the page the reader is looking for is easily found from looking under the subject heading. This page also includes information on subscription, and writer's comments.

I like the colour scheme used in this issue of Rock Sound magazine; the main colour pallete used is black, white and blue. The main image is the only image on the front cover of the magazine, apart from a few smaller ones. This makes the image stand out a lot more on the cover and promotes the main content of the magazine. Like Kerrang, the masthead is sent behind the main image making it hard to read. The white font on the sell lines is hard to read in places where the background image is lighter. The bar code and main sell line are easily readable.

The 3 colour palette scheme of black, white and blue is kept consistent throughout the magazine. I like the large use of image taking up half the contents page as it stands out and makes the contents page less boring as the rest is just text. There is additional information included about each of the main features on the contents which is useful for the reader. There is no information on subscription on this page.

Brief: Print

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/ college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate your grasp of DTP.

Main Task: The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.

A minimum of 4 images must be used. All images and graphics must be produced by the candidate.