Evaluation:

For the preliminary task within the foundation portfolio, I was required to create the front page of a new school or college magazine. I have therefore produced the front cover of a College magazine, including the mock-up of a Contents Page.
Firstly, my finished product uses various conventions that are used in real print products. For example, published magazines each contain a masthead, cover lines, a main cover line, dateline, and a main image. My own magazine also contains each of these conventions. Although most magazines include a price and a barcode upon the cover, it was unnecessary for me to do so because my magazine is produced by a college, and therefore freely available to college students. If it were to have a price, the price would need to be minimal, in order for students to be able to afford it. The Masthead upon my magazine is the simple title of ‘STUDENT’. I chose this title due to my target audience being college students, feeling that it captures exactly what the magazine is all about. As stated upon the dateline on my cover, my magazine would have been published in September 2009. Therefore, I have chosen to make my magazine a ‘Fresher’s’ issue, with the main cover lines relating to new students of the college, beginning their A-levels in that September month. However, my magazine would still also contain content for all other students, as stated in the rest of my cover lines. The main image upon my magazine is of both a male and a female. I feel that this particular image creates a positive attitude towards education and the college lifestyle, as both students within the image seem to be enjoying themselves whilst reading a textbook. Both students also have their bags upon their shoulders, creating the idea that they are prepared for their lessons and suggesting they are ready to learn. Therefore, overall, my chosen image represents positive ideas about the student lifestyle back to us as the reader, far from the typical stereotype of teenage students, in which all sixteen to nineteen year olds are only interested in drugs, sex and violence, and far from interested in education.

Furthermore, I am confident that my finished product meets its target audience of college students. Within my target audience, I did not specify a gender that my magazine would appeal to the most, and simply hoped to make my front cover, in a sense, “unisex”. Therefore, to achieve this, I have included both a male and a female student within the main image. If I were to have merely included a female, it may have suggested that my magazine was aimed slightly more towards that gender. Though my magazine is widely targeted towards new students of the college, or ‘Fresher’s’, I have also included various ideas within my cover lines for content that would appeal to all students and all age groups of the college. For example, ‘STUDENT rules for achieving that career’ is an area of content that all students can relate to. I have also used colours that are not associated to a specific gender group. If all text upon my front page was pink, this would change the entire outlook of the magazine, placing it in the stereotype that it must be a female magazine because “only girls like pink”. Instead, I have used both purple and green, neither of which is associated with a specific group of people.

Moreover, in order to create my final print product of a front cover, I had to use various ICT programmes. For each of my layout drafts, for both the front cover and the contents page, I used Microsoft Publisher, in order to demonstrate my ability to grasp and effectively use the programme. I also used this same programme to add all items of text onto my final product. In addition to my use of DTP, I also used Photoshop, in order to edit and manipulate my chosen main image. I found that Photoshop has a wide range of tools that ultimately helped me to create my final picture, so that it stands out upon my front cover. Firstly, I selected and removed the background of the image so that it remained plain white. I then adjusted several settings, including hue, saturation, lightness and contrast of the image, to make it stand out even more against the plain background. After resizing and cropping the image, I transferred it across to Publisher, on which I continued to add text and colour.

In conclusion, I feel that my magazine cover successfully meets the aims of the preliminary task. I have created a new College magazine, using an image of two students in medium close-up, with appropriately laid out text. I also feel that I have met my target audience, used conventions effectively, and proved my ability to use various ICT programmes. Overall, I am pleased with my magazine cover, as it meets the conventions of already published magazines, such as the ones I analysed within my research, but includes unique aspects of my own. I feel that my photo's portray a positive vibe towards education and college, and am pleased with the edited image, as I feel it stands out upon my front cover. However, I feel that the layout of my front cover could have been better structured, and therefore within the main task of the foundation portfolio, I shall take this into account and perhaps do several layout plans, rather than just the one. Additionally, I am also pleased with my choice of font, Arial Black, as I feel it is bold and therefore stands out upon my magazine cover, without drawing too much attention away from the main image. Finally, I feel that I struggled slightly with the time management of this particular task, but will use this effectively in the production of my music magazine, making sure I make good use of the time available.

Finished College Magazine

Here is my final product: STUDENT magazines cover page and it's various conventions:

The above image is my chosen image for my front cover, both in it's original state and, underneath, its edited state. I felt that this photo portrayed both a positive attitude to education, using the textbook as a prop to acheive this, and to college, as both students seem to be enjoying themselves, hence the smiles upon their faces. I used Photoshop to edit the photo, increasing the contrast and removing the background so that both of the students stood out against the plain white colouring.

Here are a selection of my original photo's, taken of both a male and a female on the college grounds, both of whom appear to be enjoying themselves whilst seemingly reading the textbook before them, therefore creating a positive attitude towards education and the college lifestyle.

This is the mock-up of my contents page, which I created using Desktop Publisher. If I were to create the contents page for my College magazine, as I shall with my front cover, this is the simple layout that I would use. I would place the title of the page at the very top, as this would be the first aspect that would be seen by the viewer. This would also be the largest item of text upon the page. Towards the left-hand side of the page, a list of content, including their dedicated page numbers, would be situated. This makes it simple and easy for the reader to find articles that interest them, and quickly locate their pages. Towards the side of the content listings, I would place two images, both relating to areas of content within the magazine; particularly the content stated within the main coverline upon the front of the magazine. Overall, the content page would be simple, but effective, with all relative information and clear text to ultimately aid the reader within their reading experience.

The following image is a sketch draft of my magazine front cover. It includes the images, layout and coverlines that I hope to include within my final product. My finished front cover may vary slightly from my sketch draft, though most of the aspects will be similar, if not the same.

I have created a draft, using Desktop Publisher, to set out the layout of my magazine front cover. As in conventional, published magazines, the masthead is situated towards the top of the front cover, making it visibly one of the first aspects to be seen upon the cover. Also at the top of the magazine, I have placed the College Logo. This will be recognisable to all students of that college, making this magazine a clear artifact of Wyke collge. Beneath the Masthead, I shall place the selling line, and beneath the selling line, the date line shall be situated. The date line will include both the month and the year of publication. The main image of my cover shall be centered, taking up a large proportion of the front page, making it stand out. The main image will ultimately be the most important aspect of the cover. Situated near to the main image, I shall place the main cover line, again making it clear and visible due to it being next to or beneath the important main image. Towards the bottom of the magazine, I shall place all other coverlines, with the addition of the Wyke college website in small font within the bottom, right-hand corner.

I have created a Moodboard to express each of my ideas. Once all of my individual ideas about areas such as colour, images and different types of font were down upon my moodboard, and I could visualise them, I found it much easier to decide what I am going to put into the actual creation of my front cover. For example, with each of these colours together upon my moodboard, I could see which of them contrasted well with each other, and which did not. It also allowed me to see which of the font face's used were suitable for my magazine, taking into account which font stood out well and which were clear to read. The use of various originial photos helped to inspire me as to which image to use for my main image.

Choice of programmes:
To create my front cover and contents page, I need to use a selection of computer programmes, showing my ability to use them effectively in my work. For each of my I.T drafts, I will use Desktop Publisher, as this is a useful program to use for setting out the layout of each of my drafts. To edit my chosen photo's, I also needed to select an image manipulation program, from which I shall use Photoshop.
Both Photoshop and DTP will work well together in the overall creation of my college magazine front cover. After editing my photos to make them look more professional, using the range of different tools Photoshop has to offer, I can then easily transer the image onto DTP and continue the creation of my magazine cover by adding text.

Target Audience:
As I am designing my magazine for Wyke College, it is aimed towards students of the college. Therefore, it's target audience is anyone from the age of sixteen to around nineteen. To appeal to this target audience, my magazine must include content relevent to a wide range of teenagers. I have not specified a targetted gender for my magazine, and therefore it must also be relevent to both males and females. In order to meet this criteria, I am aiming to include simple aspects such as unisex colours, and content that relates to studies or areas of life outside of college that appeal to both males and females, such as work related topics, sport and hobbies.

In order to prepare myself for the actual creation of my college magazine's front cover and contents page, I created the following spiderdiagram in order to express my initial thoughts and ideas on the task.

When designing a magazine cover, there are certain key, conventional aspects that must be considered:

The Masthead - this is the title of the magazine, often displayed somewhere towards the top of a magazine cover. The Masthead is also usually displayed in a unique font face, recognisable to that particular magazine.

The Dateline - this is the month and year in which the magazine has been published. In most monthly magazines, they are found upon the news-stands a month earlier than the month stated on the cover date. The price of the magazine is usually displayed here.

The Main Image - the main image is often the most important aspect of the cover, and is used to sell the magazine as a whole. A well-known celebrity model is usually used within the image. If a model is used, their face is often large enough to fill a wide proportion of the magazines cover.

Coverlines - these are distributed around the main image of a magazine cover. They are used to inform the reader of key aspects of content, and therefore sell the magazine, without distracting too much attention away from the main image.

Main Cover Line - the main cover line is very large in comparison with the other coverlines, and often takes up around a quarter of the cover area. The main cover line is sometimes in relation to the main image, or simply an important area of content that may aid in selling the magazine.

Barcode - this is the standard barcode used by retailers.

Selling line - this is a short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point, or is perhaps used for setting out the magazines editorial philosophy.

This particular college magazine is designed to target students attending the 'Beloit' college. Most conventional magazines display a barcode, price, and the date of release upon the cover, however this magazine simply states the date, 'summer 2009'. As this magazine is specific to the 'Beloit' college, it is probably free to the students. The Masthead is situated at the very top of the magazine, making it recognisable whilst using a conventional way to ensure it stands out. The text in which the title has been written is also clear, and of the largest font size upon the whole of the cover. Though the title stands out above many of this magazines conventions, it is seemingly the main image that is used to represent the magazine as a whole. The image used is clearly of a student, who appears to be graduating; hence her graduation cap and robe. The stereotype that all “intelligent” people wear glasses has possibly been used, maybe to suggest that the smile upon her face is due to the fact that she has successfully passed her exams with good grades, and is leaving college proud of all that she has achieved. This therefore creates a positive attitude on doing well within education for all students reading this particular magazine. The image is in medium close-up view, with all background images blurred, which ensures that the female within the image is the main focus point. Though this magazine is targeted towards students of both genders, which is clear from the use of a student upon the cover and no overall content to suggest that it is gender specific, it is possibly somewhat more aimed at a female audience. This is due to the student being female, and the overall layout of the magazine resembling a female magazine, like that of ‘Heat’.

The main cover line is in obvious relation to the main image. The ‘kicker’, written in bold font similar to the font used in the masthead, though not as large, states ‘Going Out in Style’, which refers to all students graduating from college. Underneath, there is then the explanatory line ‘commencement reminds us why even the hard years are good ones’: this once again creates a positive attitude towards education, inferring that if hard work is put in at the start, the feeling of having achieved your best on the day of graduation will make everything seem worthwhile, which clearly the female in the image has found. Various other cover lines have been distributed towards the left of the image, in a different colour to the masthead and main coverline, each of which state other areas of the content dissimilar to the idea of graduation, but all of which relate to college life.

The above image is of a magazine, which is designed to attract adults whom are parents to children attending school. This particular cover displays several magazine conventions, though each is displayed in a relatively simple manner. Each of the items of text, including the masthead and the various coverlines, are written in the same font face, however each in a different pastel colour; also varying in size and whether or not the text has been enboldened. Both the main image and each item of text upon the front of this magazine stand out well, as they contrast with the plain white background. Though the magazine is aimed to target adults, the main image is of a young girl who clearly attends school. This is because the magazine is designed to attract parents looking for advice on their children. We can tell this by reading the coverlines, such as 'Help your childs transition from summer to school'. Though the exact gender of the target audience is not specified on the cover, it seems that it is targetted slightly more towards a female audience; the main image being of a young girl, and the overall layout resembling a typical female-based magazine, such as 'Cosmopolitan', rather than a magazine designed for males.
Many magazines, however, display both the month in which the magazine has been published, and the price of the magazine, but this particular school magazine displays only the year in which it was released and does not have a barcode; this is possibly due to the fact that the magazine is free and rarely published. The female model is making eye contact with the viewer, therefore engaging with the audience.

In my opinion, the simplicity of the magazine works well. However, I feel that more colours have been used than necessary; there are around six different colours used for the text on the front of the magazine, though I think it would have looked far more effective if only two were used, and so a house style set throughout the magazine. On the other hand, this may have been used to signify a childs use of colour, as on the right-hand side of the cover, one item of text has been "highlighted". Furthermore, the magazine has used representation, using the model within the centre of the cover. It represents a positive attitude to educaton by using props and her overall stance. The girl has perfectly ironed clothes, to the extent that the line upon the arm of her shirt is visible to us as the reader. Props, such as her school bag and books, are used to show that she is prepared for the day, as does the watch upon her arm, which may be used to ensure that she attends her lessons on time. The smile on her face suggests she is looking forward to learning. Therefore, overall, she portrays education in a positive manner.