College Magazine: Software and Equipment

I decided to make my front cover and contents page on Adobe Photoshop as I used this software in previous school years and am familiar with it. Also, I felt that I could get the most realistic look using this. This software wasn't too hard to use as I am used to it but Photoshop is quite a complex software to use so it wasn't the easiest but in the end, I was pleased I had used it as the outcome came out looking more professional that it would've if I hadn't used some of the tools that it includes.

For this photo-shoot for my college magazine I used a regular digital camera. I got better quality photographs using this opposed to a camera phone. However, the pictures could've been better so next time I will use a digital slr to get a clearer image.

College Magazine: Finished Contents Page

This is my new, improved, finished contents page for my magazine.

 After realizing I needed to change the layout and add more photos, I produced this page. I'm very pleased with the outcome. I think the extra pictures improve the overall effect of the page a lot. The feedback I got from peers was that they thought I had used appropriate images and the liked the use of the logo.

College Magazine: Making The Contents Page

For my new version of the contents page, I started off by preparing the three photographs I wanted to put into my contents page. These were two models: one from the front cover and one to go along with a different sell line. The other is a picture of a Costa cup to go along with another sell line. I am using three pictures on this page as I've used one on the front cover and I need a minimum of 4 original images for my entire magazine. I chose to only go with the minimum amount as it is only a college magazine. For my music magazine I will use more to make it look more professional.

I started off by editing the picture of Robyn (from front cover) so that the models outfit looks different to the one on the front cover. I did this by coloring each piece of clothing. Such as the jeans, I made them from blue denim to grey denim. I then cropped the picture. For the picture of Rosie I edited her skin to look better and more flawless as magazines are known for doing this. I then cropped it. For the picture of the Costa cup, I simply cropped it.

These are the pictures before (top) and after (bottom):

I then started on my actual contents page. I began with a white background and then adding in the college logo (to give authenticity) and the masthead (CONTENTS). I also added the date underneath in smaller font. I used the same font for my text as I did and even the same colours - white with a black outline - for my front cover masthead in order to continue with the theme and make the contents connect to the front cover.

I then added in my two photographs of the models. I experimented with the positioning of these but ended up with having them diagonal for each other, leaving white space on one side in order to put the article teasers. I will leave the Costa picture until I have put the text in to add it in, in order to fit around the text as I don't want it to be big and dominant on the page.

The next step was putting in the article teasers. This stage needed the most experimenting with. I had to decide where to separate the text as to fit into two places. I decided to keep the text black as if not then there might be too much colour as both the pictures on the page are quite colourful. I put the text into the same font as the sell lines on the front cover in order to continue with the theme of the magazine.

I has left a space next to the sell line that goes with the Costa picture in order to fit it in. So the next step was doing so. This step was easy as all I had to do was insert a photo and make it smaller so it would fit into the space allocated.

I then needed to put in sell lines to go with the larger photos. I was inspired to add these on top of the images themselves so it would be clear that they go along with them and also I think it looks good. When I added the sell lines on top in the same black as the rest of the article teasers, it didn't show up very well. So, in order to make them visible to the audience, I put them in white and added a black outline like I had done for the title. Once I had done this, my contents page was finished.

 

College Magazine: Contents Page Considerations And Improvements

After finishing my contents page, I was informed by my peers that I hadn't included enough images: I had only used two instead of the required four images.  Also, I got feedback that having the model from the front cover, also dominating the contents page didn't look right. So in order to improve my magazine, I started again and added two more photographs and changed the layout.

College Magazine: Finished First Version Of Contents Page

This is my finished college magazine contents page:

When looking at other contents pages, I had a different idea on how mine would turn out from how it did turn out, but when looking  at the photographs I had to work with, a new idea became clear in my mind and the outcome is very similar. The only thing that changed was the extra colour but i'm pleased I have put it in as it gives the page an extra something. I am happy with the outcome, I stays true to the theme from the front cover. Fellow peers agree that both pages looks like they're from the same magazine, not only because they share the same model.

College Magazine: Making The First Version Of My Contents Page

I started off by editing the picture so that the models outfit looks different to the one on the front cover. I did this by coloring each piece of clothing. Such as the jeans, I made them from blue denim to grey denim.

Then I added the title and logo to the empty space above the model. I used the same font and colours as the front cover title to continue with the theme.

Then I added the article teasers I had previously thought up and added to my blog with their page numbers next to them on the left hand side. I decided to put a line in between the number and the text as I thought it made the overall look better. I put them in white because it went with the title and contrasted against the colored background. I added a slight black outer glow to the text however, as the white text on the white background didn't stand out enough.

Once looking at the page, it looked rather bare so like the front cover, I added in white lines between each teaser to separate them and fill up some space. I also added the date below the title to also fill up space and make the page look more realistic.

Then I experimented by adding a white box  for the 'On The Cover' article teaser as I was previously inspired to by the NME magazine.I  created a white box and then added the article teaser in black on top with a sub title 'On The Cover'. After doing this, I thought that it didn't look very professional and decided not to add this into the final page design.

I went back to the original design but thought that it still needed something extra so I tried to add more colour by putting the page numbers as red. I also did this because the white page numbers didn't stand out very much against the white background even with the outer glow.

I then made space so I could add more photos onto the page. I did this buy moving some of the text top the left so that I have the right amount of space for my photos.

I then added in the pictures beside the article teasers that went along with them and my page was complete.

College Magazine: Contents Page Article Teasers

Before I started to actually make my contents page, I thought it would be best to brainstorm ideas of what I want to put in there for my article teasers. First of all I thought of idea of what to put in:

NCS
Bullying
CV tips
Mocks and revision
High education
Springboard TV
Student savings
Renovations
Costa
Interview with Robyn quote

Then using these ideas I made them into actual teasers:


Hot drinks are hot property - Costa hype coasts through college
A springboard to success   -  Springboard TV is a roaring success
Spruce up your CV - top tips to stand out from the crowd
 Banishing the bullying - The college cracks down on bullies
Don't get mocked, revise!   - A guide to the upcoming mocks
Going higher on high education - Life after college at CWA
 The renovations are a towering success - Students share their thoughts
 Times are tough...but not for a student - student savings for those in the know
Why say "YES" to NCS? - Rewarding times of your life are closer than you think
"Coming to college was the best decision I've ever made." - Robyn tells us the high school lows and the college highs of her education.


These are the teasers I will put into my contents page. ^

College Magazine: Finished Front Cover

This is my finished college magazine front cover:

 

 My original idea didn't change, instead it progressed. I wanted to incorporate certain aspects into my magazine such as the list and the box at the bottom but at first I wasn't exactly sure how it would turn out. When creating the magazine, I experimented a bit and eventually was able to add both to my magazine which made me even more pleased with the outcome. I am happy with the outcome of my front cover as I think it looks realistic and interesting and that was what I was going for.

When I showed this to a fellow peer, their response was that it looked professional and real and that it could easily pass as a real college magazine.

College Magazine: Making The Front Cover

 I started off with the main image I had chosen and edited the brightness, contrast and vibrancy higher using the tools provided on Photoshop as I thought the original looked dull. I also tried to get rid of the red eyes. This all made the main image look better and gave me a better starting point for my magazine.

 

I then progressed to placing the title and logo at the top, next to each other. I placed the logo onto the magazine to show the audience what college it belonged to. I ended up adding a stroke effect to the title to give it a slightly black border so it would stand out against the background better.

 

  I then placed the bar-code, price and date together in a small white box at the bottom. This was inspired by a magazine I came across whilst researching and added it to my ideas post no my blog. I first of created a white box, then I placed a bar-code at the bottom middle then wrote the date, price and website text inside of the box, above the bar-code.I think this makes all the text look neater as it is sectioned off together.

 

The next step was to add the anchorage title and all the sell lines. This part took some time as I kept altering the placement of each one to fit around the other text and the main image. I decided to place a stroke effect around all the text to make it all stand out. I decided to also go for the list idea I had came across on the Rolling Stones magazine in my ideas post. Instead of putting in celebrity names, I chose to put in things that are new to the college so that it relates to the magazine genre and is realistic. I split the list up with thick white lines to make the page look more interesting. Also, it attracts the audience to look at the magazine.

College Magazine: Font Research

There are many different fonts to choose from when considering the text on my front cover. I started off looking at a range of fonts for my title. 

I picked out 5 different fonts and typed the word COLLEGE in the largest size to get a better perspective of how they’d look. I decided that I didn’t like the ‘unique’ fonts such as the first, third and last one. Instead, I preferred a normal, common one that is easy on the eyes such as the second and forth. In the end, I chose to go with the forth which as was Adobe Garamond Pro Bold as it is a normal looking font but not too common that it looks like I haven’t made an effort. Also, it will make the magazine look more professional and official.

Next I looked at fonts that are similar to the title font for my sell lines:

All of the fonts I looked at are ones that would look similar to the title but not exactly the same. In the end, I chose the first one as it looks the best with the title font.

College Magazine: Photographs

These are the photographs I took for my college magazine. I took photos on different locations: indoors and outdoors. I also used a few different poses: standing, sitting, leaning against a wall. I did this to get a variety of photographs. I knew I wanted a medium, portrait photo so I tried to base each photograph on that idea.

From these photos, I liked the ones in front of the college tower block the most so I took my favourite one and cropped it to make the model the dominant part of the photo.

 I will use this photo for my front cover. ^

I also took some photos for my contents page:

I will choose and crop these accordingly to fit on my contents page.

College Magazine: Contents Page Ideas

For my contents page, I will use a photograph I have taken previously but as my model is in the same outfit for each shot, I will have to edit her outfit to look different. This is the photo I will use:

I have chosen this photo as it has a lot of empty room around her that I can work with. Also, there is the vibrant splash of colour - green. This will make the page stand out and catch the audiences attention. However, I will crop the photo down as to not have too much background. I want to keep room above her hair to add the title. I will crop the bottom where her feet and the floor is as that part of the picture isn't very appealing. So instead of being a long shot, it will be a medium long shot. I will also crop the left side out as to have the white wall was the main background and make it the right, rectangular shape of the magazine.
Here is the cropped picture:

 I will have the main title as 'Contents' as it seems the most fitting title for a college contents page as it gets straight to the point and if I titled the page with the name of the magazine 'COLLEGE' the it wouldn't look right. Instead, I will add the college logo so the audience are reminded that it is a college magazine and belongs to CWA.

On the contents page of the issue of NME magazine that I analyzed previously on this blog, I liked how the page numbers were a different colour to the text so I take this into account when making my contents page. Another thing I like about this is that the article teaser for the cover is in a separate box from the rest.

 

I'll be keeping the fonts the same as the front cover to continue with the theme. Also, the fonts I will use are 'normal' fonts and it's best not to try go outside the box with fonts because such as the magazine above, it can easily go wrong. I will also stick with neutral colours for most of the text as again, using lots of colour can easily go wrong, such as the one below.

College Magazine: Front Cover Ideas

For my college magazine front cover, I will go with the typical conventions such as using a medium shot, having a big, bold title at the top. Including all the necessities such as sell lines, a large anchorage title, bar code, price, date, etc. For my main image, I unfortunately couldn't get a famous celebrity to be on the cover, so instead I chose a girl who has both an interesting style/look and back story that I could include in my magazine to make it even more real. I have decided that I will take the photos at the college in well known, interesting places that students will be able to recognize and familiarize themselves with. This will help include the readers in the magazine and attract them to buy it. I will also ask my model to wear clothes that she would normally just around the college to also make it realistic. I will name my magazine 'COLLEGE'. I chose this name as it is simple, gets to the point and lets the readers know what the magazine is about.

When searching up college magazine, I came across the one above in which the use of props ( the paintbrushes) is highly influential on the overall look.I decided that I don't like the dominance of a prop and how it can easily look 'bad'. So I will not be using any props on my shoot. I will purely use the model. Also, this one has a 'busy' background, giving the reader too much to look at which can turn a reader off the magazine. So I will use an uncomplicated background that stays as a background and also doesn't dominate the photo like the one below.

When looking at magazines in general, I came across the one above and liked how it looked. I liked the boldness and placement of the anchorage title and thought it looked similar to my template that I wanted to use. I also liked the placement of sell lines, how they are placed around, fitting the model and not over lapping the image too much. I really like the sell lines on the left that are simply names separated with lines.  Another thing I liked was the simply, black font used for the sell lines. Also the bar-code being neatly tucked into the bottom corner. However, what I didn't like about this magazine was the black box on the top right hand side so I won't let that part inspire my magazine.

I also found this magazine above and very much liked the placement of the bar-code, date, price and website all being neatly put together in a little white box in the bottom corner. This will definitely inspire my work.