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.