My Preliminary Task

My first task was to design and create the front cover and contents page for Little Heath School's own magazine. My front cover had to include a photograpgh of a student close up, three further images, some laid out text and a masthead/title.

I approached this task by first looking into the magazine industry, and discovering what types of magazine companies there are. Then I analysed old copies of the front cover of the our school magazine (Heathsonian) and other school magazines as well. I looked at how they were presented, in order to help design my own magazine cover.

'Primary Times' is one of the school magazine covers that I looked at, in order to help create my own school magazine cover. This front cover has three main colours - blue, yellow and pink- these are all bright colours, linking to the the idea that the magazine is about young children. These colours are bright and bold as well, which attracts the attention of the reader. The images used on this front cover are of young children, implying that the magazine is for a primary school and the pupils parents. The image also clearly sets the theme of the magazine, as the children are dressed in halloween costumes, as it is an October half term edition. The cover also includes features of the magazine, to draw the reader in more.

Next I designed four front cover designs on paper.

Then I chose the two best ideas and drew them out bigger.
When designing my school magazine front covers, I focused on the layout of the magazine and how it could attract audiences.

After doing this I moved onto working on Photoshop. First I practised using the programme, in order to get used to using it and to see how it works. Then I took my own photos of students and objects around the school to use on my front cover. When I had taken these photos and loaded them onto the computer I began to create my front cover on Photoshop and then I created my contents page.

As I created my front cover I had a problem using Photoshop, by creating the brick background, as it would go blurry if I stretched it out to fit the page. I resolved this problem by cloning parts of the wall and using that on the places on the page that were empty. Another problem was that when I wanted to cut out unwanted parts of the main image, with magic grow tool it would grow onto the parts of the image I wanted. To resolve this I used the lasso tool which was a lot more helpful and helped made edges of the main image look a lot neater.

My final outcome relates to my draft design slightly. The name of the magazine "L.H.S" and the slogan "The start of a new year" are the same and kept in the same place. I have used the main image that I originally wanted but had to change the position of it as it looked out of place in the middle, and I thought that when I made the wall image the background it looked better with the main image in the bottom left corner. I also did not use a border as it would have been too busy as it had to appeal to pupils as well as their parents.

Analyse: I used the title L.H.S for the name of my magazine, because it stands for Little Heath School. I used the graphic image, of the red star, so it would stand out and attract people to see what it says. I used the buzz word 'exlcusive' so people can see that there is an interview with the new head teacher. 'A Specialist School In Science and Mathematics' is used to represent the school. I used the brick background because when you enter the school you can see this wall with Little Heath School on it. The central image is of two students, I have used it because it shows new 6th form students settling in well and smiling at the camera, in order to make a connection with the reader. I also used the slogan 'The start of a new year...' because I wanted to convince people that this magazine is good as it is a 'new year' and the first edition of the new school term. The three smaller images that I used show some of the things which are featured inside the school magazine. The colours that I used - red and white - represent the school's colour as the school logo is red and white.

I also had to create a contents page for my school magazine, I did not plan the design of my contents page because I did not think that it would be very hard to design and I also already had an idea of what I thought it would look like.

The contents page relates to Little Heath School because the background is of a painting that a student from the school did. I used it for the reason that it represents the school as it is showing the talents of the students there and lets everyone know that the school is proud to show what its student can do.

Technology extended my creative control by being able to cut out only unwanted parts of my images, as in the main image I was able to get rid of the background, and get close up to the edges. However, technology obstructed my creative control, because it was difficult to move objects around as you had to work out what layer the particular objects had to go above.
My ideas specifically represent school life as I included images of students and objects around the school I also used a slogan on the cover "The start of a new year", to represent a new school year and new headteacher for Little Heath School. There is also text in a graphic image saying "interview with Mr Ramsden" which represents school life as he is the new headmaster of the school.

My school magazine relates to existing examples of other school magazines, by having images related to the school, for example I have used images of students from the school as well as features around the school. Furthermore it is also fairly simple - like our school's magazine - and is not too overcrowded with text and images like gossip magazines.

If I could make any changes to my final school magazine I would make it a bit more interesting and eye-cathcing. I would do this so it makes readers want to read the magazine and so more pupils read it, but not make it too busy and overcrowded, as it should still represent the school. I think that the background of the school's wall is a bit too much, and if I could, I would change it to be a lot smaller, and have a different background which isn't as confusing.
The only problem with my contents page is that it may be difficult to read the text as the colour is not very clear due to the colours of the background. Therefore if I did it again I would chose a different background to use so that it was easier to read.