Sam's blog

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I have added a picture of my own and also a tag line.

School Magazine Analysis.

I made my front cover on Photoshop CS3 and in all it took about 2 hours after planning and a few different ideas.

I chose the title ‘School ’as obviously the magazine is about school and it is short and easy to say. The title is in red as it is eye catching and stands out on the white background, if you look closely you will realise that the logo is actually on a morphed piece of lined A4 paper. Underneath the title it says ‘Helping you survive’ this was put there as the magazine would offer many tips on how to get through school such as:

1) How to beat the bullies
2) Uniform tips
3) And help with coursework etc

There is a big picture of Tom Spare on my front cover as I decided to make this a ‘Head Boy Special’ addition as at the time the head boy/girl elections were a subject that came up a lot in daily conversation at school.

The Pictures

I took pictures of Tom around the Bec and then later chose the best one and proceeded to cut it out on Photoshop. I took a few photos such as Tom in profile and Tom staring directly at the camera. Also took a few pictures of Haydn against a white background and up against a green pool table. I did this because if they were to stand against a background that had multiple colours in it or if the colours matched anything that they were wearing it would make the task of cutting them out of the photo extremely difficult and tedious.

The Background

For the background I used grey. Although grey is a dull and boring colour it would make the images and other things on the front cover stand out such as the pictures/ Title.

Within the background you will see that there are various school utensils that have been faded into the grey. These are subtle and were not meant to be noticed at first glance as not to draw attention away from the articles or pictures. I did this as it adds to the school theme and adds more to the solid grey background.
The Price

I chose to price the magazine as free because its more likely to grab the attention of others as they obviously wont have to pay and so can catch up on the latest news around their school without having to pay a penny.

To make the “Free!” stand out I got a picture of a hand holding a piece of paper and I then put the words “Free!” in a bright yellow with a dark bold black outline on the paper.

The Fonts

“SCHOOL” Title

For the main title I used an old style American school font as I found that it triggers pictures of school and sport etc which the magazine is about. The title is also on a piece of lined paper that is also school related.

“Helping You Survive” Tagline

For the tagline I used an old typewriter font as it looks rough and old and is used in many horror films and games where the characters have to survive e.g. Resident evil, Evil Dead, Silent Hill.

The tagline is on a red background and the font itself is white. I did this as these colours are on opposite ends of the colour spectrum from each other without being boring or bland.

“Head Boy Special” Article

For the words ‘Head’ and ‘Boy’ I used a 60’s hippy font which is quite relaxed and represents a time where nothing was really taken seriously, and so I think this is a good font to use when describing something that might be seen as a boring subject.

For the word ‘Special’ I used a stencil font that could be seen as quite uptight and organised as this font is often used for military purposes as it is simple to spray onto boxes of cargo etc. I used this because there are times at school when you are required to all act similar in terms of lining up and following orders, somewhat like the army.

The background for the words is a sticker that looks like it has been put onto the front cover very carelessly as it is covering part of the tagline but not enough so that the tagline is totally unreadable.

“Tom Spare Exclusive”

For “Tom Spare” I used an action font as I Thought this would make a bigger impact and stand on the page. I felt as though this needed to stand out as this issue of the magazine is mainly about Tom.

“New Year At School…”

For “New Year at School?” and “No Friends” I used a normal no thrills font in white with a red outline as again these colours catch your eye. The fonts then change dramatically for “Scared” as this font is in the style of the great Ralph Steadman which is very scruffy and sloppy and littered with ink splats and scribbles.

“We Will Help You” is in the same font as “New year at school” But this time it is in blue and white giving a calming affect and it is not a rhetorical question like the others. This is telling you that if you read this magazine you WILL make friends and you won’t be scared anymore.

“Haydn’s 10 Top Tips For Beating The Bullies.”

For “Haydn’s 10” I used quite a formal font with a colour gradient to make it more eye catching as just having solid colours throughout the front cover made it seem a little bland.

For the rest of the fonts I tilted them all slightly different ways to each other and put blue rectangles behind. I wanted to achieve a sloppy look as if the words have just been cut out and stuck on as I thought this went well with the picture of Haydn that was roughly cut out.

The target audience I had in mind for this front cover were the younger students of the school and lower sixth form. I appealed to this target audience by adding bright colours and articles that may help younger students in school without making it seem like a chore or just another school magazine. I also added a big picture of Tom Spare to the front cover, who is well known within the school .

Centre page spread

For this piece of coursework I need to make a centre page spread for a music magazine. I have already produced a Front cover and a contents page for this music magazine. The genre of magazine that I have chosen to create is psychedelic/rock.

A centre page spread will normally consist of a big picture and an article on the opposite page.

Here is an example of a double page spread, even though it isn’t a centre page spread it gives a good idea of what on would look like. This double page spread isn’t from a music magazine but from another genre of magazine completely but it gives a general idea of what a centre page spread will look like.

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy180/S-ives/cefndgsdgd.jpg

As you can see there is a big picture of the two main people of the article and then the opposite page goes into the story even more. I like the layout of this centre page spread as it is easy to read and is eye catching but still remains a relatively simple design.

The text has been laid out in neat columns. This makes it easy for the reader. Most of this text is on the second page, with only two columns on the first page.

For my centre page spread I shall be using a picture of Jimi Hendrix as my magazine front cover advertises the magazine as a Jimi Hendrix edition.

I will most probably write about the life of jimi Hendrix as he led a very interesting life through fame, drugs and music that changed the world.

Analysis of Classic Rock magazine.

For the main picture on the front cover of this issue of classic rock magazine they have used a picture of Bon Scott (Former lead vocalist of AC/DC who died on the19th of February 1980 and was replaced by Brian Johnson) and a separate picture of Angus Young (Lead guitarist of AC/DC). You can tell that these are two separate pictures that have been merged together later on as they overlap each other but not in a natural way.

These pictures have been put in grayscale which normally would mean compromising the attention grabbing factor of a picture, but as these pictures contain a lot of action it works well. I can prove this concept as I chose to use this magazine out of about ten other magazines of this genre, all of which had very vibrant colour schemes etc.

The pictures of Angus and Bon are covering the title “Classic Rock” which shows that this magazine is probably very well known as none of the letters on “ROCK” can be seen fully and it is only “CLASSIC” that can be seen in its entirety.

The magazine offers a free CD called “Unleashed: Ones to watch in 2008” It advertises this CD with a sticker effect at the top left hand corner of the magazine.

Music Magazine

For this piece of course work I need to design parts of a music magazine, including the front cover, contents page and centre page spread.

The genre of magazine that I have decided to make is a psychedelic /rock magazine as there aren’t many magazines of this genre for sale in Britain. Some of the bands that I want to include in my magazine are:

1) The Jimi Hendrix Experience
2) Pink Floyd
3) The Doors
4) The raconteurs

And I will also include small articles on new upcoming bands of this genre and other bands that are not well known such as:

1) Ween
2) Dead confederate
3) Gong

I will also be including a small article on my own band and will include pictures and maybe an interview with the members.

Front Cover

For the front cover of my magazine I was going to use a picture of either Jimi Hendrix, my own band or one of the unknown bands such as Dead Confederate.

Picture of Jimi Hendrix:

One of he major pros about using a picture of Jimi Hendrix is the fact that he is probably one of the most recognised faces in music history and so this would grab the attention of many people.

One of the cons is that as he is well recognised his face is used a lot on music magazines and so it wouldn’t be original to use him as my magazine would end up like ever other music magazine out there.

Picture of my band:

As my band is not signed to a major label and is not famous I couldn’t rely on our faces to grab the attention of potential buyers and so the picture will have to have something happening in it to make up for this.

On the front cover you may notice that I advertise a free CD that comes with the magazine. The reason that I advertise the CD like this is because the CD is a unique selling point

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy180/S-ives/mackshendrix.jpg

Contents Page

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Center Page Spread

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Music Magazine Front Cover

School Front Cover Analysis