Main Project

The main project is to create a front cover of a music magazine, a double page spread and also a contents page. 

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

 

This is the final product of my magazine front cover for the preliminary task. I added some extra pictures along with the main image to capture the audiences attention. I specifically added on things such as beauty and fashion along with the topic football. This will widen my target audience. As we know, the sixth form has girls and boys, and they will be interested in different things. I used some superlatives in my subheadings for example 'BEST' to make the target audience want to read it because it has the best book and film reviews. I also added a 'pull' quote so that the audience can relate to the quote and pick it up. As my target is the sixth form, there are twoyears (AS and A2) so, in one of the subheadings, I specifically addressed them so they know it is aimed for them therefore they would more likely want to open and read it. By adding a 'free school curriculum' it attracts the audience because it makes them think that they are getting free stuff with the magazine that maybe another magazine may not have, therefore choosing our magazine over others. 

I decided to change my mast head and name because I felt that it was overall, too long. This meant that with a medium close up shot, there was no space to fit such  a big mast head. I then just simple just changed it to 'GUIDE'. I like this because it makes it easier for the students to remember the short name instead of struggling to remember such a long one. I think the name 'GUIDE' is already alone such a good magazine name for the school magazine because this is the age where big decisions have to be made so in a way they need as much guidance as they can. A reason why I added the digital bar code is because many students have smart phones meaning they can then update their phones or subscribe to the magazine online. 

I chose this main image because it represented a young man who is currently a student. It shows how professional students can be and how mature and grown up they actually are compared to how they are showed in the media. In this process of making the magazine, I learned to use different fonts and downloading fonts to use. It has also helped improve my knowledge of 'Adobe Photoshop' I learned to add other pictures (thumbnails) onto a picture (main image). I also taught myself how to crop the image. My main image was in fact too far away to me a medium close up shot, so what i did was I cropped it until it was.

A way I could improve this is by adding a skyline. This would help the students grasp how good the magazine actually is so they would want to read it. I could of also added a date so the audience will know if the magazine is in date or not. The problem I had with my main image is that there was too much going on. With such a heavy background, it had left me with a small range of colours to work with to make the subheadings stand out. 

Overall, I think I have learned a lot about creating a magazine front cover and contents page. It has taught me how to use the conventions from using superlatives, to actually drawing out the flat plan. The preliminary task has prepared me for the real task so when It comes to producing the real thing, i will know exactly what to do. I will learn from my mistakes and my real task will be better than my preliminary.

Contents Page

The contents page consists of guiding the reader to where everything is. Each page of the magazine has a number and the contents page will tell you on which page will have what. This is purely because when you read the first page, you might be interested in one thing, to make it easier to find where it is the contents page will guide you on where to look on which page number. The contents page is to prevent the reader blindlessly flipping through pages to find the one thing that they want. 

Front Cover

5 Possible Front Cover Photo's

 First Option ^

Second Option ^

 Third Option^

 Forth Option ^

Fifth Option ^

Masthead Plan

In our group, we came up with other names such as 'School Book', 'Students magazine' and 'Guide to life'. But our final decision was to go with 'The Students Guide to life'. We chose this name because we wanted to show our target audience. 'The guide to life' was added to represent that students at the age of 16-18 are still choosing their path ways. We thought that this name would be effective as the students need a guide because they are still young and they have big decisions to make. We purposely used 'The students' to make it personal. This will help the target audience engage with the magazine as they can see it is for them, so they would want to read it. 

Flat Plan of Front Cover

Analysis of Questionnaire

Some examples of the Questionnaire:

1. Would you be interested in reading about fashion at college?

Yes
2. Would you like help on improving your CV?

Yes please
3. Would you volunteer to publish your funny stories?

Yeah
4. Would you be interested in a school curriculum in the magazine?

Yes
5. Are you interested in book/movie reviews?

Yeah definitely
6. Would you find an events board useful?

Yes
7. Would you like birthday mentions?  

Yeah

This questionnaire is targeted at the Sixth-Formers:

1. Would you be interested in reading about fashion at college?

No
2. Would you like help on improving your CV?

Yes
3. Would you volunteer to publish your funny stories?

No
4. Would you be interested in a school curriculum in the magazine?

No
5. Are you interested in book/movie reviews?

Yes
6. Would you find an events board useful?

Yes
7. Would you like birthday mentions?  

No

Analysis of questionnaire:

We targeted the sixth formers to answer our questionnaire. We found out from our research that most of our consumers would be interested in fashion at college and therefore we will consider adding a fashion page. Also a lot of our students would like help on improving their CV’s. About 50% would volunteer their funny stories and 50% would. Most of the students that we spoke to would also like a school curriculum in the magazine. A highly appreciated idea was the movies and book reviews, which proved to be very popular. The events board was also quite successful. Birthday mentions was also much liked. I think that from the research, the ideas and categories we are thinking of putting in the magazine is something most sixth formers would enjoy and look forward to reading. A way that I could of improved my questionnaire is to ask some open questions to get more feedback for example: what would you like to see in the sixth form magazine. Gathering all the information, I have a wider knowledge of what people want from the magazine which will help me get more customers who are interested in the content of the magazine.