Creating a College Magazine, Part One.

My task requires me to create a magazine for my college, I had to begin with ideas for naming and layout. In this blog entry I will discuss my steps for creating the front cover.

The Layout: 

To get the desired layout size I used the program 'Adobe InDesign CS3' on the Apple macs at college. When you open the program it gives you a loose guide for arranging your work. I stuck with this and aligned my images and work within this.

The Name:

When coming up with the name of the magazine I used word play on the name of the college. The college is called 'South Downs' so I reversed it to 'Down South' this then helped me figure out a catchy slogan for the magazine. My slogan was 'What's happening Down South?' this suits the word play of the name and the location of the college.

Photographing:

Using my digital camera I went out around the grounds of the college with a friend and took a series of photographs which I could use within the magazine.

I took suitable photos of an area of the college which echoed the term that the magazine would be released, in this case I picked an Autumnal location to suit. Keeping with the Autumn look I modeled my friend resting on the tree, surrounded by the fallen leaves. My friend Chloe is featured as the model on the cover of my magazine. To show her as a student she is holding her pen and college work book.

The Creation of the Cover

Once I has aligned the photo within the boundaries I had to add the title text, using the fonts I chose when planning the front cover. I wanted it to stand out yet not fall over Chloe's face in the image.The orange bar behind the mast head was a good idea as it helped to draw the audiences attention even more towards the title. I added the main tagline of the magazine just under the mast head. It isn't so big that it distracts the audience from the title but is big enough to be the second focal point of the magazine.

Cover, Masthead and Coverlines

Once finished with the mast head and the tag line I needed several coverlines to advertise the storys within in short sharp phrases. Under those I take all the effects of the font and go into more detail about each of the coverline stories.

As an added extra to help bring the Autumnal theme through is the use of an image made in photoshop with a leaf stencil. I then added these over the bottom half of the magazine front cover. I picked the similar colours to the natural leaves found around this time of year.

Leaf research on google.co.uk

Leaf paintbrush tool on Photoshop

 After I had saved and created the leaves, I layed them over the front cover of the college magazine before adding the 'Autumn Term' edition text. I added this text as it announces the Autumnal release of the college magazine and it explains the colour and themes within the magazine.

 

Brief, College Magazine, Preliminary Task.

A series of questions explaining about my magazine:

Who are you aiming your magazine at specifically?

My magazine will be aimed at students attending South Downs College, this gives me a ranged age group starting at 16 and working up to an audience of early 20's. 

What will your magazine be about?

It will be about the Autumn term and feature several topics which will be important during the Autumnal months.

What are your ideas for cover lines?

Due to it being college and Autumnal I want to feature things related to both of these subjects.
. College Shop (New Equipment in the College Shop)
. Halloween Fun (Creative Halloween Costumes and Craft Making Ideas)
. Exam Talk (New Tips on Exam Revision)

What title have you decided on and why?

I wanted something modern with a hint of comical appeal to get people to stop and talk about all aspects of the magazine. Using a play on the name of the college 'South Downs' I came up with 'Down South'. Location also played a role in the name, as South Downs is based in a Southern region of the United Kingdom. *see tag-line question*

What fonts do you want to use?

There are two fonts in particular I really wanted to work with:

Masthead font: Princetown LET

Coverline font: Chalkduster (Outline effects)

Coverline extra font: Chalkduster (no effects)

What are your ideas for tag-lines?

After I had come up with the 'Down South' mast I really had this idea of 'What's Happening?"so the tag-line would join with the mast to create - 'What's Happening, Down South?'

When in the year will it be published?

It will be published in the Autumn of this year (2011)

What kind of image do you expect to put on the front cover and how will you about getting these images?
All the images used on the front of my magazine and within to create the contents will be taken with my own digital camera. I have a SONY Cybershot. 

How frequently would it be published?

It would be published each term so it could feature relevant content per term.

What are the dimensions of the cover?

105 mm (X Axis)

151.6 mm (Y Axis)
184.6 mm (Width)
277.8 mm (Height)
Only a tiny bit smaller than an A4 sheet of paper, following the border guide lines with in the design program InDesign.

What images/colour would you use on the contents page?
I will keep the Autumnal theme from the front and use the same within the contents of the magazine.

Skills Audit, Task Five.

AS Media Coursework: Skills Audit

Using a computer

	YES	NO
Are you confident on a PC?	/
Can you insert text and image into a Word document?	/
Can you find relevant documents and articles on the internet?	/
Can you find images of different sizes on the internet?	/
Have you ever used a Mac?	/
On a Mac, do you know how to open an application?	/
On a Mac, do you know how to cut & paste text?	/
On a Mac, do you know how to copy images from the internet?	/
Do you know how to scan images into a Mac?	/
Do you know how to upload photographs to a Mac?	/
Do you know how to Bluetooth files?		/
Are you confident using Powerpoint?	/
Do you currently have a Blog?	/
Do you know how to burn data to a disc?	/
Do you know how to upload files to email or a Blog?	/

Taking Photographs

	YES	NO
Do you have your own digital camera?	/
Does your mobile phone have a camera?	/
Do you know how to take photographs in B&W?	/

Using Applications

	YES	NO
Have you ever used Photoshop?	/
Have you ever used InDesign?	/
Are you able to crop an image?	/
Are you able to apply any special effects to an image?	/