The Finished Cover, Contents and Evaluation

Contents

The Finished Cover

Overall, I am very happy with my front cover. It appeals to the target audience and I have succeeded in the brief for a school magazine I am very pleased in the font of the heading '6ixth Fun' because it is very different and eye-catching. I like the way I have edidted and cropped the main picture of Kirsty. I also like the idea of using the Christmas hat to show the theme of the magazine giving it a quirky look. However, I am less pleased with the additional picture because I think I could have edidted more to make it look neater and more relevent to the magazine. Also I think I could have put more information text on the cover to make it more informative and so the readers will then know exactly what they are reading.

Adding Additional Images

For my finished magazine cover, I am going to add an additional smaller image. I took pictures of Kirsty, Katie and Georgia, who all attend Wilmington, on the tennis courts on a sunny day so it looks bright and colourful. I chose a picture of them all looking into the camera, smiling naturally as it does not look posed.

I used Paint Shop Pro by pasting the image onto the magazine. I cropped the image and then put a red border around it to keep in with the red and black christmas theme.

Adding Text

For adding text, I have decided that I will make it look like the 'Cosmo Girl' style. This is that I used two different fonts and two different colours to stand out more. I used black and a dark red because if I used lighter colours it would look very faded agaisnt the bright colourful background. I used Impact for the '6IXTH' as it looked quite block and bold, while I used red with a very different and unique font as it stood out against the word 'fun'. I think the readers will like this as the word 'fun' wraps around the word '6IXTH' which is very individual and professional.

The next step to adding text was to add a caption. I used 'Its Christmas!' as that is what the theme and main article formy magazine is. Underneath I put the articles for the magazine including 'Gift Ideas', 'Holiday Events' and 'Exam Tips' so the readers will know what they will be reading about throughout the magazine. To keep up the theme of Christmas, I have used red and black colouring as they are the central colours for the magazine. I have also added 'GSGW Magazine' which shows who the target audience is and where the magazine will be sold.

Second Mock Layout

I have changed the mock layout because I think the picture of Kirsty will stand out more which would make it look brighter and so wil stand out more.

Editing

I have chosen this picture as the cover picture out of the selection of three that were on my previous blog for my magazine. I have chosen it because it looks bright, colourful and fun to read. It gives a quirky and fun appeal to my sixth form audience with Kirsty's thumbs up and natural person and also Kirsty wearng a Christmas hat which immediatly shows the theme of the magazine. People who the magazine is aimed at already know Kirsty and by using this picture it shows her as how people will percieve her; a fun and happy girl!








As the original picture is not a medium shot, I will have to edit it to make so it will be. By using Paint Shop Pro, I have used the Crop and Apply tool so the shot is mostly of her head and shoulders. Her face would then stand out more for the cover. Kirsty is quite off centre to the right so that on the left I will be able to right headings and articles for the magazine avoiding putting the writing over her face. I can also place the title of the magazine in the space above her head, top left.








I will not be editing the picture to black and white bacause I want the cover to be quite bright and eye catching and I think in doing so; black and white will make it look quite dull and bland.

Cover Photos

My cover photo is of Kirsty Martin in the tennis courts of the my school. As the theme of my magazine is Christmas so Kirsty is wearing a Christmas hat as it will imediatly show what the stories are about whilst looking quirky.

The above three are my favourite pictures that I took. The two that I will be experiment and are my overall favourites are the second and third one as they are medium shots whereas the first one is not as the shows her bottom half aswell. I ecspecially like the thrid one as it is not as posed and once I have edited it, it will become more ideal for a magazine cover.

Mock Layout

I have used Publisher to make a mock cover of my school magazine. I have used 'More' magazine as a template as I like the theme, colours, pictures and layout as it is quite modern and bold.

I have used Paint Shop Pro to show what the title of the magazine will look like. I have used a template of 'Cosmo Girl' as I like how the title uses two different fonts and two different font colours. They are both very different so it stands out more to the reader. The black used for 'Cosmo' is quite heavy and rocky whilst the 'Girl' is light and girly which can mirror that the magazine is for girls. This is could also show that the magazine is for different types of people

Text Layout

This is a magazine aimed at my target audience.
On this magazine, I like the layout of the text and picture. The big medium shot of Cheryl Cole is placed in the middle of the page and shows that she is the main article of this magazine and with a big text saying 'CELEB EXCLUSIVES' which is eye-catching and informative. For my magazine cover I am going to take the approach of putting text under the texts but still show the face of the model. The heading is very big and bold with a block colour of purple which is bright and stands out and when the title goes over the purple background the 'M' is white. This gives it and edgy and quirky look for the target auidence which is for teenage girls. I also like that on the other side of the main article is other articles that will be shown in the magazine so the reader knows what they will be reading. Also instead of purple I will use a block colour like blue or red to make the cover stand out.

Magazine Name

I have decided to call my magazine '6ixthFun' because it immediatley shows the reader who it is aimed at as it is for sixth form students. With using a 6 instead of an S it puts an edgy fun twist on the word sixth which will show that the magazine is interesting to read.

Cover Stories

To see what my target audience would like in the magazine by conducting a survey to see what they would like to read. Im expecting they would like to have a magazines with articles about fashion, TV, music, films and food. Maybe even ideas about Christmas presents and events occuring the holiday term. I have not made the articles school based because I dont think girls would wnat to read the magazine if it is all about lessons and school events. My cover is going to be based on one article which will be about Christmas.
My front cover could include a medium shot photo of a student wearing a festive hat or include Christmas decorations; keeping up with the Christmas theme. Also, my cover could include information about what articles are featured in the magazine so the reader knows exactly what theyll be reading.

Target Audience

I am going to interpret this brief as a magazine where the target audience is the 6th form at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (16-18 year olds) because it is a very small and easy age group to make a magazine. It will also be based for girls as it is for an all girls school. I will publish it at the start of December so it will be on time for Christmas. I will use articles based on what girls my age are interested so I will be asking what girls in my 6th form are interested in. These resulted in articles about fashion, music, films and exam tips.

Research on School Magazines

I have looked on google to find different front covers of school magazines.

This is a very typical school magazine. It seems to be a very simple cover with one block colour of blue, minimal text and very few pictures. It clearly states the name of the school and the year the magazine was produced in and a big picture of the schools logo. The pictures include the front of the school building and pupils at the school. This is a very plain cover as it has hardly any information about what the articles the magazine includes and has little text or pictures which I do not like as it leaves lots of blank spaces. I do like how the background cover is a very bright and clear colour so it would be very eye catching against other magazines.

The next magazine has a very different style to the first one. The title of the magazine is not the schools name but 'High Profile'. There is a medium shot of a girl smiling wearing a helmet which shows she is obviously doing some sort of sporting or climbing activity which would be part of the schools program. This gives the reader an idea of what the magazine articles are based on. It seems to be less formal than the first magazine as there is a sub title saying 'All Aboard' but also shows more information about what will be included in the magazine. I do like the layout the cover is set out with the text and image.

These next two magazines are from the same school. Both magazines have a different theme and this could show that the magazine has a new theme for articles weekly/monthly. It has used the same layout for each magazine but a different sub-heading. It shows a medium close up of a student which suggests the main article is based on an interview with them talking about their favourtie subjects (sport and art). I like that the picture has taken up the whole cover and that is very colourful and bright. I also like how it has the same set heading for each magazine. The name for this magazine is 'FFH' which may be the initails for the school the magazine is published from.

Foundation Brief

'Premliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front pag of a new school magazine featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up some appropriatley laid out of text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a mock up of th e layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP'