Prelim Task, Contents page

For the contents page, I wanted to make it simple and clear but effective. I wanted to only use a few colours, rather than a wide variety. I want to use:

• White: The colour white would be a good colour to use in the background, as it's easy to read from when using dark colours. It's simple but wont make the rest of the page look 'busy'. 
• Black: When writing, black on white is the easiest to read and the most common. Black can be very strong when made bold so would be good for headings/subheadings.
• Red: I want to use the colour red as I can use it in a small photo and to make the rest of the page look more colourful but not overly coloured. Red is a strong colour and connotates many different things. 

Again, I want to make the contents page simple so I only want to add one photo. I want this photo to be artistic and creative of someone that would look like a student. This way, it would show the colleges creativity and also make the page look funkier! Below are some of my favourite photos I took.

Prelim Task, Cover Page

For the prelim task, we were asked to create a cover page and contents page for a free school magazine. Using the knowledge I have, I created them both using photos I took in an induction shoot around the college.






For the cover page, I used a photo of a boy against a brick wall. I used an iconic sign as I wanted people to recognise the photo as a person, rather than an object. The student on the cover is representing the college as a whole so the photo had to be appropriate. The model is against a brick wall in a hooded jumper. This makes him look 'cool' and trendy but gives him more attitude as well. I think that this photo works better than a a large group of people as one person can express more meaning and can connote more emotions. Also, using a brick wall as a background relates to the college building. 
    I used a blue font as it stands out from the rest of the photo. I used appropriate cover lines (e.g. about the college) as the main people that would read it would be college students that go to that college. I didn't incluse a price or barcode as it's a free school magazine so the students would be able to pick it up and not pay.

Shoot 2- Hannah

In my last shoot, I took images of a girl in a natural area with a guitar. I liked these photos but as I wanted to make my genre of music indie, I think that the cover image should be more recognisable instead of 'pretty' with flowers. For my shoot with Hannah,  I wanted her to be wearing a checkered shirt as when I looked at indie photos, I saw a lot of these. Below are 3 images I took.

Although I liked this photo, when looking at existing cover pages, I saw that many of them have medium close up photos, slightly to an angle. I thought that one at an angle would look more interesting and be more similar to these magazines. I also don't think the pose/facial expression is strong enough in this photo.

I took this photo as I wanted to use one that was to an angle and would have space around it for cover lines/writing. Although I also liked this one too, I think that the facial expression wasn't strong enough and looks like she wasn't ready for the photo. 

This photo is alike to the photo before but I changed the facial expression. I think that having a happy expression, makes the photo more lively. The way the girl is standing, makes it look more posed than being straight on with hands effortlessly down. I think that this photo was the most successful one of the shoot and if I was to use one of these, I'd use this one. The clothing that she is wearing is how I wanted it to be. However, I think that the photo isn't immediately in relation to music. I want to take a final shoot, in definite for it it to be for the cover page. I want to use the photo's I've taken of Hannah but if I did, I'd use then in the contents page.

Photo shoot 1- Charley

For my first shoot, I wanted to take photos of a girl with a guitar. By using a guitar as a prop, it immediately relates to music so the photos may be more effective- especially if I was to use them on the cover page. I chose to locate the shoot in a natural background, from within the trees to a bridge by a lake. I think that each of the places that I took photos at connotates peace, which would relate to what kind of artist the model is and what genre of music they're in. 
   However, I didn't want to just make all the photos look just 'pretty', I wanted to include other connotations through body language and facial expressions, making the indexical sign lost or sad. To continue this further, I chose the clothing to be simple. I wanted the model to wear white so when I put mud on it, it showed more.

This photo, unlike to others I took, looks uplifting and 'pretty' due to the bright colours, natural background and floral props. I used the guitar to relate to music immediately and by the way she's holding it and what kind of guitar she's got, you can see what kind of music she'll be playing- again linking to the natural, peaceful surroundings. I used a string of fake flowers to include more 'femininity' and 'prettiness' to it.
  I wouldn't be able to use this on my cover page as you cannot see the models face, so it's less obvious to who she is.



I think this photo, unlike the one before, is dramatic and looks more set up- even more so being black and white.I used the guitar as a prop again and made the girl lay down to vary the photos I had.
   I don't think that this is a strong photo so I wouldn't use it for my cover page.




















As said in the introduction for this shoot, I wanted to take photos that connote sad and lost feelings. I think that this photo does that well, due to the positioning of the model, the way she looks and the way she's dragging the guitar through the mud and dirt.
   The photo only shows the back of the girl, making it seem like we're following her. I think that the message and meaning to the photo is strong as there's mud on her legs and clothing, as well as having no shoes on.
   I wouldn't use this photo as a cover photo as it's not immediately recognizable but I think that it'd be a good photo to use on the contents page as people would want to read to what's happened to the artist.


I think that the images I have taken can connote different expressions and emotions. I think that the colourful ones could make the magazine lively and the black and white ones could make it look more emotional and dramatic. I have edited them to how I wanted to make them look but feel as well.

Aims and Introduction

As I created my questionnaire in college, the people that I asked were of my own age (16-17 years)- as well as getting a better understanding of my target audience  I can use myself as a good judge to my designs.
   6/10 people that did the questionnaire were female which is close to a 1:1 ratio and makes the results more fair. I did this to ensure it wasn't only from one and would get ideas and feedback from both.
   A younger age range normally has a lower charge rate which means I would need to make the price both reasonable for the makers of the magazine and people the people buying it. This is why I chose the magazine to be £2.99. 
   When doing my research, I looked at a wider range of genres but from my own personal favourite and the most popular answer, I chose Indie. I researched it further by looking at secondary images, fonts and clothing and made a mood board of what I'd found. I like bright, energetic colours so I found the images interesting and appealing. By looking at the colours and different fonts, it allowed me to imagine mastheads and cover lines I could use, Although I did look at other magazines looking at variety of genres, I found the most personal interest in Indie; I want to make my magazine unique, which is why I want to make the name for my magazine 'Unique'. The magazine will look at independent artists throughout so I thought that this would be both relevant and straight to the point. Making the magazine based around Indie music, the cover lines wont necessarily be about artists from 'UK's top 40 chart' and very well known nation wide, but be well known within the genre. 
   The base idea of this issue will be to promote a new artist/band that's only just go into the industry. I wasn't sure weather to do this or do an article on a already known artist and about one of their gigs or so. I asked a question about this in the questionnaire and most people said that they'd rather real about a new artist. 
   I plan to 3 shoots of iconic photos to get a wide choice of images. I want to either use 1 model for my cover page and double page spread and another on my contents page or 1 model throughout all 3 pieces. I want to use the photos I take to experiment this idea. In my contents page I will use an instrument, even though it will be a posed shoot in the studio, as it will make the photos symbolic as well and immediately relate to the topic of my magazine (music). In one of my shoots I want to use different scenery to the studio so I will use a female model at a lake. Although the denotations will be a lake, the connotations will represent peace and independence as in the photos they will be alone. I will use a guitar to relate to music as I will make the model (if I use her in the double page spread) an acoustic artist.
   When editing the photos, I want to make the ones at the lake colourful but soft and 'pretty'. I want the ones from the studio to have a larger contrast and be more dramatic and posed. In these photos, I want to use props to make them look fun, wacky and relate to the 'independent' genre. I will ask for feedback after each shoot as I want to know what other people think of the ideas I've expressed and why they like/dislike them. If more people say they prefer a different one to my own favourite, it will allow me to see why other people like different photos so could make the pages better.

Cover Page:
I want to make the main image posed and dramatic but the props, make up, hair and clothing to be colourful, fun and funky. I want to make the masthead bold, clear and unique and use a colour that's in the photo to compliment something in the photo and tie  the whole cover together. I want the cover lines to be a different font and colour so they stand out.

Contents Page:
I want use a variety of different images so that it gives a better show of what's in the magazine. I want the page to be dark and the images to be bright.

Double Page Spread:
I want to make one of the pages a full image of the person I'm writing about. I will use the same colour as a colour in the image from the heading and the subheadings. 

Ideas from mind map

On my mind map, I looked at different ideas from the two genres, Indie and Pop. With the indie and pop looks I wanted to create, were both similar by both having bright colours. This meant when planning in my mind maps, the ideas were massively different.
   The genre of music I want to base my magazine on is Indie and I have ideas to use the masthead, Unique.
   From the mind map, mood board and questionnaire, I can identify more of what I want to do and the bright colours and ideas I need to explore.

Production Schedule

The first part of tasks is about the photos. I need to take 3 shoots of photos, using 3 different models, locations and clothing. This is allow me to have a variety of different 'bands' and 'artists' to put in my magazine.

The second, third and forth parts of the tasks is about starting the magazine (editing, seeing how it looks) and making improvements. This will be the drafting and making of the cover page, contents page and double page spread. I put these into 3 different sections to break them up and make it easier to do each of them separately.

The last part of tasks is evaluating what I've done.

Tasks	Start date	Complete by
Shoot 1	22/11/12	22/11/12
Edit photos	22/11/12	22/11/12
Shoot 2	24/11/12	24/11/12
Edit photos	24/11/12	24/11/12
Shoot 3	25/11/12	25/11/12
Edit photos	25/11/12	25/11/12
Upload all photos, create contact sheet and chose favourite	25/11/12	25/11/12
Design cover	27/11/12	28/11/12
Add images	29/11/12	29/11/12
Add text	29/11/12	29/11/12
Make improvements	29/11/12	29/11/12
Design contents page	4/12/12	4/12/12
Add images	5/12/12	5/12/12
Add text	6/12/12	6/12/12
Make improvements	6/12/12	6/12/12
Design double page spread	11/12/12	11/12/12
Add images	12/12/12	12/12/12
Add text	13/12/12	13/12/12
Make improvements	13/12/12	13/12/12
Upload all three	13/12/12	13/12/12
Evaluate photos used	18/12/12	18/12/12
Evaluate the cover	19/12/12	19/12/12
Evaluate the contents page	20/12/12	20/12/12
Evaluate the double page spread	20/12/12	20/12/12