Prelimery Production Evaluation

How closely did you stick to your planning? What were the 
challenges in doing this?
I think i suck to my plan very well, the only part i think i dramatically changed was the background colour, this was because i felt like the black colour that i originally wanted to have didnt look striking enough. I also changed the colour of the text because i originally wanted it to be pink, but as the background is now pink i changed the cover-line colours to blue. The only challenge i had whilst doing this was making all the text have the same effects and same colours, some of them came out differently to the others and i had to tweek the settings to make sure it was all correct.



Did you find the planning helpful? why?
Yes i found the planning helpful because it helped my visualise my final piece.It also made me consider the layout of the piece and also the colour scheme. I found it helpful because it helped me with time consumption and attention to detail. It helped with  this because i had he main ideas set out so then i could consider smaller details such as editing the text instead of taking time deciding what it should say when i came to creating the final piece.


How did you find the process of finding and cropping your original image?
 I found this process tiring. I first took the picture and uploaded it to the database however, trying to get the picture into a folder that was usable was a bit difficult. One i did this the cropping process took quite a bit of time as the picture had a very detailed background and it took a while to get the tools on photoshop to be the right configuration to collect the pixels and recognise the background from the main picture. Once this was done refining the edges was easy. However i think the whole process was worth it as i think the picture looks much better now without its original background.



What have you learnt from the process about creating covers and contents pages?

I  have learnt from this process, that by using photoshop to create a contents page and cover it is a lot easier to manipulate the image then using other programs. I have also learnt about what is a masthead and why is it there, also i learnt a lot of other key terms such as cover-lines and plugs. These words and techniques will help me a lot in the future if i need to do any editing or when analysing things such as magazines.


What would you do differently next time?

Next time i would do a lot more detailed plan to help me with the set up of the pages. Secondly i would write a diary of notes whilst editing incase i want to come back to do something and i have forgotten how to do it. I would also put a lot more detail into the page as i feel mine is quite plain and maybe a bit boring.

Contents

Contents Pages

This first contents page includes what the magazine features, it also includes pictures and what pages the stories are on. It is positioned with the masthead/title at the top and with the photos positioned on the right hand side of the page. The contents page has the featured column down the left hand side, this might be because they want you to read the writing before looking at the pictures. This contents page could appeal to a young audience by using bright colours and interesting pictures; however it has a plain background which could in fact be a little boring certainly not very intriguing. Also the designer of this page has teased you into reading the magazine as giving you the article titles and only some of the page numbers, making you want to read through the entire magazine.                
This second content page on the left, includes also a masthead/title at the top, however it has what the magazine features and the page numbers scattered all across the page instead of placed in a certain format. The photos are also dispersed across the whole of the contents page. This contents page seems very appealing  towards a young audience like the first one, although the designer has used quite a dull coloured picture as the background. The combination of colours and fonts make the page look full and exciting, however this may make it seem cluttered to some.        
In the third contents page it also has the masthead/title at the top. However they have alternated the pages numbers and what features on the page numbers down the left hand side of the page instead of maybe the centre, or the right hand side. This contents page has one single picture as the background which blends in with the writing,this could confuse the readers and blend in a little too much. However it could appeal to a young audience because it uses an abstract picture in the background, which might interest the audience. This contenst page could also be appealing to readers by telling us what features in the magazine; this means that they know exactly what they will be reading about.  

Title's

Title research!

These are some typical names of magazines i have found:

By looking at these titles you can see that they are short and snappy but also topic related, this helps the reader to recognise the letters and the title easily and can engage an audience by the one word they use.

After many discussions and lots of research, i have decided to name my magazine CRAM. I think this is a good name because it is short and snappy but still formal and appropriate for a school magazine.

Audience

Young or Old

I have decided that i want to design my magazine to appeal to students! I have come to this decision purely because i know more about students than i do parents. I think that i would be able to design something that appeals more to my type of age group; this means that my magazine will will be young and hopefully exciting.

School Mags.

Research on school magazines 

Who is the audience of a school magazine?

Genuinely the first audience i thought about was obviously the school students! Secondly i thought about the students parents who would want to know what is going on in and around the school, and also everyone in and around the community such as people wanting their children to attend the school, and people who like to keep an interest in the schools activities. Eg. In the magazine up and to the  right, it would appeal more to parents and adults. This is because the picture on the front of the magazine shows a studious student doing her work. Also by using cover lines such as a 'free pamper day including £100 personal shopping experience courtesy of john lewis' this would appeal to a more affluent audience.

How do school magazines appeal to their audience?

The magazines appeal to their audience by using the school logo's and colours, to show it is related to the readers lifestyle. Also they put the most important issue on the front of the magazine so that the reader knows what the article is about, therefore making them intrigued into reading more about it. By using pictures of the students from the school and around the school will also attract parents. Also by using pictures, and bright colours the magazines could appeal to the students. By using bright colours and photo themes the students will be attracted to reading the magazine as it is about themselves and looks exciting and vibrant.

What types of stories do school magazines cover?

The types of stories school magazines cover are such ones as school issues, school fundraisers and advertising, they would also input such things as current events and students achievements. School magazines would cover stories like this because they are directly related or proportional to the school and it's pupils, to give the school some positive advertising and to help keep the parents involved in the school's activities.

What are typical names for school magazines?

For the magazines i have researched, the names for them genuinely seem to be names that are directly related to the school, or a school related term. They are short and precise, but also engaging and fun.

What layout and colour conventions do these particular school magazines follow?

The masthead shows us how regularly the magazine is made, and it tells us a little bit about the magazine whether its interesting or not, to a certain audience. It also tells us the information that might be inside of the magazine such as what articles there are and what type of style they will portray. The masthead's on these two particular school magazines are larger then all the other writing on the page, this is to make it stand out and engage the reader.

There are cover lines on both of the magazine's shown. Cover lines show you a little bit more about what is inside the magazine. For example: 'every year 11 GCSE grades published' and 'charity'; these are placed onto the front cover to hopefully make the reader want to look on further than just the front cover and actually read parts or maybe the whole of the magazine. 

Finally, by looking at both of the magazines shown, you can see that they both have used bright vibrant positive colours on their front pages of the magazine. These would be chosen to influence the reader to think positively about the school and what is going on inside it. For example, the background on the 'insight' magazine is a fresh white, making it uplifting and not gloomy.

Keywords

Today i had quite an interesting lesson!
I learnt some new media terms, with my partner Matt! They were very interesting but rather difficult to find the definitions as some were named such things as 'puff' amd 'plug'.


However, i did finally find the definition to plug which is infact; an advertisement which is placed without buying advertisement space. Eg: A magazine giving 20% off an exclusive shop!