Layout Plans

After researching the eight current school magazines, they were invaluable with helping to to create my own magazine cover as I was able to pull out key points that I felt were important for my own front cover layout.  I wanted the designs to be very rough as they were only concepts so I thought it would be beneficial to hand draw the plans in a black felt tip.  It ensured that I kept the designs simple and focussed and allowed me to analyse visually if they stood out.

                                            

          
  

When designing this plan I wanted the layout to be very structured, and sophisticated. The masthead "VIEWPOINT" would overlap the large, centred image of two pupils. Under the masthead I decided to create a catch phrase, ''HAVE YOUR SAY..." to help back up the masthead, and to create a purpose for the magazine, which will be primarily aimed for parents to have their say through articles in the magazine. The line in the middle of the page, creates diversity between the images. Below I have designed a montage of scattered images, which would be block photos for visual additional information about what else would be included in the magazine. Also the bullet points alongside will back up the images. As I designed this cover to be quite sophisticated, I would create a colour pallet of sophisticated colours, for example, dark green/maroon/dark red.

I wanted to experiment with different designs for the cover and also using quite a busy composition, as you can see from the layout above. The masthead letters are sort of scattered, one in front of the other, to create a 'Busy feel', but after designing the masthead, I have decided that it is quite difficult to read the title, so it would not be a good option. Again the masthead and catch phrase would overlap the image of  two pupils celebrating their achievements. I still like the idea of additional visuals at the bottom of the page, possibly a 'semicircle' effect, a bit like a 'Film strip' effect. Again I have included the writing at the bottom to back up the images. As this cover does not look that formal, my colour palette would be of simple, bright colours, for example bright red/yellow/bright green.

Again, I decided to create another cover with a busy composition, as you can see from the sectored layout, masthead, image, speech bubbles, and a montage of images at the bottom. I used careful placement of lines to help divide the page up. I have always liked the idea of having one large letter in the masthead, so I decided to create a large ''V'' to help make the masthead stand out. The large image, again would be of two pupils celebrating their achievements. On this plan, I decided to experiment with some animated designs, ''Speech bubbles'', which then would back up the catch phrase, ''HAVE YOUR SAY...". I kept drawing a montage of images, so I guess in my final design, I will included some sort of a montage. On this cover the colours would be bright and bold, for example bright red/yellow/bright green.

The Title.

Before I could design my Layout Plans, I had to firstly come up with a good title for my magazine cover. It had to be a good, original title which was quite a difficult task, so I decided to ask family, friends, and other parents if they had any idea's for a new magazine title that could give me inspiration to create my own. After asking around and absorbing their ideas, I thought of four titles:-

1) SCHOOL'S OUT!

2) SMILE

3)VIEWPOINT

4)MAGNIFIED

 I was having difficulty in deciding which one to choose, so I decided to put it to a 'Public Vote' ! 
 The vote was to be taken by 'PARENTS'  only,as they would be my target audience that usually read school magazines. After I counted up the votes, the title that gained the most points was 'VIEWPOINT', so I decided to go with the public vote, and use this title for the cover of my magazine.

Picture Taking.

As our whole class were limited with camera's, me and another student in my media class, decided to share one camera and visit classrooms to see if we could take any pictures whilst the students and teachers were working, as we both wanted images of students concentrating on their work, as in my research a lot of the current magazines had images of students working. We asked permission from teachers and students if we could take a few snaps. We visited a lot of different classrooms, and took turns in taking pictures. I was experimenting with angles and positions, as in my head i was picturing one focused image, with another student blurred behind, so i asked two year 8's if i could position them in an angle and asked them to carry on what they were doing ( which was painting ) so i could take some pictures to then edit afterwards. We then carried on visiting every subject, as in my head i was also picturing a small montage of pictures, so i needed to get as much pictures as possible in the space of a double lesson.

Researching Current School Magazines.

When researching, i came across this school magazine, named ''The Loyolite.'' I really like the simplicity of the graphology, as the magazine only includes a title, an image, and the year. The colour palette is very monochromatic, with a black masthead, different shades of grey in the background, and includes very faint colouring. The masthead font is written in 'Italic Script', which conveys a formal and sophisticated approach to the magazine, which suggests that the cover is from a private school magazine. The downfall of the magazine is that the masthead is not eye catching, and when i first saw this cover i had to really look closely as i could not read it that well, because of the style of font. Even though i like the simple layout, it does create a boring feel to the magazine as there are no images which include bright, eye catching colours, and the lighting is quite dull. When i first looked at the cover, my eyes immediately drew to the bold, three dimensional ''2007'', which was good for me to discover, as i now know to make my masthead be immediately eye catching for the audience. 

When i first looked at this magazine, the use of a 'fiery red', and an 'emerald green' really grabbed  my attention straight away, which has made me realise how the use of colour is so important on magazines. I really like the idea of a large image, with the masthead on top of the main image, and additional information down below. I liked the editing of a zoomed focus image of a student concentrating, with another student slightly blurred in the back ground to focus on the student working. The use of captions is to back up what the image is showing, which is a good technique. The use of mise en scene, expensive science equipment, and smart uniform with tie, conveys a high educated private school. The image of a focused male, backs up the additional information below about 'Boys-only classes.'

 I really love the graphology and colour scheming on this magazine. When i first saw this cover i immediately thought how clever the use of editing parts of the image in 'Black&White', and the other parts in colour. Also the use of 'Black&white colouring conveys a sophisticated look to the cover. The school is obviously a 'sports' school, as all the events that the magazine is conveying are sport related. The magazine has a very positive feel, as most of the images are 'Supersmiley.' I also really like the layout, a montage of neatly squared different sport events, which again relates back to the sophisticated look. The masthead is not hugely big, but is still eye catching from the uses of yellows and whites on the dark background. I like the cheesy catch phrase at the bottom, its simple and rememberable, which is something that i would like to you when i come to making my magazine cover. 

                                                           

This magazine cover immediately expresses quite a busy composition, as there is one large image, with three other images sort of scattered like a staircase overlapping the main image. The bright mix of colours are very eye catching and bold, which is a good technique to quickly engage the audience. I thought the masthead of the cover is very clever, and has a slight element of humour which, also conveys that this magazine is not sophisticated. The colour palette for the masthead matches the theme of 'grapes' as the colour is dark purple.  The large image is showing that the students have got involved with lot of different events, which is a positive view for parents to see, and read about. Again the caption below is backing up the image, ''Celebrating Achievements.'' Also the colour is white to stand out from the busy background. The cover includes the name of the school, with the school colour  green, black and maroon surrounding the name, almost like a logo. 

Even though this school is not private, the magazine cover does look very neat and sophisticated, which i really like. I love the difference of the magazine, as it does not include one main picture like the others, it conveys a montage of different events that have occurred during the year. I also really like the faded effect, almost ghostly white background that surrounds the masthead. Even though the masthead is not a bright, eye catching colour, the blue/greyish colour stands out from the white. I also like the fact that the blue font is the colour of the castle uniform, which i thought was a very clever logo scheme. The masthead is written in a simple, 'Ariel' font which blends in nicely to the busy composition of the montage of images. The ''September 2009'' is written quite big which shows its importance to the magazine. Beside the date/year, in a very tiny font included the school website, which shows that its not that important, but its their for additional information. 

This cover immediately is conveying a 'Private School' magazine, as first of all the 'Dark Green' is a very sophisticated colour, which helps to make the light shade of the yellow/cream masthead stand out. The caption below the title is written in 'Italic Scrip' which is a very elegant style of font. The centre image looks extremely elegant, as the mise en scene has an older attractive student holding a very expensive paint palette, in the middle of painting a very talented piece of art, which again shows higher education. Again i like the way the magazine has a large main focus image, with other students slightly blurred in the background. At the bottom of the page there is a line of 'Dark Green' to match the colour surrounding the masthead, with separated information about what else can be found inside the magazine, again the font is written in'Italic Script' to add sophistication to the cover. At the bottom right of the page, there is a small, white slightly fainted caption backing up what the picture is showing. I have also noticed that the uniform is dark green to the match the colour scheming of the magazine. The bright colours of the painting creates a nice contrast to the cover, as the colours of the fonts and the colour that is surrounding the writing are quite dull.

This magazine is obviously a cross between either a Private School or even a Boarding School, due to the formal graphology of the cover, and the well presented images. The layout of the cover looks extremely neat, and sophisticated, with a clever technique of three images used as one whole picture, placed horizontally at the top of the page. As the image is the largest the eye is naturally drawn towards it when you first look at the magazine. I like how the images are not just of students, and has a balance of Teachers and Students, but specifically on this cover I would swap the images and have the students at the top, as the teachers are looking the most important, when it should be the other way round. The masthead is not very eye catching, but again the yellow/cream font stands out from the dark green background. The simplicity of the magazine matches the formal, well educated school, as you can see from the mise en scene, as the teachers look almost like they are part of the Royal Family, as they are very smartly dressed, and the students look well equipped. I like how the font is very central, as they eye immediately looks at the middle of the page. 

This magazine, again looks like it belongs to either a Private School, or a Boarding School due to its formal, simple layout. The font, again is very central, which matches the neatness of the cover, also the large masthead is clear, and is underlined in a serif typeface, which helps to make the text stand out from the rest, which i feel is very important on a magazine. The ''2009'' is large again to show its importance to the cover. There is only one large centred image of students of all ages line up from the smallest-Tallest-Smallest, which i think coordinates really well with magazine. Behind the students is massive white building, which shows that the school is definitely well educated, and well equipped. The lighting brings a very positive feel to the cover, as it looks like its from natural sunlight, which contrasts nicely to the mint green background of the cover. The mise en scene is very professional looking, as the uniform the students are wearing is very sophisticated, and includes elements of red, which again contrasts nicely with the mint green background. Even though there is only one picture, again i like the simplicity of the design.

Preliminary Task

For my Preliminary Task, I have decided to focus my project of designing a front cover magazine  on a new concept for a school.  For this I will be researching and annotating eight current school magazines including Marlwoods, 'Grapevine'.  This research will enable me to gather ideas and techniques to ensure my own school magazine cover will be innovative and interesting to entice the reader to want to discover what is inside.