My Finished College Magazine

The image on the front cover shows a student of the collage looking very happy. He is wearing an England sports shirt which links the image to the text ‘England trials for ENORF students.’ This shows that the college takes pride in its students achievements, hoping the pride will rub off on the students and teachers who read the magazine. The image has also been enhanced using Adobe Photoshop, giving it a youthful appearance which aims to attract students. The bright colours could be linked to the fashions found in college, which are of a huge variety of colours. The title ‘Got It Covered’ could relate to the ability of the reporters, suggesting that they have everything you want in a magazine ‘covered.’ It boasts the quality of the magazine and attempts to tempt readers into seeing if the claim is true, and that they have a variety of interesting topics ‘covered’. The font of the title creates a fun look, as it is slightly curly. It is bold enough to be seen and the use of the orange on the word ‘Covered’ further emphasises the claim of the magazine. The orange used is the same orange used in the college’s logo which keeps to the theme of the college colours. The font for the article headlines is the same as the title which keeps consistency and the colour’s keep within the colour scheme for the rest of the cover, which shows an attempt to improve attractiveness. However, the text ‘England trials for ENORF students,’ is coloured illumines green which grabs the readers attention as it is the article that relates to the image. The articles themselves all have relevance to student culture, as they show where new clothes can be purchased, bands can we watched and photos of a college party where students can unwind and have fun. These all appeal to the target audience and should encourage students to purchase the magazine. At the bottom of the cover is a tag line that appears to outline the key factors of the contents. It is angled diagonally, along a black strip that bring out the text. The position contradicts the rest of the layout as it is at an angle rather than set out along horizontal or vertical lines. The text ‘Gossip – Events – Music – Reviews’ all coincide with the type of articles that are found in this issue of the magazine, as they are considered interesting by students. The colour of the font is arranged in an alternating arrangement of orange then green, which shows continuity in the colour schemes of the magazine.





















For the contents page shown left, I used an existing layout from a real magazine and entered information relevant to the magazine which I was creating a cover for. I was instructed to attempt to copy the existing layout to the best of my ability. The grey areas will be filled with pictures that i would take if creating the contents page to actually go in the magazine. The use of different colours for 'On the Cover', 'Features' and 'Regulars' is an attempt to attract people towards the main features of the magazine. The word 'Contents' is clearly shown in large font. It is also in capital letters which further enhances the clarity of the heading. The red colouring of the heading and the bright yellow strip stands out against the white background creating a clean and sharp image.
















Overall I am pleased with how my products have turned out. I am especially pleased with the front cover, because it has turned out pretty much how I wanted it. A few adjustments to the layout had to be made because I planned for the bar code to be at the top but when I decided to play around with the layout it became apparent that it was best suited in the bottom right corner. As well this i feel the tittle 'Got It Covered!' suits the magazine and gives the impression to readers that it is a reliable magazine full of interesting information. I think the effects added to the image on the cover give the magazine a youthful look which would hopefully attract readers. I feel that I could have chosen the colours for the articles advertised on the front cover more carefully, as I feel they look as though they have no particular order. For the contents page I feel that the layout is effective due to its simplicity. The white background is successful because it make the text stand out more, giving a crisp and clear look which is easy to read. I feel that I could have used more colour for the contents written down the right hand side, as they are just plain black and a bit more colour would increase the attractiveness of the page.



Undertaking the Preliminary Task has helped me to develop my skills in Photoshop and in planning tasks. I have now learnt how to carry out a questionnaire and use the information gathered to benefit a task I am carrying out. I have realised data gathered could be put into a graph or a table which is a good way to present information. Through the Preliminary task, I have learnt to use the programme Flickr to analyse any work that I produce. I believe this is a great benefit to my abilities as it is very easy and quick to use but is very effective and can produce detailed analysis's. Aswell as improveing my skills in these areas, I feel I have greatly improved my ability to use Adobe Photoshop. When we started the task I had very basic knowledge of how to use the software but now I feel I can create pieces of work to a much higher standard than before. Whilst exploring the fonts on Photoshop, I found a way to make my font look more cartoon like, by using the shadow effects. I also learnt how to use gradients on the background and other ajustments, for example, saturation, contrast and brightness. Throughout the task my comprehension of the layer system increased as I learnt how merge layers and add effects by double clicking the lay in question. This made adding the effects discussed earlier, easier to use.