My College magazine practise

My Final Magazine - Front Cover

The last and main part of my magazine that I did was to create the front cover. I started by taking the pictures for it. I took a middle shot photo for this, so I would be able to get a clear shot of the girls. I used Photoshop to create this cover. I started by changing the colour of the eyes to get rid of red eye, I also added colour to the eyes like blue to make the eyes stand out and attract people. Another thing I did on Photoshop was that I added colours around the eye area to givwe the impression of more make-up.

After changing the colour of the photo I then cut it out and moved it on to a red background. I chose a red back ground because I wanted it to contrast with the dark clothing of the girls and also to represent the girls as being firey and hot. Next I added to magazine name and headlines, I chose bright colours to create a happy atmosphere and grab attention. Lastly I added a price and a bar code to make the magazine look realistic.

Overall I am happy with my front cover as I have never used Photoshop before. I feel I have achieved and created the right image for my magazine that I wanted to create, and I think the bright colours I have used will attract readers to buy my magazine and therefore make it successful. :-D

My Final Magazine - Contents Page

For the last couple of weeks I have been working on my final magazine. One of the main tasks was to create a Contents page. I started the development of my contents page by following the plans I had made to take photos. The first photo I took was of the editor, I wanted her to look older and like a editor so I got her to wear glasses. This photo had quite a lot of reflection on the glasses and in the eyes, so I used Photoshop to darken these areas. While I was doing this I also darken the areas on her top to get rid of any pink, so it gives the impression she is wearing something different.

The next photo I took was of the band 'The Sisters', this was a fictional girl band that I made up. This photo had a little bit of red eye in it so I used Photoshop to get rid of this. I also wanted to change the colour of one of the girls tops from white to black so again I used Photoshop to do this. I decided to keep the background the same as I wanted the pink background to create a girly atmosphere.

The last photo I took was for the main story headline and this was the picture of the girl band. I didn't have to change this picture much apart from using Photoshop to get rid of the red eye. I kept the same background so it would match the advert, I also wanted to create a urban look.

On the contents page I put the name of the magazine, this was one way of reinforcing the magazines name. I also put the issue date of the magazine to make it look realistic. I tried to make my contents page look girly so I used lots of colour to help to this, like the pink background. I put the main stories in bold writing to make them stand out and I also put the page numbers on the pictures, so readers will be able to find the stories easily and quickly. The last thing I did was I added a editor chat section. I wanted to create a friendly, chatty atmoshpere so I used approprate worlds to connect with my audience.

My Final Magazine - Article (double page spread)

I have spent the last few weeks creating my magazine article or double page spread. After I had planned my article I started by taking the pictures for it. I got my ideas for my article pictures from pictures of the Pussy Cat Dolls that I saw in a magazine, these pictures were of the girls in their dressing room getting ready. I wanted my pictures to be both posey, girly and fun. I tried to copy their poses, like holding a hairdrier and a mirror. I decided to set the pictures in a bedroom as the bedroom was pink and very girly so created the right image very well. After taking the photos I needed to make some changes to them, so I did this on Photoshop. Both of the pictures had red eye, so I used photoshop to get rid of this. I also added a darkener to the girls eyes so to give the impression they are wearing lots of make-up.

When creating my article I used the plans I had made as a template. I simpley took out the pictures of the Pussy Cat Dolls and added my own pictures. When writing the text part of the article I used my article research to help me create this. The main article I used was the article on the boy band, I liked the layout and style of it. I created my article on Publisher, I did this because I find Publisher easy to use. I chose to use this programme as it is easy to create pictures and text together.

I wanted my article to have an overall girly look and feel to it, so I used pink and blue colours. The images I used were glamerous and girly, with a fun feel to it. I also wanted it to attract and influence young, teenage girls so I used cool words used by this age group, to help me conntect with the audience. In my article I tried to get across the idea of the girls being attract but yet clever and indepentant.

My final magazine - Advert

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on my final magazine. The first part of my magazine I worked on was the advert. I decided to do an advert that advertises the group I have made up, which is a girl group called 'Girl Band'. I got my idea of the design from a 'Pussy Cat Dolls' concert advert. The advert had a dark back ground and the girls were dressed in colourful clothes. I liked the idea of using dark backgrounds with lots of colour as it main the advert stick out and also made the main image look very striking. I thought this would strongly attract readers attention. The 'Pussy Cat Dolls' were also in a
posing position, which created the impression they had attitude. The posing position was something that I used in my advert as I wanted to create attitude and make people look. The picture above is the picture I used in my final advert.

I created my advert on Publisher, I chose to use this programme as it suited my advert and I felt very confortable using it. My advert is quite simple so I thought this would be the best thing to use. However, I did use Photoshop to edit and change my the picture. On Photoshop I got rid of the red eye and I added colour to the eyes to the impression they had lots of make up on. I also added colour to the eyes, like blue to make them bright and stand out.

I decided to use black at the top and the bottom of the page to create a dark attmosphere and make the main image stand out. At the top of the page I put the heading 'Girl Band' as this advertises the name of the band straight away. I did this writing in Pink/Red to give a girly impression. Next to this I put 'Live in London' as I wanted people to see straight away where the concert is going to be held. I did this writing in white to make it stand out. On the bottom I put the name of the tour, I chose to call it 'The GB Tour', this is like the 'Pussy Cat Dolls' tour name, which is 'PCD' which is short for the bands name. With this I put the date and a contact number to make the advert look professional. I didn't change the back ground of the picture because I wanted to create a kind of urban, city effect to represent the music which is R&B.

Magazine Planning

To help create the best magazine I can, this week I have been doing plans of what I am going to do in my magazine. The first plan I have done is a plan of my front cover. As it is only a plan I have used pictures of the internet of a well known girl band called 'The Pussycat Dolls'. I chose this band because I like them and they have the type of style and image that I want to create from the band used in my magazine. For the front cover I planned where I was going to put the text, like where I was going to put the cover lines or stories. This plan was to show my ideas and help me with the lay out of the real thing. I also thought about the colours I want to use and the size of the font. Next I did the contents page, I focused on where I was going to put pictures and what things would be included, like artilces, stories, news etc. After this I did the double page spread. Again I used pictures of the internet and focused on where I was going to put things on the page, like where abouts I was going to put quotes in the text. This was to show what the lay out of my article would be. Lastly I did the advert, with this I thought about what colours I was going to use and what words I might use, like Live from London. I thought about what image I wanted to use, like mid shot, long shot etc.

The reason I did this planning was to make it easier for me to create my real magazine as I would have an idea of what I wanted to do. It also meant that my real magazine would be better quality as I would know what I'm doing and what areas I need to think about and work on. I also wanted to show improvement and progress of my ideas.

Creating contents page

Welcome to ZINE
The best magazine for the latest College News

For the college magazine I had to create a contents page as well as a front cover. The name of the college magazine is 'Zine'. To help give me some ideas to create this contents page I looked at some magazine contents pages from magazines that are popular at the moment. On my magazine I put 'welcome to zine' as the heading of the page. I then put underneath the slogen of the magazine, this was to re enforce the message that this is the college magazine and is the best one for the latest news. On the page I included pictures of what is included in the magazine. On the front cover I put a main heading, this was about Mike and the student council so I put this on the contents page so readers could easily find the story advertised on the front. On the contents page I put the main stories and the main things that I thought would attract the readers. I madw the page quite simple with its use of colour as I wanted the articles and features of the magazine to be the main focus on the page. I included college related stories and stories that were related to what was happening that week, like rag week. This was to keep the reader intereested. I also numbered the pictures with the pages the story was on so readers could find the page easily.

Contents

p3 - Mike and the Student

Council

p6 - 20 Top Tips

p7 - Sports Award
Celebrations

p11 - 10 money saving
fashion buys

p12 - Rag week! pics

p14 - Copacabana


p17 - Exam dates

p19 - UCAS important info

p21 - Using Moodle