ANALYSING EXAMPLES OF SCHOOL MAGAZINES 

This is a task which was based on analysing examples of school magazines. I  found this task quite useful as it allowed me to explore different magazines techniques found especially in school magazines. This particularly included content which I had limited knowledge of. I also looked at different layouts, use of colour, images and context. This allowed me to identify which techniques are more useful than others and why. I am planning to consider gained observations while planning my own school/college magazine.

PHOENIX MAGAZINE 

FRONT COVER: made out of old school magazine's covers of this particular school. The focus is based on the past, present, future and school's achievements. This is effective as it gives direct link to the introduction page where the editors comment is especially directed to these features. However, the lack of cover stories or headlines leaves a sense of mystery. This might be less effective as the front cover is not eye catching enough to brings the readers attention. It doesn't give clear clues of what the magazine is actually about. 

CONTENT:  History of School, Changes to School ( included images before & after, demonstrating improvement of facilities), New Clubs, Trips & Activities, Olympic Park Trip, Interviews with new teachers, School Productions (dance performance), School Tours, Art Gallery (display of students work), Students Interviews (including short quotations).

LAYOUT/ TYPOGRAPHY: the overall layout of the magazine is quite interesting. There are varieties of different, colourful backgrounds with bold, bright fonts whereas the actual context is kept quite simple and original. For example; the use of 'Arial' font within magazine articles. The text is usually layout with related photographs next to it. I think this is affective as it allows the readers to visualise what they are reading about (allowing their imaginary to rise).  

   PHOENIX MAGAZINE 2011

• FRONT COVER: made out of student's signatures with a vertical title 'Phoenix 2011'. This makes the cover look like a school notebook. This is affective as it makes it more personal for the students. However, the only negative about this front cover is the lack of cover stories or headlines. This makes the front cover less eye catching as it doesn't sell the themes which can be found within the magazine. Furthermore, the back cover of the magazine is also covered with signatures, however the colours are reversed (white background with black signatures). In addition, a yellow faded phoenix is placed on the middle of the back cover. This is successful as it demonstrates a clear link with the school and the name of the magazine. 

• CONTENT PAGE:  Editors Comment, Fashion (uniform), Africa Trip, School Promotion (musical - layout related to the original movie to make it more eye catching), Teachers Interviews, Dance Promotion, Community Service, Charity Involvement (Comic Relief), Sport Achievement. 

• LAYOUT/TYPOGRAPHY: specific layout is kept consistently throughout the magazine. This is including a notebook style which is kept in each page through signature framing. I think this is effective as it shows a clear link between the cover and other pages of the magazine. In addition, this notebook style could be symbolising this product as it's clearly seen throughout the magazine.This means that the audience is more likely to recognize this particular magazine. Furthermore, the magazine uses bright, eye catching, colourful headlines which catch readers attention. The context is also supported by the multimedia which is usually placed next to the text. As I mentioned in the previous magazine analysis, this allows the reader to visualise the theme they're particularly reading. This can be seen as a positive. 

     PRODUCT ANALYSIS - 'GRAZIA' MAGAZINE 

PRICE: £1 ( half price)

ADVERTISEMENTS: Channel (make up), Prada Candy (perfume), Emporio Armanii, Calvin Clein, Bobbi Brown, Ernest Jones (jewellery), Russell Bromley (shoes), Max Factor, L'oreal, Swarovski, Next, British Airways, M&S, Rachel's Organic, Boots, Starbucks, Disney, Gailo. 

READER INTERACTIONS: horoscope

PROMOTIONS & COMPETITIONS: Boots, Disney movies, 30% off Gap.

CONTENT: articles, upcoming movies, advertisements, advises, fashion news, celebrity gossips. 

DEMOGRAPHIC: 18-35 young professionals (students, young women with medium income, time rich and interest in fashion).  

GEOGRAPHIC: UK (central) area around London

BENEFIT: Likely to enjoy looking and following fashion trends, starting from make-up and finishing at clothing and gadgets. They want to read about 'hot' stories and their favourite popular individuals. This allows them to equate themselves with people from upper class, which are their role models within their lifestyle and appearance. 

PSYCHOGRAPHIC: Significant amount of free time, into more cerebral leisure activities, most likely to come from a cosmopolitan urban area. May have inspiration for fashion trends and healthy life style. 

BEHAVIOURISTIC: Likely to subscribe to the magazine and have their own collection on display. However, this particular edition may suggest the readers may buy the magazine on impulse as it's half price. This particular feature may bring their attention. Furthermore, the audience might be into established street fashion,diet tips, celebrity gossips, parties and coffee houses. Design aspirations with determination for work in creative industry. 

QUALITY: The glossy front cover and quite thick paper pages with a slippery finish give the magazine a more expensive look and high quality (although the price is quite low, comparing to similar types of magazines found on the market).

COVER: The cover image of a celebrity (Beyonce) automatically draws attention to the audience and supports the fashion/ gossip motive of the magazine. This can be confirmed by the headline 'Beyonce Marriage Breakdown'. In addition, the main image is covering part of the magazine name. This indicated that the audience is aware of what they can find on the front cover therefore the magazine name is not as important as grabbing attention to the main theme of the particular edition. Use of bright tones and colours makes the magazine more eye catching. 

LAYOUT: The bold use of typography over the main image underlines the themes that the magazine is focusing on. This allows the reader to acquaint with the displayed themes and decided whether they are interested in buying the particular edition.  

       RECREATING MAGAZINE LAYOUT

                                                                                                  

ORIGINAL                                                                                      RECREATED                                            

This is my final version of a task which was based on recreating  a single page from a chosen magazine. The purpose of this task was to copy the the overall effect as much accurate as possible. This helped me to gain and develop new skills as I used InDesign and Photoshop program in order to complete this task. 

One of the skills I gained which I find really useful is creating the exact layout proportions of the magazine spread, which you can create or recreate accurately using InDesign. This is a very useful skill which allows you to organise and plan your final outcome. Furthermore, I practised applying text in the columns as well as in other parts of the single spread layout. This was a skill which I gained before however I explored other ways which I can apply it, using InDesign. This includes applying text on a different colour background or changing alignment in order to fit the original layout of the text. This task also included research in which I had to find the same photographs that were included in the magazine page. The images were easy to find however the original image didn't include any text. This is when I applied my Photoshop skills to recreate the text with exact fonts and positioning. 

In conclusion, I'm planning to use and apply all my new and current skills to my own magazine. I think this task was really useful as it allowed me to explore InDesign program but it also provided me an opportunity to practise how to operate most of the opinions which I will need to use while creating my own magazine.  

        ANALYSING MAGAZINES

  

 TYPOGRAPHY TASK

This is my finished version of the typography task which was based on changing quotation's font, colour, size and applying different formatting such as bold, italic or underline. Applying these techniques to the text allowed me to create variety of different meanings, which  the reader would interpret while reading or looking at it. I found this task really useful and thoughtful as it made me think more about how to appeal certain typography composition to a particular situation or the audience. In the first image, I wanted to underline the idea of rules being important and all the other aspects that go with it. To do this, I particularly focused on changing the font styles, sizes and a bit of colour. Whereas in the second image, I used the same quotation however my aim was to underline the idea of playtime and fun being a priority. In this quotation, I focused on the colour and underline format which dominated within the text. In conclusion, I achieved to successfully create two different meanings for one quotation using variety of different typography techniques. I will definitely use these skills, when creating my own magazine. 

INTRODUCTION

This is my OCR AS Media blog. In this blog I am going to upload lots of pieces of work which will demonstrate continuous development of my coursework and media skills. I will start with the preliminary task which is based on producing a front cover of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student, some laid-out text and a masthead. I will create this magazine using DTP program which will allow me to produce the final outcome. Furthermore,  I will apply all the gained skills I developed in the preliminary task to the main task, which is going to be based on creating a front cover, contents page and a double page spread for a new music magazine. In conclusion, this blog will demonstrate progress of my own journey during the course of AS Media.