School Magazine Edited Images

Once I had taken my photos for my school magazine I needed to choose the photo I would use for my front cover which I did and then edited the image by using Adobe Photoshop CS6 to adapt the lighting and other such elements to suit my needs.

This is the photo that I decided to Photoshop by adding a gradient with transparency to add a black bar on the top of the image and a lighting effect was added to create more emphasise on the main image and make the side stories stand out more.

Feedback on School Magazine Mock Ups

For my mock ups/designs for my school magazine I showed them to my target audience of older students aged around 15-18 to get their feedback on all my designs.

For my front cover mock ups the feedback was that the first design was the best design to use because it seems more like a magazine rather than a school magazine which is good because it engages the reader more. The front cover basically conveys a message that the magazine is entertaining and interesting to read because of the layout (Left Third Rule) as it follows the general layout a normal magazine would. This feedback strengthens my decision to choose the first design as my front cover layout because of the positive feedback I have received.

For my contents page designs, the second design was chosen by most because of the professional look it gave and how it could give information about the contents clearly and effectively. If this design is seen as a clearer way to present information then maybe this design should be considered to be the one that will be used as the layout for the contents page.

For the double page spread design, the final design was chosen as the most favourable because of the unusual layout the page, it appears to be a new and likable design that the feedback clearly thinks is a layout to use. The final design might be used because of the reaction it got so it would e stupid to ignore feedback from a sample of my target audience.

It is worth noting that the feedback is only a sample from a large group so these layouts might not be favourable among the entire target audience.

School Magazine Photos

For my final school magazine we have to use original images and  as a result I had to go out and take photos of my "photogenic" friends so that I could photoshop and use for my final school magazine cover. Below are the ten images I took:

 These are the images I took and only a select few will be used due to obvious reasons such as it is not quite the right image to use or that an other image was simply better.

School Magazine Double Page Designs/Mock Ups

These are the designs that I created to help decide the final form the double page of the school magazine would take.

 This is my first double page design which clearly shows the title to reader clearly and the images around the title will engage the reader enough to make them want to read on through the magazine. I think the distribution of both text and images will engage the reader greatly and entertain them but have enough text (intellectual content) to engage the older audience who are willing to read more text.

 This is my second design which has more media assets such as the arrow to indicate to turn the page for more content, this will engage the reader more so that they will be less deterred to read through the magazine. These features will appeal more to the audiences who do not wish to read through heaps of text without any images to make the text more entertaining.

 The final design is the most engaging in my opinion as the double page spread is balanced in both text and image so it appeals to a range of audiences in the school and will not deter any readers hopefully.

Overall, the last and final design is the best in my opinion as the balance of text and images engage the reader greatly an will overall improve the look of the final product greatly as well so that is why I will use the final design for the producing of the double page spread.

School Magazine Contents Page Designs/Mock Ups

In further preparation for the final school magazine product we had to design mock ups for the contents page to help the designing process.

This contents page design is designed to make the page far more entertaining for the reader as the page will be dominated by images so the page is far more colourful and attractive to the readers eye which will hopefully entice them to read on through the magazine. There will be side articles on different topics of news to also give information on what is in the magazine. As the layout is not your average contents layout, I think it intrigues the reader to an extent that they are entertained because the layout isn't too irregular that it alienates the target audience.

The second design is puts far more emphasise on the main image on the top below the title but also allows more information to be displayed about the contents of the magazine. The main image will have to be the main story as it will attract the readers attention when the reader turns to the page. This design would entertain the reader to a certain degree, I believe, but the first design is far better in term of entertaining the reader so this design probably isn't the best to use.

The final design does follow a far more average layout which is good because the magazine will hopefully not alienate the audience and discourage them to read on through the magazine. Although, the contents page will throw a lot of text at the reader the moment they turn the page which will deter some readers from reading on, even some of the older students who are more able to read through large amounts of text with no images.

Overall, the first design is better in most of the aspects that I need to consider as it entertains the reader wit its peculiar design but not so peculiar it alienates the reader and with the use of a lot images, the page will be far more colourful.

School Magazine Cover Mock Ups

In preparation for producing the final school magazine I created three front cover designs or mock ups to show the possible designs my front cover will follow.

This my first design for the front cover for the school magazine. The logo is on the left because the 'Left Third' rule so that the magazine can be noticed by the audience easily and the stories will also go on the left side to follow this rule. The main image will go in the centre and be underneath the stories to attract the reader's attention and make the magazine far more entertaining to the reader so I find it important to centre the image on the page.

This design is mostly the same to the first one however there is no logo because I thought that as it is a school magazine that there is no 'Left Third' rule as this rule comes from how magazines are displayed on a shop shelf. The stories will still be on the left side as I do want to alienate my target audience so I think that it is important to keep the stories on the left. Price if there is to be one will be put on the left below the stories so that it will be easily seen.

This design uses the third rule to the same extent as the second design does accept the price tag will be below the master head if there will be a price so that it will easy to see by the reader. The main image will once again be in the centre so that it is entertaining to the reader as well as the stories being on the left to avoid alienating the target audience. There will be a few 'less interesting' stories on the side to give more of a hint on what the reader should expect further in the magazine.

Overall I think the first design is the best to follow when designing the final product because of how it follows the 'Left Third' rule and keeps everything in a suitable position that does not alienate the target audience. The other designs I think are suitable to a degree but some elements such as the bar code position alienates the audience so that is why I believe the first design is the best design to follow.