For my preliminary task I have chosen the print based exercise. The exercises states: Using DTP and an Image Manipulation Program- produce the front cover of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page.
To begin I thought it would be appropriate to conduct some research via the internet to provide myself with more knowledge of existing school/college magazines. I searched via “Google” “School magazines” and I came across a large variety of existing magazines online. I found that most of the magazine covers had the signifier of the school’s pupils stood up smiling having fun which signified success, positivity and happiness. The colour schemes were always well organised, colour co-ordinated and positioned well along with the main cover image. I also found that the colour scheme always matched the main image, for example if the pupil on the photo had a red coat on then the writing for instance would be red. On the other hand I also found a very simplistic approach to a school magazine cover, the only items displayed on the cover was a photo of the school and the year the magazine was issued for. I thought it looked very professional, classical and effective even though it was so minimalistic. I also came across a cover with a child’s painting as the main cover image with only a few words displayed which was also different but an effective approach.
Based on my research, I want my new school/college magazine to look very professional and not as if an amateur produced it. I want it to be colour co-ordinated, aesthetically attractive but not too cluttered with too much going on otherwise it’ll look poorly constructed.
I have decided to design the magazine for “Sunny Side School”; an all-girls school of Arts, simply because I want the magazine to include girly colours like purples and pinks for example as the colour scheme. I also want a long-shot of our own school’s reception with a medium close-up of a teenage female student with thumbs up whilst smiling which connotes success and happiness. I’ve chosen this because I don’t want too much happening with the main cover image because I think it will look too cluttered with too many photos. When it comes to the mock-up contents page, I am basically going to colour co-ordinate the colours for the front cover onto it and label where text and images will be displayed. To the right is a rough, quick plan i drew of the Preliminary Magazine Cover, as you can see it is very similar to the actual final result. 