Evaluation Of Magazine Cover & Contents

Although it has taken a great extent of time to develop and physically create my ideas into the best they could be, each minute has truly been worth it. My final magazine cover and contents are both two things that I am incredibly proud of. Taking centre stage on the cover, the denotation is a blonde, female students sitting down in the library catching up on some studies as gentle light caresses her cheeks. The light has very warm connotations of perseverance and high hopes - bright light guides people into the future towards success. Due to the gentle red tones within the girl's shirt, I feel a sense of a winter warmth as it contrasts with the gentle radiance's of white, both in the new Wyke masthead and soothing vector shape.  The snowy-white headlines on the front cover almost act as an anchorage to the image, reflecting how good things are to come so keep your head up. I really wanted to emphasise that christmas is soon upon us and I did this of course by having the contrast of warm soothing red against the snowy white.

Circulating the magazine cover, a bold and defined border almost makes the image and headlines jump out. To make sure that the border and image didn't feel to fragmented, I conjucted the two together by allowing a small proportion of the masthead to seep out onto the edge. For me to have a somewhat house theme then I had to continue the style of the cover onto the actual contents page which included fonts and colours that shared similarities. On the cover of my magazine I included caressive light and a tree within the image. These two elements stay featured within the content page's background. The denotation of the background image is a college destination with fine light seeping through the top left hand side corner however the connotations say so much more. The way the light caresses the college buildings I feel reflects how college is the place where you follow the light to your future. At the top of the page, the headline font and style is exactly the same as the font and style of the Wyke text whilst the content information is the same font as the headlines on the cover. Once again the border style layout has stayed constant onto the contents page so the cover didn't come across as fragmented and be something completely different to the contents.

I would like to say that the ideology of my magazine cover is to perhaps infer some inspiration onto everyone that views it. Main headlines and exciting stories have hopefully intrigued the college students to read the magazine and learn more with what is occuring within their own college.

Barcode

As I wasn't allowed to use any image on my magazine cover that didn't originate from me then i couldn't just use any barcode off of the internet. To get a really effective barcode so it looked genuinely I went through a number of steps.

Step 1 - Find Barcode Image.

http://www.theipadfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/barcode.png

Step 2 - Paste it into Photoshop and select all of the black sections using colour range.

Step 3 - Apply a black Colour Overlay and then click command and j whilst removing the original image.

Step 4 - Now add in a white background so that the barcode is complete!

Final Barcode!

Discarded Images Within All Of The Development

When taking the image, the sun directly shined into the camera which caused my female model to become quite shadowed whilst sections of the image became quite darkened. Also the angle within this image is quite awkward and there is also no tree which I had initially intended to be within the photograph.

Shining too brightly, the sun has made the image of Oak to bright making me unable to use it on my contents page. Also what I had in mind for my contents page was a gentle blue sky, where as this image was just a shear white shade.

I wanted to truly capture an all natural photograph however by asking my model to stand and pose while he directly looked into the camera, I didn't at all capture the "oh natural."

As my model moved whilst I had taken the image, the final product came across as quite blurred and unfocused.

I initially thought that this was going to be the final image for my front cover, however it wasn't until I actually viewed it full size on my Mac when I realized how specific aspects to my image were wrong. The first thing which really bothered me was the books which the person was holding. As they where quite far out compared to the model, the camera focused onto the books as to her, causing her to become quite unfocused and blurry. Also, having them once again to close to the lens, the books look completely out of proportion compared to the model creating a feeling of an unbalance within the image. As I’d not correctly took the image, the books have been dissected out of the photo as well as the models hand. This gives the photo extremely bad framing and allows to much space towards to upper end of the image. Having such an photograph with these faults on the cover would look un-professional and tacky. I don’t feel as if I would be able to capture that true college sensation with this sort of photograph

Final Magazine Cover & Contents Page

Draft 1 Magazine Cover & Contents

Initially I thought that this was an extremely good final front cover and contents page, however as time went on I felt far from that. The comic book essence within the design which I wanted to achieve is actually really good, yet everything else just deteriorates as you glance at it.

Things I feel are wrong:

- The image is quite bland and has too a simple background. Both of which don't give that loving and warm vibe that the college sensation gives you. Because of these two elements the cover doesn't feel at all soothing and has cold connotations.

-There is never, ever a time when the date and edition number are bigger then the magazine name or masthead.

-Next to the model, the headlines feel quite fragmented and don't bring the magazine together as a whole.

-Like i commented earlier, contents which are hectic won't be as effective as the contents which are light and simple.

-Help & advice never feature on the cover and won't really appeal to college students.

-The rendered, coloured halfstone filter effect has made the images on the contents page feeling to gritty and pixelated.

-Although there is a house theme, the connotations of the dark, navy blue have to many cold connotations making everything exude bitterness.

To correct all of this I will:

- Change the image of the model on the plain background to a more warm and soothing image. I have decided to take an image of casual female reading a book in the library as the sunlight gently caresses her cheeks. The background of the photograph will hopefully feature the tree which will have connotations of growth, life and the future.

-Change the headlines on the cover to "New York 2010", "Africa", 99% Pass Rate & "New Oak Building"

-Make the issue number and date much smaller and focused towards the left hand bottom side.

-Add in a barcode to give the magazine a more official feel.

-Keeping the Wyke masthead the same font, change the colours to a fresh white with light grey dots.

-Change the writing of the headlines to a more gentler and childish like feel to encounter with the college comunity's similarities.

-Instead of a blue background, give the contents page a warmer feel by using a sunny image of the Wyke Buildings.

-On the contents page reduce the amount of stories

-Remove the two images of New York & iPhone and then replace them with a more friendly image of a student at college.

After doing all of these points i hope to develop the magazine layout that I already have and make it into a bigger and better overall contents page and cover.

Magazine & Contents Computer Generated Plan

Developing Wyke Font

Chosen Wyke Font/Style

The magazine name cover goes extremely well with the comic book font. As "Wyke" is short and snappy it merges greatly with the sleek and sexy style of the font producing an amazing overall masthead. Although the other remaining fonts were quite outstanding, I just didn't feel as if any of them merged well with the magazine name. At the moment the product does look quite bland however I'm intending to change this with some Photoshop manipulation.

What I intend to do:

-Stretch the text upwards so it then becomes more thinner and sleeker.

-Bring each letter together at angles so that they overlap each other.

-Give all of the letters a deep red border so it feels warm and soothing.

-Also add in exclamation point.

Magazine Name Styles/Fonts

"Comic Book" Font

"Hobo Std" Font

"Eccentric Std" Font

"Love Ya Like A Sister" Font

"Princetown Led" Font

Chosen Magazine Name

Wyke


To me Wyke is special and by having it as a magazine name that simply infers that it is a special magazine. I personally know that the college is very popular in Hull which is why I chose it. I can just imagine if a friend or family member asks a Wyke pupil "what are you reading?" If he/she in response stated "Oh i'm reading Education, Education" then there is clearly going to be more questions asked; followed by an ocean of answers. Where as if there response was "Wyke" then the person would automatically realise what it was and think "hmm, I bet that's good."

Magazine Name Ideas

Wyke

Wyk3

College

Wyke Daily

Teens 'R' Us

Education, Education

Initial Ideas And Thoughts

Within my research I have learned quite a few important things to be fair. Different magazines that have different audiences always have different styles. For me to get college kids to physically pick up my college magazine with an interest then I have to style in a way that appeals to everyone. To do this I have to come up with a layout that has fairly sex-neutral colours which still look vibrant and exciting; with this I simply mean no glossy college magazine dipped in a vibrant, pink paint so it's just for the girls - no, no!

If any college teenagers are going to read a magazine then it can't harp on about exam rules or which new fairy liquid edition the cafeteria is using. The headlines and stories on the cover have to be exciting yet not to revealing so people feel intrigued to pick it up and buy it. To reflect these intriguing stories, I don't need to bland, 1978, black Arial font for starters. This is certainly a big turn off and a lot of other people have used this to emphasise events on their magazines. I want something a little ambitious; sleek and sexy which isn't to overcomplicated that it will make the cover feel to hectic - fancy and light is what I'm looking for.

Taking centre stage, the image on the front of the magazine is vital. It needs to be just right for it to come across as interesting. With a lot of college magazines all I see is an image that has completely nothing to do with the actual college - just pointless really. When it comes to front cover images, I'm looking for something natural and ravishing which can be gently complemented by a masthead and feature-stories.

Although it did state we had to do a mock up of a contents page I have decided to actually complete the contents page like the front cover. There isn't any point of doing half a job and besides, you can't get the full impact of the contents page if you're unable to visually see what it will actually look like. As a small compromise I will create a mock up/draft of the contents page, save this as a jpeg and upload, then do the same for a completed contents page.

Research! (Unfinished)

  

Image Via: http://static.thehollywoodgossip.com/images/gallery/britney-spears-rolling-stone.jpg

If a magazine cover doesn’t fit a certain criteria then any normal teenager will not even lightly caress the first page. Often, these publications only focus towards female youths, providing of course it features who’s recently intervened and become pregnant. They usually consist of weekly gossip, interviews, saucy paparazzi pictures and fashion. Hardly ever does the magazine go without some sort of additional freebie such as lip gloss, pull out outlets and stickers. By researching one or two varied magazines, both of which targeted at different audiences, hopefully I will gather enough knowledge and information to be then eligible to create thee’ college perfect magazine.

Selection 1 - Cosmo Girl

Image Via: http://www.pollsb.com/photos/o/96154-cosmogirl_sept08.jpg

Cosmo Girl is an extremely successful spin off of the world famously “Cosmopolitan” which was focused towards an older generation of female women. It’s an American magazine based in the heart of New York City, founded by Susan Schlulz and is produced worldwide, 10 times a year and selling at least 8 million copies a batch.

The Face of the Magazine (Colours, Connotations, Denotations, Meanings, Font, Text & Layout)

Instantly from the cover I feel as if I am indulging in a magazine by the fireside. The radiance and warmth of the gentle scarlet background and light orange text soothes and eases the readers mind. I feel that these certain colours really do have connotations of a warm fire side. They send off such a simmering vibe making the reader feel relaxed, clearing their mind and making it easier and more pleasurable for them to read. They are contrasted with the gentle, radiant tan of the model “Blake Lively”  giving the cover an overall flush feel. In other words there isn’t any dark, cold shades such as blue or green which would cause a somewhat clash on the front cover.

Being kept extremely simple, the font on the cover barely varies in colour, shape or size. Main stories and important features are demonstrated by a little larger then the rest, white font, all a little more catchier then the orange and yellow text. The text is sexy and sleek with a small drop shadow behind it to make it slightly jump of the page. It’s a very mere drop shadow, only slightly noticeable, so that that writing doesn’t become to separated from the cover.

Taking centre stage, the model almost covers the entire face of the mag’ with a very intimate close-up leaving not much room for spaces. This instantly makes the cover feel complete as there isn’t any space left for other elements. It’s on the verge of being too jam packed which would make it appear quite unprofessional and tacky, however to me it is almost perfect. Leaving big spaces would make it appear completely empty and desolate, inferring that the inside of the magazine is empty with barely any storylines. But by having the text quite intimate and compact, I get the feeling that there is a variation and great deal of gossip.

A lot of magazine covers often have small images that almost act as bullet points. This really does over complicate the cover and makes it very fragmented. However on the face of “Cosmo Girl”, there are very few bullet points and the ones that are included are extremely simple. The arrows and plus sign could actually pass for Microsoft Office’s basic shapes, however the mere drop shadow gives them that professional and sleek appearance.

Across the top of the magazine cover is a deep black banner which reflects an important issue about jeans in an embedded orange and white font. This small aspect of the cover gives one issue main priority making it almost the most important publication in the mag’. The black could appear quite isolated and not even part of the magazine if there wasn’t any other black elements. But because the model’s top is a dark black/blue colour then the header feels much more associated with the cover.

The most important key element on the face of the magazine, which is actually one of my favourite aspects is the magazine name. I’ve never seen a name that has a contrast of two different fonts and colours. In a bold white, the “Cosmo” is very eye catching and sharp whilst the “girl!” is in a shimmering yellow in a curvy and gossip-like font. If they weren’t overlapping then the name would be quite fragmented and not become that signature logo that it is. In different editions of the mag, “girl!” constantly varies in colour so that it co-ordinates with the other colours of each theme. Above all each aspect of the cover is different but then also very similar so that it all feels very incorporated with the cover.

Layout through-out the Magazine

There seems to be a somewhat “house” theme through-out the “Comsogirl” magazine. All of the warm and subtle tones stay constant on every page which I feel brings the magazine together as a whole. It’s the same with each addition to be fair of the magazine; if the cover has a metallic theme then the metallic colours stay constant, and so on. It’s the exact same scenario also with the font and text all having a very similar look. Looking at some magazines, each different page has a completely different layout and it makes it feel to fragmented. Just rather browsing one magazine, it almost feels like your browsing several different.

Profile Reader/ Target Audience

From the type of gossip on the front cover of the magazine, I’m gathering that the audience is for teens aged 15-19 years. It appears to childish for adults and too grown up for early teens which is why I go this impression. The majority of teenage males wouldn’t want to know which “jeans” would suit them nor would they want to know what Blake Lively’s secret addiction is. This sort of cover definitely infers that it’s for teenage girls, like “cosmo girls” wasn’t enough though. Although the colours come across as quite feminine, I definitely think they could be used, as well as the layout for a college magazine. On this type of cover it’s what is in the font that makes it a girls magazine, not what’s on it. A girl that reads this sort of magazine is the sort of girl that lavishes all of the pop posters of hunky men from the magazine all over he wall as she dances on her bed to The Wanted. In the process of growing but then still indulging in her youth.

Layout Trademarks of "Cosmo Girl"

There really seems to be one key feature that keeps cropping up for me. With a lot of magazines these days the front cover is usually quite sexual and lustful. This type of image drills into teenagers minds that they have to look sexy and be desired all the time. However, with CosmoGirl I would hardly say the cover comes across as sexy. The expression oh Blake Lively’s face is filled with joy and fun which really gets a good message over to the youths reading the mag. The contrast of colours is also something that I find really appealing as it has a lot of warm and loving connotations!


Opinions on "Cosmo Girl"

As time moves on, so does they full layout of the magazine which is what makes it different and almost special. I’ve never seen to date a cover that is identical to a previous or later one. As their layout is almost un-defined, then it swiftly rejuvenates making each magazine different to the last. Ways and means of teenagers are constantly changing and for Cosmogirl to continue appealing to them then it has to evolve other time, just like the readers.

Selection 2 - College Magazine & Contents Page

Language

Taking centre stage on the front, the denotation of the magazine shows a medium shot of a young, college male. Due to the rather largish headline beneath the characters face, I am lead to the impression that he has just became the new addition to the top of the pupil food chain. The expression of the character has connotations of superiority and success emphasising the largest headline. Arranged quite messily around the centre of the image are other smallish headlines which contribute to the rest of the cover - not necessarily a good contribution either. As they've just been dumped wherever there has just been room, the text bleeds too much into the image making it harder to see and creating somewhat awkward tension within the cover. As the background and students clothes are quite bland, they don't stand for much representation leaving the cover too dry and simple. Taking a much more stern stance, the masthead is very distinguishable and almost rememberable. The denotations of the masthead are eccentric and colourful due to the variations of pigments. From another aspect the way that all the diverse colours join together as one infers that all the different types of students come together as one to make an amazing college. Connotations of the masthead include fun and joyful, reflecting that their magazine is filled with joy, almost as much as their college. Strangely, in the left hand corner is the barcode tilted the wrong way, allowing the view to question if the magazine is even serious. Spelling mistakes and errors, such as the barcode give the magazine it's tackiness and really let it now. At the bottom rear end of the magazine cover is an eccentric green banner which is advertising a free HB pencil. This is an aspect which lets the magazine down as it pencils have connotations of boredom and work, perhaps inferring that such a college magazine is boring and almost will feel like working when reading.

A house theme is created within the contents and cover as of course similar elements such as font and colours stay constant within both. The denotations are of course the constant light blue and Gothard font, however this has connotations of wholeness.  It brings everything together as a whole and doesn't leave the two feeling fragmented and completely different. The one thing that I disagree with on the contents page is the amount of dense writing. It's not often that you see a lot of events and stories on the cover as they simply focus on the hi-lights. As well as this, the font is incredibly small making it harder to read which then also adds to the feeling of crammed and compact, dense writing.

Institution
As this college magazine is part of somebody else's media coursework, the creator is therefore a college student. I would of expected that because they were indeed themselves part of college society, then they would of put what they would of loved to of seen on a magazine into theirs. With no critersization intended, not many people would have joy fufilled within them at the chance of having a free pencil.


Ideology
From the free HB pencil, I get the impression that this magazine is targeted towards the college students only with a mere adult viewers to make the college appear better. From this I believe that the Ideology of the magazine is to create a more dynamic college with a better impression of the day to day life that it has. However as this the cover is almost focused towards a specific pocket full of students I don't believe that it is successful in it's bid. The connotations of the colourful logo infer that the college has such a variety of different and eccentric people, however this feeling is brought to a sudden halt when the magazine image only presents your average big headed teenager. All of these negative connotations don't at all promote the college and greatly discourage it!

Audience

By using the male model in such a way on the cover, I feel as if this diverts the audience of the magazines to a specific handful of male college species. Although the contents page looks quite mature and professional, it is let down by the childish image on the front giving everything an overall feeling of vein adolescence stage. The headlines on the cover go into to much depth diverting them to only specific groups of people. Female college students aren't at all going to be interested in a male companion rising to the top of the student food chain, which I'm sure the majority of most other males aren't. As this is only supposed to be focused towards a small college community, there won't be larger masses produced as I'm sure only a mere few will actually contemplate on picking this up. On the chance for a high note, I would just like to comment on the neutral tone of colours. Due to this the cover doesn't feel only for males, or only for females.

Representation

 As a whole I really don't feel as if this college magazine stands for much, if anything at all. I actually feel as if that stands for something completely diverse as to what college students are actually like; implementing a false impression of college society. Besides the choice on neutral colours, the magazine hasn't been made to appeal to everybody. Although this has been a bad college magazine, It has given me a lot of information and feelings to what I should and shouldn't do on a college magazine cover and contents page.

Brief Introduction

The brief states that a preliminary task for AS media must be completed prior to the main task. This requires myself to create a top-notch college/magazine cover which will demonstrate a student in a medium close-up camera aspect. It will be accompanied by appropriately laid-out text and an additional masthead; simply all of the compulsory elements to any magazine. In addition to this, a contents page should also be created as a somewhat second page to the front cover. I’m required to generate these basics by using digital manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop and by also using primary sourced images that have been produced by myself. Through-out the process and journey of this magazine design, I will constantly be blogging to state how the experience is going; good, bad and why. But above that, it will often contain a lot of planning and ideas which I will therefore widen and then they will hopefully, eventually blossom into a stunning magazine cover and contents!! By blogging, there is certainly a lot more to offer as I can demonstrate the development and process much more electronically, overall, meaning I can reflect it through video, sound and colour images; all much more effective.

:D