The contents page drafts

This is the first mock up of a contents page which i hand drew.

I included an editors letter, which is a personal read for the audience. It's nice for the audience to read such a personal statement, and also establishes a relationship between the editor and the reader.

There is a print of the splash with arrows displaying which page numbers the story is on in which the arrow is pointing at. This is mainly for the comfort of the reader, it makes it easier for the reader to just turn to the story in which lured them in to buying the magazing in the first place.

The contents list the numbers and whats on that page, underneath is the sub text; which in this case would basically inform the audience a little more on what the story is about. e.g The main story being: How easy is it to spot chlamydia?, and the sub text being 'Dr Grey gives his top tips on identifying chlamydia.'

The credits display the people's names in which help produce the magazine, some of the credits are in the front of the magazine, whereas all of the credits are printed in the back of the magazine. This is just being informative to the audience which also puts the magazine distribution in a good light.

Alothough this is a good plan which displays the conventions of a contents page, i don't believe i will be using this as my final plan. I feel it's not all in proportion and to be honest, doesn't look like a contents page.

This is another plan which i hand drew, i didn't include an editors letter in this one as i believe im targetting it for students, teachers and parents and some may feel it's slightley patronizing for someone writing a personal letter about education, however if it's just a Wyke college Magazine, instead of an editors letter it would most probably be a letter from the Head Teacher.

I have titled the page 'Contents' which simply tells the audience what this page is about, and gives it a name.

The page listings are in a long row on this splash, with the sub text always being underneath the Titles of the page and number listings.

On the right of the page are pictures, these will be the pictures which connect with the stories on that page. The page number will be layered over the picture. This is like a kind of contents listing however, instead with the contents being told with text, it's being told with images.

The credits are in a more realistic position, across the bottom with little height. The contets page wouldn't donate a lot of the page to the credits as most of the credits are printed at the back.

I really like the idea of this contents page, everything seems a lot more in proportion and i believe looks a lot better. I feel it's a different enough design for it not to be like any other, however it's still using the conventions of a contents page.

All good things, must come to an end!

This is my final magazine cover. It's been a long ride, but we finally got here, and I love my front cover! And now I will talk through it with you:


The image is slightly not what I planned, however im so happy with it. I decided to go for a more softer passion rather then an aggressive passion, it's a lot more comforting to the audience rather then in your face aggression. I still chose to have the eyes closed, I feel this shows the passion, but also shows how he's in another world when he sings. This again is allot more comforting to the audience and the fact that it's an action shot, with his mouth being wide open it makes it more personal, it's as if he's singing to the audience there and then, the neck straining also suggests he's midway through a note. What makes it a lot more personal is the use of the camera angle, this creates a performance feel to the image, as if it's taken from a member of the audience as he's stood on a stage. The T-shirt he's wearing is white, I feel this suggests this is a raw talent, it's pure, it's real. It creates a since of purity about him and it also seems to represent how he's open right now, he's not hidden beneath dark, black clothing, when he's performing he's out in the open: he's come out from hiding. The lighting effect which I edited in also backs this idea of him being out in the open, by these spot lights shining on him makes it visible for people to see him and what he's doing. I tinted the lighting red as I felt the connotations where important use on this photograph, with the connotations reflecting 'Brand new!', 'See him here, now!' and 'Red, Hot new artist!' It also gives the impression of him performing on a stage with lighting which reaches the audience on a personal level once again.


I placed the Headline central of the image and as I said in my planning, I layered the lettering so it really emphasised the word 'WYKE.' I felt the need to layer it, because I wanted to really emphasise the word but I also wanted to express the transformation through the process, you enter being pure and vulnerable thus the white, you then toughen up and start to be who you really want to be as an artist thus the black and you win, being the hottest new artist, thus the red. I feel the importance to tell a little story through the logo I created, even though it was inspired by 'The X Factor' logo, I feel I created mostly from my own ideas. I also wanted the lettering change from large font, gradually becoming smaller, because I wanted to emphasise the competition will start out big, they'll be a lot of people there, the competition will then start to get smaller and then resulting in only one winner, which the red font connects with. The last person being the 'Hottest, new artist out there!' The 'Factor' is coloured, half in white and half in black: I basically did this because against the background you couldn't see the word, in just one colour so I chose two colour which connected with the logo and also I fell connected with the model in the image: how the black, connects with the microphone and the white connects with his T-shirt, I feel this basically means that him and the microphone fit together perfectly like a word.


The subhead line I am also pleased with, I originally wanted the sub headline to be, singular lined and catchy however, it isn't a tagline which is what I failed to remember. I chose to use personal pronouns and rhetorical questions because they are inviting and welcoming to the audience, it includes the audience already without even having to buy it. I used the present tense in ‘As the auditions begin’ because, it’s again inviting to the audience, and they may feel lucky because they have just got to hear the ‘hottest gossip from the auditions,’ it seems like it’s brand new, just been written and they haven’t missed anything if you use present tense, that’s precisely why I wrote the text in red, however I wrote the rest of the text in an orange, I did this basically I want them to feel like to have ‘The WYKE factor’ it’s something different, and I informed the audience this by simply using a different colour, I did still want to have the original red connotations which I why I used an orange, it’s so close to red on the colour pallet scale as it is but it just had that different tint, which I was trying to get cross to the audience as that’s what their looking for, do you have that difference which we’re looking for? I underlined that bit of the text again, to make it seem different then any other text on that page, it’s a lot different to text already printed on there and that is the message I am trying to get across, these auditions are looking for different people.


The masthead, I feel is really good. I feel it’s the perfect size, it’s just big enough so It doesn’t fully dominate the page but it’s not too small at all! I wanted it to be one of the main focus points, as it’s one of the most important points about the magazine really. I’ve just simply used the college’s logo as I feel is iconographic and people know what it is already and also establishes the ideology of the magazine, I slightly layered the word ‘magazine’ over the logo, I did this to help establish that ‘This is Wyke’s magazine,’ it’s a way to inform the audience Wyke college is involved within this magazine. I didn’t want to put too much detail in to the magazine, as I didn’t think it needed it, it also compliments the front page as it’s neutral and you can’t stereotype a neutral magazine, it widens the target audience and doesn’t tie the magazine to one type of audience. I also didn’t want to take the attention from the college’s logo and this establishes the ideology of the magazine.


I placed a tagline above the word ‘Magazine’ in the masthead, I didn’t place it over Wyke’s logo as I wanted Wyke’s logo to be a main focus point as I said before, that logo establishes the ideology of the magazine. I wanted the tagline to be short and snappy so it was easy to remember and also backed the ideology of the magazine. I couldn’t have had the tagline ‘Where student gossip, is here first’ because this is an educational magazine it wouldn‘t be supporting the original ideology of the magazine, and it’s also targeted at more people then just students. I printed the text in small, bold and underlined text which I felt let it stand out enough without over powering the masthead. I wanted to do it underline and bold and it makes the text stand out enough with it being small already. Taglines, are usually used to fully establish the ideology of the magazine, and for me it was no exception I wanted to create my magazine using all the conventions which normal magazines do, and this tagline on my magazine makes it fully understandable what the magazine’s ideology is.


I have included three plugs at the top of the page, I finally created the right sized plugs, as it took me a while to fully create them right in proportion.

The first plug I coloured in a dark blue, I did this because of gender targeting however I used the darkness as it’s a more mature then baby blue, it also connects with the story, how the story is ’cold’ and ’shocking!’ because these plug are supposed to lure the audience into purchasing these magazines. I used a pull quote as a shocking statement, a pull quote has to be from a story within the magazine, the more shocking the pull quote the more shocking the story is bound to be. Pull quotes is a good technique to be used in plugs are it’s extremely tempting to read a story which included an extremely shocking pull quote on the cover, and to read the story you have to buy the magazine. I made the speech marks in the pull quote a much larger size then the rest of the text, I feel made it more shocking when you actually realise, this is a speech mark, this must be a true story! I also emphasised the words ’Heroine’ and ’Teachers’ by putting them in capital letters, I feel this is also a good technique as it draws the audience into seeing them two words first and already becoming shocked with the first two words they’ve read. I used a statistic in my pull quote, as statistics are highly believe able to the audience and easy to understand as well, it increases the story seeming even more realistic and shocking.

On my second plug, I used a dark purple. I again used this colour for gender targeting however used a darker colour to signify maturity. In this plug I used a rhetorical question, which is inviting and intrigues the audience as it makes them answer the questions in their heads. I used the last work Chlamydia is large, bold font. I did this because I feel this is the main attraction to this plug, as it is health related.

In my final plug, I used green. I feel this connects with my story as it connotated ‘GO!’ due to the green light in traffic lights. I used alliteration in this plug as I believe it’s short and snappy and easy to become involved within the story, and with the motivational educational driven story the green colour fits in well. I aimed to go for a darker green however, once again to focus on the maturity and the target audience.
I’ve created a kind of, By line at the bottom of my page, I wanted to created it really small as it’s not a necessary piece of information on my front page, it’s basically there for the audience’s feelings, I feel it makes the audience feel cared for, that then can email their problems with the magazine’s features, and we will accept their feedback and use from then on in our productions. I also used a website which can generate curiosity within the magazine as people who purchased the magazine can get news on the website as well, so by giving this information it’s making the audience feel well cared for which I think is important.


All together I really like my finished piece, I believe it’s worked out fantastic! However, if I were to do it again, I think I would have spent more time on planning and perhaps gather some feedback from valued media students who are perhaps doing the same exercise as me. I feel like I’ve really got stuck in to this exercise and have had fun doing it too!

Mock of front page

This is the mock up which i poduced used DP, this isn't the picture i will be using however, it's just a computerised plan of how im going to produce my finished product.

I'm not planning to have the lines around the boxes coloured black, i just wont have lines which will look alot better, as i feel it will look silly if i have boxe's around everything and it's not a convention which magazines use.

I have planned for my picture to be as large as that, because you might as well. If im planning for my picture to be the main focus point i might as well make it the main focus point. This image is going to be the first things people see when they look at this magazine so the conventions which follow the image will have to be perfectley placed, and im talking about the masthead above and the headlines.

I have kept my magazine front cover very basic as i don't want to just target students, i want to winden my target audience to parents and teacher so i believe by keeping the magazine neutral i am doing that, if i was to make the front page focus on 'Nights out,' i would only be targetting students. I suppose i could include puffs on my piece however, what competition is there going to be which will cater to both the parents and the teachers?

I like the idea of the healines being cetreal of the image, it seems to keep everything neat and tidy rather then messy and all over the place. By keeping them centeral it's helping the magazine make more sence, it's keeping it together; rather then plugs and puffs being any size and slapped anywhere over the splash.

I am overall very happy with my mock up of my magazine front page, and i am now focusing on this layout for my final piece.

Drafts of My Front Page, Hand Drawn.

These are my origional hand draw plans for my magazine front cover,

There are a lot of problems with this splash, one being the plugs at the top of the page are larger then the masthead it's self! This makes the plugs become a main focus point when in fact they arn't even that important at a first glance to the audience. By making the plugs larger then the masthead, i have broken a conventional rule of magazine front covers. The plugs need to be smaller as it's dominating the page, which the image, masthead and headline should be doing.

The masthead its a lot smaller then it should be, which is due to the dominating plugs at the top of the page. However i believe the 'Wyke College' should be most dominating as that establishes the ideology of the magzine, so this is a good point.

The image is, like i wanted it to be: the main focus point. The expressions which i would like to express are visable and the emotion of passion is very noticable. The idea of the model closing their eyes whilst screaming through a microphone definatley connects with the headline. The angle of the shot makes the model dominating, and it's asif the photograph would be taken at a performance, as if the performer is on a stage of some sort. The camera shot is perfect as it is a mediam close up, which is what the guidlines of this exersise. I also like the idea of a spot light being there, which exagerates the dominance of a good performer and also reflects the idea of passion within this image.

The headline however, isn't that good. It's very small compared to the image, which is what i want: however there's smaller, and just too small. I feel it doesn't have anything to do with the image, connection wise. By all means, the title reflects the image's story, however, it's too far away and pushed away from the image. This looks like it's not included within the image and looks more like it's to do with another story. It needs to be centered, not completley overlaying the image but only slightley, just so it looks like it's included. The WYKE isn't as emphasised as i'd like it to be, also 'The' and 'Factor' isn't centered between WYKE and isn't measured up properly.

There is a sort of by line, in which is bad because it's too big for the page. By lines are only supposed to be small and inform the audience of who's wrote it, who produced it etc. It's only supposed to be small and i feel it's almost the same size as my masthead which isn't a good thing.

One thing i don't like about this page is all of the proportions are wrong, and the masthead, the headline and the image are all squeezed too close together, where as the plugs and the by line take up most of the page. However there are a lot of possitive points, like the image which is exactly what i would like the image to be like if not more over powering.

This is the second hand drawn plan in which i produced, this is a vast improvement on my last one however there are still things which i am not happy about.

The Plugs are a lot more in proportion now then they where, they don't dominate the page anymore, they are nice little lure's which the audience will look at after the main focus point.

The masthead, is also an improvement as it's gained more of a focus point now, were as before it was tiny and too pushed together. It's important to make the masthead a mainfocus point, as most times the masthead establishes the magazines ideology.

The image however, isn't good this time. First of all the the image is shot in close up, where it should be shot in mediam close up. Also, the image is half cut off and i don't remember in my analysing of magazine front covers, ever seeing an image which has been cut off due to a subheading, the headline and subheading are suposed to be included within the image as the image is supporting the main story which is why it's the main focus point. The picture isn't shot at low angle unlike the other one either which i feel is really important as it establishes the dominance of the performer.

Another thing which i arn't happy about is the Headline, it's again really pushed into the left hand side where is should be slap, bang, large and loud in the middle of the image. Wereas i believe the subheading it larger then the headline. The headline should over lay the main image, which gives the idea of the main headline supporting the image and being included, the image should never be cut out for the headline. However, you can do this when your censoring an image so the audience has to buy the magazine to see the image.

The sub heading is again too large for the page, it's needs to be one lined short and snappy to party inform the audience on the outline of this mainstory. The image has also stopped above the sub heading which i don't believe is good, becuase it should overlay which gives the subheading involvement within the story.

The by line is also an improvement, however i still believe it's too big for the real thing. It takes up a lot more space then it should do.

This is the plan which i will be using to help produce my magazine front page, i feel this is all in proportion apart from some bits which i will correct on my real piece anyway.

The plugs are in perfect propotion now, they're just the right size, not too big so they dominate the page, and not too small so they're not un-noticable.

The masthead, i also believe is in good proportion as it's one of the main focus points so it needs to pretty much stand out as much as it is. I've even placed room for a little tagline which helps establish the ideology alot in magazines.

The main image is in medium close up, and low angle which is what i aimed for. There is a bit more of a softer passion within this photography which i what i thought of, angry passion could seem a bit over the top for our audience where as a softer passion seems nicer and less aggressive which isn't a pleasent emotion.

The headline is also in good proportion, however i will probly end up making it larger on the real piece and also a lot more layered then it is now. I like the way 'THE' and 'FACTOR' are nearly enough centered between the WYKE and altogether, how's it's centered and layerd over the image.

The subheading is also perfect, it's singular lined based and is short and snappy, everything a sub headline should be and also pretty much establishes the main story, what it's about and makes the story sound exciting.

The by line is also perfect proportion, as it's small enough if some of the readers care to read it. We have to remember that the by line is not neccesary and is near enough just a nice little bit of information for the audience to feel a lot more included within the college and magazine.

I am very happy with this plan of my magazine front cover, i think it near enough displays what i basically want out of this magazine perfectley and i hope it turns out as good as it looks there! However, there are a few things which i will tweek and change on the way!

Front Page Pictures!

I have recentley had a 'photo shoot' for the front page picture. I have used 'Jask Paint Shop Pro 8' to edit these photos. This is the first photograph i took and edited:

It shows me, passionatley singing through a microphone, i have my eyes closed which suggest passionate as well as focused. My mouth is also open which suggests im either speaking or singing through the microphone. I chose to wear a white Tshirt which is neutral, and which is what i wanted rather then a Tshirt which could cause the audience to stereotype the magazine. However, in this picture you don't view any of his other passions apart from singing and this is what i love about this picture it's completley focus on the singing. There is strong contrast within this photograph which illuminates the white on the Tshirt, the white suggests, singing has a sence of purity about it, how it's natural, and with the contrast against the black microphone makes the microphone stand out as a strong figure within this photograph. I made this photograph Black and White because it adds realism into the photograph, which links with this idea of being passionate about something, how this is 'real to you' it also creates stronger contrast then with would have done if it were in colour. I editted in the spotlights in this photograph, i feel this gives the main focus point in the photograph dominance, which the camera angle also contributes to. Although the camera angle isn't a strong 'low angle mediam shot' it still contributes to giving the person in the photograph dominance, which is what i first aimed for and explained in my planning work. The wall also behind is neutral toned, there is no personal exploitation of his personality which is good if the magazine is targetting a large teenage audience as it doesn't create an expectation of the magazine and provoke a stereotype.

If i was to improve on this photo, i would have created the lights beam up on him in the photograph, this would have given him a god like light, and made it even more dominant. I would have also took the photo away from anything in the background, because at the far right you can see the door where this photo was taken near. There is also a band visable on the persons arm, this is unneccesary to the photograph and could cause unwanted attention, however, with the band not displaying any colour: it's not promoting anything and is hardley noticable, It's not so bad i'd have to take another photo because of it.

This is a second photo which i took, which is very different to the first photo. First of all the camera angle is a lot stronger which does give such a stronger dominant effect which is again, what i hoped to acheive. The camera angle is perfect, as it looks like the person is performing in a concert on a stage, and this photo was taken from a member of the audience lookling up. You are able to see the vocal movement from the throat so it looks like a strong action shot. The lighting effect i've used has more of a red tint, which contributes to two things:

1) Making it look like a real concert, thus adding reality into the image, which connects which the passion of the photograph as well. It gives the audience a message, if your this passionate, you too could be performing in a concert.

2) The colour connotates to the performer being 'Hot, brand new artist!' It adds excitement to the image. As well as adds more contrast between the Tshirt and the Microphone.

The lighting effect is also shining up on him which gives him a stronger dominance, god like effect, this is the effect i was after in my planning.

The background on this photograph is completley neutral, where as the other photograph had a bit of the door on, this one has nothing.

There is nothing bad about this photograph really, only the fact you can see the band on the persons arm which gives away some personality which i tried not to expose, as im trying to keep it as neutral as possible. However, i believe this shouts out the right message i wanted, and connects with my headline perfectley! And that is 'The WYKE Factor!' It gives the perfect dominant figure i wanted to display and i don't think i could get a better photograph which shouts out the message i wanted!

Other Layout Ideas For My Magazine Front Cover!

This is a post explaining other layout ideas in which will appear on my front cover!

The masthead, is such an important feature of a magazine, as it is the magazine's name. I think in terms of this magazine being targeted from students/teachers and parents who are included within the college by creating the masthead of the College magazine including the name of the college, it establishes the target audience, and the ideology of the magazine. I would like to include the same logo 'Wyke' College uses on their website, inside their college and on any other publications of theirs example: the prospectus. So this logo is bound to be quite well known by the students/staff/parents of students. I will use the Wyke college logo, however i may construct a piece of text which states 'Magazine' after it, this is a good idea because it establishes what the media piece will be, and as well states that i have altered the logo in some way to make it my own piece of work for my magazine. I would like the text of the word 'Magazine' to be lower case, and just outlined black, i feel by making it too bold and block titled, it's taking the interest off the more important 'Wyke' title in my masthead, however perhaps with the other media language techniques this extra of the title isn't necessary however, I'd ultimately add my little bit on to the college logo, other wise it's not so much my work and that's important to me.

Just left to the masthead i would like a date of the issue of the mag zine. With niche targeted magazine, they are published usually monthly rather then weekly. So these dates will just simply is tiny writing, say 'December 2008 ISSUE 109.' This will be in black text, usually BOW to stand out.

I would also like to have a Tag line above or below my masthead, which connects with the college and i would like it ultimately to be about learning, i would prefer it to be simple, short and snappy. I don't want many unnecessary language skills in the tag line, like puns or just simply making it too long, because these small factors can all degrade my magazine which i don't want to happen. I was thinking of the possible tag line 'Were fun comes first, education comes with it!' or perhaps just simply 'Where education comes first.' I think i prefer 'Where education comes first,' as it's short and snappy and isn't much hassle or too long. I would prefer the tag line to be either above or below the masthead, which ever looks best to be honest. I would like the colour of the text to be a maroon colour, which connects with the main colour of the Wyke College logo. The text i would like to be lower case, so it stands out more then the second bit of the masthead however it will be a lot smaller.

At the top of my page i would like to include 3 plugs, i felt by using 'the power of 3' it was just right as it's not too many plugs, or too little. In these plugs i was thinking to use 'pull quotes' which are inviting to the audience and give an insight into the interview, most interviews display pull quotes on their front page to shock the readers into buying the magazine, they can manipulate an innocent quotation into something really shocking! On one of the educational based magazines, i analysed they used different literature techniques within each plug including: Pull quotes, and image related to the story, rhetorical questions and alliteration.

I would defiantly like to include a pull quote in one of my plugs: i was thinking about the possible quote 'The Drugs sedated him! The Students Laughed!' I would like the pull quote to be something shocking, '20% of Heroine addicts where the Teachers!' and i would like a sub heading under the plug explaining a bit more, perhaps like 'Teacher of the year, explains UK's Worst College!'

In my other plug, i would like to include a rhetorical question. The rhetorical questions are a good technique as they get the audience involved with the stories and the magazine, it's a good technique for luring in the audience.These are a couple i have thought of which are mainly health related: 'Is it easy to spot signs of Autism?' I would like to health related to be connected with children, however young health problems are often diagnosed by the time they're 16! Health problems in over 16s are possibly lifestyle related: obesity, sexually transmitted infections. Instead of printing a health plug on my front page, i don't believe it's going to target the Target Audience of people who have interest or are included in the college. A plug like 'How easy is it to Spot Claudia?' or 'Is your heart 40 years old already?' I feel i would rather go for the more shocking plug, including the Sexual Health information. I also feel this will provoke more interest and also prove to be a worth while magazine, not just a college magazine focused on education!

The third plug, i would like to use alliteration, i feel it's a good technique, it's very memorable and can be quite comical if used correctly. I would like this plug to actually be about learning, perhaps a new technique to make learning fun, i thought of a possible plug 'Art Achieves A*s All Around!' or perhaps to make it simpler 'Art Achieves As!' and a sub heading, could be: 'The highest pass rate in history in Art for Wyke College Students!' This just gives the extra information needed for the audience to partly understand what the story is about.

I would like to use these plugs as they lure the audience into purchasing the magazine, and by using health related plugs and educational related plugs i feel i am widening the target audience and not just specifically to students, but to parents and teachers.

I would like to place these three plugs at the very top of my page, i would like the text to be in bold and i would also like to use mature colours, possibly blues, violets because we have to remember this is a college magazine, not a secondary or primary. I will separate the plugs by using a thin opaque line, not too visible however just visible enough to see they're separated. I will display the sub headings from the plugs in black, smaller text, by doing this is suggest a realism. As in it's okay to place the writing in colour because that's what attracts the audience however, when they've read the stern black text it will hopefully hit them, what's written as a plug is a real story!

I would also, at the very bottom of the page like to include an email and a website of the institution who created this magazine, i feel this makes the audience feel cared for as well as getting them involved with the magazine once more. For this i will just create a BOW text box, in a stern serious font and write the information. By using a serious font i believe gives this bit of the magazine a serious feel, makes the audience feel cared about and puts the institution in a good light, because if there is a problem, or someone is offended with whats in the magazine, the institution appears to care.

I don't believe i will place any puffs within my front page, i feel this is too commercial and is used to target mainstream, mass audiences. However, there is a possible puff i can place within my front page 'Win £500 for your College!' This seems to be the type of puffs used, however we have to remember this is a single college magazine, not a large company so where are they going to get these prizes for? And £500 for your college doesn't even make sense coming from that same college which is producing the magazines. Puffs are most likely going to be used in Newspapers as well, this is rarely a convention in magazines.

These are all important conventions in which i will hope to use on my magazine front page! I've included text arrangements colours and language ideas to help me remember and to look back in a few days to see if i can improve them ideas in anyway!