School Magazing Front Cover

I am really pleased with my school magazine front cover. The models used all look happy and studious as one is holding a folder for a prop. My main features would all attract a student of St Gegory's as they would relate and be interested in what the features are about. 

School Magazine Cover, Contents Page and Template

Photo shoot:
Before designing my front cover I carried out a planned photo shoot in order to get the images I needed for my school magazine. Firstly, I designed a template in order to give me an initial idea to start the magazine design process. After completing my template, I arranged a time when a group of friends has a free together so we I could take pictures of them around the school. I took a number of photos around the school in order to produce some photos that I thought captured the school ethos at its best. I chose a number of locations that you would expect to see in a school to take my photos. The places I picked was the life (showing the sixth form advantages), the stair case, and chapel. I selected the photos I liked best and included them within my front cover and contents page.


For my school Magazine we were set to produce, I designed a front cover and a contents page which represented my school. After my photos were in place I used my template to guide me through designing the rest of my magazine using kickers, a  masthead, headlines, colour and font to produce a strong front cover and contents page.

For my Front cover I decided to base it on my school and what it represents. The main image I choose is a medium close up of girls walking down the school ‘enjoying’ the school day to day life. The colour theme of my front cover is black, burgundy/red and blue. These colours are my school logo so I wanted to capture that within the cover. Within the kickers I used the same font but changing the size, style and angle to help break up the page and draw your eye to the different bits of information.

For my contents page I selected my chosen photo from the same set of photos I took for my front cover. I created a moc-up of my contents page to help me when designing the real thing. 

For my contents page I did a simple yet effective layout. I used another photo taken around the school and stretched it across the page. In the dark background I contrasted with the writing using white to allow the writing to stand out. I used the same colours; blue, burgundy, black and white in order to keep the house style occurring throughout the two pages. I also used the same technique with the writing; using the same font but changing the style, size and angle to help break up the different sections.

Overall I tried to produce a front cover and a contents page in which you can see the type of happy school environment portrayed within my magazine. My magazine is targeted at sixth form students, male and female, between the ages of 16 and 18. My audience is the typical studious students that would attend St Gegregory's sixth form therefore my magazine would appeal to them. 

‘VOGUE’ Magazine Cover Analysis on Colour

       After researching into the use of colour within magazines I believe it is a very important attribute included in a magazine.  Colour is a main factor used within the advertisement of the magazine as it immediately catches eyes of the right target audience. Colour is certainly essential as it is a form of nonverbal communication and it carries meaning through association.

      This Vogue magazine cover represents the idea that colour is a main selling point in the strong way it’s been used. Firstly the Masthead, ‘VOGUE’ it in a black colour, allowing it to stand out clearly amount the white background. Black is aassociated with power, mystery and fear. It has positive connotations such as elegance and class. It is an aggressive and strong colour which means that the uses of colour hear is correct as Vogue is an elegant, high-class magazine.

      Vogue’s target audience is females in their late twenties to thirties. Vogue is very successful in attracting its audience, resulting in continual high readership and as a result, does not widely try to appeal to other audiences, such as men. You can clearly see that the magazine is not designed to appeal to men through colour as there are female colors used throughout the cover such as pink and yellow. The confident women posing on the cover is also wearing brightly colored clothing carrying on with the pink and yellow theme.   Pink is associated with romance and love. It is also associated with feelings of calmness. It is most definite a Female colour which is often used within magazines that’s target audience our females to clearly portray this. Yellow associated with sunshine. It Indicates energy, optimism, joy, hope and warmth. It is a symbol of spontaneity and impulsiveness. The use of the yellow and pink theme used within this cover is a very good use of advertisement as it immediately shouts female and brings with it the connotations of romance and love as well as hope and warmth.

      There are also examples of blue within the cover to break up the theme slightly. The blue represents depth and stability which is the colour of the sky and sea. It is the symbol of freedom and associated with tranquility, wisdom and loyalty. The blue slightly breaks up the theme and leads the eye to different places throughout the cover.

      The main cover line, ‘Celebrate!’ is also in pink carrying on the theme and linking the cover together in an eye catching positive way. The surrounding kickers are showing examples of pink as well as black which is connected through the Vogue masthead. The black is more of a statement colour and easily draws the reader’s attention to the ‘powerful and elegant’ colour.

      Overall the use of colour here is exceptional. The main theme of pink, yellow and black is immediately eye catching and reaches out to the correct target audience. It appeals to females within the connotations is compels. The magazine cover is also strong due to other examples such as the font however the colors especially make it stand out as a unique magazine cover and make it what I believe to be the independent, strong magazine cover it is.

The Use of Colour in Adevertisting - lesson 29/11/2012

Within this lesson we learnt further into the use of colour used in advertising. I found this lesson very useful as it will help me within my magazine to use the right themes of colour to relate to my target audience.

We learnt;

o   Colour is extremely important as it is a form of nonverbal communication

o   Colour carries meaning through association

o   Red- Associated with all things intense and passionate, danger, fire, energy and excitement. Symbol for violence, blood and war. High visibility which is why it is used for road signs. Red indicates courage which is used in many countries' flags. In China red indicates celebration or luck. In India red is the colour of purity which is used in weddings.

o   Yellow – Yellow is the colour of sunshine. Indicates energy, optimism, joy, hope and warmth. Symbol of spontaneity and impulsiveness. Dull yellow is associated with decay, sickness, jealousy and deceit. In Asia yellow is a symbol of royalty and sacredness.

o   Blue – Blue represents Depth and stability which is the colour of the sky and sea. Symbol of freedom. Associated with tranquility, wisdom and loyalty. Symbolic of cleanliness, technology and security. It is a Masculine colour. In China blue is associated with immortality. For Hindus, blue is the colour of Krishna. For Jews blue is the colour of holiness. In the Middle East blue is a protective colour

o    Pink - Associated with romance and love. Also associated with feelings of calmness. It is a Female colour.

o   Black - Gothic representations such as death and evil. Symbol of grief. Associated with power, mystery and fear. Positive connotations - elegance and class. Aggressive and strong colour

-Researching into these colours really helped me as I want to use this knowledge and put it into my magazine. This knowledge will help when researching and planning my magazine as I can the colours effectively.

Research Into Various Artists to Inspire my Magazine

Within my research, I am beginning to look at my target audience and magazines that I want to relate my ideas and interests in. These 2 magazines are all staring Rita Ora; an up and coming popular singer who has had 3 number ones in a short amount of time therefore making a statement throughout the music industry. She is an inspiration and has worked among stars such as Jay Z resulting in her always being in the public eye; the media portray her in a positive light.  I am looking into various artists that all have a chart feel and have a big and bold personality as I want to portray these characteristics within my magazine. These 2 magazines all have a similar target audience around teenagers aged 14-20 that are interested in the chart sound that Rita presents. Rita Ora strong and confident personality reflects with in the magazines she has posed for. She is always wearing statement clothing and makeup.



Rita Ora

Rita Ora

Beyoncé is another artist inspiring me on themes and ideas I want to carry out within my magazine. She has had many number ones and is famous for being the beautifully talented singer she is. She is an inspiration to many and is always portrayed in a good light. These 2 magazines are all targeting similar audience from ages 14-20 and up as her songs are liked by a variety of people. The clothes she is wearing within these front covers are all bold, statement pieces showing off her looks and braveness within fashion. Beyoncé is an artist that is going to inspire my magazine creation.

Beyonce

Beyonce

Rita Ora and Beyoncé are both huge singers within the industry. They are both inspirational people, with big personalities portrayed through there fashion and music. I want to take into account certain characteristics these celebrities portray and use them to inspire me and put these ideas into my magazine.

 

Q Magazing Front Cover Analysis

Analysis of the Lilly Allen Magazine Cover

Firstly, colours of any magazine cover are extremely important as the visual side is just as important as the actual contents as the customers need to be drawn to it. The colours of this magazine are bold and bright to make it stand out to the customers. The red around the ‘Q’ which is the head line of the magazine makes it stand out and immediately draws your eye to the main headline so the customer can recognise the magazine they may buy frequently. ‘her wicked, wicked ways…’ this kicker shows examples of red on the word ‘wicked’. The red signifies passion, love and lust which links to the whole overall image of the magazine cover as Lilly Allen is topless which reinforces the male gaze. The cover line ‘exclusive!’ is also in red which draws the reader eyes to this as it stands out from the more basic colours surrounding it. The main colour within the magazine cover is black which is quite a grown up colour resembling class and showing that this magazine target an older audience as younger magazine would have brighter and more of a range of colours such as pink and orange. There are jaguars in the cover which are also black which helps draws the colours together. There are examples of blue within this cover which helps break up all the writing and advertising going on and allows reader to be drawn to the main bits.

The font and positioning of the text is also an important attribute to the magazine cover as it draws the attention to the main parts. ‘Lilly Allen’ is in san serif due to the font and ‘Wicked, wicked ways’ is in serif as the decorative pieces on the ends of each character resemble to almost a devils horn. The main head line ‘LILLY ALLEN’ is in bold and large texts. This is because it is the main head line. Lilly Allen is also a celebrity and because it is a music magazine it will appeal to many music fans. The logo of the magazine ‘Q’ is unusual to others as it is in the top left hand corner of the page which is consistent through every Q magazine which previous dedicated readers can easily spot the magazine without having to look variety of magazines. The tag lines at the bottom as placed there so they can give the audience further knowledge of what expect and look for within the magazine.

This magazine targets an older audience from late teens to late 20’s. This magazine holds a male gaze as Lilly Allen is posing provocatively topless which will attract the males. Above the ‘Lilly Allen’ headline is a cover line ‘sexy beast’ this is ambiguous as it refers to Allen herself but the beast part also resembles the jaguars.  ‘Her wicker, wicked ways…’ this head line shows repetition and alliteration allowing the phrase to stick and make the reader want to find out more. Allen’s pose is also inviting as she’s got her back to the audience but she’s turning which can be inviting to the male eye. Q has created a sexual image throughout the magazine cover hoping that this will grab more people attention.

Within magazines there are often double meanings within the words to allow the reader to without realising think about the individual wording connecting them to the magazine. ‘I am a tiger’, is within the kickers on the top rights which links to the jaguars on the bottom of page. As I have already mentioned; ‘her wicked, wicked ways…’ is ambiguous in that it relates to Lilly Allen and the jaguars. Under the logo ‘Q’ is stated ‘a differed type of music’, which allows the audience immediately to know that is a music magazine. The different type of music implies that it is not a main stream music magazine suggesting that the readers may be attracted to the magazine through curiosity. The sticker, ‘the 25 greatest rock movies’ shows that the magazine also covers movies as well music furthers the readers knowledge on what to expect.