Preliminary Task

Here you can see an image of my hand written/drawn front cover of my Pulse College magazine. It is clearly labled and anmated to explain all my choice on my front page.

Here you can see my preliminary images;

These are the two images i will using on repeat, although they'll be edited to look different on the contents page then on the front cover. I will edit them using photo shop. for example; on my front page the image of just Hannah will be cropped in half and edited to black and white for a contemporary look. Whereas on the contents page the image will not be cropped and will be left in colour. I choose a serious face for the first image to stereotypically match the genre of Rock and the second image will show the fun and enjoyable side of Rock.

 

 

Construction of preliminary task - Front page;
Here you can see an image of my creation of preliminary task. After taking pictures through the college of both myself and Hannah, i chose my favourite and best quality ones. There were only two i felt were up to high enough standards for my Pulse magazine. I choose the two images i used because i felt as though it showed the fun and serious, hard working side of college life. Once I chose these images i edited them using Photoshop and developed them onto my magazine. I have had previous experience with Photoshop so didn't seem to struggle too much. Although, the first design of my magazine i created on Photoshop i didn't save correctly and lost it. So I had to start again, once I began again and created a draft and ensured I saved it properly and securely. I started off with a base layer which was a black fading into a grey and then white, although this isn't seen on the front page as the images are taken up in this space. I used the colours black, red, grey and white as this related to the genre Rock which I wanted to practise with for my final magazine. I added the first image of Hannah, which I cropped so it was half the size and changed the colouring to black and white. I then added the image of Hannah and myself and enhanced the colour but kept it in the same colours and same size. I then created the speech bubbles in a word document and inserted them into the format onto the front page. Throughout my construction of the front page I ensured that I referred back to my drafts and followed the similar guide lines.

 

 

Construction of preliminary task - Contents page;

I then continued by constructing my contents page, which I had also lost once previously so I had to re-create. On this page i used the same images, although this time I kept the image of Hannah full size and enhanced the colours to make them brighter, so it included the use of shadow. I then used the image of myself and Hannah again, but edited it to black and white so it looks like a sketch. I then included red and black font, in the same typeface to again match and support the stereotypical image of rock, for practise for my own magazine design. Again, throughout the construction of the contents page I referred to my own previous drafts and followed the guide lines as much as possible within the time allocated. I used a white background on the contents page to differ from the front page and ensure every element on my contents page stood out well.



Evaluation of preliminary task - college magazine front cover and contents page;

When creating my college magazine front cover and contents page, I did struggle slightly due to difficulties with saving and editing text once added onto the correct layers. Although, because I did have a small amount of previous experience I knew a required amount about creating it. Obviously, the drawback of losing both copies of my front page and contents page was a large obstacle whilst completing my weekly task sheet and did set me back.to ensure this didn’t happen again I saved the magazine front cover and contents page as a jpeg image as well as a Photoshop document too. I did over run on time but used my free periods to complete it, I couldn’t complete it at home as I didn't have Photoshop and recently my Internet has been down so I haven’t been able to download it. After receiving the information about Photoshop on a booklet the college supplied for us I found using and saving Photoshop a lot easier, specifically opening the correct document.

For my written draft I just experimented, whereas when creating the final college magazine front page and contents page I had a set image of what I wanted. So once I opened a document I concentrated on these main ideas I wanted and this made the construction a lot easier for me. Whilst creating my magazine front cover and contents I ensured that I included the magazine conventions and detail into my magazine. When i was thinking about the colours within the front page and contents page i tried to include a rock element, I did this so I could have a clear influence onto my magazine and it was a good practise for my magazine because that’s the genre I wanted to concentrate it on. These colours also make a serious atmosphere for the magazine and show the serious side of college life, although my image of myself and Hannah shows the fun side of college life. I didn't use any colours to highlight on my magazine, this was a clear element I forgot so this is a lesson I learnt and will include on my final magazine.

I wanted to make my college magazine to stand out to the others, so to do this i looked at other rock genre magazines. I included these elements to show a clear influence. For example, the typeface and colours I have used in my masthead. I used the colour red as it stereotypically fits the genre of rock, relating to hate, anger and blood.

My contents page continues following the influence of rock, although I changed the background to white so the images and text would stand out more. I did this because the text is more important on the contents page as it needs to be easier to read and understand and navigate around the magazine. Although, my contents page is quite plain and could do with enhancing bright colours and having possibly more advertorial skills to draw in more readers. The contents page on a whole is quite empty so if i was to re-do this task and improve it i would add more information and will ensure I do this is my own magazine.

As the front cover for any magazine is to draw in more readers and attract more customers I wanted to ensure my front covers was bright. Although, a lot of things were missing, for example advertorial techniques, lures, bright colours etc...I think these were missing as I didn't want to spend too much time concentrating on my draft. Whereas when i complete my magazine i will concentrate on this with a lot more focus and time and ensure these techniques are included.