Diary Entry #1

Diary Entry #1 – 27^th September 2011

In my first week of AS Media I began my preliminary task which involved me sketching out a Haydon School magazine and then designing it using my skills on Photoshop which I learnt through doing media at GCSE level. I did not find this task particularly difficult, as in GCSE I created a movie magazine, therefore I knew what essential features I had to involve, for example, masthead, sell lines, date, footers, main image, anchors and so on. I have also begun to do similar product on contents pages, front covers and double page spreads from other music magazine. I did this as I know it will give me a greater understanding on what I should include on my own music magazine when it comes to creating it. I looked at features such as the colour scheme, font sizes, images, headings and titles, layout of articles and use of language.
I think for my music magazine I am going to use NME as a guide line. This is because after studying particular magazines I think it includes features that will show my skills. Magazines like ‘Vibe’ seem to be less busy and have a much more plain design, therefore I feel if I was to use this as a prime example it might not show what I wish to show. I also like their colour schemes. If I was to go for a music magazine with a sub genre of rock, I would probably use colours such as red, black and yellow. However, if I go for a music magazine with a subculture of pop or R&B I would probably use light colours such as blue, green and pink – judging from what I have found in my research, these are the most common colours for that genre of magazine.
I already feel I will be able to produce an appropriate magazine for whatever genre of music I choose to go with. I still need to organise a title and plan what type of images will be included in my article, front cover and contents page though.

Preliminary Task

For my preliminary task I created a front cover and a contents page for a school magazine named ‘Haydon Monthly’. Firstly, I sketched the magazine on plain white A4 paper using my knowledge of magazines to create an appropriate design. Once I was happy with my designs I went onto Adobe Photoshop and began to create my front cover.

I used the Horizontal Type Tool to type my magazine title at the top of the page, using the font ‘Cooper Std’ because it is large, clear and bold therefore will grasp the target audience’s attention. I named it Haydon Monthly to imply that it is information about the school released on a monthly basis. I then began to create my sell lines using the same tool, however this time I changed the colour and the font of the writing to create an interesting and different style.

I tried to make my magazine front cover look appealing to the younger audience, therefore placed some sell lines diagonally in order to create a variety of different styled sell lines. I did this by clicking ‘Ctrl T’ which allowed me to move the text in different directions. I then created a long black rectangle using the Rectangle Tool and placed it at the bottom of my page. I the wrote in white ‘Bell Gothic Std’  font ‘win a non-school uniform day for your form’, as I feel this is appropriate content for the genre of this magazine.

I then went to File and clicked on Place to select my image I wanted as my front image. It is a photo of a boy holding his results with a happy face. I chose to use this photo as I feel it relates to my main sell line ‘Proud Students Pass’ and gives the school magazine a positive tone.

I then went on to create my contents page. For this I chose to use a simple theme. I used the Horizontal Type Tool to write ‘Haydon Monthly Contents’ in the same font as my front cover title. I did this to create a house style and make it look more professional. I then went on to create three different sections: ‘Features’, ‘Regulars’, and ‘News’. I created these in a larger font than the actual information underneath to make it obvious they are headings of different sections of the magazine. I made them in red also. I did this as it is an eye-catching colour and will draw the reader’s attention to each article in the magazine. It also stands out against the white background.

I then clicked on File and Place to insert a photo of a student jumping in the air holding their results, in order to keep up the positive tone of the magazine. I then clicked on the Rectangle Tool and drew it a little bit larger than my photo, and placed it behind it in order to create a Polaroid type photo.
I then also created an editors note to make my magazine look professional.