For the first idea, I created a plan quite randomly of how I would want my magazine to be laid out. I decided from looking at different covers on the internet and from my research, that I would have the title going accross the page at the top, with a small space above it where I would advertise competitions and quizzes. Next, I decided that my image should be on the left hand side of the page, underneath the title, with only a heading to represent the image above it. I then decided to place my story titles around the main image, and then had my debate story along the bottom, as I thought it was important and eye-catching.
To create the title/masthead, I firstly looked at different texts on the internet, and found one which was quite square shaped, and was very basic and smart looking, like the one from the 'Secondary Teachers' magazine, which inspired me to create a similar look, as it was smart , legible to the reader, and had the appropriate effect needed to make the magazine look good. The word 'magazine', underneath, I decided to do basically, as I thought that large or more creative font would be too distracting and complex for the reader to understand, and would lose attention when read.
The next thing I did was decide which fonts to use for the titles, which were mainly smaller, thinner fonts for less emphasis, but I included some bold font for attraction.
The final thing which I decided to do was place an issue number at the top right hand corner, so that the reader knew which issue they were reading, and would make selecting the issue easier for future reference.
The colours which I suggested for this cover, were navy blue for the background of the cover, a light/lime green for the masthead, and for the stories or other titles, I decided black and white colours would be appropriate, as they would be bold enough and easy enough to read, without distracting from the other features of the magazine.
Idea #2
For this idea, I decided that I would do a more basic layout after considering my ideas from the first, concluding that they were too complicated and should be more basic for the target audience, a college teacher/student, to read. Therefore, I decided the layout would include the main image being placed in the centre, the main storylines below underneath each other in lines accross the page, and at the top the masthead, with a banner like the first, advertising competitions and quizzes, as I thought this was a successful and eye-catching idea to the reader.
The first thing I did upon creating this cover, was to again look on the internet for more fonts, but this time i decided upon a more 'fancy' text which may still look smart. I found one which I thought was appropriate, and applied it to the 'college' title. I then found an italic font, similar to the first, and used it for the word 'magazine' underneath.
I then drew lines to divide the different stories at the bottom, as though they were in long boxes, and did them with heart shaped bullet points as an idea to throw in. Again I used the issue number feature for the magazine, as I thought it was successful and easy for the reader. And finally, I found a more scripted font for the competitions and quizzes banner at the top, for a different effect.
The colours used for this idea, were white for the masthead, white again for the boxes containing the story titles. I thought that blue/purple would be effective for the text over the top of the boxes, and blue/purple for the cover background.
Idea #3
For this final idea, I chose a mixture of both of the previous ideas, and had the main image on the left hand side, the masthead/title at the top, the issue number again in the top right hand corner, and the titles around the image. However, for this idea, I combined the idea of the boxes containing the stories, and the stories grouped around the image. Therefore, I decided to make random diagonal shaped enclosed spaces containing the stories inside. This was for a more modern, unique look to the magazine, appealing to the younger generation, the students, whilst also having the basics for reading, such as the teachers.
The first thing I did, like the other two ideas, was look for appropriate fonts for the masthead and stories. I decided to find a basic yet detailed font for the title, again combining both previous ideas to hopefully create a successful look for the magazine. After searching, I found a sketchy style large bold text. Next, I chose the font for the word 'magazine', underneath. I decided just to keep this simple and go for a very plain , round style of text, and was happy with the one that I had selected.
I decided not to include the competition banner at the top this time, to see how a different look would affect the magazine. In conclusion to this, I chose to include this as a title like the rest on the magazine, to see how effective it was.
I next created the text boxes with the diagonal lines, deciding that all text w0uld be in capitals to give an 'urgent' look to it, exept for the bottom story about the database, as I included 3D text for that also.
The colours that were used in this idea, were the sections of the story titles were green + yellow as they were bright, contrasting and attractive colours. Also, I chose for the background to be blue, and the title to be black with a white background, for a newspaper effect, representing importantce in the title, taking this from my research which gave me the inspiration for the idea.
The final stage of my planning and creating of my magazine ideas, was to create a final draft of my magazine design, meaning that I had to choose an idea that I had created, or design something different that I would like to use for my magazine cover.
To create the final draft, I looked back through my three ideas, thinking about which key features I thought were successful and unsuccessful for the magazine to fit the target audience, and the features appropriate to them.
I started to look at the first magazine, and decided that I liked the type of font that I decided to use, as it was basic yet appropriate for a college magazine, and was legible for the reader. I also liked the central position of the font, so decided to keep that too. I decided that the different fonts and text were a bit too much like a music or teen gossip style of magazine, and thought it would be inappropriate for the type of magazine. I also thought about the same concept when looking at the competitions banner at the top, so decided not to use that either. Finally, I decided not to use the issue number, as it would be inappropriate to the particular task that I was doing, as I was only making one issue, and thought that it too shared the gossip/teen magazine value.
I also decided against using the colour choices of the first, as since the ideas had changed, the colours would not fit and some were too bright to work.
I next studied the second idea which I created. I decided after looking at the key features in this, that the rows at the bottom with the font in were easy to read and a successful idea for the magazine, and decided to use this in my final draft. However, I did not decide to use the font, as it was slightly too complicated for the theme of the magazine, and would not be as appropriate as a more basic font. I also decided against using the issue number, as in the first, and again, the competition and quiz banner. Although I chose to keep the story rows, I decided that the heart shaped bullet points were inappropriate to the magazine, and that I would use basic bullet points if they were to be used in the final draft.
In the colour ideas, I decided to keep the white box colour for the story titles. I decided after looking at the other colours that they would not fit the ideas collected so far enough, and thought that they would be too bright for a college magazine, and the final draft.
The final piece that I studied was the third idea. I used the exact same font included in this for the final draft, as I knew that I wanted a basic font which would be easy to read and straight to the point for the reader. I also liked the idea of the stories around the image, so I kept that too. Finally, I kept the idea of the text all being the same font, as I thought it was simple and easy to read. I did not like the capitals used in this however, as I thought it did not give as much of a friendly approach as lowercase would. I did not keep the idea of the image being on the left, however, as I thought that it should be striking when looking at the cover, and thought that a central position would be more suitable to gain this. I also decided against the diagonal boxes, as although they were modern, they did not suit both audiences, and made a more complicated look for the cover. It looked more like an inside page/plan of a page than a cover.
The colours which I decided to keep from this idea, were the black with white background title colours, as I thought that they were attractive, and gave the previously mentioned effect similar to a newspaper. I discarded the other colour ideas in this cover, however, as I did not have 'sections' for the story titles anymore, they were in boxes, giving it a different look, and I thought that the green and yellow contrasts suggested would be unfitting with the new combination of colours I had chosen so far. I also thought that the blue background was unfitting, as the other colours may have clashed with it.
Now that I had picked out the key points of each idea, I would now put them together to create my final image. Here is what it looks like, before the I.T copy of it is made.
I am happy with the result, as everything is easy to read and information on the cover will be easier to find in the magazine because of the cover layout. The boxes for the stories rather than columns are more basic , yet are a successful way of making the stories stand out rather than the spaces they are confined in. And finally, the main image is positioned well, as it gives emphasis to itself and is one of the first things the reader will see when looking at the magazine, as it is placed in the centre.
Using the combination of colour experiments from the previous 3 ideas, I decided to use the following colours for my final draft:
Title/Masthead - Black with white background
Cover background - Light/lime green
Boxes for story titles - White
Story titles - Blue
Main story titles - Pink/purple
I chose this combination of colours, as I believed that the masthead or title would have the desired newspaper effect and would be attractive to the reader, giving it importance and making it iconic so that the reader would remember that if not anything else after reading for future purchase/reference. The background was chosen to be green, as a representation of the typical colours used in Wyke newsletters/information sheets, and ofcourse the Wyke College sign, making it symbolic to that. Also, The boxes for the storylines were chosen to be white, as they would look smart, stand out and be bright, so that the text inside them could still be seen. The story titles were chosen to be blue, because blue and white match, meaning the boxes and the text would compliment each other so that there was no colour clashes, and was chosen also as it is a smart colour, giving it a sense of seriousness. Finally, the main story titles were chosen to be pink/purple as they are the main priority to stand out, and would match with the green background, particularly if pink. Overall, although some changes may be made in the process of the I.T creation of this cover, I am happy with the result, as I believe it is appropriate, smart, and fitting to the target audience and genre of the magazine.
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