My preliminary task.

1. Preliminary task by Alec Bertina
Y12

2. This cover shows a
student so this suggests
this magazine might be a
school magazine.
The use of a bold dark
green font suggests a
informal nature to the
magazine, this could
either mean it is a silly
magazine or in this
case, a school
magazine.
The use of a
informal
content
reference on
the front
suggest that
this magazine
isn't very
professional
The reason why this gives
away that this is a school
magazine is because no
one else would be
interested in an interview
with the head of sixth
form.
The fact this magazine
is free also suggests it
is not a professional
magazine
The use of the
children in
need logo
suggests that
the school
likes to give to
charity.
Personally I would
change the font as it
looks fairly horrible
relative to the picture.
I would change the font to
something a bit more
formal.
Maybe a higher quality
picture could be done.
Task 1

3. Use of a
formal black
font with blue
underlining.
Highlights
when the
magazine
was
published
and what
issue it is
relative to
the latter of
magazine.
This also
makes the
magazine
look rather
professional.
Here we see a medium two shot (though
they are quite far away from each other).
While not shot on the highest quality camera
it is still a fairly good picture.
White bold font
used relative to
the medium
two shot
picture so that
they work well
together. This
makes it look
rather
professional.
The photo also
allows for the school
to present the work
of students
(otherwise known as
display work).
The lighting
in the
picture is not
to dark but
not to bright

4. What do people want to see in
a school magazine?
Topics Amount of people
Reviews of new
music
5
Reviews of new
films
3
Editorial 1
Articles about
activities outside of
school
6
Interviews 2
Analysis of
fundraising done by
our school
1
Upcoming events 2
Cost Amount of people
free 20
How much would people
pay for the school
magazine?
Task 2
Frequency Amount of People
Daily 9
Monthly 10
Yearly 1
How frequently would people
want the school magazine to be
published?

5. Task 3:Anaylsis of previous work
On the cover of the first magazine, I like the font used for the title because its bold and I like the way the
writing has been scrambled and tilted in a way to make it look eye-catching and professional. I also like the fact
that the person who made the cover used a mix of fonts for each different topic. The use of colour saturation
between the picture and the fonts also look very professional. Personally the thing I would improve about the
cover is the picture, as I don’t think it suits the title because he is not dressed that formally. The maker of the
magazine has fulfilled the brief. I personally do not think I can produce something that would be as good or
better than this magazine cover because I might be lacking in the IT skills in order to make it. I think I am also
sometimes very boring in the way I use fonts so I should probably look at the more creative magazine covers
and take inspiration.
I think the contents page as a whole looks very professional and because of the complex variety of fonts used
and because of the placement of the pictures to accompany some of the page numbers. I would maybe make
the picture smaller as it does feel like the contents itself looks crammed relative to the picture. I think that
unlike the maker of this content page, I am able to manage the ratio of the picture to the text in the contents
page. I do however struggle with adding extra touches to the contents page such as pictures near some of the
list of topics.

6. Task 4: Proposal form
Target audience: Students in sixth form.
Possible title ideas: The Student.
Main image: Medium close-up.
Main cover line: Dealing with the pile up of work.
Additional key images: Textbooks.
Additional cover lines: Sixth form life.
Typography: Book Antiqua.
Background colour/image: Folders.
Target Audience: Year 11 upwards.
Technical considerations: Text rotation, Image scaling to suit the fonts,
image and font must be compatible both in
colour and look itself.

7. Task 5 Rough Draft

8. Task 6: Magazine cover final.

9. Task 7: Contents page

10. What have a learnt?
Before I started the preliminary task, I could not even perform basic functions on
Photoshop. I learnt basic things such as how to allocate the correct spaces for pictures
in a magazine to have the desired effect of having a magazine cover that looks like it
was made professionally. I learnt the process that goes behind making a music
magazine and a cover page. I have learnt what I should feature in my cover to appeal
to a certain target audience. I have also understood how to entice the audience to
read a school magazine, but not give away the whole content of the newspaper, by
using brief sentences that act as a means of gripping people’s interest towards the
newspaper. I have learnt how to use shadowing and saturation to make my masthead
look good. While this does not exactly mean I solidly understand how to use
Photoshop, it is definitely a significant learning curve. I feel the biggest thing I have
learnt throughout the process of completing my preliminary task (mainly making the
magazine cover and contents page) is the importance of creating a obvious theme in
my magazine cover and content, and how I could actually create that theme using
Photoshop and knowledge I have gathered of my audience.

11. Process of the creation of my contents
page and magazine cover
The first thing I did is created 2 rough drafts, the last one being my more refined draft. I found the
ideal place to fit the pictures and the brief sentences that give a very brief incite as to what will
be in my magazine. Once I had a rough idea as to what I wanted to do I opened up Photoshop
and started creating my magazine. I created my masthead using a text box, as well as editing the
text itself (the name of the magazine) by adding saturation to the writing. I then added a photo of
the school’s coat of arms (which is Hitchin Boys’ School) near the name of my magazine. I then
proceeded to add the medium close up picture that I took and a picture of a folder (which I did
not take). I then wrote near the pictures, the topics and questions that will come up in the school
magazine).
After I completed the magazine cover, I then went on to creating my contents page. My contents
page was far simpler than my magazine cover. I made a title first, then I went on to listing the
content that will be in the magazine, also ensuring that I list on what pages these articles will be
on. When I completed that, I finished of the contents page by adding a picture of the head
teacher of my school, which is prevalent in one of my articles as well as adding a picture of my
school.