2. Attracting and Addressing ourAudience. We knew that the objective of the task was to create a students magazine, so instead of basing the magazine about the college, the ‘gossip’ or the nightlife, we chose to do it about a particular course, even though it was created for a smaller audience, it had a beneficial use. So we chose to produce a magazine for students who took either Business Studies AS/BTEC, Economics or even ICT. We agreed that we should give the magazine a feel of sophistication, and make the colours and fonts we chose calm and stylish. The model we used was wearing smart clothing which reflected the vibe of the magazine, and she had work in her hand to give a ‘hardworking’ aspect to the front cover. Our cover lines were phrases such as ‘How to make a Profit’, ‘How to become a successful Entrepreneur’ and even ‘Business fashion Do’s and Don’ts’ – so it appealed to all readers.
3. The Front Cover We chose the font ‘Times New Roman’ because it is a serif font, which we thought could connate more sophistication to the magazine, especially as we had it in italics – not only to make it look smart, but also eye catching. Unlike many magazines, it is written in lower case letters, which helps it seem less over powering. Having your main text on the front cover white makes the magazine look more innocent and connotes calm. It also stands out against the green build up back ground so is most easiest to see. We chose to name the magazine ‘Business Life’, because we thought if students are committed to their subject that they buy the magazine, then their aim in life must have something to do with business. Business also effects our lives everyday without us realising. The use of the black runner with the white text denotates contrast between the two, which creates more attention. Both colours together also connote formality, which is how we wanted the magazine to be seen. For the background, our original plan was to keep it a cool, tranquil colour, such as baby blue, white or black to keep with the business theme we had. However after we had taken photos or our model, we experimented with different backgrounds and saw this to be the best one. It looked the most natural and it was a good take of the model too.
4. The Front Cover – The Model Natural make up and hair style. For our magazine cover we were originally going to be using a male and female model, wearing suites or smart uniform to give it a business like effect. Both models would have been holding ring binders and books to connote that the magazine has a serious aspect, as well as positive. However instead we decided to just use a medium close up of a female model, as we thought it would look better on the cover. She was wearing smart clothes and subtle make-up, which made her look natural which was the look we were going for. The stationary we wanted was also captured in the photo, as you can see she was holding a ring binder. Smart Clothing The Business work, which not only connotes determination to do well, but also gives a ‘hardworking’ aspect to the magazine. She is smiling, which gives her a look of success, and makes the viewer want to ‘smile’ too. It also makes the magazine look good to read.
5. The Front Cover – TheText The language we used for the cover lines was quite formal as we thought most of the readers will be looking at the serious aspect of the magazine. We didn’t use much slang on the magazine for this reason, however we did write a cover line saying ‘Business Fashion Do’s and Don’ts’ – this wasn’t in our original plan however we thought that the magazine could have been more enjoyable, and not too serious. Cover lines to do with Business, were included such as 'How to make a profit', 'best tips to become a successful entrepreneur' and real life stories from people with experience. Our puff was a competition to win a laptop, we thought this was appropriate and persuading for the magazine.
6. TheContentsPage Using a serif font, we wrote it in italics and in the colour black to connote seriousness and attract attention to the page. We took a photo of our Business Studies AS workbooks, to give a feel of the course to the readers. We also got a picture of the Eiffel Tower from the internet as part of a Competition Page, however in the real cover we will take our own photos. The blue block containing the page numbers was the main focus point on the page because it took up so much space. We also used the colour blue because it connotes calmness and also we associate business with it. We included ‘Editors Notes’ so the magazine seemed more proffesional.
7. AnyChangesWe Made Originally we planned to have two models, a male and a female on the front cover, however when we realised the image had to be a medium close up, we couldn’t really make the magazine with two. We were also going to have a plain background colour for the front cover such as blue or white, but when we took our images to test where was the best, it seemed that the picture that looked the most suitable for the cover was the picture with the leaves as the background. We were going to put more blues and whites on the front cover, however it didn’t really work with the green. As the green may connote fresh, which is what business work might be.
8. TechnologiesI Learnt From The Process Before I completed my preliminary project, I had never experienced a blog or some of the design programmes to create my magazine cover. I learnt many useful processes which will benefit me through my other projects in AS Media. I had some experience with Photoshop from GCSE, however I forgot a lot of important techniques so recapped some of the details about the programme. These programmes definitely helped us make our front cover and contents page and made it look much more professional. Technology we used to help us create our magazine... Programmes on the internet, for example Blogger.com Digital SLR Cameras, to take our photos for the magazine. Photoshop, to edit the magazinelayout InDesign to edit the magazine itself.
