This document outlines Marko Djuricic's process for designing a front cover and content page for a school magazine as part of an AS level media studies task. It describes the three production stages of pre-production, production, and post-production. In pre-production, Marko conducted secondary research of magazine design conventions and primary research through a student questionnaire. In production, photo shoots were done for the front cover and content page images. In post-production, the front cover and content page were designed using Photoshop based on the research. The final designs effectively incorporated school colors, targeted informal tone and reader interests to appeal to students. Overall, the task helped Marko develop skills in research, planning, and analyzing
2. INTRODUCTION
For my AS level media studies, the first task I got was to
make a front cover and a content page of a school
magazine. The magazine will be composed out of original
image with an appropriately laid out text and additional
design feature which will follow magazine design codes and
convections. This task will be carried out in three main
production stages which are pre-production, production and
post-production.
Pre-production: Primary and Secondary research,
production planning and initial idea development.
Production: Photo shoot
Post-production: Front cover and Content page design
using Photoshop.
Task and final outcome evaluation
MarkoDjuricic
4. SAMPLE OF QUESTIONNAIRE
SCHOOL MAGAZINE
QUESTIONNAIRE
This is a school magazine
questionnaire, here you will be asked
about what do you want to see in our
school magazine, and what do you
want to read about.(Please tick your
answer)
1. What year group are you
in?
Year 10
Year 11
Year 12
Year 13
2. Would you like to read a
school magazine?
Yes
No
3. How often do you read
magazine?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
4 . For what purpose do you
want to read the school
magazine?
For knowledge
For fun
For school updates
Other ____________
5 . How often would you like
for a school magazine to
be released?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Yearly
6 . Would you like for a school
magazine to contain a quiz
or a puzzle?
Yes
No
7 . Would you like for a school
magazine to be fun or
formal?
Fun
Formal
8. Which colors are eye
catching to you? (Tick 2
answers)
Red
Orange
Blue
Black
Yellow
Green
9. Would you like to be
included in the magazine?
Yes
No
10. Would you like to
participate in making
school magazine?
Yes
No
MarkoDjuricic
6. QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS
MarkoDjuricic
20%
30%40%
10%
Q.1. What year group are
you in?
Year 10
Year 11
Year 12
Year 13
70%
30%
Q.2. Would you like to read
a school magazine?
Yes
No
20%
40%
10%
30%
Q.4. For what purpose do
you want to read the
school magazine?
Knowledge
Fun
School
Updates
Other
30%
50%
20%
Q.3. How often do you
read magazine?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
7. MarkoDjuricic
10%
30%
50%
10%
Q.5. How often would you
like for a school magazine to
be released?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Yearly
80%
20%
Q.6.Would you like for
a school magazine to
contain a quiz or a
puzzle?
Yes
No
70%
30%
Q.7. Would you like for
a school magazine to be
fun or formal?
Fun
Formal
20%
10%
25%
35%
5% 5%
Q.8. Which colors are eye
catching to you? (Tick 2
answers)
Red
Orange
Blue
Black
Yellow
Green
8. MarkoDjuricic
20%
80%
Q.9. Would you like to be included in the
magazine?
Yes
No
10%
90%
Q.10. Would you like to participate in
making school magazine?
Yes
No
10. QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY
According to the research that I did and the results of
questionnaire and the question “Would you like to read a
school magazine?” where 70% answers were “Yes” I
concluded that there is a need for a school magazine,
and the topic that are going to be imbedded into the
magazine will be mostly focused on knowledge and fun,
other then that there is going to be a quiz or a puzzle for
Secondary students to solve when they are reading the
magazine. The school magazine is going to be released
monthly and the design and the overall content will be
more informal then formal, so it appeals to desired
student population that I am intending to aim the
magazine at. The main color of this school magazine will
be blue, since it is the most dominating color of the
school and it is one of the most chosen color in the
questionnaire, second main color will be black mainly
because it appeals to the students the most as it
represents elegance, sophistication, formality and it can
associate with the school main color, which is blue.
MarkoDjuricic
11. SECONDARY RESEARCH
MarkoDjuricic
Existing School Magazine Front Cover Critical Analysis
The Font that is used on
heading is a Serif font, which
is an informal font and it
nicely contradicts with the
rest of the font used on the
magazine cover which is a
modern font. The colors
used on writings are
opposite of the background
in which they are placed,
such as white on a darker
background and black on a
brighter background.
Color red for “Online”
attracts attention of the
students and it alerts them
of something that is
important and it makes them
to grasp an interest in that
article. It is also the
subheading of this magazine
and it is the most noticeable
word and is used to “sell” the
magazine o the students.
The Camerawork on this front
cover is a long shot of a
student going in the direction
of the camera. The student
does not take a large
proportion of the front cover
and she is not the most
noticeable object on the front
cover, but the historical statue
that represents the history of
the school and its high
ranking status in the country.
The color that is used on the
title is opposite of all other
colors used on the front
cover, the color of the title is
white, it perfectly stands out
against the dark
background.
The person in the background
is in a tracksuit and is walking
towards the person looking at
magazine, the style of
walking is cause so it gives a
relaxed and friendly vide
which attracts students.
12. SECONDARY RESEARCH
Existing School Magazine Front Cover Critical Analysis
MarkoDjuricic
The color scheme of this front
cover is black in contrast with
brighter colors, such as yellow,
red and white. The black color
that is the main color here is
associated with the transition
between innocence of
childhood to the sophistication
of adulthood. The
concentration of black color in
this front cover page is
somewhere in the middle, not
to much and more then
enough, if there was too much
black color then if would create
a negative environment and
cause depression and mood
swings.
The font is used on this front
cover page is bold very
modern font and together with
the metallic coloring of it gives
an idea of graffiti which is
appropriate for the target
audience and it will serve its
purpose which is to get the
students to read this
magazine.
The language that is used on this
front cover page is direct kind of a
language, since there are no
subheadings, there is only the
main heading which suggest that
the color scheme is enough to
attract the target audience.
The layout of this cover page is
quite messy and casual which
contradicts the normal magazine
covers that are formal and
co-ordinated. It is over done in
Photoshop, and it is too much for
the school magazine cover, it
suggests the idea of a video
game. There are transitions
between the heading and the
image that is in the background,
the subheading fades away and
merges together with the prison
like background. The prison like
background may represent the
main theme of the school, which is
convicts, that would indicate that
this is a police school.
13. SECONDARY RESEARCH
Existing School Magazine Content Page Critical Analysis
MarkoDjuricic
The black color used in
contrast with purple color
creates attractive heading to
this page, very comfortable to
the eye of the reader. Big
bold number letters easily
help to navigate throughout
the magazine as they are
made visible. Purple color
used for the background of
the heading associates with
luxury, dignity and creativity.
Purple is here highly
associated with white color,
which are most likely to be
the representative colors of
the school.
The two different pictures
represent two different parts
of the school. First picture,
which is a girl dressed in
formal outfit indicates that
there are no strict rules in the
school, or else that the school
can be considered to be in a
relaxed environment.
On the second picture, there can be seen
two seniors in a suit, representing the
professionalism of the school and its high
status.
The content of the page is very
neatly and strictly put on,
emphasizing the formality of the
school. On the bottom of the
page, the most important story of
the month is put on right aligned,
whereas less important stories are
put left aligned, that shows the
importance of the story, and the
description used in the content
page perfectly foreshadows what
is written in the magazine
altogether with less important
stories that have just their
headings put on the content page.
14. SECONDARY RESEARCH
MarkoDjuricic
Existing School Magazine Content Page Critical Analysis
Large heading in a modern
fort that is used here
successfully shows the
purpose of this page, and it
is highly visible and the first
thing that is seen on this
page, because of the color
contrast that is used, black
heading on a white
background. The two main
colors used are black and
white, those colors are most
likely to be the school’s main
colors, that is also shown in
a right upper cornet which
contain an emblem of the
school that this content page
belongs to.
The font used is modern font
which is neatly put on the
content page, it is stretched
throughout the length of the
page with many subheading.
The blue color being the main
contrast to white color is
associated with stability, wisdom,
confidence, intelligence.
The short and catchy headings
for each section are divided into
different sections which will
communicate to the readers.
The language that is used is very
formal, with no grammar errors,
meaning that the school has
strict rules.
15. TYPOGRAPHY ANALYSIS
MarkoDjuricic
“NME” magazine is a well
established music magazine
throughout the world. “NME”
uses a heavily-bold sans-
serif font with some new
effects added to the original
font so a unique font was
made for the magazine
specifically. The font that
“NME” font originally
originated from is somewhat
similar to superla-black font.
“NME” uses an acronym so
it’s more catchy and can be
more easily remembered by
its audience.
“Wired” magazine is an all
news around the world
magazine, it is globally
famous magazine. Magazine
“Wired” uses a mix of serif and
sans-serif fonts that contradict
the colors that they are put on,
making it eye-catchy and
appealing. White letters on a
black background, letters W,R
and D are sans-serif font, and
black letters I and E on a
white background are serif
font. “Wired” uses contrasts of
colors to attract more attention
to their heading.
Magazine “Revolver” is
also a well established
music themed magazine,
which concentrates on
hard rock and heavy metal
music. Their font matches
the music that they talk
about, it is dark and
informal. The font used on
their heading is a sans-
serif font. The color of the
font is appealing to an eye
of a person who listens to
this music, since it is the
color that represents this
kind of music.
17. SCHOOL MAGAZINE COLOR SCHEME
MarkoDjuricic
The colors that I have decided to use in this magazine
front cover and content page preliminary task are the
two colors of school with a mix with the two colors that
were chosen in the questionnaire. School’s colors are
blue and white, and two colors that were chosen in the
questionnaire were blue and black, so the final mix will
be between blue, black and white colors there will be a
small use of other colors as well. The colors are
visually pleasing and tend to combine perfectly, other
colors that will be used will depend on the target
audience, for example red for an important news, pink
or purple for girls’ news and blue for boys’ news.
29. AS MEDIA SCHOOL MAGAZINE EVALUATION
For my preliminary task I have been asked to fully design a front cover for the school magazine and a
content page. This task was supposed to be an introduction to main magazine design task. During this
task focus was on developing key skills needed in the production of magazines. Including secondary and
primary research, production planning, CAD of magazine front cover and content page and finally
evaluating overall production process.
As in any production of a magazine, initial stage of any preproduction involved secondary and primary
research. Secondary research consists of researching already existing front covers and content pages.
During the secondary research I have learned the uses of different layouts, types of camera angles,
editing, formality or informality of fonts, different meanings of colors. I have combined all of these to
create the final front cover and content page. The use of media conventions is mainly based on the
questionnaire that the students have done together with changes that I have done, not everything is
based on the questionnaire answers. Theme is chosen by the questionnaire and it is based on blue,
black from questionnaire and white color, which is highly connected to the school’s main color which is
blue, there is a high use of red color as well, to help attract the students and make them interested into
reading it.
The language that I have used is suppose to create the effect of informality and appeal to the students
since it does not give the idea of being a school magazine. The main image is eye level shoot of a
person wearing informal clothes giving the idea of the informal magazine on the first look. The informality
of the magazine is also connected to the informality of the school, since there are no strict rules in the
school. Fonts that are used are mix of both sans-serif and serif fonts, there isn’t any particular font that is
being the main font. There is a mix of both types of fonts because it is a school magazine, so it is
supposed to be formal, but there is a sans-serif font to show the informality that students are searching
for.
During this preliminary task I have developed many different skills and learned about AS Level Media
terminology. I have learned how to analyze magazine front covers and content pages in more depth, as
well as advancing my research ability, I have discovered my capability in planning and organizing . Doing
this task helped me with the transition from GCSE to AS level. The deadline that was set on this task
helped me to increase my productivity and produce work of higher level.
MarkoDjuricic
