The document is a student's portfolio for their media studies foundation course. It includes sections on researching target audiences, visual design considerations, and reflections on creating a school magazine covering design techniques learned in Photoshop and InDesign. The student gained an understanding of magazine layouts, content, and color schemes through the process.

1. AS MEDIA STUDIES
FOUNDATION PORTFOLIO
RESEARCH & PLANNING
CENTRE NO: 11049
ST FRANCIS XAVIER COLLEGE

2. My name is: Anna Fofanah
Candidate No:9630

3. Preliminary Project – Research & Planning
• Choosing my target audience was very easy because it’s a college magazine, so therefore my
target audience would be teenagers aged 16 - 19. On the other hand it could also be for
parents
• The awareness of my audience had a big impact on my visual design therefore to be able to
realte to teenagers; I reseached mutliple magazines targeted to the same age group also
doing surveys within the college so I’d know what appealed to them most.
• When my final product for my school magazine was finished I was very proud of the outcome
because I have never done anything like this before. In Photoshop and InDesign I have
learned basic image editing techniques from producing my school magazine for examples by
cropping out pictures and using different background colour and playing about with certain
images so they appear more suitable for my cover. I have also gained an understanding
about the conventions of a school magazine in team’s conventions in layout content and
colour schemes

4. Preliminary Project
College Cover College Contents

5. Reflections & Feedback
• What would you do differently next time?
The things that I would do differently is my background colour as the colour
of my front cover and contents page are not the same, it makes it look incomplete.
My magazine cover is too simple and plain I could have added other pictures or use
my colours creatively.
• What kind of feedback did you get that might influence you?
Some feedback that I received was that the background colour was too bright and
the colours used for the font were too similar. Also more images could have been
put on the contents page; readers would’ve liked to see more pictures relating to
contents within the actual magazine.
• What aspects of your understanding of Adobe Photoshop & InDesign do you need to improve?
I could use my columns more effectively so that my cover lines are not too close to
the edge, or clumped. Also how to use my layers correctly so that I know were all by text and
pictures are by naming them.

6. The music genre of my music magazine is:
• The genre of my magazine is Jazz music
• My chosen title was Riffin, this is because I
wanted my magazine to stand out more. So by
giving it the name of a musical terminology
used within that specific genre gives this affect.

7. So I researched this genre of music publication
and studied:
• Model 1 • Model 2

8. What I learned from this was…..
Cover Design Cover Lines
•Use of bright Colours •Formal
•Mostly black and white background •Relate to music
•Main image Close up or medium •Events coming up or happening
•Musicians with an instrument in now
saxophone, trumpet or piano •Most of the cover lines involves an
•Gender- men or women artist
•Plain and simple not too much •CD’s reviews
going on it’s not crowded with cover •Tasters
lines or pictures •Programs

9. For my music magazine….
• Target Audience: mostly people who enjoy jazz,
sophisticate people 18 and over
• Frequency: monthly because it allows the
reader to have something to look forward to.
• Cover price: £3.00
• Publisher : Rhinegold
• Unique Selling point: Get the feeling of Jazz in
your bones
The reader gets to know what the genre of the
magazine Jazz

10. This is the face of the magazine
• I’ve used a lot of colours because I think that
• Front cover jazz magazine is meant to be fun and lively. My
main image is a man playing a saxophone, I’ve
chosen to use this picture because most of all
the magazine that i have researched have used
a musician holding a saxophone or trumpet and
I didn’t not want to lose that affect so I decided
to also have that sort of image. I’ve used six
different colours there for breaking the codes
and conventions of a jazz magazine. The reason
for this is because using a brown background for
my cover meant that I couldn’t use colours grey
and white as it would not stand out so I used
brighter colours. I also used six cover lines which
include names of artists, events and cd reviews
which normal magazines have. I have used one
image because most magazines I’ve researched
also have one image.

11. Here are the 4 original photographs I
shot for the project……

12. I modified each photograph; here is
the original next to the final version:
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why
The reason why I cropped the background of this picture is because the two men in the
background looked like they were not doing anything. This picture was taken at a gig that I
attend, so I didn’t not have full control of who should be in the picture as they were a band
playing on stage and that’s the reason why I cropped the picture, in order for the main focus to
be on the singer who stands out more in than the other people in the picture. In InDesign I
used the stroke tool to put a white background around the image. This made the image stand
out more and also looked different from the other pictures I have used.

13. And the second one:
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why
Firstly I used my tools in photo shop to flip my picture vertically, as I wanted the picture to by at the
bottom right of my contents page and I wanted her back to be at the edge of the page not in the
middle as it didn’t look effective to me. I also cropped out the background of this image because
of the door in the background I didn’t think it was appropriate to be part of a magazine picture.
I decided to give it a lighter brown background from my contents page because I wanted the
picture to stand.

14. And the third one:
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why
I cropped out the background of this image because I didn’t really like the background
as it was not suitable for a magazine and the background colour that I had chosen
for my magazine didn’t not go with the colour of this background. I change this
picture into black and white because I wanted it to have an old effect and also
because most jazz magazines have black and white picture. On my contents page in
InDesign I placed a stroke behind the picture and I used swatches to give it the a
black background as I didn’t like it on my contents page with just the image alone, it
didn’t stand out.

15. And the last one:
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why
I also cropped out the background of the image because
it wouldn’t look professional to have the plug sockets
in the picture showing in the magazine and secondly I
wanted the main focus to be on the musician

16. Here are a couple of research models for
my contents page…

17. This is my contents page
Contents Page • In this section I have used clear headings to
show the reader the different sections of the
magazine and where they need to look to be
able to find what they need.
• I made my numbers bold and in a different
colour so that it stand out and it will catch the
readers eye quicker so that the reader will know
where the features are in the magazine.
• I also placed the same numbers of the features
on the pictures it relates to so that the reader
will know what picture belongs to which article
and who the article is about.
• The reason why I have made the fonts of
seventeen my contents page larger than the
other features is because that’s my main story
needs to stand out from all the other
• The colour of my heading on my contents page
is in white and yellow this is because that's the
colour I used for my front cover and this colour
scheme has run through out the my contents
page.

18. How does the contents page link back to
the cover page?
My front cover highlight’s the artists and musicians that are also Artists
on my contents page for example James Grant and Ashleigh
Ndjoli. My main story on my contents page is has a different artist
from the main story of my front cover. I wanted my magazine to
be different from the other magazines that are already out there.
Magazines that use the same artist as their main story on their
front cover, contents page and double page spread. After Main story
completing both my front cover and contents page I realised that
the outcome look of my magazine did not come out as I wanted it
to. My idea way not very clear and I feel this might confuse the
reader.
My contents page and front cover link because I’ve used Title Colours
the same colour yellow and white for my title for both my
contents page and front cover. I couldn’t use the same font
for my title ‘Riffin’ on my contents page as my cover
because it was no longer available.so I tried to get a font
that looks just like it and I used ‘MS Mincho’. Also I used
the same font ‘Verdana’ for my features and regulars on Same font
my contents page and also for my cover lines on my front
cover. For my cover lines on my contents page I decided
just to use two colours to keep my magazine at a
professional standard. I only used more than one colour
green, pink, blue etc.. on my front cover to stand and to
catch the readers eye.

19. Key points of contents page
How have you made the reader want to read on?
I have used pictures and words to make my reader want to read on. the pictures are clear and the words tell the read who is the
person is and give them incentive to read on.
What are the links between images and words?
In order for my pictures to link with the words I have placed numbers on them, for example picture 26 and words 26 have the
same number. As I have placed all my artist under features that meant that all my pictures would have been placed in one
section and I didn’t want that. I decided to spread my pictures around so by giving them number the reader will still know which
artist belongs to who.
What determines the dominant stories?
The size of the image of my dominant story is larger than the other pictures. Also the words are in bigger font an are almost
placed around the image. Doing this allows the reader to eyes see the main story before reading other thing that are on the
contents page.
How have you gone about ordering the information on the page?
Firstly, I didn’t want all my pictures in one place, so I had to spread them out on the page. I also did not want my regulars and
features to be on one side of the page, as most magazine do. I placed my feature on the bottom right and my regulars on the
left because regulars come before features. Then I placed my picture around two on the left and two on the right next to the
words. Making everything balanced.

20. How does the contents page flag up your double
page spread?
My double page spread is based on the
dominant story of my contents page. I have
used the same artist on both contents page
and double page spread.
The artist pictures and words are big to
make her stand out and also informs the
reader that she is the cover story and main
feature of the magazine
Even though the background as change on
my double page spread. I used a cream
colour which still matches with the colour
contents page. I also used the same colour
of the background on the bottom right of my
double page spread to keep the colour
brown consistent . The font Times New
Roman is also used through out my double
page spread apart from the title and quotes
which are a different font.

21. Here’s an example of an inspiring double
page spread…

22. This is why I think that double spread
works
The use of only two colours and one picture that takes up half of the page
is amazing. This double page spread works because of it simplicity and
effectiveness. These are the traits that i plan to follow in my double.
The use of the black and white theme with the hint of yellow highlight
significant information. The layout of is not over crowded which makes it
easier for the reader to read. Looking at this double page spread I was
attracted to it so I think this I what I need to for double page spread.
The genre of my magazine is jazz. This which it has to have a relaxed
theme about it. This is illustrated in the double page spread that I have
analysed.

23. This is my double-page spread

24. This is how my double page spread works
My double page spread has a relaxed and simplicity theme to it. This is also seen in my
contents page.
The colour scheme show clear link to my contents page and cover page.
Although I changed the main model of my magazine. This makes it look like there is no
link to my contents page and double page spread. However my re-draft cover page
and contents will have the same model which will then link to my double page spread.
I started the article with an introduction of who she is and what she is doing.
I chose to make the main picture which is on the left page a little bigger than the
others. However not that big so that it does not dominant the page and take the
attention away from the other pictures.

25. This is how all three components are
linked together….
Although my model are different I just my colour scheme is consistent . Same
model on the contents page and double page spread. The theme of jazz is
seen through all the three components

26. This is my re-drafted cover page
• Cover Page • Key modifications from
feedback
• Colour of my title has changed
• Main cover line stands out
• Added more tasters
• Cover lines on one side
• Colour scheme changed to blue, pink, white and
black
• Background colour changed to grey
• Change of instrument Clarinet to a saxophone
• Barcode is on the right not on the left
• Artist is no longer playing the instrument it’s placed
in the background
• Change of unique selling line to ‘Get the feeling of
Jazz in your bones’
• Artist changed from a man to a female artist
• Price no longer placed with barcode, placed next to
title
• Issue number and date separated
• Change of masthead name from ‘Riffin’ to ‘RiffinJazz’
• Colour of the bottom strip changed to pink from
white

27. This is my re-drafted contents page
• Cover Page
• Key modifications from
feedback
• More tasters
• added to extra columns tasters and reviews
• Add Subscription
• Only three artist picture are featured page
• Picture of the front cover is added and a picture of
tickets
• The main cover story picture changed
• Colour scheme changed to white, blue , pink and black
• Formation of the layout change
• Writings not hidden
• Masthead design changed
• Colour of masthead changed
• Colour of the bottom strip changed to pink from white
• Picture position changed

28. This is my re-drafted double spread
• Double spread

29. Key modifications to double spread from
feedback
• Main picture on the left changed to a full picture and in black and white
• One column of question and answer is seen on the left page
• Issue number, date and website removed
• Picture formation change on the right side of the page and 3 new pictures are added
• New question is added
• Quotes colour changed
• Text formation changed
• Photographer name added on the side on the left hand side
• Same fonts used for question and answer but different font for the quotes
• image shot from different angles

30. Evaluation
• You can find my blog here:
(URL) http://fairofface-fofanaha9630.blogspot.co.uk/
And
You can find my evaluation with responses to the 7 questions
here:
(URL) http://fairofface-fofanaha9630.blogspot.co.uk/