Sunday, 22 November 2015

School Magazine Contents Page

School Magazine Contents Page

 
For my contents page I have done a basic layout.  I kept the same colour scheme as my front cover which is black, yellow and white, doing this I kept the theme of the school colours.  I haven't used as much contents as I hoped to on this page as I feel I didn't have as much information as I thought I would.  However, I will have a different approach to my music magazine and have more if an imagination when creating the different pages.

Saturday, 21 November 2015

The Contents Page

Questions

 

What is the function of a contents page?

The function of a contents page is to give the reader an idea of what is featured in the magazine.  Tis also includes page numbers to indicate the context of these features.

How does a reader use a contents page?

The contents page is placed at the front of a magazine.  This is usually the first page after the cover page.  The reader use this to select a topic they're most interested in and they would look at the page number and they would be able to jump straight that page.

What is the conventional layout/design for a contents page in a magazine?

The layout is usually set out in columns.  There is usually one main image relating to an article and smaller subsidiary images relating to other articles.  The masthead, the word 'contents' and issue date are based at the top of the contents page and the colour scheme is usually similar to the front page.

How much information does a contents page contain?

The contents page will only include relevant information to the articles inside. The page number needs to be relevant to the page of the article.  There is a small summary of each article underneath the subheading of the article.  This gives the reader an idea on the information of the article they will be reading.

How are images used in a conventional contents page?

Images are used to relate the topic to the article.  You will often find the image close to the page number and the subheading, whether it being a picture of the artist/band or equipment.

 



Wednesday, 14 October 2015

School Magazine Front Cover


I have called my magazine 'School Gossip'. I chose this name because it highlights a pupils secondary school life as a whole. The colour scheme of my masthead is Black and Yellow, I used these colours as they represent the schools traditional colours and I feel that they will attract the audience as well as using the word 'Gossip'. The stroke around the text is yellow and stands out around the black writing, I used this because the yellow shows and highlights the main purpose of the magazine by suggesting that inside the magazine there will be gossip within the school. The mast head is large on my front cover as it helps stands out to the audience.


For my main image which dominates the front cover I took a photo of a year 7 pupil called Katie. She is representing the story of how the year 7's are settling into King Henry.  I took a medium shot of this pupil and removed the background.  Before removing the background  there were tennis courts where Katie was stood, removing the background sing Photoshop allowed the image to be focused on her. The pupil is wearing a sports kit which shows her interest in a certain subject.

I have used three subsidiary images that are all each turned at a 15 degrees angle or -15 degrees angle and overlapping each other. I have used these types of images to show the other contents within the school magazine.

The first image I used was of King Henry's main reception, I used this image as a representation of a welcome back to the school.  You will also see a repeat of the colours Black and Yellow which shows more of the meaning of the colours in the masthead and also helps carry on the colour scheme.


The second subsidiary image I used is a medium two shot of year 7 pupils in a music room, we know this because we can see keyboards and music posters in the background.  This image could suggest the talent the school can offer, we can also see that the pupils enjoy this subject to their happy facial expressions in the image.

The last image I used is of two sixth formers, we know they're sixth formers as they're not in the school uniform.  These students are stood outside upper school hall which is used as the sixth form area where they spend there study periods, breaks and lunch times. I used this image to show that there will be a section of the magazine on sixth formers and that the magazine is aimed at the whole school community and not just the majority.  The facial expressions of these students show that they're bubbly students and enjoying being in sixth form.



On the right of my front cover I used five sell lines,  this indicates the contents of the magazine. I used Black writing and I have also used a line to divide the contents up and made it yellow to fit in with the Black and Yellow theme. I did this to show that they will not all be on one page and that there will be different stories.  I also used a different font for the sell lines and made them bold so that they stand out next to the main image. I made sure that the text was a reasonable size so that it stands out and is readable to the audience.


 

 

Magazine Cover before further editing

This is the first draft of my magazine cover before editing and adding more features to my front cover. I also added a header bar and a footer bar to show the latest content and to show the target audience of the magazine.

 

 
While editing my front cover further I decided to add an issue number and a price,  I did this so that the customer has an idea of the price they will be paying and the number of magazine that have been issued through the school year.
I also decided to put in a Pull Quote and a Splash. I used a Pull Quote to give the reader a preview on what the pupil has said. I also used a Splash to give more of an idea of where the quote came from.  I think this is a good idea because this may bring the reader to understand the main story in the magazine and will bring the reader in to bring it.
 
 

Completed Front Cover

The front page of my magazine has a clear and organised layout.  It isn't too cluttered or messy, and is presented well. My front cover shows information about school life which would appeal to my target audience who are pupils and students in King Henry.  I believe that my front cover is recognisable to the school as it uses the traditional colours.

I am pleased with how my magazine front cover has turned out. I feel its inviting to young pupils. They layout I have used is effective and works well with my main image. I like the way I have tilted and overlapped my subsidiary images as I think its effective. I am also pleased with my main image as I think it works well on the page. However, I had to resize the image to make it larger due to a lot of blank space on the page.  I think it now looks better as its more presentable and filled.

Saturday, 26 September 2015

Editing Photogaphs

Removing the Background

Photoshop
First of all, you load up 'Photoshop'. To do this you selected the 'start' button on your homepage clicked all programs and selected 'Adobe Web Premium C55.5'.

To load the image into photo shop we select the 'File' button, click 'Open' and find the image you want to manipulate and click it to select.

When ready to remove the back ground click the 'Quick Selection Tool' and begin to remove the background be holding the left button and dragging around getting as close to the person as possible. If you make a mistake by going onto the person, hold the 'Alt' button and press the left button to add more outline.

You then need to inverse the photo so that the person is selected instead of the background.  To do this you click the 'Select' option the click 'Inverse'.

Then you're able to touch up the image by selecting the 'Refine Edge' option, here a panel will appear where you're able to detect the edges by clicking the 'Edge Detection' option. Here you can select a 'Radius' and start to refine the edges of your image then press 'Ok'.

After that you then inverse the photo back by clicking the 'Select' and 'Inverse'. Then you use the 'Move Tool' option and then click the background and press delete.

Save the image as a 'JPEG'

InDesign
To insert the image into InDesign you click 'File' then 'Place'.  You then select the image you want and press 'Open'.

To insert the image into InDesign you click anywhere on the document and the image will become large on the page.

To change the size of the image you use the 'Direct Selection' tool to change the size of the outer box and then the inner.

To then add more detail to the document you can add text, to do this you use the 'Rectangle Frame' tool to create a box. You then use the 'Type' tool option to insert text.  You're then able to change the colour and outline colour of the text by selecting the 'Default Colour' option tool.

You then need to copy the image to put on another layer.  To do this you need to click the box around the image you're copying, select the 'Window' button, click 'Layer' create a 'New Layer' and paste the image.

To then clean up the image a bit more you select the picture which is knows as an 'Object'.  Then you select the 'Object' menu, then click 'Clipping Path'.  Here you will see options, one will be 'Type', you then select 'Detect Edges' and click 'Ok'.
You can also add an effect to your object to do this you select the object, click 'Effects' then you can use a 'Basic Feather' effect which will smooth create a smooth edge to your object. Here you set the 'Feather width' to whatever suits you and select 'Ok'.

Once your design is complete you can then save.