Lesson 10 - Creating School Magazine On Photoshop

In this lesson I was given the opportunity to start creating my school magazine entitled "Sixth Form Weekly" with a selling line of "Get Your Weekly Up To Date News Here!” I started creating my magazine front cover in Photoshop on a A4 piece of paper with a red background which was solid filled to represent one of the colours on the St Marks badge. I also started in to insert text such as my masthead, my selling line, the date line, issue number and the price. I have decided to have all of the text on my magazine to be in a yellow/orange colour in which will represent the second colour of St Marks. In the lessons to come I will continue to create my magazine and develop my initial ideas so that my preliminary task will be the best it could be. The Audience of my magazine will be current Sixth Formers in which are interested in current school affairs.

Lesson 9 - AIDA

In this lesson I was shown a PowerPoint in which took me through the idea of AIDA. This is a concept in which is used in advertising throughout the world today. A in the word AIDA means Attract. This means how are people going to attract people's attention and that I should consider the images I will be placing on the cover, the words, fonts, size of fonts and colour of the main text to do this. I in the word AIDA mean Interest. This means that once the public notice the publication their interest must be given. I will need to consider the choice and treatment of supporting images and the choice and treatment of the body text. D in the word AIDA means Desire. This means that the audience must desire the product. For me to do this I need to think about the benefits to the reader (knowledge and aspiration). The other A in AIDA means Action. This means that the cover from the audience point of view must provoke desire. For me to do this I need to consider having information such as; the price, date, email etc. I will be using this when it comes to designing my school magazine for my preliminary task. In this lesson I also created a mock up of the front cover of my school magazine in which I will use as my initial idea when creating my magazine in Photoshop.

Lesson 8 - Analysis Of Millfield School Magazine

I carried out research and I have found a online school magazine from a school called Millfield. The magazine is called "Windmill" which is the spring 2009 issue. The image on this issue shows a student asking a teacher and another student for help in the subject which must be for art as in the background of the image there is a variety of artwork which must have been created by the students at the school. This has given me the impression that the school does specialise in the subject of Art in their curriculum. The many different creations in the background are shown to us as the achievements that the school have made in the department. The lighting in the image does show off the fact that this work is the schools glory. The students in the image are dressed in a mature manner showing that they take great pride in their appearance to the school. The teacher in the image is also well dressed showing that he has authority and is sophisticated in his teaching.

At the bottom of the magazine there are a variety of cover lines in which tell the reader what is going to appear in the magazine. There is also a masthead on the magazine in which has been written in a text style which is stylist and shows off the schools sophistication. Lastly, on this magazine there is a dateline in which does show when the magazine has been published. I do believe that this whole magazine that I have researched does fit the audience that it was intended for and also covers many of the magazine conventions that I have studied in which has made it one good example of a magazine.

Lesson 7 - Analysis Of St Marks Sixth Form Prosoectus

In today's lesson again I was given the chance to analyse another magazine. This magazine front cover was taken from St Mark's Sixth Form. The Target audience for this prospectus will be people who are aged 16 and over who have just left school. The audience will be looking for somewhere to study for further education. On the front page of the prospectus the vibrant use of colours and images make the Sixth Form feel more welcoming. The images promote St Marks as a friendly social able environment to work in. The use of the capital letters on the front of the magazine promotes the Sixth Form as also serious and important. The images have been extremely well tailored to suit the target audience of this prospectus as they promote good features about the Sixth form. This task again allowed me to understand more concisely how the images and text have been tailored to the needs of the target audience.

Lesson 6 - Analysis Of Quad And Newsman Magazines

In this lesson, I was given the task of annotating on 2 different magazine covers in which were from 2 different universities. I had to identify the features that I had learnt about in the previous lesson and then explain why these features would attract a certain audience. This again reinforced the ideas that magazine industries tailor there product to their target audience. The first magazine cover that i did analyse was from the Queen Mary University of London. This magazine would attract post graduates who will be in there 20's onwards in extremely good careers because of the information that they did cover and the variety of images that were on the front cover. Also because this magazine has information about what is happening in the University and the post graduates would like to keep an eye on what is going on at the University now that they have left. This magazine keeps people up to date on what is happening to many post graduates and at the University.

I also analysed another magazine front cover which was called "Newsman". This magazine will be aimed at people who are currently looking for Universities to apply for. I expect them to be of an age of 18 upwards. The target audience will have little understanding about how to apply for University and what is expected of them to apply. The design of the magazine is simplistic and the colours that have been used imply that the University is looking for young new people who are willing to learn. I annotated the front cover of the magazine again I feel that the magazine conventions have been reinforced in this task and have allowed me to think in more detail about how a magazine has been tailored to meet the target audience's needs

Lesson 5 - Conventions of Magazine Covers

In toady's lesson I was shown a PowerPoint in which was on the conventions of magazine covers. Whilst the PowerPoint was on I was carefully taking noted on what is the best way to design a magazine cover. I also learnt about the different parts of a magazine such as the masthead, selling line, cover lines and left third. I will now be able to use this knowledge in the development of my magazines to try and create a magazine in which will cover all of these aspects.

Lesson 4 - Nature Magazine Front Cover

In Today's Lesson I continued to use Photoshop to create the front cover of my nature magazine. Whilst using Photoshop I developed knowledge of how to crop the image in the background of my magazine to grasp the attention of the audience to a particular part of the image. I also developed skills in making the text on the nature magazine easier to read by adding an effect called stroke. This gave the text a black outlining drawing the audience to the magazine. I also learnt how to warp text so that I could change the way in which the text was to be shown. The title of my magazine is now in a wav shape making it much more interesting and eye catching for the audience. Lastly, on the magazine I added that I have got an exclusive interview with a Nature guru to try and grab the audience attention. Also the audience may like the person/people I have written about and so are more likely to buy the magazine. I’m sure as I develop my understanding of how to use Photoshop, I will become a pro at the software.

Lesson 3 - Nature Photo's

In this lesson, I had to go with a camera to take photos on nature in which I would use as the front cover of the nature magazine I would be creating as the preliminary task. Out of the photos that I have taken I have decided to use the image of a running river through Netswell Pond. The reason why I have chosen to use the image is because of the way it portrays nature as something that is always there. The title of the magazine I will be creating will be called "The Real World". The audience that I think that the magazine will attract people who will be aged 35 and over and who will care about the environment and what is happening around the world today. The main aim of the magazine will be focused on the problem of Global Warming. People who read this will also care about animals and how the problem of Global Warming is affecting them in different situations. People who will buy this magazine will buy it to find out how Global Warming is currently affecting the environment and how Global warming is causing world disasters. Although the magazine may be only be attracted to the magazine, stories in which people can relate to will improve sales such as the floods that have embraced the United Kingdom over the past couple of years. This will lead to then much more people buying the magazine of different ages.

Lesson 2 - Photoshop Tutorial

In today's lesson I had a tutorial on how to use the new software called Photoshop. I was shown how to utilise the tools on the programme to then use in the development of the music magazine that I will be creating in the main task and the preliminary task of the nature magazine I will be creating. I was shown how to use the basic tools such as editing, text, images and colours in production of the magazine so I can then develop them whilst I’m using the software.

In the lesson today I had to edit a picture of a chocolate bar. I had to produce an advert using the simple tools I learnt in the lesson. At first I used the Magnetic Lasoon Tool so that I could cut around the image so that I would only be left with the part of the image I wanted. I then decided to create text in which I learnt how to change the colour. At the end of the tutorial I learnt how to enhance the image I had utilised. I could do this by changing the brightness, the saturation and changing the texture. Once I develop a better understanding of the programme I will be able to further develop my music magazine that I will be creating to be of the highest quality that it could possibly be. It will take me time to develop the skills needed to fully enhance the tools within this programme.

Lesson 1 - Introduction Into Course Portfolio

In today's lesson I have learnt about the Foundation Portfolio in which I will be creating through the next couple of months. In the task I will be creating a Preliminary task as well as the mask task. In the Preliminary task I will be creating a school/college front page which will need to have an image of a student in medium close up and also have a contents page. This will give me a chance to develop my skills in the software that I will be using and designing my magazine. In the main task I will be creating a music magazine in which will have a front page, contents page, a double page containing a minimum of four images. During the course of the lesson I found out that the coursework would be marked in 3 parts. The first section is "Presentation of Planning and Research" which will be marked out of 20. The construction of the music magazine will be marked out of 60 and lastly the evaluation will be marked out of 20. I am looking forward to find out what is involved using photo-shopping and also using the preliminary task to help me produce a high quality piece of work