Before I start designing my own school magazine I carried out some background research. I searched for magazine covers and photographs and analysed them, this will help me for when I am creating my own magazine cover for my first task.
This magazine cover has a clear picture however the theme of the issue is not know to the reader. The only one heading is the name of the magazine which will disengages peoples interest very quickly. The purpose of the magazine cover is to get the publics interest so the photographs will need to be intrigue the public through and captions will need to be eye catching so they can read the content of the magazine. From a plain magazine cover I am going to assume that the content is also going to be tedious. A image of a sharpener and pencils only shows me that it is a school type magazine but doesn't reveal anything else, this could put a reader of immediately.
There is a set colour scheme however the designer of the magazine has not used it to match the heading and the school logo making the cover look amateur. The colours that have been used do not work that well with each other. The heading of the magazine is not all in the same font or colour and by looking at the cover I do not see a reason for this. Also the logo of the school looks misplaced so the magazine looks very unorganised. There is a clear line on the magazine cover the design does not come together.
Even with a clear image there is much need for improvement. Also for my own magazine I will be photographing people and not objects.
The second example of a magazine cover I chose looked more appealing to read compared to the first one, it also looks more professional from the photograph to the heading and captions. There is a clear colour scheme. The cover is clear to read and the issue theme come across quite well which is very important, however with this example the full cover is not show which is not helpful to analyse.
The third example has bright inviting colours from first glance it look simple to read and not too complicated putting of a reader. The picture looks clear and professional and is relevant for the magazine issue. Unlike my first magazine cover example the colour scheme matches the logo and magazine title. Additionally the cover gives an incite of what is inside the magazine which differs from the first examples where there where no captions at all. Overall I feel that it is a fairly good design but it is slyly on the plain side. I personally feel that the photograph interesting and could be used to help me with my final copy of my magazine cover.
This design is quite simple but I feel it works effectively for the purpose and the theme of the magazine, and closely links with the second and third example The bright colours like the previous examples make the cover more appealing. The photograph is interesting, and I think will help me with my final design; since I will photographing someone myself for my school magazine. I will need to think about who I am photographing and the effects of lighting to make my picture dynamic. There definite colour scheme even from the photograph used, I personally feel this is a good example of a cover even though there is always room for improvement. More captions could be used to show readers ways inside the magazine like the types of articles. The theme of the magazine issue is very obvious so there is not much of a need to have as many captions as other magazine covers.After researching various magazine covers I experimented possible shots for my own magazine cover- RTC STANDARD. I used actual photographs from other magazines to help me with this task. Thinking for potential shots I was thinking of playing around with the idea of the 'School Nurtrition' magazine because I find the photograph quite interesting.
For an idea I am thinking of having two images of the same pose, portraying the idea of a person changing through coming to a new secondary school.
Before I started using In Design to start the process of making my magazine cover I drew up a sort of plan that I can develop from:
Below is a print screen of the look of my front page, I linked my desgin to my previous research:
I have tried to apply the rule of three to the layout of the cover, and used colours from the photograph to use within the colour scheme or not only the front cover but the contents page and other pages in the magazine. And below is a print screen of my final design.
Final Design
