Preliminary task

We started off by discussing what we think would be included in a school magazine, for example things like:

-upcoming events within the school
-any new clubs/extra curriculum activities
-individual and group achievements
-any other news such as a new computer room
-trips/days out etc

We decided it would seem more appropriate to include stories that would interest all years within a school, so instead of focusing on things like guides to universities (which is more sixth form based) something like a new computer room would appeal to all ages.

As a group we then went onto deciding what our front cover could be of. We agreed we liked the idea of having a room within the school redone and decided that the school cantine would be a good place as the whole school uses it. I came up with the idea that we should get a dinner lady to cut a red ribbon as it would suggest it was being re-opened. While i took the picture, Jenna and Dominique helped set it up. Jenna suggested we take other pictures around the cantine as if to show the new facilities that would be available to the students, so we did so.





















After a few shots we decided we liked this one as it was clear and we could easily manipulate it to how we wanted. We uploaded the image from the digital camera onto the computer.

By using Serif Page Plus we cropped the picture to size onto an A4 template and started thinking about the masthead of the magazine. As we were basing this magazine on our own school we thought it would be a good idea to include "Hitching Girls' School" in the title somewhere. As a start we researched other school magazine titles to try and gain some inspiration. After a while Jenna said how we could set it like a newsletter. This gave me the idea of calling it "To Hitchin Girls School" but after a lot of thinking we thought it sounded much more effective if it were "From Hitchin Girls..."
We started looking at some fonts for the masthead.

The green circled one thought it looked as though it was regular handwriting which we liked as we thought it would fit well with a school magazine. However the text didn't stand out much.

By using 'word art' on Microsoft word we could test out some of these fonts in a much clearer way.

The red circled one was our favourite. "Freehand575" was similar to handwriting, it was bold and thought it would suit over the top of out main image.

We thought about other articles to include on our front page, so we looked back on our previous research on what should be included in a school magazine.

Our first draft looked like this:
There was a lot of work to be done, and we asked other students what they thought of it as a source of outside feedback. Some of the thoughts were...

-good use of image, it uses up the space well and is laid out clearly. It might have been a good idea to use direct focus.
-the masthead is appealing yet it doesn't stand out very much.
-A variety of different fonts makes it easier to read and more aesthetic.
-the use of a school logo was credited also.

As a group we took the comments on board and took another look at the brief then discussed how we could improve our cover.

We thought about making the image a medium close-up, which was originally the brief. This meant cropping and changing the image to make it fit. However when tried, the image looked too stretched so we decided to fill up the bottom with the pictures of the cantine we took to start with and link it with the main article. We also needed to add things to make it seem more professional like an issue number or date, a website etc. We decided not to have a price as it was a school magazine and thought the students wouldn't want to pay for it. This meant we didn't need a bar code either. After adding on some extra articles to give the target audience other reasons to pick up the magazine, our final front cover eventually looked like this

We then went on to do our contents page. We decided to keep certain trends within the magazine so that it would look as though it were part of a brand identity or house style. For example the font of the masthead is the similar as the headline on the contents page. The ellipses is also used in the contents page as it fits in with the front cover.
The colours used are kept simple, only two are included in the font; blue and white. Blue is a school colour and is also used on the front page and white shows simplicity which keeps it easy for the audience to read. These are contrasting to the background, which is a neutral colour so the reader does not get distracted. It again makes it easier to read. The website at the bottom is in a bolder, darker font which makes it stand out clearer. We decided to include the website again so that the reader can have a say on what goes into the magazine. We thought this would make it more personal and attract more readers as they can read a magazine that they can have a say on what is included.

From doing the preliminary task I've learned how to discuss ideas as a group and reach a decision as to what suits the magazine best. I think as a group we had good communication which helped a lot when completing the final touches. I also thought about the target audience a lot which i think is important when doing my music magazine. Brand identity was also something we thought about throughout a it links the magazine together. If i was to do it again however, i would probably change the picture on the cover to direct focus as it would draw the reader in more. I would also draw more focus to the fact the magazine was free as it would gain more readers. I would of done this by using a puff on one of the corners that would interest the reader in picking it up.