Evaluation

My magazine is similar to that of other sixth form magazines. However, I wanted it to look individual to Fortismere. My front cover layout follows the same conventions of many other college/school magazines, using a picture of students on a school trip. The image is of students at the school, i chose this image because it makes the magazine seem more personal and focused on their sixth form. I edited the image my making it black and white, increasing the contrast, darkening it and finally cropping it. Other magazines seemed to keep their images fairly the same, keeping them the same bright colours, I chose to change my image to make the front cover seem more professional. Most sixth form magazines didn't seem to have manipulated their image as most of the images were of the school buildings.

My magazine is a winter/Christmas issue, with this in mind I used this as an overall theme for the design of the magazine. I found an image of a snow flake and copied this onto the front cover and scattered them in different place to add to the winter theme. However i didn't want to crowd the front cover with too many images or text.

My magazine is aimed at students, so i decided to make it geared towards today's youth. I used bright colours, grabbing text and eye catching images. Although, i wanted to show a fun, youthful image and design i also wanted to show students enjoying working, in this case showing students on a trip.

The magazine would be published by a local company to save money, and be on sale in the sixth from block at lunch time. The magazine would cost £1 and would include the weekly newsletter. I decided to keep the cost low to attract more people to buy it and spend any extra money on competition prizes. The magazine would also be accessible to teachers and parents, as the magazine would feature information about school events and news. Knowing that teachers and parents would read the magazine i would include information that would concern them.

During this process i have analysed other sixth form magazines so help me to decide on the layout, image, fonts and context i should include in my magazine. I have also learnt how to use photoshop to edit images. I learnt how to take a successful picture and compose a magazine front cover layout. I am glad i have learnt how to use photoshop because it will be very useful for other media projects and in later life.

My mock ups of the front cover of my magazine are fairly undeveloped but have been extremely useful. The mock up i chose has allowed me to develop my idea clearly and produce the product i desired. My research on other sixth form magazine was also very useful in helping me develop my final ideas for my magazine front cover and contents page.

Second Mock up

Second mock up

My second mock up has a different design and colour scheme. This mock up design is much more conventional with a similar layout to nearly every other magazine front cover. The colours i used are pale green and pale blue to reinforce the idea that it is a Fortismere school magazine. The feedback i got from this mock up was positive although many people thought that the front cover was too conventional and not "student friendly". With this feedback i decided to pursue my first mock up and develop it further. I used the idea of having the the text "FORTISMERE" written vertically down the left side of the front cover to give an edgy and unique layout. However, i combined some ideas used in my second mock up of having lots of texts crammed onto the cover to give it a youthful edge. 

Choosing the image

I chose this image because i would plan to do an article about the trip, with pictures of the studnents and the places they visited in belgium. This image also shows the studnets looking happy and enjoying themselves which i hope would persuade people to buy the magazine.

I showed my two mock ups for my front covers to another student to get their feedback on which mock up was better. The feedback suggested that i should use the one with this image rather than another which was of only girls walking. That image suggested that the sixthform was an all girls school and their lack of coats suggested it was taken in the summer. To fit with my idea of having a winter issue fitted better with this image showing the students in coasts infront of a winter background.

Questionnaire feedback and Front cover

My next challenge was to decide on what price, title, image and other features my magazine should have. I created a questionnaire about magazines and gave them out to both year 12 students and year 13 students. The questionnaire asked what price people would pay for a sixth form magazine, what articles they would want to read about and the design that would attract them. The results showed that the majority would pay around £1 for a sixth form magazine, that they would like to read articles about upcoming events and trips. From this information i decided to make my magazine focus more on sixth form trips abroad and concerts in the school. However, i also wanted to incorporate Student council information and a section for parents and teachers.

First mock up

Front Cover
My initial ideas for the title of my sixth form magazine were:

-F.S Magazine
-On The Hill
-Fortismere On The Hill

I decided to chose the third title, but i wanted the front cover to have an unconventional design to make the magazine stand out from others. I didn't pick a particularly original name so i decided to make the layout different to make the front cover seem more youthful and different. Once i had decided on the title for my magazine i then moved on to decide on the design and colours for the front cover. The magazine is a Christmas issue so has lots of red and green text and colours, but i wanted the main co0lours to be the school colours: green and blue. The front cover is set out with "FORTISMERE" written vertically on the left side of the page and the words "On The Hill" written as a title. I chose to do the Fortismere text written down the side in a pale blue, thick font and the "On The Hill" in a pale green colour. The other text is in bright red, green and yellow colours to give the magazine a youthful feel.

The image i decided to use are of students on a trip, i edited the image on photoshop by making it in black and white, darkening the colours, increasing the contrasts in colours and cropping it. I decided to use this image because i wanted to show students looking happy and especially because it shows them on a trip abroad. I also chose it because i planned to do a spread about it in the magazine.

Getting started

Analysing sixth form magazine

When analysing a sixth form magazine we looked at the front cover and one article from a current sixth form college magazine.

I chose to analyse this front cover for North Devon School of Art because it was very different to many others. I analysed the use of colour, layout, fonts and image.
The title "College Magazine" is bland and unoriginal, suggesting a lack of thought and planing has gone into making an interesting name for the magazine. The colours used are blue white and purple because it is a winter issue. These colours are neutral making the magazine seem quite sophisticated and mature. However considering this is a magazine for young people it may have been more appropriate to use more colours, teasers, and fonts on the front cover.

The image is of the outside of the building with no students or other objects. The lack of students makes the school seem quite lifeless and serious, with the addition of students laughing or painting i think the image would be much more suitable and effective. The image doesn't seem to be very youthful and inviting suggesting it may be aimed towards teachers and parents more than students.

There is very little text of the front cover other than the title, making it look unprofessional and plain.

From looking at this magazine i have decided to base my magazine on the season of christmas, with articles about the christmas school dinners, christmas concert and other seasonal events. My layout and design will be more "teenager friendly" and youthful to attract my target audience.