College Magazine

Contents Page: Mock Up

Camera angle shots

The main camera angle used on magazine front covers is medium close ups. These are the most affective shots for magazine front covers because it helps people identify what the magazines about. For example magazines can show off clothes on a pretty elegent woman which is easy noticable and the clothes can be recognised by the audience, the person in the shot gives their full eye contact which draws the audience in and communicates with them. Another example is football magazines like four four two; they tend to have a footballer on the front cover in medium close up; who although isn't avdertising fashion, there football kit can be identified easily in the medium close up or there training up rather then if it was a long shot or an extreme close up on the face. Therefore if I have in my college magazine a football player on the front cover I should make sure I get the top in therefore it becomes clear he is part of the college team I should also make sure the main story of the magazine is about the football team.

Typogrpahy Tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ8MMec7mV0&feature=related

This tutorial will help me make some colourful and effective text on my college magazine front cover through the form of typography.

Typography and Desktop Publishing

Typography is the design and use of typefaces as a means of visual communication from calligraphy to the ever-developing use of digital type is the broad use of the term typography. However, the art and practice of typography began with the invention of moveable type and the printing press. Typography is sometimes seen as encompassing many separate fields from the type designer who creates letterforms to the graphic designer who selects typefaces and arranges them on the page.
The art of typography focuses on the characteristics of a typeface, the shapes of the individual characters, and the aesthetics of a particular font. Text composition deals with how fonts are arranged on the page. It involves manipulating text placement and altering the visual appearance of the text.
Desktop publishing is the process of arranging text and graphics on the page and producing a file for printing. Typographic or text composition is a step in that process that takes the text and ensures that its appearance is appropriate and that it enhances the overall page composition. Text composition involves numerous individual tasks that break down into four general areas: placement, style, spacing, and embellishment.
Desktop publishing is about combining text and graphics. On the text side, designers use fonts to make the text look good. There are specific tried and true methods of using type in desktop publishing to accomplish the designer's goals. These practical typography tutorials include:
• How to choose the right fonts
• How to use expert characters including diacriticals and ligatures
• How to improve legibility and readability
• How to arrange type on the page, with or without accompanying graphic elements
• How to use typography creatively to communicate more than just the basic meaning of the words


Helpful Source:-http://desktoppub.about.com/od/typetutorials/Practical_Typography_Tutorials.htm

Guidlines to HELP me use Typography

• Use Serif Text with Sans Serif Headline - When in doubt, pair a serif font for body text and a sans serif font for headlines.
  This is not a rule. This is simply a good starting point for when you're stuck for ideas or can't seem to find the right mix. In most cases a serif plus a sans serif provides good contrast and doesn't overwhelm with too many fonts.
• Use Contrasting Styles - Avoid mixing two very similar typefaces, such as two scripts or two sans serifs. There is not enough contrast and the small differences will cause a visual clash.
  This is one reason that pairing a serif with a sans serif font works so well. There's generally good contrast
• Use Fewer Fonts - Limit the number of different typefaces used in a single document to no more than three or four.
  With too many different fonts you run into problems with not having enough contrast between similar font styles plus a lack of consistency and even a feeling of choppiness because there are too many distractions. Using just one typeface can be better than two or three or four or more.
• Use Proportional Fonts - Avoid monospaced typefaces for body copy. They draw too much attention to the individual letters distracting the reader from the message.
  The best body copy fonts are the least distinctive. They generally have less extreme parts or unusual character shapes. This is one place where boring can be better. Use fonts with more distinctive characters in headlines and pull-quotes and other places where you want to grab attention and pull the reader into the story

Target Audience

The target audience of a magazine can be easily identified from the front cover. For example a match magazine's target audience is for 7-12 year olds, which is apparent in the colours used, as match magazines used bright eye catching colours like the bright yellows and reds. Also it consists of many pictures on the front cover and the sub contents are scattered all over the page in different colours and different angles; it shows of a young playful side to the magazine therefore it appeals to its target audience and doesn't look too formal and boring for children.

The four four two magazine has an older target audience of teens to young adults. From the front cover alone i know the target audience is older then the match magazine this is due to only one main image and a little one in the top right, whereas the match magazine has images at the bottom down the right and at the top of the page. This shows a more formal approach to four four two's audience. Also the sub contents in the four four two magazine are bold but are just yellow and white other then the match magazines blue yellow black white and red sub contents; they are also on a horizontal angle which doesnt give off a relaxed and young vibe off as the match magazines sub contents do. Laslty both magazines main image cover part of the title i believe this is because they are well known and easily identified despite being covered slightly however since my college magazine is not as popular i have decided not to cover part of my college magazines title.

Images

There is usually one main image on a magazine front cover; the images used always represents the genre of the magazine for example the men's health magazine has a man with his top off and a 6 pack and a girl with her arms around him this shows to the target audience that the man is healthy and looks after himself and as a result he gets a beautiful woman. Therefore pictures can be used to grab the audience attention aswell as relating to the magazines genre.
I have looked at several college magazines withing my research and they all had the same layout with a big bold masthead; 3 sub contents at the top of the page; a big main image; and a smaller image at the top of page beside the sun contents. These magazines had a theme of a white background with green/blue/orange writing. The sub contents seemed to be more organised then on other magazines i believe this is because college is a more formal subject then fashion and mens health. Therefore i should not scatter sub contents across the page when i make my own front cover and only have two pictures max with a simple theme which coule be repeated.

Barcode

The bar code on a magazine front covers tends to be out the way at the bottom left of the page; this is purposely done to avoid crossing any sub contents which are effective for grabbing the attention of the target audience; or the image which relates too and represents what the magazine is about or most importantly the magazines masthead otherwise it may be hard for people to identify the magazine. Therefore it is effecient for the majority of magazines to have the barcode in the bottom left of the page.

This image shows how the barcode is well out the way off any main aspects of a magazine front cover.

Date

From looking at several magazine front covers; it has become apparent that the most common place for the date on a magazine front cover is just below the masthead this is because people who buy the magazine will straight away look at the masthead, therefore if the date is below it then it educate people immediately on whether its a new magazine or not.

Labelled Magazine

This picture of a labelled magazine front covers shows me the main aspects of what is included in magazines therfore this will be helpful for the planning of my magazine front cover. It will also assure me i dont miss any important aspects out of my magazine front cover.

The men's health magazine shows the conventions of a magazine front cover; it includes a big bold eye catching title, the date just below the title in a small font.

Also it includes a large image in the centre of the page which relates to the name of the magazine as it shows the audience to what looks a healthy man.

Dotted around the front cover are bold sub contents which make you want to buy the magazine and read about how they can build a total home gym for £44 for example. The sun contents vary in size as maybe some are used to catch the audiences eyes more than overs. They also vary in colour

This will help me produce a magazine front cover on photoshop:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1VThwTPTnQ&feature=fvw