Photos - Edited

I have now edited the photos. I personally think that they look a lot better.

I will use the 4th photo in this set on my front cover, and the others will go on my contents page. The overall outcome of the photos is good, so happy days.

Photoshoot

I have now completed my photoshoot. All didn't exactly go to plan, as the camera was rather tempermental, but we got a few good shots.

I definately plan on using the following three pictures:

However I will edit them to make them look more edgy and interesting. This means that the magazine will be more eye catching and exciting.

I also took photos that I do not want to use in my magazine:

I am not using these pictures either because they are blurry or I just don't think that they will fit in with the theme of the magazine.

I will now take more photos and edit them so that they are suitable for use in the magazine.

Questionaire

1. What type of music do you listen to most?

2. What is your favourite genre of film?

3. What are your concerns about education?

4. What would you like to see as a competition prize?

5. Would you like to see information about gap years?

6. Do current affairs interest you?

7. What information would you like to see about higher education?

8. How many times should a magazine such as this be released?

9. How much would you expect to pay for a student magazine?

10. What would you like to see on the front of a student magazine?


Please leave your answers in the comments box below (:

Organising a photoshoot

I have to organise a photoshoot so that I can create images that are suitable for my magazine to use both on the front cover and on the contents page. These must be relevent to college, but not over college-y, as that would make the magazine boring and unattractive.
I shall take the photos when I am at college, so they can be natural and fitting. I want them to be outside, and I want the students to look happy and like they are enjoying college. This will create a positive vibe, and it is possible that more people would buy it because of this.
I will take the photos this week, so that I keep up with my action plan. This means that I can start creating my front page towards the end of this week.

Textual analysis

I will analyse the front cover of etc magazine so that I can get a good idea of what I can do with my front cover and contents page to make it appealing.

The mast head is large, and in your face, so it is the first thing that you see. It stands out by using a bright primary colour against the black of the background. This is a common theme of magazines. We are told what etc stands for in the strapline; Education/Training/Careers. This shows that it is relevent to students, and has an appropriate but non patronising title. The title is in a font that uses serif, which makes the title look sophisticated and grown up, meaning that students would be happy to read this.

The graphics on the front of the magazine are also brightly coloured, drawing the eye to it, so that we find out what the main story is. The banner is in fact not in normal banner style, it is in a brigh green box, meaning that it stands out even more. This helps to tie in the image with the main headline. We also get cover lines in blue boxes so that they stand out as well.

The final details of the front cover are a website at the bottom so you can access it by other means, and the date of the issue. These are elements that most independent magazines will have.

The contents page has a clear and simple layout. Images relating to the various stories are located on the left hand side, and the stories and the page numbers are on the right of them. The heading of the page, 'contents', is a diffferent colour from the rest of the writing, and is a different font with serif, meaning that it stands out from the rest of the page. The contents are divided up by subheadings, so that we can clearly see the different sections of the magazine, and easily find what we're looking for. The font is sans-serif, meaning it looks simple, clean and easy to read. The names of the pages have very tiny lures underneath, as they tell you about what is on the page.

Overall, this magazine uses bright colours and big fonts to be attractive and grab attention of students, so that they get good reader numbers. I shall incorporate the idea of bright colours, clean, smiple fonts and images on the contents page when designing my front cover and contetns page.

Magazine name

What would be a fitting name for my magazine?
	WLC
	Blur
	Student Jam
	Student voice
	The rumour
pollcode.com free polls

Comparing Student Magazines

Different student magazines offer different things to students. We looked at a range and compared the main features of each magazine:

Student ID:
-Horoscopes
-Hot topics (Vampires)
-Lovin' and Hatin'
-Revision tips
-Reviews
-Photos
-Next issue contents

HC:
-Fun stuff (film and music reviews)
-Good stuff (Gap year, volunteering)
-Student stuff (University, exams)
-Life stuff (Careers)
-Win! Win! Win! (competitions)
-University/college

Smart talent:
-Politics
-Police
-Education
-Volunteering
-Our generation (myspace)
-News
-Life being a teenager (crime)

From this research, we can gather that music and film are clear common themes, as these are two things that pretty much all teens would be interesting. Also, education is common. This is not surprising as it is a student magazine, and so therefore things to do with gap years, universities and exams would be important for them. It is also important to keep up with news or latest trends, so that the magazine can cater to the students' needs. Other than this, the 'fun' elements could be down to the individual writer, as these change with each magazine.

Action Plan

My action plan for the weeks ahead is as follows:

Week One (Starting 15th November):
-Creating this action plan
-Setting up the blog
-Compare magazines
-Decide on the name of my magazine


Week Two (Starting 22nd November):
-Textual analysis of magazines
-Organise and possibly do photoshoot
-Question poll
-Front Cover

Week Three (Starting 29th November):
-Front Cover tweaks
-Contents
-Get audience feedback

Week Four (Starting 6th December)
-Evaluation