Final school magazine and contents page design

This is my final magazine cover page. For my background, I still used the picture of the school gates but I had to change the contrast to make it more 'dull' so that the text could be read. However, I found out that by changing the contrast, it looked boring and dark so I decided to give the background some slight colour, enough to see and make the magazine cover look more interesting but clear enough to be able to read the text on top of it. The text I have kept the same as the others, giving it varied fonts, colours and sizes just to make it look more appealing. However, I didn't use very bright colours for the title, subtitle and text about the inside of the magazine as I think it wouldn't really match with the colour on the background, so I left it with the colours black and white. This also makes the text more clear and easier to read. However, the date that I have added is in red so that it would stand out for the students to read and know what issue this is and will know what magazine is more up-to-date and helpful for them to understand the information in them. I added three edited pictures which are 'smudged' into the page, I did this because I think it looks affective and smooth and like I said before, not like I have just copied and pasted pictures onto the page. I put these pictures on the bottom of the page in a line, like my last contents page draft, because I thought it looked neater than it did on my last cover draft where they were all spaced out. I think that this makes the pictures clearer to see because they are in colour and also, I 'sharpened' the pictures to make them stand out. 

This is my final contents page for my school magazine. For the background, I used the picture of the school gates again but changed the colour. I did this so that it wouldn't look exactly the same as the cover and gives the idea that if I had created a whole magazine, all the pages would be different colours which is much more appealing and exciting. Like I have done with all of my drafts, I have varied the font, colour and size of my text just so it wouldn't look plain and boring and would hopefully grab someones attention. I put the title and subtitle in black  because I thought that this stood out more than the colours I tried like, red, purple and a darker shade of green so eventually I chose black also because it was much clearer to read over the background. I put the contents and 'Pg' in blue and white because I wanted to make them look striking and stand out. Also, the actual contents inside the magazine is written in black. I did this so the text would be as clear as possible to read because obviously, is the most important part of the contents page. For the pictures, I have kept the idea of lining them up so that they look neat and clear to see but also instead of putting them across the bottom, I have put them horizontally along the page. I did this because I have put another picture of a student doing her work which fills the side and some of the bottom of the page so I thought it would look too cramped if I put all of the pictures across the bottom. I have also varied the size of the picture of the student working and the other pictures along the side. I thought that this would look really affective as the pictures aren't just in one bunch in a certain place on the page, they are all over, but neatly done. The picture of the student has also been cropped out of the original background. I did this so it wouldn't just look like i'd placed the picture on top of the background and not edited it.

Second draft of my school magazine and contents page

This is my second draft of my school magazine. I think this one is much better than my first as it is much more brighter and more 'in your face'. In this draft, I used a picture that I took of the school gates as my background, so it shows the school and the school logo together. I also used  three of the pictures that I edited on Photoshop and 'smudged' them into the background so it would look like one picture. I also think by smudging the pictures, it looks more smooth and more like a proper magazine and not just the look of copying and pasting pictures on top. In this draft, I also varied the text size, colour and font like the other one as I thought it made the magazine more appealing and affective. I have also added the date so it would look more like a proper magazine. Although I feel that this magazine draft is a lot better than my last, I think that this one is a bit too busy as the colour of my background is too bright and because of that, you can't read the text very well and also you can't see the pictures that I added very clearly. In my next one, I am going to try to edit the colour of the background so it will not be as bright but keep the text varied and bright, and also keep the pictures that I edited and added to it. 

This is my second draft of my school magazine contents page. Overall, I think that this contents page is a lot better than the other one as in my opinion, it doesn't look as messy but looks more compact with lots of text and pictures. I have carried on using the school gates as the background so my magazine looks more consistent. In my next magazine contents page I would like to keep this picture for both the cover and contents background but change the colour of the background on both so they're slightly different. Again, I used varied text sizes, colours and fonts because I think that it is affective. On this draft, I put the photo's that I edited on Photoshop in lines on the top and bottom of the page to make it look neater and clearer to look at. In my next contents page draft of this, I am going to try to make the text clearer to read, by changing the background colour like I said but also by making the text brighter so it is more 'in your face'. 

First draft of my school magazine and contents page

This is my first draft of my school magazine cover. I created a plain grey background with just the school logo on the cover because I wanted to show off the school logo so the magazine would be distinctive. I have varied the size, fonts and colours of the text to make it look more interesting. In my opinion, I do not think that this worked as I find this magazine cover too plain. There are not any pictures on it, however I like the idea of the varied text sizes and fonts. In my next draft of the front cover, I am going to try and create it in colour and put lots of pictures and more text on it so it will be more appealing, interesting and striking.

This is my first contents page draft. I created this with a lighter grey background so that you could read the writing easier. The background on my contents page also has the school logo on it also, I did this so it would look consistent and neat. I also varied the text font so it would look interesting. I added pictures of things in/happening around school which relate to the contents page stories. I also didn't add all of the stories that I was going to like 'Speak out' and 'Mr. Wilcocks say', so in my next one I am going to be adding them. Although I think that the contents page looks more interesting and busier than the magazine cover, I still think that it looks too bland and colourless. I think it looks a bit too messy as the pictures aren't exactly in line and the same size. On my next draft, I want to make it much more colourful so someone will be  automatically attracted to it and then draw them in. 

Pictures for my magazine

Out of all of my ideas, I have chosen 7 differen't pictures to go into my magazine cover and contents page. I chose 7 as I wanted quite a lot of pictures but I also didn't want it to look too cramped. 

Here are my pictures that I am putting into my magazine: 

This is a picture that I am going to use on the front of the magazine of the front of the new school gate after 'The Big Build'.

This is a picture of some of the art that is being presented around school. This will go into the contents page. 

This is a picture of the sofas that sixth formers are allowed to sit on. This will go in the contents page.

This is a picture of the school canteen. This is being put in the contents page.

This is a picture of a map of the 'wedge building'. This is to help students find their way around the school. This will go on the contents page.

This is a picture of the house team awards. This will go on the contents page.

This is a picture of The Head teachers office. This is going to be in the contents page.

Text for my magazine

This is the text is going to go in my magazine cover page and my magazine contents page: 

Magazine Cover

• The title of the magazine is going to read 'B.R.T.' with 'BISHOP RAMSEY TIMES' in smaller text underneath the title. 
• Underneath the title, the text will read 'for students' - this is to indicate that there are more magazines maybe for teachers so this magazine can be made and created for students only.

Magazine contents page

On my contents page I am going to have eight stories that are going to be listed on my contents page: 

• The main story of the magazine is going to be named 'The Big Build' (the new building that was built)
• The second story will be named 'What's happening around school?' (e.g. sport events, art events etc)
• The third story will be named 'Sofas for Sixth-formers' (this story would be giving the feedback of students behaviour of that week. E.g. too much litter)
• The fourth story will be named 'The BR menu' (the menu for the next week) 
• The fifth story will be named 'Know Your Way' (for the new students who need help knowing their way around school) 
• The sixth story will be named 'Competitions' (reader will get to know who won the last event and also what house team is first) 
• The seventh story will be named 'Mr Wilcock's say' (where our head teacher gets to write a bit about the past week and tells students what they've done well) 
• The eighth story will be named 'Speak Out' (students get to have their own page to comment on anything to do with school that week) 

Possible picture ideas

On our school magazine front cover and contents page, we need at least four pictures to go on it and inside it. In this lesson we were asked to think of at least thirty pictures that we might use for your cover and contents page. 

Possible picture ideas:

• One of my pictures may be of the school logo - this is to show the audience what school it is actually coming from and to generally show the audience that the school logo is an important image that students/teachers/parents know as it is the school that they attend. 
• another picture could be of the different houses within the school - each of the houses logo's e.g. in Bishop Ramsey there are 'Rochester', 'St. Albans', 'Manchester', 'Salisbury', 'Exeter' and 'York'. This will not only show the audience what houses there are but will show that there is friendly competition between them which events like Sports Day and 'interhouse' competitions support. 
• another picture could be of the school sofa's that only sixth formers are allowed to sit on - there could be a passage reminding students of the sixth form to treat the sofa areas correctly e.g. no littering and no feet on the sofas. 
• a picture of a student wearing the correct uniform and a student not wearing the correct uniform to both school and sixth form - this is to remind students of what they should be looking like and the schools expectations. 
• a picture of art that are being displayed around the school - to keep updates on different events e.g. art competitions.
• a picture of the old school - to tell the audience about the 'big build' which is happening in my magazine. 
• a picture of the new school - to show the audience and tell them that the new school has successfully been built and is ready for students to learn in.
• a picture of notices around the school e.g. 'no food in the corridors'  - this will remind the students and teachers that they are not supposed to be eating in corridors.
• a picture of a map around the area of the school - this indicates where the school actually is to the people who may not know
• a picture of a map around the school site - this will be helpful to new students or teachers who don't know their way around the school. 
• a picture of students studying - showing the audience what the students get up to and to represents our schools 'hard workers' 
• a picture of teachers teaching - showing the audience what the teaching environment looks like.
• a picture of highgrove pool - showing the audience that people who take gcse get to go to the swimming pool right next to the school and also compete in galas.
• a picture of the new p.e equipment we have in the school to show the readers the new excellent resources which our school are now able to use to improve the students education.
• a picture of posters advertising different events that are going to be happening weekly -          remind anyone involved the dates and times or to invite people to come and watch.
• a picture of the '696' bus which is Bishop Ramsey's school bus - to remind students of times that the bus comes or any changes or differences to the time table - also any messages that the bus driver wants to tell the students.
• a few pictures of the different food being sold at our school - to show readers that the schools food is healthy but enjoyable at school. Or to indicate price changes or differences in the menu.
• pictures of the head teacher - showing that he has his own personal bit in the magazine that will tell you information that he thinks you will need to know for that week.

Stories in my magazine

We were asked to think and decide on our stories to go in our school magazines. I had about 10 different ideas originally to go into my magazine contents page but as I thought it would look a bit too cramped I cut it down to seven.

My story ideas:

• 'The big build' - This is a story on the 'big build' as Bishop Ramsey is making a newer and 'better' school for students to learn in. This story would have all the updates of the build and dates on when it will be ready to work in. 
• 'Bus info' - This story is for all the students who get on the '696 school bus' to and from school. It would give information about times that may have changed because of certain events and would also let the students know what the bus drivers are thinking (basically giving them feed back on how their behaviour is for the past week).
• 'Olympic student' - This is a story about how one of the students who attended Bishop Ramsey won a gold in the olympics. 
• 'The next JK Rowling' - This is a story about another student who is waiting for her books to be published and is said to be 'the next JK Rowling'.
• 'Mr. Wilcocks say' - This a part in the magazine where the head teacher can have his say. He will talk about anything that he's been impressed with over the past week and praises the students. 
• 'What's going on?' - This would be a party of the magazine that tells the reader everything that is going on during that week. It will also include any reminders the students or teachers will need to know. E.g. 'Remember it's non-school-uniform on Friday'. 
• 'Student time' - This would be a part in the magazine where students can publish their own story or just generally tell people about what has been happening in their lives so it gives a student a time to have their say.

School Magazines

Today in our lesson we were talking about our magazine plans and were asked to answer the following questions: 

Describe your ideal reader: age, gender, appearance and interests

• My ideal reader would be a student with their age ranging from 11-18 and both genders. Someone who wears uniform to school or have a set dress code for school, e.g. students/sixth formers. And their interests involving wanting to know about what is happening in the school and wanting to be able to get involved with school. 

Map out a typical day for your ideal reader 

• A typical day for my reader would be that they would go to school, come home from school and then try to complete any homework given. Afterwards they may go to a club or do a hobby e.g. scouts/dancing/football. 

If your magazine could be summed up in one word, what word would that be? 

• If my magazine could be summed up in one word it would be 'enchanting'.

Imagine you had 30 seconds to pitch your magazine to a publisher. Write the pitch. 

• My magazine is a really colourful, captivating and fun magazine for all students. It isn't just a generally average school magazine, its made so the students will actually want to read it and for them to actually be learning, observing and getting to know their school better from it. Inside, it will obviously describe and explain loads of things happening such as events and rule changes around the school, but it will be put into a way that a student wouldn't actually mind reading.

My school magazine

In this lesson we were asked to create a plan for our school magazines. I decided to do a magazine for all students at Bishop Ramsey School.

This is an example plan and layout of what the front of my magazine and the contents of the magazine may look like:

• In my magazine, I wanted to make it for all students at Bishop Ramsey so I decided to make a magazine that 11-18 year olds would actually want to read. I didn't want it to look boring with little use of colour, so instead I made it into a colourful and cartoon like magazine. I think that with lots of use of colour, pictures and a mixture of texts would attract the students as it is not like a usual news paper or school magazine. 
• I used the school logo as the background but kind of turned it into cartoon-like as I changed the colour and 'filtered' it which gave it a different looking texture. On the contents page, I still used the school logo but filtered it to another different looking texture so the text would be easier to read over the top of it.
• I named it 'B.R.T.' with the subheading stating 'Bishop Ramsey Times' so it would look more cool and short so the student would be more attracted to it. 'B.R.T.' is also easier and quicker to say so it will be more attractive. 
• Also, I added 'FOR STUDENTS' to indicate that this is for students only and that there are other school magazines which are for teachers and parents.
• I made the contents page look as bright and colourful as possible with loads of pictures and different texts. I did this so students would be attracted to it and actually would want to read on. I don't want my magazine to look boring, as I know when I see a newspaper or a school magazine and they're not colourful or don't include a lot of pictures, I would probably would give up reading it after a while. 
• I think there is maybe a little too much pictures on it as it looks a bit overcrowded but I wanted to test out what it would look like before I do the actual preliminary magazine. 

School magazine ideas

In this lesson we were asked to make a collage/mood board with lots of ideas for our school magazine's online and upload it to our blog.

Here is my mood board:

What my mood board involves:

• It's a collage of Bishop Ramsey school 
• It includes a picture of the logo of the school, this will go on the school magazine to show where it is actually coming from 
• There is a picture of a map, this will give the reader an idea of where the school is 
• There are pictures of events that are going on at Bishop Ramsey e.g. prom, sports day and 'the big build' to let students, pupils and parents know what is going to be happening around school. 
• There is a 'breaking news' picture that will be an exclusive page letting pupils/teachers/parents important news e.g. school trips, exam results, changes in the bus timetable. 
• Pictures of the '696 bus' which is the Bishop Ramsey school bus which will be explained in the magazine about its timetable, and any additional information the bus drivers would like to ask or tell the students e.g. littering.
• Pictures of the different houses and their given house points at that time so it shows the different competitions going throughout the school.

Preliminary task

In this lesson we were talking about the preliminary task that we will be doing and what the purpose of doing this task is. 

Within this task it must include:

• Cover and contents page of a new school magazine
• Cover must feature a photo of a student in medium close up and masthead as well as appropriately laid out text 
• At least four pictures in total (over cover and contents page) 

The purpose of task: 

• To practise using software - adobe photoshop and indesign 
• To practise using equipment such as the camera