For my preliminary task I had to design and create a school magazine. I was to produce a front cover and a contents page. I named my magazine ‘Haydon Stag’. To begin with I sketched the magazine front cover and contents page on to plain A4 paper. After I completed my sketches, I got a learning partner and did a photoshoot, the aim of this was to use one photo as my front cover image and use the rest as my contents page photos. I then uploaded the photos on to a computer and started to create my front cover and contents page on Photoshop. 

Once I placed the photo I deemed best fot my front cover, I used the 'Horizontal Type Tool' to type my magazine title at the top of the page, using the font ‘Impact'. I used this font because it is large, clear and bold, therefor will catch the attention of my target audience. I named my magazome 'Haydon Stag' to imply that my magazine is simple and easy for readers to pick up and read on the go. My title is blue as this matches with the Haydon sceme of colour.
I then began to create my sell lines using the 'Horizontal Type Tool' once again. However I changed the font (Arial Bold) and size as sell lines are of less importance.



For my magazine I tried to appeal to a senior student target audience. This is why in my magazine I used the basic school colour scheme as these have the qualities to make my sell lines fun and attention grabbing. Also I dedicated a sell to promote following the magazine on facebook and twitter (really popular zeitgeist). I did this by locating a facebook and twitter logo image and incorporating it into my front cover design. Finally i added a date and issue number which is a very common convention of magazines.

I then went on to start creating and developing my contents page. Firstly I used the same font and colour as my front cover masthead, for contents the page msthead ('Contents'). I then created three circles with the 'Eclipse Tool' and made them all different bright vibrant colours so they stand out. After this I used the 'Magnetic Lasso Tool' to cut out images of three different learning partners. For my contents page I placed the images in different cirlces. To do this I placed the 'image layer' next to the 'circle layer', held the 'shift key' on the keyboard and clicked inbetween the layers. This placed the cut out of the person inside the cirlces. I then went onto the 'effects' list and bevel embossed the circles to make them stand out to the audience. After this I needed to input my contents. I used the font 'Arial Bold' and made it black to contrast with the title and stand out. I then inputed my text. When certain parts were moved to the next line it left too big a gap inbetween the words. I combatted this my going to text options and changing the distance. My magazine was now complete so i exported (as Jpegs) in high quality.

THE MAKING OF MY FRONT COVER  OF MY PRELIMINARY MAGAZINE





My Magazine Front Cover and Magazine Contents Page 'Haydon Stag'