Final Work and Evaluation

This is my final magazine cover and contents page for Fortismere Sixth Form. To conclude my blog, I am very happy with my work and feel that each stage of the progression was well worth the hard work. I am pleased with the final pieces and have learnt a lot during the process, especially regarding Photoshop CS2 and CS3.

The Two Options

Option A:

Option B:

These are my two options for my final piece. Although I have re-designed my cover on numerous occasions, I feel that these two images best meet the specification that I have been trying to meet. The title in option A is written in guidelines to again emphasise the idea of school and working, and that in option B is a more military typewriter effect. This is not necessarily relevent to my target audience, however it is a very strong and bold type face with the ability to attract attention. After analysing both pieces I have now decided that my final cover piece will be option B.

Further Adaption

When giving me feedback on my work, my media teacher suggested that I use a more imaginative method of showing text in my cover. Taking this point into consideration, I decided to insert some of the information in the form of a post-it-note. I arranged the image in such a way that it looked as though I simply stuck the post-it-note onto the page. I made this effect by bending the note before taking a picture of it and creating a shadow effect using Photoshop CS3. These effects both aided to making the image look more realistic and as though it was simply a note that a student had written to help keep themself organised. Of course when the viewer reads the post-it-note they will discover that it is in fact an extras box informing them about what is covered in that weeks issue of forti-6. I also completely re-did the design of the title of my magazine. As I earlier stated, the name I chose to stick with was forti-6 meaning Fortismere Sixth Form. The reasons for this is that my teacher informed me during my feedback that my previous title was too boring and uninventive. To improve this, I simply discarded the entire title including the transparent clock image that was situated behind the words 'student weekly' and started again with a new name, design and colour scheme. After another long process of trial and error, I came down to two options competing to be the final magazine cover of forti-6.

Contents

When creating my contents, I decided to take a section out of the photograph that was initially taken for my magazine cover. I selected a small, portrait area of a stack of books and enlarged it to form the background for my contents page. As for the text, I kept the 'Bradley Hand ITC' handwritten looking typeface as I feel that this particular font is extremely relevant to my audience. I also decided to keep the colour code running from the cover to the contents, as I included red, yellow and orange. I made a red heading, with yellow numbering and four orange lines bordering the image. The names of the articles and pages was written in black as the colour is also present on my cover and stood out against the background. I kept all of this text in lowercase to add to the rushed, handwritten look to it. I also underlined the title 'contents' with a free hand C.A.D spray paint tool using Adobe Photoshop CS2. The four orange lines were the finalising feature of the page, as it looked too empty before I inserted them and draws closure to the piece.

Feedback

After showing my teacher both the development of my work and the final pieces, he gave me some criticism to potentially help me improve. He said that the title of the magazine that I had chosen was boring and uninventive and that I might as well have called it 'magazine for sixth formers' as it was too self-explanatory and needed more imagination put into it. I took this into consideration  and came up with a number of new ideas. The title I decided to keep for my magazine was forti-6. This is an abbreviation for Fortismere Sixth Form and has an edgy and original feel to it. I am pleased with this title because in my own opinion it is much better than my previous title and shows more character and imagination in my work.

Re-creating the Cover

After examining my work, I decided to take a whole new look on my magazine cover and re-create it in a different style. I did keep a few aspects of my initial cover, however most of the features were completely re-drafted. I decided that my 'student weekly' logo was too simple and needed adaption to be more effective. To do so, I massively enlarged the entire image and gave the clock layer a transparent effect. I then slightly tilted the icon to the left to give it an edgier feel. Problems that I found with the original heading were the difficulty reading the graffiti typeface and also the fact that the design simply drew too much attention away from the image, which of course should be the dominating feature of the piece. Due to this, I chose to use an extremely basic yet effective type face called 'Bradley Hand ITC'. This particular font gives the impression of handwritten text, which is relevent to the demographic of my magazine. I stuck to this written format when re-doing my catch line 'Revision. Is it dominating your life?'. I also re-worded the phrase to a simpler 'Is revision taking over your life?' An aspect I did keep from my inital cover was the translucent, spiky shapes I bordered the text about inside articles with. However, instead of including three of these, I limited myself to using just two, as having three simply used too much space. Space was a very important feature to my editing as I was slightly lacking in the area as my image contained very little free space with all the text books and surrounding objects. I used supporting guidelines when re-designing my cover, which I later disgarded, leaving the cover with a noticable, yet transparent border. I kept the website address in the cover as I feel that it is an important feature for any type of magazine including, whether it be focussed on music or education. However, I did decide to rotate the address on a ninety degree angle to give it to a verticle appearance. This is an aesthetic feature as it gives the piece a new dimension. Next, I transferred the text 'issue 1' to the bottom of the cover as there was an oppertune space here and also because having the text so close to the headline and the name of the magazine attracted attention, therefore taking it from the adjacent words.

Original Cover and Producing the Heading

To produce the heading to my student magazine, I logged onto a graffiti creator website, which enables the user to make their own graffiti, choosing colours, waves, symbols, sizes and lots of different effects. The site was particularly beneficial to me as I am making a magazine cover for young people who are constantly associated with graffiti, which has in fact evolved to be a rather trendy and popular style of writing. To begin the piece, I chose a backing coat of sky blue, a slightly lighter upper tween and slightly darker lower tween. This gave the text a shiny and glowing effect. After this, I added teal and navy stripes, which gives the appearance of the text a retro look and stars to catch the viewers attention. Next, I inserted an overall glaze to again make the image shinier and more reflective. Lastly, I added both inlines and outlines to create dimensions within the piece. Now that my heading is complete, I can save it and drag it into Photoshop for placement.

The Logo

I wanted to start adding captions and other features to my cover right away, so I chose to start with my magazine name and logo. During the process of editing my image, I came up with the name 'Student Weekly'. I liked the idea because it was simple, catchy and to the point. As the name involves the word weekly I then looked into what image I could choose for my logo and came up with the idea of an animated clock. After searching on google images, I found a clock. I felt this particular image was relevent as a clock represents time and a week is a measurement of time. The image was basic and colourless, just what I was looking for. So I copied it onto a Microsoft Powerpoint 2008 document and began to add text. Before coming to a conclusion about the colour and font of the text, I went through a process of elimination. The process consisted of me copying numerous clocks onto a blank document and trying out various different type faces. Once this was done, I was left with a sheet of options side by side to choose from for my final logo. I decided to choose a simple font that I found in Microsoft Powerpoint 2004 in the WordArt section. I experimented with this particular font in three different colours, blue, green and red. I figured that the red worked best as it both complimented the image and reflected the nature of the heading, which I had by then decided was going to be 'Testing Times'. Also, I added a shadow effect to the text and decided to change the case. Originally, both words were written in an uppercase form but I then changed the word student to lowercase. This was due to the fact that I thought the word weekly was the more dominant word in the text and that student was simply addressing the demographic of the magazine. Lastly, I decided to add a double strike effect to combine the words and give the logo a cleaner finish. I think this is a very aesthetic feature as it is both noticeable and inoffensive. Now that the logo is done, I can place it on the photograph and begin building layers on Adobe Photoshop.

Editing the Image

After setting up the scene with props, sorting the lighting and deciding on the camera angle, everything was in place for the photograph to be taken. After it was taken, I transferred the image onto my home computer, opened it in Photoshop CS3 and began editing. I was extremely satisfied with the photograph I had chosen, however I had made the mistake of moving my hand just as it was being taken and therefore imprinted a blur onto the picture. To fix this problem I looked at another picture that was taken just seconds before the one I had chosen and cloned the hand from this and placed it neatly onto my image. Luckily, as I had not moved the rest of my body or the surrounding props between the two pictures being taken, the cloning worked perfectly and I was left with a clean finish. The second aspect of the image that I decided to edit was the colour balance. I altered this to give the image a colder look and then brightened the image using curves. Next, I created a vignette by darkening all of the edges to focus the viewers attention on the centre of the photograph. After this, I introduced an overlay to create a grittier feel, especially to the surface of the table. At this point I noticed that the yellow in the image was particularly noticeable, so I decided to turn down the yellow colour channel to add to the dark, tedius nature of revising. Next, I created another vignette by darkening the upper area of the image, again bringing the attention to the student situated in the centre. Lastly, I added a high-pass filter to increase skin blemishes and make the student look more drawn and tired.

Taking the Picture

I am now ready to start my final cover for my preliminary work. I have the design worked out, now I must create the scene. I decided to take the shot in my own kitchen for lighting purposes and chose myself to pose as the sixth form student This is due to the fact that I was the only person available at the time who fitted the description. I originally wanted to use a friend to model for the shot, however by this point I was under extreme time conditions and needed to get the picture taken and begin the editing. My final idea for the image was a stressed student busy at work and surrounded by text books. On the table at which the student is working, I placed certain props such as an empty glass of milk, a bitten slice of toast, scattered worksheets, high piles of books and a glass of water to create the effect that the student has not moved all afternoon as she has been busy preparing for exams and doing coursework. I also decided to create the scene in front of a world map, as this makes the environment of the photograph look as if it could be set in a study room of some sort and gives room for the title of the magazine and main headline.

Mock Ups

I have now designed a total of two mock up magazine covers and chosen the layout that I am going to create. The tools that I am planning to use throughout the process are a digital camera, a tripod, some props to create an appropriate atmosphere, Microsoft Powerpoints 2004 and 2008 and Adobe Photoshops CS2 and CS3.

Magazine Content Research

Before I start to design my own student magazine, I have decided to do some background research. Firstly, I analysed the cover of a previously made student magazine that I found on the internet. The main heading on the school magazine is 'What's been going on in the CPD?' It's issue 7 Winter 2007 and the teaser featured is 'Look who's wearing it pink'. There are also sell lines such as 'The opening of a new school of art'. I also did an excercise in class where we analysed magazines to increase our overall awareness about audience, genre, use of colours and other factors that are relevent when designing a magazine. I found this evidence very useful and now feel as though I am on my way and ready to create my very own student magazine cover.