As a base exercise to prepare myself for my AS Level Coursework, I was asked to produce a Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page, suitable for a School Magazine. To do so I had to research real, relevent School Magazines and identify the Codes and Conventions of both the Front Covers and Contents Pages. I then used these Codes and Conventions to build on my ideas of how my own piece should be structured, and exactly what Codes and Conventions I was able to break or stick to.
Some of the Codes and Conventions used for a Magazine Front Cover are as follows; Masthead used at the top of every page, usually presented in bold writing to ensure the Masthead stands out and is rememberable, a central image used to attract the reader, coverlines used so that if the reader is not familiar with the central image, they can identify what other content the magazine will consist of, Buzz words to attract the reader and inform them, taglines used to catch the readers attention (usually based on word play), colour scheme of 3 colours, the less colours the magazine uses, the smaller the cost of print, 2/3 main fonts with a seperate front for the Masthead, this again will allow readers to recognise the Magazine, and give it an informal tone, banners with a summary of information, and finally a website address to allow the reader to access more information about the Magazine if they wish to.
To follow these Codes and Conventions I have used a large, central Masthead "The Weatherhead Whoosh", which I have positioned at the top of my page. I have also used a photograph, which I manipulated using Photoshop as my Main Image. This photograph was taken by myself using a medium close up shot. For my background, I decided to use a basic purple colour, which I used as one of my 3 colour schemes. The other two I used as different shades of pink, simply because the target audience of my magazine was pupils at Weatherhead High School, so therefore females.
I then began to experiment with my Front Cover. Within the Codes and Conventions of Magazine Front Covers, it is not stated that more, smaller images can be used, so I decided to do so, and therefore break the Codes and Conventions. I did this and used a small amount of text to explain to the readers what the images were about, and what content they could find inside my magazine.
I also added two banners, one situated over the main image, and one to seperate the main image from the Masthead. Inside this banner I wrote information about my issue date and website.
All in all, I received positive feedback from my peers about my Front Cover. Some of which are; "Good use of font for title", "Good cut out of main image" and "Good colour scheme, everything fits together nicely."
Moving on to my Contents Page, I was aware that the following Codes and Conventions were used as guidelines in other real life Magazines before I began to produce my own; another Masthead usually presented in the same font as the Front Cover Masthead, small images to engage the reader, page numbers to inform the reader, 2-3 fonts the same as the ones used on the Front Cover to follow a theme, an editorial to involve the reader, a plain background and a focus on the cover story.
Using Quark and my research I then began to follow and deviate these Codes and Conventions. I included an editoral, using another image I had taken and manipulated myself. In this editorial, I used friendly, informal language to engage the reader. My use of informal language was solely used because of my Target Audience of teenage girls.
I then began to situate my page numbers and information into two main columns. I made sure that each number followed in a chronological order, but I of course missed out several numbers to ensure I didn't use too much text and bore the reader.
I stuck to the Codes and Conventions of a Contents Page by leaving my background plain, and presenting my work in columns. I then used a third column to upload more small images, and used text over them so the reader could identify relevent page numbers. I ensured that my Cover Story of "Amanda Hillis, new Head Girl" was repeated, with a little more information on my Contents Page, and made sure that the image I used was slightly larger than the rest.
Again I received positive feedback from my peers, some of which included; "Good clear columns", "Colour schemes work well and relate to Front Cover", and "Nicely spread out and easy to read."
When looking at my finished Preliminary Task, it is easy to identify my strengths and weaknesses of both the product, and my use of Media technology. An obvious strength is my use of Photoshop. Although it is not an easy piece of software to use, I feel I adapted to its use of new tools easily after watching demonstrations. From looking at my finished piece, I know in future not to break the Codes and Conventions of Magazine Front Covers by using too many images, as I know this could easily make my mark go down. In terms of my Contents Page, my work was obviously not as good as it could have been, due to the fact that I was using software that I was unfamiliar with. However, the work I produced still received positive feedback, and when I come to produce my real coursework, I will be more familar with the software and the tools I can use on it. In future, I will use a little more text on my Contents Page, as my work was on the edge of looking a little bare.
