Draft of DPS article

As part of my planning for this task, I had to create a draft of my double page spread article so that I could receive some feedback on what was good about it and how I could improve it. At this point, I hadnt finished creating the image for my double page spread so I only handed in the article itself with the interview included. I followed the basic layout of a double page spread by putting the interview into 3 separate columns but I did notice that they didn't fit together. As part of my feedback, I had to make sure that all the columns were aligned in order for everything to look a lot more professional and organised. To make the article a lot more easier and clear to understand, I wrote the questions in bold and kept the answers in a normal font. This way, the reader would be able to follow the interview and know who was talking or asking the questions. Another comment on my feedback was to create a sub heading with some of the text I had already written. This would introduce the reader to the article and helps to give them an idea of what they are going to be reading about.

Front Cover and Contents Page Progress

These are screenshots of my Front Cover and Contents page almost finished. 

As you can see in my contents page, I have altered some of the features to make fit with the magazine and have it more concentrated on music rather than fashion. I still need to change the pictures for the contents page so again they relate more to music and look more professional.

I am pleased with the outcome of my front cover, I think it matches well with the genre of my magazine and you can clearly tell who the target audience is aimed at. I downloaded a range of different fonts from dafont which helps to give it more variety so everything doesn't look the same. I had a few problems trying to crop the image as I wanted it to get as precise as I could but in the end I managed to get it cropped out the way I liked.

Photo shoot Preparation

Before I took the images for my magazine, I decided to take some quick photographs of where the model was getting ready and when she was putting her makeup on in preparation for the shoot. My model done the makeup herself, but I did tell her what I wanted the makeup to look like so she could create the final look that I wanted. I told the model to bring her own clothes but that fitted with the genre of my magazine. She knew that my magazine was aimed at young teens so brought a selection of clothes that she thought would be suitable to wear for the photographs.

Review of preliminary task

As part of my research and planning, I had to create a magazine for a college. This included creating a front cover and a contents page.

This was the first time I had ever created a front cover and contents page so although I had researched about a FC and CP, I didn't fully follow how to design them property. I did do the basic features of including a masthead, main image, sell lines etc but I did miss out quite a few other important features that needed to be there. For example, I didn't include a the issue number of the magazine on which is key feature that needs to be on the front cover.

Looking back at my work, I do believe I done a acceptable job of creating a front cover and contents page as this was the first time I had ever done a task like that before. However, now I know all the important features and techniques that need to be used I wish I done a lot more things differently on my magazine.

The most important thing that I would change in my work is the main image on the front cover. I chose to use a image where the model wasn't looking directly at the camera and was looking at a book instead. At the time I thought this was a good image to use as it related to the genre and audience of my magazine, but after more research and plannin, I understand that it is key for the model to be looking at the camera so it feels like you are making eye contact with them. 

I was also pleased with the text on the contents page as I made it as relatable a as I could to the target audience. For example, I included articles about tips for revision which is important to a student and would be something that they would be interested reading about. 

Work up to date| Progress so far

This is a screenshot of my almost complete contents page. When you see the difference between this and my last post, you can see that I have made a lot of progress. I have added more pictures to the design, in order to make it look more creative and fun. I haven't fully completed my contents page as I am yet to receive feedback to find out how I can improve it and make it look the best it actually can.  I also plan on changing some of the text to make it seem like it is more focused on the music (as this is what the coursework is based around) instead of having the content focused on every day things you would find in an ordinary magazine.

Contents Page| So far

This is a screenshot of my contents page so far. I am still working on it so you can see from this image that my work is incomplete. I am definitely keeping my font the same and am sticking with the pink background.  However, I do plan on moving my image around once I start writing up my subheadings and articles etc. I have chosen to use colloquial language and shorten down the word magazine to 'mag' this is because my target audience is aimed at young teens and it will appeal to them more.  I will continue to start choosing and writing the articles that I want to feature in my magazine so that there is no blank space and everything is filled up. It is important that there is no dead space so it looks professional.

Looking at Last Years Student Work

During one of the lessons, I looked at a range of different work from previous students and analysed them. I wrote down the strengths and weaknesses from the  5 different magazines that I looked at, then graded them on what I think they deserved. I then explained what I had learnt from looking at last years students work and how I was going to apply this knowledge to my own piece of work. This task has helped me a lot for it when it comes to creating my magazine, I now know what sort of conventions and and techniques should be included to get a high grade for my magazine. Also, if I want a higher grade I know what not to include.