Table Of Contents

Table of Contents

I have decided to use a monochrome theme for my table of contents, mainly because I wanted it to look as classic and simple but effective and stylish as possible. I have deciede to get rid of the organised theme most contents pages have and experiment with the positions of the page numbers, to give it a "zig zag" effect, making it attractive for the readers to look at, giving it a sort of crossword style.

Table of Contents Plan

Table of Contents Plan

I planned my contents page on Microsoft Publisher, just as I did for my front cover plan, placing where my main image will be, where the page numbers will be and how a design will be alligned on the side of my contents page. Also, I will be using a primary image, so that, like my front cover, is more unique and different to other magazines. I am using a very classic and monochrome theme, using black and white colours but also experimenting aswell.

Xpress Front Cover

Xpress Front Cover

For the front cover of Xpress, I chose red, white and black as the key colours, having connotations of being a very classic and sophisticated magazine, whilst looking very attractive and bold to the core buyers eye. I edited the picture of Nik on photoshop, adding my Xpress title and adding kickers and explanatory lines, downloading different fonts to diffrentiate the cover, according to my magazine plan, making the cover look organised and orderly.

Cover Plan

Media Cover Plan
I made a front magazine cover plan, labelling and placing out positions for the kickers, explanatory lines, masthead and cover images. This plan assissted me with designing my actual front cover on Photoshop, organising the front cover, making all the different kicker articles neat, positioned properly.

Front Cover Photoshoot

School Magazine Photoshoot
I found this lesson the most entertaining and thought provoking because I experimented with a range of pictures, even though I found it very difficult to take a medium close up picture, because my model, Nick, had to play basketball, jumping to throw a ball into the hoop, so the picture would look very blurry if I had taken a medium close up. I had asked my model and substitute model to wear black and white specifically for the shoot because I did not want the clothes to attract the reader, but the model’s facial expressions and emotions. However, I wanted my image to match my magazine’s name Xpress, expressing feelings or talents, which is why I took a picture of him jumping and playnig basketball. The connotations of the basketball image are expressing happiness, excitement and freedom, jumping and reaching ambitions and goals.

Preliminary Task

Researching and Planning your preliminary task-School Magazine
I plan to design a front cover for a specialists performing arts school, which specialise in dance, drama and music, because then I can be more creative with the colours I decide to pick and the fonts I use, so that it relates to the school’s speciality. I will use fonts, colours and images to embellish the school cover and help it match the school’s profile and criteria. My main idea revolves around increasing the profile of the school’s speciality, which is performing arts, so I can use fantasy and the theme of escapism to make this magazine a source of diversion and entertainment, for all the young, ambitious people who attend this school and are subsequently other post modernists, hedonists or post-traditionalists.

Cover Analysis

Cover Analysis, 17/10/08
For this lesson, we analysed the front cover of a magazine, using “The Secrets of Magazine Covers”, talking about every aspect of the cover and how it relates to its target audience and how it relates to the magazine itself. I discussed the connotations and denotations of the cover and how the colour green is significant because it relates to “nature” and Mother Nature, and how women can be seen as Mother Natures, looking after their habitat. I mentioned the use of advertisements and how they are all aimed at ageing women, who want to look younger and enjoy life, which is why Susan Sarandon was chosen to model for the front cover, being a voice and image of all ageing women.