Evaluation

My magazine is aimed at the students at Wyke College. I tried to create a strong identity by using Wyke’s colour scheme. This was possible to do on Photoshop as I used the tool which allows you to take the colour from one layer and add it to another. This was very useful as I inserted the College logo from the College website; I then used the colour matcher tool and filled the title layer with this colour.

The use of layers on Photoshop allowed me to experiment and change things without the risk of my whole magazine being ruined. I was able to move different layers around without feeling like the magazine would be ruined.

To start with I created a new document in Photoshop. I selected A4 paper as this seemed about right for the dimensions of a traditional magazine. I also used RGB colour as this obviously put my document into full colour.

First off, I left the background as white. I then added the Wyke College logo (below) into Photoshop, this opened up as a new document, I then duplicated the image so if I went wrong it wouldn’t be too hard to rectify my mistakes. I did this with every image I edited in Photoshop.

With the Wyke College logo, I used the Polygonal Lasso tool and removed all the white from the background and the ‘6^TH FORM COLLEGE’ part of the logo. I did this because I wanted the logo to be very minimalistic and not hold too much information. The logo was essential to my magazine as it provided an identity for my magazine. If I had left the magazine with the white background it would have shown up against the background and the logo would not have looked seamless and sleek but it would look like it has been slapped on top of my image. The Polygonal Lasso tool was essential for my magazine to work as I used it more than once.

After I put the logo into the mag, I then needed to place a masthead into the document. A masthead is the title of the magazine and my magazine would not have looked conventional if there was no masthead. Before putting my masthead into the document I needed to choose a font style. I chose Century Gothic as I think it is very youthful and fresh, and this was the aim of my magazine cover. If I want to attract young readers, it has to be appealing. So with my font selected I made my masthead. I called my magazine ‘Wyke Spotlight.’ I did this because my magazine highlights all of the positives about the college. I positioned the masthead in the top left hand corner just below the skyline as this enforces magazine conventions as this is where you are most likely to find a masthead. I used layer effects on Photoshop to give the element of the masthead jumping out of the page. I did this so the cover didn’t seem flat. There would have been nothing wrong with the masthead being flat but the wanted it to have an aspect of 3D to make the magazine seem very stylish and professional.

After the masthead was placed, I designed a skyline. I first used the Insert Shape tool and drew a rectangle across the top of the document. I filled this with the purple I was using before from the logo. This was done to match the colour scheme and create a sense of real brand identity for my mag. I then added text as this made it a real skyline. I didn’t want to put a sentence there as I felt this would have looked to unprofessional and it would look like I’m trying to cram lots of information in there. Instead I used my font type and used one word nouns. I did this to show what the magazine is about. I made the first letter of each word a bigger font size as this made it striking and eye-catching.

Once I had finished placing a skyline into the document I decided to put the background image onto the document (below).

 However I did not like the fact that you could still see the three people in the foreground of the image. To make the photo look more professional I used the clone stamp tool to remove the three people from the image. It turned out like this:

I opened the photo into a new document on Photoshop and zoomed in on the part of the photo where the three people were stood. By using the Clone Stamp tool I was able to reproduce the brick wall over the boy and remove him completely. I did this and it took a lot of patience but I think the outcome doesn’t look too bad! It was hard to reproduce the path because the path is paved and it was hard to get the lines, but overall the final outcome looks realistic enough to be a background. I also made the photo greyscale as it wouldn’t clash with the sell lines, main image, plug, masthead and logo. The image here is landscape so I cropped the image from just after the bin to the right to make it fit into my final document. I duplicated the image and put it into the document. I had to move the layer down to the bottom as it was over the work I had done before I moved it.

I then had to place my main image into the document. I took many images but found it easy to pick one as this one was the best lit picture. It was essential for my main image to be a midshot as this was included in the brief. I used my own camera; a Fujifilm 14megapixel 10xZoom model. Here is the picture I took.

I asked my model to smile, I did this because it makes the magazine seem more inviting and appealing. I also asked him to hold folders as this seemed relevant to the context of a college magazine. It is about the college so by placing folders in the main image this is reinforced.

I used the Polygonal Lasso tool to cut around the model; I did this so the background was transparent and could be placed into my final document without having to be edited there.

I also used the Clone Stamp tool on this photo too, I used it because (no offence to my model) but I wanted him to have absolutely flawless skin. Every magazine designer does this as it just makes the magazine seem more appealing and crisper to look at. This is what it looked like after editing:

The quality of this image has not been reduced by the editing. I am very glad this didn’t happen as the magazine would have looked very poor if my main image was not good quality.

I duplicated the layer into my final document and placed it in the bottom right corner. It took up a lot of space, and this was good because it used the space effectively.

I placed a plug into my magazine too. I did this as a unique selling point because I wanted my magazine to be unique from the rest. The plug is there to make your magazine seem more ‘wantable.’ I went for the free guide to surviving college because students may find college life tough, and the magazines free guide helps students to make the most and survive. I used the colour match tool again with the model’s logo on his tee shirt. This creates a seemless look for the mag as there is nothing too bold and crazy going on that screams HEADACHES at the reader.

Last but not least, I added sell lines to the magazine. These are essential because it lets the reader know what this edition of the magazine is about. I went for the success at A level because this is something the college is very proud of. The colour was also essential to make sure was right. I went for a vibrant blue colour as this stood out against the greyscale background great. It was also different to the colour scheme I had been using throughout the magazine. This adds a little bit of pazzaz to the cover, I used the layer effect again of bringing the text off the page. This creates the professional effect and makes the magazine vibrant and interesting.

I am very happy with how my product has turned out. I think it looks very sleek and youthful.

Harry Iggleden