What software and Hardware I used

Software

The software package I used to design and create my music magazine was the Adobe Premium CS3 software package. The two main pieces of software I used was 'Adobe photoshop Premium CS3' and 'Adobe Indesign Premium CS3'

I used Adobe photoshop for editing, resizing, combining and manipulating any images I used throughout the design process. Adobe photoshop is an advance piece of image editing software and has all the functions i need during the design process and making of my music magazine.

I also used Adobe photoshop to produce my front cover and contents page. Most people would advise you to use Adobe Indesign and my teacher suggested the same thing. However after having used both pieces of software I found that I personal prefer using photoshop to produce the contents page and especially the front cover. Both the front cover and contents page are very graphical in my magazine, and when working with lots of graphics i found photoshop much easier to use then Indesign which just proved to be frustrating and time consuming.

I did however use 'Adobe Indesign Premium CS3' to create my double page spread. Indesign is much more suited to doing things like double page spreads and has the functions/ tools that make it much easier and more professional looking then if you tried to do it on photoshop. Indesign was also designed for tasks such as creating a double page spread.

Hardware

To take the images I would later use in my magazine i set up a photoshoot. I had my model stand in front of a black background and set up flash lights. I used a 12.1mega pixel camera to take all the shots.

I then used a memory card to transfer the images onto my computers hard drive where I could store, edit and later choose which ones i would use in my magazine.

AS Media Coursework, Main Task

AS Media Coursework Music Magazine.

For my coursework i have decided to create a Reggae music magazine.
Throughout the design process i kept notes on everything i did, i will now transfer these notes into an organised blog report of the design process for my magazine. I will include an account of the ideas and decisions i made along the way. I will also have images of my work in the design process as well as stating reasons for my choices, where things went wrong. what i made but then later decided to change and so on.

I decided to call my reggae magazine 'One Love Reggae.'

Preliminary Task - School Prospectus Front Cover

The Asigment: School Prospectus Front Cover

My asignment was to create a front cover for my school's (St. Edmunds College) prospectus. There were two requirements of the front cover. it had to have an image related to the school and an image of a student/students on the cover.

Research

I started off by looking at the existing school prospectus to find out the key elements of a school prospectus. The main thing about a school prospectus is that it needs to look smart and respectable. It needs to advertise the school in a positive manner and make it stand out. It needs to have a smart layout and easy to read and understand formal text and headlines.

Target Audience

The main audience for a school prospectus is going to be parents looking for a school to send their children. Students may also look at it but the main target audience is parents. As a parent your going to look for the best school to send your child where they can get a good education. The school prospectus is a major part of advertisement for a school because its one of the first things a parent will look at. They choose to visit or not visit the school based on the school prospectus, so its essential to make a good first impression.

Gathering the images i needed

For the main image on the front cover i decided to use a picture of the front of the school from an angle. I first went to the front of the school and sat down on the wall and consider how best to take a shot of the front of the school building. I then walked back and forth looking at different angles, i took several shots with the media studies camera, this would later allow me to choose the best out of all of the images. i then went to the third floor of the left hand side of the main building and took a high angle shot look down the side of the building and incluiding a a side shot of the chapel.

For the student photo i took a picture of my friend against a white background for editing purposes. this would allow me to easily remove the background later and add him to the main image of the school. I had him whearing his six form suit to make him look formal and scholarly.

Putting it all together

To put everything together, edit photos, combine everything, and rezise images i used Adobe Photoshop CS3. I started of removing the white background from the picture of the student using the quick selection tool and background eraser tool. i then opened up the picture of the school and realized it was to big for A4. so I used the set crop function to draw an A4 size crop box on the image. I then moved the box around until i found a cropped iamage that looked good. I then put the image of the student onto the image of the school and faded it so it blended in more smoothly.

For the title i decided to have a more professional look by make the title on a white background and then have a line below it seperating the title box from the image of the school and the student.
Below is an iamge of the front cover at this stage in the design.