Preliminary Task

Brief

Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate your grasp of DTP.

Front Cover

Immediately I had an image in my mind of what I wanted the front cover of the school magazine to look like.

The first decision I made was the title of the magazine, I wanted it to be specialised so that only students of my school and their families would recognise its name. My school's name is Grammar School for Girls Wilmington and due to its confusing nature I abbreviated it to 'GSGW'.

I sat in a year 9 technology class to take potential front cover photographs. I chose technology as I wanted my magazine to focus upon the creative side as opposed to a generic

academic photograph. I chose a photo of a student smiling whilst doing work- I thought that this makes the school seem to be inviting and jolly.

My main issue with this photo is that the background was far too busy to be a front cover, therefore I had to edit it using Photoshop to blur the colour of the walls to create a consistent background which was then suitable for use as a front cover.

Contents Page

I began to make the mock-up for my contents page, focussing on the school colours of pale blue and maroon. I used the same font throughout both the front cover and the contents to make the layout of this magazine seem formal and consistent.

The photos used within the contents page are all ones that I managed to take whilst going around my school during lesson times. I tried to incorporate the different aspects of school so therefore I chose a photo of a student painting to reflect the creativity side of learning, a photo of a member of the sixth form looking proud and a photo of some younger students sitting an exam.

On Adobe Indesign I played with the fonts, colours, sizes, positioning and spacing.