20th September 2011

Today I have inserted my picture into my magazine design on Serif DrawPlus x3. I have cropped the image so it fits on the page. I have changed the colour scheme to fit the Halloween theme. The bar across is now orange and I have replaced the circle, with the price on, with a pumpkin clipart image. I have edited the clipart image by increasing the contrast and changing the colours so that they are all shades of orange. I have added a white glow around the pumpkin and the bar to make them stand out more on the page. I have also faded the lines more as I feel this makes the cover look better as the writing is on top of it but it still gives the effect of lined paper. I have also come up with some articles titles for the front cover.

16th September 2011

I have now chosen a photo of my sister to use for my front cover. I have edited the photo using picnik on Picasa 3 to make her look like a vampire to go with the Halloween theme for October. I have edited her eyes and skin colour, removed blemishes and increased the contrast of the image using various tools within the software.

15th September 2011

In my first media lesson today I drew a spider diagram for my preliminary task so that I have a clearer view of what needs to be done and so I can look at it to see what I have missed. I will do another of these for my main task when I finish the preliminary. I then carried on designing the layout of my magazine and practiced cutting out the backgrounds of photos using ones I had previously taken. As it is the October Issue of the magazine I have now decided to give it a Halloween theme.

13th September 2011

Today I had two lessons of media. In the first I continued designing my magazine cover on Serif DrawPlusx3. I have now developed the school-themed idea of the front cover by putting the title of the magazine at the top of the page, the issue month in the top left margin and three boxes which will include pictures of features of the magazine in the margin. Having looked at other magazines in the previous lesson for inspiration and ideas, I have put a barcode on the front cover and a bar which goes across the page which will include information about the magazines content. I have also put the price of the magazine in a bright turquoise circle to make it stand out. I think I am going to stick to a colour scheme of blues and greens for the magazine. In the second lesson we looked at issues of our old school magazine. These gave me more ideas about what to put in the contents on the magazine such as horoscopes and book reviews. I now need to decide on who my picture for the front cover is going to be of.

12th September 2011

Today I did not have a media lesson, however, I went to media during two free periods I had in the morning to do some work. I continued designing my magazine cover for the preliminary task on Serif DrawPlusx3, and had a play around with fonts to see what suits the type magazine. I decided to give the front cover a school theme by having the cover as if it were a sheet of lined paper, however, the lines fade to where the photograph will be placed.

9th September 2011

Today I had a look at existing magazines, Q and Empire, to get an idea of the layout for my magazine cover and contents. I then sketched out some designs for the front cover of my magazine. 

8th September 2011

   Today we had two lessons of media. In the first, I brainstormed ideas for my magazine name for my preliminary exercise. I decided to go with 'The Jotter'. I drew out a mind map to gain a better idea of what needed to be done. I then designed some ideas for the layout of the front cover of the magazine. In the second lesson I started designing an idea for the front cover on the computer using Serif DrawPlusx3.

7th September 2011

I had my first ever media lesson yesterday which I am going to be doing at AS level this year. First impressions, I am glad I picked it and think I am really going to like it. After being shown the different design briefs I have chosen the print task in which we create a music magazine. I have chosen this as I would like to have a go at creating a magazine and music is a great interest of mine. Before we create the music magazine we first have to complete a preliminary task in which we create the front page of a school magazine. I am currently thinking of names for this magazine but haven't come up with anything which I feel is catchy.