PagePlus Task

Completed Page Plus Task 

This is my Page Plus exercise. I was tasked with creating my own music magazine using already established artists. I had to design a front cover, contents page and double page spread. This task was given to me to give me the opportunity to have practice at creating my own magazine from scratch. I had to come up with my own magazine name and masthead. I also had to ensure that I included all of the codes and conventions of music magazines to make it look realistic and professional. This exercise offered me the chance to begin working with the Page Plus software, so I am used to its features so I will be able to use it in the future. I was able to get a better feel for the software as I was able to learn how to do a technique where I can get the text of the article to cleverly fit around the the shape of the image on the double page spread. This ensures that the image, the title and the image all work and flow together.

I began with choosing my cover star, then picked suitable images for the three pages. I chose to use very subdue colours of image, in order make the masthead and other content text stand out. The use of the black and white imagery on the cover and contents page create a sense of discovery as the artist then is seen in colour on the double page spread - showing his personality to the reader as they read on and find the double page spread dedicated to him. The main artist image use direct mode which is often used to engage readers, so this is why I chose it. He's style is smart but causal, showing he is fun but professional.

I chose to put the masthead in a purple/Burgundy colour in the font 'All rights reserved' as I think it created a successful effect and worked well on the page. The masthead is quite simple but effective enough to make an impact and create an identity for the magazine. On the front cover I put the masthead running up the left side of the page next to the image of the artist. I believe it fitted well and allowed for it to be seen along with the full image of the artist. Then on the contents I put landscape and placed it next to the words 'contents' to further reinforce what it belongs to. The masthead I created, represents a brand/identity which can recognised and remembered so it was important that it worked well and was simple and catchy. I put the text in black, gold, teal and purple as I think they work well together. The colour scheme creates a fun vibe which I was aiming for. The magazine I planned to create was a fun urban magazine for teens about solo male artists. I believe I achieved this.

The positioning of cover lines on the front cover was important. I put the main cover line over the main image to show the link between the two, I also put it large on the page to show its importance in the magazine edition. The use of the name in a different colour breaks up the cover line and highlights who the artist is if people don't know. I used anchorage text to give the reader some insight to what may be included within the magazine on this artists. The other cover lines are broken up using a coloured line matching the colour of the masthead. I put a puff in to entice potential readers as exclusives can grab the attention on the shelves.

On the double page spread I used black font with a quote highlighted in white. I used a image where the artist was centred in the middle and the text fitted in around to create a full page, it also stopped it looking blocky on the page. I also included the masthead on this page to create a link between the article, the artist and the magazine. The artist is looking away from the camera creating mystery for the reader meaning they are likely to read the article. By also positioning the artist in the middle the readers eye will be drawn immediately to it.

Other things I included over the three pieces of work were a bar code, a URL, a price, a date line, and page numbers - i ensured the numbers I had put on the contents page matched the ones I had used on the double page spread.

This task has showed me a lot and I hope to use it when it comes to creating my final piece.