I’ve spent today working on the website to go with the magazine. I seem to have managed to work out Mobirise a bit better thanks to watching YouTube videos and have made a home page and a couple of additional pages. I’ve tried different things with layout, colour, text etc and it’s still a work in progress, but here are some screenshots of what I’ve done so far. The content of the pages is not finished yet and some images may need to be changed but they are all my own photos.

HOME PAGE:

PAGE 1:

I’ve been trying to work out how to layout the front cover of the magazine so that it is original but also links with “The Week”. I’ve looked at the layout of “The Week” and “The Week Junior” to give me some ideas.

I looked at the banner containing the date, the issue number and the price and I also looked at the way other writing could be laid out.

Both magazines have a main image with only one story linked to the inside but they both have links to other stories above the name banner. I’ve played about with various things, but I’m still working on it.

I have now managed to finalise my contents pages with the photos I took. I’ve also started work on one of the front covers. This is ongoing but below is what I’ve done so far. I still need to start the other front cover, when I have the right photos. I know what I’m going to do for this, but I haven’t yet been able to take the photos.

When we went away in the summer, a Radio Times caught my eye that was specific to the coronavirus. The magazine featured on the front cover a man wearing a mask close up. The man’s face was the only actual thing that took up the majority of the space. The background was one continuous colour, making the face stand out as interesting. For my front cover, I could try and do a similar thing. Another cover also had I love NHS on it and a rainbow and both of these things are current at the moment because of coronavirus.

I’ve been thinking about possible photos that I could take for my magazine. Some ideas I’ve had include the impact on the environment the coronavirus has made, black lives matter, apprenticeships and jobs that people do.

My magazine looks at the jobs of film writer and animator. In terms of photographs for film writing and animation, they can be set up quite easily. My mum studied animation so has animation equipment that I could use. For film writing, I could have a photo of a piece of paper with notes written on it, someone’s hand writing things down, typing on a keyboard, notebooks, a pair of glasses laid down by paper.

In terms of the pet section, talking about getting a pet as a young adult and learning how to deal with owning one, I could take photos of the various ones around the house as an example. My idea for this is using my own dog for the special needs feature because he does help me to relax when my special needs cause me to be anxious. For the other pet feature, I could either use a hamster or a tortoise. The tortoise is helpful for close up shots as it’s small and very gentle.

For the cycling story, I could use a cyclist wearing a mask to show coronavirus times and to show that cycling has picked up during covid.

For learning to drive, I could take a picture of a driving instructor in a car, both wearing masks to show the current environment, or I could take a picture of an “L” plate and a highway code.

For moving out of home, photo ideas might be one or more people standing, carrying boxes. They could have a house behind them. I could also have a picture of a house, or a for sale sign, or possibly a sofa with a few household belongings.

Black lives matter. For this, I could visit Bristol and photograph the plinth where the Colston statue used to be. Although it’s not there any more, it’s still relevant to the protests.

For the recession article, I could photograph money from different angles. This could be coins, notes and even bank cards. This could be combined with a job website open on a laptop showing there are no jobs.

The exams and academic year might focus on similar things with regard to pictures. I could have pictures of students walking into College together. I could take a photo of a sign that says the school, college or university are closed. Specifically for the exams, I could have photos of exam papers or revision books.

I’ve been working on my contents pages for both issues of the magazine. I’ve thought about typography, fonts and colours. The layout is only rough at the moment because I will be adding pictures to it which may alter it.

Colours I’ve chosen for the topics in the magazines are as follows:

• Blue – Covid
• Green – Politics, Economy and General Life
• Yellow – Education
• Red – Specific to “The Weekend”

Colour codes in Photoshop to make sure I get the same shades each time:

• Blue – 1006ec
• Green – 14d018
• Yellow – ffe400
• Red – c21313

Current affairs magazine for 16 to 25 year olds – current events:

• Covid-19 – what’s been good/what’s been bad. Positives – environment/exercise.
• Black lives matter – less in the news now then it was although still relevant.
• Recession – less in the news at the moment but still a result of Covid and has an impact on this age group.
• Exams fiasco – during the past week the mess that the government have made with the exam results.
• 2020-21 school year – what is it going to look like because of Covid.

Thinking about magazine content so we can come up with the contents pages and ideas and cover images.

Covid-19 –

Good things – for some people, being at home and learning at home has been good. It’s been a more laid back and relaxed approach to learning. Also, being at home has felt safer in terms of catching the virus because of not mixing with people. It also feels less likely for anyone to catch any other kind of illness. Air quality improved massively during lockdown because vehicles weren’t on the roads. The environment also benefitted from lockdown as nature started to come back into places it wouldn’t normally be able to. Another good thing is that lots of people have started to get more fit during lockdown. Bike riding has taken off a lot more and people have thought of ways of creating exercise challenges online allowing more people to do them. Some people have even started their own businesses since the start of lockdown so it’s helped people be more creative in that way too. The virus has also caused people to be more aware about hygiene and germs so hopefully after this, people in general will be more healthy because they’re being more careful.

Bad things – Not being able to check things as easily with teachers although email has meant it’s possible. It could be tricky going back to normal life because of the security there’s been in lockdown. The fact that there are still lots of people getting ill and dying. People not being able to go to funeral of very close family. Weddings being cancelled or postponed. Not being able to visit relatives.

Recession –

The fact that the country is now in recession is bad for young people in this age group because it will affect jobs. However, it might make people more creative and think about work they can do from home and businesses they can set up.

Exams –

The Government made a big mess of the exam results for this year after exams couldn’t be sat. They’ve now made a U-turn and decided to use teacher’s grades which will really help lots of students.

2020-21 school year –

It will be interesting to see what happens this school year because of Covid. Some universities are moving their courses online and some schools may need to be part time to allow for social distancing and cleaning. This could have a big impact on this age group.

Designing a Contents Page –

• Page number
• Heading in bold
• Short explanation of the story

Example –

38 Exams Fiasco How the government caused so much confusion around this year’s exams. We talk to students to find out how it affected them.

Having a look at some other magazine websites to get ideas for mine.

VOGUE

I notice this has a drop down on the homepage where you can choose the country that you’re living in. Britain and the US are on there. There are also Asian and European countries.

The Magazine name is very clear. It’s in bold lettering and the page is clean and clear. It’s not cluttered.

It’s not necessarily clear that what you’re looking at is a magazine. For somebody who doesn’t know Vogue as a magazine, they wouldn’t necessarily know that that’s what it is from this website. They are assuming that the Vogue name will be known to people which could be a bit of a drawback because some people might not know.

There is a subscribe button on the homepage which is making it easy for people to have access to this magazine if they want to. It’s also interesting that on this link you can subscribe to the magazine either digitally which is cheaper or have the paper version of the magazine posted to you which is slightly more expensive.

The menu items are clear black block-shaped writing on a white background. There is not a “home” menu item but by clicking on the heading VOGUE it takes you back to the homepage.

DENNIS PUBLISHING

The DENNIS website is different to VOGUE in that it covers a range of magazines so the homepage isn’t specific to one magazine. Above is a screenshot of the homepage. The image is actually a video which is quite fast moving and changes frequently. The menu background is quite dark with white writing which stand out well against it. This is the opposite to VOGUE where the background is white and the writing is black, but both of the menus are clear.

When I click on the menu item to get to their Current Affairs magazine the look changes from being dark to being light as you can see below:

When I click on “The Week” it looks like this:

This explains about the magazine but doesn’t actually have a way of subscribing on this page, to do this you would need to click on the link on the main Dennis website. This could be a bit of a drawback because people might be more likely to subscribe if the button was right there.

The bottom of the page shows the image above showing different versions of the week – digital, paper, but also linked magazines such as “The Week Junior”, “The Week Fashion” and “The Week School’s Guide”.

THE WEEK

I’ve just done a bit more research and found out that “The Week” does have it’s own website. It has subscription offers and is a similar layout to the other magazine websites.

This website is more cluttered than the VOGUE one but is similar in that the heading is bold, there are menu items and the subscribe link is clear at the top. However there is a big advert right across the top of the page which makes it quite distracting. Below is what the rest of the homepage looks like.

I feel that this website is very cluttered to look at. It has adverts all the way through it and lots of information making the viewer feel slightly bombarded. However, as my magazine is linked with “The Week”, I will need to think about how this looks when I’m designing my website.

VANITY FAIR

A very similar design to “VOGUE” in the use of it’s colour and layout.

PRIVATE EYE

This magazine is slightly different in that it’s current affairs but is instead looked at in a comical way.

The layout of this is similar to the layout of the other magazines.

I’m trying to think of ideas of what can go in a magazine because that will help me with my contents page. This could be a range of things that cover people’s ordinary lives but also things that can help with the disabled and autistic.

• What it’s like getting a pet. (This could help with an autistic person getting a dog to help with their confidence or a disabled person getting a dog to help them walk).
• Learning to drive a car. This can give people the ability to be able to travel places whenever they want and by themselves.
• Moving out of Home. It’s fairly likely that in this age group, people might be choosing to leave home either because they are moving out for University or because they are buying or renting their own house for the first time.
• Starting an Apprenticeship. This age group could cover people who are starting apprenticeships either at 16 after GCSE’s or when school finished as a way of entering the work place.
• Going on Holiday. This age group might be starting to go on holidays with friends rather than family.
• Going out. This age group are likely to be going out socially more than they have before due to being that bit older and having a bit more freedom and possibly a bit more money.
• Covid-19. Interesting to look at the positive and negative impact of Covid to do with this age group. Lack of education due to schools and colleges having to close for a time. Possibly lack of jobs because Covid has made people unemployed anyway so there will be less jobs for young people who are looking for jobs for the first time. However, this could have led to an increase in people being more creative with their own work, e.g. working from home/setting up a small business that could plug some of the gaps created by Covid.
• The Environment. Lockdown had a positive impact on the environment – less cars on the road = less pollution and quieter places in general meant that wildlife was able to come back.
• Black Lives Matter. There have been lots of protests from the killing of George Floyd because it highlighted the fact that black people are still treated differently to white people in lots of situations.
• The Recession. Recession caused by Covid and the country needing to shut down for three months means that there are less jobs for this age group to go into.