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PRINT MEDIA PRODUCTION SESSION 11 - MAGAZINE PROPOSAL PART III - DEADLINES


Ok, so far in your magazine proposal you should've told me 

What your magazine is about 

Who it's for (target audience) 

What the content is going to be like 

What the title is going to be 

What fonts you'll be using for headlines and text

What the language/style will be like 

What colours you'll be using 

What the USP of your magazine is

Today I'd like you to start rounding off your proposal by adding the penultimate element to it - giving yourself a deadline for completing at least the front cover and one inside page article. You'll then tell me how you're going to make sure your magazine stays the right side of the rules and regulations. 


Throughout the process of making the magazine you'll be working towards that deadline so you must stick to it. If you miss it I'm afraid I'll have to mark you down or keep you to a pass. Miss deadlines in the workplace and you lose your job - miss them here and you'll lose the chance to excel. You need to give yourself enough time to plan, produce and edit at least an article and a front page, using Indesign (which you've probably never used before) or Photoshop. You'll need time to experiment and play with the software to develop your skills as well as editing the copy to my requirements. 

REMEMBER - the proposal & creation of your mag is where you can get merits/distinctions. I'm VERY TIGHT with distinctions - something has to look professional and as if it could be on a newsagents shelf to get a Distinction so the more time you give yourself to play/experiment with the software the better your final pages, and mark, will be. 




Complete this penultimate part of your proposal as follows. 

1. Go to your Magazine Proposal post. Add a final subheading 'Deadline'

2. Give yourself a deadline anywhere between April 4th and April 12th. Actually complete the sentence 'I am giving myself a deadline of . . . '. . '


3. Then complete the sentence - 'I am giving myself that deadline because . . . ', evaluating your current abilities in design and writing. Just a couple of lines of JUSTIFICATION of that deadline should be sufficient.


What you should end up with 


An addition to your magazine proposal that gives you a concrete deadline for final submission. 


Once you've done this I'd like you to have a play/experiment with Indesign and Photoshop. Today I don't want you necessarily to be creating your front covers or articles, although you can obviously have a go. I just want you, without stress or worry, to play with the software and see what you can do. 

Open up Indesign, create a new document. See if at the basic level you can create a background, and put text on it. I am a writer, not a designer so I'll be learning too. The following are some basic online tutorials that will help you do these fundamentals but give us a shout if you're stuck (or google it!)



You'll notice there's TONS of these vids on Youtube, feel free to check out any you wish. 


For now, just try to get comfortable with the software. Don't be discouraged if you can't create stuff to the standard you want to yet. That's the whole point of experimenting and playing with software - developing the confidence to be able to create what you want. 

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