Before coming to a decision on how i would design my magazine i analysed some other school magazines to look for common things you would find in a school magazine. This is what i found:
This is the magazine for the King Edwards’ schools across England for girls which they’ve called High profile. The target group will be well educated girls aged 11-18, so the topics that they will be reading about may be slightly different than those in other magazines I will be looking at. By calling it high profile they are editors are implying that there will be selective readers as people reading will be anybody that are capable of passing the entrance test. Other members of the target audience may be teachers or parents.
The picture used is the main attraction of the front cover as they are representing and identifying their audience. They are using a mid-shot here to show the person in more detail but still giving an impression of the whole picture. By showing their pupils doing exciting activities they are advertising King Edwards’s high school as a fun place to be and not just for academic side. This can also be used to encourage current students to get involved in the activities too. Information on what is in this issue has been published onto the front cover; this is so that the viewer can decide whether they are interested in reading on or not when first looking at it. The colours that they use work well together and look presentable rather than them clashing. However there is no contents page inside the magazine so this is also acting as a contents page too. There is a hierarchy of text with the title of the magazine the largest and the articles the smallest, least important at the bottom as any other magazine would. Articles like interviews with Miss Evans will persuade students to read the magazine as they will want to know gossip about their teachers. They use attractive headlines with alliteration like “KEHS girls having a ‘wet and wild’ time!” to grab the readers attention. The same font is used for the whole of the cover with the title of the magazine standing out in black, then the articles and headlines all in white seeming less important.
In this cover they are still representing the audience but a wider range than before. The audience may be slightly different to those who would read ‘high profile’, as this is a state school, rather than a grammar school so the readers may be interested in different things. They are a sports community college, so alike King Edwards using the magazine to encourage the extra curricular activities and the fun things they include like news on trips. They are using a high angle shot which is usually to show somebody to be less significant, but here it is used to show the bigger picture. Unlike the king Edwards’s magazine there are smaller pictures around the main picture to show other activities going on, not just focusing on the big picture. They again have a hierarchy of text with the title of the magazine the largest and the content as the smallest. They also use a combination of fonts so each individual title stand out from each other. I think that this magazine has a better layout with more of an insight into the magazine on the cover and it looks a lot more interesting. This magazine also does not have a contents page, but here they use page numbers to guide the reader to the pages as a contents page would. They use colours that work well with each other and you can see that they have used Photoshop to give a blurred affect on the photo to put a finer focus onto the pupils.
Unlike the other two magazines this magazine has a contents page. They use the typical conventions of a contents page with the numbers as a guide to the pages. However here they divide the pages into sections to make it easier for the readers to navigate the pages they need, it is also made clearer by using different colours for the different sections. They use the same text throughout the magazine where like the other magazines the title is the largest and the least important text like the date is the smallest. Using ‘best school newspaper in the north east’ will make the viewer feel like they want to read ahead. Subjects that they have included in the magazine are slightly different to those in the last two as there are unusual articles for a school magazine like ‘perfect smoky eyes’ about make up which can appeal to girls and film reviews which do not relate to school life.
The picture that they have used is unusual as they have taken different images and combined them to make one. Images they use to make the combined object are things like students art work, stationary, teachers, a photo of the school and students in fancy dress. This is to show pupils on first impressions of the magazine that it has something for everyone. They have had to use a light back ground here so that none of the colours in the image clash. The target audience of this magazine will be more like the second magazine rather than the first as it is another state school. However it isn’t a sports specialist school so the readers may be interested in slightly different subjects as they aren’t using the magazine as a way to get students involved in extra curricular activities. Other people that may read this will again be parents and teachers.
From my research I found that the typical conventions of a school magazine would be to use students on the cover of a magazine. On two of the three magazines they use one image across the whole of the cover which is usually a mid-shot, So i will only use one image. Most magazines do not have a contents page alone but have one on the cover, but it is better and more clearer to have an individual contents page. On the contents page there are sections to divide the topics in the magazine. Each magazine sticks to a certain colour scheme so that it doesn't look too loud and all of the features clash. I will need to have a hierarchy of text with the title of magazine being the largest around 74pt and less important features being the smallest like the date or issue being around 14pt.Therefore in my magazine i will need to show an aspect of each of these conventions.
Before i can start on my magazine i need to plan out how i will lay out the cover and plan what contents page i would create. I Decided to called my magazine 'saved by the bell' making it the largest title on the page. I'm using a mid-shot of one person covering most of the page and the main article will be 'head boy reveals plans for 2010', which will interest anybody linked to the school. Other titles which are smaller include 'Waseley on tour', 'charity car wash', 'dance explosion', 'and much more'. At the bottom there is another article which will interest most people as it is an interview with a new head teacher. The background I'm using is of a school shirt and tie and the colour scheme I'm using will be the schools colours, making it personal for that school.
Now that I've planned my magazine I've taken some photos to chose for the image that with be central to the magazine.
After deciding on a picture to use in my preliminary task created my front cover and an outline for a contents page for my preliminary task. On my contents page i would have the school logo at the top left and bottom right hand side of the page making it exclusive to the school because i havent used it on the cover. Then i would use the 3 boxes for sections the first would be for news and reviews second would be on events and the third would be for sports. I would carry on the navy, blue and yellow colour scheme by having the first box blue the second box yellow and the third box navy with a white background so that they stand out. All of the text in the boxes would be white and the title contents at the top would be in the same font, colours and effects as the title 'saved by the bell' on the cover.
By doing my preliminary task I am now familiar with photoshop. I've learnt how to add effects to text like inner glow and outer glow, adding 3 different colours to the title with gradients. I know how to use the magic want to erase a background from the picture so that you only keep what you want. I'm able to add shapes and different coloured background to have the background of my choice.
Also by completing the preliminary tasks i know what i will need to improve in order to make my music magazine even better. Feedback i got from others shown that i will need to add more to my front cover as people thought that my preliminary task seemed plain. Another criticism is that i will need to make my masthead stand out more as they thought that it looked as if it was another one of the subtitles. I will need to highlight these more in my final product.
In comparison to the school magazines that i looked at i think that 'saved by the bell' follows the codes and conventions in the way that i've used a mid-shot of a pupil looking directly at the camera, I've used subtitles of articles that relate to school life and activities that go on around school, a colour scheme that works well and doesnt clash and a contents page that is sectioned off into three coloured categories so that the pupils find it easier to navigate the pages that they want to read. However i don't think that my magazine would be as important to the school or very regular as those i analysed are, it could be something that pupils get twice a year with the new letters.
This is the magazine for the King Edwards’ schools across England for girls which they’ve called High profile. The target group will be well educated girls aged 11-18, so the topics that they will be reading about may be slightly different than those in other magazines I will be looking at. By calling it high profile they are editors are implying that there will be selective readers as people reading will be anybody that are capable of passing the entrance test. Other members of the target audience may be teachers or parents.The picture used is the main attraction of the front cover as they are representing and identifying their audience. They are using a mid-shot here to show the person in more detail but still giving an impression of the whole picture. By showing their pupils doing exciting activities they are advertising King Edwards’s high school as a fun place to be and not just for academic side. This can also be used to encourage current students to get involved in the activities too. Information on what is in this issue has been published onto the front cover; this is so that the viewer can decide whether they are interested in reading on or not when first looking at it. The colours that they use work well together and look presentable rather than them clashing. However there is no contents page inside the magazine so this is also acting as a contents page too. There is a hierarchy of text with the title of the magazine the largest and the articles the smallest, least important at the bottom as any other magazine would. Articles like interviews with Miss Evans will persuade students to read the magazine as they will want to know gossip about their teachers. They use attractive headlines with alliteration like “KEHS girls having a ‘wet and wild’ time!” to grab the readers attention. The same font is used for the whole of the cover with the title of the magazine standing out in black, then the articles and headlines all in white seeming less important.
In this cover they are still representing the audience but a wider range than before. The audience may be slightly different to those who would read ‘high profile’, as this is a state school, rather than a grammar school so the readers may be interested in different things. They are a sports community college, so alike King Edwards using the magazine to encourage the extra curricular activities and the fun things they include like news on trips. They are using a high angle shot which is usually to show somebody to be less significant, but here it is used to show the bigger picture. Unlike the king Edwards’s magazine there are smaller pictures around the main picture to show other activities going on, not just focusing on the big picture. They again have a hierarchy of text with the title of the magazine the largest and the content as the smallest. They also use a combination of fonts so each individual title stand out from each other. I think that this magazine has a better layout with more of an insight into the magazine on the cover and it looks a lot more interesting. This magazine also does not have a contents page, but here they use page numbers to guide the reader to the pages as a contents page would. They use colours that work well with each other and you can see that they have used Photoshop to give a blurred affect on the photo to put a finer focus onto the pupils.
Unlike the other two magazines this magazine has a contents page. They use the typical conventions of a contents page with the numbers as a guide to the pages. However here they divide the pages into sections to make it easier for the readers to navigate the pages they need, it is also made clearer by using different colours for the different sections. They use the same text throughout the magazine where like the other magazines the title is the largest and the least important text like the date is the smallest. Using ‘best school newspaper in the north east’ will make the viewer feel like they want to read ahead. Subjects that they have included in the magazine are slightly different to those in the last two as there are unusual articles for a school magazine like ‘perfect smoky eyes’ about make up which can appeal to girls and film reviews which do not relate to school life.The picture that they have used is unusual as they have taken different images and combined them to make one. Images they use to make the combined object are things like students art work, stationary, teachers, a photo of the school and students in fancy dress. This is to show pupils on first impressions of the magazine that it has something for everyone. They have had to use a light back ground here so that none of the colours in the image clash. The target audience of this magazine will be more like the second magazine rather than the first as it is another state school. However it isn’t a sports specialist school so the readers may be interested in slightly different subjects as they aren’t using the magazine as a way to get students involved in extra curricular activities. Other people that may read this will again be parents and teachers.
Before i can start on my magazine i need to plan out how i will lay out the cover and plan what contents page i would create. I Decided to called my magazine 'saved by the bell' making it the largest title on the page. I'm using a mid-shot of one person covering most of the page and the main article will be 'head boy reveals plans for 2010', which will interest anybody linked to the school. Other titles which are smaller include 'Waseley on tour', 'charity car wash', 'dance explosion', 'and much more'. At the bottom there is another article which will interest most people as it is an interview with a new head teacher. The background I'm using is of a school shirt and tie and the colour scheme I'm using will be the schools colours, making it personal for that school.
Now that I've planned my magazine I've taken some photos to chose for the image that with be central to the magazine.
After deciding on a picture to use in my preliminary task created my front cover and an outline for a contents page for my preliminary task. On my contents page i would have the school logo at the top left and bottom right hand side of the page making it exclusive to the school because i havent used it on the cover. Then i would use the 3 boxes for sections the first would be for news and reviews second would be on events and the third would be for sports. I would carry on the navy, blue and yellow colour scheme by having the first box blue the second box yellow and the third box navy with a white background so that they stand out. All of the text in the boxes would be white and the title contents at the top would be in the same font, colours and effects as the title 'saved by the bell' on the cover.
By doing my preliminary task I am now familiar with photoshop. I've learnt how to add effects to text like inner glow and outer glow, adding 3 different colours to the title with gradients. I know how to use the magic want to erase a background from the picture so that you only keep what you want. I'm able to add shapes and different coloured background to have the background of my choice.
Also by completing the preliminary tasks i know what i will need to improve in order to make my music magazine even better. Feedback i got from others shown that i will need to add more to my front cover as people thought that my preliminary task seemed plain. Another criticism is that i will need to make my masthead stand out more as they thought that it looked as if it was another one of the subtitles. I will need to highlight these more in my final product.
In comparison to the school magazines that i looked at i think that 'saved by the bell' follows the codes and conventions in the way that i've used a mid-shot of a pupil looking directly at the camera, I've used subtitles of articles that relate to school life and activities that go on around school, a colour scheme that works well and doesnt clash and a contents page that is sectioned off into three coloured categories so that the pupils find it easier to navigate the pages that they want to read. However i don't think that my magazine would be as important to the school or very regular as those i analysed are, it could be something that pupils get twice a year with the new letters.
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