2. In this preliminary task I was asked to create a front page and contents page of a school
magazine which featured a photograph of a student in a medium close up, including text
and a masthead which I need to create myself. By creating this I will need to use
Photoshop and I will also need to analyse previous school magazine so that I know what
needs to be included on a front page and contents page, I will also be carrying out a small
questionnaire to see what people would want in a magazine. With all my research and
analysis I will be doing I will finally be able to create my final front cover and contents
page for my own school magazine.
3.
4. Title. By using a bold title it helps
the magazine to stand out. By
making the title big and bold this
means pupils will notice it more
and read it because if it didn’t
stand out the reader wouldn’t be
interested on what is inside if the
front cover looked boring.
Free give away. This magazine offers a
free 10 page healthy cooking guide.
This could also suggest that this
magazine is for parents as they are
the ones who will be cooking the
food. This suggests that this magazine
is aimed at parents as well as the
pupils.
This magazine also features a strap/sell line.
This is here to help sell the magazine. This is
where the wording has been chosen carefully
to make the reader see that this magazine is
better than any other.
The main image is a picture of a happy pupil.
This could be used to show that this
magazine actually works and if you buy this
magazine you will feel more relaxed than
stressed and then guide actually works. This
will also appeal to new people moving into
secondary school and help them feel more
calm about the transition.
Date, line and issue number. This lets
people know when the magazine was
issued and lets the reader know how old
this information inside is.
The colours of this magazine are bright
and bold so that everything stands
out. By using bright colours this makes
the magazine seem more interesting
and fun instead of dull and boring.
The price of the magazine is £1.00
Even though the colour is bright
they have not used an interesting
font but they have made the font
big and bold so that it stands out
from other magazines.
This magazine is also a guide to help
with stress coping. This means it is
aimed at teenagers who need help on
how to keep there stress under control.
Secondary stories. These are included
in the magazine to make it more
interesting and to give the reader more
to read. All of these stories link into
what the magazine is about and can
give information to help the readers
out.
5. This magazines front cover is quite basic
and doesn’t look very professional,
however the bright colours used on the
front cover project it in a positive way and
help make it stand out more than other
magazines. This magazine also includes a
free give away which encourages people
to buy the magazine because they get
something out of it and not just have to
read it. It also includes the main story on
the front in larger font than the
secondary stories to show the customers
what the majority of the magazine will be
about and will include. In this case it is
helping people cope with school and
overcome problems they have, this then
helps to give a target audience as well
because people who want to know how
to overcome new school problems or
people who are new to school would buy
this compared to someone wo loves
school and has no problems at school,
they wouldn’t need to buy this as they
don’t need to know this stuff at the
minute.
6. Title. This title is bright and bold which allows it to
be seen a lot clearer and stand out.
Strap/sell line. This strap line
promises to help pupils get through
school. This gives a more positive
effect to the school and the magazine,
suggesting that the pupils will get the
help they need to get through each
school year. It is also quite persuasive
and makes people want to buy the
magazine.
There is not a date but there is the month that the magazine has been issued, then
next to the title it says how there is a new magazine issued every month. By giving
the month that the magazine was issued lets the reader know how old the
magazine is and if the information they are reading is old and recent.
It also gives the place that this magazine is located
and also gives a web address so that people can
look more into the school and this will lead you to
ways to contact the magazine.
The price of the magazine is quite
expensive so not many students would
buy it because they would want to
spend there money else where.
The main image of this magazine is a
student who looks happy and calm
and who doesn’t looked to stressed.
She is also holding her books
suggesting that she is organized and
knows what she has to do. This would
make both parents and students
want to but this magazine because
they would think that the girl on the
front cover is the end result of this
magazine…a stress free, organized
pupil.
This includes a main story which is an
interview from a pupil from the school
which can help new students get an
idea of what secondary school is like as
it gives a students exact point of view
from a pupils life.
Secondary stories. These are included
in the magazine to give the reader a
little extra to read.
7. There are good and bad parts of this magazine
front cover and I will be evaluating both. Some
of the strengths of this front cover is that it is
brightly coloured and the masthead is a bright
red colour which allows it to stand out
compared to other magazine covers. It also
makes it clear which are the secondary stories
and which are the mastheads as the masthead
is in a bigger font and is written in the middle
compared to the secondary stories which are
written in a smaller font around the outside of
the magazine cover.
However, even though this front cover looks
really good, there is also too much going on for
a front cover, we can see this because there is
no space left for anything and there is also no
spaces between the secondary stories and they
are nearly overlapping each other which proves
that it is too crowded for the reader.
We can also see from this front cover that this
magazine is made for a profit instead of just a
spare bit of entertainment for the students at
the school, I can see this because this magazine
costs £2 per each one.
It also gives a sell line which is ‘helping you to
get through school life’, this attracts buyers
because they think if they buy this magazine it
is going to help them cope with school and they
are instantly interested in this.
8. What do you expect to see in a school magazine?
Sports results lllll
Reviews of new
music
llll
Reviews on new films
Editorial ll
Articles about school
life
ll
Upcoming events lllll
A message from the
head.
ll
How much do you expect a school magazine to cost?
Free llllllllllllllllll
50p ll
How often should a school magazine be published?
Daily l
Weekly lllll
Monthly llllllllllllll
I asked 20
students what
they would
expect to see in a
school magazine,
price of the
magazine and
how often it
should be
published.
Task two: Audience Research
9. Initial thoughts…
What is successful? What has the student done well?
One thing the student has done well on this front cover is that they have
done the layout really well, they haven’t overlapped any of the stories or
made the front cover to crowded with cover stories or images and has
laid it out so that it is clear. Another thing this person has done well is
that they have created their own title, they have picked what they are
going to call the magazine and then they have designed it to make it
their own title and not just copied and pasted it which shows that they
have good creativity.
What could be improved?
Even though this front cover comes with strengths and good points it
also comes with some things to improve, some of this for example is that
even though the front is laid out well and is creative, it is quite boring
and plain and there is nothing that would make it stand out compared to
everything else. This could be because the image of the boy on the front
is quite plain there’s nothing really happening therefore it doesn’t make
it overly eye appealing to the customers.
Do you think you are able to produce similar work? What skills do you
need to improve to be able to produce such work?
Yes I think I would be able to, one skill I would defiantly need to be able
to do this is Photoshop.
10. Initial thoughts…
What is successful? What has the student done well?
One thing that is successful on this front cover is that it gives pictures of
different aspects of the school so that the readers of this magazine already
have a small insight to the school and the type of the atmosphere it has, you
can tell this from the top photo and the way the child looks. It also gives page
numbers and the full story so that the reader will know what story they exactly
want to read and where to find it, this is good because this means they don’t
have to flick through the whole magazine to find it.
What could this be improved?
One thing that could be improved is maybe only use 2 pictures in the contents
page because it looks very crowded and overfilled with all 4 pictures and all of
the writing clumped into the middle. Also the page numbers are a bit
everywhere, for example there is a big load of pages in the middle but then you
have one on the top by itself and then 3 pages at the bottom, this could
confuse the reader because they will have to look all around the contents to
find the page that they are looking for. Finally, there is also 3 page number 20’s
which means there is a lot on that page and quite full or there has been an
error and got the page number wrongs.
Do you think you are able to produce similar work? What skills do you need
to improve to produce such work?
Yes I think I would be able to, one skill I would defiantly need to be able to do
this is Photoshop.
11. The audience I want to target in my magazine is teenagers/younger people
interested in music.
Possible title ideas:
(masthead/title block)
What is your magazine going to be called?
SPEAK, TALK, SPEAK UP, TALK UP, About, Inside, The Priory Times, Come In.
Main image:
What will be the focal point of your front page, remember
your work must include a photograph of a student at a
medium close up
The main image will be a picture of one of the students at school BUT they need to
be smiling so that the school is portrayed in a positive light instead of a negative
one.
Main cover line:
What will be the main story?
The main story will be; GCSE and A Level results.
Additional key images:
What other images will be on your front cover?
Remember, it is a school magazine
A group of students from the school all laughing and having a good time. Another
photo I will be using is a picture of the school and the logo, this allows people to be
able to see the school.
Additional cover lines:
Other features, stories or selling points which will be
inside the magazine, these need to be audience
appropriate
Other stories I am using in my magazine is; Year 11 and Year13 Prom, Interviews
with the students or student, Tips on how to cope with exams, Have your say in the
school.
Typography:
(Style, size, copy of colour)
Think about the writing and the style of the writing on
your front page.
The title of the cover will be in big and bold writing so that it can be seen clearly and
it is clear that, that is the title however the title will be black and the background of
the magazine will be white. The size of the cover stories will be slightly smaller than
the main story as I want the main story on the magazine to stand out.
Background colour/image:
What will be in the background, remember you don’t
want t to take the focus away from the main image?
The background will be white and the person in the middle will be in colour this is so that
the main image stands out on the front and the first thing you see is a happy student.
Technical consideration: (equipment, setting, props,
costume, lighting)
Be realistic and creative, think about what you access to
and how you could use it.
I want the picture to be plain but not to plain because I don’t want to take the
attention away from the face.
