Preliminary Task

School Magazine Front Cover Analysis-Class Magazine

My first piece of work in my preliminary task is the analysis of a school magazine front cover. Starting off, with the most eye catching part of the front cover is the main image of a female student, wearing a cap and gown from graduation. This image is not necessarily colourful, but it is very eye-catching. It is well composed, and carefully positioned. This image tells us that the overall theme inside this particular magazine is about school, particularly around a time of when the student is leaving to go onto further education. An example would be University.
The masthead “Class” is a very fitting title for this magazine. The word class can talk about either the class which a student is in any school, or the class of the school that a student attends. Whether it is the top school in the country, or a school with the best teachers, or a school that is best for children with certain needs. The masthead is highlighted with a neon blue surrounding, which makes it stand out even more than just a plain black, bold title.Below the masthead is the slogan of the magazine “The best choice for the student of today”. Both words “best” and “today” are both underlined emphasising how this magazine is the best magazine for students today, and how the student today deserves the best education. The entire slogan gives this magazine a unique selling point, which is vital in any magazine.
There are various cover lines on the cover of this magazine, but in my opinion I think that the most influential one is the first one, saying “GCSE Results ’09, Could this be our best year?” this influences students sitting their GCSE’s to reads inside and see how they can not only receive information on how you could study harder as a year group, but information on how to battle stress, and study harder to ensure that you can come out with the best possible GCSE grade profile for yourself.

The two main colours on this magazine cover seem to be orange and blue. This may indicate that the two school colours may be orange and blue, or the student’s uniform may be orange and blue.At the bottom right hand side of the magazine cove there is a piece of text saying “RRP: £0.99” this shows that the magazine comes at a price, but this is because within a magazine there is so much cost, for example printing.In conclusion, I believe this contents page is adequate in appealing to students but for the majority of readers, it is simply too informal – lacking in direction and clarity. Therefore, it could certainly be improved a clearer layout that still retains the young and funky feel, an easily understood font and an overall classier look, and a brighter colour scheme, so the magazine would be more appealing to readers, and have a larger readership.  

IS Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Inside the magazine, we have the contents page. The purpose of a contents page is to give the reader an idea of other stories/ information within the magazine and what page numbers you can find it on.

It also needs to be easy to read and follow, with this particular magazine this is helped by the light pink background enabling the text to be any colour for it to show up clearly. The colour scheme of the contents page is usually similar if not the same to the front cover, but in this case it is the complete opposite. The front cover has a colour scheme of white, blue and navy, while on the contents page there is a light pink colour scheme.  There is a clear division of colour schemes between the front cover and the contents page, but one thing that is kept the same is the font. The font used on both the front cover and the contents page is a clear font, white on the cover and black on the contents page. The white and black are both colours that stand out from the colours on the background, which makes it more accessible for the reader to understand what the text is saying and where you can go to find out more information. On the contents page, sub-headings are bold, and a larger font than the normal text. This indicates to the reader that the features within this magazine are categorised, for example, “community spirit” and “curriculum”. Below the subheadings is a small black font which would be within the size range of size 12 to 14. Even though this type of font is usually very small, it helps that there are no sans serif fonts, because that would make it harder for the reader because the words would look as if they are joined up. The serif font helps to separate the words, and the black colour definitely helps it stand out behind the light pink background.

 I would describe this contents page as very formal and ordered because of the way the contents are laid out on the page. It is formal because most contents pages would have an advertisement of a puff across the skyline, but because this magazine is all about education and not a fashion magazine, there are no advertisements and letting the reader get straight to reading without getting distracted by any puffs.

Usually a contents page would have the logo inside but, i n this magazine we can clearly see that the logo has been brought into perspective when it has been placed inside the word issue. The word issue starts with IS which also stands for International Schools. It is very evident to readers that they have done this because they have created it as different colour in the sans serif font. It is a red colour, which is very visible against the pink background.

A contents page usually has images on it to show the reader what type of stories are inside. In the contents page of this magazine issue we can see that there are four images, containing various colours, artifacts, animals and people. They support the initial findings within the magazine because this magazine isn't situated with one specific country or continent, but all around the world, as it is a worldwide magazine that is published in Africa, Asia, Europe and all over the Western Hemisphere.

IS School Magazine Front Cover Analysis

In the next part of my preliminary task, I have chosen the magazine IS Magazine. This masthead in this magazine is bright and colorful, and it is also very eye catching. the magazine is titled "IS" which stands for International Schools. The I on the title is very unique because instead of just a normal dot, it has been changed to a blue graphic of the globe. The uniqueness of this title gives the magazine a unique selling point, that no other magazine would have. Below the masthead there is text saying " INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL" and "The official magazine for ECIS members". this indicates to us that this magazine must be very popular and of a very high standard as ECIS is a collaborative network promoting the ideals and best practice of international education. The main image on the front cover of this magazine, is very eye catching. It is a picture of two young girls playing a hand game, with an over the shoulder shot. this picture suggests to the reader that this magazine may be featuring on the aspect of primary schools before you read the text below. When proceeding to read the text below it tells the reader that this issue of the magazine focuses on the primary sector. The colour scheme for this issue is based around the three colour's of white, blue and navy. These three colour's can be seen in the children's uniform. This magazine is very plain and simple, and this shows us that this is a very formal magazine. The magazine front cover lacks in detail, and colour, and in my opinion I think it could contain more cover lines, so it could be more eye catching and more appealing to the reader.

Contents Page Analysis

When trying to find the contents page to match the magazine "class" I discovered that the magazine was not actually a published one, but it was a students coursework. This made it a lot harder as I could not analyse the differences between the two pieces of the magazine for example the colour schemes. I then researched on Google to find another school magazine contents page, where I found the one above. I like this one as I think it may be a good contents page to analyse as their is a lot to talk about.

There are four images which includes a photograph of a group of friends at a recent school outing, an image of a wall saying "Gallery", two yellow double decker buses and the entrance of a new sixth form centre. These images, show us what the articles are about, and gives us a heads up as to what is expected. The images are not displayed in a sensational way as they are not enlarged or framed to jump out at the reader.

In this contents page there are typically three main colour's against the white background. These three main colour's are red, green and black. These three colour's may be associated with the students uniform, but we cannot tell because in the four images constructed, their are no students wearing a uniform. In this magazine there is a bold, black sans serif font. This font is of a small size but against the white background and as it is bold, it makes it more accessible for the audience to read and focus on what is further inside the magazine. Because we do not have an image of the front cover, we cannot tell if the contents page and the colour scheme match the cover, which makes analysing it a little bit harder because therefore you cannot understand if there is a certain theme to the magazine.

In this magazine contents page the information is very organised, as it gives the audience clear direction as to where the features and articles are in the magazine. At the right hand side there is four images constructed vertically with numbers at the bottom right hand corner with the page number of where the picture is associated to. On the right hand side of the page there is a text box with all the information as to where the features are. The information is very accessible and easy to read and understand. The layout of the magazine tells us that the magazine is formal but yet it meets the needs of students, and typically younger readers.

On the contents page there are no promotional pages as it is a school magazine and it tends to not promote anything. other magazines like music and gossip magazines usually tend to have puffs inside to entice the reader to read on further.

School Magazine Questionnaire

1. What gender are you?

Male

Female

2. What age are you?

11-12

13-14

15-16

17-18

19

3. Have you ever read a school magazine before?

Yes

No

4. Would you read a school magazine?

Yes

No

5. How often do you think this school magazine should be published?

Weekly

Monthly

Termly

Annually

6. What would you like to see within the magazine?

Exam Tips

Career Guidance

Horoscopes

School News

Features

Teacher Reviews

School Achievements

Coupons

School Events

Sports Section

Reviews

Competitions

Good Buy’s

Exam Time Information

How to stay healthy

Other

7. If you said other, please specify.

8. What enitcemennts would you like to see within the magazine?

Pens

Pencils

Rubbers

Bracelets

Football Cards

Rulers

Pencil Cases

Go Go's

Hairbands

Other

9. If you said other please specify

10. Are there any specific advertisments or coupons you would like to see within the magazine?

Siena Restaurant Coupons

Voucher Competitions

30% off tights in Dessies /O’Kanes/ Chemists/ Newell Stores

Sainsbury’s Lunch Deals

Questionnaire Analysis

In my questionnaire, my first question asked was “What gender are you?” from this first question I can clearly see that the main gender was dominated by females, as out of a total of 28 people, 25 were female. When constructing my questionnaire, I was expecting that this was going to be the outcome, because our school is female dominated. This also shows me that the magazine would be aimed more at females because the audience will be mostly females. 

The questionnaire was handed out to a group of lower sixth students, so it shows why such a large number are in between the ages of 16 and 17. I was expecting this to be the most popular age group as it was handed out to my peers who are the same age as myself. But this is not the desired age of my target readership. I want the magazine to range from 16 to 19, which involves all sixth formers. 

My third question consisted of asking the audience if they had ever read a school magazine before. I am quite shocked with the results as I found that most 16-17 year old teenagers would have never seen or read a school magazine. 

The fourth question asked was asking my audience if they would read a school magazine, and I was surprised with the outcome as I thought it being a teenage audience that most of them would say no. I thought this because most teenagers would rather read music, fashion, gossip or football magazines. 
 

My fourth question, was asking my audience how often they think the magazine should be published. 17 out of the 28 said that it should be monthly, while 7 out of the 28 said Termly. I think that termly is a better option, because it would leave that there is more to write about and the magazine would be more interesting. 

The most popular types of choices seem to be exam tips, horoscopes, and school news. Hopefully I will find enough room in my magazine to include all of the things above, but I will make sure to include the most popular ones chosen, as they are what the public are interested in and what they want to read in a school magazine.

Question 7 asked the public to specify if they chose other in the last question. No one out of the 28 people chose other.

I can see from the audience’s choice that pens were the most popular. Enticements would not always be given out, but it would depend on the time of year. There are many choices to choose from, but looking at a male’s perspective I can see that none of them want football cards, nor do they want any female things such as hair bands, bracelets etc.

Question 9 asked the audience to specify other but since other was not selected in the previous question, it was not answered her either.

I was expecting the voucher competitions and the Sienna restaurant coupons to be the most popular, which in fact I was right because it is something that students would use. The voucher competitions would be word searches, crosswords or Sudoku for voucher for shops like Topshop, New Look, Bagel Bean, Subway, Scoopys etc.




My Prezi- School Magazine Ideas



Following my Prezi of my school magazine ideas, I decided to create the flat-plan ideas for my school magazine. I made these on Microsoft Word, and converted them to a picture so that they could appear on my blog. By making the two cover flat plans and two of the content page flat-plans it helps me start to see what I want my magazine to look like and how I will construct it. 

Cover Flat-Plan 1

Cover Flat-Plan 2

Contents Page Flat-Plan 1

Contents Page Flat-Plan 2

 

Magazine Cover Photoshoot Plan

Items/Models to be photographed	Two head girls and the two deputy head girls that have been newly elected by the sixth form student body. I want the four girls to be in full school uniform, wearing their badges to represent what clubs and societies they are in. No scarves and no nail polish to represent the perfect school uniform, and to make them look like the model students that they should be. Experiment with shots of them in different locations such as the front door, sixth form common room, outside geography, on the stage, in the sports hall.
Shot type / Angle / Distance	Mid shot of the students from the waist up, showing the details of their uniform. Long shots, from far away to show the full uniform. Also the mid shots at eye level, so the models will be looking into the camera, which engages the audience.
Lighting / Atmosphere	Shots outside will have a natural light as it is outside. If it is sunny the students will face the sun to make sure they are seen and that there is now shadows. Inside shots in classroom will have three point lighting, with a large amount of each to make sure that the lighting is naturalistic and uniformly all over.
Background / Mise en scene	Surroundings around the school such as trees or bushes, showing off the greenery. The main school door, a green background.
Positioning on Front cover	The whole image to take up the cover, with mastheads and puffs surrounding the image. I will use my flat plans to experiment where to place my mastheads and puffs, deciding what looks best with the image that is chosen.
Details of editing	Smooth over any blemishes or errors on the photograph to make sure the models are looking precise and proper. Mast head and puffs surrounding the image such as cover lines will also help me hide any errors.

Selfie Interview

                                      Survey Monkey- Magazine Photoshoot Questionnaire

Above is my questionnaire on my school magazine photos, which I shared on Facebook to get my peers to complete it. There was a total on 41 responses which I was shocked at because I only expected it to be around 23-30.
The first question asked what photos I should include on my front cover. With a choice of three photos, the photo chosen was the Head and Deputy Head Girls on the steps. I was very happy with this response as this was the photo I was planning to use on my cover.

The next question was asking the public what photos they would like to see on the contents page. With a selection of six various types of pictures with a range of different shots, the most popular four were Option C, Option A, Option D and Option F. These pictures will all be on my contents page.

The final question was asking my audience what pictures they would like to see within the magazine. With a selection of five pictures we can clearly see that Option A, Option B and Option C were clearly the most popular. All five of the pictures will be in my magazine, but I wanted to see what pictures the public would like to see more. I expected Options A-C to be the most popular as they were also my favourite. 

Front Cover Options

 Below is my first front cover. This is my favourite front cover because I personally think it is more eye catching and more appealing to the public. I think that the magazine would sell very well with a front cover like this.When I asked the public what image they would like to see most this was the least popular. The most popular picture was the four girls on the steps at front of our main school building. when constructing my magazine I was editing the photo on Photoshop to go onto the cover as the main image, but then I realised that it had to be a mid shot, and the other photo was a long shot. But when I started to edit the photo and place all the cover lines and headings around it, I realised that this image was very fitting, worked well and was very appealing. I am glad I realised the mistake I made before I made further adjustments to the image.

This is my second front cover. I am not choosing this because I think it doesn't live up to the standard of the other one. It is very good but compared to the first cover I find that it is quite bare around the middle and especially down the left hand side. 

Below is my contents page. I find that my contents page is very easy to follow and very eye catching.

Evaluation

Diagram and Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question Six