School Magazine Front Cover & Content Page

I havecreated my front page and content page for a school magazine.I have included different aspects in the magazine, those of which are included in actual magazines. I have used techniques such as a MastHead, featured Names and Head Shots.

To start off my designing of the school magazine I had to do some reearch in to magazines, i found out different techniques which are used within the magazine and how they benefit/effect the magazine. After this i had to do some research on what people would like to see in a school magazine and to do this, teachers and sixth formers were invited into our class to talk about what they would like to see, from this we could create a school magazine which people will want to read.

After gaterhing all my market research, i went on to the Apple Macs to start creating the design for my front page. As i was not formiliar with using Apple Macs, it took me awhile toi adjust and understand it. After i was confident with using Apple Macs, i was able to start my design.

As pictures are needed on the magazine, i had to go around school and take pictures of students/ the school which would fit in with my magazine and imrpove it.  After getting a suitbale amount, i transferred them on to the Apple Mac and placed them in a folder. I chose to use green, black and white as my main colours as they fit in well with the school colours and all these colours together didn't clash.

I decided to pick a main picture to us on my front page and then from this had smaller images from around the school. I thought by putting the pictures on a pin board, it would fit the theme of school well and would be suitable. I also added a MastHead whcih related to the main image on the front page and then had boxes which included different aspects of what the magazine included. I chose the name "Real" as i thought this would be a good name for the magazine. If students saw the name they may want to read it more as it would be from their point of view and would show an understanding and realtion to the srtudents about school life.

For my content page, i decided to keep it simple as i didn't want to confuse a reader if they were trying to find a specific subject, so i made sure all the page numbers and subjects were arranged in a easy way so people could find the different subjects. I made the title of the contents page similar to the title on the front cover to keep it consistent. I used the same colour scheme for the front and content page and used similar fonts. I also added images to my content page as i thought it was very basic and plain, this made the content page look a lot better.

  

Self-Evaluation for my Preliminary Page

Front Page of School Magazine:

For my front page I can see different aspects, which I have done well, and others in which I can improve. My masthead, which I have chosen, has been placed in the corner of the page leaving it looking less like a title and more like a name of an article include in the magazine. To improve I would need to increase the size of the Masthead and move the position of the title towards the middle. Also by pinning and tilting the three pictures on my front page, it almost causes an illusion with the main image making it look tilted too. Also I have tilted the pictures only slightly and to improve I should make sure I tilt the picture thoroughly so it is clear the image is being tilted to either the left or the right. I have chosen to use the same font size for the majority of writing on my front page and to improve the magazine and make it look more interesting I should vary the sizes and fonts of the text I include. To improve for next time I could also make sure the distance between each box of writing is equal as on certain boxes the text is more towards the top of the box than the bottom meaning it is not positioned in the middle which would make for a well presented front cover page.

Contents Page of School Magazine:

For my contents page I have done certain aspects well and others in which I could improve. When adding the title to the contents page I wrote ‘content’ rather than a more suitable name which should be ‘contents’. To improve further I could also make the font size of the title bigger as it did not fit the whole top space of the page and made the top look too plain. Also the page numbers I included were wrong as for example, I listed the first page as being a page of information about the school when the all first pages of magazines are the Front Page not when the information starts. Also to improve for next time I could add more suitable images and take better pictures to show off the school more. However, one point I did well was add a suitable background which made all the writing easy to read and made all the different aspects on the contents page stand out and it made them a lot easier to read.

Overall:

To conclude on my performance over the tasks we have done, I feel I have worked well and kept within a reasonable time frame. I’ve made sure I completed all my work and uploaded it on to the Blogger website. To improve for future reference I could make sure I comment more on my peers work when they blog it and get them to comment on my pieces of work too. This will make us improve on our work generally as getting feedback from others in the class will show us where we can improve and what we’re doing right. By commenting on others people’s work I can help them to improve and gain an understanding in what they’re doing right and how they could improve.

School Magazine Questionnaire

School Magazine Questionnaire:               Miss Long Hurst                                Unknown            Miss McAleney Sixth Formers    Year 10

What would you like to see in a school magazine?

-Front page, then articles, prefers students to write it – one student from each year to write an article, give it a go, problem page

-School big on students reading for pleasure not just made to read, work from different faculties, current news event article made easier to read

-Book reviews, student success stories i.e. with GCSE’S, competition, writing competitions with members of staff who judge it

-Changes that are going to happen, after school clubs which involve ucast points, interview with a student, interview with aqa examiner finding out key points wanted for exams

-What students are talking about, gossip

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What colour schemes would you like to see?

-Simple clear colours one colour all the way through nice and neat

-Bright colours to make students want to read it, eye catching

-School colours, so they fit in, so they know it’s associated with the school

-Professional, blue and green cold colours go best, school colours are a good idea as you can tie it in with the logo, persistent with colours

-Bright and colourful, greens yellows reds

What sort of articles would you like to see?

-Current not necessary to do with school, local community, local area information, success stories, what’s going on with the student council, changes in the school, achievements

-Reading because big on trying to get students to read for pleasure, about latest book (with library), stuff happening in school, events people do not know about, current news put in a easier way for them to understand

-Formal/un formal, as younger students may not understand, could have different sections with different skills of writing so everyone finds something they can read

-By students, makes it more personal

-How well the school is doing, puzzles, win tickets to rocking ham speedway, theme parks (you and 4 friends), letters from the principle

What sort of images would you like to see?

-Detailed images on focused subject, bright and colour, grab readers attention, interesting

-Stay away from celebrities, celebrity culture so they do not get unrealistic thoughts

-Time of year, work the students have done, art and media work

What sort of layout and aspects would you like to see?

-Front page, then articles, prefers students to write it – one student from each year to write an article, give it a go, problem page for year 7’s, no article on the front cover, make students more likely, but articles on the front could make staff more likely to read it, professional is smart which is what staff would want but it could intimidate students

-Prefer if students wrote it so they are more involved and gain skills, more likely to read if friend’s article is in it

-Typical school magazine, once a month where the students could create their own front cover and the winner could be on one

-School magazine would be best traditional because parents would be expecting to see the magazine

What sort of tone should the magazine have?

-Not too formal, to encourage students to read it, formal so no slang is included

-Chatty tone to make enjoyable to read

-Written by the student, students work

-Students should write articles, makes it more personal

-Student contributors, chatty un formal tone

Deconstruction of The School Magazine Part Two

I can automatically see that this is a school magazine. From the text I can assume that the picture fits in and as they “say goodbye to year 11’s” it suggests that the picture is a year 11 student too. Even though this magazine has been focused on year 11 students, the school logo is a frog which is childish and targeted at kids aged 12 & 13. The colours used and the fonts and sizes are very basic and show little skill. The magazine has no eye catching colours. No extra features have been used to make the magazine more interesting. Using the colour white is very bland and simple, this may be the right impression the creator of the magazine wanted something simple and straight to the point as it is a school magazine. The text is over laying the picture which fills the whole page but it is still easy to read and understand.

The picture of the girl also shows this is a school magazine as she is wearing a school uniform. By the way she has been made to pose it could suggest that the school she attends is strict and very certain about different aspects of the school. The quality of the magazine, specifically the picture shows that the school may have invested in good quality software to produce magazines which look formal. The school website address has been included above the logo which could suggest the school is proud of the outcome of the magazine and wants viewers to pursue to look at the school to see more in depth of what they have to offer. Under the main headline, there is a statement which explains what the school specialises in, business and enterprise. The school has chosen to add on this magazine more information about them suggesting they’re proud of what they do and wish to share this with everyone who views the magazine. The colours which have been used are not dull however are not bright. This shows that they want to keep the look formal, as this may reflect on what the school is about. The colours have been chosen well to suit the background picture. The colour white has been used to make it easier to read with a dark coloured background. The colour blue has been used which connotes sadness and one to one communication meaning the school is focused on what they want to achieve by people looking at the magazine.

Deconstruction of The School Magazine Cover Part One

The Colour red stands out, used to highlight particular information. Top button and tie have been done up to show and present a formal magazine. The heading is “learn” which prioritises it; the biggest font has been used on this word to focus our attention on. I know this is a school magazine as words which have been brought to attention such as “learn” and “uniform”. A picture has been placed in the centre of the magazine, this automatically catches our eye. The colours are very basic with red highlighting the important information. Words have been placed over the image which makes it harder to read as the colours are dull. Overall I do not think this magazine is very effective at keeping people’s attention. Not a lot is going on and the colours are very basic.  

The design of the magazine is very low skilled and looks poorly copy and pasted which could suggest the school is on a budget, meaning it’s a public school rather than a private one. By including on the front that a free stationary coupon is available, it could suggest that the designer knew the magazine was not well finished and in order for the magazine to sell, a freebie needed to be included to attract attention to it. By using a white background and coloured font, words towards the top of the magazine are clearer than at the bottom. No name of the school or logo has been included on the front cover which could suggest that the school is ashamed of the magazine and may not want their school associated with it. The magazine includes an issue price of £1.00, this could suggest that the school is investing in ways to raise money it may need for a project wanting to take place or they could even be raising money for a charity.