Research into school magazines

For my research, I have chosen two school magazine covers, one which is of a good quality and the second one which is of a less quality. I have annotated and analysed them in detail to cover a range of different techniques used on the front covers to attract their audience and make it appealing as well as attractive. The observation which I have carried out has significantly helped me gather information about conventions of a school magazine as well as providing me with a great insight and ideas into what my magazine might look like and the techniques and conventions which I might use.

Other magazine observation into magazine products



 

Planning my school magazine - Font & Colour

Here I have explored the different font styles and colour schemes which I will possibly use for my front cover as well as my contents page. I will choose one or at most two different font styles, and choose specific colours to create a colour scheme to my pages and to create consistence to my magazine cover and contents pages.

Questionnaire - aspects of a magazine

Here is data shown in a pie chart of what people look for in a magazine. I have asked 55 people, and out of the four options, 20 students have said that they look for good quality images, 19 for content, 11 for layout and 5 for colour. Therefore I have come to a conclusion that I will pay extra attention to make my images good and add entertaining content-appealing to the students.

Magazine title research

I have created some title ideas that I could use for my magazine. I want it to be appealing to all stuents throughout the academy, therefore I have asked 115 students from year 7 to 13 which name they would most like to find on their school magazine. Here is my plan, along with the questionnaire that I have created and finally with the graph showing the results.

 

From this questionnaire and the outcomes, I have learnt that most peoplehave voted "Student House" as their favourite and most appealing. I have thought about the reasons why, and came to a conclusion that the word 'house' makes students feel welcome and at home, therefore it will make them feel relaxed whilst reading the magazine. Since so many people have voted this to be the top magazine name, I will call my magazine "Student House".

 

 

Planning my school magazine - Draft layout

 

I have looked at many magazine covers and contents pages and research what fonts, colours and images they use to make the layout and presentation appealing to their audience. I have then created a draft layout of the front cover and contents page for my own school magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

Photoshop practice

Before I take my photographs for my main image for the front cover, as well as other images/counter images, I decided to use an example portrait-image from the internet and practice my photoshop techniques so that I will be more familiar with the tools and all the editing when it comes to editing my final image. I have also looked at many Photoshop tutorials on the internet including YouTube and other blogs. Getting some experience with the software will prepare me for the main task and get me comfortable with it's tools. Here is the before(left) and after(right) photograph which I have edited, mostly focusing on the make up:

 

 

 

Planning my school magazine - content ideas

 

I have made a mind map of all of the content ideas that I can put in my school magazine. Some of these, or all of these ideas and more will be added to my front cover and contents page, because what would a magazine be without it's content?