School Magazine Design

Front Cover Design:

Contents Page Design:

School Magazine Questionnaire

I created a questionnaire and handed it out to 10 people of my own age and students in my school year, ensuring that anyone answering it was between the ages of 16 and 18, and took a note of the results.

1) How often do you read magazines each month?
      a) Very Rarely
      b) Once or Twice
      c) Three times or more

2) What type of entertainment magazines do you read?
      a) Fashion
      b) Celebrity
      c) Music
      d) Sport
      e) Other

3) Would you regularly read a student magazine if it was available?
      a) Yes
      b) No

4) What type of organisation do you attend?
      a) None
      b) Sixth Form
      c) College
      d) Other

5) What information would attract you to reading a student magazine?
      a) Educational
      b) Events/Social
      c) Trips
      d) Oppurtunities

6) What are your main interests?
      a) Studying
      b) Media - films, TV, music etc
      c) Fashion

7) What do you think is the most important aspect of life at Sixth Form or College?
      a) Social
      b) Education
      c) University/Careers advice

8) State, in order of preference, which of the following you prefer in magazines.
      a) Images
      b) Lengthy articles
      c) Short articles
      d) Interviews

9) What is your favourite subject at Sixth Form or College?
      ____________________________

10) Please state anything else you like or dislike about magazines in general.
      ____________________________________________________________
      ____________________________________________________________
      ____________________________________________________________


Results

Flat Plans for my magazine cover

The purpose of a Flat Plan is to design and layout a magazine cover showing positioning and colouring to make sure the target audience would want to read it. I created flat plan templates for the design of my magazine cover and interviewed my focus group to find out which one they preferred and if they had any comments on how the designs could be improved.

I asked my focus group to take a vote on which of the three above Flat Plans they preferred and these were the results:

I agreed with two of the four people in my focus group, that Flat Plan 1 looked the best.
Comments made on Flat Plan 1:
- "I prefer Flat Plan 1 as it keeps to the conventional style of magazines of its type and it is easy to read, which keeps the readers attention on the magazine."
- "The title of the magazine needs to stand out, if it is noticeable and bold it will catch the readers' eye."
- "I don't think the title of the magazine should just be set at the top, if it was at an angle, or in a font and colour that stood out, it would attract more student readers."

Taking the comments made by my focus group into consideration, I have created a final Flat Plan that I will use to create my magazine:

Focus Group

Alice Donovan
Age: 17
Studying: Philosophy/Psychology/English Language
Favourite Lesson: Psychology
Media Consumption: iPod/Laptop/Music channels/Blogs(tumblr)/TV - 3-5hours per day
Favourite Films: 500 Days of Summer/Anchorman
Hobbies/Interests: Music/Reading/Blogging
Dislikes Magazines: Too many repetitive adverts
Magazines they read: Look/Kerrang!/Vogue















Amelia Antill
Age: 17
Studying: Maths/Biology/Chemistry/German
Favourite Lesson: Biology
Favourite Film: Harry Potter/
Media Consumption: iPod/iTunes/Laptop/
Magazines/Newspapers/TV - 1-2hours per day
Hobbies/Interests: Guitar/Music/Reading
Dislikes Magazines: Too many adverts
Magazines they read:








Harriet Trayling

Age: 16

Studying: Media/French/English Literature/Sociology

Favourite Lesson: Sociology

Favourite Film: Mean Girls

Media Consumption:Internet/iPod/Phone/TV - 2 hours of TV each day

Hobbies/Interests: Music/Fashion

Dislikes Magazines: Boring articles

Magazines they read: NME/Look

Pictures for magazine cover

This is an example of a picture that I rejected and decided not to use. I made this decision as the image looks too formal and would not be attractive to Sixth Form students. The image I should choose should be more relaxed than this, as it views students working.

These are rejected shots I took for the student magazine. I decided not to use them because the lighting was too dark. Also, the main object of the photo is the two students, and they have their backs to the camera. These would not attract readers to the magazine as they are not very eye catching or inviting to the reader.











This is an example of one of the pictures I am considering using for my student magazine cover. It shows a student taking part in a hobby (photography) which may attract readers that are interested in that subject. The model is using direct mode of address, this invites the audience in as it is as if the model is looking directly at the reader. Also, it has other students using 'mac' computers in the background, this may attract students to read the magazine as they are very high quality facilities. However, there is too much going on in the background of the picture, and this could distract the viewer from the main focus. Also, the lighting of the image could be improved as it is slightly dark. The model in the image is too close to the edge of the photo which makes it seem like it is not the main focus of the photo.


Here is another photograph I took which is similar to the one above, however there is a plain background. This makes sure that the model is the main focus of the image as there is nothing distracting in the background. It also allows room for contents and title on the front page of the magazine and again, attracts readers that have an interest in photography.

Examples of previous College and University magazines

Cue is a student magazine available for free. CUE stands for College and University Edition showing that it's main target is students of that age. The title is bold and eye catching as it is in a large font and prominent colour. Also, the contents and information on the front of the magazine are in bright, bold colours as to appeal to an audience between the ages of 16-21. The language that is used on the front cover is very casual and the use of the vibrant colours for the subtitles catches the readers' eye. It is made very obvious that the magazine is free so it will attract a lot of the University and College students that it is aimed at. The magazine also offers a competition for students to win 'Attractive prizes', this makes the audience want to read the magazine to find out what these prizes might be. The cover has a contents on the right hand side, giving the reader a preview of what is inside. This, again can be a teaser to make students want to read the contents of the magazine. The image is of a female student and has a deep background that is blurred to maintain the focus on the main subject in the foreground of the photo. The model uses a direct mode of address as she is staring directly into the camera at the audience. The laid back language of the magazine makes it appeal to students, for example 'New Kids on the block', it uses language that a student would use to make it an easy read. 

College is a magazine aimed at students between the ages of 16 and 18. The title is bright and bold and catches the attention of the reader. The model used is looking straight at the camera like she is directly addressing the audience and inviting them to read the magazine. She is also wearing a bright T-shirt that matches the colour of the font used for the name of the magazine. You can tell the model is a student as she is wearing a supporting T-shirt for SMU. The background is blurred to keep focus on the model in the main focus of the picture. The stories on the front page are those that would attract a teenage audience, such as "She's 15 and pregnant" or "He better hope they serve beer in hell". These offer interviews with students and would make a teenager want to read about them as they can be relevant to their life. Next to the barcode, the magazine says "100% FREE". This will attract a lot of students to read the magazine and take an interest in college life.

The National Student Magazine is a free independent magazine, created by and aimed at university students. The casual font of the word 'magazine' would attract students to read it as it gives a more relaxed feel the magazine.The image used of 'The Kooks' is attractive to the target audience of the magazine as they are a popular indie band among the age group at which the magazine is aimed. The front cover does not have much information about the articles inside, this is a teaser for the readers as they will want to know why The Kooks are on the front cover. The colours used for the title and subtitle are bold and bright, they stand out from the background and are contrasting colours. The image of the band is the main focus of the magazine as there is nothing to take the reader's attention away from the picture and it uses direct mode of address as two of the three band members are looking directly at the audience. The magazine contains articles and information about TV, music, film etc which is stated at the bottom of the magazine, this would draw in a wider range of audience.