Magazine Drafts

I realise that this layout is not very informal and so does not look to appear to a younger audience.

The logo should be tilted to make it look less formal.
I used a blue colour scheme because it's the main colour of Trinity school, this would appeal more to the students of the school.
The lures I have only put on the left side of the page as I wish to center the image on the right side.

I used blue again because it's the colour of Trinity. I tried to use a lot of images in order for the younger audience not to get bored. I will put in images which will be related to pages in the magazine, I will put the page numbers on the images so readers don't have to look through all the text. I also made it so the Contents heading looks to be cut out of the banner, this makes it look less formal than a normal heading.

This is my second design for the magazine. I went for a sharper design but with the same colour scheme of blue and yellow which is suitable for the purpose and target audience of the magazine, as they are two colours of the school. istarted creating the final design shortly before creating this, I regret this a I think that this design appeals more to a younger audience as it is sharper and looks more modern. The masthead isn't in a banner like the first design but in a a small area at teh top right, I tried to use up as little space as possible for features such as the name of the magazine and details to make room for the main image and lures.

For the contents page, I used the same design of straight lines and triangles. It does against the usual iconography of magazine as the images do not have page numbers on them but instead linked to short summary of the image's story and page number to its side. I have also included details of a subscription to the magazine at the bottom,  this is a convention of magazines. I kept the layout of the page numbers donw the left side of th page as it's also a convention of magazines such as Kerrang magazine.

Research #6 - Contents Page

This is the contents page for teen vogue. They have used black, white and red as the main house style, these 3 colours a common convention of magazines. A large main picture is place in the upper center of the page, linked to a page number, this makes it easier for the reader to skip to that page if that was the story they wanted to read. Stamps are also included by some of the pages numbers and titles, this shows the reader what page a story is on that was featured on the front cover and that the reader might have wanted to read. The page numbers are a larger font than the page titles, this is iconography of magazines as this has been the same with the other three contents pages I have analysed. Teen vogue is a magazine with a target audience of mainly teenage girls, the colour scheme of the contents page is bright with colours such as pink and orange used, this colour scheme of vivid colours is a convention of magazines with a young female audience. The image contains mainly female models over male which also shows its target audience.  The layout is simple, the page numbers and listed in three columns in the bottom half of the page, with the word fashion enlarged beside it, this is because Vogue is a mainly fashion magazine. The image is large and placed in the top half of the page with the name of the magazine used as a heading at the top of the page. Using the image at the top and page numbers at the bottom is a common convention of magazine contents pages.

Research #5 - Contents Page

This is the Top of the Pops Magazine contents page. It appeals to a younger audience than the Kerrang magazine but a similar aged audience to the school one I will be designing. They use pink in the header with a white script font,  this can be seen as a magazine more appealing to girls because of the use of pink and the 'girly' handwriting font. The colour pink in a girl magazine is a common convention. The images are of pop stars that are most popular among female readers and are well known. The page numbers are listed in four labelled boxes on the left, right and center of the page. Some of these page numbers are enlarged and placed over images, as well as in the list, this is to give the reader the page number they might have wanted without having to search through the list. There is also a small copy of the front cover on the page with page numbers pointing to different stories on the cover this is so so if someone picked up the magazine to read a story on the cover that catches their eye, they could just see that instead of looking through he list. The listed page numbers are put under 4 categories to organize them so the reader can find the page they were looking for quicker.
There are heart graphics placed in two of the headings and in one of the page titles, this is because of the gender audience they are aiming for and the age of them as well.

Research #4 - Contents Page

As I could not find any  professional school magazine contents pages, I instead looked for contents pages of magazines with a similar audience. Kerrang appeals to a teenage audience which is an age range that my magazine will appeal to. The black and yellow house style  helps the font to stand out. They highlight the heading and subheadings of the page with the opposite colour which also makes it  stand out from the rest of the text (black font highlighted with yellow, yellow font highlighted with black). As well as a list of the pages  on the right side of the page, there are also images with page numbers and titles attached to give the reader  more knowledge of what is on that page. A few of the images contain  people singing or playing an instrument, this is iconography of  music magazines.  The way the header is put in big bold letter in yellow font is to make it stand out  more and catch the readers attention when flicking through pages. Below the heading is the magazine issue number as well as the  date which are also on the front page and  are both conventions of magazines. They use a lot of images on the page, this is a convention of Kerrang magazine because they appeal to a young audience and most are more interested in the images than the text.

Research #3 - Front Cover

This is a school magazine by St. Mary's Grammar School. The layout is rather bland, only using one image. The magazine goes against conventions with not having a main heading, instead using 'imagine' as a slogan in  large text on the side. The white colour of the building makes the name of the school on it's side stand out more, this seems to be used as more of a heading than the one at the top right of the page.  Part of the 'imagine' text is written in script font, because it looks like it has been handwritten. The year of the publishing date of the magazine is placed at the bottom of the page,  this is iconography of magazines, mostly school magazines. The font colours stand out well from the background, this helps attract a reader's attention. The logo of the school is placed at the top right of the page, this helps identify it as the school's magazine.

Research #2 - Front Cover

This magazine was not student made which is why it looks more conventional. The bright colours help attract the audience, the sunny day on which the photo was taken emits a sense of happiness, partnered with the smiling faces of the children playing. This 'happiness' theme creates a more positive vibe and makes readers want to read the magazine. The red used also attracts readers, its vibrancy is visible grabbing the audience's attention. The heading is also placed in the top of the page, a common convention of magazine front covers. Part of the contents page is one of the more prominent features of the page, it's placed on the front page instead of the inside of the magazine to lure people, this goes against magazine conventions as the contents is usually put on a separate page. The position of the three children and the ball is in a triangle shape, this emphasizes the position of the ball at the top of the triangle.

Research #1 - Front Cover

This is a magazine designed by a student which is one of the school magazines I looked at for research. It isn't very detailed and some of the text doesn't go well with the background. The colours are bright and help attract the audience, the text is less visible when laid over darker areas of the background, the yellow text at the bottom is also hard to read when part of it is over the white background. Hardly any basic conventions are applied, one being the heading placed on the top of the page. A lure is used above the text on the left side of the page, this a convention of magazines. Cover lines are used to show what stories are inside and attract readers who might want to know about them. The house style used is black and yellow, these are two colours that are commonly used in magazines , but usually include white also, the use fo only two colours is rather bland. The text is too close to the image of teh firl and even very slightly goes over it, the text should be wrapped in order for it to look more professional and clean.

Brief

Brief: to design and create the front cover and contents page for a school magazine aimed at school pupils.

Audience targeting;

• You must identify clearly the audience you are targeting
• You may pick any age group of pupils for your target audience.
• The research you have undertaken must be evident in your work.
• Your research you do can be taken in the form of: interviews, Focus groups and surveys aimed at your audience.

 Wider reading;

• You must Research into the Genre of the school magazine.
• This research should feature: style of Contents, the topics covered, style of images used, publication cost and legal restrictions,

Preliminary production;

• Research and draft work (free-hand drafting)

Magazine conventions;

• Should include: clear house style, 2 or 3 main colours to identify types of text, clear and attracting images, and cost, date, name of magazine etc.

Contents page

• Certain Images from selected articles
• competitions
• Information of team behind magazine production
• Clearly laid out contents list