"School Moodboard"

Here are just a few initial ideas i thought of when I think of schools and colleges.

Textual Analysis of Magazines

A typical female teen Magazine:More! magazine is aimed at 16 to 24 year olds, slightly higher than my target audience but still relevant.

Magforum.com says "Most readers are single and at university or working and living at home."

Mast Head: The mast head is incredibly bold; it's a very bright pink which is obviously women applicable, the change in colour helps it to really stand out, the white "M" is a very much an attention grabber, the font used is sleek as is recurrent in all the issues of more, themes are very important in magazines for example the colour scheme used in more! is very bright colours but still feminine(the pinks etc).

Selling lines: The box to the top left is very useful as it gives an insight

Cover lines: The cover line of this issue is very much evident that it shall be focused on stacey solomon, it's not quite as bold as the title but the use of different fonts i think is really effective, its slightly more right on the page which seems to be obvious in a lot of high end magazines. The use of a celebrity as the cover story is also quite important as "celebrities sell".

Main Image: The main image is of a well known celebrity; it's relevant to the main story and it's very striking, it's in your face and its bright and bold. It would stand out on a shelf because of how she stands out on her blue-y background. It is true that all cover models are completely "perfect" and airbrushed

Other images: The images that relate to the fashion pages are also quite bold and eye catching, the small pictures of the women at the top are particularly attractive; they are showcasing what shall be inside of the magazine. The other little images of clothes and shoes give you an idea of

General thoughts: The overall layout of the front page is quite cluttered and very busy; this is a reflection of the contents of the magazine so it is a good cover. I personally wouldn't have used so many colours and it is slightly over powering but at least it would catch your eye on a magazine stack.

What makes a good magazine

What the internet has to offer on the subject:

-An image that sparks interest

-A guys mags need scantily clad gals on there, or guns or cars, or tools.

Women need weight loss tips, relationship suggestions, or some other topics that will assure them that help is on the way. They like to be taken care of, and if a magazine can promise that on its cover by well written informative articles, then they are likely to buy.

(Taken from www.askville.amazon.com)

-Never promise what you can’t deliver

-Never ask a question on the cover
-Cover lines can never be too big
-Cover words need to make sense
(Taken from onlinejournalismblog.wordpress.com)

What I think:

I would say a magazine needs an eye catching picture, however it should be relevant to the content of the magazine, the cover should have interesting cover-lines and mast head, it also must have an amazing selling line that would draw in customers.

I will be conducting a short poll on my blog to see what others think is the most important part of a "good" magazine. I shall post the results here when i have had sufficient responses.

Poll results:
From the question asked "what makes a good magazine" the answer that came back with the majority of votes((two thirds of all votes) was the cover image. I thought this would be the case as it is the image that catches your eye and makes you further investigate the magazine.

Initial Research into school and college magazines

School and College Magazines:

Most schools and colleges have magazines, they come in all different sorts. There are parents specified magazines or general magazines for both pupils and parents. They tend to have names that are somehow related to the school for example my school currently has a magazine called wyhigh, other magazine names include: highProfile, The review, Cool school.
There are currently no "all rounder" school magazines on the market, as in there isn't a a published magazine that apply to school children in general. This could be a potential gap in the market.This was just one example of a school magazine I found.

Target Audience:

There are a variety of different types of school system; 1st school, middle school and high school, alternatively there is prep school, prima
ry school and high school. After high school pupils have the opportunity to go onto further education 16+ such as 6th form and college.
This translates to ages from 4-18, such a wide audience would be impossible to cater for so I shall be focusing mainly on high school 11years-18years as they are the immediate market available to me, this will help with thoughts and feedback.


With such a vast amount of types of magazines and audiences i felt it would be appropriate to do some research into teen magazines aimed at 11-18 year olds. I felt it would be a good idea to research into female, male and unisex magazines.

ACTION PLAN

What needs to be done:

-Preliminary exercise:

"Produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead"

-Initial Research into current school/college magazines:

-Are there any specific gaps in the market?

-Who the target audience are going to be?

-What makes a good magazine?

-Traits of successful magazines

-Textual analysis of at least 3 current magazines & contents pages

-Initial ideas of what's to be included in the magazine and on the front cover.

-Mood boards about content

-Test shots for the front cover

-Questionnaires/Polls (including results and analysis)

-Research into fonts and colours etc.

-Create a mock up of the front page.

-Audience feedback of my mock up.

TO BE COMPLETE BY AROUND 25th FEBRUARY

-Main Task:

"The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine"

-Initial ideas

-Focus and Pitch

-Mood boards

-Analysis of current music magazines

-Polls and quizes; market research and evaluations

-Photography test shots; different styles and moods.

-Research into fonts and colours for cover and contents.

-Create front cover

-Textual analysis of double page spread.

-Photos and manipulation for double page spread

-Double page spread created.

-Audience responses.

-Evaluation.

Research into magazines and target audiences must be continued through-out.

EVERYTHING TO BE COMPLETE BY MARCH 30th