Genre Ideas

The words in the picture above are different music genres i could think of all put down on paper. I did this when i very first started to think what genre i was going to make my music magazine.

                                        

I again, did something very similar here when i had decided on the genre that i was going to do. I did a spider diagram thinking of all the different aspects of pop and what types of things and people it consisted of. The ideas in the octure above are what i came up with.

Analysing other school magazines

To help with my research, i looked at other students school magazines, this helped me decide what i thought looked good and what i thought didnt work very well. Below i have explained and given my reasons why.

 

 

 

Above is an example of another students school magazine. You can straight away tell that it is a school magazine. One thing you notice straight away is that the people pictured on the front look quite old. Therefore it is likely to be for a sixth form. Having both a girl and a boy featured on the front is something that is important, it shows straight away it is for both people and isnt a single sex magazine. They are smart, and look happy which straight away gives off positive vibes.

The colour scheme i dont think works very well. They have done the right thing to stick to a minimal amount of colours but the black and purple don't go well together. They should have chosen colours that contrast each other, or even a brighter shade of purple for it to stand out a bit more. The writing on the right at the bottom which goes above the picture, you cant see clearly what is said, this should be re arranged so the alignment goes around the edge of the picture.

They have the right idea of offering the reader something 'free', readers are always interested in these types of things.

One thing that is quite clear is that there isn't enough on the page. There is too much blank spaces on the page, front covers should be filled with cover lines and offers and discounts which straight away make the reader want to buy the magazine.

 

This magazine above is an example of what exactly not to do. This person has not thought about anything they have done. They have included the right things, like freebies and a picture of a school girl and the date. But they havent thought about the colours or the fonts of backgrounds.

The writing is all different colours, there is text in five different colours. When designing a front cover you should stick to three main colours which contrast each other, otherwise there will be too much going on which is exactly what has happened here. Because of the background, you cant see the writing properly, the font chosen has a slight shadow behind the writing so makes it hard to read. The colours also blend in, they arent bold colours and the text is too thin to be able to read. This magazine has not researched into other magazines about what is good and isnt.

 

I definately know that researching into other magazines is important now. At first you may think its a waste of time but it gives you an idea of things to consider and things which you should definately make sure you dont do!

School Mag, Contents Page Evaluation

Looking at the contents page, i have done the normal things which you expect to see, for the page numbers and what you wil find on each of those pages, a picture, and then a twitter and facebook link. Although looking back now, i didnt put much thought into it. I kept the house style and colours consistent throughout which is one thing thats very important. Although it is very plain and simple and i didnt do any research into it. One thing i should have done which is very important is look at other school's magazine contents pages that have been done professionally, to get an idea of what kind of things i should include and what layouts they use. Of course every school will have their individual house styles which they stick to but the layouts you will find are probably very similar. Another thing i could have considered doing either before i started working on the contents page or once i had finished and wanted to look at extra things to add, is to look at other A level students magazines, because then i know what looks good and what ideas they have used as they are likely to have similar technology available to them. The picture i have included i think is a good picture. It shows happy students, of both genders therefore isnt one sided and them being happy gives more of a warm friendly feel. Since i designed it, I have looked at other contents pages, i found that many other contents pages have more than one picture. They have quite a few so the reader can see what types of things they are expecting to see.

Magazine Titles

To help with an idea of a name for the magazine i did lots of researched. I thought of any music related words that i thought might sound ok, and looked at other music magazines to get ideas or what types of things they have used.

These are some of the ideas that i came up with..
Chord
Choir
Minor
Major
Tune
Strung
Base
The Beat
Acappella
Pause
Stream
The one which i eventually thought suited what i wanted most was PLAY

Contents Page

Evaluation

Looking back at my music magazine and looking at why i decided on the things i did there is lots that i can critisice and think if i was to re-do it i could make much better.



The photographs i took i think are at a good angle, it shows two very happy children which straight away makes the magazine quite warming which is something that is very important when designing a school magazine. One thing about the pictures that i didnt quite think about at the time is that there are two boys on the front cover. This is something that some readers can instantly be put off by as they may think that it is an all boys magazine as you can't see any girls on the front cover. So if i was to do this magazine again, having a boy and a girl on the front cover is something that i would need to consider.

The colours that i chose are blue and yellow. I think these are two good colours that fit in well with the school as our main colours are blue but again, having two boys on the front cover with a blue background, again makes it seem quite boyish and could change the girls opinions of buying it. Sticking to two colours though i think is very sensible. Magazines usually keep their writing on the front cover similar colours and definately dont use many more than two or three main colours.

To give a more professional feel to the magazine i included a barcode, issue number & price which is something that you will find on every magazine.

The layout that i have used on the front cover is a very typical layout of any magazine. With the title at the top of the page in big writing, the main front cover picture to one side and the cover lines on the opposite side. This is a safe option to go for as it isn't too messy and you can see where you are reading. For a school magazine i think this is the best layout to stick to especially as obviously it isn't supposed to be fashionable. Although it is quite plain and looks very simple, you do want to have a bit of excitement on the page to make people want to buy it.

The cover lines i have included are quite varied. They cover a few different areas, they're learning based, about the clubs going on, any puzzles and games and also competitions that can be won. The coverlines, other than the picture and the title, are one of the first things the reader will look at when picking up the magazine. So these are important when putting them on the front cover as you want a variety of things that will all attract the audience. And of course, being year 7s they are still quite young so having fun things to do in the magazine is something that will attract them more than anyone.

Analysis for School Mag. Questionnaire

The results i recieved from handing out the school magazine questionnaire helped me alot when deciding what the magazine should consist of and the price that i should set the magazine at.

The results showed me that the magazine couldnt be priced too high or the students or parents would not be willing to pay the price. Therefore i set the price at £1.60 as i thought this was a reasonable price for a magazine.

The results came out even for the weekly & monthly option. This is what i expected to find. I think weekly is too often and once a year is not enough as things change throughout the year and people will want to know what is going on in the school. I decided on monthly, as this is often enough for things to have happened around the school and notify the reader on any changes that may have occured.

The types of things people said that they woulod like to see on the pages were; horoscopes as this is something fun which lots of young people love to read and compare with their friends ones, clubs that go on around the school, both for extra learning such as English and Maths but also the clubs such as rugby, netball, swimming etc.

Containing puzzles and games was something else that came up a lot in the results as they didnt want it to be boring and full of everything learning based. So puzzles and games was another thing that lots of the candidates chose to have. 

The results helped me alot because then i knew what types of headings to put on the front cover of my magazine so that it would attract as many year 7s and whoever else may be interested, as possible.