Final magazine cover and contents page

This is my contents page for my student magazine




This is my final front cover for my student magazine. I chose the name Aspire as I thought it fitted in with the school's ambitious and hard working attitude. I went with an orange background as my magazine was the autumn edition and I thought orange was a good autumnal colour. I chose light blue for the font for contrast and also because it match my model's jumper. I out the school logo in the corner to give the magazine a more professional feel and to giver a sense of a brand to the product. I really like the font I chose, as it looks like handwriting and fits in with the student idea.

Pictures I took for my magazine

Here is a presentaiton of all the pictures I took for my magazine

Picture I took for my media magazine

View more presentations from itsamy93.

Flat Plans

I created three possible layouts, or flat plans for my magazine cover.

Reader Profile

I created a reader profile which showed what interests my target audience. I included other magazines that are aimed at my target audiences, television shows which may appeal to them and technological items that they use everyday, such as mobile phones, laptops and MP3 players. I also included places where my target audience may spend their time, such as the Odeon and Nandos' logo.   

Audience Questionnaire

As part of my task, I created a questionnaire that I could hand out to my target audience (students in the sixth form) to find out what they thought of student magazines and what they would like to see. I asked the following questions;



1) Do you currently buy any magazines on a regular basis? If so, please name them;



I asked this question so that I could find out what magazines my audience were interested in. I could then look at these magazines and what makes them attractive and try to incorporate that into my magazine.



2) What are your main interests?



This question gave me an insight into what activities my audience were interested in outside of school, which could be useful for when I'm considering what articles to include in my magazine.



3) If SHSG provided a sixth form magazine, would you be prepared to pay for it?



This told me whether I would need to find sponsorship for my magazine, or whether it would be realistic to charge for it.



4) If so, how much?



This question would help me later on in the project, when I would have to think of a price for my magazine



5)What aspects of sixth form life worry you the most?



I asked this question to help me to decide what features to include in my magazine and to find out what topics people would most like advice on.



6) What features would you most like to see in a sixth form magazine?



As well as advice articles, I also need to think of other features for my magazine. This question helped me find out what features my target audience would like best.

Results of my questionnaire

Results of my Questionnaire

When asked 'Do you read any magazines regularly?' 75% of the people I asked said that they read some, with More, Ok and Elle coming out as the most popular. This shows that my audience are interested in fashion and clebrity magazines. Only 25% said that they did not read any magazines regularly.

When asked 'what are your main interests?' music was the top result, with fashion and film coming lcose seonds. This relates to the kind of magazines my target audience read. It also helps me to know what articles and features to put in my magazine that will attract my target auidience.

Over half of my target audience said that the work load was the aspect of 6th form life they worried about the most, with university applications coming a close second. This will help em to decide what artciles to put in amagzine, as it shows what advice my target auidence would most like to see.

The most populae types of articles amongst my target audience were advice, reviews and new about events. This helped me to decide what features to put in my magazine.

Research on student magazines

Evolve magazine

The title ‘Evolve’ has connotations with growing up, developing etc, which makes it a good title for a school magazine.

The white writing stands out from the background and is easy to read.

Eye catching design which lets people know what will be included in the magazine. It gives people an idea of the content, but in an interesting way, rather than just listing articles on the cover.

The sponsorship means that the school can afford to give away the magazine for free.

People are more likely to be interested in the magazine if they believe it is a one-off. Labeling the magazine as a ‘special edition’ entices people to buy it.

It uses a bold, clear font, easy to read from a distance.

There is a bright coloured background which stands out and looks appealing. Purple may appeal to girl’s more, but this may have been chosen deliberately as girl’s are more likely to be interested in magazines.

Clearly shows the purpose of the magazine and the target audience (pupils who attend George Stephenson High School.)

High Profile magazine

Like 'Evovle' it has the name of the school at the top of the cover, making it clear who the target audience is

The title is in bold black writing which stands out

The title 'High Profile' suggests that this magazine is the best student magazine. 'High Profile' also has connatations with being well known, suggesting that the magazine is well known throughout the school.

The picture used in the background shows a student smiling happily, doing rock climbing or some smilar activity. This suggests to people that students at this school are very happy and also are provided with oppourtunities to do exciting activities such as rock climbing.

The magazine has a 'This Issue' box at the bottom of the page, which gives the reader an idea of the content of the magazine.

FFH

The title stands for Further Faster Higher. However, this is not made clear and may confuse some people.

The background is a big picture of a group of pupils in what looks like a school gym. They are looking upwards and whilst the background of the picture is blurry, they are in focus. The picture looks very professional, which gives a good impression.

The title is displayed within a logo, which gives the magazine a sense of identity. It also has a sloga of 'acheiving success together,' which makes it different from the other magazines I've looked at.

Like 'High Profile', the magazine has a 'In this issue' box at the bottom. This is an effective way of telling the reader what'll be included in the issue.

Some of the text is written sideways. This makes it harder to read at a glance.

My focus group

An important part of my preliminary task is my audience focus group. This is a group of people, who fit into my target age group (16-18) for my student magazine. I deliberately chose students who attend my school as their suggestions could be specific to the school if necessary. Also they have experience of the student magazines my school have produced in the past, so they would have more of an idea of what they want to see. I will ask them their ideas on what they would like a student magazine to include and ask for their opinions on any work I produce. The members of my audience focus group are;




Name: Katie Fry

Age: 16

School/college: Southend High School for Girls

Studying: Biology, English Language, Geography and German

Katie currently reads Horse & Rider magazine regularly, as her main interest is horse riding. In a student magazine, Katie would like to see advice arcticles and reviews on the lastest music.




Name: Zehra Quereshi

Age: 16


School/college: Southend High School for Girls

Studying: French, Maths, Psychology and Spanish

Zehra doesn't really read magazines, though she will sometimes read music magazines of her favourite bands (The Killers, Fall Out Boy and The Script) are in them. In a student magazine she would like to see reviews on the latest music and films, fashion and advice.





Name: Leanne Saunders

Age:17

School/college: Southend High School for Girls

Studying: Drama, English Language, Geography and Psychology

Leanne likes More magazine. In a student magazine, she would like to see an Agony Aunt who could advise students on aspects of sixth form life.

Name: Kelly Woods


Age: 16


School/college: Southend High School for Girls

Studying: Biology, Chemistry, German and History

Kelly loves reading real life magazines like Take A Break but hates celebrity magazines. In a student magazine, she would like to see school news and infromation on upcoming events.