BriefFor this project I have been asked to create a school magazine and contents page that would appeal to a certain audience. I needed to use my own pictures that I took throughout and decide all the elements, what would be inside, the stories and focal points. I decided to stick to a simple white background and minimalistic design. I only used one picture on my front cover and the school logo to not overwhelm it. I also used the same typography and colours which gives good continuity throughout the magazine and doesn’t break it up and keeps everything flowing. I used a interviewee mid shot on my front cover because it looks really natural and professional, it also has a plain background which looks good on my front cover because I have kept colour to a minimum.

Issue number 1, September 2010, using specific dates keeps the readers informed which one they are reading so they can select the relevant one to them.

‘’Harlow High’’ rolls of your tongue nicely and is simple, the name of their school in this case.

The students look intrigued in each other, this represents the unity between students in the school.

The main colours in the background of the image is yellow. This is carried through the theme of the newsletter by basing their colour scheme around black and yellow which links the magazine together nicely and represents professionalism.

The students are wearing casual clothing which infers a relaxed and laid back atmosphere. This represents the school well as they still look smart and we can see their uniform is not affecting their education. This also creates an idea of comfort for parents as they know their children are going somewhere they can be relaxed and still work hard.

The tagline ‘’the key to success’’ suggests a very successful and well accomplished school, kind of like a promise to the readers – if you go here you will succeed. Students are able to access a wide variety of opportunities ‘’opens many doors’’ which is an attractive aspect to a school.

Placing GCSE results on the cover also reiterates the fact that it is a successful school and they are proud of this. Underneath it says ‘’harlow commended for outstanding’’ this additionally backs up the tagline and gives the magazine a cyclical idea of success.

The fonts, colours and design could be seen as quite comic like. The badge looks very animated and somewhat not like a real school badge. This could lead to the magazine looking slightly cheap and tacky. However this appeals to the pupils of the school because they are more likely to read something that looks like a comic rather than something that looks text heavy and boring.

Placing 3 top stories on the front cover gives us hints as to what is going to be discussed throughout the magazine and intrigues us. Giving the line of vague information makes us want to read on.

Placing the Ofsted logo in the middle of the document immediately catches our attention and impresses us. The fact it is so big and placed in such a prominent place hints to the reader that obviously the story that is going to come along with this logo is going to be good about the school.

‘’Ofsted celebrations’’ from the offset suggests something good A breakdown of the sections in

which Ofsted mark the school allows the reader to jump to the section they are most interested in and be able to see the results for that.

They have kept the colour scheme of blue and white throughout however sometimes the blue is a dark blue when actually in fact the school logo is a light blue colour, this doesn’t really match and makes the newsletter look kind of unprofessional.

This newsletter is quite text heavy there are rarely any pictures, this makes the document much more formal and you know that there are going to be in depth topics discussed throughout, this links with the topic of Ofsted. You would also expect the document to be written in this way because it is by the head teacher who is reaching out to all the parents of pupils and wants to maintain his professional persona.

The word newsletter is in bigger and bolder style text than the rest of the document, this catches our eye and easily guides us as to what the letter is going to be about.

The bold speech in the middle explains the head teachers views on what makes a good school, this unites the head teacher and the readers who usually wouldn’t receive this information or hear this. It makes the text more personal and gives the reader some comfort.

At the bottom of the document the letter actually quotes some of the points made in the published Ofsted report. This allows more insight for the parents of pupils otherwise the school could be blagging about results and we would never know. The head teacher also exclaims how the school have worked to achieve these results and the things he put in place to make sure he got the rating. This notifies the students as to what they need to carry on doing to achieve a happy and great working school environment.

Audience Research What do you expect to see in a school magazine?

Tally

Events 10

Exam Results 3

Exam advice 2

Photos 5

Top pupils 1

Out of school achievements 1

Local community 1

Audience Research

What often should a school magazine be issued?

Tally

Monthly 6

Termly 3

Weekly 5

Fortnightly 2

AS Media Studies Preliminary Task – School Magazine Front Page Proposal Form

Target audience: (age range, interests)Although it is a school newsletter you still have to think about your audience and how to appeal to them.

My target audience is going to be mainly the pupils of the school. They need to be interested in it and be up to date with what's going on around them meaning that ideally they will need to read it. Mainly the older students need to read it due to the important dates, deadlines and results. The age range will be around 13-30 due to the fact that some parents will want to be reading it also, it will need to be formal to appeal to parents but not too formal that it is boring and puts pupils off reading it.

Possible title ideas: (masthead / title block)What is your magazine going to be called?

P dog News, The Priory spectrum, TPS tetralogy, TPS trilogy.

Main image:What will be the focal point of your front page, remember, your work “must include a photograph of a student in a medium close-up”

The main image will be images of the students learning in the environment. Additionally it could be pictures of recent events that have occurred in the school. I will aim to have a different picture on each issue of the magazine so that it is relevant to that time so this intrigues the reader.

Main cover line:What will be the main story?

The main cover line will be something relevant to the time, a big event or something that has happened recently. Probably something to do with the students themselves so that they are intrigued and want to read it. I am most likely to include things such as prom, results and something from the head about how students have progressed this term.

Additional key images:What other images will be on your front cover?Remember, it is a school magazine.

I will include the whole school photo or photos of the staff and this shows unity between staff, pupils and learning. I will make sure to represent the school in the best way possible.

Additional cover lines:Other features, stories or selling points which will be inside the magazine, these need to be audience appropriate.

I will add things on the front cover that appeal to the students, things such as competitions where you can win prizes, and things like trips, non uniform days and non curricular activities.

Typography: (style, size, colour of copy)Think about the writing and the style of the writing on your front page.

I want to keep the font and typography simple and modern to fit in with the school interior and style. Preferably sticking with the priory colours such as red, black and white.

Background colour/image:What will be in the background, remember you don’t want to take the focus away from the main image.

The background colours will probably include most of the schools theme colours, In this case it will probably include black and white and red. The background colour will probably be black because this gives a professional and high shine look on a magazine colour and also the photos will contrast nicely against this.

Technical considerations:(equipment, setting, props, costume, lighting)Be realistic and creative, think about what you have access to and how you could use it.

I want to get good lighting as this will make the pictures for the magazine as best as they can be. I will try to use as much natural lighting as possible because this is less hassle and looks better. I will use well presented students so that my magazine reflects the school as best as it can. I wont need many props apart from the students themselves, it depends on my setting and main cover story as to what I will be photographing and the props I need. Mainly the students work and things like pens, pencils, books and folders.

Preliminary exercise: produce a front page and contents page of a school magazine. Front covers must include a

photograph of a student in a medium close-up with appropriately laid out text and use of an image manipulation

programme (Photoshop).

Below start to sketch what the front cover of your newsletter will look like.

Preliminary exercise: produce a front page and contents page of a school magazine. Front covers must include a

photograph of a student in a medium close-up with appropriately laid out text and use of an image manipulation

programme (Photoshop).

Below start to sketch what the contents page of your newsletter will look like.

This is my final magazine cover for my school magazine.

This is my final contents page for my school magazine.

First off you need to create a template paper go to ‘file’, ‘new’ and click select from the dropdown international paper and ‘A4’

Go to ‘file’ and then ‘place’ and choose the image/images you want to place on the cover. You can resize these by clicking ‘ctrl + T’ which is a shortcut for free transform. I decided to make my logo more faded, to do this go to opacity on the right hand side toolbar and lower it.

Once everything is placed on your front cover you can move it around to get the layout you want.

I then added text as the title, and some of the stories that are going to be inside. I made sure these were the same font and colour as each other so that there is continuity throughout.

Adding a filter is optional, I did it to this photo because I think the colours of the picture were a bit bland and cold without.

For the contents page you basically have to do the same as the front cover, make sure you have an a4 page and place all the images you want on it. After this I created text that were for the page numbers and what they contain.

This was my final piece, I made a collage of pictures at the bottom as this makes something nice that catches the readers eye and appeals to the reader because they will want to see who is included in the pictures.

Throughout the process of creating my school magazine, mainly I have learnt about what the ingredients are for a successful school magazine. I have learnt how to appeal to certain audiences and what typically interests particular audiences. Additionally I have learnt about the types of pictures that are contained in school magazines for example mid shots, head shots and long shots and why these are effective. During this process I have also learnt why taking a good picture is important and what makes a bad picture, e.g blurring, red eye, unfocused or just non relevancy.

What have I learnt throughout the process?