Research into exsiting school magazines

My first media task was to study the conventions of a magazine cover. My study will assist in a later stage as I will be designing and making my own school magazine. Therefore I analysed the cover of 3 school magazines annotating and exploring the conventions of a typical magazine. I found it a struggle to complete the task as I was finding it difficult to come across examples of existing school magazines. This may be because most magazines are produced by media students themselves, so they are not official. Which could be due to the fact that making official magazines is in need of a large budget to produce a successful one. Also there is a low target audience as it’s not targeted to the general public only students. Producing an official magazine would be inefficient as they would not produce a large enough profit to keep the magazine running. As advanced technology has developed over time, schools generally email the local news to the specific people who it concerns. Such as student and Teacher. However I did notice that the school magazines had incorporated some of the conventions of magazines.

·         For instance every magazine I analysed had a “masthead” This is the name of the magazine, it’s at the top of the front cover page and can be clearly seen. It acts as a logo or symbol for the magazine. The colour is usually bright and bold so it is the focus point of the magazine.

·         Another convention that was included in all 3 magazines was a “main image” a single portrait photograph as the central focus of the front cover. The main image has as link to the purpose of the magazine to engage the reader which usually connotes a positive view of the school. The sell lines and other features are usually arranged around it.

·         The different range of colour schemes was used on each magazine. When designing a magazine they have to consider what target audience they are trying to attract and engage and that used usually done with the colour choice of the magazine. For example bright colours would be used to attract young children whereas for elderly adults they will use dull colours as they are more interested in the content of the magazine rather than the presentation.

By studing these 3 school magazine covers, I will then be able to apply the most common conventions to my own personal magazines in the hope it will loook professional and recognisable.