Evaluation of School Magazine

The route of the eye starts at the school logo as the

recognisable symbol will be the first thing seen. It
then goes through the masthead. The route of the eye
then goes down through the main image and cover
story. Finally it goes across through the cover lines
which are placed in the terminal area. I put the cover
lines here as they will be the last thing seen and
therefore remembered more effectively.

The first hotspot is put in-between the teacher and

male student, with the second between the teacher
and female student. This brings concentration to the
gender diversity and student/teacher relationship.
The third hotspot is placed just under the cover story
and above another image to bring attention to the
contents of the magazine. The fourth hotspot does
the same only the other side of the cover story and is
above the cover lines.

I chose red and black as the main colour scheme as these

are the school colours and so will relate to the student
better. This also appears to be a typical convention in
school magazines as it represents the school and appeals
to students who attend it. I chose to have black text over
the red background as they contrasts each other so that
the text is easier to read and stands out. I did the same
thing at the bottom of the page only instead I had white
text over a black background. I chose various sans serif
like fonts so they are easy to read and stand out. I use
very simple language to appeal to there target audience
and to make it easier to read.

As a typical school magazine convention I have used few

images, the first one is the school logo as it resembles the
school and seems to be a very typical convention. The
second one is the main image in which we see teacher,
male student and female student. This represents the
student/teacher relationship and the gender diversity;
this sends good connotations of the school to the reader
and again is an occurring connotation.
The last image is off two year twelve’s with their arms around each other, this signifies the
compassion and friendliness of 6th form thus in a way selling its self to younger students
perhaps considering 6th form, just like other school magazines.

The target audience for this magazine is social classes of B-D and of ages 13-17. Certain
factors appeal to this target market such as images, colour and language. I used students as
most of the models are students and range from 6th form to earlier years to appeal to
different ages. I also used different genders to appeal to both thus expanding the target
audience. I used very simple language as the market is school children and so will
interoperate it better. The colours are mostly bright e.g. white and black to appeal to a
younger generation, other colours that don’t have bright colours e.g. black is contrasted
with the white thus making it stand out and appealing anyway.

Through this preliminary task I have learnt various skills. I have learnt how to research
connotations and how to use them for myself; this will come useful when I choose a genre
for my main task. I have also learnt how to appeal to target audiences and also how to use
programmes such as publisher and fireworks, this will be helpful for my main task as editing
will be much more effective.