Experimenting With Different Titles

For the title of my magazine, i wanted to make sure that it was fun and catchy, so that students could relate to it. I wanted it to be all one word so it stuck in the readers mind and was simplistic, but eye catching. I wanted to base my title around something to do with 6th form college and these are the ideas that i came up with:

'FortisRead'

This title i felt was effective because not only does it have part of the school name in the word but it also includes 'read' suggesting there is a lot to learn about in the product and that it is highly informative. Having the title relate back to the school itself, encourages students to learn more about their own environment and exactly whats going on in and around sixth form. However i felt that the two words 'fortis' and 'read' didn't flow particularly nicely together and that there were other potential names that would sound better and attract readers more.

'Weekly6TH'

I felt that this title was effective as it showed how often issue's of the magazine are published, so the readers know that all the information is significant and up to date with the sixth form. The 'TH' in '6TH' i chose to have in capital letters to show the sixth form students status, they are the older students of the school and therefore have a slightly higher status to the rest of the pupils in the school. Although i like this catchy title, i wanted the title to be related specifically to the Fortismere sixth form, and this title didn't portray anything particularly unique about Fortismere.

'TETHERDOWN WEEKLY'

This was my favourite This was my favourite possible title. I decided to include 'Tetherdown' in the title, this makes the product unique as Fortismere's school sixth form is called 'The Old Tetherdown Block' as it is located on 'Tetherdown Road'. I knew that no other local school would have this name in it's magazine title and felt that it gave the 6th form an interesting and different quality. Again by adding the 'weekly' in the title, readers were informed of how often issue's of the product were produced. The only disadvantage of this product is that if readers were unaware of exactly what relation 'Tetherdown' and 'Fortismere' have they may not understand the meaning behind the name.

School Magazine Contents Page

For my contents page, i wanted to make it as eye catching and colourful as possible. I used a range of different colours such as yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, blue, and green so that both sexes could appeal to it as it is a school magazine for all students. I decided to include the image of the crayons because i felt that it brought my contents page to life and added that extra 'edge' that it needed. I wanted to make sure that my contents page didn't give away too much information so that students actually have to read the magazine as well. For example: - '10 top revision tips', this meant that readers were encouraged to read exactly how they can improve their revision process. I decided to make the background colour a bright purple because i felt it complimented the rest of the colours on the page and made the product look lively. I chose to put the font of the information on each page in black because that is the colour that looked most clear against the purple background. I didn't want to have too many pages in my magazine as i didn't want to reader to think it was an overload of information and too boring to read. I decided that 12 pages was enough to satisfy my readers fully without being too long and over informative.
My main aim for my contents page was to catch the eye of the reader and i think i have achieved this, its meant to help the reader navigate their way through the magazine and allocate the articles most important to them.

School magazine front cover

This is the front cover of my school magazine. I am pleased with the overall final look of the product because i feel it appeals to my target audience and fits into the 'School magazine' genre.

I decided to make the title 'TETHERDOWN WEEKLY' a pink font to catch the eye of the reader at first glance and compliment the other colours on the page, such as the boy in the photo's t-shirt. To contrast with this, i decided to include a bright green circle to put information in that didn't blend in with the rest of the cover, so readers felt more inclined to read the information and find out exactly what the product is offering them.

I wanted my main image to be a student on a computer, this is because, a lot of education is done on the internet these days and i felt it also linked back to the subscription to 'student mail' which i have also included on the cover.

I chose to have the person in the photo looking at facebook, a social networking site. This is because i felt that not only is school used for education purposes, but it is also used to meet new people and develop your social life.

I decided to include a website on the front page because i felt this was a way for students to access each issue of the magazine and relate to articles they had read about in the magazine, such as competitions and special award schemes. Furthermore, i also felt it was a good way for students to get involved in extra curricular activities in and around school that would help with UCAS points on university applications, as these are sixth form students that start applying for university quite early on in the sixth form process.

I wanted to include enticing phrases like ' Exam stress? Your problems SOLVED' to make the reader feel almost like we are on their side and want to help them as much as possible. A lot of students struggle through A levels with exams looming over them so i decided to include punchy lines that would encourage them to read more and find out exactly how they can make exam life easier.

I feel that overall, my front cover is successful, if i was to make any changes to the product i would spend more time on the typography to make it that little bit more eye catching and professional to look at. For example: - experimenting with different bright and quirky colours and more interesting fonts.

Evaluation of a School Magazine

I am writing an evaluation of a previous School magazine made by a media A level student last year in 2008. The title of this particular magazine is called 'FORTI6' i think that this title is very original and relates to the theme of the magazine perfectly. The '6' represents 6th form and the upper part of the school, highlighting the fact that the product is just for 6th form students as it only includes information relevant to them. 'FORTI' represents the first part of the school name, 'Fortismere' so students and any other potential readers are aware of what school they are reading about.

The girl in the image on the front cover looks stressed and weighed down with alot of school work, the pile of books on her desk suggests this even more so and its obvious she needs advice on how to keep up with all her school work.

The boxes dotted around the cover page shaped like stars easily catch the readers eye and make them aware of how significant they are. They have information about what the magazine includes which makes the reader more inclined to read it and have an insight of exactly what the magazine is going to be about. Although the shape is eye catching, i feel that the colours could have been bolder to stress significance and compliment the colours of the rest of the magazine. They have written extra additional information on the front cover on a post it note to make it look as though it is part of the students school work which is quite effective. They have tried to make it clear that student life doesn't have to be stressful and it can be made easy by reading their advice and what hey have to say, encouraging students to read the product.

However the cover of this magazine is quite empty, although there is useful and enticing information, there is very little of it, and as a result could push readers away. They use catchy slogans like 'Is revision taking over you life?' to relate to the reader and make them feel as if someone is on their side and trying to help them without being too patronising and disconcerting.