Preliminary Task - School Magazine

Here are my Preliminary Task designs


On this page should be your:

• Flat plans
• School magazine cover
• School magazine contents page
• Print screens to detail the process of production

Look at Niall's work below:

Having now looked at many different magazines and even designing my own mock up cover and contents page for my school magazine, I decided to create a flat plan for my magazine. In my flat plan, I have decided to use both magazine conventions I have learnt but also what students want. For example, I put the main image on the right hand side of my cover and made it the biggest picture on the page.

The following photos could be used on my final magazine.

I liked this photo as the girl in it has a smile, which would give my magazine a welcoming feel to anyone looking at my magazine cover. However, I feel that this photo isn't suitable really for my magazine as it doesn't link to any content in the magazine. If I had a article on the school musical or the school gospel choir, this could be more suitable and would more than likely be used.

I used this photo for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the photo has a clear link to sport as it shows the student with a ball in her PE kit. This links very well with my magazine as it is has a clear sport focus, which is a main theme in my magazine. Also, my main story is about the new MUGA, which this photo was taken on. Therefore, this can be used as it is about is has a obvious link to the content. Secondly, the red is bright and stands out. The colour is also linked to my house style, with the one of the main colours being red.

I didn't use this photo because I didn't like how the photo has a poor focus on the girls face as it gave the photo an amateur look to it. However, the school badge is evident which could be a positive, as it could reinforce the identity of the school subtly. However, this photo has no real link to any article  and therefore would not be relevant to use.

This photo is like the one before however, the flame is interesting as it is like an action shot of what happens in school, with practical's being a main focus in Science. However, the students uniform has a few marks on it, which doesn't show our schools really impressive uniform standards. Again, this photo doesn't have any real link to my magazine contents like the photo before.

This photo is a really good quality photo, with the focus being on the student but also the practical work he is doing. Also, the fact he is looking directly at the camera can give a sense of eye contact with the reader, possibly encouraging them to read the magazine. However, there is no link to any content in my magazine so is not relevant.

I really liked this photo for two reasons. One reason is that its the action shot of the student playing football, a sport that can be played on the new MUGA. This links to the second reason; the picture links to my content. For these reasons, I used this photo on my front cover.

I used these images because Facebook and Twitter are arguably the most popular social media sites in the world and globally recognised.  They would show the reader that we are a successful magazine as we have a Facebook page and Twitter account. Using Facebook and Twitter, the reader can also get instant access to any content we put onto the page/ account and at the same time increase our target audience reach by liking or retweeting our content, increasing our target audience.

I used this image as it is my school badge and is well known by all students. Therefore, I used this on my magazine so when students see the magazine, they can relate to the magazine and notice it is about the school. Also, using the badge I can base my house colour on the colours in the badge; Blue, Red, White, Black and Yellow.

I considered using this photo as it is related to my main story about the MUGA. However, I am already using a boy on my front cover and decided to have two photos, one being a boy and one being a girl so that it can at least encourage both genders to read my magazine.

 Here is my completed front cover and contents page. 

I am proud of my final design as I put in a lot of hard work and the final product is better than I thought it would be at the start. I think that the school badge faded behind the boy playing football is particularly eye catching. Also, the actual cover lines are good as I use personal pronouns and tags which will make readers want to read the articles further. I kept to house style and house colour well, making my magazine looking professional.

However, I think that there is some slight errors or places I could improve on. For example, the pug in the top right corner was difficult to make and so doesn't look as good as I planned. If I was to do this again, I would possibly use a different shape. Having said that, the pug does what it is meant to do; it stands out due to the bright orange and blue.