My school magazine front and contents pages both capture the conventions of a real ordinary magazine. It contains a large, bold and clear logo which I know is essential for a good quality and selling magazine. This logo in my opinion can relate to school life and many students, as the title ‘SCHOOL’S OUT’ captures pupils attention as it suggests it is time out of education to relax, however they will be reflecting on the school and learning as a whole gathering new useful information when reading. I put the logo on both pages to keep to the same style and design and not loose the effect it gives like many other magazines.
Other essentials that are used on every selling magazine include a barcode, date, price and possibly a slogan which nearly all well know magazines have these days, rather than when they started publishing. All of the text on the page is visible and easy to read even from a distance. The texts on both pages are all the same or similar colours to keep the traditional patterns and looks that various magazines stick to.
The medium close up of a student covering the background reflects many magazines, as they all usually show one main image which stands out (this is normally a person). This image is also mainly placed in the centre or one side of the magazine, with the text on the other. This is the layout I used because my research showed many best selling magazines are similar and I wanted to make mine look and feel real in the same ways.
I think another main part of my front cover which gives the professional look of an actually magazine, is the few small images on both the front and contents pages. This is because the audience is mainly attracted to the photography in the magazines. I placed them at an angle to reflect the modern day designs as they are much more advanced, with images overlapping text etc.
I used a desk top publisher (DTP) to create most of my front cover and contents page. I found it useful to manipulate the imagery and text, especially when re-arranging the layout. I used a design programe to create my logo to give it a good look and to have the similar finish like other magazines.
I believe I reflect the values of the target audience as I show what information that is included in the magazine, using images which are eye catching.
The main aim of my magazine, if it was real and available to students, is to give them what they want and more, and for each pupil to look forward to the next issue.
Creating these two pages will help me design and create my final music magazine pages, with the different uses of imagery and layout.
From these colour designs I can see which ones are most effective and relate to the genre of music which I am focusing on; hip hop. I feel the blue/yellow and pink/turquoise works the best as the masthead and text stands out over the background colours. They also relate to the genre hip hop as the bright loud colours reflect the type of music. I will decide which one works the best when I include my own main image onto the design. This image will have to stick to the main colour scheme on the front cover.
