Finished product: Magazine cover and contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My model signed a note saying they don't mind being used in my magazine.

questionnaire data analysis

9 people answered my questionnaire as well as this a few people did my blog poll which helped have some input on the decision of my theme.

(This is the original questionnaire )

 

 Firstly I wanted to see if people were interested in a school magazine. I was surprised to find people would be interested in a school magazine as long as it was done with a high quality.

I asked the people how often they would like a school magazine published, this would help me work out what type of name I should use for my magazine and what sort of things i should include in it. Most people wanted a weekly magazines, which made me think that the magazine would have to feature more updates on what is going on in the school and updates on managing student life. Whereas in an annual magazine is may just have updates on the school as a whole and would feature more on large school events rather than weekly updates.

Another factor to look at was price. Many people would pay less for a school magazine in fact the majority (67%) said they would pay somewhere inbetween 0-50p. This is understandable as many students may not have the extra funds to pay for a school magazine. However using my secondary research I realised many magazines that where of lower price often had connotations of being 'cheap looking'. To compensate for this I decided to not have the price of my magazine at the front as having a puff with "50p" written on the front may make the magazine look cheap and unappealing.

I also wanted to decide on a colour palette for my magazine, I saw many magazines that used bright colours however after doing my primary research the results showed that 56% of the people I asked preferred pale colours. I asked them what sort of pale colours separately and most said they prefer colours such as pale blue and white. 

Another big thing I saw when researching magazines was the fact many of them advertised free prizes and competitions on the cover. This can be a device used to attract more readers and it is commonly used when making magazines for younger people. When I asked if the people interviewed would ever buy a magazine because of the competitions the majority said it depended on what kind of competition it was, advertising competitions is suitable for a school environment where there may be lots of fairs and events where competitions are held. Similarly I asked the people interviewed if they ever bought a magazine because of the free prize, 45% said no with a close 33% saying yes. After giving it thought I decided against the idea of a free prize as in a comprehensive school making a magazine that is of a good quality and has a free prize with each copy is not possible as we don't have that sort of high budget. 

picture one (from questionnaire)

picture two (from blog poll)

Picture one is the pie chart from my poll showing the majority of people preferred a back to school theme which would have articles mainly on going back to school and getting used to the school routine, however on my poll the majority of people preferred a christmas themed magazine which was also backed up by the fact that 22% of people on the questionnaire preffering a christmas themed magazine. After taking all of this into consideration I decided to continue with a back to school themed magazine as I believe i would make a better magazine using that as my theme.

 

 Lastly I wanted to know what drew people attention when looking at magazines. Overall a large percentage (89%) said that the main image attracted them more to the magazine whereas the cover lines or text on the front cover. This gave me a clear indication that the magazine cover had to have an image that stands out so it can draw the audiences attention.

Typography

Typeography is the design and style of a font. The font look as well as spacing and overall image of the font is taken into account when making a typeface. Typography has become a big thing in mass communication and ised used in various types of broadcasting.
The main types of typography in terms of modern fonts are: serif font and sans serif font.

Serif typeface: i.e 'Times new Roman'
Serif typefaces are fonts which usually have have a stroke at the end of each letter or nurmerical unit. Serif typeface has been used for as early as the 14th century and usually makes a media text look older or more dramatic or "gothic". Serif texts are usually printed as they are much easier to read on paper than on a computer screen.


Sans Serif: i.e 'Arial'
Sans serifs fonts are usually look less hand written and do not have the flicks at the end of letters and symbols. This often makes them look more simplistic which also makes it easier to read on screen. Sans serif is a popular tpyeface because it was originally used to draw ephasis on words ebcause of the darker appearence in letters.

Evaluation
I think I will use a mixture of both Serif and Sans serif fonts to create some contrast in my magazine which will make it look more interesting whereas using all one font which may make it look boring. Using a variety of fonts will draw readers to different sections of the cover furthermore most of the magazine covers I analysed that looked more proffesional used a variety of fonts on the cover.

Sites I like

site 1: I like this site because it shows the main building of the school with a notice board and the bin, this shows the school atmosphere with the bin and the notice board. I shot this longshot low angle picture to show how vast the school building is.

site 2: This site is outside the main building of the school I like the foliage in this picture as it adds a sense of life and makes the school look like a natural and free enviroment. Furthermore the tidy front garden makes the school look efficient and upperclass.

 site 3: This is a picture of the new library. I like this picture because it's bright and shows enough of the new library. I also like the way it shows how large the library is and the bright lighting makes the lirbary seem modern and new.  

 This is an extreme close up of the bin, making it the full focus. I liked this picture because the image puts the bin as full focus making us think that there is soemthing important about it. Bins offten dennote rubbish and tidying up, so the image of the bin could be reminding people to clean up their rubbish.

magazine sketch 3

This is a sketch of a magazine cover that I have decided to use. I like this sketch because is more simple compared to the others and makes the image the main focus.

magazine sketch 2