Jasmine Covill AS Media Coursework: October 2014

My magazine is an educational, school magazine called ‘Educate’ whose purpose is to inform and give recent news to students at school. Its target audience’s ranges from eleven year olds to sixteen year olds (typically teenagers) this is because the core purpose of the magazine revolves around students in school and giving advice to those students who are struggling in their education or who simply need exam tips and techniques.

In order to establish the codes and conventions of magazines I first had to research into existing school and education magazines and what features they used on their front covers and also their content pages. I found that generally the colours used are bright and colourful and also there are many puffs used to make the pages more existing and the text inside them to stand out. Through my research I have found the key conventions that are included on the front cover and the content pages and made sure that I included them in my magazine.

The masthead for the magazine is spread across the very top of the front cover and its typography is a serif font so that the title of ‘Educate’ is clear and easy to decipher and also brings a classy and sophisticated element to the magazine. Other fonts used on both the front cover and the content page are playful and almost look as though they have been written on a chalk board which connotes school, thus relating back to the overall genre of the magazine. It also helps to contrast with the more formal looking title of the magazine, which reflects the formalness of school against the silliness and immaturity of students. The central image is placed directly in the centre of the magazine front cover and is a mid shot; it shows a boy in a school uniform, which once again relates to the educational genre of the magazine. The mid shot angle is used to showcase the school uniform so that it is very clear to the audience that the cover model belongs to a school and therefore is somebody that the target audience would trust. The cover model is shown to be smiling and making direct eye contact with the audience and attracts them because of the friendly connotation of smiling.

A pug is situated in the top right hand corner and informs the audience of the price of the magazine (which is 59p) and is yellow in colour so that it easily attracts the eye of the audience. Yellow is also as it is often associated with joy and happiness and it is one of the primary colours, hence it is more rateable to the target audience. A skyline is included and situated below the masthead, which calls Educate ‘the no.1 school magazine’; through the use of superlatives it ensures that you have the trust of the audience.

Coverlines on the front cover include ‘the best and worst of school meals’ and ’10 steps on how you can deal with stress’. There is use of direct speech to the audience with the word ‘you’ so that it feels almost as though the magazine is directly aimed at the audience. The issue number is also included below the masthead; this is helpful to those who collect the magazine. Three differently shaped puffs are also used on the front cover to make the cover appear to be more fun and appealing to the target audience’s age and also follows already existing conventions of educational magazine front covers. The puffs also make the text much easier to read and helps them to stand out and attract the eye of the audience.

The contents page uses a similar image to the central image within the front cover, though it is slightly different as the the photograph is not as contrasted and bright. The page includes a pull quote, which is used to create more anticipation to the magazine and also the quote draws the interest of reader to the content within the magazine. The word ‘exclusive’ tells the reader that this certain article is only found in this magazine and therefore makes the magazine almost special. The layout of the contents page is fun but is still organised and simple to follow, the layout consists of white puffs that enclose the text for the magazine's articles and also a blue puff at the bottom of the magazine where the text that includes the pull quote is located.

The colours used on both the front cover and the contents page were fun and bright colours. Blue, green and purple were used on the front cover. I used the blue because it's a colour that is associated with wisdom, confidence and intelligence which relates closely the field of school and education. It is also one of the primary colour and therefore more popular among young people. I also used the colour purple because it is often associated with creativity and independence and I also used the colour green because it’s a colour that relates to growth and is a very natural colour. These colours however clashed very harshly.

Similar colours were used on the contents page, I repeated the use of green and blue as they are very natural colours. I added the colour black because it stood out easily against the bright and playful colours of blue and green.

I have been able to develop an understanding of the different key conventions that are used on both a front cover of a magazine and its contents page. My Photoshop skills have also developed so that I can understand more of the features that are used on the program and experimenting with those different features. To improve both my front cover and contents page I need to pick colours that do not clash with one another. Also varying the photographs that I take and include in both the cover and the content pages would make the magazine appear to be more organised.