Ideas

From researching the conventions and annotating magazine front covers I have been able to get an idea of what a typical school magazine looks like and what features they have. I have found it helpful to research different magazines because it has helped me to come up a few different ideas for my own school magazine. 

I have come up with 3 theme ideas for my magazine, which are; Seasonal, Autumn Term and Winter Term.  

Seasonal Ideas: 

If the magazine theme was to be seasonal I could take photographs of the school and students and edit them using photoshop to add halloween or christmas features such as blood, elves, vampire, snow, etc. I could include an article about seasonal themed charity events that are coming up within the month. 

Autumn Term Ideas: 

If the magazine theme was to be based of off the autumn term I could use colours associated to autumn such as red and orange. I could also take photographs of students in autumnal settings and include articles that are relevant to going back to school. 

Winter Term Ideas:

If the magazine was to be based of off the winter term I could use colours which are associated to cold weather such as blue. I could also take photographs of students wearing winter coats and hats, to portray the theme clearly. 

Mode of Address

Mode of address is how the media talks to the audience. There are four main types of modes these are; first person, third person, formal and informal. First person is used when someone is talking about themselves, as in “I and Me”; the first person mode is likely to be used in a magazine when someone is being interviewed. Third person is used when talking about someone, as in “He and She”; the third person mode is likely to be used in a magazine when someone is writing a review. Informal modes are be presented in different ways, for example by colloquial language or expletive language. Colloquial language is usually involves words that have been abbreviated, which can be interpreted as ‘slang’. Colloquial words are more acceptable in writing than expletive language, which is also known as swear words.
School magazines usually feature informal, colloquial language because they are often made for students to read and the writer would want the magazine to be enjoyed and understood by its target audience.

Colour

To find out what colours might work together or might not work together you can use a colour wheel chart.  There are 12 colours on the colour wheel and they are split up into three sections; primary, secondary and tertiary colours. You can use the colour wheel chart to create either a contrasting or complementary colour scheme.  To create a contrasting colour scheme you use different hues that are evenly spread out on the colour wheel chart. To create a complementary colour scheme you use colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel chart.

Typography

Typography is the way text is presented and arranged within a page. Typography includes factors such as; font, colour and spacing. Typography is very important when it comes to designing and producing a magazine, because the font style, font size and font colour can determine whether someone decides to buy or not to buy the magazine. When producing the magazine you need to make sure that the font is easy and clear to read at arms length, you also need to make sure that the colours don't contrast with other colours on the page because otherwise it will be difficult to read and people will be less likely to buy it.

The most common typography fonts used for magazines are Serif and San Serif. Serif fonts make distinctive shapes, using small decorative lines on the end of certain strokes. An example of a Serif font, would be Georgia. San Serif fonts do not use small decorative lines at the end of strokes. An example of a San Serif font, would be Arial. According to multiple studies, most people find San Serif fonts harder to read than Serif fonts. Because of this San Serifs fonts are usually used for smaller amounts of text such as captions or headlines.

Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover

Contents Page Annotations

Magazine Front Cover Annotations