Analysis of school magazine designed for 16-18 year old students - 1

This magazine is for Reigate college. The front cover is a photo montage of current students branded as the 'college celebs'. The cover is social and visual and therefore is appealing to the students between the ages of 16-18 at the college/sixth form. There is only a small amount of text on the cover. the text on the cover is about the 'college celebs' and the text is small but in the right hand corner so that it is eye catching.

However, though the cover is visually appealing the overall layout and style does not appear professional and sophisticated. not all of the photos are in proportional size to each other. The colour yellow is used alongside small stars to add a small colourful and laid back approach to the magazine.
The cover is not very informative and does not show traditional values of the college by including emblems and motto's. The cover also doesn't include the schools name and as it is a college magazine, does not follow normal magazine conventions such as barcode and price. The cover does not state when the magazine was released and whether it is a weekly, monthly or annually released magazine.

There is no main feature on the cover and the magazine does not say what features are in the magazine.

However, i feel that this magazine would be appealing to the teenagers and students at this college because it looks a 'fun' magazine that they can relate to. The photos add visual aspects and students like visual aspects to magazines without bulk text.

In conclusion, i do feel that this magazine does attract the students for the social side of school but not for the academic part of it. Nevertheless, the photos give the magazine a youth feel to the magazine and therefore will be appealing to the students.

Analysis 2
This is the cover of the South East Essex College 'Dave' magazine. The magazine is aimed at everyone at SEEC. The cover looks modern and the layout resembles music magazines such as NME.

The title of the magazine is the largest font and text on the cover and is at the top of the magazine, this makes it eye-catching for the students.
There is one main photo on the cover of the magazine and is the main focus point of the magazine. The use of 'Dave' as the title creates an informal approach to the magazine, as it could be the name of a teacher or student at the college and therefore will appeal to the students as it can be a magazine read for fun that is nonconforming. The overall feel of the title and layout of the cover suggests that the magazine is not an academic magazine and is there for social and celebrity 'gossip' and news.
There is one main colour scheme of yellow, white and black on the cover and this gives the cover a sophisticated and mature appearance.
The cover also includes what features are in the magazine. The cover advertises the main features that will be most appealing and therefore will attract the most students.The magazine uses colloquial language and this will be more appealing to the students and the people who will read 'Dave' at SEEC. The cover also suggests the magazine includes 'gossip' as it states on the cover 'what's on, where and when'.In conclusion, i feel that 'Dave' is appealing to all at SEEC because it looks professional and mature and uses both images and text to appeal to the target group. However, the cover does seem to focus most of the attention on celebrities rather than the students at the college and therefore, may not be as appealing to some people who would rather read about college news and events and trips.

Nevertheless, it is consistent with its colour scheme and uses typical magazine conventions of including the date released and issue number. This makes the magazine seem more professional. Therefore, i do feel that this magazine cover is successful in attracting its target audience.

Analysis - 3

This magazine cover is for Emmanuel College. This issue of the magazine was for 2003-2004. The initial feeling from the magazine is not positive and happy. the cover lacks colour and appealing images.
The cover does show the college's emblem and therefore this can connote traditional school/college values. There is one main visual aspect of this cover; the main photograph on the bottom half of the cover. The photograph shows building work being done in the school and therefore this can instantly show students and parents new changes happening within the school. I do not feel that this magazine cover would be very appealing and popular amongst the students of the college as it is not colourful and does not have visual aspects. However, it may be more appealing to the parents as they would not want too many photos to look at.

There is some colour used in the bottom photo but it is dull and does not give the school a positive attitude. There is not much text on the cover, however the text that is on the cover, is small and is not eye catching as the masthead. The cover of the magazine does not show what features will be in the magazine and so it therefore may not be appealing to some students as they may want to see what is in the magazine before they read it.

In conclusion, i do not feel that the college magazine for Emmanuel College is very successful in appealing got the target audience of the students in the college as it does not use colour and photos to attract to them, therefore it may be more appealing to the parents of the students.

Analysis 4
This magazine cover is for the City of Bristol College and is aimed at the students of the college. The title 'Level Best' is an effective title because it is the connotation of A-levels which the majority of the students at the college will be taking. The use of 'best' portrays doing well and therefore can give confidence to the students.
The main feature of the cover is a female student laying on grass. Therefore, this does not symbolise working and therefore is non conforming as it gives a relaxed feel to the college magazine cover.
The student is blowing bubbles and this also gives a relaxed feel to the magazine. The magazine appears to be approachable and gives the college a positive attitude and will be appealing to the students.
However, the cover does not show what features and articles are in the magazine and therefore may not be as appealing as the students will not know what to expect from it and therefore may not get the magazine.
The masthead is the largest and boldest font on the cover and is at the top of the cover and is therefore eye catching and noticeable.
The magazine cover also lets the students and any potential students know what school it is for and also uses a traditional element of using the colleges emblem in the bottom right hand corner.
In conclusion, the cover is non conforming and connotes a relaxed atmosphere at the college and therefore along with the colours, and main photo used, the magazine will be appealing to the students. the colours sued are neutral colours and therefore will be appealing to both males and females of the college, but will probably not be as appealing to parents as it is not informative from the cover and because the title connotes a meaning that will be appealing and understood by the students. Therefore, the cover of the magazine used for the City of Bristol College is successful in appealing to the target audience of the students, aged between 16-18.

Analysis of a School magazine - 3

This school magazine uses a more of an art approach to the cover and this is a positive approach because it looks interesting and is therefore more appealing to the target age group.

The cover shows the school building and as a blended image with the sky, there is a photo of a female student and this adds an interesting aspect and change to the cover to make it different from others. This represents that the school is artistic and interested in print and design.

The cover is bright and therefore gives a positive mood to the reader and also represents the school in a positive light.

There is not much text to give information about the magazine and school on the cover as it is mostly visually based. This could therefore be appealing to the students because many students prefer to read small amounts of text with images rather than pages of text and not many visual images.

From the text underneath the cover, it suggest that this particular cover was designed by a student and therefore this cover can represent what students want to see from a school magazine. therefore, this magazine cover will be very useful with my research for designing my own school magazine cover.

The photograph of the school is a positive image that is bright and show the school positively. The school therefore will be seen by students, parents and prospective students as a clean and sophisticated looking school. Therefore, this magazine has used positive imagery to attract people to read the magazine.

In conclusion, this magazine uses aspects that will appeal to the Target audience of the students at the school and the cover represents the school in a positive light with an interest in design, art and print. The magazine is successful in appealing to its target group.

Analysing a School magazine cover - 2

This school magazine cover is for a school in Sheffield. The magazine is all in one colour, green, and therefore may not be very appealing to the mixed audience of the students at the school.

It is not very colourful and there is only one image, the schools emblem, as a visual aspect to the cover. therefore, it may not be very appealing to the teenagers. It may, however, be more appealing to the parents of the students. The emblem is the largest part of the cover and its the background of the cover. Therefore it is eye catching that it is for the particular school, King Edward V11 school in Sheffield.

The Schools motto is also on the cover of the magazine. This shows the school is traditional and has pride for the school.

The magazine may be more appealing to the parents of the students as the colours and style seem aimed at an older audience. In addition to this, the cover also looks 'mature' and 'sophisticated'.

The text fonts are large and bold and therefore noticeable however the colour of the text blends with the colour of the background and does not stand out so that it is eye catching.

The Cover does not state what issue of the magazine it is and therefore it is unknown whether the magazine is weekly, monthly or annually.

In conclusion, the school magazine cover for King Edward V11 School Sheffield, uses 1 plain colour as the background and text for its cover. It does not use visual aspects such as photos to show more about the school and to show what the students and clubs are like at the school. The emblem is used as the main eye catching part of the cover and this, as well as the motto, shows that the school is traditional. Therefore, the magazine represents the school as traditional but the magazine would most probably be more appealing to the parents rather than the students because of the dull colours used and the lack of visual aspects.

However, this is an old copy of the school magazine and can therefore be compared with more recent school magazines that use more colours and visual aspects. Therefore, school magazines have changed throughout the years and comparisons between moderns school magazines and the King edward V11 School Sheffield can show this. 

Analysis of a School magazine

Analysis of a School magazine

This school magazine cover has been designed in neutral colours so that it will be appealing to both the males and females of the school as it is a mixed gender school. The cover has the school's emblem on the cover which will show the audience where it is for and it also adds colour to the cover.

There are photos down the right hand side of the magazine and this adds visual imagery to the magazine. The photos can appeal to the teenagers because many teenagers prefer proportional amounts of text to the photos. Therefore, by seeing images on the cover, it may appeal to the teenagers more. However, the photos are very posed and look fake to represent the sports and events that happen within the school. Therefore, this can give off the impression that the school may not be exactly like portrayed on the school magazine cover.

There are neutral colours used on the cover. This means it is not stereotyped to being aimed at just males/females, such as pinks for the girls and blue for the boys. It has used neutral colours and this shows that it is appealing and aimed at both males and females of the mixed gender. However, the colours are not very bright and eye-catching and this could not be appealing to the teenagers and therefore, this magazine could be aimed at the parents of the teenagers who don't mind if it is colourful and bright. The colours are also simple as well as the layout. This makes the cover look professional. Therefore it could be appealing to both the teenagers and the parents as it represents the school as being 'sophisticated' and 'mature'.

The fonts used are bold and in white and this makes the text stand out from the dark background. The cover also shows what year it is from and this gives the impression that the school magazine is given out annually and therefore this could be more appealing to the teenagers because if it is annually, it will contain news from the year and therefore they will be more likely to read it for a change, rather than a weekly magazine which they may not always want to read.

In conclusion, the school magazine may be more appealing to the parents of the teenagers rather than the teenagers themselves because of the colours used. However, the visual aspects, photos and emblem, may be appealing to the teenagers at the secondary school.

Analysis of 'Closer' magazine

The publishing company, EMAP entertainment, publishes ‘Closer’ magazine weekly. It’s title, ‘Closer’, suggests the connotation of being closer to celebrities and real life. This is appealing to audiences because many of the audience will buy this magazine because they want to learn more and get the latest news on celebrities, diet plans as well as reading real life stories. Therefore the idea of getting ‘closer’ to this, gives the idea that you will learn more and get insight information on the stories.The magazine is £1 which will attract the audience because it is good value for money, even though it is a weekly released magazine.
‘Closer’ is published by EMAP entertainment. EMAP entertainment is a large publishing company that also publish the popular magazine ‘Heat’. EMAP entertainments also have other media interests such as Broadcasting, Retail and world retail congress, as well as radio and music television channels. By having a popular and well known publishing company to publish the magazine it will be marketed how other media interests of this company have and it will be popular with audiences because they may know of other media texts by EMAP which may make them want to buy ‘Closer’.
‘Closer’ seems to be targeted at an audience of middle aged women who would read the magazine as light reading for celebrity stories as well as real life and other articles such as diet facts.The stories in the magazine are about women and there are fashion pages within the magazine and therefore this is appealing to women and not men. The fashion pages show clothes that would be appealing to middle aged women and therefore the magazine is aimed at this age target audience.
The advertisements in the magazine are also aimed at this target group. There are 24 adverts in 1 typical edition of ‘closer’ magazine and the majority of the adverts are cosmetics, fake tan, make up, chocolate e.t.c and all these advertisements would be appealing to women of the targeted age group.
The cover of the magazine is made in stereotypically girly colours such as bold pinks and yellows. There are non-posed celebrity pictures on the front cover and this can appeal to the audience because it shows celebrities’ not looking their best and can show the middle aged women audience that not everyone always looks ‘celebrity perfect’ and can therefore make them feel good about themselves.
There are many particular features that are shown on the cover and contents pages that will attract women; such as the real life stories and diet plans.
The cover also includes the date, price, barcode and price which is a convention used for all magazines.‘Closer’ magazine has a slogan that is used above the title of each issue; ‘The only read you need’. This slogan is unique to ‘closer’ magazine and therefore when it is heard and written it is identified to be from this particular magazine. The slogan also suggests that the magazine includes all the news you will want to read and therefore is the best magazine for you and therefore will be appealing to the target audience.
By having the slogan and the title at the top of the magazine, it is at eye level for the targeted audience when on the shop shelves and is therefore eye catching.
The layout of ‘closer’ magazine is similar to the popular celebrity and real life magazine ‘New’ and this could attract the readers of ‘New’ magazine to ’Closer’ because it is of a similar format that seems to be popular amongst the middle aged women audience. Therefore, 'New' and other similar styled magazines are in competition with 'Closer'. However, 'Closer' is also in competition with the dominating women's weekly magazine, 'Take a Break'. It records nearly the double the circulation of that of 'Closer' magazine. Nevertheless, 'Closer' leads the young celebrity market with approximately 570,239 sales in half a year.
'Closer' magazine can also attract a wider audience by using its website. By having an official Internet website, it can appeal to a wider and larger audience, of those who use the Internet. The website, http://www.closeronline.co.uk/, is presented in the same colours as that of the printed magazine. It consists of features similar to those in the latest released magazine and also includes features and adverts that are targeted at the middle aged woman audience and that are similar to the stories featured.'Closer' is printed as a glossy magazine and this makes the magazine More appealing as it looks professional and presentable. It also makes the magazine look more expensive which can make the price of the magazine, £1, seem an even better price for the magazine. The bold text and large photos are used to create and overall effect that there is not much text but a lot of photos and this can be appealing for an audience who want a light, enjoyable read.
In conclusion, 'Closer' magazine is aimed at a middle aged female audience and this is presented but the features in the magazine, the colours and photos used and the advertisements that are appealing to women. The magazine used conventions of all magazines to attract to its audience as well as features that will compete against similar styled and designed magazines.
In my opinion, i feel that 'Closer' magazine is popular because it has interesting features that will appeal to the target audience and these features are presented on the front cover and this will initially give the first impression and attract the audience. The magazine offers its readers celebrity news that will be appealing to the audience and real life stories that many of the audience can relate to and therefore feel 'closer' too. This connotation links to the title of the magazine. I also feel that, 'Closer', uses ideologies to reflect the social needs and aspirations of the targeted audience. It achieves this by using real life stories that will be appealing to the audience, so that they can relate to it, and by using features that will be appealing and useful such as diet plans. Therefore, 'Closer' magazine uses its features and presentation well to attract its target audience.