Plantsbrook School Magazine Front Cover

I used Adobe Fireworks to create this school magazine front cover for Plantsbrook School, I tried to use as many different effects as possible and I tried to stick to a clear house style and colour scheme.

This front cover features all of the main conventions of a magazine front cover such as a large, clear, eye-catching masthead at the top of the page which is designed to be the first thing that the reader looks at. There is also a small puff just below the masthead which is the school slogan 'be the best that you can be'.

The next thing that the reader should look at in this visual syntax is the person in the picture, the picture was taken with the person making eye contact in order to catch the attention o the reader who is then expected to follow the line of the person's body down from their eyes.

The reader is then supposed to look at the headline, which is large and clear and also gives a brief idea of what the article is about. A slightly smaller strapline is also featured just below the headline to add extra information and to entice the reader into reading the actual article.

At the very bottom of the page there is a banner which features some lures in it. This is designed to give the reader a little bit more information about what is actually contained in the magazine and to lure the reader into reading the magazine.

In the top right corner of the cover I have featured a pug/starburst which is eye-catching to the reader and is designed as a simple self-promotion to the reader.

Throughout the whole front cover I have used a fairly obvious house style that features the Plantsbrook school colours: red, white and black throughout but particularly in the masthead, headline and pug/starburst. I have also made sure to use the same font throughout the whole cover, however I have varied the font size in order to draw attention to different parts of the cover and to create different effects.

Target Audience

I created the magazine front cover with a clear idea that my primary target audience would be secondary school children aged between 11 and 18 as it was designed as a school magazine. I have therefore tried to use eye catching colours and large fonts to make the magazine seem more interesting and appealing. I also understood that I would have a secondary audience of young and middle-aged adults; predominately teachers and parents. I therefore made sure that the whole front cover was relevant to the school and included things such as exam results, clubs, sixth from etc