3 flat plans

Title ideas for school magazine

These are the ideas for the title of my Sixth Form magazine. I brainstormed through a lot of different ideas to get the right mood and feel for my magazine. I decided that my title needed to be informal and chatty to appeal to my target audience and to contain some colour that was both pink and blue for both male and female students.

• S.O.S


• Teen Brief


• The Universal


• Academy


• What's new?


• The Reporter


• Showtime


• S.O.S Now
  

My final choice for the title of my magazine is 'Teen brief'

Textual analysis for target audience school magazine

Dave - South East Essex College

This magazine is aimed at my target audience, year 12 students. The magazine title is Dave, which is very masculine for a college magazine. The image that is also presented on the cover is of a male singer in Essex, the features of the magazine are aimed at teenagers and the colors, images and title suggest a male audience. The title is a male name and is presented in bold yellow letters against a black background to make it stand out. The colors chosen are also masculine even though it is more likely for this magazine to appeal to both male and female students. A colour scheme is very important in determining who will read the magazine, this student magazine however can appeal to my target audience although the images, title and colour scheme limits the readers.

Next
Next magazine is aimed at year 12 students that helps guide them through the year. It contains knowledge about life after school and gives students useful advice that will help shape the career that they wish to have when they leave school. It gives students ideas about what they want as a career and the path they should take to get there. This gives students an idea of what they will encounter in the following years as students, which I think is a useful feature for a school student magazine. The title is suited appropriately to the content of the school magazine and what information it offers students about the ‘next’ stage in life. The image featured on the magazine is friendly and inviting and I think it would be a successful magazine to appeal to both male and female. The people in the image look like they are having fun and also they look popular and happy, which appeals to my target audience.

Questionnaire graph results

What are your hobbies and interests?
The results for this show the different hobbies that students enjoy when i asked a range of people in 6 form what their interests are. The results conclude that most people enjoy shopping and seeing friends, therfore this is what is most important to them, which makes it a vital part of my magazine content.

Do you read your current school magazine?

Most people do not read their current school magazine because it does not appeal to them. This helps me learn of the design and content of current school magazines that it is not appealing to my target audience.

What subject do you enjoy most at school?

Most people I asked enjoy the subjects such as politics and english. In my magazine I can include information about subjects and information such as school trips that relate to 6 form subjects.

Are you interested in fashion?

Many people I asked were interested in fashion. I want to include a fashion part in my magazine which could relate to the sort of clothes 6 form students can wear to school.

Do you read magazines outside school?

Most of the people I asked did read magazines outside school, this includes the male audience that I asked aswell.

If so, which magazines?
This question that follows then helped me determine what magazines the students were interested in. This included many fashion and real life magazines and contents.

What attracts you to a magazine?

I feel this is a important question to ask, as this will draw students into reading my magazine. I found that images and stories were the most important feature to a successful magazine and what my magazine should contain.

Mood board for my school magazine

This my mood board created for my preliminary task for the student school magazine. I was able to adapt the images and logos on the mood board to suit the students expectations of a successful and readable school magazine. The mood board fits in with the answers I got from my questionnaire that I asked a range of 10 students. This mainly includes the interests of students and their entertainment. There is also an example of what I found was the most popular girls magazine, 'Look' and what was the most popular boys magazine 'Nuts', even though that was to graphic to display on my mood board. I created a mood board that relates too students, including the fashion style and shops they like to go to. A lot of people learn to drive in 6 form and it is when getting a job starts to become important because students want money for going out. Creating this mood board helped me to investigate into what music, hobbies the students are interested in. As the consumers, the students ideas and interests is what would be most important to contribute to my magazine. The social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook and even communicating by mobile phones are important in students lives.

Questionnaire:

This is a questionnaire that I created to research into what a selection of 10 students are interested in so that I can develop my magazine and its content on the front cover. The 10 students that I asked were all very different and were both male and female, so that I could get a different view on students ideas, hobbies and interests that will make my magazine an all rounder. My questionnaire is very plain because the 6 form is mixed and will have to appeal to a wide range of students. I have made it formal so that students will take it seriously and fill out the correct information. The questionnaire will help develop my ideas on what my magazine front cover should contain and I am able to get views and develop on students ideas and comments. I kept the questions brief and mainly to yes or no answers so that i am able to extend on the ideas given to me.

What are your hobbies and interests?

I chose to ask this question because it will give me an idea of what the students are interested in, which will appeal to them in a magazine. the interests and hobbies that they enjoy doing , they will also enjoy reading about and a magazine that contains information and articles on this would make it more of a student friendly magazine.

Do you read your current school magazine?

I wanted to ask this question to get an idea if students read the magazine at their school and if they were interested in it. I wanted to know how many students were currently reading their school magazine.

What subjects do you enjoy?

This is relevant to the information that the magazine should contain as I want to know what subjects students enjoy so that I can create articles and sections of the magazine that are relevant to what subjects the students want to read about.

Are you interested in fashion?

A lot of magazines are fashion ones and these are most read by teenagers 15+. I cannot use fashion in a school magazine, but I have an idea of creating a section of my magazine that will show 6 form students appropriate but stylish clothes they can wear in the 6 form and where to get them from.

Do you read magazines outside school?

It is less likely for a student to pick up a school magazine if they do not read them outside school, this links onto my next question...If so, which ones? Knowing what students read, i can develop my ideas onto producing my magazine roughly based around these magazines such as Look, Vogue, Glamour etc.

What attracts you to a magazine?

Colour images stories headlines

This question tells me what attracts the reader to a magazine. This includes the front cover of the magazine that is the most vital part to gripping a reader into buying the magazine. The images, colour, stories and headlines are all a big part of drawing in a reader, but I wanted to know, which one was most appealing.

Focus group:

Hannah merry: 16
Hannah has a unique style, very different in style and interests of the other members of my focus group. Her style and fashion is influenced by the music she listens too, which is mainly acoustic. She enjoys art and English, which could influence my magazine to be more artistic and cultural, but this would not necessarily suit all 6 form students. I need to create an all round magazine that suits the hobbies and interests of all 6 form students, not just the individuals in my focus group. I can do this by choosing three different individuals that do not share the same interests. Hannah enjoys watching films, so a film section in my magazine that could also relate to the subjects may be an idea. She also likes to go shopping, as clothes is not a part of a school curriculum it would be hard to work in this interest, but because 6 form students do not wear uniform and have a dress code of trousers and skirts below the knee and tops that cover mid drifts and shoulders. A clothes section in my magazine of where to by clothes like this that are also trendy would relate to the uniform at 6 form. Hannah’s opinions of what she would like to see in a student magazine have given be ideas in what to include in my magazine, such as a clothes section and film section that will interest the readers and can be expanded to suit the 6 form students. Hannah is very individual, she a big film buff and a film section could be incorporated into my magazine.
Ellie Kent: 16
Ellie has a very different style, fashion and interests compared to Hannah. She prefers loud upbeat music and is an outgoing individual that enjoys sport especially netball. She has a different aspect of interests to offer my ideas as I cannot just focus my magazine on an individual in particular, but my focus group helps me to expand the interests into a magazine that will appeal to the whole of the 6 form. A sport section in the magazine would appeal to an audience like Ellie. I could mention the upcoming matches and about the gym that 6 form students are allowed to use in free periods and lunch times, which is free and has been a big benefit for the students that enjoy using the equipment. Ellie is also interested in school trips that take place for the subjects, this is relevant to the 6 form and information regarding the trips could be a positive piece of information to contain in my magazine. Focusing on Ellie and her interests has given me ideas that I have adapted on which I feel will make my magazine more student friendly. Ellie enjoys listening to music such as RnB and she very rarely is not listening to her ipod.
Daniel Cassidy: 16
It is vital to my focus group that to get a fair view of what students want to see in a magazine, as it is for the 6 form students which would be both male and female. I wanted a boys opinion on what a student magazine should look like. Daniel is interested in law and sport. Although he is more interested in the lads mags such as 'Nuts' and 'Zoo' and I could not incorporate this type of magazine into my student magazine. I could however include a sports section in my magazine as a lot of boys are interested in football. Dan uses the internet daily as he enjoys communicating with friends over instant messenger and the social networking site, Myspace.