School Magazine Analysis

It is easy to see that this is a school magazine instead of magazine sold in shops. Some of the key features are missing for this magazine cover. To start with, there is no sign of the issue's date, making it easy to buy an out of date magazine issue, resulting in the target audience being behind on the latest information. Another thing that is missing which is on most magazine covers is the price of the magazine which means unless the magazine is free, people will be unaware how much he/she needs to pay for the magazine. Although scanning the bar code would allow the price to be shown, it would be better for the audience to know straight away, how much they need to pay, so that they know how much money to carry with them. There is also no signs of a kicker on this magazine cover, giving no bonus information about the contents of the magazine to attract the attention of the target audience, and also makes the cover look very plain and therefore would make the reader lose interest quickly, resulting in them wanting to find something else to read. An easier way to see that this is a school magazine is by looking at the mast heading which says "STUDENT TIMES", which gives a huge hint that this magazine is for school pupils. Although the capital letters would make the magazine more interesting to look at the colours are no chosen very well. The mast head font is cut into two style of colours where the second half is simple sky blue which looks smart with innocent white which may match the audience but, appears a little blank compared to stunning reds like what is seem on real magazines covers. The first half of the mast head is a dull pale grey with white text, making it harder to read. I find that the subheading "Benton's Grammar School", is very distracting when so close to the mast head with it having a thick and slightly out of place black outline. The colour black seems too demanding for this bland cover, yet also the seems out of place, the colour does link to some of the books shown in the photograph dominating the cover. The banner seems to match the colour choice of the mast head yet, it is very difficult to read the font which reads "Educating for Life" which blends in with these colours. The font may suggest that the school provides great education to the students because the text looks fancy and look a bit like hand writing however, this result in the text being difficult to read. All of the fonts present on this cover seen to San Serifs, making it appear more modern which shows that the magazine is meant for a a younger audience, likely to be in his/her teenage years. The photograph on the cover seems to have no editing except for having fonts and a bar code overlapping it.The library image is clearly not a local library, as the layout looks like a school library. Because the photo does not focus on one specific area, the background is too busy because of all the books which are all different colours, that don't match the colour theme however, this image is linked to the main article making it appropriate that the image stands out more.