Magazine Questionnaire

Questionnaire

Question 1:

Do you read if not would you read a school magazine?

a) Yes

b) No

Question 2:

How much would you pay for a school magazine?

a) Below 5op

b) 50p- £1

c) £1- £2

d) Above £2

Question 3:

How often should the school magazine be published?

a) Once a week

b) Once a month

c) Seasonally

d) yearly

Question 4:

Who do you want to see on the front cover?

a) A student/ students

b) A teacher

c) Student and teacher

d) A school building

Question 5:

Which magazine name do you prefer?

a) Beaverwood Times

b) Beaverwood Life

c) Beaverwood News

d) Beaverwood

Question 6;

Which theme do you think the first issue should be?

a) Autumn- Halloween

b) Winter- Christmas

c) Spring- Easter

d) Summer

Question 7:

What would you like to see in the school magazine?

a) Results

b) Help and advice

c) Whats happening in school

d) Fun and games

Contents Page Research

I researched into what school magazine contents pages look like in order to help me plan and decide what to do for my magazine contents page.

In the three magazines I found all contents pages had a picture of a pupil, the articles within the magazine and the page numbers of the articles.

As I have planned to put an image of students on the cover of my magazine I have decided to use a picture of a  location within the school on my contents page, along with magazine articles and the page numbers they are on.
From this research I have fount that the conventions of contents pages are a title at the top of the page to identify what the page is showing. Contents pages have pictures on the page, for school magazines the pictures are school related e.g. a pupil, school building or school supplies. All of the contents pages I looked at above have a teenager in the picture that is likely to be a school student. I have found that the purpose of a contents page is to inform the reader about what articles are in the magazine and where they can be found within the magazine. Some contents pages split the articles into categories for example regulars and features, one of the contents pages I looked at did this, the second had a heading for cover story articles and the third had a list of all articles under the contents page title. Contents pages show the page where the articles within the magazine can be found. These numbers are normally odd as new articles commonly start on the left side of the page and then spread across to the right creating a double page spread. Most of the page numbers used in the contents pages above that I looked at for my research mainly use odd numbers. Contents page numbers should not go up in ascending order and should be random as the articles will be in random places throughout the magazine.

From this research I now know what I should include in my school magazine contents page.  

Magazine Conventions

Magazine Conventions
Magazine conventions are features that make the magazine look like a magazine.

Masthead
Title of the magazine, written in bold text to make it stand out, it is also written in capital letters and in a large font to make it clearer than the other text. Because of this it sets it apart from the rest of the text on the page.

Main Image
The main image of the magazine is a pupil from the school. This denotes a boy from the school but the image connotes one of the issues raised in the cover lines about uniform, the boy in the images is wearing his own clothes therefore the magazine publisher believes that they should not have to wear uniform to school.

Issue No.
The issue number of the magazine is positioned under the masthead, this clearly shows the reader how many magazines they have published.

Main Cover Line
The main cover line of this article is most likely to be one of the main topics in this weeks issue.

Cover Lines
The cover lines are written clearly in bold text so that they can be seen. The cover lines inform the reader of what articles are in the magazine.

Puff

The puff draws the audience to the text inside. Puffs are words or phrases used on the cover of magazines to catch the readers eye.

Price

The price is shown clearly on the front cover within a puff.

Barcode

The barcode is positioned in the expected area at the bottom of the magazine. It is in the bottom left corner of the magazine. This follows the conventions of a magazine.

Masthead

Title of the magazine, written in bold text to make it stand out, it is also written in capital letters and in a large font to make it clearer than the other text. Because of this it sets it apart from the rest of the text on the page.

Main Image

The main image of the magazine is a pupil from the school. This denotes a girl who goes to Wycliffe College but the image connotes the how the school want to be represented by its pupils, the girl in the image is  dressed smart, with minimum makeup, therefore she is put on the magazine cover as a model pupil. The image relates to the cover lines of the magazines e.g. New faces and people at Wycliffe college.

Sub- heading

This follows the the masthead.

Main Cover line

This is placed on the bottom of all of their magazines, the main cover line of this magazine is the schools website, and school location.

Cover lines

The cover lines are written clearly in bold text so that they can be seen. The cover lines inform the reader of

what articles are in the magazine.

Barcode

The barcode is positioned in the normal and expected area it should be. It is placed in the bottom right corner of the magazine. This follows the conventions of a magazine.

Masthead

Title of the magazine, written in bold text to make it stand out, it is also written in capital letters and in a large font to make it clearer than the other text. Because of this it sets it apart from the rest of the text on the page.

Main Image

The main image is a half body shot of a girl in her uniform that goes to the school.

Main Cover Line

The main cover line of this article is most likely to be one of the main topics in this weeks issue. It is separated from the rest of the cover lines due to the difference in colour between the blue and yellow text.

Cover Lines

The cover lines are written clearly in bold text so that they can be seen. The cover lines inform the reader of what articles are in the magazine. This is because the text is a bright yellow colour and the main image colours is a neutral grey colour making it stand out.

Price

The price is written within the puff to make it bold and stand out clearly to attract the readers eye.

From my research of school magazine conventions I now know what I should include on the cover of my magazine in order for it to look like a magazine.

Colour

It is important to consider colour when making a magazine as it has to be eye catching, and clear and easy to read. If the colours don't 'pop' it will not be noticable to readers and they will not want to pick it up and look at it.Using opposite colours on the colour wheel next to each other e.g. yellow and purple make text, pictures and the background look clear and easy to read and stand out.

Typography

Typography means the arrangement of text on a page, this refers to the font, size, spacing and colour.

 When making a magazine you have to consider what text to use as it has to be clear

and easy to read by all readers e.g. students, parents and teachers.

Therefore typography is extremely important when making a magazine.

Theme and Ideas for Magazine

I am going to produce a Winter/ Christmas themed school magazine. When creating my magazine I am going to follow the typical magazine conventions. Therefore I am going to put the masthead in the centre of the top of the magazine with the issue number below it, the barcode on the bottom left and the cover lines located either side of the magazine on top of the main image.
I am going to use the colours red, green and white to fit the Christmas and winter theme. The location of my cover photo will be outside with trees in the background. I am going to use two models for the photo, I am going to ask them  to wear winter clothing to suite the theme of winter e.g. coats and scarfs. Depending on the final look of the image I may later decide to edit it to lighten or darken some aspects to make it look professional and suit the Christmas/ winter theme.

Audience Research Methods

Primary Research Methods
Primary Research is collecting data and information independently, this means doing your own research and finding your own information. A method of Primary research is a questionnaire, by doing this you can ask the questions you want in order to find out the information you need. Questionnaires also allow you ask questions to any audience, this means a small or large group of different ages, different genders with different lifestyles and hobbies. This is a positive of primary research as you can adapt your method to find the information you need. But a negative of using primary research is having to spend a long period of time finding, processing and analysing the data you find.

Secondary Research Methods
Secondary research is collecting data and information that has already been found for you. This information can been gathered from books, newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Using secondary research allows you to adapt the quality and quantity of information you collect. The positives of using secondary research is that the information is available to you, this means that you do not have to go and find the information as it can be accessed in such a wide variety of areas. This will save a large amount of time. Although the negatives of using secondary research is that the information may not be suitable and specific enough for what you need to know.

Introduction to my blog

Hello, my name is Lauren Turell, this is my As level Media blog. I am going to be posting my work from set tasks, this blog will be about magazine research and magazines I create. Here you will be able to track my progress and keep up with my posts. All of my posts will be graded on my blog so that you can see how I am doing.