Analysing School Magazines

October 2014 PTA Newsletter:              

The use of using green for the announcement section (instead of blue) makes the reader aware of something different and upcoming in the future, making them intrigued of the future events. At the bottom they again advertise another upcoming event of the Christmas Craft Fair, using festive colours and fancy font to set a new exciting mood on the reader.

December 2014 PTA Newsletter:                 

The use of the colours red and green together as a backdrop behind the white font enhances the festive theme of Christmas. The snowflakes also support the theme and the “Christmas Craft fair” that is explained clearly throughout the newsletter. The article includes several images to describe to the reader about its successful event to raise money to improve the school and its community. Including the smiling sixth formers in one of the images again displays the fun and enjoyment at the festive event which makes the reader understand the positive mood they portray.

January 2015 PTA Newsletter:                    

This newsletter shows that the PTA is very important and beneficial towards the Misbourne’s students. Including the big image of the young girl wearing the Misbourne uniform informs the reader that she is a young pupil at the school who is smiling at the gift she has been given. This is further explained in the article about the PTA gifting new year 7’s with interesting books to make their new world of literature more exciting. The use of the different shades of blue supports the unique theme of the school due to the schools logo consisting of 3 blue birds.

Magazine Front Cover Research

I was set the task to research a school magazine, so I started out researching the technical terms that are used on the front of a magazine to understand what I needed to look out for when analysing school magazines. I found these images that are shown below, explaining what each feature is and why it's used on the front cover.

I now understand what a masthead is and that it is the title of the magazine. The Central Image covers the majority of the magazine and sits behind all the Coverlines and other terms that are shown below:

• Cover lines - Summaries of the most enticing features and articles which are inside a magazine.
• Selling line - Short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point
• Headline - The main heading with the biggest font which relates to the main story
• Strapline - Headline in smaller font appearing over main headline which attracts the reader to want to read the magazine. 
• Buzz Words - A word or phrase that becomes very popular for a period of time
• Cover lines - Summaries of the most enticing features and articles which are inside a magazine.

Lots of information explaining each technical term