final front cover for my Plantsbrook magazine front cover

I believe that my magazine looks very professional. I have made a Masthead by using fireworks and used different skills such as rotating and flipping of letters to make it as good as I can. I have also used a stroke around the ‘B’ in the masthead; I have done this to make it stand out so it catches people’s eyes. I have used a camera to take a picture of people to use as my background or for on my contents page, I have had to mask it down so other conventions, such as cover lines or headings, don’t go over the face as this is one of the most important things on the magazine cover. I also have a headline which is a large font but not as big as the masthead because the masthead is the most important thing on the magazine, people need to recognize the brand. People’s eyes get drawn to the headline because of the size of it. I also have cover lines  down the left side of the page; this is the last thing that the reader sees so it is one of the smallest fonts on the cover. I have also used pull quotes so it makes people interested and may persuade people to buy it or want it, this could also be known as a lure as it lures people in to buy the magazine or to read on. I have also made sure that all the text fits in with the picture colour so it looks right and not out of place.

2nd layout of a contents page

Layout of contents page

Conventions of a contents page

There are many things that are needed to make a successful contents page. They are:

• An image- the image needs to have something to do with whats going to be in the magazine and also must be interesting for the reader to look at.
• Page numbers- the size, boldness, colour, font and italic are very important to catch the eye of the reader. The numbers are not always on chronological order, this is because they are mostly put into different sections.
• House style- the house style must be the same as it wont look right if it isn't the same as the front cover or even the whole magazine. 
• Columns- the page numbers and information are usually in columns as it looks neat and easy to find.
• Structural layout- grids and guidelines are used to make everything on the page look organised.
• Date and issue number- the date is put on the show the date that it is published and the issue number is the issue of the magazine.

There is always 'Contents' written at the top to make sure customers know it is the contents page. Under the page numbers, there are sometimes captions underneath which explain what is going to be on the pages.

draft magazine cover

These are my two draft front covers for my magazine, i tried different things for each one to see which looks better and what goes best with the picture as the background.

magazine mastheads

These are my my Mastheads  that i have created on fireworks. I shall use one of these for my magazine cover, and maybe use some for any drafts i create for thr cover.

conventions and audience

The conventions of a magazine cover for plantsbrook school would be a masthead which stands out and has a colour scheme that matches the colour of plantsbrook school which would be black and red, this is also known as a ‘house style’. There will also be headlines so the pupils’ teachers or parents know what is inside, this is important to a magazine as this is what  people see and may make them buy it. Coverlines are very similar to headlines but aren’t as big in font, but these are also very important as these let people know what is inside. Pull quotes or a lure quote could be important aswell so people have an idea of what someone has said maybe in an interview. Pictures are important aswell because this identifies who is going to be inside the magazine. A visual syntax is very important because this make the reader follow a course around the front cover.

The audience of the magazine is for pupils of the school, teachers and maybe even parents. They will be able to keep up with the weekly gossip in the school and will be able to find out important dates.

Many things could be included in the magazine. An interview with a member of staff could be included inside. A page with important dates could be put on, a page with exam results, a page with and off stead report saying how good the school is. A list of problems with certain students if they have been naughty, this could be used as a punishment to the students if they have done something.